The Next Pandemic Is Coming! What to do?!

If something good is going to come from our last pandemic it’d be that we’re better prepared for a much worse one in the future.

But in fact, we’re even worse off because it increased political polarization.

With that said, I think there’s still a broad middle we can agree on before the four horsemen ravage our land…

Preparation:

First, it starts with prevention. Let’s ban “gain-of-function research,” aka developing biological weapons of mass destruction. It’s already banned in the US, but we shouldn’t give funding to foreign institutions we suspect of doing it and just as we have an international agency to stop nuclear weapons (IAEA) and chemical weapons (OMCW) we need one for stopping biological weapons.

Second, we need to better test people/goods coming into the US, especially from countries we suspect of carrying out gain-of-function research (cough, cough, China). And similarly, we should implement a 5% — 10% censorship sanction on nations that prohibit free speech to disincentivize the suppression of whistle-blowers.

Third, let’s have a healthier, debt-free, more self-sufficient population so that more of us can afford to hunker down for a prolonged period.

Fourth, let’s massively increase our medical innovation/supply via deregulation as well as restructuring our military to dedicate less of its resources to offense and more to defense, such as by having a large well-trained army of medical staff.

Fifth, federal buildings should be outfitted to be more germ-resistant, which can then serve as a role model for the private sector. This is particularly important for properties we consider “essential.”

One U.S. report estimates that bringing ventilation up to scratch could be as effective in stemming airborne diseases as vaccinating half the building’s population. — Thomas Wintle

Sixth, let’s build up our Strategic National Stockpiles (SNS) so that there is, for example, enough PPE for every American (e.g. masks, PEP, nonperishable goods, etc.). Our…