Thanks for tracking this, I definitely think being aware of + extremely up-to-date on “novel pandemics” is one of the things that our community (~GCR-focused EAs) should have at least a few people working on, though it’s a hard thing to do without either under- or over- shooting.
(It’s possible these people already exist and are working quietly. In which case, great! I’m not sufficiently in touch with the space to know either way).
I’m not sure about keeping up to date on potential “novel pandemics” is a great use of resources for above reasons (see reply to Ebenezer). I would like to see us predict in real time even one potential virus moving from animal transmission through human to human pandemic first before committing huge resources. I feel like “general pandemic prevention” stuff (stockpiling, UVA, better diagnostic tools etc.) as well as tracking virus’s we already know can cause epidemics (like Ebola) is maybe a better use of resources but am very uncertain.
Thanks for tracking this, I definitely think being aware of + extremely up-to-date on “novel pandemics” is one of the things that our community (~GCR-focused EAs) should have at least a few people working on, though it’s a hard thing to do without either under- or over- shooting.
(It’s possible these people already exist and are working quietly. In which case, great! I’m not sufficiently in touch with the space to know either way).
I’m not sure about keeping up to date on potential “novel pandemics” is a great use of resources for above reasons (see reply to Ebenezer). I would like to see us predict in real time even one potential virus moving from animal transmission through human to human pandemic first before committing huge resources. I feel like “general pandemic prevention” stuff (stockpiling, UVA, better diagnostic tools etc.) as well as tracking virus’s we already know can cause epidemics (like Ebola) is maybe a better use of resources but am very uncertain.
Its a super interesting discussion though.