Preparing for future pandemics now can help minimize the economic damage

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to inflict $9 trillion to $33 trillion in economic damage. Relatively smaller investments in preventive measures could substantially reduce the economic damage caused by future pandemics.

Assuming a COVID-19-scale epidemic is a 50-year event, the return on preparedness investment is clear, even if it only partly mitigates the damage.

To read the article, see “Not the last pandemic: Investing now to reimagine public-health systems,” July 13, 2020.