Courses

Course Description

Either from ignorance of the facts or a desire to protect us from even greater shock, many authorities predict that once COVID-19 is controlled, chiefly with vaccines, we will be able to return to “normalcy.” Regrettably, data drawn from numerous studies in infectious disease medicine, epidemiology, and demography suggest a far more threatening future. Although national and international surveillance and containment systems are in place, they are a patchwork. They failed to prevent the world-wide spread of COVID-19, and unless they are improved, well-funded, and well-maintained, they will fail again. According to some of the world’s leading infectious disease specialists, unless system improvements are made it is virtually certain that we or at the latest our children’s generation will experience re-emerging or previously unknown infectious diseases, some possibly more devastating than COVID. Yet despite the urgency of this problem, only a handful of the thousands of articles, learned speeches, and broadcast commentaries that have appeared about COVID have addressed the likelihood of future pandemics, and then only in passing or without consideration of key elements. This course will identify the main factors predictive of future pandemics; explain why virulent disease pandemics are increasing in frequency; identify the regions where outbreaks of recurring or new diseases will most likely occur; explain why some local outbreaks will likely spread internationally and become pandemic; and offer recommendations for improving our long-term national and global defenses.

 (In-Person, Concord Campus)