There is a science to disaster preparedness

THE coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic was a disaster waiting to happen. We’ve had our encounters with the different strains of the unwelcome virus that threatened global public health. There was the severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS in 2003 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome or MERS coronavirus in 2012, among others. Some academics and researchers have opined that the time is ripe for another one.

On the local front, there have been measles outbreaks and, following the dengvaxia controversy, polio resurgence.