Bozeman author David Quammen on bird flu and next pandemic | News | bozemandailychronicle.com

He’s not a scientist, he’s a writer – with degrees in English lit.

Does he recognize the disconnect? As a coddled, affluent, white professional who works from home, he outsourced his risk of getting Covid to low paid delivery people – the ones (together with more than half the population) who continued doing the work necessary to make civilized life possible:

During the pandemic, Quammen adhered to the stay-at-home orders, minimized unnecessary trips, had groceries delivered and stayed connected with friends and family through Skype and Zoom.

“I got through 2020 on one tank of gas,” he said. “Being alone in your house for a year, which was hard for a lot of people, wasn’t hard for me and my wife because we do that and we get along really well.”

If only more people had stayed home and sacrificed, he implies, we would have ended Covid! Which is false. He got to stay home by relying on those who could not stay home! Duh!

Pandemics of highly contagious diseases end through immunity (natural or vaccine) or the virus mutates to a less virulent form. Per the CDC, almost everyone in the U.S. had Covid at least once – and that’s why Covid is no longer the threat it once was.

He is complimenting himself as a great person because he outsourced risk to low paid delivery people!

This next quote is also false:

Now, nearly five years since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, vaccines and antivirals have largely brought it under control.

While they played a role, natural immunity played a huge role together with the virus mutating to a less virulent form. NPIs – at best – delay but do not end the spread of a highly contagious disease, particularly when the disease continues to exist in numerous animals.

Currently the H5N1 virus has been found in more than 48 species – most anything that breathes. We could do all we want to isolate and kill off cattle herds and chicken flocks – but as long as the virus exists in other animals, it will always come back and infect new herds and flocks.

If this is not the case, explain how killing off herds and flocks of animals will do anything other than delay the inevitable?