The coronavirus pandemic has drawn attention to the importance of public health (and epidemiology) in confronting the challenge to global human health.

Old ways of managing epidemic illness — social distancing and quarantining — have been dusted off and put to good use. These interventions have been necessary because we have no previous exposure to COVID-19, no vaccine to prevent it and no specific medications to treat it. 

We are as vulnerable as ancient populations exposed to the plague and the Spanish flu. We are desperately fortunate that the virus, generally, causes a non-fatal illness, especially as it is highly contagious.

What determines public interest, and hence political commitment, to a human activity depends on the relevance of that activity to daily living.