For the vast majority of us the COVID-19 Epidemic took us completely by surprise, resulting in a panicked rush to get non-perishable food, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bleach, face masks, rubber gloves, and, of course, mail-in ballots.
Now it seems the next highly-contagious, potentially catastrophic worldwide viral epidemic capable of killing hundreds of millions may be already upon us:
(click the word to read more about monkeypox)
But now you no longer have to worry about how this virus will play out:
Thanks to a bunch of smart scientists who sat around a table in 2021 and thought about for it awhile we know exactly how fast monkeypox will spread (quickly), how long it will last (about 18 months), and how many will die (hundreds of millions). Check out their timeline below:
Monkeypox Pandemic Timeline
This image came from a tabletop exercise conducted by the Global Biological Policy and Programs team (NTI | bio) of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, “…a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity.” based in Washington D.C. The exercise was funded in part or total by a grant from the center-left nonprofit funding organization The Open Philanthropy Project.
Image Source: “Strengthening Global Systems to Prevent and Respond to High-Consequence Biological Threats“, Yassif, et al, NTI and Munich Security Council, November 2021, Fig. 1. Note: This image and the paper it is from are covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. (CCA A-NC-ND 4.0)
To their credit, the Nuclear Threat Initiative has already responded to their apparently amazing ability to predict the future, stating it was “purely a coincidence” they chose a virus which is currently infecting people worldwide.
And, speaking of coincidences, has anyone noticed that there’s been a virus outbreak in the United States during every election year since 2004?
2004: Sars-CoV-1 Virus
2008: Avian Flu
2010: Swine Flu
2012: MERS Virus
2014: Ebola Virus
2016: Zika Virus
2018: Ebola Virus (again!)
2020: Sars-CoV-2 Virus (COVID-19)
2022: Monkeypox Virus
All probably purely a coincidence.
Thanks for Reading!
