Peter R Orszag, Columnist

Four Inevitable Results of This Pandemic

What to expect in the next several months 

Counting on science more than ever.

Photographer: THOMAS LOHNES/AFP via Getty Images
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As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm health systems and economies across the world, four aspects of what lies ahead are becoming clear.

First, with a vaccine 12-18 months away, the speed at which scientists develop an effective therapeutic drug and antibody tests will carry economic consequences easily measured in the trillions of dollars over the next year. We are thus once again in a situation in which never was “so much owed by so many to so few” — but this time we are reliant not on fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain but instead on a small band of medical researchers.