Battling a Pandemic Is a Job for the Military
Even if coronavirus fizzles out, the world’s armies need to prepare for the next deadly global outbreak.
Japanese self-defense forces on the front lines against an outbreak.
Source: AFP/Getty Images
Even with China taking extreme measures to contain the spread of coronavirus — effectively quarantining 50 million people in the center of the country — at least 130 Chinese have died and it is beginning to pop up around the globe, including at least five cases in the U.S.This is one of the few times when there are advantages to being an authoritarian society where people are used to immediately obeying commands from higher authority; imagine the reaction if the U.S. government shut all transportation in and out of Chicago, a step the Chinese government has taken in a similarly sized metropolis, Wuhan.
Still, the unfortunate timing of Chinese New Year means that hundreds of millions are on the move, and the ubiquity of air travel means the virus will be difficult to contain. Are we facing another Spanish Influenza, which a century ago infected more than a third of the world’s population with a 20% mortality rate? Probably not. But Mother Nature has a nasty habit of throwing deadly pandemics at us every couple of centuries, despite all medical progress – and we are increasingly due. And if this or a future virus truly goes global, the world’s militaries are going to have to take a lead role in containing it.