The past several months have been surreal. The images of empty streets and boarded up storefronts in the world’s most important cities and most popular tourist destinations seems to be something straight out of a dystopian movie. For the first time ever, the entire human race is in fear of a deadly viral infection that has reached every corner of the earth and has infected every class of humans from citizens to doctors, celebrities, royalty and heads of state.

While the outcome of this global pandemic is yet to unfold, there are four major observations that can be drawn from this crisis thus far:

1. 1. The Increasing Proximity of Humans to Animals:  Many of humanity’s pandemics originated with animals (The Black Plague from rodents, MERS from camels, Swine Flu from pigs, HIV from monkeys and COVID-19 from either from bats or anteaters). This transfer of germs and viruses from animals to humans is known as zoonotic diseases. Overpopulation, combined with an undisciplined relationship with animals, often leads to bad outcomes. The global community needs to set stricter standards to better regulate things like wet food markets, the consumption of raw food by humans and the ever expanding list of domesticated pets by animal lovers.
      .
   2. Spending Priorities: In 2018, global military expenditure reached $1.8 trillion. The U.S. defense budget alone reached $693 billion in 2019, according to the Department of Defense. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed our distorted priorities and misplaced spending on weapons. Humanity has been beefing up its stockpile of weapons at the expense of healthcare, R&D and medical equipment and facilities. No amount of fighter jets, aircraft carries, missile defense systems or other advanced weaponry can be of any use in the face of a deadly virus that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including 61 thousand Americans as of  the end of April 2020. This is aside from the economic impact of the pandemic on the livelihood of billions of people around the globe. Global policy makers need to rethink the very definition of national security and to allocate greater resources towards healthcare and medicine and less to the already inflated global stockpile of weapons.
      .
   3. Lack of Global Coordination: Despite the existence of a multitude of global organizations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), which employ thousands of career bureaucrats and professionals, the lack of a well coordinated global response to the Coronavirus pandemic has been alarming. Each country has been making its own isolated effort regarding matters such as the halting of airline flights, social distancing and shelter in place. While every nation has a sovereign right to make its own policies, the lack of a coordinated response has undermined the global effort to tackle the spread of the disease. Global institutions such as the United Nations should have spearheaded an effort to better coordinate policies – or at least set general guidelines – regarding matters such as flight restrictions, economic shutdowns, ensuring the uninterrupted supply chain of food and medicine and mitigating the impact of a global economic shutdown. Global organizations spend too much time and money on diplomatic protocols and symbolic resolutions instead of tackling matters of greater substance such as a global plague. It’s time for international institutions to reconsider their mission and role in global affairs.
      .
   4. Limitations of Technology on Modern Life:  Prior to the outbreak of Coronavirus, much was being made about the reliance of people on technology at the expense of physical and social interaction. Coronavirus has dispelled that myth. While modern humans do rely on email, smart phones and the internet in their day-to-day lives, we now realize that no amount of technology can substitute for physical activity, social interaction, enjoying the outdoors or tasks requiring physical presence (haircuts, dining, exercise, etc).