“How bad is it really?” Corona virus is also the subject of the world’s largest science conference
“First of all, I wanted to talk a little bit about a very special topic, and that’s this new corona virus,” says Bill Gates speaking to participants at the conference of the world’s largest scientific association, AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). “It presents us with a huge challenge.” Actually, the Microsoft founder had prepared a lecture for the conference, this time in his hometown Seattle, about the conference motto “Envisioning Tomorrow’s Earth” (in German, for example: Imagine what the earth will look like tomorrow) – but the corona virus also lets him reschedule.
The novel lung disease could potentially put the world in a “very bad situation”, Gates fears – especially if it spreads to countries with weaker health systems. “There is a lot we don’t know about this epidemic, but there is also a lot we know that shows that it could become very dramatic – especially if it spreads to areas like southern Africa or southern Asia. “With its foundation, Gates has provided approximately $ 100 million to fight the epidemic and develop a vaccine.
The AAAS conference is taking place for the 186th time this year, around 10,000 participants have come – but above all there is uncertainty and concern about the new corona virus. “It was a very big onelarge delegation from China registert, ”says Margaret Hamburg, who chairs the supervisory board of the scientific association. “But they had to cancel again “.
Experts were invited at short notice and new discussion groups set up. “It’s one of the most threatening outbreaks I’ve seen in my entire career, ” says Scott Dowell, who works at the Gates Foundation and has been dealing with infectious diseases for decades. The most important question that now needs to be clarified is that of “violence – how bad is this thing really? “, The extent and number of cases are still not known in sufficient detail to make precise statements about the mortality rate. “From what we’re seeing right now, the mortality rate would be very high, but we hope that a large number of mild cases are still missing in the statistics.”
Trevor Bedford, a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, is working on decoding the genome of the virus. Bedford denies rumors of human exposure to the virus. “We see no evidence of genetic engineering here.”
But at least The spread of the virus had a positive aspect, says Bedford: Researchers all over the world support each other via the Internet and published their findings at lightning speed. “It has completely changed the way scientists communicate with each other. Researchers all over the world came together in this way and virtually allied themselves – and I observe that with a lot of humility and thanks. ”(Dpa)
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