COVID shows we aren’t prepped for future disasters
A year into the pandemic, our performance defending against COVID-19 does not bode well for how we will deal with future catastrophic threats.
The devastation from coronavirus highlights the need for all levels of government to prepare for, and respond in a coordinated fashion to, potential disasters.
Earthquakes. Climate change. Pandemics. Water and power reliability. All high-profile challenges that demand high-level attention. Yet, when asked, disaster planners largely agree: We are not ready.
The failures largely stem from a lack of investment in infrastructure and public health. The solutions begin with ending the gridlock that has kept needed funding from being invested in projects and programs that scream out for attention. The League of California Cities estimates that it would cost nearly $500 billion to meet the state’s current infrastructure needs.
Given the growing division that continues in Washington, the temptation is to conclude that we are no longer capable of tackling our biggest problems. But American history is replete with decades-long periods of stalemate and inaction followed by rapid advances.
Since the 1989 Loma Prieta temblor, the Bay Area has invested more than $70 billion in earthquake preparedness. That includes improvements to transportation infrastructure ($19.6 billion), acute-care facilities at hospitals ($18.8 billion), school facilities ($8 billion to $12 billion), water-supply systems ($5.9 billion), and electric power and gas lines ($3.1 billion).
Despite that effort, more needs to be done in all of those areas before the next major earthquake strikes. One of the biggest worries is that individual property owners are not sufficiently investing in seismic upgrades to reduce the danger of homes falling off their foundations or water and gas lines breaking.
California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment in 2018 reported that sea level in the Bay Area has risen more than eight inches in the last 100 years. The assessment also warned of longer California droughts that will wreak havoc on water supplies, ecosystems and agriculture, and increase the intensity and frequency of wildfires.
California has been a leader in trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change, including being one of the first states to set a goal of being carbon neutral. But the past four years of inaction at the national level is a prime example of the dampening effect when federal and state governments fail to collaborate.
The COVID-19 outbreak doesn’t reduce the chances of future pandemics. The nation’s failure to sufficiently invest in public health greatly increases the chances that we will go through this again, that we won’t be able to tamp down future viruses in time to prevent them from spreading around the world.
The American Journal of Health reports that in the United States federal, state and local agencies spend approximately $250 per person annually on the public health system, or roughly $82 billion. Meanwhile, the total hospital cost for dealing with COVID-19 patients for the past year is estimated at more than $600 billion.
Bill Gates said in January that the world needs a massive global effort to prepare for future pandemics, which includes investing in scientific development, mass testing, a global pandemic alert system and a team of infectious-disease firstresponders. He’s right.
California has made zero progress in decades on its urgent need to secure a reliable source of water for future generations. Gov. Gavin Newsom continues his misguided quest to spend more than $13 billion for a Delta tunnel that won’t add a single drop of water to the state’s supply. California’s power shutdowns last summer showed the need for a comprehensive strategy that will ensure power reliability and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The pandemic will very likely not be the worst disaster California residents face in the years ahead. We must start preparing. The devastating impacts of COVID-19 show the importance of acknowledging and confronting the threats and challenges ahead so we’re not so unprepared when the next disaster strikes.
Earthquakes. Climate change. Pandemics. Water and power reliability. All highprofile challenges that demand highlevel attention. Yet, when asked, disaster planners largely agree: We are not ready.