‘Nobody knew exactly what to do’: Five years on, what scientific lessons were learned during COVID?

Medical Xpress March 17, 2025
Hanna Webster

The pandemic stretched us—our communication, our science, our distribution networks, even what it means to be a good citizen amid rapidly developing knowledge.

With bird flu encroaching and the first measles-related deaths in a decade, the potential for another pandemic is ever-present. Our response to COVID-19 offers a sense of how prepared we are—or aren’t. And it’s a mix of both, experts say.

The early days of the pandemic were a scramble, as scientists worked to understand how to approach the novel coronavirus while health care workers, facing limited resources, were inundated with patients.

“In the first six months of the epidemic, things were confused,” said Donald Burke, former dean of the Pitt School of Public Health and a longtime...

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