The whole human society was caught unprepared by the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the related COVID-19 pandemic. This should have not been. We already had on hand all information to organize properly and prevent this emergence. However, this information was never translated into preparedness because the current system of sanitary crises management is not adapted. We keep implementing a medical, symptomatic, post-emergence approach which cannot stop an emerging pandemic. The only preventive action considered is the screening for viruses in the wild but it is not efficient since pandemic viruses do not exist in the wild, and indeed, have never been found. The emergence of a viral pandemic is the result of a double accident: the in-host evolution of the causative virus and its amplification to the epidemic threshold by societal factors. To be prepared the society should target this societal dimension of emerging diseases and organize accordingly. Unfortunately, the society is not organized that way and is still unprepared and vulnerable.

整个人类社会都对 SARS-CoV-2 的出现和相关的 COVID-19 大流行措手不及。这不应该是。我们已经掌握了所有信息，可以正确组织并防止这种情况的出现。然而，这些信息从未转化为准备工作，因为当前的卫生危机管理系统没有适应。我们继续实施无法阻止新出现的流行病的医疗、对症、出现后的方法。考虑的唯一预防措施是在野外筛查病毒，但由于大流行病毒在野外不存在，而且实际上从未被发现，因此效率不高。病毒大流行的出现是双重意外的结果：致病病毒在宿主内进化，并因社会因素放大到流行阈值。为了做好准备，社会应该针对新出现疾病的这个社会层面并相应地组织起来。不幸的是，社会并不是这样组织起来的，而且仍然毫无准备和脆弱。