Chapter 14 - Summary and Path Forward for Future Pandemics

Summary

In the face of a rapidly emerging pandemic, there needs to be a concerted and organized response so that the pandemic can be stopped or slowed and patients can be accurately diagnosed and treated. As we learned with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there was no prescribed roadmap to follow, leaving scientists and clinicians to plan and respond in real time. Although the efforts were heroic in nature, some decisions (if they could be made again) would have been different. In this chapter, we address the lessons learned from the individuals who were on the battlefield in their area of expertise as they chartered their own path. We capture and record the activities that took place so that, going forward, there will be an extensive pandemic response roadmap indicating the activities of this pandemic (including their chronology and duration) for future generations to use as a guiding document to build upon.