We speak to Rob Wallace, author of ‘Big Farms Make Big Flu’. He discusses how in recent history, deforestation and land use changes driven by global capital have caused more epidemics, his own experience battling coronavirus, why the emergency response to coronavirus has a side-effect of making the population see the structural causes of deadly pathogens, for-profit science and why it is ineffective at solving problems such as deadly pathogens, China’s level of responsibility for coronavirus, how leaving airports open was instrumental in the rise of coronavirus as a pandemic, whether coronavirus will kill off the World Health Organization and more! Finally, we speak to Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director general for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. He discusses the generally lower coronavirus mortality rate in Africa, why dealing with previous infectious diseases before has made Nigeria more efficient in contact tracing, China’s national response to coronavirus, lessons learned for Nigeria from coronavirus, and his prediction that there will be many more pandemics in the future!
