“ ... And there have been new diseases in the last 50-70 years — HIV, Lyme. Usually, it has to do with humans perturbing their environment. HIV came from monkeys in Africa; Lyme came from white-footed mice and increasing population of deer, in part from habitat loss. We know the virus SARS-cov-2 that causes COVID-19 is an animal virus in bats and in a certain number of animals ...”
In a simple and effective way, Gordon placed this pandemic in context. History educates and scales the trouble we currently have and gives it proportion. This is reassuring, in paradoxical ways; the threat is imminent, but now it can be better understood and to that extent approached better.