Opinion: Looking for ‘black swan’ outbreaks can prepare for future pandemics
In December 2021, one year into the Covid-19 pandemic, my colleague Alina Deshpande had the idea of searching historical disease records for potential “black swan” disease outbreaks. These are unexpected outbreaks notable for their duration, spread or severity.
Why bother doing this? Identifying common features among exceptionally large outbreaks could serve as warning signs of future pandemics or unusually devastating outbreaks.
