U nderstanding the origins of the current global health crisis resulting from the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, demands attention beyond the immediate needs of stopping its spread, caring for those suffering from COVID-19, finding medical interventions, and protecting healthcare workers.There will be more global health crises in the future, along with other global challenges, such as those arising from biodiversity loss and climate change.Society must do a better job of investing in scientific research and incorporating what is learned into responsible and forward-looking public policy-decisions guided by fact and not wishful or magical thinking.Our public institutions, particularly national governments and international treaties, must prioritize preparation and planning for the catastrophes and emergencies that science has warned of for decades.The recent report in Nature Medicine by Andersen and colleagues (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9) demonstrates that the evolutionary origin of the SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is likely from bats (and not manipulation by humans with sinister intent).The virus probably jumped to humans though one of two evolutionary processes: either natural selection in the animal host before zoonotic transfer to humans or natural selection in humans after zoonotic transfer.Under the first scenario, there is the heightened risk of future reemergence events.The second scenario suggests a lower risk, because it would require the same mutations to occur, an event of low probability.The origins of this pandemic cannot be adequately understood without consideration of evolutionary and ecological principles.Zoonotic transfer is more likely when there is a breakdown of boundaries between human and natural ecosystems, a consequence of the landscape changes and the disruption of ecosystem services that might act as checks to potential disease transfer from wild animals to humans, livestock, or pets.This emphasizes that the study and understanding of pandemics and sustainable human prosperity requires quantitative approaches inherent within the biological sciences and specifically practiced by the fields represented by AIBS member organizations.Since the fall of 2019, when SARS-CoV-2 emerged, it has spread worldwide across climatic zones and through agricultural and urban areas, infecting people without distinction.It is a global crisis that requires a global response.It is important that the World Health Organization continue to mobilize and coordinate international action in response to COVID-19.Coordination and a commitment to the common good is key.As UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated, "coordinated, decisive, and innovative policy action is needed from the world's leading economies."As recent metrics highlight, there has been a growing investment in scientific research and development across the globe, particularly in China.The world, as never before, has the greatest infrastructure and talent pool to address this current global health crisis.Of concern, however, is that information may not be freely exchanged and that necessary collaborations may not be enabled as some countries may opt to pursue a nationalist approach to secure geopolitical and economic advantage in the wake of the crises.Governments must coordinate understanding of the pandemic, including the development of a vaccine.Our governments must work, too, to build the infrastructure needed to foster timely scientific exchange and the conversion of scientific information into responsible public policy-both domestically and internationally, for the current and future crises.
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