Chapter 6: Stem Education in Higher Education in the Time of Covid-19

On May 4, 2017, Time magazine published an issue with the cover title “Warning: We Are Not Ready for the Next Pandemic,” and one of the authors, Bryan Walsh, highlighted how our “hyperconnected” world would be more vulnerable to “hyperinfectious” diseases. We were aware of the outbreaks caused by other recent viruses such as H7N9, known as bird flu, Ebola in West Africa, and Zika in South America. These viruses had a relatively limited reach because they did not easily transmit between humans or caused such serious, early-onset symptoms that carriers did not travel and infect others. The articles in Time magazine warned us that it is only a matter of time that we will have a variant of a virus that will easily transmit from humans to humans, increase the rate of infections, and cause a worldwide pandemic. Although some scientists expected a worldwide pandemic, SARS CoV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic was a surprise to many.