First, I would like to play down the situation.
For at least a year, we have known that the COVID‑19 pandemic is not comparable to the pandemics that struck down a third or half of the population in the Middle Ages. Indeed, this has been officially established by several countries in recent weeks.
We are dealing with a disease that has very clearly, in the past few months, been behaving in a way that can be characterized as endemic. It is particularly serious for certain categories of people, for example those who are gravely ill or who are older, among others. Public policies should therefore be able to protect certain groups of people.
Personally, if I had to answer the question about the relevance of this research, this is what I would say.
First, the health system is underfunded; basically, that is the crisis. If the health system were not underfunded, we would be able to support and accommodate groups that are vulnerable to this virus.
Secondly, the problem is ecological. This is where we should invest and do research. It is an ecological problem because we are dealing with zoonotic diseases, as we have seen many of them since the beginning of the century. Ebola and H1N1, among others, are zoonoses caused by the loss of biodiversity.
We can always develop even more polluting—I said this earlier and I would not like us to forget it— and destructive techniques that create even more problems with regard to the causes of these epidemics. Furthermore, we must stop locking ourselves into advanced techniques, which are likely to be used by ill-intentioned entities, or to be used excessively.