One year ago, wet markets in Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 virus is thought to have originated, reopened for business as we struggled to find our way through the realities of what shutting down meant for the U.S. economy and its people. Thankfully, we are resilient and adapted to a new way of living and working.

As vaccination rollouts ramp up and the public returns to normal life, however, we must not put the past 15 months in the rearview mirror. Instead, we must ask: What, if anything, has changed? Have the necessary precautions been taken to prevent another pandemic? Are we safer than we were? The answer, sadly, is no. And just as wet markets around the world are open for business, so, too, is the door for the next supervirus.