microscopic photo of virus.

Why weren’t we ready for this virus?

For decades the world has ignored pandemic predictions from the experts. Maybe the coronavirus will change that.

Microscopic, color-enhanced images of particles of the novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2.
Photographs by NIAID
This story appears in the July 2020 issue of National Geographic magazine. A version of this story published on April 8, 2020.
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