Podcast: The next pandemic is already lurking

Hopefully the nightmare of COVID-19 will go away soon, but it’s unlikely to be the last pandemic of our lives. Because the virus that will cause the next pandemic is probably already out there.

Animals carry hundreds of thousands of viruses that have the potential to infect humans. Buffer zones between human and wildlife habitats reduce the risk of viruses from another species jumping over to our own. But now human behaviors like deforestation and urbanization, along with climate change, are erasing these zones.

Today, LA Times foreign correspondent Kate Linthicum, who recently traveled to the Amazon rainforest, and national correspondent Emily Baumgaertner, who is focused on medical investigations, explain the problem. And they talk about ways to solve the problem — or at least mitigate the risks.

Host: Gustave Arellano

Guests: LA Times foreign correspondent Kate Linthicum and domestic correspondent Emily Baumgaertner

Read more:

Where will the next pandemic start? The Amazon rainforest offers disturbing clues

Op-Ed: What it will take to keep the next pandemic at bay

Letters to the Editor: Do you want to help prevent the next pandemic? Go vegan