Engineered Pandemics Are a Growing Lab-Leak Risk

There is a roughly one-in-three chance of repeated waves of new pandemics caused by people tinkering with viruses, primarily through lab leaks, because the equipment and knowledge to create new pathogens are becoming cheaper and more democratized; lab leaks are already common (averaging roughly one per 100 person-years in even the highest-security labs, as with the UK foot-and-mouth outbreak), and cheap interventions like mask stockpiles, air-sterilizing lighting, and wastewater monitoring are 'slam dunk' defenses against both natural and engineered pandemics.