For Virus Hunters, Success Means Going Unnoticed

What if the COVID-19 pandemic had been stopped before it started?
 
That’s the world that “swashbuckling” virus hunters want to live in.
 
Through a hugely ambitious international collaboration of scientists—The Global Virome Project—they are aiming to uncover and map 99% of viral threats in 10 years.
 
These preemptive strikes have been successful before: the sixth known Ebola virus, for example, was the first to be discovered before it triggered a deadly outbreak. For such discoveries, success means the opposite of fanfare.
 
“In Wuhan, if three people died and it was controlled, would we know it? No,” said virus hunter Linfa Wang.
 
National Geographic