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If you watch HBO’s “The Last of Us,” you see how a pandemic didn’t destroy the world — failure to communicate did. Trust collapsed. Institutions froze. And the people paid the price.
That’s fiction. But it’s also a warning.
In 2025, it’s not a zombie-creating fungus we face — it’s a slow-motion unraveling of America’s public health and civic response systems. Bird flu is spreading through cattle. Measles cases are surging. Misinformation is everywhere.
And yet, we still assume we’re prepared — or worse, we’re not talking nearly enough about the fact that we’re not.
The risks we face today — faster, more complex and more fragmented — are outpacing the systems designed to respond. While science and technology have advanced, our ability to mobilize trust and coordinated action hasn’t kept up. I’ve seen what works, from California wildfires to federal disaster response: When communication is clear, local and people-centered, it can mean the difference between chaos and control.
We shaped strategies rooted in behavioral science and crisis-tested messaging — and many of those principles still hold. But today’s realities demand we update and expand them. Without modern tools, deeper community investment and serious funding, we risk collapse not from contagion but from confusion.