COVID-19 is neither the first, last, nor the worst pandemic we will face as a species. Novel zoonoses will continue to develop and spread as the climate shifts, ecosystems contract and habitats overlap. It is entirely possible that history will categorize the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘starter plague.’ Our hyper-connected, yet increasingly fragmented world is a Petri dish ripe for viral mutation and transmission—international travel happens overnight, mismatched and poorly prioritized health and safety regulations lend themselves more to chaos than cures, and nationalist policies foster both festering global viruses and expanding socioeconomic inequities.