The response to the novel coronavirus outbreak in China suggests that many of the lessons from the 2003 SARS epidemic have been implemented and the response improved as a consequence. Nevertheless some questions remain and not all lessons have been successful. The national and international response demonstrates the complex link between public health, science and politics when an outbreak threatens to impact on global economies and reputations. The unprecedented measures implemented in China are a bold attempt to control the outbreak – we need to understand their effectiveness to balance costs and benefits for similar events in the future. McCloskey B, Heymann DL. SARS to novel coronavirus - old lessons and new lessons. Epidemiol Infect. 2020;148:e22. Published 2020 Feb 5. doi:10.1017/S0950268820000254 Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Sections of the Abstract and Discussion are presented in the Podcast. Link to full text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7026896/ Science Says is supported by Leksi (https://Leksi.co): the best education and study app to convert your notes, articles, or any document to audio so you can listen and learn no matter where you.