National Lab Facilities target SARS-Cov-2

The big experiments that test the Standard Model of Particle Physics do more than abstruse research on particle parameters. The technology often gets repurposed directly into other fields of study like medicine and nanotechnology.

Imaging is an important application of Neuton and X-ray beams, and SLAC - once a hotbed of fundamental particle research - now often moonlights as a world-class X-ray light source for studying the structure of proteins.

X-ray and neutron diffrafction allows scientists to explicitly study and record the structure of biological molecules. Protein structure in particular is and important area of research. COVID-19's famous spike proteins have been analyzed - as well as how it interacts with various treatments.

Electrons and tunneling microscopy also help with imagine. Here's a false-colored image from an NIH/NIAID study of how SARS-CoV-2 (small, yellow dots) infects a human cell (big green thing). (see Daniel Kramer's article in Physics Today)

The point is that particle physics may motivate the construction of massive equipment and laboratories, but those machines immediately get repurposed to other area of fundamental research, including microbiology, biology and medicine. National Labs - in other words - are the driver a of a TON of biomedical research, directly related to our capacity to respond to ideas outbreaks.