The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid by Lawrence Wright. He is a former reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1980, Wright became a staff writer for Texas Monthly and became a contributing editor to Rolling Stone. In 1992, he joined the staff of The New Yorker.
His previous book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 won the Pulitzer Prize is an amazing read and cannot believe it has been over 15 years since reading that book.
This book simply defines why Biden won. It is a certainly stunning read. The pandemic could not have been a slow motion fumbling any worse, and at certainly the most critical point. The months leading up to the discovery is staggering.
Lawrence clearly defines, regardless of political views how this contradicted G.W. Bush’s pandemic playbook for the country. So from the first intelligence indicators of the impact in China, he tripped over what should have been a clearly defining moment.
There is certainly little doubt the White House was downplaying the threat. Lawrence in fact reveals how policymaking was being established by insiders with little knowledge. However, Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger lobbied the White House to take this threat more seriously. Nevertheless nothing came of his efforts. In addition, nothing was even reflected in White House press briefings.
Lawrence even stressed CDC delays in rolling out virus test kits including an initial batch that was faulty. In addition, reflecting back at the time, the lack of personal protective equipment for hospitals in major metropolitan regions led to fellow citizens producing masks for health care workers via their own personal 3D printers. The country rallied around our health care workers and first responders.
Tipping point of failure
However, Lawrence reveals how zero leadership came from the White House. Besides, we can now fully see the impact of his famous February 2020 statement:
for most people, including politicians, the threat in February still appeared small. More than a month had passed between the first confirmed case in the United States and the first known death. “It’s going to disappear,” President Trump promised. “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.
p. 183
The pure absurdity of it all. In addition, there are many overlapping examples of how to completely fumble the pandemic as noted in Michael Lewis excellent book The Premonition.
CDC facing the internal storm
In addition, Dr. Fauci, as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is described as the voice of reason as the pandemic spread, and certainly more importantly changed over time. In addition, he is drawn into confrontations with the White House simply because he made the administration look bad.
Covid-19 told us more about these two men than any other individuals in the country. For Fauci, science was a self-correcting compass, always pointed at the truth. For Trump, the truth was Play-doh, and he could twist it to fit the shape of his desire.
pgs. 529-530.
In fact, research scientists are correct that COVID-19 will remain as an endemic. Yet Lawrence certainly reveals how this could have been completely avoided. Certainly the State of Vermont could have served as a leading testbed since no leadership came from the White House:
In Michigan, the state’s chief medical officer, Joneigh Khaldun, is a Black emergency room doctor. “She was one of the first to look at the demographics of Covid and highlight that we have a real racial disparity here,” Governor Whitmer told me. “Fourteen percent of our population is Black and forty percent of the early deaths.” That led to aggressive outreach to Black communities in the state. By August, the rates of both cases and fatalities for Blacks were the same as—or lower than—those for whites. The vast differences in outcomes among the states underscore the absence of a national plan.
pgs. 665-666.
Failing Risk Management 101
In conclusion, Lawrence has delivered a powerful book. The Plague Year is a story for the ages.