The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

This book answers all the questions required to understand the US response to the Covid pandemic.

What did the Trump administration do? Where did their response come from? Who wrote it? How did it get written? Where did it come from? Why is none of this information publicly available or publicly known? How was masking introduced? Why was it part of a group of strategies?

All this and more are intensely researched with the care and ability Micheal Lewis usually devotes to sports, money , or sports-financials, like Moneyball.

The book begins in the unlikeliest of places, George W. Bush being recommended a book about the 1918 pandemic. Just as implausibly, he read the book and followed up. He wanted to know what the current response would be. He was given a 2-page doc that he laughed at. He demanded a realistic pandemic response be created and reviewed the plan. He took it seriously, but the plan and the team languished under Obama.

By the time Trump was in office, the main characters brought together were in separate roles in different departments. They emailed and began an email group to keep current with the status of the barely existent US healthcare system. With no national system to speak of, they looked to leaders in states. The role of the Chief Medical Officer is explained - I hadn't heard of this and didn't know what it was. We follow a prominent Medical Officer in California to see what the job entails. I was shocked by the power, limits, and responsibilities of the position.

We also follow the CDC and their role, both current and historically in ensuring the health and welfare of Americans.

An eminently readable book. Dusty facts and bureaucracies are explained clearly and easily. I love this book - the opinions expressed within have found no home in mainstream media. I still haven't found this information in other places.