Covid-19: In Retrospect

Many public figures have written books about the lessons learned from the pandemic. Numerous ‘experts’ in the field of medicine, science and politics have taken a stab at looking at what went wrong in order to respond better to the next world-wide pandemic. Last night I was watching The PBS Newshour and heard Dr. Scott Gottlieb talk about his book Uncontrolled Spread. While some reviewers see the book as self-serving to Gottlieb, I feature it here on my blog because the author blames exactly what I have said since the beginning–we should have done more testing, early, widespread and frequent. I guess I’m self-serving also, but noone asked me at the time!! Even though Gottlieb was a member of President Trump’s administration serving as FDA commissioner from 2017 – 2019, he also blames a lack of leadership for the uncontrolled spread of the virus. His advice for going forward is practical and science-based. Let’s hope people listen.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has also written a book entitled World War C. That’s a very appropriate title, wouldn’t you agree? In addition to being extremely popular and well-trusted, Dr. Gupta is very smart. He knows what he is talking about and presents his information with hope and optimism. Peter Jay Hotez, MD, of the Baylor College of Medicine writes, “if there is any ‘must read’ book about COVID-19, this is, without a doubt, the one.” And on the cover of the book, we see Dr. Gupta’s ‘almost’ smiling face. He’s very reassuring with his prognosis.