Lessons from the Covid War

An Investigative Report

By: COVID Crisis Group

Narrated by: Derek Shetterly

Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

This powerful report on what went wrong—and right—with America’s COVID response, from a team of 34 experts, shows how Americans faced the worst peacetime catastrophe of modern times

Our national leaders have drifted into treating the pandemic as though it were an unavoidable natural catastrophe, repeating a depressing cycle of panic followed by neglect. So a remarkable group of practitioners and scholars from many backgrounds came together determined to discover and learn lessons from this latest world war.

Lessons from the COVID War is plain-spoken and clear sighted. It cuts through the enormous jumble of information to make some sense of it all and answer: What just happened to us, and why? And crucially, how, next time, could we do better? Because there will be a next time.

The COVID war showed Americans that their wondrous scientific knowledge had run far ahead of their organized ability to apply it in practice. Improvising to fight this war, many Americans displayed ingenuity and dedication. But they struggled with systems that made success difficult and failure easy.

This book shows how Americans can come together, learn hard truths, build on what worked, and prepare for global emergencies to come.

A joint effort from:

Danielle Allen • John M. Barry • John Bridgeland • Michael Callahan • Nicholas A. Christakis • Doug Criscitello • Charity Dean • Victor Dzau • Gary Edson • Ezekiel Emanuel • Ruth Faden • Baruch Fischhoff • Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg • Melissa Harvey • Richard Hatchett • David Heymann • Kendall Hoyt • Andrew Kilianski • James Lawler • Alexander J. Lazar • James Le Duc • Marc Lipsitch • Anup Malani • Monique K. Mansoura • Mark McClellan • Carter Mecher • Michael Osterholm • David A. Relman • Robert Rodriguez • Carl Schramm • Emily Silverman • Kristin Urquiza • Rajeev Venkayya • Philip Zelikow

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 COVID Crisis Group (P)2023 PublicAffairs

A true American civil servant

As someone who has been working in the field of HIV since 2011, I really enjoyed the passages in the book around this work the most. For those that knew him long before COVID-19, it was great to be reminded of who this human is and all their dedication to serving Americans regardless of administration or politics. I really enjoyed the list of thank yous that contained a multitude of people that aren’t often appreciated in one space.

EXCELLENT book!

This book confirmed my thoughts and taught me more about what went wrong during the pandemic of 2020+. Excellent source of information. Here's hoping we take heed of this book before the next crisis.

An important start

Much more balanced than other takes I've read about how we handled COVID. an important start to the sort of debate this country needs

Great, but more is needed...

This is an early good start, but is only a start.
It is well worth the time, but much, much, more research and perspective will be needed to even begin to understand what happened and how we should prepare for the next pandemic.
This is more than a bit dry, but contains a lot of early perspective into the the US response to the COVID pandemic.
When I got to the end, I felt it was far less than what I needed, but what I want will likely take years of perspective, research, and analysis. Still, if you are interested in an early analysis of the successes and failures of the US COVID response this is a place to start.

The PDF has all the footnotes and a description of the team of authors.
There was nothing wrong with the narration.

Interesting but kind of dry.

Good info but dry. Very thorough treatment of the issue. Clearly showed that American leadership missed the moment and the country’s healthcare system was not set up to manage a crisis like this.

Great strategic and operational review

Lessons from the COVID War is an outstanding work that offers an unbiased, apolitical examination of our nation’s response to COVID. The book draws upon lessons from various levels of governance, from international to local, and supports its arguments with solid research. This book not only analyzes the past, but also provides valuable recommendations for the future and practical applications for the present.

This should be required reading for all

This book should be required reading for all politicians, journalists, historians and healthcare professionals including public health professionals.

An Embarrassing Account of the Tragedy of Covid

It feels like it was written by the people who brought us the pandemic, in order to prepare us for the next pandemic. The tough subjects were underhand tosses that made the whole nightmare into something that was designed to make us stronger. I’m embarrassed for the people who wrote it… Most of them should be preparing for prison and it feels like they’re busy explaining how well they handled the last fiasco