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001			23293207
005			20251017102309.0
008			230823s2024 nyu b 001 0 eng
010			_a 2023018091
020			_a9781668001394 _q(hardcover)
020			_a9781668001400 _q(paperback)
020			_z9781668001417 _q(ebook)
035			_a23293207
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dDLC
042			_apcc
043			_an-us---
050	0	0	_aRA652 _b.M36 2024
082			_aO91 M233
100	1		_aMcNeil, Donald G., _cJr., _eauthor. _957188
245	1	4	_aThe wisdom of plagues : _blessons from 25 years of covering pandemics / _cDonald G. McNeil Jr.
250			_aFirst Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
260			_aNew York _bSimon & Schuster _c2024
300			_axii, 368 pages ; _c24 cm
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 303-350) and index.
520			_a"For a certain class of American's, Donald McNeil was a comforting voice when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. He was the regular reporter on the New York Times's popular Daily podcast, and he was telling folks to prepare for the worst. A generation of NYT readers went out and stocked up on food and PPE stuff because of his clear advice. He'd covered public health for the Times for 25 years and understood what he was seeing out of China. THE WISDOM OF PLAGUES is his account of what he learned over a quarter-century of reporting on public health in over 60 countries: part-memoir, part history, and part activism. Many science reporters understand the basics of diseases-how a virus works, for example, or what goes into making a vaccine. But very few understand the psychology of how small outbreaks turn into pandemics: How everyone from hunters to farmers to guano-diggers gets exposed to animal diseases. How diseases spread through networks of similar people and by "mass-gathering" events. How surveillance fails. How countries respond slowly or even cover up outbreaks. Why people refuse to believe they're at risk, or why they reject protective measures like quarantine or vaccines. How wild rumors spring up and scare people away from common sense responses. How greedy makers of false remedies spread confusion. Why public health agencies fumble and let things spiral out of control. The Covid pandemic was the story McNeil had trained his whole life to cover. His experience and deep bench of sources let him make many accurate predictions in 2020 about the course that a deadly new respiratory virus in Wuhan, China, would take and how different countries would respond. By the time McNeil wrote his last Times stories about the Covid-19 pandemic he had not lost his compassion, but he had grown far more stone-hearted about how he thought governments should react. He had witnessed so many failures and read enough history to realize that while every epidemic is different, failure was the one constant. Again and again, containable outbreaks ballooned into catastrophes because weak leaders were mired in denial. Citizens refused to make even minor sacrifices for the common good and were encouraged in that by money-hungry entrepreneurs and power-hungry populists. Science was ignored, obvious truths were denied, and the innocent too often died. THE WISDOM OF PLAGUES is ultimately about what we can do to improve global health and be better prepared for the next pandemic, which is coming"--
650		0	_aEpidemiology. _957189
650		0	_aPandemics. _957190
650		1	_aCOVID-19 (Disease) _957191
650		0	_aPublic health surveillance. _957192
650		0	_aPublic health _zUnited States. _957193
776	0	8	_iOnline version: _aMcNeil, Donald G., Jr. _tWisdom of plagues _bFirst Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. _dNew York : Simon & Schuster, 2024 _z9781668001417 _w(DLC) 2023018092
906			_a7 _bcbc _corignew _d1 _eecip _f20 _gy-gencatlg