“I think this particular story is about the curious talents of a society, and how those talents are wasted if not led. It’s also about how gaps open up between a society’s reputation and its performance.”

Lewis alludes to the most useful talents in fighting a pandemic—those of Charity Dean, the Wolverines, and the other freethinking figures in the book. They’re willing and able to deploy their skills and ideas on behalf of the US pandemic response. However, in the absence of proper leadership, decision makers squander the abilities of those figures or acknowledge them too late. The US has a reputation for expert leadership and innovative thinking, but the country’s response to the pandemic shows neither.

“All communicable diseases were infectious, but some infectious diseases were not communicable. Communicable meant a person could give it to another person. You could get Lyme disease, for example, but you couldn’t give it to somebody else. Communicable diseases were the diseases that created crises.”

Charity Dean refers to the importance of defining terms that everyone can agree on and follow. The difference between communicable and infectious is significant, but many figures—particularly decision makers—in the book couldn’t have described the difference. Infectious sounds worse than communicable but is less worrisome.

“The root of the CDC’s behavior was simple: fear. They didn’t want to take any action for which they might later be blamed.”

Charity Dean experiences resistance from the CDC on her prophylaxis ideas. The CDC wishes to be seen as the ultimate authority on matters of disease prevention, yet they’re unwilling to take risks that could damage their reputation. The choices in the book that have the greatest results require bold, often unpopular decisions. Charity Dean,