If there is one book you should read to really understand what happened with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s excellent book on this topic, called Uncontrolled Spread. I just finished it, and while dense in some parts on the scientific aspects, it does a lot to explain, and expose, why so much went wrong in our healthcare system, and why nursing homes should not necessarily get the blame that has been heaped on them.
This is important because the lawsuits are starting to pile up, and the blame game is going to get intense, with the federal government not helping matters.
The reality is that no on really knew anything about this new coronavirus, and all the pandemic planning in place was for a new strain of flu, and not for a coronavirus. Combined with the mixed messaging from the White House and the CDC (and yes, Dr. Fauci changed his opinion multiple times on several fronts), the lack of knowledge about COVID-19, China not being forthright about the origin and its early caseload, and let’s not forget millions of asymptomatic cases, well, it is surprising that more patients in nursing homes did not die.
Although a Trump appointee, Dr. Gottlieb was even-handed in his analysis, even though he could have been a bit more critical of the Chinese government’s complete lack of transparency. I realize we are all tired of talking about the pandemic, but if you want some great background and analysis, this is the one book you should read.
