The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid

by Lawrence Wright

On January 27, Bowen wrote, “Rick, I think we’re in deep shit. The world.” There was an op-ed in USA Today that morning. “I remember how Trump sought to stoke fear and stigma during the 2014 Ebola epidemic,” Joe Biden wrote. “Trump’s demonstrated failures of judgment and his repeated rejection of science make him the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health challenge.” The former vice president cited Trump’s proposed cuts to NIH, CDC, and the Agency for International Development—“the very agencies we need to fight this outbreak and prevent future ones.” Trump had dismantled the White House team in charge of global health security. “And he has treated with utmost contempt institutions that facilitate international cooperation, thus undermining the global efforts that keep us safe from pandemics and biological attacks. “To be blunt, I am concerned that the Trump administration’s shortsighted policies have left us unprepared for a dangerous epidemic that will come sooner or later.”