Uncovering the Missteps of the U.S. Coronavirus Response: Examining Leadership Failures, Political Dynamics, and Selfishness

Harry: Book was loose in a box with other items, book cover was damaged, book itself was fine.

United States on Oct 24, 2022

Jeffrey P. Smith: (Disclosure: I once worked with Andy Slavitt, but that does not influence this review, much.)

From the dystopian mayhem of the previous administration’s magical thinking about a pandemic run amok, to the dawning of a new era that provides scientists and clinicians a clear and effective science-based path forward, Andy was quite literally “in the room where it happened.”

Comprising actual words from the Orange Menace and his science-denying sycophants (GOODBYE 2020), to desperate pleas from White House insiders for help, and wrapping on a cautiously optimistic note, “Preventable” is one of those never-forget memoirs that should be read cover-to-cover and passed down among generations. A med-school must-read, as well.

Highly, highly recommended.

United States on Jul 16, 2021

JoAnne Goldberg: I knew the pandemic was on its way to the United States in January 2020, apparently before the White House did, when clients in China described the horrific situation there, forwarding illicit videos via WeChat. My mainland associates endured about two months of misery, and then the worst was behind them. I was hoping that the United States, with its focus on scientific research and topnotch (if unequally distributed) health care would have figured out effective ways to push back against the virus.

It was not to be.

I started looking around for sources of information that I could trust, and Andy Slavitt cut through the noise with his clear and cogent assessments. I started following him on Twitter and listening to his In the Bubble podcasts. I even bought a few of the Livinguard ("one g") masks for my collection. I ordered this book nine months ago, and finished it on the day that the Supreme Court reaffirmed the legality of the ACA.

The book itself, excluding notes and exhibits, is about 250 pages, a fast read. The focus is on the current pandemic as it unfolded in 2020, describing the collapse of the systems designed to support the United States during such...

United States on Jun 18, 2021

M Arneson: The simple narrative of Trump's arrogance, ignorance, and naked ambition fueling the pandemic doesn't account for the contributions of American culture and entrenched economic structure and medical systems. Andy Slavitt was instrumental in getting Obamacare to function, and he was well positioned to observe the failures of the Trump administration's dealings with COVID-19, as well as to participate in citizen efforts to combat the pandemic in the absence of Federal leadership. Preventable is the story of failures not only of the Trump administration but also of the profit-driven American approach to healthcare, and the fracturing of American solidarity in the face of crisis.

The book combines a broad view of policy failures at multiple levels with close-up vignettes of the real-life consequences, along with ideas for preventing future catastrophes of this sort.

Slavitt's accounts of White House staff, health department officials, and outside groups having to maneuver to get the attention and cooperation of a disengaged and even hostile president, and the need to flatter the President and convince him that necessary actions were his own brilliant ideas are...

United States on Jun 18, 2021

Joseph M. MolinaJoseph M. Molina: If you you are reading this, you and I lived through one of the worst pandemics in American history, and like me, you watched it unfold from the cheap seats. Andy Slavitt was courtside and privy to data and conversations opaque to the rest of us. This book is a memoir of one man's experiences during the pandemic and the lessons that can be learned and applied to the next one. Written in a conversational tone, I can almost picture Andy sitting across the table from me with a steaming mug of coffee telling me his stories from the pandemic. Because of his work in the Obama administration many will label this as a partisan attack on Trump. It is not. True Trump deserves some of the blame but there is blame enough to go around. Read this book with an open mind, the eye of a skeptic, the viewpoint of a fly on the wall and let's all learn how we can better prepare for the next pandemic, because it is coming.

United States on Jun 18, 2021