Michael Lewis Is Asking the Right Question
About this episode
Michael Lewis explains why the United States, despite its resources and expertise, failed so badly at managing the pandemic. He details the CDC's failures — delayed recognition, a faulty in-house test, poor public communication, and institutional risk aversion rooted in the 1976 swine flu episode — alongside breakdowns in testing, tracing, quarantine, and genomic surveillance. They debate whether early containment and school closures were politically feasible in America. Lewis recounts how the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub offered free testing and genomic help but ran into bureaucratic walls, and, drawing on reporting for The Premonition, profiles the overlooked public-health experts who saw the crisis coming. He proposes longer-tenured agency leadership, greater status for frontline public servants, civic education, and national service to rebuild state capacity.