Richard Horton - The COVID-19 Catastrophe

1 Cover

2 Dedication Dedication For those whose lives were lost to COVID-19

3 Title Page The COVID-19 Catastrophe What’s Gone Wrong and How to Stop it Happening Again Second Edition Richard Horton polity

4 Copyright Copyright © Richard Horton 2020, 2021 The right of Richard Horton to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First edition published in 2020 by Polity Press Second edition published in 2021 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4911-5 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

5 Preface to the Second Edition

6 Preface

7 Acknowledgements

8 Introduction Notes

9 1 From Wuhan to the World Notes

10 2 Why Were We Not Prepared? Notes

11 3 Science: The Paradox of Success and Failure Notes

12 4 First Lines of Defence Notes

13 5 The Politics of COVID-19 Notes

14 6 The Risk Society Revisited Notes

15 7 Towards the Next Pandemic Notes

16 Epilogue Notes

17 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Dedication

4 Title Page

5 Copyright

6 Preface to the Second Edition

7 Preface

8 Acknowledgements

9 Introduction

10 Begin Reading

11 Epilogue

12 End User License Agreement

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For those whose lives were lost to COVID-19

Second Edition

Richard Horton

polity

Copyright © Richard Horton 2020, 2021

The right of Richard Horton to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First edition published in 2020 by Polity Press

Second edition published in 2021 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4911-5

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Fear can be considered the basis for all human civilization.

Lars Svendsen, The Philosophy of Fear (2008)

Hindsight or history? Presidents and prime ministers worldwide have argued consistently that no one could possibly have foreseen the brutal human consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Unprecedented’ was, and remains, one of the most commonly used words describing this extraordinary outbreak of contagion. Those who criticise the slow early responses of many Western governments, or the complacency over preparations for a second or third wave of coronavirus, or the lack of adequate support for those hit by the ensuing economic crisis, are not surprisingly censured for their apparently self-righteous, retrospective wisdom. President Trump led the way with what one might call ‘the exceptionalist defence’. In March 2020, he said, ‘there’s never been anything like this in history. There’s never been … nobody’s ever seen anything like this.’