An Abundance of Caution

American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions

De: David Zweig

Narrado por: Jonathan Yen

An Abundance of Caution is a devastating account of the decision-making process behind one of the worst American policy failures in a century—the extended closures of public schools during the pandemic. David Zweig shows how some of the most trusted members of society repeatedly made fundamental errors in their assessment and presentation of evidence.

All along, kids throughout Europe had been learning in person since the spring of 2020. Even many peers at home—in private schools, and public schools in mostly "red" states—were in class full time from fall 2020 onward. Whatever inequities that existed among American children before the pandemic, the selective school closures exacerbated them, disproportionately affecting the underprivileged. Deep mental, physical, and academic harms were endured for no discernible benefit. As the Europeans had shown very early, after they had sent kids back to class, there was never any evidence that long-term school closures would reduce overall cases or deaths in any meaningful way. The story of American schools during the pandemic serves as a prism through which to approach fundamental questions about why and how individuals, bureaucracies, governments, and societies act as they do in times of crisis and uncertainty. Ultimately, this book is not about Covid; it's about a country ill-equipped to act sensibly under duress.

©2025 David Zweig (P)2025 Tantor Media

We knew

So much we already knew, but even still there was so much we didn't really know. Excellent info for anyone not afraid of honesty.

The world needs this book

4 years ago today I should have had my graduate school graduation, but instead I was forced to spend the prior 15 months of school at home online for no reason SCIENTIFICALLY CREDIBLE REASON. This book is nothing but kryptonite to the CoroNAZI narrative pushed today by those who “lead” us during our COVID imprisonment. David Zweig BRINGS the read receipts and takes the medical and political establishments to task over their purposeful neglect of the science and stats for political games. It’s a fantastic Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn level piece of testimonial literature bringing to light the lies and revisionism. This should be a must read for anyone who claim to have lead during covid. 10/10 💯🔥

Reminding of what happened

I had to stop listening to this book a few times because it stirred up memories of this time period. For me I had a toddler turning pre-schooler when the daycares closed and I was expected (or felt expected) to accomplish work at home in a tiny urban townhouse. Those memories led to anger and I would have to stop and calm down.

This book tells why I no longer trust the public school system. What those in leadership did has been done and there are no take backese. Real science is not a belief system. And experts are suppose to show that expertise by coming up with solutions. What we got were tribalists who made up 6 ft out of thin air, kept and closed daycares and other businesses, and probably killed off hundreds (death of despair, ignored non-covid health issues, addictions, etc) to "save just one life". Teachers and their unions did not come up with solutions suitable for different age ranges. My toddler/pre-schooler had no interest in looking at a screen unless there were singing cartoon characters on it. Zweig points out the problem with schools were trying to force a technological 'solution' while the practical solution of opening the schools was fought.

The narration was fine. Not amazing and not distracting once you get into it.

Good information, too bad it wasn't listened to 5 years ago

Great research, documentation, and quotes. Not surprising for those of us who paid attention to the disparate voices. But,it's great to have all this compiled in one volune.

THIS BOOK PISSED ME OFF !!

Yep, we knew it when we were enduring the ridiculous COVID lockdowns, but David Zweig has given us all the receipts. A book that had to be written, and Mr. Zweig must be highly praised for doing so; for his extensive research, for his attention to detail, and for writing a study that must be kept for this, and the next, generation. As The Who - the rock band, not the governmental organization - encouraged us in song: let’s NOT get fooled again.

Riveting, Fascinating, Essential

This past April, I attended a talk by David Zweig hosted by Lee Fang, a journalist I follow on Substack. I hadn't heard of Zweig's book, and TBH given the subject matter I was expecting something of a dry presentation.

It was anything but.

With passion, humor, and tremendous insight into human nature, Zweig laid out the evidence not just for what had gone so horrifically wrong in the American response to Covid, but also why. None of it was judgmental or accusatory; instead, though there was some righteous anger in the mix, it was clear Zweig had no interest in finger pointing and instead was driven to depict and document what had gone wrong only to improve the odds of getting things right next time.

I’ve now finished listening to the audio version of the book and it completely tracks with what I learned at the April book talk (the narrator, Jonathan Yen, is also great). Multiple aspects of the American pandemic response—most of all, school closures—were the result of panic and magical thinking, and willfully ignored voluminous evidence from other similarly situated countries (and even similarly situated American states).

Years ago I read about how, when planning a mission, the Pentagon determines the minimum assets and conditions needed to proceed. For example, planners might determine that four helicopters is the minimum; fewer than four available means an automatic order to abort. So if the mission starts with five and loses two to equipment failure or whatever, the mission is automatically aborted. These decisions are made in advance because planners have learned from experience that on the day of the mission, with substantial resources invested and everyone’s blood up, it will be tempting to revise the minimums and proceed based on new assumptions. These on-the-fly approaches are unduly dangerous and tend to result in failure and unnecessary suffering, or worse.

Which is not a bad summation of what happened in response to Covid.

What might therefore help for next time would be a checklist, prepared before panic starts its caustic work on reason--a checklist against which policy proposals can be evaluated. This book is filled with them: as just one example, the notion that before changing a policy such as "kids attend school," the proposed new policy must be based on actual evidence, not on vague wishes. I therefore hope it will be widely read by anyone likely to be involved not just in future pandemic responses, but in any significant policy undertaking.

I also hope the book’s publisher will consider a more compelling cover. I think I understand why they went with what they went with—it’s a photo of an empty classroom, with semi-transparent plastic and cardboard screens separating each desk from all the others. But especially at thumbnail size (which is the size anyone buying in an online store will see), it’s not easy to see what’s depicted. I initially thought it was voting booths or something. And even if you can immediately understand the image, it’s inert. I know the point is that the classroom is empty, but humans are wired to care more about humans than about rooms, and I think something that more actively and intimately portrays a critical theme of the book—we conducted a vast, harmful social experiment on our children—would more effectively communicate that this book is anything but dry and technocratic. The experiment didn't make children disappear, as suggested in the cover photo; in fact it made them suffer unnecessarily. I'd welcome a cover depicting or suggesting that.

I offer this feedback to the publisher as someone whose own books have occasionally been saddled with inert and sales-deadening covers (if you’re curious, search for “Barry Eisler Connexion Fatale”). This is an extraordinary book and deserves to be packaged in a way to appeal to the widest possible audience.

I know "must-read" gets overused, and maybe I'm guilty of the overuse, too, because I'd use the same description for Scott Horton's "Provoked" and for Annie Jacobsen's "Nuclear War: A Scenario." But if you'd like to see better policymaking in the future, especially when the stakes are highest, then yes, An Abundance of Caution is indeed a must-read.

Worth the read

This is a well researched, well written and informative book that everyone in America should read so we never make this mistake again

Necessary Reckoning

David Zweig's analysis of the impacts of COVID policies on American school children is required reading for everyone regardless of whether or not you have children. His in-depth reporting on the lack of evidence, shifting of the burden of proof, ideological bias exposes the harmful impacts of the 'following the science' mentality which was anything but scientific. Hopefully, the public (myself included) will bring a healthy dose of skepticism during the next disease outbreak.