Heroic Journalism

David Zweig is the writer who gave us the deeply researched 2023 story about the insane government surveillance of a San Jose church that chose to continue with in-person services during the pandemic.

When a Renegade Church and a Zealous County Health Department Collide

Zweig has been fairly silent on Substack for the last year, but for an important reason: He’s been writing a long book about bad pandemic policy.

From the publisher:

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. In fascinating and meticulously reported detail, David Zweig shows how some of the most trusted members of society—from Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists to eminent health officials—repeatedly made fundamental errors in their assessment and presentation of evidence. As a result, for the first time in modern American history, millions of healthy children did not set foot in a classroom for more than a year….

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.

Zweig has begun to publicize the book, ahead of its release next week. You can read an excerpt in The Atlantic, of all places, archived here to avoid the paywall, and a new essay by Zweig at the Free Press, here.

I’ll be at the bookstore the day this book goes on sale. Few writers saw the pandemic as clearly as Zweig saw it, and he has a gift for stubborn and persistent research. Five years later, we’re starting a real discussion about a public policy disaster that was completely avoidable.