One variable explains why some countries fought COVID better than others—and it’s not lockdowns or mask mandates
BY ALAN MURRAY AND NICHOLAS GORDON, FORTUNE
Two of Fortune’s favorite alumni, Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, have a new book out this week called The Big Fail, that examines how the U.S. badly bungled the COVID pandemic. Partisans will look to see where the authors come down on the great public health debates of the last four years: Lockdown or not; masks or no masks; vaccine or anti-vax. But partisans will be disappointed. McLean and Nocera are equal opportunity attack dogs. They have blistering criticism of Fauci and Trump, Cuomo and Abbott, Newsom and DeSantis, as well as the CDC, the teachers’ unions, The Business Roundtable, and just about everyone else. No one is spared. The only policy they find praiseworthy is Operation Warp Speed, which developed a COVID vaccine in record time….
