So what if the pandemic response was run by national security agencies according to a biodefense/counterterrorism playbook, rather than by public health agencies according to public health guidelines? And why is it surprising that most countries responded in similar ways?

Put simply, if it had been a regular public health response, Covid would not have differed from any of the viral epidemics or pandemics of the last century: The public would have been told to remain calm, wash hands frequently, and stay home if sick. Public health agencies would have tracked clusters of severe disease and treated them accordingly. This would have happened at different times, in different locations. Most people would barely have been aware that there was a novel virus circulating among them.

Instead, the response to Covid was the exact opposite: The media and public health agencies whipped the population into levels of panic massively disproportionate to the threat actually posed by the virus. Everyone was convinced that the only way to “beat the virus” was to lock down the whole world and wait for a never-before-tested or manufactured vaccine.

This book presents Debblie Lerman’s attempt to understand why and how that switch happened: from a rational, medically, and ethically sound pandemic response to a global military-style lockdown-until-vaccine nightmare.

The ramifications of Lerman's research and analysis extend far beyond the Covid pandemic response, exposing global trends that increasingly affect our everyday lives. This book is not about an event that happened in the past. It is about the shape of what's to come - unless we wake up and stop it.