{"product_id":"an-abundance-of-caution-american-schools-the-virus-and-a-story-of-bad-decisions","title":"An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions","description":"A searing indictment of the American public health, media, and political establishments’ decision-making process behind pandemic school closures.\n\nAn 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.\n\nSince the spring of 2020, many students in Europe had been learning in person. Even peers at home—in private schools, and public schools in mostly “red” states and districts—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—among them, depression, anxiety, abuse, obesity, plummeting test scores, and rising drop-out rates—were endured for no discernible benefit. As Europe had shown very early, after they had sent kids back to class, there was never any evidence that long-term school closures, nor a host of interventions imposed on students when they were in classrooms, would reduce overall cases or deaths in any meaningful way.\n\nThe 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.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0262549158\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: DBV.0262549158.VG\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Zweig, David\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: Pages are clean with no markings. May show minor signs of wear or cosmetic defects  marks, cuts, bends, or scuffs  on the cover, spine, pages, or dust jacket. May have remainder marks on edges.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dream Books Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41447211204666,"sku":"DBV.0262549158.VG","price":11.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/6011\/0138\/files\/0262549158-0.jpg?v=1780728746","url":"https:\/\/shop.dreambooksco.com\/products\/an-abundance-of-caution-american-schools-the-virus-and-a-story-of-bad-decisions","provider":"Dream Books Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}