THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Near the end of 2019, a highly contagious novel coronavirus strain was believed to have jumped from a bat or a pangolin to a human in a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, leading to a worldwide pandemic. Written in the past tense just a few months into the crisis, the book uses information available through May 2020, making it a record of the early effects of this quickly changing situation. Anecdotes about the cancellation of major life events such as proms and baseball games and the difficulties of online schooling demonstrate the day-to-day effects on individuals, but important context—such as emerging scientific understanding of how the virus is spread—is often missing. There is no mention of anti-mask agitators or those who believe the virus is a hoax or political ploy. Quoting mainly voices from the U.S., even when discussing the situation abroad, the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on Black, Indigenous, and communities of color is not mentioned. The cover image shows a woman of East Asian descent with a stethoscope dressed in personal protective equipment, but the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes is never discussed. Wet markets, which exist worldwide, including in the U.S., are presented as an Asian phenomenon.

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