The Wisdom of Plagues: Lessons from 25 Years of Covering Pandemics

《瘟疫的智慧：揭露疫情、媒體與政府應對的真相》

史上每場疫情各有不同，但唯一不變的是：政府的失敗

《紐約時報》獲獎記者唐納・G・麥克尼爾(Donald G. McNeil, Jr.)回顧25年來對全球疫情的報導，剖析政府如何應對、媒體如何呈現、疫情如何被操弄，以及我們該如何為下一場大流行做好準備。本書被《經濟學人》譽為「一場對抗人類兩大致命敵人的精彩、猛烈攻擊：疾病與人性本身。」

對於數百萬美國人而言，當COVID-19疫情爆發時，唐納・G・麥克尼爾是一個值得信賴的聲音。他是《紐約時報》熱門podcast《The Daily》的固定報導者，早在疫情初期就警告聽眾做好最壞打算。作為公共衛生記者25年的資深專家，他迅速察覺武漢的一種不知名病毒，將演變為足以媲美1918年西班牙流感的大流行。他的明確建議讓《紐約時報》的讀者意識到風險是真實的，但也了解只要採取正確防護措施，便能降低危機。他的精準報導使《紐約時報》榮獲2021年普立茲公共服務金獎。

《瘟疫的智慧》 是一本「每個人都應該閱讀，以更好地準備迎接下一場不可避免的流行病」(伊波拉病毒共同發現者彼得・皮奧特Peter Piot)。麥克尼爾在25年的報導生涯中，走訪超過60個國家，累積了獨特的見解。許多科學記者了解病毒運作機制與疫苗研發過程，但極少有人能深入剖析小型疫情如何擴散成全球大流行、人們為何拒絕承認自身風險、以及為何抵制隔離或疫苗等防護措施。

COVID-19 疫情正是麥克尼爾一生都在準備報導的故事。憑藉廣泛的人脈與專業知識，他在2020年準確預測了疫情的發展軌跡及各國政府的應對方式。

然而，當他寫下最後一篇《紐約時報》*報導時，他的憐憫心未減，但對政府應對的態度變得更加冷酷。他目睹了太多災難，也研讀了大量歷史，深知每場疫情雖各有不同，但唯一不變的是——政府的失敗。

🔹 領導者因否認現實而遲遲不作為，小規模感染最終釀成災難。
🔹 民眾拒絕為公共福祉作出哪怕是最微小的犧牲。
🔹 逐利的企業家與掌權的民粹主義者煽動輿論，助長錯誤信息。
🔹 科學被忽視，顯而易見的真相遭到否認，無辜者為此付出生命。

《瘟疫的智慧》被譽為「公共衛生領域最具啟發性的著作之一」(醫學專家 Lena Wen)。本書不僅揭露了瘟疫肆虐的根本原因，也提供嚴苛但務實的建議，讓我們能更好地改善全球公共衛生，為下一場大流行做好準備。

Award-winning New York Times reporter Donald G. McNeil, Jr. reflects on twenty-five years of covering pandemics—how governments react to them, how the media covers them, how they are exploited, and what we can do to prepare for the next one—in this “fascinating, ferocious fusillade against humanity’s two deadliest enemies: disease and itself” (The Economist).

For millions of Americans, Donald G. McNeil, Jr. was a comforting voice when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. He was a regular reporter on The New York Times’s popular podcast The Daily and told listeners early on to prepare for the worst. He’d covered public health for twenty-five years and quickly realized that an obscure virus in Wuhan, China, was destined to grow into a global pandemic rivaling the 1918 Spanish flu. Because of his clear advice, a generation of Times readers knew the risk was real but that they might be spared by taking the right precautions. Because of his prescient work, The New York Times won the 2021 Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service.

The Wisdom of Plagues is “must-reading for preparing us better for the next unavoidable epidemic” (Peter Piot, MD, co-discoverer of Ebola) as McNeil shares his account of what he learned over a quarter-century of reporting in over sixty counties. Many science reporters understand the basics of diseases—from how a virus works to what goes into making a vaccine. But very few understand the psychology of how small outbreaks turn into pandemics, why people refuse to believe they’re at risk, or why they reject protective measures like quarantine or vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic was the story McNeil had trained his whole life to cover. His expertise and breadth of sources let him make many accurate predictions in 2020 about the course that a deadly new virus would take and how different countries would respond.

By the time McNeil wrote his last New York Times stories, he had not lost his compassion—but he had grown far more stone-hearted about how governments should react. He had witnessed enough disasters and read enough history to realize that while every epidemic is different, failure was the one constant. Small case-clusters ballooned into catastrophe because weak leaders became mired in denial. Citizens refused to make even minor sacrifices for the common good. They were encouraged in that by money-hungry entrepreneurs and power-hungry populists. Science was ignored, obvious truths were denied, and the innocent too often died. In The Wisdom of Plagues, “one of the most enlightening books on public health” (Lena Wen, MD), McNeil offers tough, prescriptive advice on what we can do to improve global health and be better prepared for the inevitable next pandemic.