The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

Various people in The Premonition express frustration, anger, and disbelief at the US response to the COVID pandemic. Carter Mecher and the Wolverines use data to support their conclusions without ever expressing—at least in what Lewis relates—an overabundance of emotion. They discuss the loss of life and the spread of the virus in numerical terms. In addition, Charity Dean lends perspective to another loss: “The greatest trick the CDC ever pulled was convincing the world containment wasn’t possible […] Our dignity was lost in not even trying to contain it” (274).

Part 3 explores this loss of dignity on a large scale. After Dean sees the bureaucratic roadblocks, the blatant hypocrisy and cowardice of CDC officials, the rise of a “black market” for testing supplies, and the ineptitude of local leaders, she’s mournful. Stating that the US lost its dignity because of its pandemic response is tantamount to saying that the US doesn’t deserve to be taken as seriously as it did before the pandemic. Lewis avoids the temptation to editorialize but includes characters who serve that function.

On a small scale, the most admirable people in The Premonition work to fight the pandemic with personal and professional dignity. On a large scale, the cowardice, incompetence, and immorality of bureaucratic institutions—whose primary concern is their public image—rob them that dignity. For instance, Lewis reveals the Trump administration to be a governing body that makes promises it cannot keep—and may not have had any intention of keeping:

The pattern continued right through the pandemic: the Trump administration would claim with fanfare that supplies were on their way to the states and leave it to the career civil servants whose job was to interact with state officials to reap the humiliation when those supplies failed to arrive. It would happen again with ventilators, with the drug Remdesivir, and, finally, with vaccines (251).

These mistakes in the pandemic response have lethal consequences. All the hesitancy places more people in danger—and corporations add a new dimension to the loss of dignity: “It went that way with much of what they needed to buy: some companies sought to exploit the moment; others sought to help [...] We quickly figured out that some companies actually have a moral compass and some of them don’t” (246). Some companies—whose business mission is to help save lives—saw and used the pandemic as an opportunity for profit. Lewis’s exploration of The Swine Flu Affair illustrates that nothing about these phenomena is new. Politicians have always sought to advance their own agendas during a crisis, and their priorities during an election cycle focus on gaining or retaining positions of power. US citizens have always been willing to support people who promise quick fixes—and to condemn those who make unpopular, inconvenient decisions even though they might be necessary. David Sencer lost his career, health, and vitality because of his brave reaction to the threat of the swine flu. As yet, many people responsible for the poor pandemic response and disgraceful behavior seem to have escaped facing professional consequences.

The book concludes on both an optimistic and pessimistic note. Charity Dean finds inspiration in Sencer’s story. She recognizes a kindred spirit who was willing to say what was necessary to help. She’ll continue to live and work with the same commitment and spirit she showed during the COVID pandemic thus far. Carter and the Wolverines will continue to do the same. However, in Lewis’s most personal example of COVID’s human cost, despite all of Carter’s work, he couldn’t protect his parents from the disease: His parents get COVID, and his mother dies after 18 days. Unless the COVID experience results in systemic changes to pandemic preparedness, he knows, many more like his mother will die. He recalls his idea about misplaced confidence and near misses: Regardless of when or how COVID ends, too many will view the entire mess as a near mistake to which the government overreacted—despite the abundance of evidence that its inaction at the pandemic’s outset was a far larger problem.

Lewis ends the book with Charity Dean in a cemetery. It is a reminder of death. While there, Dean remembers her fake flowers and how hard she worked to make sure that no one knew they’d died. She views the things she hasn’t said as sins of omission, and they are her biggest regrets. Dean has shown that she bounces back from adversity. By acknowledging her regret, Lewis concludes the book on a softly optimistic note, the implication being that Dean won’t put herself in a position to have the same regrets again. However, this conclusion gives no sign that the US will be better prepared for the next pandemic. All of Dean’s and Carter’s fears about the (ongoing) COVID pandemic apply to future pandemics. The next pandemic could be as lethal—even more lethal—than COVID. If the US doesn’t learn from this experience, Lewis illustrates, the costs may be higher next time.