Hi, it's NPR's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Not to bum you out, but I saw someone on Twitter the other day make a bleak joke about how we're about to enter year three, the pandemic. And I don't know why, but that number, three years really elucidated this idea that, yeah, this is just life now. That's a point Dr.

Sanjay Gupta arrives at in his new book, World War C, Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,

and How to Prepare for the Next One. And despite that ominous sounding title, it is ultimately

hopeful in a way, Because he makes the argument

in this next interview that we can live with this, that just because COVID is sticking around

doesn't mean it has to control everything about our lives. Here he is talking with NPR's

Rachel Martin. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

I talked with Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently.

He is CNN's chief medical correspondent and he's got a new book out about the pandemic.

I asked him to characterize where we're at right now in this crisis.

And this is what he said.

If I were to think of the country as my own patient, I think, you know, the patient is still in

intensive care. Gupta talked with the country's top public health experts for his book,

including White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and former head of the CDC, Robert Redfield.

He came away from all his research convinced that it just didn't have to be this bad.

In the beginning, the idea that a pathogen would come and indiscriminately sort of affect the

wealthiest countries in the world more so than other countries, I don't think that really

crossed anyone's mind. And it was a bit shocking in retrospect to sort of hear the thoughts on that.

...