4 out of 5 stars
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For a regrettable period, the Reaper, COVID-19, smiled to the banks as it harvested precious lives across various fields of the world, advantaged and fed to fatness by systemic lies, propaganda, confusion, political greediness, divisive utterances, and denials. But then a set of humane and patriotic professionals, individuals, and institutions across the world put up fierce resistance to its plundering. The battle came with a lot of gains and losses. The memory of this existential struggle is narrated in this book.
The need for the powers that be to listen to the concerns and recommendations of experts stood out for me. After reading this book, I had the feeling that the COVID-19 outbreak could have been prevented or, at worst, greatly contained if the world leaders had taken precautionary measures at the right time. The millions of deaths and other immeasurable losses brought about by this global scourge would have been prevented. This is because experts like Michael Osterholm and Robert Webster warned about a possible outbreak of a pandemic several years before COVID-19 showed up.
Following from the above and building forward, Dr. Ravi R. Iyer highlights critical issues as regards safeguarding our continued existence, some of which include: there are many possibilities of other deathly viruses jumping from animals to humans; biosecurity and biosafety should never be compromised; and there is a need to increase vaccine development.
Despite the levity of some authorities, it was amazing to read about the collective selfless sacrifices made all over the world to contain the virus. I was especially emotional over the conduct of Ravi Iyer and his physician colleagues at the Iyer Clinic in northern Virginia, and I am very grateful to Dr. Katalin Karikó for birthing the breakthrough that was utilized to save the human race from extinction.
I have heard a lot of conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 virus and its vaccine. But I think Iyer has done a great job of addressing them in this book. For example, he cites verifiable information and projects that strongly suggest that COVID-19 came about from an accidental lab leak in a Wuhan lab. There were also medical explanations for the reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine. Readers can still go ahead and verify these through other sources.
Iyer also used this medium to comment on how viruses and other pathogens gain access to the human body, the principles that govern vaccine development, and how viruses keep adapting and creating variants, among others. This information helped me understand how the various variants of the COVID-19 virus came about.
But then, I wished the author had avoided some aspects I considered unnecessary in this book. An example is the discourse on the domestic violence suffered by Lena. There are sections in this book that appeared fictional to me, like the introduction of Mr. Hutchinson at the beginning of this book. The title inserted at the foot of the pages appears to be incorrect. Lastly, I came across some grammatical errors in this book. However, they didn't interfere with my reading.
I rate The Reaper's Dance: 1000 Days of Covid 4 out of 5 stars because it offers helpful information about the emergence and containment of COVID-19, provides information about pathogens' modes of infection and replication, and solicits a unified effort to preserve humanity's continued existence. A star was removed due to the aforementioned negative issues. This book is recommended to anyone who wishes to read an account of the incidents surrounding the COVID-19 virus from an active, professional perspective. This book can also serve as reference material for medical students and a guide for public health.
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The Reapers Dance
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