Review of An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions, by David Zweig

Authors

  • T. Jameson Brewer University of North Georgia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v33.4615

Abstract

This review offers a thoughtful and incisive examination of David Zweig's post-pandemic critique of mitigation efforts within American schools during the COVID crisis.

Author Biography

T. Jameson Brewer, University of North Georgia

T. Jameson Brewer, Ph.D., is an associate professor of social foundations of education at the University of North Georgia. His teaching experience spans middle school, high school, undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. Broadly conceptualized, his research focuses on the impact of privatization and marketization of public education by way of school vouchers, charter schools, alternative teacher certification, and homeschooling. He is a Fellow at the National Education Policy Center, a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, and a Scholar at the Scholars Strategy Network.

References

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Provisional COVID-19 mortality surveillance. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

Ford, N. D., Vahratian, A., Pratt, C., Yousaf, A. R., Gregory, C. O., & Saydah, S. (2025). Long COVID prevalence and associated activity limitation in US children. JAMA Pediatrics, 179(4), 471-473. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.6206

Funk, A., Florin, T. A., Kuppermann, N., Finkelstein, Y., Kazakoff, A., Baldovsky, M., Tancredi, D. J., Breslin, K., Bergmann, K. R., Gardiner, M., Pruitt, C. M., Liu, D. R., Neuman, M. I., Wilkinson, M., Ambroggio, L., Pang, X.-L., Cauchemez, S., Malley, R., Klassen, T. P., Lee, B. E., Payne, D. C., Mahmud, S. M., & Freedman, S. B. (2024). Household transmission dynamics of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2–infected children: A multinational, controlled case-ascertained prospective study. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 78(6), 1522-1530. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae069

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Lopez-Leon, S., Wegman-Ostrosky, T., Ayuzo del Valle, N. C., Perelman, C., Spulveda, R., Robelledo, P. A., Cuapio, A., & Villapol, S. (2022). Long‑COVID in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta‑analyses. Scientific Reports, 12(9950). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13495-5

MIT Press. (n.d.). An abundance of caution: American schools, the virus, and a story of bad decisions. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262549158/an-abundance-of-caution/

Ozluk, P., Romine, J., Sylwestrzak, G., & Hamad, R. (2026). Effect of school reopenings on children's mental health during COVID-19: Quasi-experimental evidence from California. Epidemiology, 37(2), 257-267. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000001930

Perestiuk, V., Kosovska, T., Volianska, L., & Boyarchuk, O. (2025). Prevalence and duration of clinical symptoms of pediatric long COVID: Findings from a one-year prospective study. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 13, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2025.1645228

Sampri, A., Shi, W., Bolton, T., Ip, S., Knight, R., Walker, V., Denholm, R., Raffetti, E., Keene, S., Allara, E., Jiang, X., Kontopantelis, E., Denaxas, S., Khunti, K., Conrad, N., Pagel, C., Hardeli, P., Sterne, J. A. C., Brown, K. L., Whiteley, W. N., Cezard, G., & Wood, A. M. (2025). Vascular and inflammatory diseases after COVID-19 infection and vaccination in children and young people in England: A retrospective, population-based cohort study using linked electronic health records. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 9(12), 837-847. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(25)00247-0

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Suchitra Rao, R. S. G., Mohandas, S., Stein, C. R., Case, A., Dreyer, B., Pajor, N. M., Bunnell, H. T., Warburton, D., Berg, E., Overdevest, J. B., Gorelik, M., Milner, J., Saxena, S., Jhaveri, R., Wood, J. C., Rhee, K. E., Letts, R., CMaughan, C., Guthe, N., Castro-Baucom, L, & Stockwell, M. S. (2024). Postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 in children. Pediatrics, 153(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-062570

Wise, J. (2025). Covid-19: Major study compares myocarditis risk in children after vaccination or infection. BMJ, 391(r2330). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r2330

[Book reviewed] Zweig, D. (2025). An abundance of caution: American schools, the virus, and a story of bad decisions. MIT Press.

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Published

2026-05-13

How to Cite

Brewer, T. J. (2026). Review of An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions, by David Zweig. Education Review, 33. https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v33.4615

Issue

Vol. 33 (2026)

Section

Book reviews

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Copyright (c) 2026 T. Jameson Brewer

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