A pandemic is a pandemic. The level of the threat, or not, does not really factor into the declaration. That said, most people don't understand this and presume

A pandemic is a pandemic. The level of the threat, or not, does not really factor into the declaration. That said, most people don't understand this and presume pandemic is a proxy for threat. There was a pandemic declared during the Obama admin, and that never resulted in a panic. While I emphasize with the author of the book, that author could have (read: should have) done better than "pseudopandemic." Such misnomers only further cloud the discourse. We need clarity, not more confusion.