This book takes a different kind of critical look at the COVID-19 crisis in the US, exploring the growing concern that the response to COVID-19 in the nation is greatly out of proportion to the actual level of disease threat. The important corollary to this concern is that much of the pain and suffering that Americans now endure might be reduced or ended by achieving a response level that is more appropriate to the threat level. The book provides readers with knowledge that will allow them to better assess the main factor that is driving the excessive response level, postulated here as the manner in which public COVID science has been misrepresented by government officials and the US news media.