[ suspenseful music plays ] [ siren wailing ]
Narrator: An invisible killer is sweeping the world...
If it spreads unchecked,
It's gonna be a lot worse.
...A pandemic, now underway.
I am officially declaring a national emergency.
In a matter of weeks,
Covid-19 has changed life as we know it.
I think we're kind of beyond
The stage of worry.
Worldwide, over 15,000 are dead;
A quarter million, infected;
And numbers continue to rise.
And, now, borders closed, schools shut down,
Cities on lockdown,
And the global economy is at risk.
The economy was moving along just fine
And this boom! We get hit from the outside.
Past the point of containment, the virus continues to spread.
[ static crackles ] a vaccine is unlikely
To be available in the next 12 months.
How did we get here?
The truth is that we know
A lot about these kind of viruses
And it was kind of waiting to happen.
And when and how will this crisis end?
We are in a real fog of war moment.
The question is how big is it gonna be?
How out of control is it gonna get?
[ siren wailing ] there could be other diseases
That will emerge in the future.
This is not the last one.
♪
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
[ static crackles ]
♪
America is in turmoil,
As a never-before-seen virus, covid-19,
Sweeps across the country.
All 54 states, territories, and the district of columbia
Have declared a state of emergency.
Narrator: As the nation reels from the rapid spread of the disease
And the severe measures being undertaken to stop it,
A shocking new reality sets in.
We are two weeks or three weeks away
From running out of the supplies we need most for our hospitals.
[ coughing ]
It was like drowning on dry land.
We direct a statewide order
For people to stay at home.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
Narrator: Covid-19 is thought
To have crept into the u.S. Through one man from seattle,
Just two months ago,
But the story of this pandemic begins
Across the globe, weeks before.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
December 19, 2019.
A mysterious disease appears in the chinese city of wuhan.
With a population of 11 million,
The largest city in hubei province.
The first thing we saw was we saw a photo
That had been posted on twitter
And it said that there had been a number of cases
Of atypical pneumonia occurring in that city.
A cluster of individuals had presented
With severe respiratory distress, and some had died.
♪
Narrator: Local doctors suspect
That something is very wrong in the city.
When you normally treat 10 cases of pneumonia a week
And you're suddenly treating 50,
You realize something's going on here.
Narrator: Finding a link between patients is key to unlocking the mystery.
♪
Twenty-something cases
Had visited the huanan seafood market
And so, it was believed that this particular outbreak
[ siren chiming ] had something to do with that market.
Narrator: A new killer is on the loose.
An entirely new pathogen, something that's completely
Unlike anything we've seen before.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
Narrator: And the timing couldn't be worse.
♪
It's chinese new year,
[ fireworks exploding ] the biggest annual celebration in the country.
Travelers come and go from all corners of the world
And many of them are, or will soon be,
Unknowing carriers of a terrifying new disease.
[ sirens wailing ]
Scientists think this could be a new outbreak of sars,
A highly lethal respiratory infection
That struck down thousands in 2003.
If this new outbreak is anywhere near as contagious,
The impact globally could be alarming.
Anytime you have a virus that is somewhat lethal,
But highly transmissible, it has the potential to reach
Millions and millions and millions of people.
♪
Narrator: Initially, the chinese authorities are slow
To take action to contain the outbreak,
Even though doctors on the front line are sounding the alarm.
Dr. Li wenliang,
Tried to warn some of his colleagues that,
"something's going on here.
It's quite worrisome. Watch out.
Try to protect yourself."
Narrator: But just one month after doctors first noticed symptoms,
The outbreak is growing in intensity,
With 201 cases and three deaths.
♪
Over the next two days, infections triple.
Deaths rise fivefold.
Things went crazy in china.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
Narrator: A few weeks into the crisis, china's response is simple.
Find every case, isolate them, stop the chains of transmission.
Narrator: Chinese authorities begin to lock down the city of wuhan.
They started to quarantine the entire wuhan city
And that the quarantine measures also be expanded
To the surrounding cities.
[ siren wailing ] narrator: But the virus continues
To wreak havoc in wuhan.
Rohn: People were queuing, lining up at hospitals,
Trying to get treated.
There were people in corridors
And there were, of course,
Reports of people who had died in their homes
Because they weren't allowed to go to the hospital.
There were a lot of scary images coming out in those early days.
♪
Wuhan, under siege.
Day 3.
I'm taking a walk outside.
Narrator: American teacher diana adama
Documents the reality of life in wuhan as the lockdown hits.
Everything's closed.
Everything.
No shops are open.
No more good food.
[ melancholy tune plays ]
There was this eeriness in the air,
This feeling in the air.
♪
It just didn't seem normal.
There were no cars, at one point.
I'm on the edge of the city, but there was like nothing.
♪
Sunday morning,
It hit me.
"what's going on?
What's happening?
What is this virus?
Where did it come from?"
♪
I went to hospitals, looking for [crying] the foreign people.
♪
Sorry.
♪
[ suspenseful music plays ] [ static crackles ]
Narrator: As the chinese authorities
Lock down the city of 11 million people,
Their strategy assumes that only a victim
Showing obvious symptoms, like fever and a cough,
Will spread the virus.
This will turn out to be a serious error.
Rohn: The worst possible scenario is
If you have people who are spreading virus,
Even though they don't have symptoms themselves,
They don't know they're sick,
So they don't know that they should self-isolate.
They don't know that they should seek help
And there they are, out in the community,
Spreading the virus.
[ static crackles ]
Narrator: As more cases begin showing up
In other big cities in china,
Like beijing, a city with roughly 20 million people,
It's clear the strategy in wuhan has failed.
[ monitor beeping ]
By January 19th, the virus is finally identified.
It's a new type of what's called coronavirus.
A varied group of viruses, first identified in the mid-1960s,
Known to cause symptoms as simple as a common cold
To very dangerous and deadly respiratory ailments.
And now, it's appearing throughout asia,
In thailand, singapore,
Hong kong, south korea, and japan,
All countries within traveling distance of wuhan.
♪
And it is about to reach america.
On the 19th of January, in washington state,
A man, 35 years old,
Developed some worrying symptoms,
Took himself to his local doctor,
And was ultimately diagnosed
With the first case of coronavirus
In the united states.
Narrator: Four days earlier, he had returned from a trip to wuhan.
He insists he hadn't come
Into contact with anyone who was ill.
Uncertainty about how the virus is transmitted continues to grow
And the u.S. Is totally unprepared
For the catastrophe that's about to unfold.
We are in a real fog of war moment.
The question is how big is it gonna be?
How out of control is it gonna get?
♪
[ suspenseful music plays ]
[ clamoring ]
Narrator: The end of January 2020
[ siren chiming ] sees shocking global news.
A new coronavirus, referred to as a novel coronavirus,
As it is unique to its class,
Has now spread across four continents.
There are over 1,500 new cases emerging every day,
With scientists working 24/7
To figure out what they're dealing with.
The world health organization
Declares a global health emergency.
The novel coronavirus outbreak
Is a public health emergency of international concern.
Narrator: How is the virus moving so quickly?
An outbreak on a cruise ship shows just how dangerous
The virus can be in a dense population.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
In mid-January,
The diamond princess cruise ship sails off
From the japanese port of yokohama to hong kong
With 2,700 passengers
And 1,000 crew members.
Rebecca and kent frazier, from the u.S.,
Are among those sailing on the 14-day voyage,
Excited for the trip of a lifetime.
We're enjoying the ports that we went into.
We met a lot of really fun people onboard
And made some good friends.
It was super fun.
Another passenger is an 80-year-old man
Who leaves the boat in hong kong,
Five days into the journey,
Because he's ill.
He is hospitalized and diagnosed with the disease,
But the ship is already back at sea.
♪
On the advice of japanese medical professionals,
The ship is locked into quarantine for 14 days.
They boarded the ship and went door to door,
Testing everybody's temperature.
♪
After two days of quarantine,
A health screening reveals that rebecca has the virus.
♪
We found out this morning that 41 more people
Had been tested positive for coronavirus
And come to find out
That I was one of those 41 people.
Within an hour, she is taken off the ship
And placed in an isolation ward at a japanese hospital.
Yeah, fun times.
So, anyway.
Yeah, this sucks.
It will be a month before rebecca
Is given the all-clear
And allowed to leave the hospital
To rejoin her husband, kent.
You u.S. Citizen.
Yeah. U.S.A.
By the time the quarantine is lifted,
A total of seven people die,
And around 700 test positive for the virus.
Without isolation and quarantine measures,
Scientists estimate the number infected
Could've been closer to 3,000.
What happened on the diamond princess
Was really scary.
Led to a lot of panic.
Led to a lot of news coverage.
That showed us that the disease, under the right circumstances,
Can spread really quickly.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
See? See for --
♪
Narrator: Scientists know
That the novel coronavirus grabbing world attention
Belongs to a family of several different viruses,
From the common cold to the deadly sars.
Most people have been in contact
With some form of coronavirus in their lifetime,
But this is a new strain.
To fight it, more information is needed.
♪
And, on February 11th,
A team of scientists
At the department of pathology in beijing
Finally unravel the dna within the virus.
Sharing 80% of its makeup with sars,
The disease is identified and named, for the first time,
As covid-19.
A virus, people say sometimes,
Is a piece of bad news wrapped in protein.
It is a vector for getting genetic information into a cell
And that genetic information
Just contains a blueprint to make more viruses.
They were able to tell that, although this virus was new,
It was closely related to the original sars virus.
Narrator: The previous sars epidemic was deadly,
Killing over 800 people in eight months.
But in just three months,
[ siren wailing ] covid-19 has already infected over 200,000 people,
And claimed over 8,000 lives,
Making it over 20 times more deadly than sars.
Scientists are faced with the reality
That this outbreak is much worse.
♪
Crucially, they need to find out how
To efficiently diagnose and treat covid-19.
80% of those infected will experience mild symptoms,
Typically starting with a high fever, over 99.5°.
Other mild symptoms include a dry cough or aches and pains.
But for a few, symptoms can become severe.
The way that covid-19 causes disease is by infecting cells
In what we call the lower respiratory system,
So into your lungs,
And that infection in your lower lungs causes pneumonia
And that pneumonia makes it very difficult to breathe.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ] [ siren wailing ]
♪
Narrator: Around 1 in 10 need
To be put on a respirator in order to survive.
Those with underlying health conditions
And the elderly are most at risk.
What's different about this virus
Is that a much higher percentage of people
Require hospitalization
And, especially among older people,
The mortality rate is much higher.
Narrator: Recent statistics from china show
That around 65% of their cases were over 40 years old
And, so far, 15% of the victims
Over the age of 80 in china have died.
Causes of death from covid-19 include respiratory collapse,
Shock, or multiple organ failure.
Preventing transmission is key to saving lives.
Widespread behavior modifications are crucial.
O'connor: Avoid large crowds.
Avoid places where you're going to be in close contact
With large numbers of other people.
As we touch surfaces and then touch our face,
That is how we inoculate ourselves with these viruses,
So keeping things clean is definitely helpful.
Narrator: Alcohol, bleach, and even soap can kill it.
Huang: Wash your hands diligently with soap, right?
Protecting yourself is also protecting other people.
Narrator: But research shows that covid-19
Can survive for 24 hours on cardboard
And two to three days on stainless steel and plastic.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
And, despite all efforts, the novel covid-19
Is now spreading faster than we can contain it.
The best estimates are that the virus
Is doubling in numbers within communities
In about, you know, six to eight days.
Narrator: How wide will it reach?
How many lives will be lost?
How will this end?
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
[ suspenseful music plays ] [ siren wailing ]
Narrator: As covid-19 spreads around the world,
The race for a vaccine becomes more urgent with each day,
As does the search for a cure.
Whenever there is a new virus, there's a lot of unknowns
And those unknowns take time to become knowns.
Studying a coronavirus which is spreading explosively and is new
Is an enormously difficult task.
Narrator: So far, the virus is untreatable.
A patient is only able to recover
If their system can overcome the attack it's under
And, like many viruses, covid-19 is a formidable enemy.
Respiratory viruses have one aim.
That is to get inside a human cell and use it as a factory
To make thousands or millions of replacement copies
That will then spread onto new cells.
So, often, the cells will literally blow apart
As the virus is producing its millions of progeny.
♪
With viruses, it's much more challenging because, mostly,
They use our own cells to make more viruses
And so they're using our own cellular machinery.
We can't poison that without poisoning ourselves.
O'connor: This is not a bacterial disease.
Antibiotics only work against bacteria,
So antibiotics will not have any impact on covid-19.
♪
Narrator: For some in the scientific community,
The seriousness of the situation is not a surprise.
Truth is that we know a lot about these kind of viruses.
We know about the outbreaks, but what we're really lacking is
Sufficient funding to contain them
And it was kind of waiting to happen.
[ applause ]
Narrator: While many governments are slow to respond and coordinate,
The international scientific community is not.
So, in the middle of January,
When there started to be a surge of cases in china,
I made a phone call to tom friedrich
And some of my colleagues and said...
"do you think that we should study covid-19?"
Basically, it was just, "yeah, let's do it!"
If he decided to do it, then I'm in, too.
And so I said, "well, let's start
By just collecting expertise,"
And has led to several groups who are all working together,
Sharing protocols, sharing ideas,
Of how they're going to study the coronavirus.
Narrator: Scientists collaborate and share real-time research
On a global scale like never before.
This new virus is unknown territory
And that has them on high alert.
There has been really heroic efforts
Among chinese clinicians and scientists,
Once they recognized
That they were dealing with something new.
Chinese scientists not only sequenced the virus,
But they made those sequences publicly available,
So that scientists in the u.S. And elsewhere
Could begin working
On developing kits for diagnostics,
Can begin studying the virus and trying to understand it.
And there's some beautiful data out there,
Tracking the gene sequences
Of covid-19 viruses
From across the world in real time.
Narrator: Working around the clock.
Scientists are making huge advances,
But creating safe and effective drugs takes time.
There's been a lot of confusion about the timeline
For vaccine availability and I think part of that has to do
With the steps involved in making a vaccine.
People are working in labs now
To generate possible vaccines that we will then need to test,
But there's a long road
Between that initial safety testing
And you and me being able to go to the doctor
And get a covid-19 vaccine.
♪
O'connor: A vaccine for this virus
Is unlikely to be available in the next 12 months.
What that means is these other sorts of preparedness measures
Need to be put into place
Because we're not going to have a vaccine
And so, expecting this to be like the movie "contagion"
Is simply unrealistic.
♪
Narrator: With a vaccine in the works, but at least a year away,
Focus shifts to our healthcare systems
And their capacity for those who become seriously ill.
Some are going to require to be put on artificial ventilators
Or other really sophisticated machines
To help support their breathing
While they're trying to survive the disease.
Narrator: But experts soon realize there may not be
Adequate resources, like respirators,
Needed to carry out basic life support.
If too many people get sick at one time,
There aren't going to be enough of those machines.
The case fatality rate of covid-19
Is gonna depend on a lot of factors
And may actually vary geographically,
Depending on the demographic of people who get infected,
The capacity of the healthcare system,
The ability to test people and detect their infection.
And so our goal there is
To make sure that we slow down the progression
As much as possible,
To make sure that we don't overburden
The healthcare system.
Narrator: And, within weeks,
This is exactly what happens in europe,
As Italy finds itself on the edge of a crisis.
[ speaking italian ]
♪
I think this is an important reminder
That we live in an interconnected world
Where viruses that emerge anywhere in the world
Can be a threat to the entire world.
Narrator: With covid-19 seemingly spreading across the world,
A once-distant viral outbreak is getting closer to our shores.
♪
[ static crackling ]
Narrator: In the u.S.,
By the end of February,
Covid-19 cases are on the rise
In washington state, texas, and florida,
And news comes from europe and the middle east,
Showing that covid-19 is a serious crisis.
[ singing in italian ]
In northern Italy,
New cases of the deadly virus are doubling every day.
By March the 8th,
7,375 infections and 366 deaths are recorded
And fears of overwhelmed hospitals are realized.
Reports surface of doctors
Having to choose who lives or dies
Because there aren't enough respirators.
Realizing drastic measures are needed to stop further spread,
The north of Italy goes into lockdown.
Northern Italy has been shut down,
Full quarantine, or lockdown of that area.
This is like the ultimate social distancing,
To lock down the city, give advice to stay at home.
♪
Narrator: Italy's crisis
Is soon followed by news from iran
That it is also overwhelmed by cases
And a spiraling death rate.
♪
American experts continue to look at past pandemics
For clues for containment.
The last pandemic to strike america was in 2009.
The swine flu outbreak began in March in mexico
And hit america within a month.
♪
It infected 60 million u.S. Citizens,
Put a quarter million people in the hospital,
And killed 12,000.
When we had the 2009 outbreak,
That virus was highly contagious
And went through the globe very, very quickly,
But it didn't cause severe disease in very many people.
So, in a sense, covid-19 is blending
The transmissibility of that flu with the severity of sars.
♪
Narrator: The fact that covid-19 is easily spread and so deadly
Makes it a major threat.
Even taking public transportation
Could put you in the line of fire.
You have necessity of transportation,
But also wanting to create a barrier,
So you don't breathe in, necessarily,
Everything that's floating around.
We define close contact as six feet
And, if you're within six feet of somebody who's symptomatic,
It's possible to contract the infection.
♪
The only thing that can slow the spread in our connected world
Is isolating those who are infected.
To do that,
Tracking of the progress of the disease is essential.
But is the united states prepared?
♪
In washington state, there is a wake-up call.
A nursing home reports an outbreak within its walls.
None of the residents have been abroad.
The virus is now spreading within their community.
A care home or hospital
Is absolutely the worst place [laughs] to be if a virus hits.
These people have no immunity to the virus.
It's a brand-new virus
And this can predispose you to much, much worse disease.
Narrator: The nursing home staff appeal for virus test kits,
But none are available.
♪
Starting in January,
Most of the world implements a test backed
By the world health organization,
But the u.S. Centers for disease control and prevention
Insists on creating its own diagnostic test.
Rohn: The idea was get it out there as quickly as you can
And don't worry about the fine print.
In the old days,
If you wanted to develop a diagnostic test for a disease,
You know, it has to go through months and months of testing.
Narrator: But some of the first tests made available in the u.S.
Are found to be faulty.
♪
So, it's not surprising that early tests that were rushed out
Were not completely foolproof.
♪
If you look at the washington state situation,
Estimates that that virus that cropped up eventually
Had been circulating for weeks undetected.
♪
Narrator: By March 11th,
118,000 cases of covid-19 have been found in 114 countries
And 4,291 people have lost their lives.
The world health organization confirms a pandemic.
Containment has already failed.
There are cases on every continent,
Except for antarctica.
The virus is spreading all over the world.
Narrator: Scientists tracking this increasingly global threat
Continue investigating its origins.
♪
During the 2003 sars epidemic,
Scientists discovered bats in caves near the origin city
Were carrying a strain of coronavirus.
They hypothesized that the virus made human contact
Through animal markets and mutated into sars.
In the family tree of coronaviruses,
There are a lot of different bat coronaviruses,
But there are only a few different human coronaviruses.
Coronaviruses are ultimately bat viruses
That find their way into humans.
♪
Narrator: And, sure enough,
As chinese scientists compare the original cases of sars
And the new coronavirus outbreak,
There's a striking connection.
The outbreak appeared to have originated in a wild food market
Where there are a lot of exotic animals.
At the wet animal market in wuhan,
Several exotic species are slaughtered on-site,
Including bats.
One particular species,
Belonging to the horseshoe bat family,
Is known to be infected
With a particular strain of the coronavirus.
The normal circulating strain in the bats
Probably isn't causing much of a disease,
But when it reaches humans,
That's when all havoc breaks out
Because it's in a new environment.
♪
Narrator: It's not uncommon for a virus to cross between species.
Over half of the world's known infectious diseases spread
From animals to humans.
In the 20th century,
Virus that infects monkeys and great apes in africa,
Called simian immunodeficiency virus, or siv,
Jumped into people and started an outbreak that became
What we now know as hiv.
Ebola is also thought to be an example
Of a genetic virus likely spread from bats.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
Narrator: Viruses like this
Haunt our increasingly populated world.
This new coronavirus, covid-19,
Might create the full-blown pandemic
Scientists have long predicted.
We have to treat every epidemic as if it's the big one
And this might actually be the big one.
[ suspenseful music climbs ]
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
Narrator: By early March,
It's clear that international efforts
To stop the spread of the deadly covid-19 virus
Have failed.
For a virus that started in one province of china,
In a matter of weeks,
It now spans all six continents.
♪
Identifying the cases through diagnostic testing
Is essential
For managing and ultimately stopping the outbreak,
But the united states testing strategy lags
Behind other countries, like south korea and singapore.
[ camera shutter clicking continuously ]
Rohn: The diagnostic test is pretty much
The main weapon in our arsenal to prevent onward spread.
You need to identify who's been exposed.
You need to trace all their contacts
And everybody has to be tested very quickly.
♪
Narrator: In the u.S., a severe shortage of tests early on
Means that important weeks are lost.
As the cdc finally approves a reliable test kit,
The white house attempts to reassure the country.
Anybody right now.
And yesterday,
Anybody that needs a test, gets a test.
They're there.
They have the tests.
But with demand high,
There are test shortages around the country.
[ rapid beeping ]
At the beginning of March,
The u.S. Had the lowest rate
Of coronavirus testing per capita
Of any developed country.
Lucey: It's a huge failure.
The situation in the united states
Was really inexcusable
And highly counterproductive and extremely dangerous.
♪
Narrator: Because tests are in such short supply,
The criteria to get one is stringent.
♪
When you can't diagnose,
You don't know who's gonna fall sick,
That's a bad news story.
Narrator: Uncertainty about the spread of the disease triggers panic.
As sickness spreads,
Factories and businesses around the world
Feel the effects.
Workers become sick,
Governments mandate store and restaurant closures,
And the global and u.S. Economies
Face brutal consequences.
Mcdaniel: We've not seen anything like this in modern times.
Covid-19, I think, is a stress test
For the global economy, in a lot of ways.
Most systems are built
For a reasonable range of scenarios.
Covid-19 is not necessarily within that range.
Narrator: The international stock markets are quick to react.
On March 12th,
The dow jones suffers its single biggest drop
Since 1987's black Monday.
This could result in a public health 9/11,
Where, no matter how many cases we have,
We're going to see effects on the economy and on society
That are gonna be much larger
Than the impacts of the virus itself.
♪
Narrator: Supply chains from china begin to shut down...
♪
...And the travel sector soon feels the stress.
As the panicked public cancels vacations and business trips,
Airlines announce route cancelations
And the industry is forced to seek $50 billion
In financial aid from the u.S. Government.
♪
Travel and tourism sector is 10% of the global economy
And it's not just 10%.
So, for every $1 spent in travel and tourism,
Another 72 cents of economic activity is generated.
So, it has big indirect effects.
Narrator: The coronavirus fallout is suddenly felt
At the most local level.
♪
Within a 48-hour period,
Colleges are closed;
Festivals and conferences are canceled;
Businesses shift to work from home;
And, as experts issue warnings to avoid crowds,
Shoppers and diners stay home.
You're going to see more business failures,
Rapid rise of the unemployment,
And that could lead to a serious global recession.
♪
In an attempt to curb the economic decline,
The trump administration announces plans
To send relief funds to every household.
But supply chain concerns mean that money
May not be able to secure the medicine
And supplies needed to survive this pandemic.
What happens with this viral infection
Is that the lung gets damaged and then you're susceptible
To bacterial, what call secondary or super, infections,
Which can be treated with antibiotics,
But if you can't get them
Because of the disrupted supply chain,
Then that patient's likely to die.
U.S. Pharmaceutical firms, they don't have more
Than like three or four months of supply,
You know, in terms of stock.
We're already facing this potential shortage.
According to fda,
One truck is already a supply shortage problem.
♪
Narrator: A new era of uncertainty and panic
Descends upon the world,
With no timeline for when it will all end
And what life will be like when it does.
[ camera shutter clicking continuously ]
Mcdaniel: The question is will banks put a pause on loans?
Will your landlord put a pause on rent?
And we really just have to basically survive
Our life in our homes, not spreading the infection,
And then, when somebody pushed play again on the economy,
We would all go back to exactly how we were before.
[ camera shutter clicking ]
Narrator: But no one yet knows what lies ahead with this pandemic.
♪
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]
♪
Narrator: By mid-March 2020,
The entire world is reeling
From the impact of covid-19.
The news seems to get worse every day.
I think that it would be a mistake to think that,
Whatever happens in our country and the rest of the world,
That it will be over in a couple of weeks.
Narrator: Is it too late to prevent the virus from running its course?
It's gonna take a while for people to resign
To the fact that we are now living
With a new strain of a virus
That we don't have a vaccine for, yet.
Narrator: Efforts to contain the virus, thus far, seem to have failed.
Official estimates predict a worst case
Of 70% to 80% of the american population becoming infected.
With a 1% to 2% fatality rate,
That could mean almost 6 million americans may die.
How do we stop that nightmare from becoming an eventuality?
We hear health officials today talk.
Their aim is largely to flatten the curve
And what they mean by that is,
Instead of the number of infections
Going way, way, way up and then coming down,
They wanna flatten it out a little bit.
Still, the same number of people end up getting infected,
But it's over a longer period of time.
Narrator: Flattening the curve is crucial.
When a virus is past the point of containment,
Slowing its spread is the only way
To allow for limited resources
To be available to every patient.
Among the people who are hospitalized,
Some of them are going to need
Really advanced intensive care unit support.
There's not going to be enough doctors
And people trained to support those individuals
And so, if we can spread the disease out over several months,
We give everyone the best chance
Of having access to those machines
And access to that advanced support.
Today, I am officially declaring a national emergency.
Two very big words.
The action I am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion.
♪
Narrator: To flatten the curve,
Dire measures are enacted across the u.S.
Schools are closed, athletic seasons canceled.
In some states, bars and restaurants are shuttered.
"per our mayor's request,
We will be closed until further notice.
We deeply care and respect
The well-being of our community."
All over the country, people are heeding warnings
To radically change their daily lives.
Mcdaniel: We live in a free society,
That government can encourage you to social distance.
They can encourage you
Not to participate in large gatherings,
But, ultimately, it's up to the individual.
Narrator: The search for a vaccine and cure is ongoing,
With estimates of 12 to 18 months until it is available.
But, by then, how much damage will be done?
The outbreak in the united states
Surely will get worse.
I think we're kind of beyond the stage of worry.
We need to be prepared, at least,
That we are going to have a large number of infections.
We are going to have a sizable number of people who die of this
And that this is something that we're going
To be talking about a decade or two from now.
♪
Narrator: Scientists and medical doctors are doing everything they can
And, there's a glimmer of hope.
Drugs developed to treat other deadly viruses
Could offer promise in the treatment of covid-19.
There's been interest in repurposing remdesivir,
Which was initially developed for ebola virus.
It does appear to be having some promising effects.
There are now some clinical trials gearing up.
There are some in china.
There's one in nebraska.
Narrator: Once the virus penetrates a host cell,
It is able to replicate itself, over and over again.
The virus' ability to replicate
Could also be the key to shutting it down.
Drugs like remdesivir are designed
To disrupt the virus at the molecular level,
Break up this replication process,
And relieve the worst effects of the disease.
They're called chain terminators.
They prevent the virus from extending the blueprint
And making lots and lots of copies.
So if you don't have copies of your genetic material,
You can't make copies of the virus
And they're just dead in the water.
Narrator: For dr. Anthony fauci,
National institutes of health lead
On the white house coronavirus task force,
Drug trials like these offer hope.
Therapeutics. There are a number of antiviral drugs
That are being tested, which means that we will know
Reasonably soon, whether it works
And, if it does,
We will then have an effective therapy to distribute.
♪
Mcdaniel: Americans, and humans in general,
Are resilient and adaptive.
We will get through this.
And, now, it's our time.
We must sacrifice together
Because we are all in this together
And we'll come through together.
This outbreak accomplishes nothing else,
It should be to remind people
How fearsome these sorts of diseases can be.
Even with this unprecedented effort,
There is still so much we don't know.
We don't know if we will control this outbreak
And that will be the last we ever see of covid-19;
Or it may establish itself in the human population,
As influenza viruses have.
And we have no idea, right now, just what might happen.
[ suspenseful chord strikes ]