Television networks and streaming services continue to respond to the coronavirus crisis with special programming aimed at breaking down the most recent developments and important issues for viewers.
Here’s the latest:
Airing tonight is “NOVA: Decoding COVID-19” (9 p.m. May 13, PBS; check local listings). This program explores the unprecedented global effort to understand and contain the virus—and find a treatment for the disease it causes.
NOVA joins doctors on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 as they strategize to stop the spread, and meets the researchers racing to develop treatments and vaccines.
Along the way, viewers will discover how this devastating disease emerged, what it does to the human body and why it exploded into a pandemic.
(Note: This program was originally scheduled to air May 20).
— Debuting on Friday is “Bravery and Hope: 7 Days on the Front Line” (9 p.m. May 15, CBS). For this hourlong program, CBS New journalists embedded with emergency physicians and critical care specialists at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. and report on what they experienced.
The show takes viewers to the floors of the largest hospital in the hardest-hit borough of New York City. Montefiore was bursting with nearly 700 patients, 80 percent of whom were diagnosed with COVID-19. A CBS News team, clad in protective equipment, spent seven days in the emergency department and intensive care units, following physicians as they urgently placed patients on breathing machines and resuscitated others suffering cardiac failure.
The hospital had to convert an auditorium to treat the staggering increase in COVID-19 patients – 70 of whom died during the week CBS News was embedded. Alongside the loss, there are victories: in that same span, more than 300 patients recovered and were able to go home.
— Also debuting on Friday is the second episode of “Ordinary Heroes” (Amazon Prime). The series, which began last week, highlights the contributions and personal sacrifices of some of today’s most generous individuals who are going above and beyond to support their communities during the pandemic.
In the new episode, Kevin Hart makes a special appearance to honor a deli owner in New York, a science teacher in Washington D.C. and a zookeeper in New Jersey.
