title: Decoding COVID-19
text: # Decoding COVID-19
  
  Decoding COVID-19 is a 2020 American PBS documentary television film from the American TV series, NOVA, that was released on May 13, 2020. The documentary film examines the COVID-19 pandemic over its initial six months, from its beginning in the last months of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China to May 2020.
  
  ## Overview
  
  SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease, and has been responsible for a pandemic throughout the world. The film describes the history of the COVID-19 disease over its initial six months, from its beginning in the last months of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China to May 2020. The film also presents the search for a safe and effective treatment. In addition, details of the effect of the disease on the human body at a microscopic level are described. According to film producer Julia Cort, "This film goes beyond the disease itself, telling a deeply human story of cooperation and innovation as scientists and researchers race to save lives in the face of a common enemy." According to producer Chris Schmidt, "This film examines an encouraging array of innovative new approaches that scientists are now pursuing to harness the immune system to fight back. And, we show how advances in genomics, combined with a new level of openness in sharing data and results among experts and health officials around the world, have greatly accelerated efforts."
  
  ## Participants
  
  The documentary film includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name):
  
  * Galit Alter, Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, Harvard
  * Dan Barouch, Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, Harvard
  * Nahid Bhadelia, Boston University School of Medicine
  * Kizzmekia Corbett, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  * Ronald B. Corley, Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL)
  * Rhiju Das, Stanford University
  * Robert A. Davey, Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL)
  * Michael Osterholm, University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
  * David Pride, University of California, San Diego
  * Liu Qi, 21-year-old university student who is among the first to contract the disease
  * Craig Sechler, narrator
  * Jeffrey Shaman, Columbia University
  * Duane Wesemann, Harvard Medical School, and others
  