A ‘Contagion’ Medical Consultant Has Contracted Coronavirus And Has An Urgent Plea For The U.S.

As the coronavirus outbreak steadily morphed into a pandemic, people flocked toward (streaming) movies that appear to have predicted such a disaster. Such was the case for Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 thriller, Contagion, a movie with an ending so bleak that a lot of us would actually prefer not to re-watch. The folks behind that movie, though, are talking, and that includes screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, who believes that the U.S. didn’t listen to the movie’s warnings. However, the movie’s chief medical consultant believes that it’s not too late to save the U.S. from the worst-case scenario, if leaders listen right now to his urgent advice.

Dr. Ian Lipkin — the famed “virus hunter” of academic circles — has also, unfortunately, contracted COVID-19, as he revealed while speaking with Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs on Tuesday night. As Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity director additionally stressed, “If it can hit me, it can hit anybody.” From there, Lipkin (who is experiencing cough and low-grade fever) declared, U.S. leaders must be consistent now to avoid being overcome by this virus:

“It’s extraordinarily important that we harmonize whatever restrictions we have across the country. We have porous borders between states and cities and unless we’re consistent, we’re not gonna get ahead of this thing… What New York, Chicago and Washington have done has been very, very helpful and I would like to see that implemented broadly across the United States.”

His concerns are more than valid, given that several states have shut down non-essential businesses and ordered people to stay at home, but their neighboring states are taking no such precautions. Such inconsistent guidelines even exist within some states, where more rural areas still allow all businesses to stay open while nearby cities practice social distancing. It will take weeks before we know how effective (or rather, ineffective) the U.S. way of handling a pandemic will turn out to be, but fingers crossed that Lipkin’s words reach lawmakers who watch Fox News and their shootoffs.

Catch Lipkin’s Fox Business interview below.

— LoveYouYou (@bulletin2007) March 25, 2020