The primary cast members of Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Contagion, which followed a pandemic that rips through the world, have teamed up with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health for a series of public safety advisory videos on dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Ian Lipkin, director of the Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity and one of the scientific consultants on Contagion, was recently diagnosed with the Covid-19 disease.
Contagion has witnessed an upsurge in interest in the last few months since its fictional virus is similar to Covid-19 in spread and scope. In the movie, a virus jumps species from a bat to a pig in China. From there, it reaches a cook in Hong Kong, who gives it to an American woman (Gwyneth Paltrow). The highly contagious virus reaches the United States and then spreads to the rest of the world.
With no vaccine in sight, scientists race against the clock to find a cure, hospitals are stretched to their limits, and citizens turn against each other. Contagion is available on the pay-per-view YouTube channel and Amazon Prime Video.
In a series of videos, cast members Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Ehle ask viewers to follow public health protocols, which include social distancing, staying at home, washing hands for 20 seconds and frequently, and disinfecting all surfaces to reduce the chances of the virus entering your body.