Following last week’s highly watched town hall, Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta return to host a new two-hour special “CNN Facebook Global Town Hall — Coronavirus: Fact and Fears” tonight (March 19) at 10 p.m. (7 p.m., PT). (NOTE: CNN has changed the time to 8-10 p.m.; 5 p.m. PT).
Joined by health experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Celine Gounder, clinical assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at NYU, Cooper and Gupta will focus on the latest facts, what the current situations are both domestically and abroad and what we can expect in the coming weeks.
They will also interview a patient who is taking part in the clinical trial for a Coronavirus vaccine.
CNN is again partnering exclusively with Facebook for this town hall, enabling medical experts to answer questions submitted by viewers through CNN’s Facebook and Instagram pages, which will be broadcast through social media walls in the studios, where Cooper and Dr. Gupta will be, without a studio audience.
The CNN program is one of several coronavirus-themed special airing on national TV Thursday. The others include:
— “NBC News Special Report: Coronavirus Pandemic” (10 p.m., NBC): This hour-long special, anchored by Lester Holt, will provide “crucial real-time information around what viewers need to know about the coronavirus.” It will also include expert analysis and health advice from NBC’s Coronavirus Crisis Team, including correspondent Dr. John Torres and top virologist and NBC News and MSNBC medical contributor Dr. Joseph Fair.
In addition to the broadcast network, the special will air on MSNBC, the streaming service NBC News NOW and Telemundo Digital.
— “Confronting Coronavirus: A PBS Newshour Special” (8 p.m., PBS): Anchored by managing editor Judy Woodruff, this program will focus on health precautions for individuals and the public at large, as well as the pandemic’s economic impact in both the United States and globally.
Also featured: Interviews with officials, reporting from special correspondents throughout the world and a virtual town hall with curated questions from people across America. The town hall will be moderated by correspondents Amna Nawaz and William Brangham.
