A rare look inside hospitals battling coronavirus
It is not easy to report the COVID-19 story from the front lines.
Doctors and nurses working in intensive care units are so busy they barely have time to take a bathroom break, let alone talk with reporters about what they are seeing. Because outside visitors are not allowed inside hospitals right now, camera crews cannot document what it looks like when an ICU is full of patients on ventilators. Reporters, too, must take care that they do not contract the virus themselves and spread it to their families.
This is especially true in New York, which is now the coronavirus epicenter in a country with more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than anywhere in the world. But this week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Scott Pelley gets a rare look inside several New York hospitals through the eyes of frontline medical staff working there.
In the video above, 60 Minutes producer Maria Gavrilovic, who produced this week's piece along with Alex Ortiz, explained how they did it.
The 60 Minutes team relied, in part, on the help of hospital staff who, with the consent of their hospitals, filmed their colleagues at work.
"I think that they want the public to know what's happening inside, not just because they want to share their stories," Gavrilovic said, "but also to help teach the public why they need to take this disease seriously, and the precautions that the government and others have put in place seriously."
To watch Scott Pelley's 60 Minutes report "The Epicenter," click here.
The video above was produced by Will Croxton and Brit McCandless Farmer. It was edited by Will Croxton.
