When is a pandemic over?
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Consider the following scenario: a highly infectious, sometimes deadly respiratory virus infects humans for the first time. It spreads rapidly worldwide, and the WHO declares a pandemic. The death toll starts to rise and everyone is asking the same question: when will the pandemic end? Alex Rosenthal details the three main strategies governments can use to contain and end a pandemic.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Alex Rosenthal
- Director Mateus Moretto
- Narrator Jack Cutmore-Scott
- Storyboard Artist Mateus Moretto
- Animator Mateus Moretto, Luciano do Amaral
- Art Director Mateus Moretto, Cláudio Reston
- Sound Designer Adam Alexander, Gavin Dodds
- Music Adam Alexander, Gavin Dodds
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Fact-Checker Joseph Isaac
- Science Consultant Nassim Assefi , Melvin Sanicas, Edsel Maurice T. Salvaña, David Biello, Merlin Sanicas, Alanna Shaikh
- Special Thanks Alejandra Guzman

by TED-Ed
Out of the three governmental and community tactics, Race through it, Delay and vaccinate, Coordinate and crush, which do you think your country did? Do you feel it was successful? Why or why not?
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Santiago Marquez
Lesson completed
I think our country did the daley and vaccinate strategy. I think it was pretty decently successful, because it saved a lot of lives that otherwise would have ended were it not for us taking the time to research the virus and develop a working vaccine.
Bill McRae
Lesson completed
In the UK, delay and vaccinate was used. I believe it was successful, the rate of infection dropped as a result, and a vaccination was made.
giulia pirani
Lesson completed
delay and vaccinate, i think it was successfull because infections was crushed
Danny Santillan
Lesson completed
in response to Monserrat Blanco Show comment
I agree. With the delay and vaccinate tactic, there are breakthroughs in treatment and more prevention of symptoms.
Jacob Gari
Lesson in progress
I feel that the U.S. tried the delay and vaccinate strategy. I feel that it has yielded a reasonable amount of success, with many deaths being prevented in the long run, but no plan is without its faults as was seen with the scattered response and coordination of the plan at least in the first year of the pandemic.
Paulette Tapia Tejeda
Lesson completed
My country did delay and vaccinate, because most people stayed at home and did not go out for anything. The country also closed the frontiers with Mexico in that way both countries did not contaminate each other. I personally feel that this worked because in not much time there was already a vaccine and people started to have more liberties and the virus lowered.
Monserrat Blanco
Lesson completed
I think Delay and Vaccinate is the most successful in United States was the most successful because many people in my city were in there homes for months and that had helped our community to have least cases and save more time for doctors to find the vaccine.
Emanuel Green
Lesson completed
As an American, I feel like my government didn't take covid seriously at first and tried the 'Race through it' method, but then realized it wouldn't work that way and changed to the coordinate and crush method.
Kianna Reese Antoine
Lesson completed
At the beginning of the pandemic, I believe the U.S. was going to try to rush through it. The fact that the pandemic might last more than two years seemed impossible, so anything that was occurring would only be a temporary inconvenience. As the pandemic persisted, they moved to delay and vaccinate. As of now, cases have seemed to decrease, but every now and then we are informed of a new variant that is causing a surge in cases in spite of the tactics we've tried. I feel that the tactics were partly successful. Cases have gone down drastically, but many still perished after they were implemented.
Emna Abdelkefi
Lesson in progress
I think my country has resorted to "delay and vaccinate" , but before the vaccin is ready, the country has recommended the use of facial masks or coverings and maintaining physical distancing, and now after being vaccinated , I can say that it as successful since the number of daeths decreases.