Recently, I watched the ever more popular movie “Contagion” directed by Steven Soderbergh and released in 2011. The intense and terrifying storyline uncovers how a virus, similar to Coronavirus, is released into the population and what the effects of it are. It is honestly really scary to see how similar the plot of this fiction movie is to what is happening in the real world right now.  

   The movie begins with the main character, Beth Emhoff, traveling back to her home in Minnesota after visiting Hong Kong for a business trip. When she arrives, she reports having unusual symptoms but assumes that they are just from jet lag. Two days later, she is found dead and nobody can figure out why. Soon after this, her young son also dies from what appears to be a new virus, called MEV-1.

   Before anybody has time to prepare, there are reported deaths and infections all over the globe as a pandemic begins to explode. Scientists are frantically trying to retrace Beth’s steps before it is too late. While some parts of the movie are obviously exaggerated for entertainment purposes, there are a few key events that are very similar. 

   For one, the origin of the virus in the movie is almost identical to the origin of Coronavirus. The movie’s virus began when a pig ate part of a banana dropped by an infected bat. The main character then shook hands with a chef who had come in contact with the pig before cooking it, which is how the pandemic began. In our case, the virus is also said to have originated from a bat.

   Next, is the introduction of an unproven “cure” that is released to the public. In our situation, that would be the drug chloroquine. While there is no concrete evidence that it actually works, there have been reported cases of it helping. “We need larger, high-quality randomized clinical trials in order to better evaluate [its] effectiveness,” University of Oxford’s Kome Gbinigi. In the movie, there was a similar drug called “forsythia” that was claimed to be the cure to MEV-1. After the news of it being a possible remedy spread, there was mass hysteria. Everybody wanted the drug to potentially save their friends and family. This led to lots of violence, including pharmacy burglaries and kidnapping of doctors for ransom. 

   The last pretty big similarity was the action taken once the pandemic was announced. Just like how it is right now, schools and businesses in the movie immediately closed. People were told to stay home and not go to work. With people not being paid, there was a lot of panic in the world. 

   Now, this movie can be really terrifying, but we should rest assured knowing that Coronavirus is not nearly as bad as the virus in the movie. While MEV-1 had a 30% mortality rate, COVID-19 only has one of about 2%. The movie’s virus also affected people of all ages, while Coronavirus primarily affects those who are older and already have autoimmune issues. The symptoms shown in the movie were also far worse than the symptoms for COVID-19 are. 

   If you are bored while sitting around your home, I would definitely recommend watching this movie to see the similarities to Coronavirus, but do not get too paranoid as the movie is merely fiction.