Michael Barbaro interviews Donald G. McNeil Jr., at a J-School student event in honor of his award.
“I think it was January 30th, I was doing the math in my head and I realized, wow, it was 50 cases a week ago with no dead... and now it's 10000 cases with 200 dead. And that's two percent mortality and a rapidly moving epidemic. That's 1918.” -- Donald G. McNeil Jr.
The New York Times’ science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., was months ahead of the general public, as he foretold the disastrous effects of COVID-19 early last spring. The 2020 John Chancellor Excellence in Journalism award-winner has been informing audiences of The Times’ podcast The Daily, and he’s joined here by Daily host Michael Barbaro in a recent J-School Zoom student session to celebrate McNeil’s Chancellor win. This frank, no-holds-barred conversation spans McNeil’s award-winning reporting career and dispenses hard-learned lessons from his decades spent covering infectious diseases around the globe, often in the world’s poorest, most underserved countries.
As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the U.S. and across the world, McNeil’s expertise sheds light on what the future may look like.
A brief selection of Donald McNeil’s work:
"MEDICINE MERCHANTS: Patents and Patients; As Devastating Epidemics Increase, Nations Take On Drug Companies" July 9, 2000
"In India, a Quest to Ease the Pain of Dying" September 11, 2007
"Wuhan Coronavirus Looks Increasingly Like a Pandemic, Experts Say" February 2, 2020
McNeil’s prescient forecast of living with Coronavirus today:
“The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead” April 18, 2020
And on the lighter side:
“Ten Seconds Over Africa, the Hard Way” (bungee jumping above the Zambezi River), February 7, 1996
Watch Donald McNeil’s 2020 virtual John Chancellor award ceremony, hosted by Dean Steve Coll.