5:05 AM PST 3/10/2021
by
Alex Weprin
The special will air after President Biden’s address to the nation on Thursday night.
Thursday March 11 will mark one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
To mark the grim anniversary, NBC News has set a primetime special, to be anchored from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, and Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
“I think since we have been through so much together as a country, this was a moment to look back at where we were, where we are, and where we are going,” Holt tells The Hollywood Reporter. “These are all pertinent questions on people’s minds.”
“It was this week [a year ago] that there was a collective realization that this pandemic was going to change everything. So even though we learned about coronavirus before this week, and there were cases that had come to the U.S before this week, this was the moment when it was undeniable,” Guthrie says.
The Dateline-branded special, titled Covid One Year Later: Life After Lockdown, will air 10 p.m. on NBC, with Holt and Guthrie also set to anchor a special report at 8 p.m. with President Joe Biden scheduled to deliver a primetime address to the nation.
“This has happened at breakneck speed. my wife and I were sitting at the table the other day thinking of the words we talk about right now: epidemiology; efficacy; antibodies; these words are now a part of our conversation.,” Holt says. “I said, you and I have not in the last year had a dinner conversation that didn’t come back to around to COVID in some form. I suspect that is what a lot of families are going through.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will appear to discuss the economic impact of the virus on the special, with White House chief of staff Ron Klain set to discuss the vaccine rollout.
Guthrie adds that “as much as it is a look back, it is also forward-looking as well,” while Holt says they hope to “peek around the corner to where this is potentially leading.”
“The special is designed to not only mark that moment, and look back and chronicle the changes that have taken place and this extraordinary moment that this country and the world are going through, but also look forward,” Guthrie says, adding that she expects to give “a little glimpse into the future, about what has changed, what maybe has changed forever, and what will never change.”
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