Outbreak: The First Response

Yahoo Life partnered with Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster Soledad O'Brien for the exclusive digital premiere of the documentary "Outbreak: The First Response."

O'Brien, Executive Producer on the documentary, and her film crew were at ground zero of the pandemic in Seattle earlier this year, and they captured dramatic, heart-wrenching footage and personal stories showing the virus's toll on at-risk communities, notably the homeless population and the residents of the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., which was devastated by the outbreak. 

The documentary is an important chronicle of the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on America's most vulnerable from the earliest stages. 

In the article excerpted below, O’Brien reports on the most recent threat brought on by the pandemic: the millions of Americans who face homelessness as eviction moratoriums expire around the country:

When Seattle became the first community in the U.S. to grapple with COVID-19, the city faced a daunting challenge. How would it care for the thousands of homeless people living on its streets and in its shelters? In my documentary Outbreak: The First Response (watch above), my producers and I chronicled the public health response to the pandemic in a city with one of the largest homeless populations in the country. Now, COVID-19 may force every community to answer that question, as millions of people face eviction and the possibility of joining the ranks of the nation’s homeless...

For people living on the brink, July was the cruelest month and August looks to be even worse. The moratorium on evictions from federally financed housing — about 30 percent of all renters — expired on July 25. The Eviction Lab at Princeton University estimates that more than 20 state moratoriums have also expired since May. The $600 a week unemployment benefit also expired at the end of July.

The documentary was developed by Soledad O’Brien Productions in partnership with the de Beaumont Foundation. “Outbreak: The First Response” premiered on Hearst stations on June 19 and on Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien June 20–21 and is available for streaming on Yahoo Life.