When is a pandemic over? episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 6, 2026 · 8 MIN

When is a pandemic over?

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Explore the three strategies governments and communities can use to contain and end a pandemic, and find out which method is best.--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. Lesson by Alex Rosenthal, directed by Visorama.Animator's website: https://www.visorama.tv/Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterSupport us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagramView full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/when-is-a-pandemic-overThank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Brandy Jones, Shawn Quichocho, Gi Nam Lee, Joy Love Om, Miloš Stevanović, Ghassan Alhazzaa, Yankai Liu, Pavel Zalevskiy, Claudia Mayfield, Stephanie Perozo, Joe Giamartino, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Andrés Melo Gámez, Renhe Ji, Ka-Hei Law, Michal Salman, Peter Liu, Mark Morris, Catherine Sverko, Misaki Sato, Tan YH, Ph.D., Rodrigo Carballo, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Merit Gamertsfelder, Lex Azevedo, Noa Shore, Taylor Hunter, Kyle Nguyen, MJ Tan Mingjie, Cristóbal Moenne, Goh Xiang Ting Diana, Kevin Wong, Dawn Jordan, Yanira Santamaria, Prasanth Mathialagan, Savannah Scheelings, Susan Herder, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario, Dominik Kugelmann, Siamak H, Tracey Tobkin, Dwight Tevuk, Anthony Kudolo, Mrinalini and Yanuar Ashari. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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When is a pandemic over?

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