A Mother & Her Newborn Separated by COVID-19
The FRONTLINE Dispatch
GBH
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2020
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How the coronavirus separated a mother from her newborn baby, and the schoolteacher who stepped in to help the family in their time of need. Filmmaker Oscar Guerra discusses the story at the heart of his new FRONTLINE documentary, [Love, Life & the Virus](applewebdata://30F093A3-2634-418D-B298-3476051BCE10/Love,%20Life%20&%20the%20Virus.) — which follows a mother, Zully, who gave birth on a ventilator with COVID-19 and then spent nearly three weeks in a coma battling the virus. It wasn’t safe for Zully’s newborn to go home to her husband and older son, who were infected as well — so her older son’s ESL teacher, Luciana Lira, took the baby in while the family recovered, saying, “I am willing to help, 100 percent.”
Guerra speaks about the challenges facing immigrant families like Zully’s in the time of the coronavirus, how herthe community in Stamford, Connecticut banded together to help — and what it was like to document the “beautiful” moment when the mother and her infant son were finally reunited.
Stream [Love, Life & the Virus](applewebdata://80B22952-4564-4D84-BC44-D99E3CCE6F54/Love,%20Life%20&%20the%20Virus%E2%80%9D) beginning the night of Tues., Aug. 11.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Frontline Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation, |
| 0:03.6 | committed to excellence in journalism, |
| 0:05.6 | and by the Frontline Journalism Fund, with major support from John and Joanne Hagler. |
| 0:10.8 | Support for Frontline Dispatch comes from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Service. and When you hear the word cancer, their team is ready. |
| 0:23.0 | Learn more at mass general.org |
| 0:25.6 | slash cancer. |
| 0:26.9 | Zooli's case was very unique for us because this was one of our first few cases |
| 0:31.6 | with a mom who was extremely sick and COVID positive. |
| 0:36.0 | Was the baby going to be extremely sick and infected as a result of COVID too? |
| 0:40.0 | We did not know that at that time. |
| 0:42.0 | There was not a lot of data there. |
| 0:43.4 | In Love Life in the virus a new frontline documentary |
| 0:47.6 | premering tonight on PBS. Filmmaker Oscar Guerra tells the story of |
| 0:52.2 | how coronavirus separated a mother from her newborn baby |
| 0:56.1 | and her struggle to survive and get her son back. |
| 0:59.4 | I'm Rainey Aronson, executive producer Frontline, and this is the Frontline Dispatch. |
| 1:07.4 | The Frontline Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation, committed to excellence |
| 1:11.3 | in journalism, and by the WGBH catalyst fund. |
| 1:15.0 | Support for the Frontline Dispatch also comes from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. |
| 1:20.0 | Early detection is key to catching and treating many cancers. |
| 1:24.0 | You can learn more about the innovative programs at mass general.org |
| 1:28.0 | slash cancer. |
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