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Sesame Street and CNN teach kids pandemic protocol in second coronavirus town hall

By Josh Weiss
Sesame Street CNN coronavirus town hall

Sesame Street and CNN joined forces once again to hold a second town hall about the coronavirus in order to educate kids and parents about social distancing, school re-openings, and how people around the world are coping with the pandemic. ABCs of Covid-19: A Town Hall for Kids and Parents — which aired today — was supposed to take place last weekend, but was rescheduled to make way for a special town hall focused on racism and protesting.

Things began with a catchy musical number performed by Elmo, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, and town hall co-hosts, Erica Hill and Dr. Sanjay, the latter of whom brought his accordion to the party.

The song undermined the importance of caring for each other during these difficult times. As such, the word "CARE" became an inspiring acronym for: Cover your face (wear a mask in a public place); Apart (be smart and stay six feet apart); Remember to wash your hands throughout the day (before you eat or after you play); and Everyone (has a job to do to help others and be healthy, too).

Later on, Elmo, Abby, and Grover sang about "the heroes in your neighborhood," highlighting the invaluable efforts of essential workers like doctors, nurses, EMTs, and firefighters.

Elsewhere, Cookie Monster advised against sharing food (like cookies, for instance), while Count von Count provided a quick seminar on how to make sure you're six feet apart from someone else. Did you know that six feet is equal to one canoe or three of Oscar the Grouch's trash cans?

Guest speakers were also a part of the program, with Hill and Sanjay seeking input from Sonja Santelises (CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools), Dr. Amy Acton (former director at the Ohio Department of Health), and Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and Laurie Hernandez.

"Our gym just opened up two weeks ago after having two months off, so we're trying to get back into the swing of things," Biles said. "It wasn't easy, but before that, we had to do Zoom workouts."

"It was a good choice to at least delay it and make sure that the world's health comes first," Hernandez said of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were postponed to next summer. "That's the most important part, that everybody's safe and we're keeping everybody healthy. But also, I think it was kind of sad — it was like getting the rug swept out from underneath you. Nobody was really expecting anything that happened this year to happen, so we're all just hanging in there and trying to make the best of it that we can."

Check out some segments below:

You can watch the entire town hall on CNN's website right here. The first one can be found here.