When Covid-19 first arrived on American soil, US federal health authorities were seemingly unaware of how transmissible the virus truly was. This chilling account chronicles 54 days in which the United States made crucial decisions that would severely impact the spread of the virus. Through moving and intimate interviews with public health officials and scientists who had already concluded that the virus had global pandemic potential, 54 Days: America and the Pandemic recounts their struggles as they're confronted with a failing diagnostic test and a president who appears to repeatedly undermine the true threat of the virus.