Ellen Pompeo Weighs In On If There Could Be a Coronavirus Episode on 'Grey's Anatomy'

Ellen Pompeo is opening up about future episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and weighing in on the possibility of the show focusing on a pandemic, like coronavirus.

Speaking with Variety in a video interview, the actress and producer revealed that she wasn’t sure at this moment in time.

“I thought about it,” Ellen says. “Obviously, we don’t want to get too political here, but I was just watching the news and I saw clip of Barack Obama in 2014, saying that a pandemic was inevitable and that we should be prepared for it. And then in 2014, the Republicans were not granting him the budget, the access to put together what he felt like he needed to keep the American people safe, is how he put it in his words. So, in 2014, Obama was very well aware that this was going to happen and very well aware that we needed to be more prepared than we were at that time for it.”

She added, “The fact that five years later we’re not prepared, some people dropped the ball for sure. It’s disappointing.”

Ellen also opened up about praising the medical professionals for stepping up and being on the frontlines of the pandemic.

“I have to keep reminding myself this every day, and I have small kids, and it’s really more challenging for the children to understand it because they don’t have the perspective that we have,” she shared. “But as hard as we think it is to stay in and not see our friends and not go out, even if the weather is beautiful, I get it. But my goodness, can you imagine having to suit up — hopefully suit up, hopefully you have the PPE to suit up — and walk straight into a hospital every single day and deal with sick person, after sick person, after sick person? We don’t know sacrifice.”

Ellen continued, “Sitting in our houses, being bored, not having anything to do, being alone and loneliness is a real thing, and I don’t certainly want to downplay that. And I don’t want to also downplay people financially struggling. There’s a lot of fallout from this in all areas.”

“Our healthcare professionals, the fact that they’re fighting this fight unprepared without the proper gear is really heartbreaking for me. When people are struggling, if you’re struggling, I think it’s always helpful to think of someone else and think of what you could do for someone else.”

If you haven’t seen, the cast of Grey’s Anatomy recorded special messages for physicians.