CNN teams with Sesame Street for ‘ABC’s of COVID-19’ town hall

CNN announced it will team with Sesame Street for a town hall on Saturday morning designed to educate children on the novel coronavirus.

The 90-minute event, “The ABC’s of COVID-19,” will be moderated by CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, anchor Erica Hill and Sesame Street’s Big Bird.

The virtual offering will “tackle issues including education, anxiety, screen time and playdates,” CNN said.

“The 90-minute special will provide information, tools to help cope, and answer some of the questions kids and their parents have about the pandemic,” the network added. “[Sesame Street characters] Grover and Elmo are among the other Muppets expected to make an appearance.”

In 2016, Sesame Street’s first-run episodes moved to HBO, which is owned by CNN’s parent company, Warner Media.

The CNN special comes as states across the U.S. are increasingly canceling in-person classes for the remainder of the school year out of an abundance of caution due to the pandemic, forcing parents to homeschool their children and many teachers to conduct distance learning sessions.

Other cable news outlets are also offering children-centric programming, including former White House press secretary Dana Perino with “Storytime with Dana” on Fox Nation, a subscription-based streaming service from Fox News.

“I loved being read to as a child, and I remember Mrs. Laura Bush encouraging families to keep a story-time routine with children as much as possible, especially during times of stress and uncertainty,” Perino said when the initiative began in March.

“I hope that parents will be able to take a breather while I try to keep their kids occupied and entertained for a few minutes every day,” she added.

According to Adobe Analytics, Perino’s storytime videos have averaged 354,000 views and have amassed 6.9 million views in total across Fox News Digital, Fox News’s YouTube channel and Facebook.