donald mcneil, "the new york times" scientist and health reporter, thank you so much.very much for inviting me on. >> all right, we'll be right back. it's totally normal to have constipation with belly pain, straining, and bloating, again and again. no way. more exercise. more water. and more fiber is the only way to manage it. is it? maybe you think... it's occasional constipation. maybe it's not. it could be a chronic medical condition called ibs-c, and time to say yesss! to linzess. linzess works differently than laxatives. it helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. do not give linzess to children less than six and it should not be given to children six to less than 18, it may harm them. do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and

joining us now is donald mcneil. it's a real honor to have you back with us.ime. >> thank you for inviting me. and i'm sorry you had your own brush with covid with your partner. you know, nothing is more terrifying than knowing somebody who has suffered from it. and nothing is more convincing, i hope, than knowing somebody who's come with it and unfortunately there are parts of the country now that are just beginning to feel that. sorry, go on with what you were going to say. >> no, thank you for saying it. i will tell you the reason i talk about it publicly is because i do think that for myself and for a lot of people, it is scary to imagine getting sick. it's scary to imagine having to go to the hospital or potentially dying from srt of illness. it is considerably more scary to see the person you love most in the world going through it and being helpless to it. for me it was an existential thing, to see it in susan more so than it would have been for myself. and i can't help but think that dynamic you're describing there and that i felt in doing that is a li

donald mcneil, "new york times" science and health reporter.ou for being here. >> thank you very much. appreciate you inviting me on. >> all right. we'll be right back. ack. looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? xiidra, noooo! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? talk to an eye doctor about twice-daily xiidra. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. your lips h

we close the year with some perspective from donald mcneil, who has been covering this times."c for the "new york back to the "newshour". we did want to speak with you because you have been looking at this terrible pandemic for the entire year. as you look back on 2020, how does this pandemic come into focus for you? >> worst year of our nationalfe n my lifetime. i mean, i'm not old enough to remember 1918 spanish flu or the depression or world war ii, but other than that, i ca a time when this many people have suffered all around the world all at the same time, and both thefear and death, as you would experience, in a war and economic crushing, as you experience in a recession. so it's been just awful. >> woodruff: donald mcneil, we keep asking this questn, the united states has, what, 4% of the world's population and, yet, we have almost a quarter of al cthees in the world. how did it come to this? >> leadership failure is the short answer. you know, donald trump might have been the hero ofhis pandemic, and we might have gotten out of i looking pretty great. i don't think uld