Dr. Ellis Cheever
Background
Dr. Ellis Cheever is a director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a fan of the Detroit Lions football team. Dr. Cheever is engaged to Aubrey Cheever.
During the events of Contagion (2011) played by Laurence Fishburne
On Day 3, Dr. Cheever arrives for work in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He passes by Roger and tells him he did a good job picking the winners in the football betting pool. Roger asks Dr. Cheever if he could diagnose his son, Anthony with having ADHD, but Dr. Cheever tells him he isn't that kind of doctor, but could refer him to someone. On Day 6, Dr. Erin Mears arrives at the CDC and she and Dr. Cheever discuss the outbreak in Minneapolis. On Day 7, at the CDC, Dennis French walks up to Dr. Cheever and asks him to come with him to the emergency operations center to meet with RADM Lyle Haggerty. Dennis hands out photographs of the quarantine in Kowloon and talks about strikes in Macao where three people have died that lived in the same bunkhouse. Dennis says Homeland Security's concern is a terrorist contracting the virus on purpose to use as a terror weapon. Dr. Cheever asks what the three casino workers died of and it matches that of the victims in Minnesota. Dr. Ally Hextall tells Dr. Cheever the virus contains bat and pig genetic sequences. Dr. Cheever tells Dr. Hextall to have any other researcher with samples to destroy them. On Day 8, Dr. Cheever gives a news conference listing the effected cities. Damian Leopold holds a video meeting with world officials and tells them he believes there are 89,000 cases in the world and heading towards 267,000. Dr. Cheever tells the people in the video meeting that they haven't figured out a way to grow the virus in cells yet. A Japanese Official asks if the CDC found any treatment or antivirus yet, and Dr. Hextall tells him no. Later, Dr. Hextall tells Dr. Cheever, Dr. Ian Sussman managed to grow the virus in his lab. On Day 12, Dr. Cheever calls Dr. Mears and asks her how she is doing. On Day 14, Dr. Mears calls Dr. Cheever and tells him she is sick and he promises to get her help. Dr. Cheever tries to get Haggerty to evacuate Dr. Mears, but he refuses. He finally admits to Dr. Cheever that the plane used to evacuate personnel is being used to evacuate one congressman and then they are closing the airports and the President is to be moved underground. Dr. Cheever calls Aubrey and tells her how many people can die and then asks her to leave Chicago and go to Atlanta. Dr. Cheever hangs up the phone and Roger is standing outside his office and then leaves after telling Dr. Cheever he has family too. On Day 18, Sanjay Gupta, MD conducts an interview with Dr. Cheever and Dr. Cheever suggests the best defense against MEV-1 is social distancing. Sanjay then interviews Alan Krumwiede who says forsythia is effective against MEV-1 and accuses the WHO of working with pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Cheever and Alan argue and Alan mentions a Facebook post by Elizabeth Nygaard which she attributes to Dr. Cheever concerning the quarantine of Chicago, before it was announced to the public. After the interview, Haggerty tells Dr. Cheever the government is looking for a scapegoat and Dennis walks into the office and tells Dr. Cheever there will be an investigation into whether he told people about the quarantine ahead of time. On Day 21, Dr. Cheever holds another meeting and tells those present the MEV-1 now has a mortality rate of 25 to 30 percent with a new R-nought of 4. On Day 29, Dr. Cheever asks Dr. Hextall if they are close to a vaccine, but she tells him no and wishes him a Merry Christmas. On Day 131, Aubrey is home as Home Invasion Thug breaks into Dr. Cheever's house and he demands to know where the vaccine is. Dr. Cheever gets home and she tells him about Home Invasion Thug. On Day 133, a lottery is held for the first vaccines and RADM Haggerty holds a news conference in which he gives credit to those who work on the vaccine. Dr. Cheever walks into the office and tells Dr. Hextall she should be enjoying her kudos for her work, but she brings up Dr. Mears and Hextall's Father who succumbed to the virus and Dr. Cheever who is to be hauled in front of a congressional hearing for warning Aubrey. RADM Haggerty gives Dr. Cheever his two doses of the vaccine and Dr. Cheever gives one to Aubrey and the other to Anthony, Roger's son and Anthony thanks Dr. Cheever and Roger shakes Dr. Cheever's hand.