Containment Season 1 Episode 1 begins on the 13th day after quarantine. The National Guard pours into the streets of the city killing those who are infected. The scene inside the cordon is chaos.

On Day 1, the sun rises like it always does. A teacher prepares her class for a concert at Atlanta Midtown Hospital. A man delivers lab rats to the hospital’s Infections Disease Unit. Doctor Sanders, inside, is sick. Dr. Cannerts, an infectious disease specialist, helps her track down the point of contact to an ink pen she shared with Patient Zero. 

Another couple begins to argue as he learns his girlfriend of 3 years is not prepared to move in with him. His friend Jake waits outside. 

Major Lex Carnahan is tasked with finding Patient Zero when a higher up from Health an human Services enters to share plans for a city-wide quarantine. 

A teen mom, Teresa, takes a break from work to visit with her boyfriend. They’re planning to run away together to start a new life and decide to meet at 3. 

At Atlanta Police headquarters, the force learns that the situation is more severe than they originally believed. The virus is unidentifiable. 

At Atlanta Midtown Hospital, the class of elementary school students sing for the patients there. The teacher learns that the doctor she was supposed to meet is missing. 

Jake calls Jana regarding her refusal to move in with her boyfriend. They have history and a good friendship. He advises her to wake up and realize what she has before it’s gone. Lex sends Jake to pick up Patient Zero. 

As the teacher and her students load up the bus to return home, they’re stopped and ushered back inside. One of the students is sneezing and they’re all instructed to keep four to six feet apart and avoid contact. Jana’s office building is located across the street from the hospital.

Lex learns that Health and Human Services wants him to be the face of their rising crisis. There are concerns about bioterrorism and they believe him to be the one who can keep the people calm. 

Jana dresses in a clean suit to work on a computer and decides to take Lex’s eleventh call of the day. He tells her he loves her and he asks her to stay with him until the threat passes. She agrees to complete the move-in when she gets off work. 

The teacher makes the necessary calls and Teresa tries to get in touch with Xander. She’s taking the 5:30 train and sending him on ahead of her. Jake and another officer visit the home of Patient Zero and learn that he flew into the country in the hold of a cargo plane. They manage to apprehend him, but not before he coughs on one of their own. 

The teacher finds out that two of her students are missing in the hospital. Jake and Dr. Cannerts discuss Patient Zero and she stumbles upon the sick man and learns the situation is more dire than they thought. She and Jake go looking for her son and discover quarantine cells with dead bodies inside. 

Dr. Cannerts updates the CDC on the situation inside the hospital. The virus is 100% fatal. 

Jake and the teacher find Quentin and his friend, Thomas, in the lab with the rats. She introduces herself as Katie. They learn that the entire hospital is on lockdown and the doctor who alerts them sneezes. He’s infected. 

Canners discovers that the flu is avian in nature and has been modified so that it is communicable between humans. Because this is an act of bioterror, quarantine measures must be enacted. Teresa is on a train platform headed to visit her boyfriend when the train doors do not open and the station is closed. 

Lex calls Jana to tell her not to go home. he gets a message from Jake that he’s in the hot zone and not getting out. Jake believes he’s going to die inside the hospital. Lex learns his zone of the city is under complete quarantine. 

As Jana tries to leave the city, she discovers the fences which have been erected around the  zone and learns that she’s trapped inside. The CDC announces that the cordon will only last for 48 hours at which time they believe the disease will be contained. 

Inside the hospital, isolation rooms are cleaned. People are settled in for the stay. Jake and Katie share scared glances with the children. Outside the cordon, people are just as scared and restless. Lex instruct those who have been locked out of the cordon but who live inside it to find some place safe to stay. He sees that Jana is trapped inside the cordon.