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The Situation Room
White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing; Makeshift Tent Hospital Opening In NYC's Central Park; U.S. Reports 770-Plus New Deaths Today, Total Deaths Top 3,700; Field Hospitals Preparing For Expected Surge Of Patients; Dr. Fauci To CNN: Would "Lean Towards" Recommending Public Wear Masks If It Doesn't Affect Supply For Medical Workers. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired March 31, 2020 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Our best wishes with you, stay in touch of course. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room". We're standing by for a briefing from the Coronavirus Task Force where President Trump is expected to reveal new social distancing guidelines based on very dire models forecasting, perhaps as many as 200,000 deaths here in the United States.
U.S. officials reported more than 770 new deaths just today, the deadliest of the outbreak so far. The new U.S. death toll brings the total to more than 3,700 since the pandemic began. The global numbers are also so grim, at least 41,000 have died around the world, and more than 840,000 people have been infected.
There are also growing questions that tonight over whether the American public should wear masks to slow the spread of the virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci just told CNN, he would lean toward that recommendation only if it wouldn't affect the supply for health care workers.
Let's begin our coverage this hour with CNN's Erica Hill. Erica, you're outside in emergency field hospital in New York Central Park, who would have thought. Tell us what you're seeing?
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, it's true. It's something you can't really imagine, and yet here it is being built just behind us a number of volunteers on hand in addition to those folks from Samaritan's Purse, and this is just one of a number of new facilities going up around the country to help meet this growing need.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILL (voice-over): The headline across America, hospitals need help.
GOV. GINA RAIMONDO (D), RHODE ISLAND: More testing, more beds, more ventilators, more doctors.
HILL (voice-over): Convention centers in Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Los Angeles being transformed to overflow facilities as emergency rooms are overwhelmed with the coronavirus. Navy hospital ships on both coasts available for non-COVID patients, while in Central Park, a field hospital is starting to treat those who have tested positive.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are still in a very difficult situation. We hope and I believe it will happen that we may start seeing a turnaround, but we haven't seen it yet. We're just pushing on the mitigation to hope that we do see that turnaround.
HILL (voice-over): As beds, staff and supplies run low, there are new concerns about the impact on care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now it's kind of like drinking out of a fire hydrant.
HILL (voice-over): The Chair of NYU Langone's Emergency Medicine Department telling doctors in an e-mail to, "Think more critically about who we intubate", according to "The Wall Street Journal". In Georgia, the state's Nurses Association estimates as many as 3,500 retired nurses have asked to return to work, and they are needed. New modeling predicts the coming weeks we'll see a significant surge in cases. By mid April, 2,000 people could die each day in the U.S.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: We have been behind it from day one since it got here. And we've been playing catch up. You don't when playing catch up, we have to get ahead of it.
HILL (voice-over): In New York City, new data on who is affected. More than half of the nearly 41,000 positive cases are under age 50. Across the country, a renewed push for more serious social distancing as the White House considers new guidelines.
FAUCI: When we get in a situation where we have enough masks, I believe there will be some very serious consideration about more broadening this recommendation of using mask. We're not there yet.
HILL (voice-over): On-board the Holland America's Zaandam cruise ship making its way toward Florida, the company says eight people have tested positive, nearly 200 have flu-like symptoms, four older passengers have died. Their cause of death hasn't been released. It's not clear when anyone will be back on land. Florida has not yet approved the ship to dock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's truly a nightmare scenario. And, you know, if your own country won't take you in, where are you supposed to go.
HILL (voice-over): As more Americans begin to feel the economic impact of this pandemic, other needs are increasingly apparent. The line for this food bank outside Pittsburgh stretching for more than a mile on Monday. Officials say they saw the demand increase three weeks ago when the virus first hit the area.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: In response to the rapid increase in 911's calls here in New York City, Mayor de Blasio has said, Wolf, that an additional 250 ambulances and 500 EMTs and paramedics are being sent to the city. About half of those workers, healthcare workers are already on hand and 150 of those 250 ambulances are also already in the city, Wolf.
[17:05:13]
BLITZER: Erica Hill reporting from the Central Park in New York City. Erica, thank you very much.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force is scheduled once again to begin its briefing very shortly. Let's get an update first from our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. Jim, the President is expected we're told to unveil some new social distancing guidelines for the entire country. Tell us what you're hearing.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And just a few minutes, President Trump is expected to outline the administration's plans for battling the coronavirus over the next month. The President is expected to call for the current social distancing guidelines to remain largely in place. But officials are strongly considering the idea of urging Americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Even as top administration health experts are seeing some signs of hope in the battle against the coronavirus --
FAUCI: If you look now, we're starting to see glimmers that that is actually having some dampening effect.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Dr. Anthony Fauci is hinting Americans may have to do more than just practice social distancing and start wearing protective masks.
FAUCI: When we get in a situation where we have enough masks, I believe there will be some very serious consideration about more broadening this recommendation of using mask. We're not there yet, but I think we're close to coming to some determination.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Such a move would be a departure from what the administration has said for weeks that it was only necessary for people to wear masks that they had coronavirus symptoms.
DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: What the World Health Organization and the CDC have reaffirmed in the last few days is that they do not recommend the general public wear mask.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Another big concern, medical experts don't want to exacerbate ongoing shortages of personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses on the front lines fighting the virus. But with coronavirus cases soaring in the U.S., the President suggested Americans may have no other choice.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I saw his suggestion on that. So we'll take a look at it, for a period of time. ACOSTA (voice-over): Hard-hit states are already competing against one another to scrounge up sorely needed ventilators driving up prices. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just purchased thousands of those devices from China brushing off comments from the President that he doesn't need that many.
CUOMO: We are broke. And the last thing I want to do is buy a single ventilator that I don't need.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Top Republicans are pushing back on the notion that the President failed to prepare the nation for the crisis, arguing he was tied up with the impeachment trial.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: It came up while we're, you know, tied down on the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government because every time, every day was all about impeachment.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But hold on, here's the reality.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: Guilty or not guilty.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The President was acquitted on February 5th, five days before he declared at a rally that the virus would quickly disappear.
TRUMP: And by the way, the virus, they're working hard. Looks like by April. You know, in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that's true.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The President also played golf during the weeks that followed. Faced with questions about why he downplayed the crisis, Mr. Trump says he was just trying to be optimistic to keep Americans calm.
TRUMP: I don't want panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you. I could do much -- I would make you look like a minor league player. But you know what, I don't want to do that.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But even some of the President's most loyal supporters say he hasn't done enough.
MIKE FRANCESA, HOST, "MIKE'S ON": Don't give me the MyPillow guy doing a song and dance up here on a Monday afternoon when people are dying in Queens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And the President is drawing criticism from some of the nation's governors were claiming that he hasn't heard any recent complaints about the availability of coronavirus tests. But ever since the President made those comments, even Maryland's Republican Governor Larry Hogan has said states are still having problems with obtaining those tests. President claims those shortages are being addressed. And I'm sure, Wolf, he'll be asked about that here in just a few moments, Wolf.
BLITZER: I'm sure he will be when he goes into the briefing room. All right, Jim Acosta, thank you very much.
An important programming note for our viewers. I'll have a live interview with the Vice President Mike Pence. He's the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. That's in 11:30, 11:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow right here on CNN.
Let's get some more on the latest coronavirus developments. Joining us now, the Governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont. Governor, I know you're very busy, but thank you so much for taking a few moments to share with our viewers. The President, as you know, as you just heard, he's expected to issue new guidelines when he addresses the nation momentarily in this upcoming briefing. What further action would you like to see the President take?
GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): I like to hear him talk about the strategic stockpile. You know, we've only gotten 50 ventilators, no PPE. I appreciate everybody talking about people wearing surgical masks, we're desperately short for them. And I hear the covers "Running Bear" in the strategic stockpile. So I'd love somebody to ask them how much PPE they've gotten, how it will be distributed. We're desperate for it.
[17:10:05]
BLITZER: Because at a news conference earlier today, you said this strategic -- the National strategic stockpile of ventilators you suggested was empty. That's not necessarily what we hear from some federal officials. Can you elaborate on that?
LAMONT: I hope you're right and I hope I'm wrong. We had heard just rumours that stockpile was running dry. I hope they can address that today. I hope they're on top of PPE and ventilators. We're desperately short of them. We had -- you know, we are the fourth most infected state in the country, per capita, and they've really got to focus on these regional hotspots.
BLITZER: How many ventilators do you think you need in the short term to deal with this crisis in your state?
LAMONT: We have about 975. We put it in an order months ago for 1,500, which we think gets us there. So far, we've gotten 50.
BLITZER: Fifty out of -- that's all you got is 50. So what do they say to you when you go to the administration say we're desperate, we need help, we got to save lives. What do they say?
LAMONT: They say your order is being processed. Oh, at the last moment, went to a place that's more urgent. You're you'll be next in line. And I'm afraid we've heard that for some weeks now. And like I said, we're part of the New York Metro Center. We're part of that pandemic. We have that same high infection rate. It's getting risky.
BLITZER: Because Connecticut is a hotspot, according to U.S. officials of this virus. You're just outside New York City. Yesterday, you told CNN that FEMA had redirected some shipment of these ventilators that was meant for your state. But have you received any additional support from the federal government on other critically needed supplies?
LAMONT: Yes, I'd say a month ago we got about 10 percent of our order for some PPE and masks and the such. I really hope -- rather than looking backward, look forward. I hope they got their foot on the accelerator right now and I hope they're mask manufacturing. This is the time we're ramping up over the next three weeks. This is crunch time for us and we need the material now.
BLITZER: Yes. Your people over there are going to be desperate in a few days, the way this virus is exploding. The New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says, and I'm quoting him now, it's like being on eBay with 50 other states bidding on a ventilator. Do you agree with him that the federal government should simply be the purchaser and the federal government should then distribute the supplies to the states? Don't make the states compete with one each -- with each other?
LAMONT: Yes. Andrew is absolutely right. It's crazy the way we're doing this. Fifty people bidding back and forth, federal government swooping in. You know, it's like surge pricing when you're trying to get that car. This is what's happening right now. It is crazy. The federal government ought to do this, allocate it based on need.
BLITZER: So if the President is watching us right now, and he watches a lot of news on TV. What would you say to him?
LAMONT: I'd say, thank you very much for taking a look at New York as part of New Jersey, as part of Connecticut, as a regional contagion. Make sure you focus your energies on this entire region. And thank you for taking it seriously now in terms of what we got to do. I'm glad you extended the social distancing. It's so key for us to flatten the curve. We got to speak with one voice, federal, state, local, and I'm glad you're on board.
BLITZER: Well, Governor, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the folks in Connecticut. We'll see what the President has to say, that's coming up in a few moments. Good luck.
LAMONT: Nice to see you, Wolf, thanks.
BLITZER: Thank you.
And stay with us, we're awaiting for the start at today's coronavirus briefing over at the White House. You see reporters, they're seated in their chairs over there. We're also watching this, a lot of folks are preparing for the absolute worst.
We're going to take you inside a parking garage that's been converted into a field hospital to care for coronavirus patients. Look at the pictures of that. We'll be right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:18:39] BLITZER: Once again, we're awaiting the start today's Whitehouse Coronavirus Task Force briefing and anticipation of the expected surge in coronavirus cases. Some states and cities right now are setting up field hospitals.
CNN's Brian Todd visited one of those facilities just outside Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, with hospitals in New York and elsewhere being overwhelmed, what you're seeing pop up are field hospitals all over the country. This is one of them, at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This is the parking garage just adjacent to the emergency room area. They've got dozens of treatment chairs lined up over here, a triage center. Some other treatment stations for the influx of patients that they're almost sure is coming.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Some doctors and nurses on the front lines say their hospitals are facing an overwhelming flood of patients.
DR. ELIZABETH STACHTIARIS, EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR IN BROOKLYN: There's patients building up in all the corridors, on oxygen. The oxygen tanks are running low. The rooms are short. The nursing staff is short, the doctors are falling ill too.
TODD (voice-over): These emergency room doctors say shortages are at dangerous levels.
DR. MONALISA MUCHATUTA, EMERGENCY MEDICINE DOCTOR IN BROOKLYN: We're running out of medications, we're running out of equipment, and we're even running out of oxygen which is something that patients that have COVID-19 need.
TODD (voice-over): One of the most critical shortages, ventilators.
DR. RAVI WETTASINGHE, EMERGENCY MEDICINE DOCTOR IN BROOKLYN: Think of it as your lungs being filled with fluid like you're drowning. And once you get that point where you're drowning, you need a ventilator to stay alive and we're running out of that equipment for people.
[17:20:09]
TODD (voice-over): Racing to fill the breach, New York is now urgently building emergency field hospitals at the Javits Center in Central Park and elsewhere. And around the country, cities bracing for impact are rushing to build out their capacity in case they're hit by the same tsunami as New York.
DR. ERIC TOSH, EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR, MARY WASHINGTON HOSPITAL: So this is our field hospital.
TODD (voice-over): In Fredericksburg, Virginia, about an hour south of Washington, Mary Washington Hospital has set up a field hospital in the parking garage just a few feet outside its emergency room. TOSH: We're going to start out with two trio stations, but we'll be able to scale that up as we need.
TODD (voice-over): E.R. Dr. Eric Tosh takes us through what looks like a mash unit with portable X-ray machines, oxygen units, intravenous equipment. They saw what was happening in the hardest-hit cities, Tosh says, and got this facility operational in a few days.
Tonight there are only a few coronavirus patients inside the main hospital, none in the field hospitals. But Tosh is confident that will change.
TOSH: We hear from colleagues in New York and New Orleans that they're seeing as many as 200 percent to 400 percent of their normal daily volume. So this is designed for about that sort of influx.
TODD (voice-over): It's required some creative ingenuity. The hospital took old waiting area recliners and converted them into treatment chairs.
TOSH: And then put old plant hangers that we're going to repurpose as IV bag holders.
TODD (voice-over): And they've installed a rather sobering feature that Tosh hopes his E.R. team will never have to use in case patients get violent.
TOSH: If the people need to get out, we'll be able to get out to the back of the tent here and into the main treatment area.
TODD (on-camera): An escape hatch.
TOSH: Yes.
TODD (voice-over): Tosh says right now, he's balancing being prepared with managing the fears and concerns of his staff over what may be coming.
TOSH: I don't know that anybody alive has ever seen anything like this, but we've had lots of training at being flexible and creative and doing things in the way that maybe they weren't meant to or designed to be done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: One thing Dr. Tosh is now concerned about is a drop-off in patients seeking emergency care outside of coronavirus. He said he's seen much fewer people come here in the last few weeks seeking treatment for heart attacks and strokes, fearful that they're going to get coronavirus if they come in. Wolf?
BLITZER: Brian Todd reporting for us, good report. Thank you.
As we await the start of today's White House coronavirus briefing, we're joined now by two medical experts. Dr. Megan Ranney is an emergency physician affiliated with Lifespan Health System and Brown University in Rhode Island. Also joining us Dr. Daniela Lamas, a critical care physician at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Doctors, thank you so much for joining us.
And Dr. Lamas, we're hearing some really harrowing reports from the healthcare workers out there on the frontlines of this crisis. You're one of those brave doctors, and we're grateful to you and all of your colleagues, of course. What have you been experiencing this week?
DR. DANIELA LAMAS, CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: Yes. So, we are still not nearly at the point where New York is and I think what we're doing is looking ahead and we're seeing numbers that are worrisome. You know, we're seeing some projections of up to 250 patients who are sick enough to need intubation at our hospital. And so what we're doing is trying to build the framework to care for these people.
We already have started to build coronavirus specific ICUs where we've started to see patients. We're setting up sort of schedules with redundancy, and we're trying to make sure to the best of our ability that we're ready while learning how best to care for these people and really sort of learning and improving ventilator management, strategies to get people through this with the patients that we're seeing already.
BLITZER: Yes, you're -- this is life-saving work that you're doing. Dr. Ranney, you're also actively treating patients with coronavirus. You probably saw "The Wall Street Journal" report that physicians at NYU Langone Hospital, they've been instructed, in their words, the words and "The Wall Street Journal" quoting from a memo that came out from NYU Langone, "Think more critically about who we incubate." Is that a reflection of the lack of resources available to combat this pandemic? Because it sounds like they have to make really life and death decisions, who lives and who dies.
DR. MEGAN RANNEY, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, LIFESPAN/BROWN UNIVERSITY: That is absolutely a reflection of the lack of resources. Here in the United States, we are not used to rationing care based on availability of equipment. But quite honestly, if the number of patients requiring ventilators outstrips the number of ventilators that we have, we're going to be stuck making some really tough decisions about who gets intubated and who doesn't.
Is it first come first serve? So the first people to get sick, get put on ventilators? Or do we figure out some other method that is based on age or likelihood of survival? Those are decisions we're not used to making here in the United States and it's something that bioethicists are deeply thinking about.
[17:25:03]
BLITZER: Dr. Lamas, are you prepared to have -- to make excruciating decisions about who gets a life-saving ventilator, and who does not?
LAMAS: I mean, truthfully, Wolf, I don't think anybody can be prepared as the individual frontline clinician, which is why, my hope is that with this little bit of time that we have, and I know my hospital and other hospitals are actively working on this, that we at least have an ethical framework whereby the frontline clinician in the middle of the night is not the person who is making this decision.
That there are sort of rules that that shift over time, depending on availability, that at least allow us to feel like we're working as part of a team. With that being said, now I am familiar with limited resources, with transplantation, these sorts of things, but a ventilator and an individual sitting there is something that I'm not yet prepared for.
BLITZER: Yes, I'm so excruciating deep. This briefing, by the way, we're told us about to begin. Dr. Ranney, but the coronavirus test for us we're told is reconsidering whether it will recommend that Americans wear masks. Would you support that recommendation right now if there were plenty of masks available, and it wouldn't detract from the masks really going to the frontline physicians and nurses and medical technicians?
RANNEY: So it's that second part of your sentence that I think is so important. We don't currently have adequate masks for our doctors, nurses, paramedics, police officers and other frontline folks that are in front of the public constantly and getting sick at alarming rates. Were those masks fully available? Sure.
Having the average person wear a mask is not going to hurt and may help. But the reality, Wolf, is we don't have enough masks for the people that are in the hospitals or in ambulances right now. And so to tell the American public to wear those masks when we don't have enough for the folks that are out there treating patients, to me, that that makes me nervous and it's going to put my healthcare colleagues potentially at greater risk.
BLITZER: Yes, that's a huge problem. What do you think, Dr. Lamas?
LAMAS: I entirely agree with what Dr. Ranney says. You know, there are things that Americans can do on a daily basis without wearing masks to keep themselves safe. We know that hand washing can reduce the rates of transmission. Coronavirus is spread by droplet and contact and we can prevent both of those things without detracting from the masks that are available for healthcare workers.
BLITZER: Dr. Lamas, do you have enough personal protection equipment right now? Do you have enough critical equipment right now to do the job that you anticipate unfolding very soon?
LAMAS: We do right now. I mean, already we've seen changes. A couple of weeks ago, I used a different N95 respirator in any room that I walked into with a coronavirus patient or patient being evaluated. And now, we have one N95 respirator for the day. That being said, there's a new supply coming into my hospital shortly. We're getting refit tested.
So there's -- this is an ever moving target. There's constantly change. And I do feel like I have the equipment I need now.
BLITZER: Dr. Lamas, Dr. Ranney, on behalf of all of our viewers, thanks to both of you for what you are doing. You're saving lives. Thank you very much for joining us.
LAMAS: Thank you for the time.
RANNEY: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. And stay with us. So, once again, we're standing by for the start of today's coronavirus briefing over at the White House. We're told it's about to begin. We'll also take you to New York, where a Navy hospital ship is getting ready to receive patients.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:33:34]
BLITZER: We have some analysis right now from Dana Bash and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Dana, the President we're told is getting ready to extend the coronavirus guidelines based on the modeling of possible death, the possible death toll which could be enormous, 100,000, 200,000 maybe more.
But some of his aids -- and you've been doing the reporting on this -- don't necessarily trust those numbers. So, why did the public health experts win out and get the President to agree to extend these guidelines.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Listen, it's a great question. And in the -- in this particular case, the health experts and medical professionals, won out. And the reason, I'm told, and you and I discussed this the day that the President made this announcement on Sunday, is that the President got a very, very strong, powerful private presentation from Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, very powerful.
The kinds of things that Sanjay has been saying on TV that they have been saying on TV, but it was very focused on the overall numbers, but in particular, that 100,000 to 200,000 warning. And more importantly, that what if he changes the guidelines and opens everything up around Easter as he had been suggesting he might, then that would raise the mortality rate to a place where the President just didn't want to go.
[17:35:00]
And he's also looking at his political polling and the public opinion polling that he has been told, supports this notion of everybody taking a deep breath and sticking with this, as opposed to, as you said, some of his political policy advisors behind the scenes have been kind of bristling at this saying that they worry it goes too far, but they did not win out. And that is the most important thing to note here. For now, it was the medical professionals who ruled the day when it came to the President's decision.
BLITZER: You know, Sanjay, should people be mentally prepared to continue all these social distancing measures basically shut the country down past April 30th, which is the current deadline the President has imposed? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that's a real possibility, Wolf. You know, I think what we've been seeing in terms of the way that this information these recommendations have been sort of rolled out, is that they're coming out somewhat piecemeal, right? First, it was a couple of weeks. And now it's been extended another month.
If you look at some of the modeling that Ambassador Birx against referenced some of it, which match the University of Washington study, that was actually based on these recommendations, these social distancing guidelines being continued until the end of May, Wolf. That's where they sort of, you know, got these numbers from, they said, if we continue social distancing guidelines until the end of May, we may actually be able to reduce the deaths in this country, to the staggering numbers still have close to 100,000 people.
So, I had a chance to speak to Dr. Fauci today, interviewed him for our podcast, and I sort of asked him that question. I said, is this part of the strategy to slowly, you know, ease the country into these existing and deepening or at least lengthening guidelines? And he sort of said, well, yes, look, we don't want to shock people with this. We want to look at the data. But the data certainly is suggesting that, Wolf, this was likely to go on beyond April 30th.
BLITZER: Yes, that's what a lot of people suspect. You know, Dana, the -- now that the President, the administration are accepting that things won't be back to normal by Easter Sunday, April 12th. Are they more seriously wrapping up plans to get medical equipment, badly needed ventilators over to the folks who need them the most at these frontline hospitals?
BASH: It's a really hard question to answer, because if you talk to the governors, you listen to the governor you just had on from Connecticut, listen to Andrew Cuomo from New York, talk to people who are, you know, trying to stay ahead of this across states, across the country, the answer that they give is, no. They don't feel that they are prepared. Obviously in the hotspots, it is an urgent question. In the places that are just kind of hunkering down, it is more of a preparation situation.
And the White House is continuing to say that they're on it. There is -- it's really hard to believe, given the fact that this is the United States of America, but there is still very much a disconnect between the governors, what they say they need, what they are in desperate -- desperately need. And what the federal government says that they're trying to get to them. There seems to be a log jam at FEMA, or maybe it's somewhere in the supply chain. It's really unclear where it is, but it really still appears to be chaotic, unfortunately.
BLITZER: Yes, it certainly does. You know, everywhere, Sanjay, in the country there are different points in the curve of this virus. How do you prioritize where resources, desperately needed resources should go? And can places that are less impacted right now send equipment or workers to the hotspots? Can equipment be sent from New York after they get past the worst of it, and who knows when that might happen? GUPTA: Well, you know, it's a challenging idea. You know, I think the idea of it going from someplace that's a hotspot that's clearly gone over the peak of the curve, maybe a more likely idea than it going from somewhere to one of the hotspots right now. Because the problem, Wolf, and again, we talked a lot of these people on the ground in these hospitals, they know that they're early in the curve, but they don't know exactly how quickly, you know, they're going to see this increased demand within hospitals.
You know, you go -- we have 20, 30, 40 patients today, it could go to 50, 60, 100. You know, tomorrow, they just don't know. So it's very hard for people who are in sort of that preparation mode to let go of these precious commodities.
So maybe after the fact, perhaps, and I know Governor Cuomo has brought that up, I think even that might be a little bit challenging because there are waves to this. But that's more likely than I think people giving up this equipment before the curve really starts to steepen
BLITZER: Because, Sanjay, you heard Governor Cuomo of New York say, you know, they're desperately in need of medical professionals --
GUPTA: I know.
BLITZER: -- by the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, you suggesting to come to New York right now.
[17:40:12]
GUPTA: Yes. I mean, I think, you know, in terms of a manpower and personnel, you know, you are seeing people really answer that call which is amazing. I have to say, you know, just watching these healthcare professionals who are traveling to New York, they're going to the hotspot, they're not entirely sure whether they're going to have all their personal protective equipment. It is quite something, you know, I mean, great admiration for them. I think we all do.
I think it's a little bit different than the equipment though, Wolf, because the equipment and the gear and stuff like that, I think the question I think for a lot of folks and a lot of states are saying, look, we think we might need this. We see how the curve has sort of changed in these hotspots.
And there's no reason to suggest, even though we have few cases here now that we won't eventually adopt these same curve. Maybe not to the same extreme as a densely populated large city like New York but, you know, they're still going to have, you know, they're still going to have growth and maybe even exponential growth in terms of cases, and the need for hospitalization in those places, Wolf.
BLITZER: Because, Dana, these governors, they're desperate right now. They need the supplies in order to save lives. And, you know, they're considering their best strategy. How do they do it?
BASH: Yes. And look, we've talked about this, Wolf, and Sanjay as well. We saw this coming from weeks away. We watched what was happening in Italy. We saw and heard --
GUPTA: Yes.
BASH: -- horror stories of the doctors having to decide who lives and dies because of the lack of equipment, the lack of ventilators and so forth. And so, now, there's a situation where you have, as Sanjay was saying, the densely populated hotspots. Obviously, New York is top of the list, where they're dealing with that crisis.
But then you have -- I spoke, for example, to the Mayor of Topeka, Kansas today, that's the center of the country. They don't -- Kansas in general doesn't have a huge number comparing -- comparatively to obviously places like New York and others, and they have two hospitals and they have over 100,000 people including pretty large nursing homes. And they're just one outbreak away from just overflowing and so they're, you know, thought like, they are going to give up some of their bare minimum equipment.
GUPTA: Right.
BASH: And that is very -- a very similar story. I think, Sandra, you agree to what we're hearing from sort of medium to small towns all across the country, they're in prep mode, they're trying to make sure that they don't become another New York or Italy.
BLITZER: You know, Sanjay, all of a sudden I'm getting very confused about whether or not we should be wearing masks. Originally --
GUPTA: Yes.
BLITZER: -- they said don't wear masks. They could even be detrimental if you're wearing masks. Just let those who are treating these coronavirus patients wear the masks. But all of a sudden now, and you spoke with Dr. Fauci earlier today, all of a sudden, we're being told, yes, maybe wearing the masks is a good idea. Just explain, because a lot of us are confused.
GUPTA: Yes. Well, look, I mean, you know, one thing I'll say with all humility is that these recommendations are changing, you know. We are all in the middle of an evolving situation together. So it's, you know, in some ways, not surprising that we are going to hear different recommendations.
Two big things, I think that are worth pointing out. One is that I think what is really driving this is this idea that there is, you know, significant community spread of this virus. That's important because we know that there are a lot of people who are asymptomatic, you know, don't really have symptoms, that can still spread the virus.
So the way to think about this mask issue is that it's not really still for people who are not infected. This is more for people who might be infected and don't know it, and to try and lower the likelihood that they will spread this to somebody else. So it's still sort of fits that same pattern. It's trying to decrease the amount of virus that a person who is, you know, who is infected puts out into the environment. The second thing is -- and, you know, Dr. Fauci, and others have been very clear about this -- these are not the masks that are being used in hospitals, that they're recommending average citizens use. Not the N95 masks, which are these sort of airtight masks, not the surgical masks that are used typically in hospitals, but even cloth masks things like that are the ones that they would recommend for citizens.
First advice for anybody is to stay home. But if somebody does need to go out, and look, anybody might be infected and not know it. We all have to behave like we have the virus. I think that is what's driving the idea that if you have to go out for something essential that wearing a mask may not be a bad idea. I asked Dr. Fauci, who's always so, you know, he's very careful as we all know and how he chooses his words.
[17:45:00]
But what I said to him is, look, at the end of the day, what I imagine will happen is they're going to look at you at this taskforce meeting and they're going to say, what do you think Dr. Fauci? And I asked him that and he said, well, I think that as long as healthcare workers have it, I lean towards recommending that average citizens wear masks when they go out. What could be the harm? He said.
The only harm here, Wolf and Dana, interestingly is, you know, as much as we've talked about the balance between public health and the economy, with regard to the shutdown, this is more a balance between public health and the optics, if you will. The idea that America might appear sick, because average people are wearing masks out in public. So it's -- but even with that, Dr. Fauci said, the benefits are likely to outweigh the risks.
BLITZER: All right. Everybody stand by. I want to go to the White House briefing right now. Here's the President.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- Pence is going to give you some of the recent events that have taken place and some of the statistics that we have that I think will be very interesting here. Thank you very much. Please.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Thank you, Mr. President. If I can have the first slide, please. So always, and that's what this slide is labeled, is goals of community mitigation. Really highlighting that this begins in the middle and the end with community. This community and the community of the American people that are going to have to do the things for the next 30 days to make a difference.
I think you know, from that large blue mountain that you can see behind me and I just want to thank the five or six international and domestic modelers from Harvard, from Columbia, from Northeastern, from Imperial, who helped us tremendously. It was their models that created the ability to see what these mitigations could do. How steeply they could depress the curve from that giant blue mountain down to that more stippled area. In their estimates, they had between 1.5 million and 2.2 million people in the United States succumbing to this virus without mitigation. Yet through their detailed studies and showing us what social distancing would do, what people -- what would happen if people stayed home, what would happen if people weren't careful every day to wash their hands, and worry about touching their faces. That what an extraordinary thing this could be if every American followed these. And that takes us to that stippled mountain that's much lower, a hill actually, down to 100,000 to 200,000 deaths, which is still way too much. Next slide, please.
Simultaneously, there was a modeler out of the University of Washington that that modeled from cases up, utilizing the experience around the globe to really understand how this information that we have from Italy and Spain and South Korea and China could really help us give insight into the hospital needs, the ventilator needs, and really the number of people who potentially could succumb to this illness. It is this model that we are looking at now that provides us the most detail of the time course that is possible. But this model assumes full mitigation.
It's informed every morning or every night by the reality on the ground coming in from New York, New Jersey and around the United States, and is modeled and informed every morning so that it is adjusted. So it is up to date every day. This is the model of the predicted fatalities and mortality in the United States. And as the President said, it's very much focused on the next two weeks and the stark reality of what this virus will do as it moves through communities. Next slide, please.
But this is a slide that gives us great hope and understanding about what is possible. On the bottom of the slide where you can barely see that blue line at the very bottom. That's the current cases in California, the cumulative cases in California, where they're doing significant testing. The next line up is Connecticut. The orange line is New Jersey. The blue line is New York. The yellow line is Washington.
We all remember Washington state it was just a month ago, when they started to have the issues in Washington State, but they brought together their communities and their health providers and they put in strong mitigation methods and testing. And you can see what the result in Washington State and California is, but without the continuation for the next 30 days, anything could change. Next slide please.
[17:50:04]
So I'm sure you're interested in seeing all the states. So on this slide is all 50 states and the District of Columbia. But I think it shows in stark reality the difference between New York and New Jersey and other states with similar populations and urban areas.
Our goal over the next 30 days is to ensure the states that you see, the 48 across the bottom, maintain this lower level of new cases, with the hope that we don't have significant outbreaks in other states and other metro areas, as the community comes together to work together and ensure that the health care providers around the globe and in the United States are strengthened by our resolve to continue to mitigate community by community.
This is done community by community. We all know people are in their states and in their communities. And we're very dependent on each person in the United States doing the same thing, following the presidential guidelines to a T. I know it's a lot to ask because you've done it for 15 days. So if you can show the next slide, please.
So this is what gives us a lot of hope. This is the case finding in Italy. And you can see that they're beginning to turn the corner in new cases. They're entering their fourth week of full mitigation, and showing what is possible when we work together as a community, as a country to change the course of this pandemic together. It is this graphic and the graphic of many of the states that gives us hope of what is possible with continuing for another 30 days.
Amidst all that hope, I must say that like we warned about Detroit and Chicago, we start to see changes in Massachusetts. New Orleans continues to be a problem of new cases, although they're stabilizing. And I think it really shows the depth of dedication of the American people to the health care providers, because they can see the strain that this puts on every nurse, doctor, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and laboratory technician that's working together to stem this tide of unrelenting sick people coming to their doors. No one has been turned away. No one who has needed ventilation has not received ventilation. But you can see how stressful it is for each of them.
So I know it's stressful to follow the guidelines, but it is more stressful and more difficult to the soldiers on the front line. As we started and we will end, with its communities that will do this. There's no magic bullet. There's no magic vaccine or things therapy. It's just behaviors. Each of our behaviors translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days. Thank you.
TRUMP: Thank you, Deborah.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Thank you very much, Dr. Birx, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President. So what Dr. Birx has really said very simply is that there are really two dynamic forces that are opposing each other here. As I mentioned several times in our briefings, the virus, if left to its own devices, will do that dock curve that Dr. Birx showed you. The other dynamic force is what we are doing, what we're trying to do and what we will do in the form of mitigation.
Now, these are very revealing bits of data. Because you saw what happened in Italy, where you make the turn around the curve and you go. That doesn't happen all at once. It's a stepwise fashion. And if I explain the steps, which I will, you'll see why we are really convinced that mitigation is going to be doing the trick for us.
Because what you have is you have increase in new cases at a certain rate. When the increase in new cases begin to level off, the secondary effect is less hospitalizations. The next effect is less intensive care. And the next effect is less deaths. The deaths and the intensive care and the hospitalization always lag behind that early indication that there are less new cases per day. The way we saw in Italy, and the way we're likely seeing, I don't want to jump the gun on it. We're seeing little inklings of this right now in New York.
So what we're going to see, and now we got to brace ourselves in the next several days to a week or so, we're going to continue to see things go up. We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.
[17:55:09]
The slide that Dr. Birx showed, what you saw New York and New Jersey, and then the cluster of other areas. Our goal, which I believe we can accomplish, is to get the hotspot places, the New York's the New Jersey, and help them to get around that curve. But as importantly, to prevent those clusters of areas that have not yet gone to that spike, to prevent them from getting that spike. And the answer to that is mitigation.
Now, the 15 days that we had of mitigation clearly have had an effect, although it's tough to quantitate it because of those two opposing forces. But the reason why we feel so strongly about the necessity of the additional 30 days is that now is the time whenever you're having an effect, not to take your foot off the accelerator and on the brake, but to just press it down on the accelerator. And that's what I hope. And I know that we can do over the next 30 days.
And as I said the other day on one of the interviews, we are a very strong and resilient nation. If you look at our history, we've been through some terrible ordeals. This is tough. People are suffering, people are dying.
It's inconvenient from a societal standpoint, from an economic standpoint to go through this, but this is going to be the answer to our problems. So let's all pull together and make sure as we look forward to the next 30 days, we do it with all the intensity and force that we can. Thank you.
TRUMP: Mike, (INAUDIBLE).
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mr. President and Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci. I know I speak on behalf of the President, people all across this country when I express our great admiration and appreciation to both of you for helping to steer our nation through this challenging time. American people have now seen what the President saw when he made the decision at the end of 15 days to slow the spread, to ask the American people to give us 30 more days, to continue to put into practice the President's coronavirus guidelines for America.
And as you just heard from the experts, we have reason to believe that it's working. As Dr. Fauci just said, there are difficult days ahead. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the families that have lost loved ones. And those as the President's just reflected who we know are struggling at this hour in hospitals across the nation. But to each and every one of us, do not be discouraged, because what
you can do to protect your health, the health of your family, what you can do to ensure that our health care providers have the resources and our hospitals have the capacity to meet this moment is put into practice the President's coronavirus guidelines for America.
It really is what every American can do. Thirty days to slow the spread, 30 days to make a difference in the lives of the American people, American families and the life of our nation. Allow me to give you a few brief updates before the President takes questions.
First and foremost, we continue to work very closely with governors around the nation. President and I spoke to all the governors, all the states and territories yesterday. And since we were last together, the President and I are spoken directly and to several governors around the country including Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New York and other states.
At the present moment, the President has declared 29 major disaster declarations and authorized 10 different states to use full federal funding so-called Title 32 funding, to pay for their National Guard. And as of this afternoon, FEMA reports some 17,000 National Guard had been activated in states around the country to provide support for coronavirus response.
On the subject of testing, we have now completed more than 1.1 million tests around the country. We're working very closely with governors around America to assist them in drive through and community testing centers.
I spoke with Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois today about a testing center that they've established in cooperation with the U.S. Public Health Service.
