Economic stimulus plan. Mitch mcconnell warning the package could be delayed for every senator agrees to speed it up. For monday evening, march 23, a edition of the washington journal. An update on the stalemate in the u. S. Senate with Movement Last couple of hours between democrats and republicans. Well also talk with an expert Infectious Diseases and look at how hospitals are dealing with this Patient Advocacy program. Pandemic. We want to hear from you, phone lines are open for those in the time zones,central 2027488002. If you are a medical 2027488002. Is livehington journal every morning for three hours, 7 00 to 10 00 eastern time but chance to take your calls. Headline from the Washington Post as senate progressing on the day ofirus bill after a rancor. Whats the latest . Guest its been a long day and its not over yet. Moment, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin is in schumers office. We believe theyre down to the brass tacks in terms of the negotiation on what could be a 2 trillion economic stimulus package. Know that leader schumer had with his democratic that hashis evening been described to us as being upbeat. People were optimistic that a was in sight but there were a number of important sticking points that needed to be hashed out and there is hope that leaderry mnuchin and schumer are doing that hashing right now. Paul senator rand confirming he has the virus. Senators selfher quarantined. House members. How is all of this complicating what house and Senate Negotiators are trying to achieve . Ake its certainly thrown pall over the negotiation, no doubt about it. People are obviously anxious. Thiswant to the get out of building as soon as possible and let me say its not just the members who want to do that. Piece ofen, this is a legislation that dwarfs almost memory, in recent including the 20082009 t. A. R. P. And stimulus packages. Certainly its going to exceed sheer dollar value the yearly appropriations that congress does. Is just an enormous piece of legislation under andideration right now theres a lot of loose ends to tie up here and a lot of policy that need to be worked out. And its actually quite will theyveat made as much progress as theyve theyve spentme on it but the fact today that failed a second procedural vote on this has politicaled up the pressure from republicans on democrats. Ofve had a series republican lawmakers, starting with majority leader mitch the Senate Floor Today lambasting democrats saying theyre not taking this seriously, theyre standing in the way of delivering relief to the American People. And democrats, i think, are mindful of that but theyre also said allf what theyve day is were still negotiating. Theres no point in rushing this a conclusion when we dont have an agreement, were working were engaging, in the negotiations and continuing to do that. Host if there is an agreement the next 24 hours, walk us through what our cspan viewers can expect in the senate and later in the house . Mike youll need to clear at least a couple of procedural votes. Youll need unanimous consent in the senate to do that quickly. Have to invoke cloture on the motion and proceed. The motion and proceed and then youll actually be on the bill. Period ofould be a debate and another set of procedural votes on the bill itself. But in the senate, when you want to move fast, you can move fast. Unanimous consent to do it. Right now were not aware of any one senator who would be standing in the way of doing that but theres always that possibility and senator warned today that if there is a senator who wants to as it were,orks, they could force action into friday or saturday. Were not anticipating that but one a possibility if any senator wants to create an obstacle to action. Course, the light is on the u. S. Capitol, mike debonis, after finger a bipartisan bill appears closer on a massive rescue package. Thank you for being with us. Us in studio, dr. Ellen carlin, expert in infectious and director of georgetown universitys global Infectious Disease program. Us andou for being with taking our viewer calls. With more than 42,000 cases now u. S. , can you explain based on your expertise animalgins of this from to human contact that has pandemic . To a global guest yes. Wuhan,tbreak started in china, a city in central china, 11y populace, as many as million people. Many of the early cases were inociated with a market wuhan. These are common all over asia, theca and other parts of world where a variety of animals are sold. Some alive, some dead. Theyre for the food and medicinal trade. May have happened at that market, we dont know. Its been destroyed. Coronaviruss spilled over from an animal at that market to a person. Its reservoir in the wild is probably a bat. Harbore known to coronavirus and this one somehow made its way from a bat probably through another animal into a wuhan, started an epidemic and left china and a pandemic. Host to is our line for medical and doctor is joining us from bethesda, maryland. You. Evening to caller good evening, thank you for having me. Host go ahead with your question, please. Caller i guess my question is my biggest concern right now is Healthcare Workers in the areas that have been hardest hit, particularly new york, california, washington, and they dont seem to have much protection. Literature onhe hydroxychloroquine being useful. There is reasonable data showing can these medications actually help reduce the risk of and in thetion treatment of this. Im treating my own son who has see a clear i benefit with these medications. Response is pretty clear and its pretty striking so my i not hearingy am about these Healthcare Workers medicationse prophylactically. Provingheres no study theres prophylactic benefit but we dont have the luxury of prophylactic studies right now but these people will be becausees of war theyre exposed and a ticking clock, a week to three weeks. Many of our Healthcare Workers will suffer and theyre not being given the medications that readily available for use immediately. My question is why is that not being discussed . Why is it not happening . I hope youll tell me that im that it is happening. Host very quickly, how is your son doing . Caller i raised his dose of hydrox chloroquine and he turned later. Three hours clearly a dose response. Healthyyears old, very guy and really took a turn for was having severe chest pain and thank god hes coming around. Your call. You for dr. Carlin, your response . Guest im sorry to hear that son. Your i share your concern for Healthcare Providers. I want them to be protected first. Have the personal protective equipment they need to safely treat patients. Even have that no less drugs they can use. Steps being taken by the food and Drug Administration to change that. The pharmaceutical industry is summit starting tomorrow to see how quickly they can advance therapies and treatments. The f. D. A. Is also considering authorizations and investigational considerations but it takes time because safety priority. Host to lou, tampa, florida. Steve. Hello, thank you so much. I want to say that i, as well as americans, are praying for the congress to settle their differences and pass a much needed resolution to help all regions of our country and businesses and we must have the courage and perseverance and not down on ourselves because were going to get through this. This is america and were great. And thank you so much for letting me speak. Steve lou, thank you. Dr. Carlin, your response . With lou. Gree steve brian, good evening, you are next, from michigan. Caller thanks. Longtime military service. Weve the biggest threats always had whether it be warfare or biological so how is it that after 9 11 2n we threw around nearly trillion that we did not set up an apparatus to combat that with kits that would be available for the American People if there was an onslaught of that. Im not saying this virus is that. But that would have been useful here. That in the 9 11 report, we should havet had forethought on that moving forward from the 9 11 . Guest great question. Thank you for your service. After 9 11 and particularly after the anthrax attacks that fall, there was a significant amount of resources mobilized to prepare for that problem of bioterrorism and in doing that we would also be strengthening other systems that would help us in a situation eventhis where you had an from nature. The problem is that for the last had as years, weve complete bipartisan failure to continue those investments. Is despite continued warnings to congress to the successive president ial administrations that both bioterrorism and emerging Infectious Diseases continue to be a threat so some of the gains that we made after 9 11 havent been sustained or havent been sufficiently built upon. Steve sharmane is next, tucson, arizona. Thank you for waiting. Good evening. Caller i am i have a immune system and i years ago. Does it work the same way for a system as formune a virus . An m. D. m not i cant answer that question. Pasadena,man from california. Caller i have been following the crisis and im actually surprised that just went from trying i impeach the president , and saw Party Members lashing out at the president , trying to remove from office, to now theyre the behindg at the scenes, trying to negotiate huge, huge debt that were going to inherit. Theyrent know if being wise. Our leaders are just im nervous. Im nervous as a as an a first generation that werem nervous just were swaying from one the other and not 2009, the ago, in h1n1, over 12,000 people died, americans died. Was under obama. And i see the scandal. Urgency. See the this is a different virus, its very contagious. Many people are going to die from the response that were we havend at some point to we have to we have to our decisions. How many people are being now by loss of jobs. Steve let me take his point. Is a twofront battle, the economic side that we talked to debonis, what lawmakers are working on. Dr. Carlin, from your perspective, the Health Challenges ahead. The caller was talking about past viruses. One so different . Outbreak that1 the caller referenced, we thought it would be worse than it actually was and the did ramp up pretty significantly at that time and it turned out it wasnt as severe as it could have been. Part of the problem is, 10 years learnede still havent the lessons from that pandemic outbreak. The vulnerabilities that ourd19 is revealing in Public Health system are the same revealed a decade ago. Have enough personal protective equipment, we dont ventilators stockpiled. We dont have Counter Measures diagnosticss and readily available. To influenzass arent completely fair, theyre not completely analogous but the concern is if you take the seasonal influenza add on to that the covid19 burden, hospitals abley arent going to be to cope. Steve if you are a medical professional, we want to hear from you. Our guest is dr. Ellen carlin, expert in Infectious Diseases the program at georgetown university. Fully understands how animaltohuman contact can lead to the virus were dealing with today. Surgeono talk about the general saying the problem will and thee than said president saying at the end of the 15day period, we will make a decision as to which way we want to go. Going back to the callers point about the Economic Impact and all oflth impact in this, the self isolation and the social distancing were now seeing, whats your advice . Think social distancing, many of us have been undertaking these last couple of revealing thely kind of weaknesses in our social fabric. How fragile our economy is and while i think thatthe decisions to do are valid from a scientific and perspective, theres a lot that the policymakers have to take into , theres a lot that the policymakers have to take into account when they make those decisions. I think that decisions should be revisited daily, weekly, often they need to be, to determine if the balance of circumstances is the American People. This is unchartered territory. We dont really know at the end day if the strategy that were taking is going to work. We think it will work from a health perspective. It is the president s job to look out for the economy, as well. Steve wayne is next from winter haven, florida. Good evening. Caller good evening. The nurses,y to doctors, Healthcare Workers, to people who do our groceries, to of ourwho take care elderly, who take care of our children, thank you for the work that you do. Youre risking your lives every day and i truly appreciate that. Another thing i want to say is i dont understand how is it that has a task force told him about the fact 15day need a selfquarantine, social distancing, yet he is more the markets, hes more worried about the political standing of this and like some of these callers that are calling. Somebody whos giving a not beenn that has validated as of yet to their children. Steve wayne, thanks for the call. Well get a response. Dr. Carlin . Guest i think we have to be worried about those Peoples Health and their pocketbooks. People out oft of work right now. Thats an extremely important consideration. Think would be helpful is for, instead of having the politicians, including the president , give these briefings every day, is to have the public theth officials giving briefings and telling the public what they know, reassuring them, being honest about what they dont know and then having the folks in treasury and commerce and the president really talking about how to shore up our systems to make sure people dont lose their life savings. Do both atbe able to the same time. Steve were taking your tweets wj, this primetime edition of the washington journal. A question for you specifically, dr. Carlin, do you think there to revisit the Risk Management protocols now in place in this country . Guest certainly. I think if this outbreak is anything, its that the protocols we have in place are not sufficient. Goodt think we do a very job in the u. S. Government in fromy understanding risk emerging Infectious Disease and based onng that risk different outbreak scenarios so i think that the slow response saw in the u. S. , in the first couple of months of this year, reveals that weakness. Pennsylvania. And, vinita, you are next. Is your background as a medical professor . Caller im a Home Healthcare provider. Talkingion is, theyre and. The hospitals steve we can hear you, go ahead. Masks and stuff and nobody is saying anything about us Healthcare Providers that go houses. Ples we cant get no masks or anything like that. And i dont think thats fair. Were going in to somebody elses house and were not were not getting any protection. Steve are you still doing this Home Healthcare provider . Are you still going into those homes . Caller yes. Steve thank you for the call. Dr. Carlin . Guest i agree with your concern. Think all Healthcare Providers should be at the top of the list. There may be a stratification Healthcare Providers. Those, for example, who have with theirtact patients. Sometimes emergency room doctors patients andver intubating them but in general as a group Healthcare Providers be prioritized for 95 masks, surgical masks, gowns, they need to keep themselves safe. Unfortunately there arent enough of them. Government hases placed huge orders with manufacturers but we dont know are going tohose come in so right now were in a terrible situation where Healthcare Providers actually have to ration disposable p. P. E. It. Reuse cspanwe welcome our radio audience. Our guest is dr. Ellen carlin. Your background . With im a veterinarian interest and background in epidemiology, particularly Infectious Diseases that pass between animals and people and i spent several years on capitol hill working on medical preparedness for the Homeland Security committee. Steve from the initial lack of testing for the coronavirus to of equipment for medical professionals on the sont lines, why were we woefully inadequate . Guest thats a great question the same question for my representatives. More than a decade ago when i on capitol hill, we were working legislatively and toough oversight to try solve these problems. We knew 10 years ago that supplies of p. P. E. , supplies of countermeasures, were going to be a problem. In the decades since, we still havent advanced enough and the only reason i can give you is that congress doesnt like to Public Health. It doesnt like to fund preparedness. Been a very always reactionary body and we are seeing that play out to great can covid. T now steve daniel is next in florida. Caller thanks for taking my call. I want to the salute president and im not here to bash im here to say to all the American Workers that everybodys doing the right just keep washing your hands, keeping the distance and keeping your faith in the lord christ and keeping him first and as far as the economy, the senate is about to come together for the unions, workers, big business and everybody. If we can send trillions of dollars to third world countries salute that, too, but now its time to take care and cut the grass at home. Thanks for taking the call, everybody stay safe and god bless. Were able to flatten the curve at some point this spring or early summer, what next . S guest thats also a great question that even experts dont have the answer to. Idea behind flattening the curve isnt necessarily that you the total number of cases that will occur in the United States. We certainly would hope that would happen. Not happen but youve flattened that peak enough so hospitals and other Healthcare Providers can handle the surge. It will be a lower surge. Now, what happens down the line, a month, two months, six months we dont know. Is this virus seasonal . The summer . Way in come back in the fall . Untilwith us continually weve developed a population immunity or developed a vaccine . The timere hearing line for a vaccine is between 12 to 18 months. Do you see any scenario in which that would speed up . Guest its really unfortunate the government has not technologies that vaccinesp us make faster so right now we are stuck month time line. Steve to rita in marietta, ohio. Aat is your background as medical professor, rita . Caller i am a denials inrdinator for the hospital marietta. Steve go ahead with your question . N or caller with the social distancing, we have a lot of people in marietta that are concerned. You go to walmart, whatever, 500 to 1,000 people Walking Around getting groceries. Is that concerning with that until that small area touching everything, Walking Around all together . Me it is. Any time that you have large closes of people in proximity, less than six feet and also touching a lot of surfaces, touching something, putting it back, someone else picks it up, this can definitely set you up for a situation in which there could be an transmission. Of some of the supermarkets are staggering allowing people into the supermarket to decrease that density. Steve are you surprised we are at this point today . All, we all knew this was coming. Steve how so . Who studyple Infectious Disease in wildlife have understood a lot of things. That twothirds of Infectious Diseases come at animals, threequarters of those from wildlife. Viruses that five could jump out of wildlife into coronavirus are among them. We also know that coronavirus can cause respiratory disease from person to person. That means it was only a matter of when this was going to happen, not if this was going to happen. Alaska,anet in palmer, go ahead. Caller thank you. Is about lost dollars and work. Medicaid and med cares for our medications and our medical . Our animals pass that on to us . Or do we pass that on to them . Cats . Gs and diseasee contract this stop this can we disease and help with the us from thehelp government to help families stay at home so theyre able to get from gas,s electrical, food, water, whatever they need, and is that something that the government is help us pay as well as insurance, medical insurance, our life insurance. Be part of theo stimulus . Steve thank you for the call. Guest i think this stimulus package as well as some other ghals bills that have already need tond will probably pass in the future are looking at issues like medicaid and medicare reimbursement, making sure everyone can get diagnosed regardless of whether or not theyre insured. Some of that will be happening at the state level. Opt in tol have to some of those programs. There will also be some checks out in the mail. Utility companies have delayed paying bills. Im hearing your concern that a lot of people who are out of work, regardless of the stimulus package, are still going to be struggling. Answer youro question about whether or not you can get this disease from your dog or give it to your dog. Theres no evidence whatsoever that dogs can harbor coronavirus. A major lab just tested a lot of and foundg samples them to be negative. It is theoretically possible dog could get virus on it, could be contaminated, the a table or a chair or your hand might be contaminated which just speaks to the need to continually wash your hands. For thisr last call segment, irma, in albany, oregon. Lines outthe front west. Caller i am here in albany, oregon. We have been very fortunate we did not get a lot of cases but i have observations. Around many years and before world war ii and im wondering if the medical profession has given any thought to trying some we used before antibiotics such as sulfer and that kind of thing. That is my one concern. The vaccines,e is you say younger people arent getting it so badly up until age 20. Of theirt be because vaccinations for schooling than their actual age . Steve thanks for the call. Speak whether sulif a drugs are being tested. Pharmaceutical companies are hundreds if not thousands of compounds right now. Some are existing assets already market so they are looking hard for treatments they intoet out there quickly Clinical Trials or into approved will. Bel uses, if you i think the other question about nobody has any preexisting immunity to this regardless of what vaccines you have or have not gotten. We dont totally understand why it seems to be hurting older folks more than younger folks. I wouldnt discount that children and young adults can get this virus. They can get it and they can get it severely. But ill wait further 12 to 18 well all wait 12 to 18 months for that vaccine. Steve all of america asking this question. Based on your expertise, in the moment that we are in right now, whats the time frame . What are we looking at . Unfortunately, i think the social distancing guidelines and directors were seeing from federal government and from states will be with us for the duration. President sding the 15day director which were in now, i think right states are getting more aggressive stayathome, lterinplace, loch lockdown. Schoolly through this year, i would expect life not to normalize through the summer and the fall. En into steve dr. Ellen carlin is the director of the global Infectious Disease program at university here in washington, d. C. Thank you for being with us. Me. T thank you for having steve were glad youre with us on a primetime edition of washington journal. Live every morning. Tonight and this week a chance take youretime to questions and get your calls and comments. This headline from the post, the Trump Administration scrambling to offer guidance on what to do if run out of basic coronavirus. Lenny bernstien writing the is preparingnment guidance on how hospitals should function if they run out of supplies. Is lennys via zoom bernstien. Thanks for joining us on cspan. Anddid we reach this point why . Lenny we reached this point enough there was not preparation in terms of supplies hospitals and other Healthcare Facilities need for to fight the covid19 disease. Simply is not enough masks andeye shields and gowns ventilators to go around. We had the opportunity over the decade to buy up stores of these things. We didnt do it. Public health is never a a crisis hits and now we are scrambling to find them. Doing,cilities are theyre trying to stretch those items as far as they can but you go so far with a mask and then youre going to run out that is entirely possible in certain places. Places steve the other we were getting from medical professionals, even with these supplies, do we have the doctors, nurses, to carry out what needs to be done. The headline, covid19 hitting those very doctors and nurses and e. M. T. s. Lenny after the public at large, the Second Largest Group of people who are going to fall infectious outbreak like this one are Healthcare Workers. Makes sense. Onyve got their hands people. Theyre standing over people. Theyre breathing that air with droplets in it. It totally makes sense. What you want to do, what the do, is toes to minimize that. How do you minimize that . Theseing enough masks for folks to wear, a clean one, every time they step into a room ad have to take care of patient. By having enough ventilators. By not making them add extra risk to an already risky job. I youres what days. Long those havee house officials emergencyadvice from physicians and others who have handled first deadly outbreak about the previously unthinkable prospect of Healthcare Workers eye shields and. Entilators lenny the providence healthcare their ownshioned protection from material they took that further by enlisting a local furniture sure to create kits. Those kits are sent to people all around the country who are sewing the masks for them and them back. Is that a good way to function . Of course not. Were the wealthiest nation in the world. It should never have come to this. But they have worked around to a certain extent and they are able to get surgical masks in there. Those arent the n95s. Those arent the ones that screen out the virus but theyre nothing and its better than asking a Healthcare Worker to wear the same mask for five days, disinfect it, cant useears and you it anymore. Steve lenny bernstien, Health Medicine reporter for the Washington Post. Well get to your calls. Good evening. Caller hello. Thank you for taking my call. Thatt to the remind voters trump disbanded the pandemic putonse team that obama had to confront Something Like this. I myself blame is it all on trup and i hope that the voters when time that they hold him accountable and vote him out. Thank you. Steve thanks for the call. Lenny bernstien, can you explain what exactly did or didnt the president do or his administration . The national in Security Council responsible for ofparing us for this kind event. When john there was as the National Security director, he got rid of that unit. Now he says he folded it into a different way, that the responsibilities and functions were still carried out. President , like your caller, say that it was lost itssbanded and it priority in the administration. Steve whats the story . Whats the truth . Lenny well, we have reported on disbandenment of that office. Functionspreparedness over the past three, four years, appear to have taken a decline. Depends how you look at it, frankly. Steve we have a line for medical professionals. Dr. Dashi is joining us from lexington, mississippi. Type of physician are you . Primary care internist. The issue of the covid19 was brought by the chinese doctor, december, put online. He was forced to apologize or whatever by the Chinese Government and he died by the same disease. Inall knew this is happening china and we know chinas numbers cannot be relied but we knew the atrocities chinese have done to the group of people who were having this problem. So we knew all those things. Why did not any senator, any congressman, any journalist, anybody who is in the medical field, healthcare, public policy, government, review this situation and prepare for battle ahead of time. By the time the chinese ban was done, the disease already was in america. Was only long after in Washington State it was realized that we need to test it now. Thank you. Steve thank you for the call mississippi. Lenny bernstien, did you want to respond . Lenny we at the post wrote this subjectry on january 8. The government im sorry, c. D. C. Director redfield brought this issue to the attention of the white house on january 3. It took until the first americanation of an case, the gentleman in snohomish, washington, on january 21, for this government and rolling on this is a great question. Its one that has yet to be answered fully. There was clearly a time lag january 3 and january 21, and even further. Intol remember deep february that the president was going out to a rally and saying that this virus was a hoax and that it was a concoction of the media and the Democratic Party that was trying to get rid of alland he was saying it was going to go away, it was under control. Well, look at the numbers today. There are 40,000 cases in america and theyre doubling every few days. Away. Ot going its increasing exponentially. Steve last week the president he always knew it was going to be a pandemic. At oddshats completely with what he said for the four to six weeks prior to that and in his behavior in the four to six weeks prior to that. Revisionisty history. Steve you cant go through Something Like this on the other end and not learn from it. Your standpoint as a reporter whos been covering this extensively, whats the big or the big lesson . Lenny the big question for me right now is how fast will the number of cases increase in the United States. Are early until the epidemic here in the United States. To get not even begun near the top of our curve. Beis our curve going to relatively flat because we all apartome, we all stay from each other and we decrease the number of people who are getting infected by other people . Or is that curve going to rise like a rocketship right into the overwhelm our Healthcare System . To me that is the one remaining question. It seems obvious to me that there will be hundreds of probably millions of infections in this country over three, six, nine months. The only question is, and it is question, it is the critical question, is how we can so everyone ist not hitting the hospitals at the same time. Prolong the epidemic but it will make it much more manageable. Saying thatyoure what were dealing with today, new,s shut down, is the norm for months . Lenny yes, im saying that. I know the president wants to reopen the economy. I dont see how its possible. Socialth rigorous distancing for the next two months, three months, four months, will we be able to we canthis virus so that provide healthcare to those who wherever the hot spots break out. Steve well go to molly in granger, indiana. Good evening. Caller good evening. My name is molly saint lawrence. I work in a restaurant. We are now closed. Just do carryout. I shouldering if remove myself from just the we have atrders that be home,stay safe and or should i find another job somewhere else . Im really scared. I am a grandmother and i want to see my grandchildren. However, i will not do that. At homeg to be safe, be and do exactly what everyone says to do. Me . Ou have any advice to and my coworkers, as well, in the situation . And all the other food servers out there in the United States . Thank you. Steve molly, thank you. Lenny bernstien, your response . Lenny im not a healthcare expert. But if i were working in a business right now, i would be wearing gloves. I might be wearing a mask. Would insist on six feet of distance from every customer and coworkers to the extent possible. I would be cleaning surfaces again so again and that im confident that the that table there on or that bar or whatever the occurring. S as an older woman, your caller susceptible to the severe aspect of this virus that we have seen. The numbers are pretty striking. 60, you get up over particularly 70 and 80, the fatality rate goes up, the the illness goes up, frequency of severe illness goes up. I think this is a woman who has to take utmost precaution if to work. Ng to continue steve here in washington, d. C. , chris, you are next. Good evening. Caller good evening. I want to say thank you for cspan. I think youre the best network on television. Quickke to raise three issues in terms of the stimulus, lack ofing and the p. P. E. To thef all, in regard stimulus, i can see that the determined to put out a large amount of money sure will help. Im very concerned about how to logistically get it into the hands of the people say need it most and when i that im talking about people that dont have Bank Accounts who may not have filed a tax return or dont report their file taxes when they or those that have nontraditional jobs and receive 1099s or independent contractors. I havent seen reflected in any proposed plans how those people are really going to be covered. In terms of testing, i live in cant get atill test. Looks like theyre going medex up mass testing in medex fedexfield where the play and theyre ready to go forward except they dont have the tests which is a big i heardespecially since the w. H. O. Director say that the 100,000 people took 90 peopled the next 100,000 took 11 days, the next 100,000 days and itook four looks like it may only take one next 100,000. In regards to the p. P. E. , i think we can handle this crisis we dont run out of that but if we run out of p. P. E. Gettingdoctors begin sick because theyre not adequately protected or we dont have enough ventilators, then going to cause a real crisis and my question for your is, since so far only a quarter of the cases in the u. S. In new york city and it looks like theyre buying most of the available p. P. E. , whats happen when this crisis reaches the midwest and other areas where the world might be masks and necessary equipment. Steve lenny bernstien . Lenny were playing a delay game. Right now the hot spot is new york city. Resources are being sent to new york city to there. Stem the tide were playing for time. Were at the end of the fourth and were trying to keep the clock going so that we have chance to manage things in other places. Can, relatively speaking, keep the number of cases down in other places other city. Ew york that gives us days, maybe weeks, to try to produce the kinds of rightent that are lacking now. The president has said the number of companies have been go 24 hours a day to shieldsreate masks and and ventilators and lets hope thats right because every day can push this crisis can tryewhere else, we to create the equipment that is be needed. We also are trying to purchase it from other countries. Be an outbreak somewhere else. It may not ever be as bad as new denselyy because of how populated new york is but there will be another outbreak. Chicago, maybee a small town somewhere. If we played our cards right and delayed this thing long enough, there will be sufficient placeent to rush to that next and then the place after that and the place after that. Is fromur last call harrisburg, North Carolina am annette, good evening. Caller good evening. I have a concern about the virus. My concern is two ways. Everyonegoes out to affected. But im worried about the economy. If all the businesses that are shuttered remains closed for an extended period of time, people are not going to have a job to to. Ack steve thanks for the question. Lenny bernstien, thats on evening. S mind this lenny yeah, i wish i had something i could say to make feel better. Im a healthcare reporter and i can look at the numbers and i look at the trends of what is happening with the virus and at that, i say to strategy thatly will work is to do what were doing now. Fact, it may require even tighter restrictions than what were doing now. The president wants to reopen the economy. Reopeneverybody wants to the economy and go back to work. It doesnt seem plausible to me right now, given the way the numbers are going. Steve from governor jay inslee in Washington State to Governor Hogan in maryland basically saying stay home, dont go to work if you dont have to. Lenny thats right. Thats the guidance that we are living with now and we are going to be living with for a number weeks and months. Steve lenny bernstien is health us medicine reporter joining via zoom. His work available at inhingtonpost. Com and tomorrows newspaper. We thank you for being with us. Also during the course of this witham we want to check in members of congress. Joining us live on the phone is John Sarbanes, democrat from marylands third congressional district. We thank you for being with us on the washington journal. With youm glad to be tonight. Steve how are you, how are your with all of this . Guest i think were dealing with it the same way families areacross the country dealing with it, which is to get used to a new way of being in our communities. Number onethe imperative here is for people to keep their distance. We have to take that guidance deadlyriously, seriously. I think people are doing that. Are reallyple putting in place these precautions. Theres a lot of people that are helping us get the word out. I did a town hall the other day, we had about 12 or 15,000 people and the course of an hour we were talking about the Public Health guidance and i said to on that call, you can help us get the message out the baseline things that we have to do to keep ourselves rate of to slow the this transmission. Call in my on that mind is a messenger to their family, friends, coworkers, that we have to take these precautions very, very seriously. To implement that in my own family. About youryou think immediate family, then you think about your extended family. Also important for us to stay in touch with each other. Its all going to be remote now but pick up the phone to email, toe text, to stay connected, even though were physically separated, its important to stay connected and to create and community that way and i think youre seeing that. In just in my district or maryland but across the country. Steve congressman, coming at a tag. Rice earlier today governor larry newn in annapolis with guidelines and restrictions tightening the ability to move downs the state, shutting nonessential businesses. The Economic Impact in states including country maryland. Rep sarbanes its severe. Puttingave to put the Health Imperative first because we dont, the Economic Impact could be greater and long think the i requirements put in place, incautions, not just here maryland, but other places around the country, these are very important. And we know that its creating upheaval for millions of americans right now. Thats why its so important get these benefits and assistanced economic out of washington to the states local communities. Thats part of the response that rounds oftwo legislation in washington. Know,f course, as you theres a third round thats the capitold in right now. Unemployment benefits in terms of the amount be available,l increasing the amounts that to people,ovided covering certain kinds of leave. Help are all things can economically and then critically supporting Small Businesses because they just dont have the cash flow or the reserves to the kind of sea change that weve seen and getting to them in the form of potentially,rest, lets hope, over time, in some interests, nointerest loans with extended repayment periods, thatlso making sure charitable, nonprofit organizations who are so critical in our communities, can that kind of assistance, as well. Thats going to be really important to make sure that the through this. Steve let me conclude on that point and simply ask you it depends on what happens in the senate and time line in the senate in potentially making progress. What are you hearing from your leadership . What timeline do you think it will get through the house and to the president s that president s desk . I think the process is one of hours and days at most in terms of getting these large packages, legislative packages across the finish line. Everyone negotiating right now, the leadership on the republican and democratic side in the house and the senate understand we have to move very quickly because people want to see that kind of assurance. That is what we are dealing with here. This is an immediate goal to get this done. We want to make sure it gets done properly. That the assistance gets to the people that need it. These are workers on the front mine in Companies Across the country and Small Businesses. It has to be done well but quickly. That is the imperative at work right now. Congressman John Sarbanes joining us on the phone. Stay safe and thank you for joining us. A reminder, we are back tomorrow morning on washington journal and tomorrow evening at 8 00 eastern time. Coverage on the coronavirus issue is available on the web at cspan. Org coronavirus. We thank you for joining us. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] journals washington live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up tuesday morning, Stephen Moore discusses the Trump Administration and congressional efforts to blunt the impact of the pandemic on the economy. And from on selections project, our guest discusses primary contest and the concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. And we discuss the federal response to the coronavirus. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal. 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Join the discussion. Follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch congress, white house briefings and updates from governors. Ondemand anytime unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. Within the last half hour on capitol hill, House Democratic leadership has introduced the third phase of their response legislation. 2. 5 trillion measure the house is in tomorrow at noon eastern in a pro forma session. Is still inate session tonight after failing once again earlier to advance the measure. Their