Guest my pleasure. Good morning. Host what are the lessons from the 1918 pandemic . Terrible, terrible time, which perhaps there seems to be more overlap now than we could have ever imagined, i think that there are some differences and there are some important similarities as well. I think we should really focus on the differences between whats going on now and 1918. Because 1918 did leave us with several lessons. Perhaps the most important one is understanding what it was that was killing people in 1918. Just to remind everybody, back in 1918, people had not yet discovered viruses. That would happen over the next couple of decades. And so there was this terrible disease that ended up killing between 50 million and 100 Million People worldwide, or 675,000 people in the u. S. , which in todays numbers, would be about three million deaths. And they did not know what it was that was killing them. The word influenza comes from a latin word, meaning influence. People thought that it was the stars and planets that was killing them, because they were misaligned. And so, for me, perhaps the most important lesson that came out of 1918 was the scientific communitys urgent need to figure out what it was that had caused so much destruction. That came very quickly. And, of course, today, were in a very, very different place. Within about two weeks of the first descriptions of coronavirus, a chinese team had published the full genome of the coronavirus, covid19, and published it in a major u. S. Journal, so it was in english for everybody here in the u. S. And around the world to read. An important difference between those two outbreaks and what was the number one thrust of the Science Community back then, and, of course, it still is today. Host but based on what was published back in january, are you surprised or not surprised where we are today in early april . Caller well, ill be honest with you. I am surprised. There are often reports of novel viruses that are described. Its not unusual to read of cases of a new influenza virus, for example, that flare up. Weve had several over the last few decades that have climbed the lives of perhaps a couple of dozen people in china or hong kong or elsewhere in the far east. And generally those have just sort of gone away, and weve watched them with curiosity, a little bit of concern. But i will be honest, the repeatedity with which this current pandemic spread certainly surprised and he surprised many others as well. Host from the book, back in 2018, you wrote the following, just one century is all that separates us from a Global Health crisis that killed more people than any other illness in recorded history. What weve learned in the interim is enough to scare and motivate us, but maybe not enough to stop another pandemic from happening. Because of its mystery and its ability to mutate and spread, the flu is one of mankinds most dangerous foes. Guest well, thats right. And we are in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic. Just to remind everybody, coronavirus is one of the winter viruses. It has a seasonality to it generally. Just like flu does. So we have a flu season that begins in the fall and goes through usually to the early spring. And coronavirus, as a family of viruses, caused the common cold. Thats how many people listening today will have had a Coronavirus Infection at some times in their lives, simply because they have had cold symptoms over the winter. Thats very common, and it usually goes away. What is different about 1918 was that it went away in the spring of 1918, having caused some devastation, but came quickly back in the fall. It wasnt that we dont think it was a different virus, it just reader up again in the fall. Theres a seasonality to this virus. And it caused tremendous devastation through the early winter of 1919. I think the big question for everybody is will covid19 act like a regular coronavirus which doesnt like, if you like to use that metaphor, it doesnt like warm weather, it doesnt like humid weather so. Will covid19 tend to weather as the warm weather of spring creeps in . We hope so. We hope it will continue to act like a winter virus. And then the big question will be, what will happen in the install will it disappear, having caused i said destruction, or will it come back with a vengeance, just like influenza did in the pandemic of 1918 . That remains to be seen. Host about 40 years after the pandemic of 1918, another flu virus back in 1957 affected americans and elsewhere around the world. This is a documentary produced in partnership with the American Medical Association on what happened back in 1957. Lets watch. Now the man upon whose shoulders rests the responsibility for preparing the United States for the impending battle with asian influenza is dr. Leroy berney, Surgeon General of the United StatesPublic Health service. Doctor, i imagine and you your staff have had gathering quite a tremendous amount of material on asian flu. It seems to me that everybody i know has had and has talked about influenza, but i dont think anyone really knows what it is. Carl, its one of the upper Republican Attorney infections, Something Like a cold, only caused by flu virus, and the difference between the asian influenza and the influenza that weve been having all of these past few years is that this strain began in the strain of the virus began in hong kong and spread from hong kong to the rest of the world, including the United States. Well, every year, influenza is a problem in our communities. Im sure it is in yours, too. Why are we suddenly so all concerned about it now . Well, thats a very good question. We are concerned because in the other countries in which its appeared, and even in the outbreak that is weve had so far in this country, the attack rate has been 15 to 20 of the population. And this attack rate occurs in about four to six weeks. For example, in metropolitan pittsburgh, with approximately one Million People, if we had this flu strike here, you would have approximately 200,000 people who would become ill in a four to sixweek period. And this, of course, would make a tremendous impact upon the economy of this particular area. Host that from Westinghouse Broadcasting and the American Medical Association back in 1957. More recently, dr. Brown, back in 18 to have 19, most recent figures indicate about 16,000 americans died from the standard influenza. Why does it remain such a mystery . Uest well, the challenge of influenza is perhaps i would frame it slightly differently. It doesnt remain a mystery. It remains a challenge. The biggest challenge that we have when we talk about influenza is finding a vaccine that we dont have to repeat every year. So your viewers know that every year they get a flu vaccine. Different to that is the vaccine we get as children, like mumps, meese he wills and rubella, which after one or two doses, youre essentially immune the rest of your life. The challenge for the flu, theyre a clever shape shifter. While we can become immune to a certain strain of that virus, it quickly changes its outer coat and this means that new strains that infect us will not be recognized by our immune system. So the challenge of the influenza vaccine is to find a vaccine that is a universal vaccine, that will be able to walk against all strains of the flu, not just the ones that are in circulation that year. And also will not have to be given year after year after year. So those are the challenges of influenza. Its not so much a mystery as a medical challenge. The way that scientists approach this is to find that part of the flu virus that doesnt change between strain and sort of direct our immune system against that unchanging piece of the virus. That sounds very easy to do. But, in fact, its actually very challenging. When it comes to covid19, were here building essentially a vaccine from scratch almost, and there will be different challenges, but it certainly needs to be figured out whether or not we will need to get a vaccine that is going to be repeated year after year, whether there will be different strains of covid19 or coronaviruses that will need different vaccines. All the scientists are quickly trying to work it out so they can produce some kind of vaccine as quickly as possible. Host our guest, who grew up in london, as you can tell by the accent, is the author of influenza the 100year hunt to cure the deadliest disease in history. We go to the phone from ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question and my comment has to do with all of this, but its something that i havent heard anybody ask yet on any of your shows about any of it. Id like to know i woke up this morning to mike murdochs ministry. The inspirational ministries, asking for money again. I keep saying, all these evangelical leaders that have millions of dollars, multiple homes, private planes, what are they doing . Are they giving up any of their money like the sports franchise owners have done to go to foreign countries, to help get the p. P. E. , to help get the ventilators and everything. If anything, wouldnt that be the best way for them to show gods love and to sow the seeds back to the people that gave them all that . Id like to know why no one is looking at that, why no one is asking that. You have ministers still having their congregations, endangering Peoples Health and stuff, and no one is bringing this up. No one is directing anything to them. I just i believe that alone is antichristian, antigod. Host we will leave your comment stand. Dr. Brown, thats not really part of your area of expertise. You can comment on it if you want, but i did want to ask you about social distancing. Did they understand that back in 1918 . Guest oh, they certainly did. In fact, it was understood before that quarantine has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. We know that it was used, for example, in the great plague that struck in europe around 1357. We get this idea of 40 day, the italian word, 40 days quarantine, perhaps coming from the biblical idea of 40 days of lent, moses being on the mountain for 40 days, something magical and mysterious and special about that 40day number. So social distancing and quarantine, 40 or 30day period, has been known for many, many centuries. It was also a practice during the very foundations of this country back in the 1620s when the pilgrims were first coming over from england. There was a devastating smallpox pandemic that killed anywhere between perhaps 80 and 95 of the Indigenous People of this country, and even back then, there was a notion, a suggestion that we need to distance ourselves. We have early quarantine goals appearing in the colonies from the 1720s, the first laws nap boston requiring quarantine and separation. And so even though we had no idea what it was that was killing us, there was no notion of viruses and bacteria back then, there was certainly social distancing. So weve known about this for a long time. In the 1918 flu edmonton, it was widely practiced. So was wearing a face nascar public, by the way. And so here we are today using something thats really been around for many hundreds of years. Host well go to morgantown, west virginia. Raffle, good morning. Caller yes, good morningment thought that audio clip was very interesting, the doctor referenced pittsburgh, pennsylvania. That is exactly 70 miles due north from where im located in morgantown. But what i would like to comment on is, earlier in the show, i heard some comments about people talking about, well, what have we done wrong up until this point and calling it monday morning quarterbacking. At the moment, we appear to have more than two times the number of cases of any other country in the world. It certainly appears with the modeling that we are going to have way more deaths than any other country in the world. Theyre talking about a potential second wave coming in the fall or in the winter. I dont believe that its monday morning quarterbacking. To have take a look at what has been done that should have been done differently, because it certainly appears as if this situation, once the weather gets warm, just isnt going to go away. As our president initially said that it would. I mean, its very discouraging, and i really dont want to get political, especially in a time like this. I dont think we should worry how the horse got in the ditch at the moment, but how to get him out. But then after that, i think we have to take a look at what was done and the complete lack of preparedness that we have had that has been a direct contribution to all of these numbers of cases and going to be a direct contribution to the vast number of deaths that we experience here in this country. Host ralph, thank you for the call, the comment, the question. Well get a response. Guest i think a very important aspect of all this, which is figuring out what we could have done better once this is behind us. Of course, as you point out, we have a job right now to do, which is to limit the infection, save the people who can be saved, and make sure that each of us is doing our part to prevent the spread. But i think youre quite right that when this is all done, we will have to ask some very important questions about how we allocate our resources for scientific research, how we allocate our resources for preparedness, and not surprising that, you know, pandemic preparedness is very often put to the side as more pressing important ways that we have to spend our money. But i think weve all learned that when these events strike, they are so catastrophic that we certainly need to think as a community, as a nation about what we can do Going Forward to be better prepared. After the terrible flu outbreak in Great Britain and also in boston in the 1890s, there was a parliamentary inquiry in the United Kingdom that led to some important changes in the way that things were done there. And i think that were going to see the same here. But were many, many months away from that, and as you said, right now we have a different priority, which is the medical priority. Host if covid19, doctor, is similar to past viruses, if you have it, are you i. M. F. Mune from getting it in the future . Guest scientists are certainly looking at this. The answer is generally yes. Once youve been infected with a virus, you are generally immune from further infections of that specific strain. This is true of all viruses, and, in fact, thats how vaccines work. You are given a dose of a virus at is either dead or incapacitated as it were, and you are mounting an immune response, and you remain immune to that virus for the rest of your life. So the question now is, will covid19 act like all the other viruses act, and you will have a lifetime immunity . It seems very likely. The question then becomes, what about the constraints, just as covid19, a strain of coronavirus and influenza, theyre different strains, does immunity to one strain translate into immunity to other strains . We know for influenza that does not occur. If you get a vaccine against one strain, you are still susceptible to a different strain, and it may that be even if youre immune now to a specific strain of coronavirus or covid19, that you will not immune to a different strain of the coronavirus. That remains to be seen. It is an important focus of scientific work. Host in addition to his book on influenza, our guest has written a number of text books on emergency medicine published by Oxford University press. Hes also the former Research Department at George Washington university and currently the director of the office of Emergency Care at n. I. H. Linda is next, joining us from ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning. I feel somewhat connected to the spanish flu, because my grandmother, i remember hearing the stories of the flu, and she lost two little boys, one was 6 and one was 4. And grandma said that there was so much death around them. And hearing about it, 100 years doesnt seem that long ago. And i just have a couple of questions. I was reading that we have identified 3,000 different viruses, and i guess there are thousands more. Can that can the virus be created in a petrie dish . This is what has been in the back of my mind. And do we know with the spanish flu where it started . I can remember we called it the spanish flu because it stopped and started in spain, but then i heard that it actually started over here. So do we know for sure where it actually started . 100 years isnt that long ago. Im 74 years old. And i remember consoling my grandma, because she never, ever was able to get over the fact. She was telling me that within the same yeerks months apart, when she lost charles, and then when she lost arthur. She doesnt remember it, but she had him in her arms, and she refused to let go of him. And she said she just lost her mind over that and just couldnt bear to lose another child. Host linda, what a story. Well get a response. Thank you very much for the call and sharing your own experiences and what that of your grandmother. What a sad story. Guest linda, thank you. Thats, of course, a terrible story. U a personal connection with it , and its a story that was repeated millions of times across the world at that time. Just to take a couple of the questions that you raised, yes, viruses can be created in the lab. In fact, the 1918 virus was resurrected as it were for experimental reasons so that scientists could better understand it. And today, with genetic engineering, all kinds of viruses can not only be created in the lab, but can be manipulated and changed so that we can understand how their function will change if certain natural mutations occur, and this is a very important part of Scientific Understanding of how viruses work. Let me tackle another part of your question, which is where the 1918 virus originated. You mentioned that it was called spanish flu, which it was, and you are youre correct, it did not originate in spain actually. It was reported in spain widely for the reason that during the great war of 1914 to 1918, there was a tacit agreement between the newspaper editors and the governments of the western powers to try and keep the bad news about influenza off of the front pages. Andy looked at hundreds and hundreds of historic newspapers, and while there are some that reported influenza on the front pages of those newspapers of the day, the vast majority relegate them to the inside or the back page. Spain was a neutral country. It did not have this agreement between its newspaper editors and its government to keep influenza off of the front pages of the newspapers, and so the outbreak of influenza in 1918 was widely reported in spain because it was a neutral country, didnt have this censorship, if you like. And so people started referring to it as the spanish flu, but it was not, in fact, a flu that came from spain. It was reported there. We do have some theories as to where it came from. The first theory is that it actually started here in the United States in kansas. The evidence that supports that is that the first reports of influenza coming out of the United States were from haskill county in early january and february, a county excuse me, a country miner probably went to visit his patients on horseback. He reported 18 deaths, 18 cases of flu and three deaths in one day in january and february of 1918. He reported this in the medical journal. And from there, the flu seems to have spread to a camp only a couple of hundred miles away, and then out into the United States. Thats one theory. And there is good evidence to support it. But there are two at least two other theories as to where the 1918 influenza pandemic originated. A second was that it originated in northern france. The evidence for that is that in 1916, in northern france, there were reports of an influenza outbreak there in the troops, and at least one theory that says it began there and seeded across the world and then reared its ugly head all at once in 1918 two years later. That would explain how the virus managed to travel across the world seemingly so quickly in 1918. There was no International Air travel, of course, and yet the virus appeared in all kinds of dispar ate countries around the world very quickly. The suggestion is that it actually seed over the previous two years from northern france, and then was able to appear, as it were, all across across the world. Thats the second theory. The third and final theory that circumstances late today is that it began in china. There were reports of an influenza in china several months before the outbreak of the 1918 pandemic. It is suggested that the virus was brought with Chinese Workers at least 140,000 Chinese Workers were hired in a supporting role on the front lines of the european theater of the 1918 war, and perhaps they inadvertently brought the virus with them. So three three are his as to where the 1918 pandemic began. It either began here in the u. S. , in northern france, possibly china. Well never know for sure, but we do know for sure where the coronavirus began, and thats, again, another very interesting and important difference. Host a very quick followup, because i want to get back to calls, but Business Insider reporting that patient zero, a 55yearold man, he was first diagnosed back in november, and chinese officials realizing in middecember that they had a new strain, a new virus. Do you have any idea who patient zero is . Guest no, no, i dont. But i think there will be a great amount of scientific work that will congregate around that person, if indeed it turns out to be correct. All these reports need to be verified. But we do know where the first patient at least to have symptoms remember, patient zero is the one who had symptoms. That doesnt mean that the coronavirus that is currently circulating wasnt in other people and was asymptomatic at the time, in which case that person was symptomatic patient zero, but not carrier zero. So we have to be very careful about calling this patient the first one who had the disease. But because we have samples of this persons blood and serum, well be able to understand through molecular genetics exactly what that initial virus looked like and compare and contrast it to the virus as it has appeared around the world. Host dr. Jeremy brown is the author of influenza the 100year hunt to end the deadliest disease in history, joining from us outside washington, d. C. Melody is next, ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning. Im from terre haute, indiana. Host youre on the air. Go ahead. Caller my first question is, its been answered by listening to the phone and the tv. I wanted to ask if we had the flu again, this flu, could we get it again . But my question was answered. Secondly, is this what you call biological warfare . I spent over 20 years in the service, and im not going say at branch, but i recognize the problem, and i feel sorry for all these people, plus the ilitary, plus everybody thats but, but since this is peace time, is this still considered biological warfare . Host thank you. Well get a response. Guest of course, that means that somebody designed an infectious agent, a virus or bacteria, and deliberately released it to cause death and destruction. And then if you were to go down that path, you would have to ask yourself who would have done such a thing and to what gain . Nobody gains from this. There is very strong Scientific Evidence that this is a completely natural virus. And anybody who would claim otherwise, really, the burden of proof is on them, not just to suggest it, but to bring proof. Scientists have looked at this virus very carefully. A Group Published a paper in one of the nature journals within the last couple of weeks showing why all the evidence shows that this is a naturally occurring virus. It has to do with the way it seems to be similar to other naturally occurring bat viruses from where we believe this originated. And the suggestion that they have made, and these people who spend their entire professional lives studying the genome of a virus, there is nothing about this virus that suggests its anything other than a natural mutation and is a reminder that we dont need all kinds of theories of biological warfare to really explain something that is natural. And i think to be a wakeup call to all of us that nations must be taking very seriously. Host can you clear up there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there that this was a planted virus to harm the u. S. Guest well, i think just look around the world. Again, people who extraordinarily claim, require extraordinary evidence. I would ask people with those extraordinary claims to bring their extraordinary evidence to support that. Nobody has gained from this. Not the u. S. , and not any of the other large actors in the world from nobody has gained from the release of this virus. So i think thats a silly suggestion, and if people to want make it, they need to come up with some very, very extraordinary evidence. Host and weigh gree, thank you. Kevin is next from texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. Yes, doctor, i was seeking some statistical support for the effectiveness of social distancing. Specifically, the tack that we seem to take is that s where we have essential and nonessential places, and i know intuitively you would think social distancing is going to help. But it seems to me that all those people that were in bars and restaurants, theyre now at the Grocery Store with the same viruses that they would have carried in the other places. And, in fact, because of the shortages, theyre going to the Grocery Store more often. Host well get a chance. Thank you, kevin. Guest well, i think youre correct. People do venture out and carry with them the viruses that they do. But theres important caveats here. First of all, we should be limiting the number of times we go out. Dont go out twice a week to the Grocery Store. Buy what you need for the entire week, at the beginning of the week, and not more, because there may be shortages of some important things, so buy what you need, but only buy it once and limit the amount of time you go out. That will limit the spread. But, again, coronavirus and all the winter viruses dont last very long when theyre outside the host. It is true that we understand today that coronavirus can, under certain circumstances, last for several hours or perhaps a day or more on certain surfaces. But the amount of virus that will exist, that will live as it were on those surfaces is relatively small, and so your risk of getting the virus from surfaces is very, very small, compared to the risk of getting it because youre in contact with somebody. So if we limit the amount of contact that we have, we will limit the ability to pass the virus on from one person to the next. We know that is the number one way in which this virus and all winter viruses are spread. Host well go to craig in las vegas. Good morning. Guest good morning. How are you, sir . Host were fine. Good morning. Caller dr. Brown, my question first of all, i am a 63yearold disabled naval veteran. I was a corpsman. I suffered with lupus. But my question i wanted to post to you is, every couple of years i have to take a test for my colin, and we have to take a stool sample, put it in a tube, mail it out, and then we get our results through primary care. My question to you is why couldnt we, as a nation, do that for this test . Because weve not had any testing done, take the test, and even if the test would be to develop it would be restrictive because of the covid19, but because its in the influenza family, couldnt we develop a test that we can all mail in, and then get the results back so we can try to get ahead and find a way to maybe better combat the virus . Guest well, thats a brilliant suggestion. Im sure there are people working on it. Lets just sort of think about what we know from other examples about that. It certainly is possible that we will end up with exactly what you have suggested, which is a selfadministered, perhaps a buckle test, where we just take a sample from a mouth, put it in a tube, and mail it in and get a result. For example, we have that now with, of all things, h. I. V. You can now get a test that will detect h. I. V. You can take it at home, and you can send it in and get the results. Of course, this took many, many, many years, and not only to develop it, but to figure out whether it was a wise thing to do socially and psychologically. But we went there, and we now have tests like that. So if you consider that in the early 1980s, h. I. V. Was not even described, let alone having a test for it, so we discovered it in the early 1980s, and by the middle of the 2010, even earlier, we had selfadministered home tests for that infection. So it takes a while, but its certainly possible, and i would not be surprised if over the next many years, and it will take many years, we end up seeing something very similar to this and for other viruses that are in circulation, home tests for those viruses, yes. Host next up is steve from maryland. Good morning. Caller good morning. Very interesting conversation. A little background, im actually in the biotech industry. We have a company, or i work for a company that actually makes testing for coronavirus and other pathogens. We can also do other testing as well. I was curious about your surveillance y, that detects multiple pathogens, where like coronavirus, have flu or pneumonialike symptoms. If you had others that can screen for all those pathogens, how useful that would be during a pandemic and lest poffer pandemic, as well as for surveillance, like theres a second wave. Guest yeah, thank you for that question. I think these, of course, are terribly important, and we do have biosurveillance at levels that are sort of occurring in the background. When i would ride the metro in washington, d. C. , there would be these little machines at some of the stations in the middle of washington, d. C. That were out there to detect dangerous pathogens with a concern, of course, tv people deliberately spreading them. And so we do have mill father civilian tests that military and civilian tests that look at background detection, that look at a background to be able to detect these pathogens. The question is not only about detecting them, but in interpreting what it is that youve detected. So you, for example, might be a carry why are of a pathogen and not have storges all this needs to be worked out. Im sure that people will be very heavily focused both on the private and the public sectors in this important area of surveillance of trying to understand what is going on in the background, and then, of course, comes the translation of being able to interpret those backgrounds, and make some meaningful policy as a result of them. Host dr. Brown, i just received an email from nbcs meet the press on jerome adams, the u. S. Surgeon general making an appearance this morning. I want to read the quote he just told nbcs chuck todd, the next week is going to be out of pearl harbor moment. It is going to be our 9 11 moment t. Is going to be the hardest moment for Many Americans in their entire lives. When you hear that this morning, whats your reaction . Guest well, i think its something ive discussed wide well my own family, which is i think that we are seeing a very bifurcated kind of response here, and its natural. There are people who are completely untouched by this. At most they are working from home. They still have salaries, and they can still go about their daily lives, almost unchanged. And there are people for whom the economic level, let alone the medical devastation, has been overwhelming. Theyre living paycheck to paycheck. They cant make the rent or the next mortgage payment. And, of course, there are people whose loved ones are fighting this virus or maybe even will die from it. I think what were seeing here is this bifurcation is that for many people it will be exactly as the Surgeon General suggested, and for others, theyll be scratching their heads and saying, well, life goes on around me. In fact, its a Beautiful Day today. Im going to go out and walk the dog. I think it really is important for each of us to put ourselves in the shoes of those people who are on those front lines, even if we ourselves dont feel that this is, as the Surgeon General put, it the pearl harbor moment. For many, many hundreds of thousands of americans, thats exactly right. We need to offer our thoughts and prayers and anything we can do physically to make the lives of First Responders and physicians, nurses, support staff, as easy as possible there on the front lines for caring for the most sick and vulnerable today and every day. Host our last call is from north carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. Beautiful topic. Look, i got a question now. I kind of got an understanding that h. I. V. Has like two components in the virus, that one attacks the immune system and the other attacks different organs. Now, i dont know about the corona. Do corona also have two components that one disguised itself as part of the immune system, attack the immune system, and do respiratory damage . Do you explain, if thats the case, why come the h. I. V. Medicine would not help the public if thats the case . Host thank you. Well get a response. Guest very briefly, people are looking at h. I. V. Type medicine, because h. I. V. Is a virus, and corona is a crorningse obviously a virus. People are looking at existing antiviral medications, seeing if they will work against coronavirus, and theres actually probably at least 100 Clinical Trials currently underway looking at various medications to fight the virus. But you point to an important aspect, which is we are now beginning to understand coronavirus not only attacks the lungs, but does all kinds of other damage, specifically we are understanding that it actually attacks the brain in all kinds of unpredictable ways, giving people neurological symptoms. So this is another area where we are beginning to understand that the virus does so much more damage than just necessarily attacking the lungs, and we have to keep our eyes on this and we have to keep our eyes on this and figure out all of the other ways coronavirus works so we can respond. We will conclude on that note. The book is called influenza, the 100 year hunt. Also director at nih in maryland. Announcer this is the White House Briefing room where we are awaiting a briefing from President Trump and the Coronavirus Task force. They have been meeting since 5 00 this afternoon. We expect them to update the administrations response to the coronavirus outbreak. Pres. Trump thank you very much, everybody. People have been working very, very hard today. I tell you, for a long time, they have been working. Before i begin, i want to express our nations well wishes to Prime MinisterBoris Johnson as he wages his own personal fight with the virus. All americans are praying for him. Hes a friend of mine. Hes a great gentleman and a great leader. He is, as you know, he was brought to the hospital today. Im hopeful and sure that he is going to be fine. Hes a strong man, a strong person. Today, every patriotic american heart beats in solidarity with the incredible people of new york and new jersey. They have really become a very hot zone. Some very good things are happening. In new york, the first time aware of the deaths were less from the previous day. That is the first drop so far. Maybe that is a good sign. Could be. The hospital levels are