Cspan. Org. Taking you live now to connecticut for a Coronavirus Briefing by governor ned lamont. Gov. Lamont where we are in the numbers, another 1200 people tested positive out of 3400 tests. I think what makes that interesting or not is that it is a reflection of the number of tests weve had. 36 testing positive is slightly higher but that is the number that goes up and down. We will talk about why that may not be the best indicator of what is going on. I think of real interest to me is i look at hospitalization, you see 79 people hospitalized. That is the number that is not going up ands up exponentially but going up on a linear basis which i think is good news. 17 fatalities is never good news. But again, it is a number that is not going up exponentially. What that means is it gives house capacity to plan and this is following what our modeling has been. And i start with our Health Care System, our Health Care System is bending but it is not breaking. And that is because we did build incapacity in terms of everything we are trying to do, in that capacity as i have described in terms of other briefings, in terms of the beds, in terms of people, in terms of icu, we are planning accordingly for what weve got to do. This linear allows us to plan even more. I will tell you, the capacity is important in terms of our other functions we are performing. We talked about Nursing Homes over the last couple days. Obviously, the infection rate in the Nursing Homes is high and continues to grow. The good news is we have several Nursing Homes, thousand beds, we are getting them online, we will have covid only Nursing Homes. That means we will have covid free Nursing Homes. That gives us a lot more confidence that we will be able to contain the virus. In a kirkland washington type system situation, it is likely less likely to occur. Other settings include the homeless. Again, there are folks living in close quarters where we have to be able to quarantine those who have tested or contact come into contact with somebody who is covid positive and get them quarantined. Thinke created about i 1500 beds spread across 14 hotels. Mainly double rooms. Again, so that we can get the homeless taken care of in a safe and quarantined area and are much less likely to be able to disperse Walking Around the community. Roland cook is our great commissioner. There has been a lot of talk about corrections. I will ask him to speak in a few minutes. What is important to know there is like with Nursing Homes and the homeless, over the last three or four or five years, we have extra capacity and are Nursing Homes. Over the last couple of months, over 700 people have been released. The lowest risk of folks who are incarcerated there for minor probation related issues. On the other side of the break and, roland is looking out the oldest of our folks who are incarcerated. Those who might be most likely at risk to a covid infection. Again, see where they can be treated most safely. Is there a safe place outside of the correction facility where they can be taken care of . Or perhaps one of our negative pressure zones in the correction facility itself which is quarantined. That is what our real priorities are. To the page, i want to talk about the demand curve. And what you see in terms of the increase in folks who are infected in our state. It is a little tough to see you, but this was in the president s briefing over the last couple of days, and i had dozens of people say i cant read it, can you describe what is going on, especially as it impacts connecticut one thing. You should know is that when new york city sneezes, connecticut catches cold. That is what happened in terms of the spread of the virus from new rochelle. We talked about it. The pandemic in and around Greater New York city. You will see going up further on, i will break this down county by county. But this chart gives you some very interesting things. You will see the rate of increase in new york city, new york state, is a misnomer. It is really new york city going up. Followed by new jersey. Followed by louisiana. I think i mentioned they have a real pandemic in their new orleans area. Followed by massachusetts. Connecticut, our rate of increase is not going up quite as quickly. There may be a variety of reasons for that. One of which is social distancing. Another which may be we are less dense than downtown new orleans and new york city. And that advantages our efforts at social distancing. The rest of the chart, you can see other states all the way down to vermont and colorado and illinois. But i think that gives you a little bit of sense that our social distancing may be having a positive impact. Next slide, please. For those of you, like me, who maybe had a hard time reading the print, we have broken this down a little bit more just in terms of five states that are most impacted. Obviously again, you can see new york and new jersey. You can see connecticut versus Washington State. That is interesting where Washington State got into this lets say a couple weeks sooner than connecticut, and it could be that they are flattening out, it could be that they have really exceptional social distancing. It could be that they got people in Critical Care faster. But they have flattened out that curve in a way that connecticut is attempting to flatten out that curve. It is too early to say that is as successful, but making progress. California, they were early on and they were early on in terms of social distancing distancing as was connecticut. You can see they really have flattened out that curve in a meaningful way. I think we have some information that indicates the degree to which you think testing and infections is a good barometer, which i can counter in a second. We are beginning to make some progress, thanks to our social distancing effort. And because we are able to slowly flatten the curve, not going up quite as fast, and gives our hospitals and corrections in nursing a little more room to plan accordingly. Because weortant were on with ambassador birx today who you have seen on the white house briefings. And we said, it is misleading to talk about this pandemic in terms of states. Obviously, southern connecticut, you are 10 times more likely to be infected then you are in new london county. You have to think about this in terms of regions. Reinforces our case. We have this issue here for you to look at, positive cases by county. Again, you can see fairfield is leading the pack. You can see new haven is accelerating as well. Hartford, a little bit flatter. New london, litchfield, obviously a lot slower. In part because they are further from what was the heart of this in Greater New York area. And we have had a little bit more time to plan and prepare their. Again, at one point, we thought fairfield and new haven would be like a hockey stick. And right now, that is more linear. It is going up, dont let anybody tell you otherwise. But because it is going up on a linear basis, that gives us more time to plan. Spends a chart i want to a minute on because it is much more reflective of what is going on. And that is hospitalizations. A lot of people take a look at the infections, and you will see they have bounced around a little bit, going up, going down, what does that mean . That is often a reflection of simply testing. Hospitalizations, whether we have tested only 5 of the folks or 20 of the people in say, New Haven County, hospitalizations is a better indicator of what is going on in that greater community, what is going on in terms of community infection. Hospitalizations and sadly, fatalities, are graphs that i to two weeksa week behind infections, but perhaps a better indicator of what is going on and a better indicator for us when it comes to modeling. I think you can see here, it is a little confusing, the date by date change. But you will see the date by date change is not going up day by day. The daily count line, the orange line, is going up on a linear basis. I take this as reasonable good news. Reasonable that the situation could have been more severe. We might not have been flattening out the curve or at least making it more linear. This gives us a lot more room to breathe. Sort of ahart is reflection of what you had before. Again, and Fairfield County, you can see that we had 41 additional hospitalizations. New haven, behind it. Only 12 more hospitalizations. While the infection rate went up a lot, there hospitalizations are going up modestly. Again, which gives us time to plan. No new hospitalizations in new london. That one less in windham. This is one of the things we will be working on over the next couple of days. Im telling you the new hospitalizations, but we will also show you discharges so you can see what the net increase or decrease is. New york city, over the last four, five days, the rate of net increase in hospitalizations actually went dun down. Theyre building a little more capacity. I think youre going to see a similar trend here, again, which gives us hope. That when it comes to ventilators, when it comes to p. P. E. , when it comes to i. C. U. Beds, when it comes to hospital beds, we are building ourselves some room. And that is what we always tried to do when we talked about flattening the curve. Again, the dr. Birxs analysis, when you saw everything going on with infections, can be a little bit misleading. Theres the denominator and theres the numerater. I think it may mean, in terms of our modeling, that some of our worst case scenarios, the 20 of the people, you know, tested end up going to the hospital, is found to be carrying a virus. In fact, our hospitalization rates may be a lot lower than that because the number of people hospitalized is not based upon just the number of people weve tested. But its based upon everybody thats infected out there. So josh and our team are working carefully as we relook at these models all the time to see how fast we get to that apex, how fast we can flatten that curve. And what the gradual downslope on this will be. We were just on what the it with the Vice President s task force and he gave us some sobering reminders. That when we talk about the next day, it may not be the next day, it may be the next year. And it may mean that there are a series of rolling pandemics over a period of time. So were thinking very carefully about, as we maybe get to the backside of the increase in our infections, the increase in our hospitalizations, over the next couple of months, how can we thoughtfully get people back to work without having another wave of infections . A lot of thats going to be in and around more broadbased testing. Youll probably see from the first graph that while a lot of folks are saying our test something down, we had 3400 tests i showed you came in yesterday. Told but abbott labs, our testing is going to be going up dramatically. What testing allows us to do is to see, a, red, yellow, green, what it looks like in terms of infection and intensity and give in given areas. And where we might be able to get people back to work sooner. I am working with a number of folks, including our friend, ryan, in terms of antibody testing. And antibody testing, id like to think well be able to roll out in the none too zapt future. What does that mean . Its a blood test. And that will tell us who was built up who has built up an immunity to the covid19 virus. Who maybe was infected, didnt know they were infected . Who was of an age group and they have the immunity, theyre the ones we can get back the work. Theyre the ones that are going to keep our manufacturing going. Theyre the ones that we get back in terms of construction. Theyre the ones that we can get back into our work force sooner. This is something were going to do on a very thoughtful basis to make sure we dont have a second wave, as happened in the spanish flu and other situations. And this is something i talked about with dr. Fauci just a few days ago. Trying to get insight from the federal government as well in terms of what we can do, in terms of antibody testing, and how we can accelerate so we know what people can do when. Before introducing roland, i will say im cutting off here to go talk to secretary esper. Hes our secretary of defense. And when it comes to our manufacturing base, they looked at connecticut, they look to electric, they look to pratt. And electric boat has had a half dozen infections there on their plant floor. As well as the c. E. O. So we work closely with defense, as well as others in the federal government. We tell secretary esper, look, when it comes to testing protocol, other ways when it comes to fever, thermometers, we need your help. You want us to prioritize these workers, we need you to help prioritize these folks so they can keep defending america on the front lines, but do it safely. With that, let me introduce to you commissioner cook. Hes been a great friend, hes taken over our real efforts at criminal Justice Reform in our corrections facilities. Right now like a laser beam hes focused on Public Health for all of our people, including those in our correction alpha silts. Correctional facilities. Thank you. Good morning. Im the commissioner of the department of corrections. I want to take just a minute to describe covid19 response efforts that are under way and all of the states at all of the states 14 correctional facilities. Immediately following the declaration of Public Health emergency, the agency began implementing policy to protect our employees and the offender population we care for. These efforts include ongoing cleaning and disinfecting on all three shifts. Basically constantly going on. Modified operational plans at all facilities. Suspension of all social visits. 14day isolation policy for new intakes at all jails across the state. Limiting nonessential interfacility transfers. Taking temperatures of all staff at each facility entrance. Making masks available to all staff in the offender population. To minimize the impact of these necessary restrictions, weve also provided two free phone calls per week to the offender population. And currently in discussions to expand those. Weve suspended the copay obligations associated with medical services. Weve enhanced the menu for the meal cycles. Weve maintained laundry and comsear services. Commissary services. Simultaneous to these efforts, weve continued with discretionary releases which include placing people in Halfway Houses and returning people to their homes with a sponsor under the supervision of an agency parole officer. Prior to any staff or offender covid19 cases, my direction was clear. Review all eligible and suitable lowrisk offenders for release without circumventing routine protocols that support Public Safety as swiftly as possible. And add a lay of review that will prioritize offenders considered highrisk per the c. D. C. Guidelines. In addition, we are collaborating with the Judicial Branch to analyze the pretrial population and sending information to the board of pardons and parole for the review of candidates for compassionate and medical parole. I would not classify our efforts as a mass release. However, the early focus detention on releases focused attention on releases is evident. As of this afternoon, our overall population count has dropped by 727 since the first of march. The onset of covid19. This is the largest onemonth reduction in the states history. To further express the ongoing threefforts on 3 26 we dipped. Last witnessed on 5 1 of 1993. D. O. D. s count is down to todays count is down to 11,713 and dropping. We have our entire reentry unit working on the complexities involved with leaving a prison during a pandemic, to ensure that they have appropriate supports. We will not approve discretionary release for anyone under my Statutory Authority without a home plan. We understand the concerns covid19 creates for shelters. Ill close by thanking the dedicated First Responders, our Health Services personnel, our correctional if officers, our support staff within the department of correction. I cant overstate their dedication throughout this challenging time. Theyre truly the Unsung Heroes of this pandemic. Thank you. Governor lamont thank you. We can take some questions here. I will call on reporters individually and you can unmute yourself. I ask everyone else on the teleconference to remain muted. Well start with fox 61. Question for the governor. Commissioner cook or chief of staff. Fox 61. Reporter hi. We had a question in regards to the unemployment backlogs. Last week governor, you actually agreed that there was a major backlog at the department of labor. Is there any guidance for the people of connecticut worried about when they may receive assistance for unemployment . Governor lamont yeah. The guidance is a number of applications for Unemployment Compensation went up about 20 times compared to anything thats happened in a comparable period during a recession. 20 times. Kirk and his team at the department of labor are focusing like a laser beam on this. But thats not good enough. Were throwing people at this. Were trying to do better to get that backlog down. And kirk and his team are working on a technical fix that i hope well be able to announce in the next few days. So be able to get those checks out in short order. Im sorry you have to bear with us. As you know, before, everything is retroactive. Just because were slower in getting those checks out to you which you deserve, you are going to get the full amount that youre due. Reporter is there any guidance for people worried about when they may receive any guidance for people exhibiting symptoms but their doctors are telling them theres no need to be tested for covid19 . Governor lamont right now i would tell you, rely upon your doctors best advice. Thats how its been working. We are able to test more and more people. Our focus, our priorities are those who are there at the hospital. I told you we would open up a number of beds, especially with the abbott lab, 15minute test. Our First Responders are a real priority. Make sure theyre safe going in and not infecting themselves or anybody else. Were going to continue to widen that lens but follow the dictates of your doctor. Thats the best advice. Next question will be from matthew campbell, channel 3, wfsb. Reporter speaking about the tests, are the abbott lab tests here right now . We know that rhode island, theyre rolling it out in conjunction with another. Where do you stand on those 15minute tests . Governor lamont im certainly i certainly know were doing them down in stanford hospital. I think other hospitals, as far as i know, josh is nodding, and weve had a good relationship, we talked to abbott labs Senior Executives at the end of last week. Connecticuts going to be a priority. I think youre going to see a lot more of these 15 minute tests as i alluded to previously. Reporter in terms of the p. P. E. And the hospital space, are we still staying ahead of this virus right now . Hi, this is paul. Im going to answer a little bit off of the last question. Then well get into the p. P. E. Question. Solarte this week we should be expecting some additional abbott lab testing devices to come to connecticut. As the governor stated, we have already received one down in stanford that is operational. The governor did make a call to high executives at abbott to make that a priority. But we are one of the few states that are going to be on the top of the list in terms of receiving abbott lab testing devices here in connecticut. So we should see that arrive at d. P. H. And then for distribution later this week. Reporter where do we stand on the p. P. E. And the hospital space right snow . We know this is going to be a very trying week. How are we in maintaining the status quo . Governor lamont we have a supply right now. We have a supply thanks to the aggressive efforts of our hospitals. Theyve been able to get enough to keep going for the near term. We have a very good accounting of where the p. P. E. Is, where the ventilators are, where theyre needed. So our Hospital System is working as one, as i sulted before. So we have to buy more time. We may be able to mix and match. I will tell you that were on the phone with the Senior Executives from the company that has the sterilization process and equipment for the p. P. E. Its been certified by the f. D. A. , theyre just beginning to release that now. I have it on very Good Authority that connecticuts going to be at the very top of that list for getting that equipment. Next question will come from kellan lyons with the connecticut mirror. Reporter hello. This question is for commissioner cook. Whats the point at which officials decide when to test an inmate . Is it when theyre showing symptoms, or is it if they have underlying medical conditions or elderly . Do they have to show symptoms for a certain number of days . Commissioner cook i think i heard most of the question. What we tried to rely on mostly is the persons symptoms. Obviously our medical staff are closely monitoring the different people that are showing those types of symptoms. Also our staff and stuff are working closely with the inmates to watch those types of things. So typically it has to do with what sort of symptoms theyre showing at the time. Next question will be from connecticut arst media. Reporter hi. I have a couple of questions. First, how many of the death certificates say covid19 was the cause . Versus had covid at the time of death . And then id also like to know if the governor has a comment on the protests that happened outside the residence this afternoon. Governor lamont what was the first part of the question . Hi. On your first question, that will be best stated for the chief medical examiner. Whose role is to make a determination of death. As you know, as dr. Carter explained on friday, the d. P. H. And part of their data takes into account individuals who have tested positive for covid19. And then for those who have passed away, they do put that on their data list, that an individual passed away who also had covid19. But in terms of death certificates, that question should be best stated for the office of chief medical examiner. And then your second question, again, please . Governor lamont would the protesters out in front of the governors residence, i think involving efforts with the corrections and the prisoners. My answer to that is give me a call. Lets talk about it. We dont need people outside protesting right now. Im trying to keep groups less than five. We have a Public Health emergency. If you want to talk about it, you got my number. Reporter for commissioner cook, do you know of the more than 700 released, how many of those were released early . Commissioner cook how many were released early . I dont know the exact amount. What i would tell you is that each one of these folks are screened and are already preapproved to be released to the community. So exactly how many, i dont know that number. Reporter ok. Next question will come from lisa bacchus of connecticut news unkie. Well next go to Patrick Scahill of Connecticut Public radio. Wtic news radio . The audio isnt coming through for some reason. We got through plenty. Governor lamont looks like maybe there arent any questions right now or were having a hard time getting them. Let me just conclude with this. Im sitting here looking at 10 empty seats. A couple of folks doing media were in the mass. We are going to be getting back to normal. This is sort of jarring for me as well. Miss seeing you guys. Learn how to use zoom. Id like to see you on the screen too. And just urge each and every person watching, you know, remember your local media. Remember that online news. Theres a little less advertising for some of those folks and they could use the hand as well. Are we ready to go . Lets try this again. For some reason some of the audio wasnt coming through. Lisa bacchus from c. T. News junkie, want to try asking a question . You might need to leave the teams meeting and reenter the meeting if your audio isnt working. Try one more Alex Putterman from hartford current. Maybe yours will work. Reporter can you hear me . Yes, we can. Reporter great. Governor, youve talked a lot about the 50 ventilators that you were expecting to receive. Have those been received and where does the ventilator supply stand right now . Governor lamont the 50 ventilators have been received. Most of those were circulated downstate where they have the greatest need right now. I think dont tell this to the white house, but were doing the very best we can to maximize our ventilators so we still have some capacity, so nobodys at risk right now. Reporter and then, weve gotten a lot of response to your guys model from last week. It looks like it showed that as of today , you would need 4,000, 5,000 hospital beds, which is a lot different from the numbers youre releasing of people who are actually hospitalized. And even if you consider people who are hospitalized but havent tested positive yet, it still wouldnt seem to account for that very large amount. So im wondering how that kind of works and how you reconcile what the model is showing should be the situation according to the projections with what is actually the situation on the ground . Governor lamont i can tell you that were greatly expanding the number of beds we have. Hospital beds, intermediate care bed, i. C. U. Bed. Theyre up almost double over the last month. Id like to thank, as josh said, we could get up to 12,000 as needed, depending on where the peak of this apex looks right now. We try and refine the modeling every day. We look at whats going on in new york. We see things flattening out a little bit in louisiana. We see the trends coming up from Fairfield County into new haven which is where the major growth is. I told you the good news is its linear right now. That allows us to model even more carefully. Right now we have the beds, right now we have the ventilators and right now we have the p. P. E. To take care of hings. Well next go to christine stewart. Reporter hi, guys. Can you hear me . Hi. Reporter hi. This question is for commissioner cook. First question is for commissioner cook. Last we knew, as of thursday, there were 16 Staff Members and eight mantes throughout the state prison system that tested positive. Do we have an update on those numbers . Commissioner cook we do. As of this morning we have 30 staff and 21 inmates. Reporter ok. And how are those inmates being quarantined . Commissioner cook theyre being placed into just exactly what you said. Quarantine units. With just folks that are positive for covid19. And were looking at other ways that we can start to centralize some of that health care so well make sure were taking care of them even better. Reporter and, governor lamont, will we know when the Nursing Homes, the covid19positive Nursing Homes, do we have a list of the names of those homes and when will those be released . Governor lamont i think theyll be released as soon as we reach the final agreement with them which i think will be any hour now. Reporter ok. Next question will come from sue hague with the associated press. Reporter hello. Can you hear me . Yes. Reporter hi, governor. How are you . Today the white house began issuing reports saying what theyve delivered to the states. It specifically references the tristate region. As getting what the three states wanted, connecticut, new york and new jersey. Is that true . And did they listen to you . Is it true when do you think it had some sort of an impact . Governor lamont im really happy theyre talking about the tristate region, the new york metropolitan area. Thinking about the hot spot, not just bistate, but by region. Im from the showman me state. Weve gotten 50 ventilators, which im very thankle. New york got some. Were in this together. But we do need more support there. Reporter so we havent gotten everything that weve wanted, have stpwhe that youve requested . Governor lamont put in an order for 1500 ventilators, we got 50. So we havent gotten everything we wanted, no. Reporter i had a quick other question. You were talking about the peaks and youre saying its going to be over a month away in new haven. I guess, why do you how can you explain that . Is it because of the social distancing . Its been flattened out . Governor lamont . No i just think based upon what weve seen, as the virus has come upstate, through starting off in danbury, heading up to New Haven County. It looks like the peak in Fairfield County maybe is coming a little sooner. Well find out. But its probably a couple weeks away. I think we anticipate that New Haven County would be a couple weeks after that. Reporter thank you. Next question will be for paul hughes. Reporter hi, governor. Can you guys hear me . Yes. Reporter good. Could you explain a little bit more about the plans for resolved discharges or case from hospitals . A number of other states are reporting and its one that people here in connecticut have been asking about. Governor lamont thats a really good question. We are going to have that, im told, by wednesday. Because its interesting who is being admitted. But its just an interesting who is being discharged. 75 of the people that were admitted in the New York Hospital have been discharged. It reminds you that people get better. Not just the overwhelming majority of people, especially on the younger side, who maybe have flulike symptoms and quarantine for 14 days at home, but even those people that end up in the i. C. U. And end up in the hospital, the overwhelming majority of them get better. Were going to have those numbers for you very soon. I hope wednesday. Reporter will that be by county, hospital, town . Governor lamont i think well certainly have it by county. Ill see if we can get it by hospital. I dont know that. Reporter and for the death certificates. Im not quite sure why that number couldnt be compiled, since the office of the chiefs medical examiner is issuing the death certificate. Couldnt you just simply have them report that number and start reporting that number as well . As having the number of confirmed deaths to covid19. Hi, paul. I think the earlier question was based upon how many confirmed deaths are from covid19. And which the chief medical examiner is, of course, the one who makes that determination. D. P. H. And the chief medical examiner have been working together to make sure that, as we get farther in this crisis, data is more aligned. So that particular question that was asked of how many were covid19related deaths, thats the reason why that question is best for the chief medical xaminer based upon their work. Reporter im just saying eventually the chief medical examiner will issue death certificates saying patient a died of covid19, patient b did not. Im quying, why cant you get that confirmed death certificate from the medical Examiners Office . Mr. Mounds that will be happening thoroughly over time. Reporter ok, all right. Thank you. Well move on next to wtnh channel 8 bob wilson. Reporter wondering, maybe this is for commissioner cook, you had a couple of Emergency Response teams going in. You have Correctional Officers going in. Theres not enough p. P. E. For people on the front line bob, can you move the microphone closer . Its very difficult to hear you. Reporter how about now . Is that better . Yes, thats better. Reporter all right. So with the lack of p. P. E. In the Emergency Rooms and hospitals, theres not enough p. P. E. To go around anywhere. How is the prison doing on that, protecting the correction officers, as well as do you consider doing a covid19positive facility, would you have just one prison for covid19 patients . Commissioner cook ill try to answer the first question you asked. Its a challenge for us. We want to make sure when we talk about correctional staff, we talk about them being First Responders because they are and theyre right in the middle of. This we have been part of the team, part of the unified command. So we receive our share of the p. P. E. s and what weve done is we distributed them across the state based on population and need. It would be great, im sure everyone in all the different hospitals and different places, everyone would love to have their own n95 mask and have as many as they possibly could. I wish i could do that for my employees. Instead weve had to put them in place and then also provide barrier masks. So wove been making barrier masks as part of our enterprise department. Were producing barrier masks that are not only for the inmate population, which weve given them to, but weve also provided those to our staff. The part youre talking about, the centralized place, thats in the works right now. Were trying to work through the logistics of that. Thats the direction were headed as well. So we can put all of those that are covid19positive in one location, not just one location within a facility. I hope that answers your question. Reporter it does. Thank you. And finally, it will be nbc connecticut, jamie ratliff. Reporter hi, governor. What is the message to riders and also to connecticut transit Bus Operators who are concerned that their health is being put at risk . Governor lamont were doing everything we can to protect the bus drivers. Were trying to get them the equipment they need. At least a cloth mask. Were trying to wash that down and clean it and antiseptic on an hourly basis. We need them to keep doing their jobs. We need them to keep doing their jobs because otherwise the Health Care Workers cant get to work. And thats why theyre heroes and First Responders as well. By the way, when we have the covid19 unit and noncovid19 unit, that does ex tenth tend the use of extend the use for our p. P. E. So you dont have to constantly change it going from one unit to the next. Thats part what have were trying to do to make sure we can maximize the use of p. P. E. , maximize the use of protective gear, get the desanitizing equipment in the next couple of weeks so we can desanitize this and do everything we can to protect you, be it a bus driver or nurse or somebody serving food in some cases. Thats what were trying to do every day. With that, let me thank you again for the updated news. Its not good news but its news that suggests that the social distancing may be beginning to work and that our hospitals are having a chance to at least plan and catch up for where we got to be. Thank you, everybody. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] well have more coverage related to the coronavirus with louisiana governor john bel edwards. Scheduled to speak at 4 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Then later, the White House Coronavirus task force with remarks expected from president trump, currently scheduled to start at 5 00 p. M. Eastern. Well take you live to the white house when the briefing begins. And join us tonight for washington journal primetime. When author jon barry will discuss his book, the great fluns. The story of the deadliest pandemic in history. Also Debbie Wasserman schultz on the response to the virus in her state. That and your phone calls starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. And in campaign 2020 news, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has announced hes suspending inperson voting for tomorrows primary elections in the state. Well continue to follow the story and