Facebook. Com cspan. 202 7488001, and if youre a medical professional, 202 7488002. We begin with the numbers courtesy of johns Johns Hopkins university. 1. 6 million confirmed cases and around the world, more than 100,000 deaths, of those, more than 18,000 in the u. S. Our countries dealing with 490,000 cases of covid19 across all 50 states, washington dc and the territories. Six members of congress have been battling covid19, including senator rand paul, representative joe cunningham, representative neal dunn and congressman mike kelly of pennsylvania and ben mcadams of utah. Fromsixth member joins us his home in miami, representative Mario Diazbalart from florida. How are you feeling tonight . . Epresentative diazbalart i am welcome i feel recovered, i am still weak but other than that i feel pretty well. Aeve this unfolded about month ago. Explain what happened, and when you knew you had coronavirus. Representative diazbalart a month ago it was a different world, congress was open to visitors, tourists, foreign dignitaries. We had regular meetings and hearings, and the last vote of that week was friday evening. Is totally healthy but has preexisting conditions and respiratory issues. So talking to our Family Doctor i said, i have been dealing with a lot of people, what do you think, as a precaution should i stay in d. C. . And he said stay there, because of her high risk. Saturday morning i got groceries because i was going to stay as a precautionary thing. All of a sudden, saturday evening, it was like a brick wall fell on me. I had an intense headache, huge headache, fever, and i dont know how high it was because i couldnt find the thermometer. I had chills, everything hurt, i was shivering, headache and an intense cough. That started saturday and lasted for quite a bit. Steve one of the symptoms for the illness is the loss of taste. Did that happen to you . Representative diazbalart i wish i would have lost taste. Yes, but in my case everything just tasted horrible. I had to forcefeed myself. Even drinking water, the only thing i hadnt the apartment was water, and that was hard to drink because it tasted foul. That was clearly taking place in my case. Steve you have any since i you contracted this . Represented ds block i have i have no idea. Withweek, i must have met 1500 people. I went to a number of large events at the capital, meetings, hearings, so i have no idea how. Was it an elevator, personal contact . Who, or when, with what, i have no idea. Steve how is your wife doing . Representative diazbalart we are very fortunate. This wouldve been much different if i had come home. I had a flight scheduled saturday morning. I canceled it, because when i spoke to the Family Doctor he said dont risk it i would have been here and potentially gotten her sick. Tia andand my son, christian, are healthy. They are at home like the rest of the country, are healthy and are doing well. Steve we have all had the flu. In terms of recovering from the flu and this, what are the biggest differences . Representative diazbalart this has taken me a lot longer to recover. When you get the flu, you have sinus issues, stuffy nose, i didnt have any of that. I had the symptoms i told you. I was exceedingly lucky i did not have difficulty breathing, but the fever lasted about two fors, very intense fever four or five days and nights. It went away, i thought it was getting better, it came back and lasted for another weekend a half, a lowgreat fever. Then that went away, the cough started getting better, that is when i do i was over this. The weakness, the fact i am weaker than it should be this than theis different flu. The flu is top you get over it, what i feel is weaker than i would after the flu. And i know i am one of the very lucky, blessed individuals who has gotten through this. That is something i am grateful for. Steve have you spoken to your colleagues . Representative diazbalart yes, mostly through texts. The last thing when i was going through, the last thing i wanted to do was speak a lot. A lot of it has been texts with ben mcadams, neal dunn, spoke to him today it was please to hear how he sounded. Steve your day job is being a member of congress. How are you doing that with the house and senate not in session, no schedule for return . Representative diazbalart i have been very busy and fortunate that i have been able to stay involved at work. When i was quarantined in d. C. And was sick, i spoke to three or four members of the president s cabinet. The president call that wished me well. I also spoke to folks from florida, the governors office, state officials, local officials, and a lot of my colleagues. The work has not slowed down. Today i got a nice call from majority leader steny hoyer, im irepublican, hes a democrat, was very appreciative, my hat off to him. He called to see how i was doing and that was very, very nice. Is nextongressman, what in terms of your recover . What is your recovery . Diazbalart i am supposed to take it easy. Todays not one of the days when i was able to do that. I have applied to donate my plasma, my blood. And i am encouraging others who have been like me, fortunate and lucky, to do the same. But that could hopefully save a life or help others. Now, they cant take my blood yet. They will let me know when it is timely so that they can take my blood, hopefully process it and hopefully help others going through difficult times. Ofve you are in miami, one the new hotspots. What are you seeing across your Congressional District and in that part of the state . Representative diazbalart the city of miami is one of the big hotspots. Very seriousy, issue. I have been telling people to please listen to federal authorities, state and local authorities, the health experts, and just stay away from people. And theis as a war, United States is at war with this virus. We all have to do our part, and right now our part is listening to folks who know what they are talking about and heating their advice, staying away from others. That means not visiting people, not going to see neighbors or family members, staying home until the telus it is safe to not do so. Safe to not dos so. That is what it is going to take to beat this. This countrys going to do well. But we all have to do our part. Steve congressman Mario Diazbalart represents floridas 25th Congressional District. Stay healthy. Thanks for being with us. Representative diazbalart thank you, and my prayers are with those who are struggling or have lost loved ones. A moment, the president of the American Medical Association will join us. But first, jerome adams, Surgeon General, on why we are seeing a disparity in increases in covid deaths and illnesses among minority populations, especially the hispanic and africanamerican communities. Teleworking is critical and you have heard about how they prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Yet only one in five africanamericans and one in six hispanics has a job that lets them work home. Packedver li bin more areas which creates a higher risk for the spread of a contagious disease. A study showed 30 of homes in the Navajo Nation dont have running water. How are they going to wash their hands . Experienceolor both most likely exposure more likely exposure to covid19 and more complications. We dont think people of color are more genetically disposed to get covid19, but they are socially predisposed to exposure and to have a higher incidence of the diseases that put you at risk of complications from coronavirus. But this history, i want you to hear me say this, does not have to be our nations future. We are taking steps now to reach, protect and strengthen all communities impacted by the disease, especially communities of color. More details will be forthcoming. On datactively working collection, targeted outreach to communities of color, increasing employment, education, Housing Support so everyone has a chance to be healthy. While your state and local Health Departments and those of help stop the to spread of covid19 and protect you regardless of your color, creed or geography, you are not helpless. It is even more important that in communities of color we adhere to task force lines to slow the spread. Stay home if possible. If you must go out, maintain six feet of distance and wear a mask if you are within six feet of others. Wash your hands more often than ever dreamed possible. Avoid alcohol, tobacco and drugs, call your friends and family, checking on your mother. She wants to hear from you right now. Steve that is the Surgeon General earlier today. These briefings are available at cspan. Org. Joining us from atlanta is dr. Patrice harris, president of the American Medical Association. Thank you for being with us. Dr. Harris thank you for having me. Steve testing seems to be a key component in terms of trying to open the economy. Ama, fromd of the your standpoint where are we . Dr. Harris we as a nation have been behind from the very beginning intestine capacity in Testing Capacity. Thats one of the reasons why during an early meeting with the president and his task force, we requested he was all the levers of the federal government and defense production act to make sure Health Care Professionals on the front line had access to ppe, adequate Testing Capacity and ventilators. But we have ad, long way to go before we are at the appropriate Testing Capacity, and not just thenostic testing, but rapid testing, which is a diagnostic test, but that would be great for quick results, also the antibody test. That will tell us who has already been infected and has recovered. All hands ond an deck approach to increase Testing Capacity. Steve whether it is a Natural Disaster like Hurricane Katrina or this pandemic, the Minority Community is that . Dr. Harris certainly these early numbers we have seen are probably. I just read something earlier about st. Louis, and if the reporting is correct, it said are of the deaths thus far africanamericans. Clearly this is an issue. We can look at this from three large buckets. The first, we have known since the early days of this pandemic that if you have underlying hypertension or diabetes, you are at increased risk of more severe consequences of covid19, and death. But the Africanamerican Community was already disproportionately impacted by those very disorders. So that is a piece of it, the precovid19 Health Inequities. Misinformation is a critical part. I have said in other venues that i spent the first couple of weeks of this pandemic actually not in my role as ama president , but as a friend and family member, dispelling myths that africanamericans couldnt come infected. The other issue is jobs. We know that those from communities of color make up a large percentage of essential those who areers, cooking and cleaning for us, so because they are still having to go to work and dont have the privilege of working from home, they are exposed more. We can look at this in three areas. That is why the ama sent a letter to hhs calling for nationwide collection of data regarding reset regarding race and ethnicity. Steve that is available on your website. Joan is in hagan heights, new jersey. Good evening. Caller i just dont agree with trump. Because i dont think anything should be open right now. It is very serious. People are in pain, are very sick and are dying. He is not a doctor. The doctors dont know how long this is going to be. It is up to the doctors. It is not up to him. Steve patrice harris, you are one of those doctors. What is your recommendation based on what joan in new jersey was saying . Dr. Harris this past thursday i gave a public address on behalf callingma, and we are on everyone to make sure science and evidence rules the day. All of us want our economy to get started again, but we will need the science and the data to drive decisions about folks going back to work. That is why testing is critical. If we have more widespread testing, we can not only know who is currently infected, but who has already recovered. That will go a long way toward making those decisions, but any decisions should be based on science and evidence. And in that address, i also cautioned on behalf of the ama allto prematurely get us back to work and lift those stayathome and shelterinplace orders. Steve if you had a patient, would you recommend hydroxyl clerk point hydroxychloroquine for that patient . Dr. Harris here is where we are on hydroxychloroquine. Random trials are occurring. That is what we always want to do when we look at recommendations for any treatment alternative, getting back to my point about science and evidence. We need weight on the evidence. At this point we dont have the scientific evidence. We know these trials are going approvedhe fda has this medicine for compassionate use or emergency use. But listen, what a physician makes any recommendation, from a baby aspirin to a medicine for bipolar disorder to whether a patient should have open heart surgery, we are obligated to talk to our patients about all the side effects, whether they are minor and common or uncommon and more serious. That is what should continue as we work through this pandemic. Steve our guest is a West Virginia native and graduate of West Virginia university and the school of medicine erie diane is next for missouri. Good evening. Caller good evening. Steve you are on the air. Caller i am calling from st. Louis. I am very concerned. I heard your guest talk about in st. T most deaths louis, or all of them pretty much, have been africanamerican. I want to bring about the point that we need in st. Louis more testing in the Africanamerican Community. And we need adequate treatment. On one program they were talking about systematic racism, whereby sometimes we dont get the treatment others would get. I wish somebody would bring that up i know people want to avoid but topic, africanamericans are dying all over the country at an alarming rate. But in st. Louis, just about everybody that has died is africanamerican. I wish they would look at that and treat us fair. Let us have. A chance to live. Steve thank you, diane let us have a chance to live. Steve thank you, diane. Dr. Harris . Dr. Harris these numbers are troubling and we certainly need the data. That is what we called on hhs to collect the data by race and at the city and disseminate that localand as folks on the level, Public Health, local physicians, scientists, they can then use that data to target to know which communities to target, so i absolutely agree with the testing. We want to make sure testing is and that available, gets to communities to where you see highest rates of this and icu admissions and doubts. But lets not forget rural areas. Equityn i mean available, i mean we have to make sure testing sites are out in the community. Some folks may use public transportation, so we want to make sure they have access to that. To largerller alluded issues, social determinants of health. Transportation is one i mentioned. If you live in a food desert, not so much related to covid19, but we are asking and getting that everyone try to eat more fruits and vegetables, and want to make sure they are equitably available. I will say one more thing about the ama commitment to Health Equity. We just established a center for Health Equity and hired our first chief Health Equity officer, dr. Aletha maybank, so we continue to lead the conversation about Health Inequities, and not just for communities of color, but women, members of the lgbtq community, native americanalaska native population. So we really plan to focus on Health Inequities and lead that conversation. Steve richard is next from lynchburg, virginia. Good evening. Caller how are you today . Steve we are good, thank you. Caller can you hear me . Steve we can. You are on the air. Caller i have a suggestion for the mask. It is an oldschool thing to do, but just tie a clothesline up and wipe it down with clorox after you do that, or lysol. And then hang your mask up with line,pins on the close the line you have running, and spray them with lysol that evening, the front and the back. And then leave and come back, and the next day, i wonder if they would be sterile enough to use . They would have to test and see if there was anything on that but ifat was sprayed, that works it would be a simple way of doing it, and if it works, it works, if it doesnt, if it doesnt. Steve thanks. Any ama recommendation . A lot of Home Remedies coming up to deal with this. Dr. Harris a couple of things. We want to make sure everyone is following the science and the evidence in getting information from credible sources. Let me separate the mask into two things, because just like we always do, people in this country rally around times of crisis. And we know many folks are making masks. By a fabric store on my way to the Grocery Store in so i knownd ica line, folks are probably making masks i knowi see a line, so folks are probably making masks. The cdc recommended cloth masks, not medicalgreat masks. I have seen videos on youtube on how to make a mask from a bandana, and i have done that. Thoseou get home, toss masks in the washer and dryer, make sure those are clean for homemade masks. For the rest of us, the medical staff, those on the front line, we call on everyone to make sure that we reserve those masks, and the n95 masks for health care workers. There was a company, i believe in new york, that is looking at medicalgreat sterilization, and we will let those companies do that for hospitals and physicians, so they need to take that course of a more higher, medicalgrade of sterilization. The fda is involved in that and improving whether those techniques are safe steve are safe. Steve we welcome listeners on cspan radio. Dr. Patrice harris is the president of the American Medical Association, joining us from atlanta. A tweet from viewers, the assumption that the virus would asiaspread among people in was wrong, not a virus of lifestyle. Another tweet, interesting factoid to show the effectiveness of stringent shelterinplace. Total number of confirmed cases of covid county and fulton county, georgia, 1336. The number of cases across all of minnesota, the same, 1336. Firms from san jose california, good evening. Caller thanks for taking my call. I have a twopart question. The first part of the question is, would you agree that america now needs a National Health policy . A National Health policy similar to the u. K. Has, where you could apply unified policy across the than having states fighting for their own health services. That, but ittried got whittled down by the gf week by the gop. Fourt whacked by a two by by this virus, and pandemic viruses are not going to be a normal affair across the world, as the world gets more flat and things travel faster. I consider ama in the same way the u. K. Set up the Royal Society of physicians and so on. Works on the same model as the royal societies. Steve thank you, i appreciate the call from california. Dr. Harris if i could go back to the tweets, i want to say absolutely the virus doesnt discriminate. Everyone is at risk, but we know those who are older and those with Underlying Health conditions and those who are immuno compromised our greater risk for severe consequences are at greater risk for severe consequences. I want to make sure everyone knows physical distancing works. That is not an opinion, it is based on science and evidence. We know that from the 1918 flu pandemic and we know that from data out of columbia today. I want everyone to know that they may deal powerless or may think that they arent contributing, but by staying home and following social distancing, i like to follow up i like to call them physical distancing, because i want to make sure we are connected socially, but you are contribute into flattening the curve and slowing the spread of the disease. I am privileged and proud to be president of the American Medical Association, the Largest Organization of physicians. I know my colleagues from the u. K. , because we are members of the World Medical association, but we are an organization of diverse interests, representatives of every state in specialty and we come together twice a year in normal times to develop policy. Did support the Affordable Care act. It wasnt perfect but we thought it went a long way to decreasing the number of uninsured. We believe the best path forward is to build upon the progress of the Affordable Care act, expand sure there isake increased access to Health Insurance on the exchanges, using tax credits. I am getting wonky, but that is the ama stance on moving Health Policy forward to cover the uninsured. Boone, northis in carolina. You are on the air with dr. Harris . Thank you. Dr. Harris . Dr. Harris yes . Steve please go ahead with your question. Steve im sorry. Caller im in the mountains. Im sorry. We have a lot of storms. I worked 44 years at a historically black university, Fayetteville State University in fayetteville, north carolina, where fort bragg is. I taught a lot of the young military, historically black, youngnamerican students, people africanamerican students. In young people from 20 to 40 are not understanding this virus. An ad. St and ad you know that ad from chitos worry person flashes a light and shows where your hands have been, all over your face . Dad a cheet os ad. Steve thank you. Young people from 20 to 40, dr. Harris . Tori this virus to dr. Harris this virus does not discriminate and young people are certainly vulnerable. Younger folks can have a collective impact and play a in slowing the disease by staying home. I recognize it is tough. Disrupted,been graduations have been missed, unable to see friends, no question that that is tough. Everyone in the public is making a huge sacrifice. Butnt to recognize that, ultimately we make that sacrifice and we certainly slow the spread of the disease. York, from brooklyn, new good evening. Caller good evening, cspan. Good evening, doctor. Two weeks ago i called in to cspan and asked 82part question. One was, is there evidence of the virus being passed from human to petal penta human, and the doctor said no from human to pet, and from pet to human, and the doctor said no. At the bronx zoo, a handler came down with covid19 and a tiger has the virus. The other part of my question is, can the virus be replicated in a mosquito or a tick . I want to also mention i was heat the impression the would be our ally, and that the virus would have a tough time sustaining life and would die out. Se e doctor on cspan thrives in 50 degrees to 80 degrees. Someone from thailand called and said it five degrees said it was 95 degrees and it didnt slow the virus down at all. I would like to get your view. Thank you. Dr. Harris thank you for the question. Askedestion has been about animal to human transmission. I dont know the answer. I have seen cdc answer the question. It is important to go to the cdc art nih for credible information on that. New coronavirus. Isre are other coronavirus there are other coronaviruses coronavirus, a new that is why it is called the novel coronavirus. We dont know the season out he of it read if it behaves like other coronaviruses, there is a possibility of seasonality in the virus could go down, but we dont know yet. And we will certainly follow lee follow the lead of folks like dr. Anthony fauci and other locale professionals other Public Health professionals who will help us, based on science and evidence, answer that question and others like it. Steve at what point did you realize it was going to get this bad with covid19 . Candidly, i dont remember the day, but certainly reading the reports and going to following oure, own journal of the American Medical Association and reading so i canture, recall the day i knew it was going to be more serious, but now we know, we have known for some time, and if we dont want more deaths, more hospitalizations, it is important for us to follow these physical distancing policies and wait on the science and evidence. We certainly know that treatments and vaccines will be based on science and evidence. Steve alan, you are on the air from fort pierce, florida. Your question for dr. Harris . I have seenharris, a discrepancy in my area where one particular section of the county has a high incidence of covid19, and both myself and the columnist in the local paper speculate it is because the governors order for stayathome did not affect private and semi private golf courses. Areas that have these golf courses now have a lot of cases of covid19. Having mentioned that to a neighbor, she mentioned a Racial Disparity where in africanamerican sections of the county, there have not been drivethrough testing sites. To hear from you about those differences. Steve alan, thank you. Dr. Harris i cant speak specifically, havent seen the data in the area, but i do know that social distancing, or the term i like to use, physical distancing, works, and staying at home. We have seen that. The mayor of San Francisco, among others, put in policies early on, so the data is clear that that has helped slow the spread of the disease. Is why we need the data and evidence, because as we do reviews, local Public Health officials will be able to make decisions about where the most cases are, who has been most impacted, and testing will help that also, and then we will be able to really go back and do a retrospective review and make more informed decisions about how this disease spread. Thee dr. Patrice harris, president of the ama, American Medical Association, joining us from atlanta. We appreciate you being with us. Dr. Harris thank you for having me. Steve in a moment we turn to the Economic Impact all this is having. Our telephones are open. In the eastern half of the , outry, 202 7488000 202 7488001, and all others, 202 7488002. On monday our guest is dr. Anthony faucher, director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases. Send us an email with your question that journal sask journal cspan. Org. Louisiana another hot spot in the country. Governor John Bel Edwards earlier today talked about inequities in dealing with covid19. Edwards le ds today i amdwar announcing the formation of the equity task force. This task force will Leverage Research and intellectual brainpower to tackle this issue. Universities in the medical community to lead the effort. Mandela school of public policy, exhibit University Department of Health Sciences at lsu and to lean and tulane university. The Louisiana Department of Public Health and the Health Bureau of Minority Access will ofo participate, and schools nursing at universities across louisiana. The immediate assignment for the task force is to make sure immunities with Health Disparities are blanketed with good information about covid19 providend prevention, the medical community with best practices and protocols, and an sure testing availability and access. The goal is Health Equity. We want to make sure we have Better Outcomes on the others of this pandemic as well. We need to answer the question, what are social determinants of Health Disparity and how do we ensure Health Equity for all citizens . The task force will meet the charge. Dr. Kim hunter has already sent an inquiry to all our universities to identify leading experts. Names have started coming into my office. The task force will begin work immediately in the research will result in creation of a dashboard on Health Equity. This is something we can do now to minimize the spread of butd19 across the state, particularly in communities where members are the most vulnerable. That from governor John Bel Edwards of louisiana, the update from his estate. All the daily briefings would get, check them out at cspan. Org coronavirus. I want to put numbers on the screen and the impact this is having on travel and tourism as well as the convention business. According to the u. S. Travel association, nearly 6 million jobs will be lost by the end of april as a result of covid19. Terms of annual gdp it is a loss of 502 billion. Is the vice barnes president of Public Affairs for the organization joining us via skype or home in washington d c. Ask for joining us. How bad is it going to get . Tori it is really bad already. We expect to lose as many as 6 million travelrelated jobs for the end of april. And we dont know when we are going to see the end of this. That, duet businesses to no fault of their own, are completely closed to customers. It is something we have never seen. It is seven times as bad as postnet 11. Post 9 11. S we are fielding calls from members and folks around the country looking for help. I get emails all the time because we are the u. S. Travel association, just seeking help and guidance because they are a travelrelated business. There is real uncertainty and not knowing when we are going to be moving again is a real difficult thing. Steve the hill newspaper reports you are one of seven industries looking for another round of stimulus from the federal government. What are you asking for . Tori they cares phase three bill is a relief package. Step, buteat first there are things structurally in the cares three act that really need to be managed. In travelusinesses and tourism have been catastrophically impacted and are not part of the bill. The payment protection plan, which is a good concept, is already close to running out of money. We need to replenish those funds. But we have businesses like our Destination Marketing organizations throughout the country, who arent eligible for forgiven ability in those loans. That is a big problem because when we turn to recovery, we are going to tap into those destinations to draw folks to restaurants and hotels and shops. That is one issue. Additionally, within the payment it presumes you still have revenues coming in. But if you look at a hotel, you and the of fixed costs, way treasury put out the regulations, 75 of the money needs to be for employee retention. And right now we are looking at an example we have had five or six weeks of no customers. So it is difficult to manage fixed costs without taking on significant debt, so it is a real big challenge. We are seeking, i would say, additional relief. We still think there will be a need for a stimulus package in the future, but right now we are asking for not only replenishing the payment protection program, but asking for structural changes and folks to be included in that. Withoday the sba put out the disaster loans, which are supposed to be up to 2 million, that they are going to limit those to 25,000 loans. That is simply not enough. Destination marketing organizations they mentioned, thec sixs throughout country, disaster loans are the only thing they are eligible for. And there is no forgive ability there, so we call on congress to replenish those funds and exabyte and expedite the process of getting out the money. We were pleased with congress putting up the main Street Program this week. And we are working with the administration in hopes of clarifying the way that program would work to help our medium and largersized businesses. Steve you mentioned tourism and also the convention business, which is a huge component. If we get back to normal, what will summer, fall or winter look like for convention . Because is a concern, we dont know until we have more answers with regards to when we are going to see a vaccine, how are we doing testing protocols, will we see more testing, we know folks at covid19 or not . And we are thinking through that right now, how we help folks cdc andfortable once other Public Health officials give us the ability to move. Bout in a more common way how will people have comfort to move . Those are things we are thinking through right now, doing survey work, and we are getting interesting results on travelers. Travelers,ot just obviously. Even going out in your local communities to a restaurant or Movie Theater or park is something that people will be managing in a much different way. And we are trying to think through not only how we protect the american public, but how we ensure is this is can thrive again, because that is important. 17the last two weeks, million folks registered foreign employment benefits. At noted that we are looking another 6 million within the travel industry. Tori Emerson Barnes we have to get back to traveling again at some point when we have the comfort to do so, and we know the medical community can manage it. And at that time we know that for every month we can shorten recovery, will be 22 billion in the travel industry, to boost it to the economy, and as many as 300,000 jobs. It is really important we put the right protocols in place to ensure ritter comfort for the traveling public. And that way, we can get people moving again more quickly. Steve we are talking with tori Emerson Barnes of the u. S. Travel association. Paul is on the line from greeley, colorado. Caller my wife and i are ineduled to go to germany in august, weback were going to see a passion play which was canceled, and operas which have been canceled tori Emerson Barnes but the have been canceled. But the problem is with the airline, icelandic. They are saying we can change dates of the flight but cant cancel the flight without losing our money. Are there things the government can do . I booked the flight through a travel agency and that was the reply i got, at least at the moment. Inhink things are changing europe regarding flights to europe right now, but what do you see as a potential to resolve that . Steve did you have travel insurance . Caller no, i did not. I looked into that, but decided not to. Steve thank you for the question. Dr. Harris tori Emerson Barnes paul right now the ability to cancel may change, depending on the wreck on the regulations. I cant speak on behalf of icelandic, they are not a member of ours, but i do think that from a government perspective, there is not a lot they can do with regards to cancellation fees under the current law. Toould advise you continue reach out to icelandic enter travel agent, and as you get closer to the date, that you consider other options, and maybe the later you date, the longer you will have all longer you will have to ultimately reschedule the flight. Joan, good maine, evening. Caller im glad you have somebody from the travel industry on. Ive had the good fortune of traveling throughout my life. The travel industry should be supported. People should go when they should learn and see what other countries have. Theyhen maybe, just maybe, could learn how to appreciate the wonderful country they live in, america, the greatest country in the world. God bless the strongest president we have ever had. Thank god he is there and thank god he is in charge now. God bless america. Thank you for the call from new jersey. A comment, not a question. We will go to paul in washington, d. C. That evening good evening. Caller covid19 came out of the blue. The whole economy is shut down. They say stay home to flatten the curve. But going forward, we should expect some new disease sooner or later, because we live in a Global Society with lots of commerce or travel. So some new disease in a few years will jump out from wherever. Is there a way to fortify our country against unforeseen diseases in the future, so we wont have to shut down society to deal with it . Steve paul, thank you. Tori Emerson Barnes, as an advocate of travel, how do you deal with that . Tori we have learned a lot from this experience. We have had other diseases like that haver things happened over the last several, actually over the time we have all been here and for centuries, and you look at the average flu, weve got vaccine for the fluent butle still get the flu, people feel comfortable still traveling during flu season. We willy with covid19, get to a place where we have medication that can minimize the we willthe symptoms, have a vaccine that will guard against it and we will be in a more comfortable place to move about. As it relates to other diseases we dont know about, that is best left to medical expert. But from a travel perspective, withwe get more comfort protocols and things we need in place for traveling now as a isult of covid19, that it important that we think about what is best for each of us individually. And i dont know i am in the best place to say what to do about potential diseases in the future. Steve how many members do you have with the association . Almost 1200e members. We are an umbrella association, we represent state tourism offices, hotels, attractions, the meetings and event space, car rental, you name it, weve got it. Fore how big a hit is this orlando, disney world and the Tourism Industry in Central Florida . Tori it is really, really significant. Florida is getting decimated, so are new york and california, but so are destinations throughout the country. Look at destinations in the middle of america, or nashville or where we have main street type businesses, Small Businesses. And tourisml related businesses are Small Businesses. We have a lot of the big guys like disney and marriott and the like who are critical partners in our industry, but we have a ton of Small Businesses and those are the folks, holistic, medium, Small Businesses we are fighting for in washington. That is why it is incredibly important we get these policies write and get capital to the businesses, so they can either keep employees on or rehire them. Inve we will go to kent wheeling, West Virginia. And amtrak greyhound running, and how are they protecting people are greyhound end and plaque are greyhound and amtrak running, and how are they protecting people . Tori i dont know about greyhound. Amtrak has a limited schedule. They are using stringent practices and ensuring there is social distancing. That is something we have seen throughout our industry, even when businesses were still open. The most important thing was clean ande facilities keeping people healthy. And we have been at large recommending that if you dont feel well, you must stay home. Broadat we have a socialdistancing recommendation throughout the country, more folks are staying home and that is why our businesses are in the position they are, because you have signal occupancy rates at hotels and we dont have any when any of the hotels and very few people moving about in any of our businesses at all. Most are completely closed. Union that is evident at station, penn station, 30th street station, basically a ghost town. William ezine lane, massachusetts. Good evening. In lynn,m is massachusetts. Good evening. How do you think the cruise industry is going to recover from the big blow . Cruising every year, every two years. I love you think a person like me will feel comfortable going on a cruise how long do you person like me will feel comfortable going on a cruise . Dr. Harris i saw polling from folks today that had taken and a percentage of them would go immediately to another cruise as soon as they could get the all clear. The all clear to do so. So folks who frequently go on cruises, i think there is still strong appetite for those folks to have that ability. But a lot of that is really unknown. It will largely depend on protocols put in place to ensure the safety of all americans that are traveling and moving about in their daily lives. Officials arealth comfortable with having gotten through the curve, we have seen flattening starting insignificant places like San Francisco and new york, and once we get more comfortable throughout the country, we will see things loosen up, probably regionally or in a statebystate way, and there will be protocols to make people feel comfortable. And we will advocate in that regard because we want to know we want people to know that they have the confidence that is vacations, they will continue to go on . Think the folks who can drive for a vacation, thats the first thing that comes back. In augusto to a beach and i am still currently planning to go. I think that will be the most common type of trip folks take at the onset, and im hopeful people will feel comfortable to do that this summer. Will largely depend on what Public Health officials recommend because that is first and foremost. U. S. Our guest from the travel association joining us from her home in washington, thank you for being with us. Guest thank you and stay healthy. Just ine new infections the last hour, worldwide, more than 3200 infections but none reported in the u. S. Another 82 deaths, one of them in the u. S. We crossed the 100,000 threshold in terms of debts around the globe. We are back monday evening at 8 00 eastern time. Our guest, dr. Fauci. Email your mail questions. Available coverages at cspan. Org coronavirus. We are back tomorrow morning with another edition of washington journal at 7 00 a. M. Eastern time. Give her being with us on this friday. Enjoy the rest of your evening and have a pleasant easter weekend. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] monday night, a special