Transcripts For KQED BBC World News America 20240713

And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is bbc world news america. Reporting from new york, im laura. Britains Prime Minister is moved to intensive care. 10 days aer testing positive for coronavirus. Now there are questions about who i leading britain through the crisis. The coronavire has killed m than 10,000 people in america, as officials warn this could be the saddest, hardest week yet in the outbreak. Plus, pregnancy in the age of coronavirus. The medical advice when youre about to give birth. Laura for those of you watchg on pbs and around the globe, welcome to world news america. Families in the u. S. Are in mourning tonight as the coronavirus has killed more than 10,300 people. Only italy and spain have higher deathas tolls. He president warns of a rough week ahead, new yorks governor says the curve maybe flattening here but doctors and nurses scrambling to cope with the huge influx of patients. Heres our north american editor. D we n respiratory. Reporter this is life inside an intensive care unit in brooklyn, new york. R Partner Network in thu. S. Re allowed in and everything about it seems frantic and on the edge. This gentleman right here is a pient that really didnt have much underlying conditions. Has developed severe respiratory failure, as welne as k damage from the virus. Reporter though the Administration Says theres no shortage of personal protective equipment, the reality is otrwise. Id like a mask like yours. Maskske all of us to have like yours and these white suitu ike y have, what do i have on . What is it . Reporter what is that . What is it . Reporter it lks like a garbage bag. It is. Reporter this patient nee to have his breathing tube changed over. And look how much equipment it kes to keep one patient alive. The Critical Care doctor puts on ski goggles to carry out the procedure. Its very, very diffilt. Its like something out of the twilight zone. And i dont think any of us going through it will ev be the same. Reporter when new yorkers right where new york is right now, other states a cities like washington, d. C. , are forecast to follow in the coming days and weeks. Donald trump says theres light at the end of the tunnel. There may be in the worsthit areas. But for much ofe america, darkness is yet to come. This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most americans lives, quite frankly. This is going to be o prl harbor moment. Our 9 11 moment. Only its not going to be locangzed. Its goi to be happening all over the country. Reporter meanwhile, in new york, theyre struggling to manage the sheer number of deaths. Refrigerated lauries have become makeshift morgues. And a Senior Health official has warned that burials may have to start taking place in public park laura for more on the outbreak, im joined an emergency physician in boston. Thks for being with us can i ask for your reaction to died from coronavirus . Thanks for having me. I think that is a number that none of us eve wanted to hear. And it speaks to the severity of how many cases weve had here. Our inability to control it. And that we have to do better going forward. Unlike other tragedies in the past that have been compared, this is something thats unfolding and so we still have an opportunity to make it better so that the number doesnt climb to an even more shocking number. Laura dr. Anthony fauci, hes the topis infectiousse specialist here in america, advising the government. To ays were struggling contain the outbreak. What should we be doing better . One thinge need to be doing is having better messaging. So that we know what l to do. Of people dont know what to do. I would like to say for myself that yesterday the messagerom the queen really provided a lot of information for me about the function of the btish monarchy , i found her word to be stirring and essential and many of us were grateful. We would like to see our leership giving us a consistent message bec tse we sengs moving quickly and we fed to see that we are responding tots on the ground and sometimes dr. Faucis been great, bute sometimes been fighting an uphill battle and thats not the best cas scenario. Laura now the governor here in new york is saying we may be beginning to see a flatteninve f the c that the death rate has dropped a little bit for two days. Its now flat. At do you make of that . Well, i think that it depends on wherere you new york may be getting to a from ther portion, but we simply dont know. Coulde a blip in data. We need to see consistent nhanges in order to make any kind of conclusf that nature. We also know that there are other hot spots that are brewing. Seeing more and more cases understand theyre getting missouri more severe. We wanto knowhats coming or anticipate it and have the equipment we need to save the most numbe of lives possible. Were not through the worst of it yet by anyoneans. I think anyone thinks that. But its always good news to hear this things are a little bit better. I think many of us are trained ndto prepare for the worst hope for the best. Laura an example of how anyone can get sick from this, britains primeinister was diagnosed with coronavirus 10 days ago and he has been montve tosive care tonight. What does it say when someone is moved to intensive care about their condition in general terms . Certainly i would like to say that those of us who just learned about this are, our thoughts are with the british people and we are hoping for a speedy recovery. What i would say is that being admitted to the intensive care unit is never good news. But it depenn where you are. Nd to in two hospitals a reach intensive care sort of level of need would be different at each place. So i cant read too much into it. Especially with v. I. P. s. Theyre very frequently overtreated. Lets hope that thats the situation. We dont know. Bu the things in i. C. U. s can offer would be more medication to support ood pressure i thats necessary, different options for breathing if theres a need for escalation from just regular oxygen through the nose. There are just a number of almost like a menu of options at each that each i. C. U. C do. We obviously know that if anyones ever going to an i. C. U. , its never good news. But we know there are a lot of treatments on offer at such facilities. Laura we do know that more men than women are getting sick from th disease. Av do youany idea why that is . I dont think we know that. I do think that thats a signal, a number that weve seen sever times. We also know that older people are much more likely to have difficult courses. So its encouraging that Prime Minister johnson is under o the ag 65, for example, where a recent study that looked at intensive care unit cases in the United States found that that was a number sort of in the 60s where things got a little hairier. So we dont know why men. Theres there are oer small littleignals here and there. Could it be that people with high Blood Pressure or diabetes have a higher percentage of getting bad cases . Certainly that appears to be the case. Why, we dont know. The same is true with gender. Dont think we really know why that would be. It could be something as simple as socioeconomic do men smoke more . In certain countries thats certainly the case. I dont know if thats true across the board. Laura and do you know just how going to have to go on for . Well,e been very careful about making predictions about the future because i think that if anyone h a crystal ball, theres many thing they would have done. They would have shut down borders, they would have sold their portfolios. So im not miss it bf sayin when. What i will say is that as we progress, were going to start to have to think anew about how we go about our lives and so were goingo go from incredible in incredibly nse social distancing to starting to do things differently. Are we going to have restrictions on h many people at each event and maybe no middle seats on planes. Whatever it takes, weve got to return to normalcy al at some point but were not there yet. En we do, the going to have to be piecemeal so we know we safe. Laura thank you so much for joining us. Myur ple thank you for having me. Laura as we were saying, been moved to the intensive care london tonight. As hos Boris Johnson has been suffering from the effects of the coronavirus. He was diagnosed 10 days ago, as we were hearing. Earlier on monday was said to be in good spirits. Bu his condition worsened as the day went on. Our Political Editor has the very latest. Less than a mile from downing street, boris jnson is in intensive care tonight. Reporter in a personal fight against thee irus that government and the country is trying to beat. Who could have noun on thursday night that the Health Care Workers he applauded would be caring for him like. This brief glimpses of Boris Johnson on social media made it struggling to shake the virus off. I still have one of the symptoms, minor symptom, i have a temperature. Reporter now after being aye admitted to hospital last night for toast for test, he is conscious. But as a precaution, downing street says hes been moved to intensive care. And the foreign secretary has been asked to step up for now. During the course of this afternoon, the Prime Ministers condition worsened and on the advice of the medical team who has moved in to a Critical Care unit. Reporter with the Prime Minister in intensi care, this is an extremely serious situation. How worried should people be about his health and who is in charge of the government . Thes governments busin will continue. The Prime Ministers in saf hands with a Brilliant Team at st. Thomas hospital. The focus of the governmen will continue to be on making sure that therime ministers direction, all the plans for making sure tha we can defeat coronavirus and pull the countrs throh hallenge will be taken forward. Reporter are you confident that the governments under control tonight . Team spirit behind the Prime Minister and making sure that wt get all plans that the Prime Minister has instructed us to deliver, to get them implemented as soo as possible. Thats the way well bring the whole country through the coronavirus challenge that we face right now reporter just after 8 00, the official statement came from downing street saying over the course of the afterno, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and on the advice of his med team, hes been moved to the intensive care unit at the the Prime Ministers asked the foreign secretary, who is the rerst sry of state, to department advertise for him where necessary. The Prime Minister is receivi excellent care and thanks all n. H. S. Staff for their hard work and dedication. Good wishes from friends and rivals of bnsis j flooded online within minutes. From the first minister of scotland and the brand new labor leader, and from someone who very well. And the unique job the Prime Minister is now suffering seriously froa disease that does not pick and choose. Downing street itself, a place where the virus spread. Power no protection from harm. Laura grave news from london tonight. In other news now fm around the world, japans Prime Minister is preparing to declare a state of emeency for tokyo and several other large cities. Until a few weeks ago, the country ld like it had the outbreak under control. In the last week cases in tokyo have more than doubled and the government now fears the worlds rgest metropolitan area is on the verge of a major outbreak. Wisconsins governor has iued executive order to delay that states president ial primary scheduled for tomorrow. T it will instee place in june. Democrat tony evers says hes wo sied about publicety amid the ongoing outbreak. State republicans are expected a to mount legal challenge to the dela and away from coronavirus news, the actress on a blackman Anna Blackman s died at the age of 94. Blackman trained at the guil hall school of musicd ndance. Her family said she died peacefully of Natural Causes at home i east sussex. Youre watching bbc world news america. Still to come on tonights program, inside an intensive care ut in london, how doctors there are grappling with the crisis unlike o anyther. Laura in south korea the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases has gone downo below 50. But officials there are warning against complacency. As the bbcs now reports. It reporter n the last two weeks over half of all the cases that he been confirmed here in south korea are people returning home from theikes of europe, the u. S. And canada. However, the vice health warning. Has issued a they are extremely worried about complacency. Life here isnglowly getack to normal. You must remember there has been no lockdown here in south kea. They advised people to work from ossible, which people have been doing. They advised people to wear masks, to stay socially distanced, two meters apart. And most people have been doing that. However, there have been slight breaking of the rules over the weekend as this beautiful spring weather arrives. So the government has advised today for peopl to maintain these social distancing measures for just another two weeks if they can. Laura as yeeve been reporting, britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson been moved to intensive care tonight. This comes asls hospicross britain are struggling with the huge influx of coronavirus patients. Our medical correspondent has hospital to see how theyre dealing with it. Heres his report. Reporter this used to be a Recovery Area for patients after surgery. Now its an intensive care unit forovid19 patients. A huge part of the hospital has been transformed in order to deal with coronavirus. Ive been in intensive care nursing for about 23 years now. And ive never seen anything like this. Do even the l bombings. Never seen it in such a short, n den condensed period of time. Reporter many of the patients re are elderly or have Underlying Health problems. But not a. I think perhaps i was a bit naive whene started. I had assumed that it would be the older and the sicke in here. Weve got a mixture of people from their 40s to people in their 70s. A iglot of them haveBlood Pressure and diabetes or [indiscernible] disease. But some of them are coming through who are young and fit. Reporter the patients here severe pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs. They must be heavily is he dated while on a ventilator is he dated while on a ventilator, sedated whir, on a ventila machine that tas over their breathing. Patients can spend two weeks like this. Ma drugs are being tested but there is as yet no proven treatment for coronavirus. Its oxygen andpp organ sut and amazing nursing care really. Reporter one thing that ds help is turning the patients onto their front. Ites incre the oxygen getting what seems like a simple procedure takes time. And lots of payers of hands. Pairs of hands. With ventilated ptrient e care is needed. All of this while staff wear full personal protective equipment. Thats great. Reporter the only barrier against coronavirus. Every time a doctor or nur goes on to the utht, ey must don full safety gear. You cant wear this and work r more than a couple of hours, because youve got a crushing headache, youve got a dry mout you have to get o. Reporter staff write their names on theiry aprons so the can be quickly identified. So theres an emergency on the i. T. U. And the head of Critical Care, were seeing by aalky talky whether he can giv a second opinion. But he needs to be there. So the full kit has to be put on. Reporter they useky talkies because theirdvisors mean they cant communicate on phones. Mentally. Ning, physically and its really hard and some of our staff really cant cope with it. You know, weve got huge numbern ofses, doctors and physios and not all of them can deal with it. So they can only spend a short time or not just any time. Ot its uncommon for some of our staff to have panic attacks. D just finding this so, so stressful. We have to really support people. Some people just cant do it. Reporter despite the possible risk to themselves, the staff carry on. 12hour shifts, 60 hours a week are the norm. They worry about the patients, about each other, and about those they love. I think its very hard on our families. My kids are at home, my wife, homeschooling. Its easy in a wa. Im doing my job, im busy all day. They dont really know what its like here, what whether were bringing home the virus. Theyve just been amazing. And i just am incredibly to do grateful to them. Repoer what is striking here is the sense of calm. In the face of adversity, doctors and nurses simply ge with the job. The staff here are dealing with the biggest challenge ever faced by the n. H. S. They can save many of the parents patients, but sadly not all ofm. T and still, more patients keep coming every day. Laura that was fergus walsh reportg. One of the Biggest Challenges of this outbreak, whether there in london or here in new york city, is getting medical equipment to where its needed most. Joining me now so talk about this is democratic senator chris murphy from connecticut. Thanks for being with us. You have said that people will die inbr this ok because of the president s inaction on medical supplies. 10,000 people have no died in america. What do you want to see the president do differently . The predent needs to take control of both the manufactrre and dution of emergency medical equipment. I appreciate you having me on today because this is a crisis in the United States and around the world. Part of that cris is driveny the fact that we dont have enough personal protentive equi for our hospitals and that puts them at jeopardy but it also means thate cant tes as robustly as we should. Because in order to test, you need to have mks, face shields and other personal protective equipment. The president needs to take control of the manufacturing and supp chains and that would mean we could produce more of these goods, but also we can make sure thatint ends u the hands of those that need it the right now the hospitals in the states that are acquiring the equipment are the ones that are bidding the most amount of money. But there unfortunately are plavty of places that dont a lot of money to throw around, but who have real high need so w need to federalize the manufacture and distribution of critedical supplies. I dont understand why the president hasnt done it. Laura senator, you know that the president wont nationalize the supply chain. He wants private cpanies to have their say. So what impact does s that having in your own state of connecticut where new haven is emerging as a hot spot . We are certainly going to get worse and worse as more of the virus comes up from new york and connecticut. Right now we are scrambling, trying to create our own supply chain. Ive introduced lengthlatio shah i Hope Congress will tail legislation that i Hope Congress wil take upn the next emergency package that will require the president to federalize that sply chain and require him to use his authori to produce more of this. W but were finding in connecticut is that we are getting outbid by oth states and that deliveries from fema that we thought were their way are suddenly canceled at the last minute. So were in a bad position in connecticut. And were in a bad positio in part because we are competing states and thousands of er hospitals for the same set of goods. Thes got to be a more reasonable, rational way to [talking simultaneously] laura sorry to interrupt you. Thank you so much forheing w us. We appreciate that. Well, as hospitals in new haven, europe and the u. S. Are overwhelmed with coronirus cases, its having a ripplele effect on other patients. Take pgnant women, for example. Who are very anxious about what that means for their delivery. When its the birth of your child, you want to feel like youre in control. Youre not. Thats pretty scary. The covid19 outbreak has especially for pre women. Fying, i would advice for everyone to come up with a plan, come up co advise for everyone t up with a plan with their family and loved ones and their o. B. s. Reporter we talked to pregnant womeee about how theyreling and howde the coronavirus pc is making them rethink their birth plans. My name is courtney. I am 22 years old. I am expecting my first child. I was already a highrisk pregnant. Its very likely that ill be have to be a csecti orll i go into preterm labor. I went from feeling so prepared and then a soon as this hit, well, money has to co from somewhere. My partner got laid off mporarily because of the virus. I want to be proactive and prepared for things but we dont ow what to prepare for. Reporter pregnancy is already a stressful and challenging time. There are major life changes, body changes, emotionales cha and pregnant during a pandemic brings all kinds of new challenges and stressful situations too. Reporter this is doctor, a former Health Commissioner of baltimore and planned parenthood. This is also person for her. I 38 weeks pregnant myself at the moment. Pregnant people are still medically vulnerable because of changes to their immune system, to their physiology. And should take extra precautions the way that other categories of people who areme cally vulnerable should take precautions as well. We believe based on the le ited datave that there is no maternal fetal transmission because there isntid19 found in am knee otic fluid. Its amniotic fluid, not in breast milk. But these are preminary ot we and theres a dont know about the impact of covid19 oncy pregnan being pregnan is terrifying enough because of the all the things that could go wrong. Reporter shes even more at risk bec im in my mid to late 406789s reporter she lives in new york. Epicenter of the virus in the United States. Theres always this fear ino ction and contaminationment youre stillealing with ff medical sta you wonder how much crosspollination i the unftunately when we look at what has happened in other counies, there are certainly document cases of people having delayed care during pregnancy or even foregoing certain types of care during pregnancy because theire providers h simply not been available. Now is the time trepare. This is not a time to panic. There are steps thate we can t to prepare ourselves and our families. Laura and we have a very happy update indeed tonht to that report. I can let you know that the doctor had her baby girl over the weekend. And shes called isabel. The doctor tweeted theyre all doing wel and thank the Exceptional Health care providers who took such good care of us. Thank you so much for watching bbc world news america. 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Man 1 pbs. N 3 pbs. Girl pbs. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening, im judy woodruff. On he newshour tonight, a difficult week begins. At the toll in the u. Surges past 10,000, as presidena trump pushunproven treatment, and the nations Top Health Officials wosn of terribles in the coming few days. We speak with two goveon the conditions in their states, and how they are handling the fallout. Br thenains Prime Minister Boris Johnson is moved to intensive care as his case of coronavirus woens. And, on the front lines. How hospitals are ensuring the safety of their worker scouring the country for protective equipment, and making their own when necessary. Plus, pregnant during the pandemic