Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20200513

Sadly. And that a reversal of the progress we have made is still possible if we dont listen to what our Health Officials and our scientists are telling us. The first reminder today, capitol hill hearing unlike any other, where how witnesses and lawmakers communicated was almost as important as what they communicated. And well get to all of that in a moment tonight. The other developments happened shortly after that hearing ended. One an update to a university of washington model that the white house has previously cited plotting the course of this virus. Its new numbers once again projecting even higher death count, 147,000 people projected to die in the u. S. Through august 4th. Thats an increase of 10,000 from their previous projection. The institute that publishes the model pointed to reasons including loosening of social distancing policies and greater mobility for people. The director of the institute told cnn if people arent cautious and dont wear masks, if the nation doesnt have the capacities to test, to do the Contact Tracing and to isolate people who are infected, then, quote, quit think well see the numbers go up. Today Johns Hopkins reports there are 82,246 people who have died in the united states. 1,564 have died today alone. The other reminders we are far from the end tonight come out of california. The first, California State University with 23 campuses and close to half a million students, they say for the most part they will not have inperson classes come the fall. As in around four months from now. The other reminder and where we begin tonight is out of l. A. County. A Health Official said a short time ago the county will extend its stayathome orders by three more months. Just to give you some idea of the importance of the development, according to the most recent census figures, l. A. County is home to about 10 million people, a population is roughly the size of michigan or north carolina. In fact, only nine states have bigger populations than l. A. County. We want to get an update on the latest joining us is the mayor of Los Angeles Eric garcetti. Mayor garcetti, thank you for being with us. What exactly does this mean . Will l. A. Be extending its stayathome order until july . Well, a couple of things. It means this is just as dangerous a virus today as it was when it arrived. And we should never become too comfortable. Were learning to live with it. We are not moving beyond it. But its important not to overreact and not to underreact. Not to overreact. Today huge headlines, it was on cnn, in l. A. Times. When our county health officer, dr. Ferrer, merely said an order would stay in place for at least three more months. That doesnt mean the order stays in place exactly as it is today. But of course were still going to have to protect our vulnerable and our seniors. Were still going to need to wear facial coverings. Were still going to need to physically distance. And the steps that we earn each week and each month are going to be based on where the numbers are and how safe we can make spaces and places. I think in l. A. Weve shown some success with that, with our construction industryw things like farmers markets which he had to shut down but we reopened safely. Its just a reminder of how delicate and fragile this time is but to not freak out when you hear a scientist say its still going to be here and were still going to be living under health orders, all of us in america, for many, many months if not into next year. But at the same time it really puts that in our hands to know our compliance with these orders helps take steps forward as we did this week in los angeles and as we hope to do a little bit with some more baby steps this coming week too. So just to be clear, there will be some sort of stayathome orders continuing through july. The exact parameter of them, the details of them, that depends on what occurs. You said you may see some adjustments. In what time frame did you just say . Did you say a week or within a week or after a week . It was also announced today for instance and what do you have a sense of when the next kind of loosening might be . So, it was announced today, for instance remember, im the mayor of the city, so the county which is separate makes these pronouncements. A lot of people call me and say, what did you say . I said i didnt say anything. But let me clarify it on cnn. Watch Anderson Cooper and youll find out. What we did do is we moved forward this weekend opening up our trails. We made sure theres Curbside Pickup at five different categories of retail stores. Today the county announced, we conc concur, that that will expand to all retail. That beaches will open up this week for exercise and active recreation only in the wet sandy guess is a good way of thinking about it, not hanging out and tanning in the dry sand. Every two or three weeks we can assess those steps. If the numbers stay stable as they are here in los angeles, great. Weve earned that and can build on that. Similar with work spaces. Maybe manufacturing comes next because weve been manufacturing masks safely, just distancing the sewing machines and the workers. So each one of these steps is both in the hands, a little bit of government, but mostly the people. To comply with those recommendations and the Public Health is clear. This is still a threat to us all. So, for retail establishments, you said it will be extended for all retail establishments. What does that actually look like curbside . So people dont go into a particular store . They order online, or do they order through a window or something, an open door, someone brings it out . Online or call ahead as weve been doing with restaurants for quite sometime. Now this was opened up to book stores, toy stores, up to florists and a couple other categories. In the coming week it will be open to all retail establishments. You bring up a good point, anderson. It isnt easy. And it takes some time. We have hundreds of business ambassadors who go out there and educate, if necessary enforce, but to make sure they arent letting people into their retail shops yet. That they are complying and posting that they complied in their windows with the Public Health orders. So each step allows us to get a little bit business back. Ive been encouraging angelenos to shop local. Call that local store you love, get whatever it is you used to buy from them, pay for it over the phone, and then theyll give it to you at the curbside. And so far weve gotten a passing grade. We need to get it up a little higher to an a or a b. But its definitely been a passing grade and over the weekend it worked well and gave some jobs back to people and some money back to local business owners. Ive been buying actually my masks from a local l. A. Company called leisure lab that usually makes athletic wear. They switched to masks. Ive been buying them online. Thats awesome. Thank you. The California State University system announced today they plan to cancel a majority of inperson classes in the fall. Is that a decision you support . What about Los Angeles County schools this fall . Do you anticipate inperson classes will resume . I certainly hope so. Anybody who predicts today where the virus will be tomorrow let alone in the fall, we wont know. But we should prepare for it. I absolutely think it will be a Different School than were used to. Whether its fewer days a week, half the class coming in, whether its new spaces and places where we educate. I think it would be a pity if we have all of our children only online throughout the rest of this calendar year. Were watching places around the world where theyre doing that safely. Again, its all about our compliance. But if we can get the temperature checks, if we can get the testing in place which is why ive been so passionate about testing and became the first big city in america to offer testing for widespread for people with and without symptoms. Were going to need that in place. But i do believe that in the fall the k through 12 level we should be prepared. If the numbers are stable, yes, we should figure out safe ways for kids to be there at least some of the week face to face with teachers, with their peers. At the Higher Education level its tougher because people often live in dormitories. Thats higher risk. So i think each system needs to make that decision themselves. I support what cal State University has done. But there are spaces and places that we absolutely should be educating i believe by the fall face to face in safe environments. Los angeles mayor Eric Garcetti. Thanks so much, mayor. Appreciate it. Always. Thank you, anderson. Take care. As we said at the top of the broadcast, one of the big moments of the day was the testimony of four top Health Officials including dr. Anthony fauci. Really what was so unusual about it in addition to some of the testimony was how it all came together. It was like nothing weve seen before on capitol hill. Witnesses were not present obviously in the committee room. They participated by video conference, as did the Republican Committee chairman and several other senators. The senators who attended some wore masks, others did not. Individuals in the room were asked to be at least six feet apart. The public was not permitted to attend. Phil mattingly tells us what happened once the hearing began. Take a look. The consequences could be really serious. Reporter the white houses top public Health Officials issuing a stark warning as President Trump presses to reopen the country. My concern that if some areas, cities, states, what have you, jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks. Reporter the highly anticipated senate hearing, a surreal reminder of the new world facing everyone. As the u. S. s covid19 death toll surpasses 80,000. Republican senator Lamar Alexander urging the administration to ramp up testing. All roads back to work, back to school lead through testing, tracking, isolation, treatment, and vaccines. This requires widespread testing. Reporter as the democrats train their fire on the administration for an array of perceived failures by the president. President trump has been more focused on fighting against the truth than fighting this virus. And americans have sadly paid the price. Reporter conflicting information about reopening guidelines. You work for a president who is frankly undermining our efforts to comply with the guidance that youve given us. Reporter and the administrations overall response. The time for magical thinking is over here. Reporter but the Health Officials touting progress on the countrys fight, with one big caveat. The virus is not yet under control. I think were going in the right direction, but the right direction does not mean we have by any means total control of this outbreak. Reporter with signs of progress on a vaccine, but not before schools restart in the fall. Phase one will go directly into phase two, three in late spring, early summer. If we are successful, we hope to know that in the late fall and early winter. The idea of having treatments available or as vaccine to facilitate the reentry of students into the fall term would be something that would be a bit of a bridge too far. Reporter the federal official overseeing u. S. Testing efforts projecting a massive rampup in the months ahead. By september, taking every aspect of development, authorization, manufacturing and supply chain into consideration, we project that our nation will be capable of performing at least 40 to 50 million tests per month. Reporter but it was republican senator mitt romney who responded to the claims of testing success with this sharp retort. I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever. Reporter Anthony Fauci also facing criticism from gop senator rand paul. Inasmuch as i respect you, dr. Fauci, i dont think youre the endall. Reporter and fauci pushing back. I havent made myself out to be the endall and only voice of this. I dont give advice about economic things. I dont give advice about anything other than Public Health. Phil mattingly joins us now from washington. Senator sanders also asked dr. Fauci if he thought the current total death toll of 80,000 was accurate. But what did fauci say . Reporter interesting context, anderson. When i talk to republicans on capitol hill who have been in discussions with white house officials, have spoken to the president , several have told me that there are people inside the white house including the president who believe the current total, more than 80,000, is actually an overcount, that individuals that have died have been labeled as covid deaths that didnt actually have the virus. Anthony fauci is not in that group. He said when he was asked specifically if the number of 80,000 was low or high, he said, quote, most of us believe it is actually higher than 80,000. Carefully choosing his words, saying most of us inside the white house believe thats the case. But Anthony Fauci believes 80,000. At least at this point in time which weve already gone north of, that is actually under where the total covid deaths likely are. Where it ends up, of course, anderson, still an open question. Phil mattingly. Phil, thank you very much. Joining us is chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta and also michael os terhome, director of the center for Infectious Disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. Sanjay, first of all, just on the death toll, the idea that the white house, the president or folks there behind the scenes poohpoohing the death toll saying its not as high in reality as all the evidence shows that it is and as dr. Fauci and nearly most people who are involved in this will say its actually underestimated, i mean, it just seems like such a blatant political stance for the president to, you know, be whispering about or saying behind the scenes he clearly doesnt want he has spoken it out loud. He said more testing means the numbers go up and that makes it look bad for, you know, for the administration. Yeah, i mean, theres been various studies as well. Because of the lack of testing, because there was a lot of people who may have been thought they had some other respiratory illness or the flu, again, because of lack of testing, because people were staying home as the hospitals, particularly in new york, were getting full, i think all those things have fed into this idea, the study came out of yale showing this, between march and april, beginning of march and i think the first few days of april, that the death toll sadly was probably really under counted. That it may have been 10,000 to 12,000 people more even. So its hard to know. I think dr. Fauci was sort of pressed on this point by senator sanders. Is it 50 higher, i think senator sanders asked. Dr. Fauci didnt want to give a number. But i think when dr. Fauci was saying most people believe this i think he was really talking about the Public Health community as well because there have been studies that have come out about this. Its a tough thing to know. But again, because of inadequate testing up front we may never really know the true number here. Michael, dr. Fauci testified states face serious consequences if they reopen too quickly. Theres now this new modeling projecting 147,000 u. S. Deaths by august, which the researcher ties to relaxation of social distancing, increased mobility. Its obviously just i mean, its an obvious point, but i think it bears repeating. Its a stark reminder that this is far from over. You talked about this as being early innings. Right. We really are at the very beginning. We could go for a period of several months where the virus basically just dies out or appears to be gone and could come back with a major wave this summer and fall. I think, again, the message we have to keep coming back to, weve infected 5 to 20 of the population of this country. Most of the country is in that 5 range. This virus is not going to even slow down its transmission until it gets to 60 or 70 . If you just keep remembering how many deaths, how many financial disruption moments that have occurred in this past few months, and think how much further we have to go to find that herd immunity status. You know, michael, its also remarkable. Its stunning when you think more than 80,000 dead, and that is with all the social distancing and societal upheaval and financial ruin that has taken place. Had we not gone through all that, theres no telling what the death toll would have been. Yes, im certain that we have prevented a number of deaths, and deaths that basically wouldnt normally be thought were thinking right now longterm care, prisons, meatpacking plants. Were going to see more and more of this in the community. The 52yearold individual who doesnt have any other risk factors, and thats what i think we prevented, more cases in that type of population. But as we go on with time, those cases are going to be on the books unfortunately. As a 52yearold individual, im paying particular attention to what you just said. Sanjay, dr. Fauci said the School Openings will vary from region to region. He also said that having a vaccine for the Upcoming School year would be a bit of a bridge too far. California State University is planning to cancel most inperson classes through the fall. We just talked to mayor garcetti about l. A. I wonder what you make of it. For you what was the biggest thing that came out of the hearings today . I do thinks i find dr. Faucis language hes so masterful at what he does. A bridge too far to talk about a vaccine this fall. I dont think anybody has been thinking that a vaccine would be available this fall. But, you know, its a question of balancing the hopefulness of people with the honesty, which i think hes quite good at. I think as far as schools go, you heard about colleges, cal state, probably going to online. I think were probably going to see that at a lot of universities. Id be curious what dr. Osterholm thinks. With grade schools it may be different. There is a real inertia to try, especially for younger kids, to see if they might be able to have some socialization within a bricks and mortar structure. Its going to feel different. Maybe staggered start times. Obviously not cafeterias or assemblies or any mass gatherings. And if things are not going well in a particular community, if youre starting to see more and more cases they may have to pull back or not start school at all. But i think as far as the lower school, k through 12, i think theres a real desire to try and open up those schools. I spoke to people within the l. A. United School District l. A. Unified School District, the second largest in the country, and they say they would like to do this but well see what the summer holds. And michael, does it make any sense to you that the cdc guidelines for reopening still have not been released . Cdc director redfield said today theyd be released soon. Dr. Birx was on our town hall last week and sort of claimed that, oh, theyre not being squashed, its just in editing. Certainly that was contradicted by word coming out of the white house earlier that very day. So, i mean, reopening is beginning and the cdc guidelines arent even out, it seems, again, another example of kind of the cdc being sidelined and kneecapped. First, i give great credit to the governors and even the mayors of this country that have had to do a lot of heavy lifting to make decisions about what to do. But even that is a bit discouraging. You may recall we had a bit of coming out of the lockdown kind of criteria the white house had. Were not following that. Right now we have 42 states that are releasing or coming back to what had previously existed for business. And in those states, we have many of them have cases increasing right now. So i am concerned as a nation, even if we have more criteria, weve got to wrestle with this. How are we going to make the decisions what to do and not to do, and right now were not making decisions based on any data. People say test, test, test. Ive not seen anybody using testing data right now to give us a sense of what we should do or not do. Yeah, i mean, thats a terrifying sentence. Were not making decisions based on data. That is something to really focus on in the days ahead. Michael, thank you. As always, michael osterholm. Thank you. Always great to have your expertise. Sanjay will stick around. Still ahead well continue our conversation about states reopening with Ohio Governor mike dewine, why hes confident its the right move even as Health Officials urge caution. Later the speaker of new york citys Council Joins me to discuss when the city may partially reopen and also just what a reopening might look like in new york city, which has been the epicenter. vo what does it mean to be americas most Reliable Network . It means helping those who serve stay connected to their families. And now verizon wants to give them something back. Our best pricing ever. 30 per line for all nurses, teachers, First Responders, military, and their families. Not for a few months, but for as long as they need. Plus, up to 700 off the oneplus 8. Because the people we rely on deserve a network they can rely on. Show me what youre made of. So we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone. We showed it our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. We showed it how were donating millions of meals to those in need. We showed it how we helped thousands of restaurants convert to takeout and pop up markets. And how were encouraging all americans to take out to give back. Adversity came to town. So we looked it right in the eye. And it wont be us. That blinks first. Yeah, im done after this meeting. Were just going over how people who switch to progressive can save hundreds. Hey mara yeah jamies the guy running it. Mara, youre not on mute. I once had to fake jury duty to get out of talking about his yogurt preferences. Mara, you know youre not on mute, right . Oh, theres a mute button . Yeah, thats flo the one who looks like shed smile while she sleeps. Flo i always smile. Mara thats why i said that. As we reported earlier, a model has been cited by the white house out with new numbers that again raise the projected death toll. According to an institute at the university of the university of washington, the number of deaths in the u. S. From the coronavirus through august 4th are now projected to be 147,000. Thats an increase of 10,000 lives due to less social distancing. Joining us from washington is cnns jim acosta. Has the white house responded to the increased number of dead predicted in this new model . Reporter im not sure, anderson. We do know the white house has embraced the model in the past. Though President Trump just the other day was complaining that these models have not been consistent and they havent been accurate. And we should also note dr. Anthony fauci on the Coronavirus Task force has also expressed his some of his misgivings with these models, that they are based on the assumptions you put into the models. But at the same time, anderson, it doesnt sound as though the increase of this projection up to 147,000 deaths is going to affect how this white house is approaching reopening the country. We saw Kayleigh Mcenany the White House Press secretary in the Briefing Room earlier this afternoon saying look, if we stay close too long youre going to see people not going in for needed medical procedures, youll see deaths going in because of drug and alcohol abuse and so on. So barring some massive increase in these estimates or projections, anderson, i just dont see the president really wavering in terms of his approach to reopening the country and wanting to do it as soon as possible. So jim, what is the policy moving forward from the white house now about letting the American People hear from dr. Fauci, hear from dr. Birx, hear from the Coronavirus Task force . Is that now are those daily i know they say theyre not going to get rid of the task force. But have they muzzled the task force . Are they not going to have the daily briefings from the task force . Its like if a tree falls in the forest no ones around, do you hear it . Reporter right. And they did have a Task Force Meeting earlier this afternoon. We understand dr. Birx and dr. Fauci were there. They were distancing themselves from one another because of the situation with the Vice President s press secretary testing positive for the coronavirus. It does seem that these coronavirus briefings that made so much news in a positive and negative sense for the president for several weeks, that is off for now. The president prefers to do these press conferences where he feels he can control the message a lot better, although things went off the rails yesterday. But in the meantime it does seem, anderson, they are comfortable keeping dr. Fauci off to the sidelines, keeping him away from the cameras as much as possible. They let him testify earlier today up on capitol hill, teleworking in i suppose you can call it, zooming in to that hearing. But time and again we saw him contradict the administration from one issue to another. That obviously doesnt sit well with people inside the administration. They see dr. Fauci as somebody who kind of throws cold water on the president s optimism. And so my sense is, anderson, from here on out, youre going to see less of dr. Fauci, less of dr. Birx, and potentially more of the president having news conferences. But as you and i both know, anderson, they kind of make this up as they go along. What happens today may not necessarily mean what happens tomorrow. But for the moment it does sound like these doctors have been sidelined, anderson. I mean, we need more than anything, you know, clear factbased science now. And hearing from the scientists who are, you know, deeply involved in this Coronavirus Task force is critical. I just find it so strange that the white house i mean, not strange, but just sad that the white house or the president seems to be sidelining at least dr. Fauci. Well see. Reporter theyre keenly aware yeah. You bet. You said theyre acutely aware of poll numbers . Reporter theyre keenly aware of these poll numbers and how they show the president we have a new cnn poll out today, public disapproval of the president going up, and at the same time confidence in dr. Fauci remains as high as any public figure in america when it comes to this pandemic. Theyre aware of that, and thats why youre seeing just this evening, anderson, trump advisers on social media sniping at dr. Fauci because they see him as not on board, not on the same page as the president. No question about it. If the white house is looking at poll numbers for scientists, were thats were in a pandemic. Thats remarkable. Jim acosta, appreciate it. Joining me now is Ohio Governor mike dewine. Governor dewine, thank you for joining us. I know how busy you are. Dr. Faucis warning about the potential for needless suffering and death if we skip the criteria and the guidelines and reopen the country prematurely or too fast, obviously that is one of the considerations you no doubt have taken into account. Ohio has not seen a 14day downward trajectory in cases, which was one of the benchmarks initially laid out by the Coronavirus Task force. Can you just talk about your decision, why arent you waiting until that happens . What other criteria are you looking at . Anderson, i think there is a risk if we open up or if we dont open up. You know, we cant continue to have this down economy so much. And quite frankly, people are anxious to get moving and get things going. But what weve tried to do, what we have done is get the best Scientific Evidence that we can so that how we open up is the best that we can do. I mean, for example, im working today on child care and how can we do this. And well announce this in a few days. People are going back to work. We need child care. But grave concern about little kids who maybe dont get sick themselves but, you know, they take it from one family back to numerous families. And so what were going to do when we roll this out in a few days, i think its going to be the best child care plan in the nation in the sense of were going to have smaller class sizes than i think anybody else. And so were trying to do it as carefully as we can, but we do know its a risk. And my message to ohioans today was the same as its been every day, and that is you have to wear a mask. You have to keep your social distancing. Youve got to be careful. If youre high risk, you probably shouldnt go out. These things have not changed. The virus is still out there, but we also know that when the economy goes flat and stays that way for a long period of time, some other very horrendous things occur that are not just economic, not just in peoples paycheck, but in their medical care, in their health. We see things like Domestic Violence that historically go up. When we see unemployment go up. And so these are things we have to try to balance. Were trying to do it in a very we are doing it in a very, very careful way, as careful as we can. But yes, theres certainly a risk. And we need to understand that as we go through this. Yeah, i mean, these are not easy decisions for any leader to make. I think the last time we talked or recent time we talked, correct me if im wrong, you talked about trying to scale up the Contact Tracing, the testing. Im wondering how thats going. If memory serves me you had said you wanted to aim for 1800 or so contact tracers. Is that still if im accurate, is that the number youre still looking for or trying to get to . Yes, and its interesting. We had a ton of applications. Were very happy and were starting to hire people. That is coming along. The other thing, of course, is the testing itself. And our capacity is up. Our testing continues to go up, but its got to go up a lot more. I was just on a call tonight with two former governors who ive asked to help me. Governor taft and governor celeste. Long Conference Call right before i came on here about how we continue to grow that testing. Its important. We need to be able to have it so we can vigorously trace. We also have to have it so that, frankly, we can go into some if theres a hot spot, we can move in and take care of that hot spot. So testing is a lot more robust today than it was the last time you and i talked, but we still have a ways to go. Well, the contact tracers, you had a lot of people wanting to do that job. Obviously thats going to be a critical role. Again, i just think for any leader this is an extraordinarily difficult time and difficult task and i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us, governor dewine. Thank you. Thank you, anderson. Appreciate being with you. Doctors are becoming concerned about other unusual illnesses that may be connected to the pandemic. We wanted to try to know more about this. Sanjay gupta is going to join us shortly just to take a look at what this may mean. Well be right back. Give me your hand i can save you. Lots of money with Liberty Mutual we customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Ambient sound fades in and plays throughout. Ambient sound begins to rise. Ambient crescendos and then goes silent for the tagline. Yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. As dr. Anthony fauci kept saying at todays hearing, there are still many unknowns about the coronavirus and its impact especially when it comes to kids. Overall children are far less likely to become infected but fauci told the senators there are troubling signs with children who do have the disease. Children presenting with covid16 covid19 who actually have a strange inflammatory syndrome, very similar to kawasaki syndrome, i think we better be careful if we are not cavalier in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects. And the doctor said that isnt the only concerning development arising from covid. There are in fact a lot of others. Sanjay is back with us for a look. Now im ready to go out into the e. R. I dont know quite what to expect yet. Reporter dont know what to expect, in so many ways. The coronavirus has challenged e. R. Doctors like matt bai since it hit. Baffling doctors with its mysterious symptoms. Coronavirus is a respiratory virus. It can spread through droplets with each cough or each breath. You have a droplet that then goes into your nose, maybe down into your throat and eventually down into your lungs. Reporter but some people have critically low oxygen levels and still appear like you and me. Almost unimaginable how people could be awake and alert and have oxygen levels that are half normal. Reporter and it gets even more confusing. A respiratory virus doesnt typically cause isolated loss of smell or bumps and lesions on the feet. From nose to toes, and nearly every organ in between, how does a microscopic strand of rna wreak so much and such varied destruction . So when they come in, they can be to the extreme where they have no pulse already, or theyre coming in breathing really fast and hypoxic with very low oxygen level, cold and blue. Reporter it could have to do with the way the virus typically enters our cells in the first place. Youre looking at the ace 2 receptor. See how the spikes on the coronavirus bind to the surface of the cell. This particular receptor is known to be in lung tissue. But its also known to be in the heart and other parts of the body. It seems this ace 2 receptor is expressed more potentially with age. Reporter higher levels of ace 2 are often present in men, which could also explain why they are most likely to be affected more severely. Patients like 33yearold warren alvega, who had a lifethreatening blood clot in his lungs. Next thing i know i was on the floor. Reporter then theres the mystery of what its doing to some children. At least three dead now in new york from an illness with symptoms similar to kawasaki disease, a condition where the blood vessels become inflamed. We have about 100 cases of an inflammatory disease in Young Children that seems to be created by the covid virus. The children that are having these signs of inflammatory conditions, they already had the infection over two weeks ago. This is not like another virus that ive seen. This tiny little virus which cannot even be killed because, truth is, its not even alive. You remember, anderson, the viruses need a host in order to replicate and actually live inside the body. So a virus by itself is rather inert, which makes it even more difficult. Antibiotics target specific things with bacteria. Antivirals are harder to develop for that reason, part of the challenge were having now. Yeah. Sanjay, i want to bring in dr. Celine gal inder whos an Infectious Disease specialist, also a cnn contributor. Can you speak to what some of your patients have been experiencing . I think wait sanjay broke this dierngs key part of this is the inflammation of the blood vessels. The other key part sufficient an immune system out of control. And if you think about your immune system is in every part of your body, your blood vessels go to every part of your body, so as a result were seeing complications really in every single organ system. So whether its the lungs becoming really scarred and fibrotic, in other words, theyre not elastic like a balloon, theyre really tough so, its difficult into nate your lungs, youre seeing blood clots anywhere from in the heart to the lungs to the kidneys. And its also why youre seeing people with these cold white toes and fingers. Were also seeing patients who lose their sense of taste and smell really for weeks at a time after having had this infection. And then you see patients with a spectrum of illnesses like the kawasakis in children and similar diseases in adults. So sanjay, explain there are many symptoms also persist even after a patient recovers from the virus. What are some of those . What does that mean . Yeah, its interesting. As weve been doing some reporting on this, first of all, the idea of looking into recovery wasnt the top priority for the first few months. People are just trying to figure out what was going on with this disease. Now we are starting to see some studies that look at recovery. The World Health Organization recently said recovery can be six weeks, can even be longer in these patients. And it can be far more significant than people realize. Oftentimes patients are sort of thought of as either you have the disease or youre recovered. But even during recovery and celine i think has talked about this before. 20 to 40 decreased lung function. We talked to a patient who was a pretty fit person who now became breathless just walking one city block or walking up a flight of stairs. So we dont know still. Obviously this is new for everybody. But whether its a postinflammatory state or just true recovery still, it does seem to last longer than people first realized. And dr. Gounderv there been issues with respiratory symptoms after patients, quote unquote, recover . It can take weeks for people to get better. Some of our patients, especially some of our elderly patients where we dont have a safe way to get them home maybe with oxygen at home because theres just not the support they need to monitor them, weve had to keep them in the hospital for weeks, for well over a month to make sure theyre on the mend. And even then, they can still have some of these complications with, as i said, scarred lung tissue. Their lungs just dont open up the way theyre supposed to anymore. Dr. Gounder, thank you so much. Sanjay as well, thank you. Appreciate. Really great story to show, sanjay, in detail how that works. New york of course has been hit hardest by the pandemic. Up next, what it may look like when it begins to reopen. Well talk to Council Speaker corey johnson. Well be right back. Every Financial Plan needs a cfp® professional confident Financial Plans, calming Financial Plans, complete Financial Plans. Theyre all possible with a cfp® professional. Find yours at letsmakeaplan. Org. Theyre all possible with a cfp® professional. Ior anything i want to buy isk going to be on rakuten. Rakuten is easy to use, free to sign up and its in over 3,000 stores. I buy a lot of makeup. Shampoo, conditioner. Books, food. Travel. Shoes. Stuff for my backyard. Anything from clothes to electronics. Workout gear. I even recently got cash back on domain hosting. You can buy tires. To me, rakuten is a great way to get cash back on anything you buy. Rack it up with rakuten, sign up today to get cash back on everything you buy. Show me what youre made of. So we showed it our people, sourcing and distributing more fresh food than anyone. We showed it our drivers helping grocers restock their shelves. We showed it how were donating millions of meals to those in need. We showed it how we helped thousands of restaurants convert to takeout and pop up markets. And how were encouraging all americans to take out to give back. Adversity came to town. So we looked it right in the eye. And it wont be us. That blinks first. As you may have heard earlier in the program, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says his city is slowly beginning to reopen despite a public Health Official saying a stayathome order for Los Angeles County could be extended through july. The mayor says there will be some sort of stay at home but the exact permutation of it may change. If thats the case, for the nations second largest city, we wanted to look at new york city, the biggest city in america where thousands have died and where reopening is still some distance away. Joining us now is speaker of the new york city council, cory johnson. Thanks for being with us. Governor cuomo announced certain parts of new york stay ready to reopen. Obviously not the case for new york city. When you look at new york city, what does reopening look like to you . Well, we have to make sure we do it in a safe way. And the governor has laid out seven metrics that need to be met before we can open. New york city has met four of those metrics. There are still three metrics that we havent met. One of them has to do with the number of contact tracers that we have up and going. And i think so much of the conversation around reopening really hinges on making sure we have the infrastructure in place to do it safely, masks, testing, so that people can get tested, major Contact Tracing, hotels and dorm stories for people who need it, potentially surveillance that doesnt violate peoples Civil Liberties but that people could opt into, and the mandatory mask wearing, social distancing, plus the hospital capacity. Thats what it looks like. Anderson, youre a new yorker. The last eight weeks have been very hard. Its eerie in some ways to see an empty times square. And we want to make sure if we do it, we do it safely because it would be psychologically devastating to have a large secondary infection, a spike, which would then require us to start closing things again. Well, also, i mean, we know this pandemic has hit people of color, underserved communities, particularly hard. And a lot of people in communities of color or underserved communities have been continuing to work on the front lines because they are essential. And, you know, my concern a lot, and im sure youre thinking about this a lot, is for big companies, theyre going to have the resources to clean and, you know, maybe do temperature checks. But a lot of Smaller Companies where people are working for, you know, low wage jobs, they may not put the effort in to, you know, protecting their employees as much as they should. Yeah, i have that concern. And we have seen really laid bare, because of covid19 in new york city, are all of the inequalities that we had known existed before. The Structural Racism we know exists in america and even new york city. These essential workers, these health care workers, but especially the Grocery Store workers, the postal workers, the cops and firefighters. All of these folks continue to put their lives on the line every day. And part of the fear that you just said, anderson, which i share is when we start to reopen, how do you make sure were doing it safely . We have over 100 mta workers in the last eighth weeks, the subway conductors and bus drivers. Weve had more than 50 department of education personnel who have passed away in the last eight weeks. We need to make sure that the way we do this, that we dont do it in a way that the communities that have already beared the biggest brunt of this wont suffer even more as we reopen. I also hope as we do reopen and whenever this ends and whatever that looks like that we dont forget the people who kept new york going at this time which are the delivery workers and the Grocery Store clerks. I mean, they are the essential work force, and they kept everybody else safe and alive. They kept everyone else safe, and i think its really a moment for us to recognize that these workers are always essential. Theyre essential outside of a pandemic. Theyve always been that. And we need to make sure that they are being protected effectively. But also, anderson, im sure you covered it and cnns been covering it, the bill that has been unveiled today in congress, in the house, would put hundreds of billions of dollars in hazard pay for these workers. We want that hazard pay for the workers in new york city, our health care workers, our grocery workers, our delivery workers. We really need that on top of the state and local aid that new york city needs. The city is looking at an 8 billion deficit in the short term. And it is offensive and indefensible that Mitch Mcconnell is calling state and local aid a blue state bailout. We need the support for new york city to get back on its feet. Corey johnson, i appreciate your efforts, thanks very much, i appreciate it. Next, we continue to remember those who lost their lives during this pandemic. A member of the Navajo Nation left her mark, when we continue. But what we can do it be a partner that never quits. Verizon is the most Reliable Network in america. Built for interoperability and puts First Responders first, giving their calls priority, 24 7. We do what we do best so they can too. Hey. [ snoring, indistinct talking on tv ] you fell asleep with your sign again. You fell asleep with your sign again. No, i didnt. Okay. Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign says. You know when your dog is itching for an outing. Or itching for some cuddle time. But you may not know when hes itching for help. Licking for help. Or rubbing for help. If your dog does these frequently. They may be signs of an allergic skin condition that needs treatment. Dont wait. Talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp. Com. Tonight we remember more of of the lives that have been lost to this virus. Valentina blackhorse was a member of the Navajo Nation she aspired to one day become president of the Navajo Nation. She was close with her family, her sister says her last words to her were i love you. She leaves behind a 1yearold daughter. Valentina blackhorse was just 29 years old. Celia yap banago was a nurse who became infected. After one of her symptoms became sick she became infected. She was a devoted mom who never missed her sons baseball and she was 69 years old. Our thoughts go out to their families and all the families of those who have lost loved ones in this pandemic and whose lives have been changed by this pandemic. The news continues. I want to hand it over to chris for cuomo prime time