Transcripts For CNNW Coronavirus Facts And Fears A CNN Global Town Hall 20200424

Different stages of the outbreak and points on the road back to normal. Were going to talk about what that all means tonight in real world terms for you. With one of his colleagues on the Coronavirus Task force, commissioner steven hawn, well be taking your questions. Well talk about what the president said at the briefing about using ultraviolet light inside the body or injecting a disinfectant to kill the virus. Also joining us Governor Andrew Cuomo. Nearly 14 of new yorkers have antibodies to the coronavirus. For new york City Residents, the figure was even higher, 21 . Also joining us tonight Chef Jose Andres whose world central kitchen is doing everything they can to help feed the hungry in america. Also tonight, Alicia Keys Joins us with her new song just released today dedicated to the front line workers keeping us all safe. Healing the sick, keeping the country running. Its a beautiful song, inspiring. Youre going to hear it in full and alicia will be with us well. As always a reminder you can tweet us your questions with the cnn town hall or leave a comment on the cnn facebook page. Well get to as many of your video questions we can. You can see there are plenty of them. We thank everybody for sending them in. Knicks we have reporters across the country and around the world tonight including wuhan, china where people are cautiously emerging from months of lockdown. We begin, though, with this critical moment as dr. Fauci put it here at home as the viruss grip eases in some places, as the death toll nationwide approaches 50,000. There are now more than 860,000 positive cases of coronavirus in the u. S. More than 49,000 people have died. And though the number of cases across the country is currently declining, there are fears a second wave could be even worse than what weve seen so far. We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that. What happens with that will depend on how were able to contain it when it occurs. Weve also learned the virus has been in the United States earlier than previously reported. Autopsies in Santa Clara County in california showed two people died of the virus there in february. The first on february 6, more than three weeks before the first recorded victim in washington state. That means there was Community Spread happening in california as early as midjanuary, if not earlier than that. Its been almost six weeks since the president declared a state of emergency in the u. S. Scenes like these are no longer surprising in most parts of the country, but some states are taking the first steps on reopening. Georgia is one of them. Governor brian kemp is allowing some nonessential businesses to reopen beginning tomorrow. Even though Public Health officials warn it may be too soon. I would tell him that he should be careful. And i would advise him not to just turn the switch on and go because there is a danger of a rebound. So having set the stage, i want to quickly, sanjay, get your take on where you stand in your perspective as a doctor where life is going to change significantly tomorrow. Well see what people do. This is hard to believe, anderson. We know here in georgia, like every other place, that there is this desire to get things back to some sense of normalcy. But we also know the governor has been told the state doesnt meet the criteria for reopening. Dr. Fauci has openly advised against reopening. We know even the president said he strongly disagreed with the decision. Here we are, and we dont know why. We do know its likely to lead to new infections, possibly new hospitalizations and sadly possibly new deaths. We dont know why, of all things as you mention, why hair salons and massage and tattoo parlors are on the places to open first. You cant social distance in places like that. We also know, anderson, as you mention, there are more and more studies suggesting not only is the virus more widespread than we previously confirmed, but it arrived much earlier as well. We know in that knowledge is some good news and bad news. More people have been infected. The good news they didnt have that much in the way of symptoms. It may not be as lethal as previously thought. Now we have to figure out what this all means, anderson, as we chart our path forward. Lets get the latest on states including georgia where sanjay is that decided to reopen as we have been discussing against medical advice. Martin savage is in atlanta for us. Barber shops, gyms are they going to open in atlanta tomorrow . Reporter thats the key question, isnt it, anderson . At this point there is no official head count thats been done. There is no real tally that the state has as far as what businesses are going to reopen. Weve contacted many of the businesses that have fallen the governor has given the executive okay to. Its a mixed bag of answers you get. Many of these hair salons say that they will open. Nail salons, too, have said they are going to open, but then there are just as many we have contacted that have said, no, they rrnt going to open. Theyre worried for their customers. Theyre worried for their employees. And then there is the issue of just the requirements they have to meet as laid out by the governor. There are 20 of them. That includes everything from, of course, staff having to wear the proper prepared equipment, the ppe. Some businesses say they had a hard time getting that. Theng oth then other businesses will have to rearrange the sheer physics. Separate workstations. Gyms would have to separate how closely the running machines are, say. So all of these problems, theyre working through, and there is just as many that say yeah, theyll open. Many are driven because of desperation for money. They have to pay the rent or theyve got to pay their own mortgage. Others are driven more by fear. They say they just dont know if the customer is going to come. They dont know if they can protect their employees. They dont know if they can even protect themselves. So right now theyre going to stay closed. We simply will have to wait to see what tomorrow brings, anderson. You know, martin, its not just georgia as well. I mean, south carolina, texas, colorado, these are just a few of the other states that are looking to reopen. And i mean, the balance is more than 26 Million People have filed for unemployment. Its tough out there and there is no doubt the governors are under extreme pressure to reopen the economies. But in your reporting, how are these places reconciling that with the Public Health issues . Reporter its difficult. You know, for instance, in the state of georgia here, there are huge economic pressures that are weighing, and those cant be denied. They cant be ignored. Those impact people in a wide, wide range. But the truth is when you ask the governor, when he is pressed upon, what is it that says this is the right time . Hell say, well, the data is moving in the right direction and the medical experts that hes relied upon have told him it is okay. This is a good time. Others listen to that and say, what data, what medical personnel are you speaking to . Because when you look at the hospitalizations of the coronavirus in the state of georgia, those numbers have been going up. We know the death toll is going up. Were closing in on close to 900. The governor supposedly has been talking to hospital officials. Hes been asking them how many people have been coming through the e. R. . How many beds do you have available in the icu . The problem here is the lack of testing. Georgia has lagged behind many of the other states. And the governor himself has admitted this and said, look, we will test more as we open. But the experts are saying, no, you need to test first to figure out if you can open. And testing is the only thing that will really allay the public fears. So the governor can open the doors. No one knows if anybody is going to walk through them. Martin savage, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Coming up is cnns david culver where this all gbegan in wuhan, china. David, some states are opening. If china is ahead of us and wuhan is reopened, with whats it like there . Reporter anderson, thats why we made the trip to wuhan. We wanted to get a feel for how businesses and life were starting to come back online, or if they were. And i want to show you some video we captured as we were driving through one of the commercial streets in particular. What youll notice looking out the windows here is many of the stores are still closed. They have the steel garage doorlike gates down. A few are open. I would say probably less than half by our observations. Part of the reason for that is because there is concern by the shop owners that theyll be able to actually reopen successfully and find a customer base. And there is concern from the customer side of things that they can walk into a store without facing any potential exposure. Now, what we have seen are the stores that have reopened, some of the major brands have done so with some modifications. They retrofitted their procedures and theyve done so by moving a lot of their products to the front. They keep people out of the stores or out of the physical space. And they come to you as you walk up to the store front. Theres no real cash or credit card exchanges here. Its all done by mobile phone and they can scan it. So theres very few interactions that involve human touch. Thats intentional. Obviously it reassures a lot of the folks here. Thats how theyre doing it for the most part. There are still places like gyms, i would say movie theaters, not opening at all. And no indication that theyll open in the near future. I mean, thats just a reality of trying to continue to limit the exposure here. David, i know youve been following some of the news back here in the states as well. The former director of the u. S. Office involved in developing a Coronavirus Vaccine says he was sidelined in part because of his resistance to touting these medications potentially dangerous ones President Trump was talking about. I remember talking to you early on there was a similar situation with the whistleblower in wuhan, is that right . Reporter and there were several whistleblowers here originally, sanjay. Youre right. Will lee win yong is the one youre referring to. Its heart breaking. Somebody opened up to cnn. We were the only foreign tv network he spoke with prior to his passing away. His story started in december and this was an ophthalmologist working at the hospital, he wanted to tell his friends about the sars virus going around. He wanted to let friends and family know this could be dangerous. That message was shared. Local police got hold of t. They reprimanded him. They told him you are not to be spreading rumors. And after that they sent him back to the hospital. One of the things we wanted to do as we followed up with that story and after his passing in particular, because its become incredibly politicized on both sides, Chinese Government trying to shift it so that the narrative reflegcts him as a national hero, where as folks on Chinese National media said this is somebody who could have changed the course of the pandemic early on and instead was suppressed. On the western side of things as the chinese reflect it, they believe he is being used for an agenda that portrays china as having covered up and mishandled this from the beginning and which there are several indications that did happen essenti certainly at the local level. I wanted to hear from dr. Lis family in particular, his wife. His widow still lives here in wuhan. Im going to give you a glimpse much our attempt to reach out to her respectfully. We didnt want to air her voice in the short film we had of her. We changed the voice of our translator to protect those involved. This was our initiation to try to hear from her. We pulled up now to the Apartment Building of dr. Li wen yong. He is considered a hero. His widow lives down the street here. Well give her a call to see if shell be willing to share a little with us about the whole experience and how shes been able to process it. That was dr. Lis widow who acknowledged her identity on the phone. Just confirmed where she lives. Part of the problem has been since this has been politicized here and outside of china, the concern is now that theres more pressure on his family to keep quiet. To simply not share beyond what dr. Li himself already shared. At least we tried. Her words were rather straightforward saying i cant really say much. Ive got too many things going on. Im too busy right now. Anderson, sanjay . Ian culver. Thank you very much. We want to move on to your questions. You can see them on our social media scroll. Help with some answers, Coronavirus Task force member dr. Steven hawn. Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it. Thank you, anderson. And thank you, sanjay. Its an honor to be here. I want to get to viewer questions in a moment. I want to play something the president said today in the briefing about possibly dealing with the coronavirus as weve been getting a lot of questions about it. I want to play it and ask you about it. Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous whether its ultraviolet or just very powerful light. And i think you said that hasnt been checked. Youre going to test it. Then i said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And i think you said youre going to test that, too. Sounds interesting. And i see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do Something Like that . By injection inside or almost a cleaning because you say it gets in the lungs and does a tremendous number on the lungs. It will be interesting to check that. Youre going to have to use medical doctors. But it sounds interesting to me. Just from a medical standpoint, when the president said, first of all, about treating the body with light and somehow bringing the light inside the body, where do you fall on that . So, i think the data that were presented at the press Conference Today were really important in terms of what kills the virus. And i believe the president was asking a question that Many Americans are asking, which is, okay, this is what kills the virus. Its a physical agent. In this case uv light. How could that be applied to kill the virus in, for example, a human being . We have plenty of examples in medicine where light therapy has been used for treatment of certain diseases. So its a natural question that i as a doctor would have expected to hear from someone as a natural extension of the data that were presented. But just from a medical standpoint, i mean, you wouldnt would you i mean, there are people listening obviously to the president of the United States and take what he says very seriously. Are you concerned at all from a medical standpoint of somebody, you know, injecting themselves with a disinfectant or hearing what the president said and trying to experiment on themselves, thinking that might be something worth looking at . Is there any evidence about taking a disinfectant thats used, you know, on the table where im sitting and using it internally . That doesnt seem like a good idea from my i mean, am i wrong . Its an excellent point youre making. We certainly wouldnt want, as a physician, someone to take matters in their own hands. I think this is something that a patient would want to talk to their physician about. And, no, i certainly wouldnt recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant. Again, this is a conversation that occurs every day in america between a patient and a doctor. Ive been in that position. Im sure dr. Gupta has as well. Its really important we address them because people will ask those questions of us. Doctor, i think we should be clear, though, that the idea of doing some kind of uv light therapy, which is sometimes used for local issues in the body, but not for a widespread viral infection, and the idea of injecting disinfectant, those questions may be getting asked but there is absolutely no merit to it. Theres no need study it. You can say that doesnt work, right . And i think, sanjay, that is exactly what a patient would say to a doctor and that would be the answer of the medical experts to anybody who answered that question. It does not work. Okay. Let me move on to all the various tests out there because this is obviously something weve talked a lot about, the need for tests and there is a diagnostic test for the virus. There is an Antibody Test. And, you know, theres been various statistics given, for example, the abbott rapid test may have had a 15 false negative rate. I wonder how do you balance because there is obviously a need to get the test out there. How do you balance the validation and make sure they have confidence versus putting them out too quickly . This is a really important point because youre exactly right in terms of the balance between speed and validity and accuracy. So, we apply a criteria when we look at tests from the fda for validation. And i think whats really important to remember is that these tests, which normally take years, when we talk to the commercial manufacturers about these tests, they take years to develop. These tests are being developed in weeks. And so we have the validation data and we know that those data, we approve them when the validation data suggests that theyre reliable, accurate and reproducible. We also know when they go out into the community and are being used, were going to get feedback about how they actually operate in the real world. They may be being used under conditions that werent originally tested, things like that. We are always incorporating data that we hear, and then adjusting our authorizations based upon that. So this is an ongoing effort. And youre absolutely right, its a balance that the fda and also test users must have and must use Going Forward. Does someone at home who is seeing ads for Antibody Tests online and stuff, how does somebody know what test has been approved by the fda, if any, or how many tests have the fda approved and how do you know whats an approved valid test and whats just some internet ad thats popped up . So, i would definitely encourage anyone who is a user of tests to go to the fda website where weve listed this. But weve approved 62 diagnostic tests. That includes both the Antibody Test as well as the diagnostic test. Of those 62, four are Antibody Tests. But we have 390 Laboratory Test developers, academic labs as well as commercial labs, in line working with us on their Laboratory Tests. So what i can provide assurance to the American People is that those tests that we have reviewed and that we have authorized have gone through the criteria established for validity, reliability and produceability by the fda. We also listed on the websites those laboratories and Laboratory Manufacturers who have put tests in the market place, but havent come through our process as allowed by our regulatory flexibility. Some of the things that weve done, just to provide additional assurance because those manufacturers are required to perform the validation, theyre required to he will us that they performed the validation. And they must appropriately label the test in the package insert to state that they have not received fda authorization. But weve taken additional steps. Weve asked those manufacturers for the tests and in cooperation with the cdc, the n. I. H. , as well as others, we are doing validation studies of those tests. We will be very transparent on our website and in communications with the American People and users of these tests about those results so that we can have some assurance about the validity. So check the website. Only four have been approved thus far on the Antibody Test from the fda. Your colleague on the task force dr. Fauci said today hes, quote, not overly confident right now, unquote, about u. S. Testing capacity. The president said in todays briefing he disagreed with fauci on that. We also learned Public Health labs still cant meet demand for testing due to supply chain shortages, swabs, reagents, things like that. Are you confident in the current status of testing right now . So, dr. Fauci, dr. Birx and others have made this assessment. Its been stated from the pressers at the house press conferences, that we are confident that we have enough tests for phase one of the reopening america plan. But we do acknowledge the fact that we need to keep the pressure on developing more tests and getting more tests out there. And secondly, as we go to phase two and phase three and as the states develop their plans, we know that were going to hear from them about the testing needs that they have. Right. And to your point about the testing supplies, weve heard that. Ive talked to colleagues on the front lines and totally acknowledge that there are pressures in the supply chain. We had a call with the governors this week. Yesterday fda had a call with our technical experts and the Laboratory Test chiefs of the states. And we are moving supplies, we are working with fema on this so that we can get those right reagents, liquids, supplies to the states to get as many tests as possible up and running. You said you were confident in the number of tests available, but its the reagents, all the supportive things, the swabs. So even if the tests are available, it doesnt mean anything if they cant actually be used. Are you confident right now in the number of tests that are able to actually be utilized and get results on . Is that enough . So, the Task Force Assessment was based upon the 1. 1 million tests per week that are being performed now. Actually having the supplies to do those. What im speaking to and your point i think as well as we really ramp this up, as we get the unused capacity back online which we absolutely must do, thats where were seeing these pressures on the supply chain. I was on the phone with members of congress today, with representatives of governors about this, and we are really working hard to identify where those gaps are and fill those gaps with things like reagents and swabs, et cetera. And let me, anderson, if you dont mind, give you one ex example. We recently authorized the use of synthetic swab very similar to a qtip to be used for tests, diagnostic tests. Thats a pretty significant advance because the manufacturers are able to make tens of millions of these. So as we move into the next couple of months and want to scale up testing even more, these are really important authorizations to get more supplies into the system. And i should point out those swabs are a lot less invasive as well, having gone through the other test. So i appreciate you getting that out there. Let me ask about treatment. Everyone wants to know, you know, this is the food and drug administration. Where are we with treatment . Some of these trials started in december, many of them are followed for a few weeks. Were four months into this. It seems like we should have been making some gains on treatment trials. Specifically what do we know about hydroxychloroquine . We have authorized 62 Clinical Trials in the United States, and there are 211 additional trials that are in the planning process and that were looking at with the great innovators and researchers around the country. We expect to read out from some of these antiviral trials as soon as a month from now. You probably know that the National Institutes of allergies and infectious disease, dr. Faucis institute, sponsored a number of these trials. But we all know that this takes time because these studies, although very rapidly brought on, have a certain cadence that we have to go through to get the information and collect it in the most rigorous way possible. And one of the things that ive said repeatedly and the fda stands behind is that we will use the appropriate science and data to make the decisions about safety and effectiveness on behalf of the American People. With respect to hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, there are anecdotal reports and weve seen one this week that suggests that there is benefit, but also suggests there might not be benefit. These are observational studies. Theyre not actually Clinical Trials. And what were going to use at the fda are actually the results of randomized Clinical Trials to help us make the best decision. Of course, we want to include all the data that comes forward to us, including this realworld evidence from observational studies and thats really important for individual physicians to take into account as they make decisions for their patients. Yeah, the governor of new york said he sent the information from the testing in new york that was done to the fda as required. Do you know when that information from that test is going to be released . Because that seems to be like a significant test. Its a significant observational study, youre right. We are working very closely with the state of new york, dr. Zuckerberger, Governor Cuomo. Its been a terrific partnership. Were on the phone with them regularly, and so we will be looking at that data. Obviously you need to wait for the entire cohort of individuals to have been treated with the complete course of treatment to get a full read on that. And heres a question from a viewer. It reads, how will the coronavirus affect the Food Supply Chain specifically . Is there a risk of infected human food handlers infecting food from supply chain to production to transport to customers homes . So, i can give great assurance that the American Food supply is safe. We also very much care about our food workers, both in the retail and in the manufacturing set being. So its really important for folks to follow the cdc guidance in terms of protection. And to the question about getting infection, we have no evidence that the virus, the covid19 virus is transmitted by food or by food packaging. Doctor, we appreciate all your efforts and appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Thank you both very much. Everyone have a good night and stay safe. Thanks, doctor. Coming up next well talk to the Public Health official of the california county where we know the first virus case happened weeks before what authorities thought had been the first fatality. Stunning news not to mention a sign that coronavirus has been with us longer than first imagined when our cnn global town hall continues. laughter baby coos laughter man on video chat hey man chasing dog oh no no no no baby crying us lives here. Where we can be surprised by others. And ourselves. For a better us, donate to your local y today. I have always wanted to be a teacher. Ive been teaching for over 20 years. With everything going on, weve had to alter our classroom settings. We have to transition into virtual learning. On the network, we can have teachers facetoface with a student in livetime. 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Until this week we thought that the first death from the virus was at the very end of february in washington state. But now Tissue Testing of a 67yearold man who died on the 17th of the month and 57yearold woman who died on the 6th showed they both had coronavirus. Whats more, neither patient had a recent history of travel. Meaning presumably they were infected in the community. Meaning coronavirus may have been circulating far earlier than first understood. Both cases were in Santa Clara County, california, in the San Francisco bay area. Joining us right now is county Health Officer and Public Health director dr. Sarah cody. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us. So the announcement that two people sadly died much earlier than the original time line, obviously you can only say so much as the case is still open and under investigation. What do you believe this possibly signals about local transmission and how the virus spreads . Well, i remember in february, so early february we had just two cases confirmed in Santa Clara County, and they were both among travelers. But we were, we were hearing from a number of physicians about patients presenting with flulike symptoms without travel history. We were asking ourselves early on what the extent of the virus might be in the community, but all of the indicators we had suggested that it was, you know, very low risk and probably not much. But now what we understand in retrospect with now three deaths prior to our first confirmed death in the county is that obviously the virus was circulating and perhaps fairly widely in our county, which in some ways is not that surprising given that were a very large county, very demographically diverse, and theres a lot of travel to every corner of the world, including asia, for both Business Travel and travel for family and friends. And, doctor, neither one of these cases, as you mention, had travel history. We know thats right. Now in retrospect when these patients passed away. If you do the time line, when do you think they were actually exposed, then . At what point do you think the virus was actually present . Well, its difficult to say, but in general, you know, on average maybe there would be an exposure and then about another week someone with symptoms, and maybe two to three weeks later a death from severe illness. So if you back up from that, it was probably two to three weeks before that they would have been exposed. And as you mentioned at the beginning, we dont know of any travel, so we do believe that exposure was here in our community. Just moving forward, when youre thinking about in your area doing Contact Tracing, ive talked to a lot of people about how many people one needs for Contact Tracing. Were going to talk to the governor of new york later tonight about this. What do you think for your area, do you have enough people doing Contact Tracing . In an ideal world, what kind of ramping up would you be able do . Right. So, our goal so, we have weve had our shelterinplace since march 17th. We know that were making a difference. Were seeing fewer infections reported, fewer hospitalizations. So the idea is that we dial it down enough such that we can investigate every case thats reported to us and every contact, and that we can ensure that every case can isolate safely away from family members, and that every contact can quarantine safely. Thats our big goal. We are rapidly trying to work up numbers to understand what that work force looks like. Of course, we already do have a work force that does case investigation, but it needs to be much larger. So were sort of looking at everyone elses estimates as well as our own case counts and trying to get that number because its critical that we wrap that up as soon as possible. Yeah. Dr. Cody, appreciate all your efforts. Thank you very much. I want to remind you at the bottom of the screen you can see the scroll, send questions with the Hurricane Katrina cnn town hall. Former Health Commissioner dr. Lena wen. The virus has been around longer than we initially thought. To a layman like me, it underscores why testing and widespread testing and not just people with symptoms is so important. Back then, now and moving forward. Absolutely, anderson. I mean, i was listening to dr. Cody and thinking that its not only Santa Clara County that probably has this severe under count, and cases much earlier than we previously thought. There are probably up centeepic all around the country that dont recognize they have an outbreak on their hands or they could have an outbreak on their hands and Community Spread was happening much longer than they realize. This is why we need testing because otherwise we dont have the data to make decisions. And if were talking about reopening, we would also be making decisions just blindly without being led by science and evidence. Sanjay, this question from a viewer was sent to us, punkaj in california. Lets take a look. Thank you for taking my question. I thought i was reading on your website for example, if i touch an infected surface and i touch my mouth i could get coronavirus. At the same time you say if i eat contaminated food, i will still be fine because the food goes inside the stomach. How do you explain this . Thank you. Its a good question, thank you. Pankaj, thank you. Its very interesting. Its funny, you hear these questions and you forget people may not always understand when youre touching your eyes or your nose or your mouth, its really the mucous membranes in your eyes, nose or mouth or your eyes where you may be spreading the virus. Hes right, we talk about touching your mouth. Its not that people might eat the virus. This is not a food borne illness. Its a respiratory illness, but it can be spread by inhaling it and touching your mucous membranes. So hopefully that explains it. I did not know that. Dr. Wen, this is a question kathy sent in, it reads, it seems like such a waste for mask to be throne away. Is there a way we can disinfect so medical can reuse these . Ive seen something online about people trying to figure out how to disinfect an n95 mask. Thats right. So, in my medical training and in my clinical practice in the e. R. , i was always taught that these masks, these n95 masks were singleuse masks. Thats the gold standard. Thats what the cdc said at the beginning of the pandemic. The problem is we ran out of n95 masks. There are some studies that are promising. For example, studies showing vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide and uv light can be safely used to decontaminate the masks so they can be used up to three times. I would say this is still not optimal and it does break my heart our front line providers are having to do something that is not the gold standard, and also that were not adequately protecting our health care workers. Sanjay, the next question is from jessica in chicago. It reads, after testing positive three times, my doctors allowed me to go back to work because according to cdc guidelines i have felt fine and its 72 hours. Is there a chance i could still be contagious . This situation can come up. We dont know if these are accurate tests or not. She feels fine. What is on the cdc website will basically say you go three days without taking any medications that lower your fever and you dont have a fever, its been at least seven days since youve had symptoms, so it sounds like in her case thats the case. Shes resolved her symptoms for three weeks. And your respiratory symptoms have essentially gone away. Those three things. Shes tested positive so the question is is everyone who tests positive, are they automatically infectious. Interestingly on the cdc website, they say not necessarily. Its a tough one with her. Im sure her doctor is saying should tell her not yet. Wait till she tests negative. I think were going to have more clarity on this thing and allow people to get back to work sooner. Dr. Wen, stay with us. Well have more answers coming up. And new yorks Governor Andrew Cuomo will join us and alicia keys and her song good job dedicated to the front line workers in the pandemic. I use rakuten to get cash back instore and online. Or anything i want to buy is 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. Heyim confused. Up . Confused about what, everything ok . Yeah, i only see one price on my phone bill. That doesnt sound confusing mama. Youre on tmobile, taxes and fees are included. Oh come on, theres always extra fees not on tmobile mama. Why cant all my bills be like this . I dont know mama. Bye mama, love you. Anthony . Umph with tmobile, taxes and fees are included. Thats right. No extra taxes fees, so what you see is what you pay. [ siren ] doug 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. Its hard to believe at this hour, our 8th cnn coronavirus global town hall. At the bottom of our screen, the social media scroll shows the questions people are asking. Tweet us the questions cnn down hall. Leave a comment on our facebook page. Before we return to questions, i want to play those remarks by President Trump this evening where he talked about uv light and disinfectant which is used for disinfecting, you know, tables and killing the virus on surfaces. He was talking about somehow using it inside your body which is not medically at all a good idea. This is what the president said. Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet or just very powerful light. And i think you said that hasnt been checked, but were going to test it. And you said hit the light through the skin or some other way. I think you said youre going to test that too. Right, and i see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do Something Like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number. It will be interesting to check that so youre going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds, it sounds interesting to me. I mean, again, im going to leave it up to you two. It seems wildly for the president of the United States to be musing out loud about people injecting disinfectant, you know, use bleach and other disinfectants used to kill viruses on surfaces and in your kitchen, doing anything with that internally. It just doctors, what do you make of it . And he also said it needs to be studied. Actually it doesnt. I mean, we know the answer to this one. Theres a lot of things out there we dont know the answers to and we need to investigate. But the idea we would do a trial of some sort, inject some people with disinfect arndt and some people not, that would be dangerous and counterproductive and not at all moving us in the right direction. I dont know. Leana, what do you think . I completely agree. I also worry there are a lot of people for whom President Trump is the most trusted messenger. And i really hope that people are not listening to what he said tonight and thinking, i should try this myself at home. I just feel like were all sitting around talking about it as if its even something thats sort of vaguely acceptable and normal for the president of the United States, whose words are supposed to matter, to be saying this out in public. As a citizen, this is just a terrible, terrible idea. Nobody anywhere should be ingesting any of this stuff, correct . Correct. Unequivocal. I mean, i dont think theres any need to hedge on that. It was interesting when we talked to dr. Hahn about it, what he said. He was very careful as he needs to be. He said knethese are conversati happening between patients and doctors and we shouldnt address them. Dont do it. What terrified me about that conversation is that it seems like at times the medical professionals who are and scientific professionals who are, you know, allowed to speak at the white house by the president and the Vice President and their ability to speak is dependent on the Vice President and the president allowing them to speak. I mean, his answer was, well, yes, thats kind of like the questions anybody would ask their doctor. And, yeah, thats probably true. But the president is not just anybody and the Briefing Room of the white house is not a doctors office. And millions of people are listening. And out of those millions of people some people may try that. Yeah, i wouldnt normalize this at all. I have a lot of respect for dr. Hahn obviously. I dont think this is a common conversation happening in doctors offices. Im a doctor. Leana, youre a doctor. Have patients been asking you if they should inject themselves with bleach . I dont think we should be normalizing that in any way, shape or form. Leana, do you agree . I completely agree. I dont even think as you said, we should not be hedging here. Look, i understand the difficult position dr. Hahn and other doctors and scientists are in because they need to tell the truth while at the same time not upsetting the president so much that they cant be credible in his eyes and be able to still continue to do important work. But we who are doctors who are not beholden to the president , we need to be telling the unequivocal truth and the unequivocal truth in this case is do not try these things at home and follow your doctors advice and follow good Public Health guidance as what would come from the cdc. It it terrifies me people who run the cdc and fda are worried about upsetting the president and watch what they say based on that, as a citizen that worries me. I want to get more viewer questions. A vuiewer in australia sent in this. Take a look. Should i keep it outside for a few hours and also wash with soap and water, thank you . So i do get a lot of questions about groceries im sure sanjay does to. Three tips for having a safe Grocery Shopping experience is one is reduce the number of times you go to the Grocery Store. Youre much more likely to get coronavirus from someone coughing or being near you in the Grocery Store than you are from groceries. Second is wipe down the shopping cart, the handle of the basket, things you touch a lot while youre there. And third is when you come back you cant leave your groceries for 24 hours and unpack thereafter 24 hours or all things perishable you can put the bags on the ground and wipe down the containers with soap and water and wipe down the groceries on the floor with soap and water as well. Sanjay did a nice tutorulohow to wipe down your groceries and things. Lets take a look at this video. Dr. Sanjay gupta mentioned previously containment efforts are most effective early on in an outbreak. With the number of confirmed u. S. Cases quickly approaching 1 million will be able to abate the spread of the virus as states begin to reopen, or is the horse out of the barn . Sanjay . Well, both things can be true. You know, earlier efforts towards slowing down the spread have greater impact. You know, thats just true, thats sort of more the containing of the virus as opposed to mitigating it. But i dont think that horse is out of the barn right now. Weve actually made some great progress by these physical distancing say at home measures. Sometimes its hard to notice the progress because were all in the middle of it right now, but it does make a difference. I think the key is maybe this is what youre driving at is we have to stay the course right now. If you look at some of the models, youve talked to chris murray quite a bit, and theyre saying the date for reopening is closer for most states to the middle of june now. And thats based on what they see in all these various places. This next question came in via twitter with our cnn town hall. It reads what should we do now to prepare for a possible second wave in the fall . Sanjay, theres both what should people at home do but also medical establishments, scientific establishments, government . Yeah, no question. The same things weve been talking about for several months now still apply here. We need to make sure we have adequate testing. We need to make sure we have adequate hospital beds and icu beds, staff, all those things weve been talking about. But one of the things that i think gets misinterpreted a little bit is a second wave that dr. Redfield, head of the cdc was talking about. I think he was really referring to this idea that coronavirus and the flu could sort of happen at the same time. And both of these do require significant hospital resources. So one thing i would say, and this you know, we talk about this all the time, anderson, but fewer than half of American Adults got the flu shot. Flu shot is important. Maybe more important than ever because you can know first of all its not the flu if you do get sick, and second of all you can really help decrease the significance and amplitude of that second wave. Dr. Wen, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Up next new york Governor Andrew Cuomo joins us to talk about the results of a much anticipated test in his state and also talk to chef about his efforts and alicia keys jones us for an interview as well as a special performance of a new song good job that elbrates the Unsung Heroes of the pandemic. You definitely want to hear this song. No payments for 90 days offer expires 5 31. Together we do more. Bshouldnt prevent you from pushing your limits. Because every baby deserves the very best start in life. Because a changing environment should mean caring for the land that takes care of us all. At bayer, everything we do, from advances in health to innovations in agriculture, is to help every life we touch. At bayer, this is why we science. Step by step. Focused and undaunted. They are compelled to step forward. To the front lines. And into the unknown. For all of us. For every step. But if you look to the land, its a whole different story. From farms to backyards, wheels are turning. Seeds are being planted. Animals are getting fed. And grass is growing. And families are giving their all to the soil because no matter how uncertain things get, the land never stops. So to all those linked to the land, we say thank you. Were here for you because we all run together. Just ahead the new song by alicia keys dedicated to all the Unsung Heroes of this outbreak. Sanjay and i have already heard it, and its great. Shes going to be joining us a bit later on. Plus one of the heroes in so many crises chef andres and his organization to keep america fed. Well talk to him. First the governor of the hardest hit state in the country. New york now has suffered more than 20,000 coronavirus deaths, but some signs grew this week tat the worst thank goodness may be over. Hospital cases are dropping along with the terrible burden on icus is finally easing somewhat. And as that hopeful trend continues new data on just how many new yorkers may have been exposed to the virus. Preliminary studies showing that 13. 9 statewide tested positive for antibodies to it. About 21 of new york City Residents in a random sampling study tested positive with antibodies. Weve been talking about it tonight, and were zwrojoined ny new yorks Governor Andrew Cuomo. Theres certainly a lot happening right now affecting you as a leader here in new york, which is still the epicenter of the outbreak. I want to start with the antibody Study Released today. If the numbers represent the true infection rate in new york this means the virus has been i guess widespread than previously known. Were you surprised at the number, and does it change in any way your approach Going Forward . Was i surprised, look ive been surprised by everything, right . The antidotally we were hearing it was roughly this high. But what it shows is it is more widespread, anderson. And it also i think reinforces the point that the virus got here a lot earlier than any of the experts told us it was here. Its about 14 statewide have antibodies, which means theyve been infected. About 20 of new york city, just think about that, 20 of new york city. So it is significantly more widespread than most people had imagined, and i think it confirms the point that it spread faster and it got here earlier than we originally believe. So is moving forward when you think about testing is aebd testing a priority in terms of the overall picture of testing . Or is it the other forms of testing that are out there . Well, you have Antibody Testing and you have diagnostic tessing, right, positive or negative. The Antibody Testing i think is important for a couple of reasons. Number one when a person tests positive for the antibody then you can have that person donate blood for the convalescent plasma which is probably one of the best therapeutics were looking at right now. But also that is an indicator of the infection spread, right . So as you are talking about reopening and the weather is getting warmer and more people are coming out just because of circumstance or they cant stay in anymore or you start to reopen businesses, the gauge to see whats happening is the gauge of the spread of the infection. Is the tinfection gaining groun . The Antibody Test is that answer. So we did a Baseline Survey now, do that every 3 or 4 days, watch that infection rate. Is it going up or is it going down . And thats the guidepost to calibrate the activity level. Governor cuomo, you know, its interesting, its one of those situations if you knew then what you know now if we knew this had been spreading more widely and earlier right now the first confirmed infection i think was march 1 irs in new york, but i think undoubtedly it was earlier than that now based on all the data were seeing. Should anything have been done differently then in terms of tackling this at that time . Well, look, you have a global pandemic. The words have been used for many years, doctor, but weve never actually lived through it. So i dont think that this country was ready for it. I dont even think our experts were ready for it. You know, in retrospect it seems so simple, right . China has a virus last november, last december. The virus can get on a plane, go to europe, come to new york or anywhere in 24 hours. What made anyone think it was going to stay in china last november or last december . And then were taking actions in march. What happened to january and february . You know, when you look back at it it seems to be so plain and so obvious. The president has talked spoke about the World Health Organization and what they should have done, but i think we have to take a hard look. Where were the experts, the organizations, the International Watchdogs who should be watching for Something Like this . Because obviously we missed it. March, were taking actions in march. I have the first case in march, but the data is now saying it may have been here in january, it may have been here in february. And if you look at the infection rate of 20 in new york, it makes it hard to believe that this has just been a few weeks. Right. I mean, part of the reason that i ask obviously is because there was a travel ban from china through the end of january, and as you know from europe in the middle of march. But it seems like the virus was already spreading here at that point. Do you think those travel bans in retrospect made a difference . Well, in retrospect, close the door on china, yeah that makes sense. But it had already left china. What made anyone think it was going to stay in china in november and december . It got on a plane, it went to europe, it went to italy, it went to the lombardy district where you have a lot of chinese workers, and then it was europe. The strain in new york came from europe. It didnt come from china. Close the door on china the virus is already out. You know, its closing the barn door when the horse is gone. And when you think back, i mean i dont do Public Health, but im not even a doctor. But november, december, what made anyone think the virus is still going to be isolated only in china after two months . It makes no sense. There have been concerns obviously about the reliability about Antibody Tests on the market. I know the new york state Health Commissioner said the test your state developed is reliable enough to determine immunity and can send someone back into the work force. Do you think hes right, and is that how one of the ways you plan to use this test moving forward . Yeah, well, anderson if i didnt think he was right he wouldnt be my Health Commissioner. Hes a great doctor. I understand the questions about the Antibody Tests. For our Baseline Survey what we used it for today for a snapshot, even if its plus or minus a couple of points its still a snapshot, and its still educational that was people you said it was people who had stayed home essentially. Yeah, this the random survey was just random people literally outside on the street, Grocery Stores, et cetera. Normally youd use the Antibody Test along with the diagnostic test so youd have a backup. Youd know if the person was positive or negative today and the Antibody Test would say whether or not they had it which would speak to immunity. Nobody would really say to you directly if you have the antibodies you are immune. Youd have a little caveat there that says we think. So all of this is relatively new. I think you sort of talked about this, governor, but i want to be clear on this, if someone has had the infection and theyve recovered such as your brother, such as our colleague, chris, what is your guidance for them and how they should behave Going Forward . Theres still much we dont know about immunity, how strong it is so what might you tell them with the information we have now . Well, we say we test them again to see if they test negative. Until they test negative, doctor, we dont say that they are quoteunquote over the coronavirus officially. Until they test negative, then what we just discussed theoretically they have the antibodies, and some will say theyre immune from the virus. But i cant get a straight answer or an answer i would rely onto say how long they are immune or if that immunity is 100 . But i think its fair to say they have some immunity towards the virus. But i would be cautious about saying it was absolute. You talked about testing, Contact Tracing being the bridge to eventually reopening or some sort of getting back to whatever its going to be, the new normal. You announced a partnership with former new york city mayor michael bloomberg, implement a program to test for the virus, do Contact Tracing. I know you said bloomberg is designing a program. Can you fill us in at all on what it would look like, what the time line may be to get it up and running and kind of numbers of people were talking about for Contact Tracing . Yeah, everyone says were in uncharted waters, right, and were now going on the next leg of the journey which is the reopening leg. And even if its not reopening in a state like new york which has significant numbers still, the weather is going to get warmer, people are going to come out of their homes, period. So youre in these uncharted waters. The one thing you can take is you can take soundings, you can measure the depth of the water as you go along, and to me thats what testing is. Test every three days, every four days and watch that infection rate. Is it going up or is it going down . If it starts to go up you have a problem, thats testing. Tracing is then every time you find a positive put on the detectives, the disease detectives and trace the contacts of that person, who did you go for a walk with, who did you have over the house, and just trace all those contacts, find the positives, isolate the positives so they cant spread the disease. Which is one of the ways you reduce the spread of the disease. A place like new york with so many, we have 250,000 people who tested positive. How do you begin to trace all those contacts where one person can immediately trace down to 10, 20 people . Youre going to need an army of tracers, literally thousands of people who do this. That has to be ramped up. Its never been done before. That has to be put in place. And thats what Mike Bloomberg has volunteered to help us do. Put it together, train them, and do it on a tristate basis. Because if youre in new york thats connecticut, thats new jersey, thats long island. And no one jurisdiction can do it. So its a very challenging task. I worked with mike when he was mayor, i was governor at that time, and hes a great public servant. Hes also gone through this in his own business with china closing and opening, and then in europe closing and opening. So hes had experience on all sorts of dimensions of this problem. And he offered to help, and hes a great talent, and we need help from great talents. So you dont know how big that army of tracers is going to be at this point . It will be in the thousands when all is said and done. Governor, ive got to ask about this medication, hydroxychloroquine, which i think Everybody Knows this name now because theres been a lot of news about it. Theres a Clinical Trial thats been ongoing in new york. We know some of that data has been presented to the fda. Is there anything you can tell us about, some of the data weve heard from other places including the va was it didnt look like it made a difference really. What can you tell us . Yeah, we had a number of hospitals in new york that had been testing hydroxychloroquine. They gave it to several hundred patients. They compiled preliminary data. They sent it through the state to the fda. The fda has the data. I think from the review that i heard basically it was not seen as a positive, not seen as a negative and didnt really have much of an effect on the recovery rate. But im not a doctor, so im really not qualified to review the data. Is that something the fda is going to release at some point . Thats up to the fda, anderson. I dont know how they work. All right. Governor cuomo, we appreciate your time and all your efforts. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for having us. Thank you, doctor. Good to be with you. In light of new studies and models including the one in new york i want to turn to one of the top researchers of the world heth organization. As you know the organization has come under political fire recently which is a conversation for another time. Joining us now the technical lead for the covid19 response. Thank you for being with us. We spoke to Governor Cuomo from new york state about what they found in the state when it comes to antibodies and the population. And i wonder what you make of that, how it tracks with other places youve seen. So thanks again for having me. Its a pleasure to be on the show. Yes, so we are tracking a number of studies right now that are looking at the extent of infection in people, and this is measured through these Antibody Tests. So essentially when a person gets infected with this virus it takes a week or two weeks to develop antibodies which means the body is reacting to it, and these Antibody Tests will be able to detect people that may have been missed through surveillance systems. What were seeing from a number of countries and i just saw an article from the New York Times on the one from new york, but i havent seen a study itself that found a proportion of the population, 1 in 5 i think it said of people in new york have antibodies to covid19. Right, it was just under it was just under 14 statewide. In new york city itself i think it was 20, 21 . Okay, so what were doing at w. H. O. Is were tracking these types of studies all over the world, and what were trying to understand is where the studies are being done, how theyre being done, what kind of population is it. Is it random sample in the general public, a certain type of population Like Health Care workers and what tests did they use because not all tests are the same and then what did they find . And in all the studies were aware of, so this is the proportion that has these antibodies ranges from 2 to 3 ive seen one in germany up to 14 . So that means in the population that proportion has antibodies. That means that proportion was infected. Whats interesting about this is that these numbers, the cero prevalence is a lot number, which may have suggested this virus was circulating a lot more and much more of the population was already infected. So these studies right now are not actually showing us that. And like you saw, i havent read the complete study yet but what ive been doing on the reporting of it the governor said this was not essential workers, this was people who were nonessential workers who were basically home, which i guess would make a difference, sanjay. Yeah, no question. I think youd want to get a pretty diverse sample to really get an idea of how much penetration this virus has had. If it was only front line workers i wouldnt be surprised by high numbers. But the fact it was mostly not from workers makes a difference. That suggests this was a higher number, this has more spread than we realize. I wonder, doctor, if i can ask a question about this report from staff today. Im sure you saw it basically was a study from gilliad, lots of interest in this. The World Health Organization put it up on their website for a bit and took it down. Theres a screenshot and what it found was 237 patients found it was not associated with a difference in clinical improvement and that the study was terminated prematurely. Gilliad for their part said the study was not significant because they didnt have enough enrollment. Everyone wants to know whats going on with these medications. What can you tell us . I think you just highlighted everyone in the world wants to know which drugs, which medications are going to work, which medications are going to save lives, which medications of people who have mild disease from developing severe disease and go onto die. I think what youre highlighting is this urgency we all have to know the results of these studies. Theres hundreds of Clinical Trials going on right now, and i know you highlighted this on your show, and were trying to track all the studies ongoing so we can have a better understanding of each of these medications being evaluated, how theyre being evaluated, understand their efficacy, their safety and understand collectively what this actually means. Unfortunately right now we dont have any evidence one works yet, and were working really hard and we have a solidarity trial we launched which is trying to evaluate this in a Clinical Trial format. So its critical these studies get done and theyre done well so we can get to this answer everybody needs. When are we going to get those results, do you think . They cant come soon enough. So theres hundreds of Clinical Trials as i just mentioned, but what we need is enough of a sample to be able to statistically eevaluate the efficacy and the safety. I think were i think it will happen soon. You know, as i said were tracking all of them, but i think we are, you know, weeks to months away from really knowing this. Weve got a lot of viewer questions cept in, and i want to get to some of those. Beverly in austin, texas, wants to know is it possible by the time the vaccine is found the virus will morph and the new vaccine will no longer work . I think what shes asking is if this virus will mutate and change meaning a vaccine is developed now based on the virus now will not be effective, so there are more than 10,000 full genome sequences available, and there are sciences looking at these all the time. What we know this virus is relatively stable. There are some changes in it, but these are normal changes you mind expect from a virus like this, but nothing that drastically changes to think that it behaves differently. So the vaccines that are being developed now and hopefully again this is another situation where we need these to be rapidly accelerated, so by the time a vaccine is available it will be effective against this virus. I think what is important from the first question you asked me about the serology, yes it indicates more people have been infected, but it still means a large portion of the population is susceptible, and this means the virus is going to be around for a long time, so we need this vaccine to help get us through this. From kansas, this is a good question says if people are the most contagious before symptoms appear why do people, businesses, et cetera use temperature as a measure to determine entrance into an office or inclosed space . Lets break it down into two parts. One is when people are most infectious. From the data weve seen looking at testing people before they develop symptoms and through symptom on set, it appears most people are the most infectious right about the time they develop symptoms, and this is even early, early on in symptoms. We know they can be infectious before they develop symptoms a day or two before, but its really when people are starting to feel unwell, but you have to transmit the virus through infected respiratory droplets. The other issue with that question around temperature is not everyone starts with a temperature. So the majority of people who do develop covid19 disease do have temperature, but it may not be enough for the first few days. So whats important for people to understand is that you could start out just feeling a little bit unwell, and then you may develop symptoms. The thermal scanners will pick up people who may have temperature. Some people use those thermal scanners and some dont, but a thermal scanner doesnt mean you will pick up everybody who has covid19. Doctor, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Coming up next Chef Jose Andres and what hes been doing and how his remarkable team at world central kitchen is making a difference. And feeding the spirit and soul, a new song by alicia keys dedicated to the men and women on the job healing them, helping us all get through this. Well talk to alicia keys and youll hear the song as our cnn global town hall continues. slow music plays laughter baby coos laughter man on video chat hey man chasing dog oh no no no no baby crying where we can find common ground. Big enough to dance on. For a better us, donate to your local y today. When things are tough, do we stop . No. We keep going. We make plans and sow seeds. We adapt. We make food. Stock shelves. We keep others safe and spirits up. We show our love and thank heroes. We support food banks and those in need. When things are tough, we keep going. Because this is how we move forward. Another 4. 4 million more americans filed for Unemployment Benefits since our last town hall bringing the number of newly unemployed in this country to just over 26 million. Some as this footage shows cant feed their families. Theyre lining up for food from just outside miami, more than 1,000 families some sleeping in their cars to keep a place in line. And weve seen scenes like this playing out nationwide for weeks. 10,000 people showing up at a Food Distribution in san antonio. When people are hungry after disasters of all kind Chef Jose Andres is there to feed them. Jose, for those who dont know can you just explain how your Program Works with world central kitchen and what you are hoping to be able to do nationwide and are doing nationwide . World central kitchen very simple. When people are hungry, when people are thirsty, after a hurricane, an earthquake, a fire we show up. We make sure we bring food in those emergencies. Here we are facing an emergency that every day keeps growing. Even when we are going to be taking care of the health crisis, let me tell you we have a humanitarian food crisis in our hands. So what we are doing is supporting everything everybody else is doing. We are trying to cover the blind spots, the dark spots. Its a lot of systems and ngos they dont have enough money, many of them are shutting down. Food banks are overwhelmed. School districts are overwhelmed, super markets, all of the a sudden the normal things are hard to do. Already across america feeding in many cities in many states. We are only coming up with very Simple Solutions to make sure we are able to feed anybody that is hungry. Thats what were doing right now. Essentially when you talk about working at hundreds of restaurants right now not only are you using some of your own restaurants to feed people, youre actually kind of piloting a program that you would like to see the government take up as a program to basically keep restaurants open by paying them to make meals that feed hungry people. Correct. Thats what we are doing. But for a simple reason. We are proving a concept. Lets face it, this is true humanitarian emergency. I need the white house, congress to recognize we are in the middle of a true food crisis. The lines are growing up everywhere at the same time. This is not about republicans or democrats. This is about americans, we the people. Many people right now as they are losing their jobs, they are in desperate need of somebody to be feeding them. So it requires a 360degree approach. We cannot put the responsibility only on the food banks or ngos or on the school districts. We need to make sure the federal government recognizes that need and they start funding the states, the ngos, maybe the private sector, maybe activating fema recognizing this is an emergency and making sure that we take care of the problem right now. Because if not in the weeks and months ahead this may become something so big then itll be too late for us to fix. The federal government should step up right now as we speak to make sure that every american in need of feeding their families can do so in a simple way. Jose, let me ask a question just about the environment, because it goes without saying, you know, the virus is circulating out there and you want to feed people but you also want to keep your volunteers, your workers safe. How do you balance that . I invite everybody to follow what we do at world central kitchen. Remember, sanjay, we began feeding already people in yokohama, japan. World central kitchen weve been at the forefront putting aside our heroes, our doctors and nurses in the hospitals and already taking care of those people in need of food even during this pandemic. We followed from yokohama all the way to california in oakland. We follow the health code very clearly. Our teams are super protected, very conscious we need to protect ourselves so we can keep doing our job. Every single restaurant we make sure when people are waiting in line everybody stays 6 feet away, everybody is Wearing Masks and washing their hands constantly, they wear gloves. And id rather prefer being home, id rather prefer every one of our volunteers, thousands of them staying home, but somebody has to be feeding america. We cannot just say lets wait for this to go back. These people that are hungry, homeless, elderly, low income families, children, we need to feed them. So its not just for me to say lets frert aboorget about it, else will, we need to all come together. So what were doing is making sure everybody is protected, everybody is healthy and everybody is safe. This is the way we keep them safe. So i cannot escape that reality. People are going to be hungry. This is going to be a few weeks if not few months, and in the process i cannot just let people go hungry at home and be forgotten. We need to make sure everybody is going to be fed through this crisis. You talk about people being forgotten and i think its something were going to talk to alicia keys about this coming up, but one of the things you and i have talked about is how a situation like this is kind of an xray machine, and all the problems that exist in society, inequalities that existed are seen very, very clearly. We now have a situation where all of us are able to, you know, largely stay at home and, jose, youre out and about and were both working. But the citizens able to stay at home are only able to do so because of the pizza delivery person, the farm hand in california, the person picking apples in washington state, you know, peaches in georgia and onions in parts of georgia. And the delivery drivers, all these people who are not paid the way they should be in normal times and theyre not valued the way they they should be. And you talked about kind of this being an explosion of empathy that we need to have moving forward when this is all done. Empathy is a minimum but we need also the white house and congress to step up. Just passed 19 billion for and much of the money is going to be going for the big farms but we need to take care of the small farms. But more important the workers, every single farmer, every Single Person working in the super markets, we need to make sure we take care of them and also we give them protective gear. We need to make sure they are paid right. If they get sick we need to make sure we are actually paying them for being sick and having to stay home. Actually im expecting more from the white house and congress to take care of those people that theyre putting their lives at risk to keep america fed. If we dont recognize that almost like were not recognizing that we are in the middle of a pandemic in the middle of a crisis. So, again, i do believe the federal government has to recognize this is humanitarian crisis and theyve got to start supporting the states and the cities, many people are going to go hungry. I just came back from new york, queens, harlem, lines for food everywhere we go. If youre in Public Housing you have sometimes 6, 7, 10 People Living in a one bedroom apartment. These are the people that make manhattan successful. Theres no way were not going to be trying to feed those people, keep those people as safe as we can and trying to solve many of the issues were facing right now. Many people are underpaid, undervalued. I recognize what they bring to society, and this is the moment to start recognizing the value many of those workers, many of them undocumented bring to the way of life we enjoy in america. Suddenly were in a situation where undocumented workers are now essential workers, being called essential workers even by this administration because theyre, you know, according to the department of alculture, 50 of hired farm hands are undocumented. Jose, its good to have you on and we appreciate all youre doing at world central kitchen. Up next talking about empathy, special musical message from alicia keys, her thoughts and her new song when we return. Birthdays arent cancelled. Hope isnt quarantined. First words arent delayed. Caring isnt postponed. Courage isnt on hold. And love hasnt stopped. U. S. Bank thanks you for keeping all of our spirits strong. Weve donated millions to those in need and are always here for our customers and employees. Weve donated millions to those in need vo love. Its what weve always said makes subaru, subaru. And right now, love is more important than ever. In response to covid19, subaru and our retailers are donating fifty million meals to feeding america, to help feed those who now need our help. Its all part of our commitment to our communities through subaru loves to help. Love, its what makes subaru, subaru. It cannot be said enough that the Unsung Heroes of this pandemic have been the hospital work, the nurses and xray technicians and doctors, the Grocery Store clerks, delivery workers, truck drivers, ups folks, fedex people, people working in amazon and other warehouses. So many others who dont get praise and certainly dont get paid what they should, yet they have been vital a vital link for our survival. And thats not an overstatement. We would not be able to be staying in our homes, we would not be able to do social distancing if it wasnt for people who a lot of folks dont necessarily look at every day or think about every day, but those are the people who are keeping us all able to stay with our families and stay as safe as possible. Its these every day heroes who are the inspiration for a new song called good job by 15time grammy winner alicia keys were very happy to have joining us right now. Alicia, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you. Thank you for having me. We had some technical issues. I was glad to see you were having trouble linking up with us. I did my first zoom the other day. It took me forever to figure out what that even meant. Youve got a lot of stuff. What is quarantine like, what are your days like now . Well, im in my laundry room right now. Its like the laundry is beeping and buzzing are you really in the laundry room . Apparently its the best signal, i dont know why. But heres where it is, so im here. You know, in a state of quarantine its definitely its a new thing for all of us. Were all trying to figure it out, but were doing well. My family is well, and were healthy and thats the important. Were together and were figuring out how to create a schedule and keep our frequency high, and, you know, figuring it out like all of us. The song good job it comes at such an important time i think, and every day i ride my bike to work and im lucky enough to still have a job and be able to come in. And, you know, it is delivery, its folks on bicycles delivering huge packages and delivering food, and its the bus drivers. Its people who, you know, as i said theyre not getting paid, you know, the money they should be paying. And normally society doesnt value what they do. But they are saving all of the rest of us. Can you just talk about you know, about the song and also when you decided to kind of dedicate it to all the folks who are keeping us all alive . Yeah, no seriously, which is what puts me in such a stay of awe because music is obviously so powerful. But this song was actually written a few months ago already, and it was just as important for different people in my life, different people my mother, my grandmother, friends of mine who ive noticed, you know, just getting up every day maybe theyve lost their job, trying to raise their kids. Do they ever hear the words good job . When you dont feel like it and everythings so heavy and hard and, you know, fast forward to now if anybody told me this would be happening i would never imagined. And crazily enough this song is like as if it was written for this moment. And so, yes, theres so many people who are our every day heroes. There are heroes among us right now, you know, and this song really celebrates the fact that youre doing an amazing job. And to your point, these people without them where would we be, and what would be going on in our lives, and would the world even be going . What would we be doing . So its really purfle aowerful so grateful this song can be dedicated to so many amazing people continuing to go every day and helping the world turn. Alicia, ive got to say first of all its a pleasure to speak to you. And also whenever i see you its calming for some reason. I think its your i dont know what it is about your demeanor or how you present yourself i do feel calm hearing your music and watching you. So thank you for that. I think the front line workers, everyone anderson was mentioning are obviously going to be moved by this. What do you think the message is for everybody when they hear this song . You know, i mean, the message is one of empowerment and being uplifted. I think we can see that theres so many one thing i think is really powerful about this time so many people theres an empathy. Theres a desire to really come together, to be together, to show up for each other and to understand each other more deeply. I think theres this idea, this separateness that maybe has existed before in deep crisis or different tragedy, but its never been the way it is now where everybody simultaneously can feel the exact same thing and understand the exact same fears, the exact same uncertainties and concern. And i think the message is a message of gratitude, of thanks and knowing we are going to make and the way were going to make it is by being together, by uplifting each other and sharing these every day moments that really make us stronger, but specifically for the essential workers, for the teachers, for the guy at the Grocery Store that gets up every morning at 5 00 a. M. So that someone else can eat, for that delivery person you saw on the bike on your way to work making sure that an elderly person has food in their refrigerator or the medicine they need. These things that seem so mundane under normal circumstances are huge. So the appreciation to those heroes that are walking among us is what the message of this song is and really just reminding each other dont get too down because youre needed. You are needed even more than these words could ever express. Amen to that. I want to show the video to folks and well talk a bit afterward. This is your music, our images, the brand new song by alicia keys, good job. Youre the engine that makes all things go and youre always in disguise my hero i see your light in the dark, smile on my face when we all know its hard theres no way bless your heart no i love you for that honest and selfless i dont know if this helps it but good job, doing a good job, a good job youre doing a good job, dont get too down, the world needs you now, know that you matter matter, matter, yeah youre doing a good job, youre doing a good job dont get too down, the world needs you know know that you matter, matter, matter, yeah 6 00 in the morning as soon as you walk through that door Everyone Needs you again its not as sound when youre not around, all day all your feet hurt keep that energy i know when it feels like the end of the road you dont let go youre the engine that makes all things go, always in disguise my hero a smile on my face when we all know its hard, theres no way to ever pay you back bless your heart know i love you for that, honest and selfless i dont know if this helps but good job, youre doing a good job, a good job dont get too down, the world needs you now know that you matter, matter, matter yeah, its a good job, doing a good job, a good job, a good job dont get too down, the world needs you now, know that you matter, matter, matter the mothers, the fathers, it teachers and preachers, the strangers and friends that show up in end, from the bottom to the top, this is for you, you make me fearless oh, dont get too down, the world needs you now know that you matter, matter matter, yeah thank you. Wow, that was great. I mean, to be able to do that, alicia. Wow, what a blessing. Thank you. Like i said i also cant even believe it, the timing of it. But im just honored to be able to share this piece of music that was obviously created for this moment in this moment when we need each other so much, and just, you know, to give thanks. Just watching it i was thinking, you know, i no good comes out of anything like this, but what i fear that, you know, i cant wait for this all to be over. I hope that when it is all over that we dont forget all the folks in those images, that we dont forget that we only made it through because of a lot of people who, you know, are risking their lives and dont get, again, the salaries they should, dont get the recognition they should. I mean, they are essential not just in a pandemic, they are essential every day of our lives. And i hope we dont go back to ignoring them to the extent people ignored them. I hope we continue to value them and elevate them. Yes. Youre exactly right. Theres so much to learn i think from this time. Theres so much to rethink. Ive been thinking so much about how the black and brown communities have been so disproportionately affected, just thinking about even how so many low income families have such a difficult time living Healthy Lifestyles anyway, and good food and the cost of it, and health care. And even the systemic racism prevalent in america and i think talking about the essential i think its time to be reborn to the point of recognizing people and seeing people and recognizing the value and asking ourselves who do we want to be . Who do we want to become out of this . And youre exactly right. I think the last thing that we all want is to go back to whatever was. Its time to go forward. Even with the interview you did with magic talking about the opportunity to see the importance of people and to really recognize that and to shift the perspective. And its an opportunity to see each other for who we actually are in this time and change the narrative. So, i think that these heroes that youre talking about who we dont want to ever forget let them be the heroes that they are, not just because we need them, not just because its a crisis, not just because without them we wouldnt be able to get out of this, because these are really important human beings in our world. And we want to, you know, lift each other up. So, this song is for you. This song is for them. This song is for our heroes so that we can keep going right now and we can keep seeing the best in each other and keep recognizing how were all in this together. We dont get to do it if were not doing it together. And its definitely not going to be done well if were not considering all of us. So, i agree with you and i want to see that continue. I want to see the change that we know we need. Obviously we need it or this wouldnt be happening. Alicia, you just talked about this. We did a lot of reporting as well on the disproportionate impact this has had on black america. Its interesting because in some places you have 14 black American Population and 42 infections or deaths. Its very clear theyre being hit much harder than other folks. And i just wonder when you think about that, is there a specific message to black america tonight . Well, i mean, i think that thats, you know we know its time for change. Its been that way. And i really do hope that what were saying is that first of all we are powerful. We are essential. We are the heroes. I mean, we are weve been heroes to this country since the very day it started, you know . And i think that we should be recognized according, and we should definitely its just time for there to be this america to be the equal compassionate america we claim it to be. Weve got to let you go, but i dont know if youve seen this video in a hospital i think its in new york where when someone is able to actually when someone recovers and theyre able to leave the ward, the hospital workers played this song. I just want to play this video. They play empire state of mind every time someone is able to actually get better and leave and its their way of celebrating. Youve probably seen this video. Just, again, to be able to give voice to something that people use to express themselves in such an important moment has got to be an extraordinary thing. When i first heard about that happening, i almost i mean, i i couldnt stop crying. I couldnt believe, you know, born and raised in new york, knowing that new york is hit so hard. You know, just seeing the simple joy that everybody i have goose bumps right now, the way that everybody in that hospital, whether youre a patient or a nurse or a doctor, you know that somebody made it and we are all going to make it. You know, were going to make it through this. To your point, i couldnt be more grateful. Music is such a powerful conduit. Its gotten us all through in so many ways just being able to connect with each other. Thats the most important thing i want to take away. Im grateful and thank you so much for this beautiful opportunity to have this gift of these visuals to go along with this song. And i think the most important thing is that we really are in this together and we really are going to make it if we can truly see each others hearts the way we are now. If we can take that with us as we go and as everything starts to come back, if we could take that with us and never let that go, i feel like weve grown. And theres something really powerful thats going to come from that. Yeah, we certainly want to take that forward, alicia. Thank you so much and thank you for accidezen as well. I really do feel better spending time with you. Alicia, thank you so much. Alicias song is going to be an inspiration for the new campaign for the cnn heroes campaign. They want you the viewers to record a video thanking those stepping up helping during the pandemic. You can use the goodjobcnheroes. A lot of you asked about how you can help which i find terrific. Gouk to cnn. Com coronavirus. Theres information on how to help. There are categories to search for whenever you want to contribute. You can always find ways to get yourself help as well. Another place to go is cnn. Com impact. Sanjay, thanks so much. I want to thank everyone who joined us tonight. Also thanks to those who wrote in with questions. The conversation continues at cnn. Com coronavirusanswers. The news continues with chris cuomo after this short break. Up . Im confused. Confused about what, everything ok . Yeah, i only see one price on my phone bill. That doesnt sound confusing mama. Youre on tmobile, taxes and fees are included. Oh come on, theres always extra fees not on tmobile mama. Why cant all my bills be like this . I dont know mama. Bye mama, love you. Anthony . Umph with tmobile, taxes and fees are included. Thats right. No extra taxes fees, so what you see is what you pay. All right. Im chris cuomo. Welcome to prime time. Look, we know leadership matters, especially now as we struggle for guidance on reopening. We need the president to be on the same page with science. Doubting the utility of testing is just silly. But throwing out the idea of house hold disinfectant injections and shooting light into the body as a cure for the virus, what . Talk about the cure being worse than the disease. Somebody better take the president s temperature. The bigger question is why does the president keep throwing out these unproven remedies and continue to down play the science and scientists who should be guiding us right now. We also have more news tonight on the vaccine official who claims hes been sidelined by the president. One things for sure, he has not been silent. Also we knew we were going to learn that many more of us have been exposed to the virus than th