Countries were in a Perfect World it would have been nice to know what was going on there. We didnt. But i believe that we acted very, very early in that. We had adequate testing, would we have known . You might not people inherited can i speak to that as well . Made reference to january 31, he suspended all travel from china. Shortly the thereafter we issued strong travel advisors for italy and sections of south korea and we reached agreements with those countries to screen all passengers from all airports coming into the United States of america. The president s initial efforts were designed at preventing the coronavirus from coming into the United States. What our experts have told us again and again at the Coronavirus Task force is that those actions bought us a
significant amount of time on this curve to respond with the kind of mitigation efforts, standing up resources, testing and supplies that are in effect. We went from a prevention strategy, the president acted on before the month of january was over, to a mitigation strategy, which continues to this day. And if i can also say, just to every american. All the questions about resources are very important, and i can assure you that the president and our task force are preoccupied with these issues and working with governors hour by hour to meet those needs. If americans will put into practice these guidelines for another 30 days the theyll do their part to lower the curve. And save lives, most importantly. And limit the burden on our hospitals and our Health Care System in the country significantly. And so make no mistake about it. While were going to work our hearts out, leave no no stone unturned to friend sources, the masks, the ventilators that we need. We are going to meet that moment with the full energy of the American Economy and the american government. The 34er7 people have a role to play in preserving that medical capacity in a way that will ensure people caught up in the coronavirus, particularly those with most serious outcomes, seniors or anyone with an immunoedition will have the treatment that they would want their loved one to have. I think that we were very smart because we stopped china. We had never done that before. We had never closed our borders before. I read. I read. Maybe thats not right. Dr. Fauchi has said it was i
think maybe it was the biggest moment because we were stopping the source, we were stopping the infection, but we also stopped europe very short through thereafter. That was a big decision. That was not a an easy decision either. I stopped them long before people started talking about it. We stopped all of europe and little we stopped uk, ireland. Yes. In the back please. Mr. President , how many Clinical Trial tests numerically would you like to see before you put a stamp of approval on it . There are identical trials taking place around the world right now. Is there a number of how many cases would you like to see . Thats an fda decision. I would like to see a Clinical Trial that has a comparison to
something that is can comp troobl what it means without the strug. I keep saying it. I say it all the time and ill say it again. Its a controlled trial compares it to something meaningful. When taking place right now . There are a number of trials going on right now not tomorrow in the United States but other parts of the world. Right now its too early to make any determination. I want to get back to the definitive way that you get an answer is doing a randomized controlled Clinical Trial. Please go ahead. [ inaudible question ] youre talking about the kwloer quinn . Yeah. There are trials going on, were trying them on people that are now sick. Thats a very [inaudible]. Around the world. So my question was were watching whatevers happening around the world very closely. Mr. Mitch mcconnell said that impeachment diverted the attention to have government. Do you think in any way this was happening at the same time. Did it avert attention . I dont like to think i did. I like to think i handled it very well but i guess it probably did. I got impeached, you know, i devoted a little time thinking about it, right . But think of it. It was a hoax, a total hoax. When you think that i got impeached only because they had a majority in the house. 1960, not any republican i dont think its ever happened. The republicans stuck together 52 to a half. A half. When you say that, yeah. I think it took a lot of i see them going and saying about speed. Well, they probably illegally impeached necessity in the sense that if you look at the fbi
today with what happened, the horrible nobody cares about that anymore because all theyre thinking about is the virus. Thats ok with me. You look at the reports that came out, its dis graceful what went on. Its a total disgrace. They got caught in the act but you know what . We wont talk about that now. Did it divert my attention . I think im getting a pluses for the way i handled myself during the phony impeachment, ok. It was a hoax, but certainly i guess i thought of it, and i think i probably acted i dont think i would have done any better had i not been impeached. Ok. I think thats a great tribute to something. Maybe its a tribute to me. I dont think i would have liked acted any faster. But the democrats, the whole their whole life, their whole existence, their whole being was to try to get me out of office
any way they can. Teen it was a phony deal, and it was a phony deal. It turned out all you have to do is look at the fbi reports. Take a look at what the fbi did. Take a look at the people. Take a look at comeys report 78 pages of total kill. Take a look at the report of mccabe. Just read it. Youll see how horrible it was. You know what . I dont think this country is going to take it, you want to know the truth. How to take you what kind of help you offering florida when it comes to the american cruise ships that are seeking to dock there . Theyre calling to me. Well be speaking to the governor and well be speaking to hill soon. Theres a case. We have two ships, there are people that are sick on the ship. We dont want to be like theyre going to be ghost ships. People turn their ships away. There was a ship in a certain part of asia and from port to port, nobody would take it. But in the meantime you have people dying on the ship or at least very is sick, but theyre dying on the ship. Im going to you know im going to do whats right not only for us but for humanity. These are two big ships. They have a lot of sick people ill be speaking to the governor. Just a couple more back here. Youll get go ahead, please. Thank you very much. I was hoping you do you ever run out of questions . Some unbelievable thing. So but i have nothing else to do. If you want shall we keep it going . I think so. Lets go. Andrew comeau said the system you had, its like being on ebay. You said tonight that
he was complaining . Well, he said tell you, what did he say exactly . He said that when you have states competing for ventilators and medical care its like being on ebay with 50 other states. He shouldnt be complaining. We gave him a lot of ventilators. If you look. The charts down. I wish you got going a little bit sooner. We gave him a lot of ventilators. He has a lot of very vens. The problem is, with some people whatever you give its nefrl enough. You say hows truck doing and youre a democrat. Some of them said really good. Gavin newsom from california, whos doing a good job, by the way, but generally your natural reflex, hows trump doing. You ask that question to a democrat, well, we dont like it. Really . You dont like it. Were getting very high marks. Im not doing this for marks im doing this to save lives. When jim saw the numbers, theyre shocking numbers. Deaths, even at the low end you were shocked when you see a hundred and 200,000 people over potentially a very short period of time, i want to save lives. Im not doing this for any other reason. I want to save lives. The governor of new yorks gotten i think probably has gotten more than anybody. Hes gotten hospitals, four medical tents, hes gotten a ship, the likes of which nobodys ever seen before other than los angeles which has the twin i mean, weve done a lot. But many ventilators were sent to new york. And mayor de blasio, im getting along with mayor deglass owe great and i think hes happy with the job were doing, too. He had an interesting request. He wanted people and were sending medical people. A lot of people a lot of the
states arent having a problem with ventilators. Theyre having a problem getting medical people. Were sending a lot of people in, military, very talented people, who go ahead and ill do you in a second. Your response to that question earlier was that they shouldnt be doing that. They need something they need them shouldnt be doing what . The governors shouldnt be competing. No, they shouldnt be competing. I dont want them to compete. They should be calling us and we can work it so they get the ventilators and they get shipped directly. If theyre calling, only two of them calling, theyre just going to drive up the price. As nice as some of the people that do ventilators, they do want to make money. Ok . You get a new york has 16,000 ventilators, i guess they didnt take that option. Its a hard option to take. Its a lot of money and who would ever think you need 6,000 ventilators. This is a unique time in life. Im dealing with new york and were having a very Good Relationship and you see what just happened in central park with the tents. Were having a Good Relationship. Go ahead. You mentioned gaffin newsom. Im interested in what you think california has done to contribute to the suppression . Theyve done a very good thing. They could have a sbriek it spikes upward. Louisiana, i think theyre doing a good job. They had nothing. Then they had mardi gras, its an example of what could happen. But they were like flawless. I was looking at louisiana and i understand that state. I love that state and im saying theyre in great shape. Then they had mardi gras. It was a tremendous success. All of a sudden it went like a rocketship. That tells us about distancing. Please. What about the Homeless Population in california . California officials think its going to spread like wildfire louder. Theres a homelessness crisis in california. Yes. Theres a concern that it could spread like wildfire in that community. Theyre looking at that very strongly. I know it bothers gavin. I dont know if it bothers nancy pelosi but shes got it in her district very heavily. Theyve got a big Homeless Population in an area where just a few years ago there was nobody in that area. I know some people in california are working on that very hard. You spoke several times with Prime Minister trudeau. At president macron talked about an important initiatives that you and he were going to
launch. Well see if we do it or not. Its a private thing. It will become public if we decide to do it. Our relationship with the president. Our ri7 with france is, you know, i think extraordinarily good, i think probably as good as its ever been. To your kinds of what could have happened and the actions that you took, is there any fairness to the criticism that you may have lulled americans into a false sense of security no. You were saying things like its going away. It is. Its going to go away hopefully at the end of the month and if not, hopefully it will be soon after that. There it is going away. Hasnt your thinking on this evolved . Youre taking it more seriously . I think in the beginning i thought we have to all you have to do is look at what was going on in china. Devastation. Look at the numbers from china. Those initial numbers coming out from china. But you know, i read an article today which was very interesting. They say we wish President Trump would give more bad news. Give bad news. Im not about bad news. I want to give people hope. I want too give people a feeling that we all have a chance. I mean but my when you saw the numbers and when john and all of you saw the numbers and youre saying 120,000 people. You mean thats good . Dead people within a short period of time. I want to give people a feeling of hope. I could be very negative. I could say wait a minute, those numbers are terrible. This is going to be horrible. This is a horrible thing. But hey, jim. Ok. Lets go to the beach, lets go to the airport, lets go to mardi gras. There was a lot of people who could have said that. We didnt say that. Fortunately i didnt say that. That was an alternative. That was always an alternative. Thats what i said. Let it rip. Let it ride. Do nothing and we could have had 2. 2 Million People, more than that, because i did do that. We stopped china really early and we stopped europe really early because i saw what was happening what happened was i stopped italy. They were really heavily iinfected. We started out with certain parts of italy, then all of italy. And then spain. I said lets stop europe from coming here. Europe, i love europe, but they were having problems. I dont think anybody did a better jonathan that, especially when you see the 2. 2 million number. I hope whether to be substantially under the numbers if youre looking on the minimum side. Then i think it will be tremendous death. You werent just hoping that this would dissipate . I want to be positive. Im a positive person. Somebody said i wish youd be more negative. They literally have said that in one of the newspapers today. This is easy to be negative about. Im a cheerleader for the country. Were through something the country has never seen. The civil war, we lost 600,000 piemt. Heres the thing, had we not done anything wed have lost many times that. Its going to be hopefully way under. You know, we lose more here than you lose potentially than in world wars. Theres nothing positive, nothing great about it but i want to give people in this country hope. Did you think it would be as severe as i knew everything. I knew it could be horrible and i knew it could be maybe good. At that time people didnt know that much about it. The experts. We didnt know where twad going. We saw china. Thafts. We wish we could have killed it in china but it didnt happen. It started spreading to europe. It started spreading here. It started spreading all over. Im not blaming anybody. Im just saying that we have an incredible thing. I think the people with professionals, are military, our governors, our politicians. I think theyve done an incredible job. With few exceptions i think theyve done an incredible job. I dont want to be a negative person. It would be so much easier for me to say its bad news. Were going to lose 220,000 people and its going to happen in a couple of weeks. Today i said this is going to be a rough two or three weeks. This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks weve had in our country. Were going to lose thousands of people. When i see 28, 29 people from
the government of new jersey, 29 people when you see 173 people died in new york yesterday or whatever the number was i think it was more than that when you see the signed of numbers were wransing, weve never seen numbers like that. Its easy to be negative. Then everybody can be negative but im a our country and i want them to do a great job. I always said it. I want as few a number of people to die as possible and thats all were working on. You dont like the question but are you now i dont mind the question. I dont mind the question. I think its actually things that its not meant to be i know you well enough. Its not meant to be a fair question but it is a fair question. It is a fair question. Ok. Ill accept your word. Jim irks think weve done a great job. Were going to see how it comes out. When you look at minimal numbers of 120,000 people, when you looks at it could have been 2
poib 2 Million People died and more if we just did nothing, it would have gone up and would have develop down. Per your statement it would have been confined. It would be violence like weve not seen before in this country. We have great military, great governors and politicians. I cannot say enough about whats going on. As per what you said, i think were way ahead of schedule in terms of numbers. I think. I hope. Butled if with we can keep it under the minimum numbers, the country the country not me. The country has dean great job. I think ive done a really good job of mobilizing. I think mike pence has been fantastic. I put him in charge of the fantastic force. We have wonderful people on the task force, wonderful people. This man had days where he didnt go to bed, he didnt go to sleep. He went 24 hours and started the
next day. The people dont know the job he did. I didnt even know he was that good of a manager, to be honest. You never know that about somebody until theyre tested under fire. He saw it very early also. We both did. They saw it very early. They probably knew sooner than anybody because thats what they study. Must be a little depressing. Theyve seen it all. Go ahead, jim. Let me ask dr. Fouchive about a headline thats been running all day to get his per speckive on it. Theres a professor from m. I. F. Who suggests it can be carried on droplets the distance of 27 feet. Do you buy into that or does that suggest that the current social extended . This is i unbelievable. This is by speakings, causing,
sneezing. If you go way back and go achoo. If you see somebody do that, get out of the way. That is not practical, john, but i was disturbed by that report. Thats misleading. That means that all of a sudden, the sixfoot thing doesnt work. That is a very, very robust vigorous achoo sneeze. Thats what that is. And thats not what were talking about. You want to keep going . Ive got one more. I have a followup on the masks. You mentioned franklin graham. Yes. As you know his father billy graham was a trusted spiritual advisor to many president s. Have you reached out to him . I never say that but frankly graham is something that is very special. I have very many special people and very many special in the
evangelical, evangelical christian community. You can talk rap ies, you can talk a lot i have tremendous support from religious leaders and frankly, i just smoke to him today for an extended period of time. I told him what he loves irks he loves doing it. He l jesus, i can tell you that. Hes a great gentleman. You have been listening to President Trump in his Coronavirus Briefing with Vice President pence. Good evening. They were giving the latest update they have in terms of a coronavirus pandemic in the United States. President trump warning of a painful two weeks ahead. He referred to it as a war zone saying the roughest weeks will be ahead, two to three, possibly, weeks. More than 785 deaths related to
coronavirus, which is the most deaths in one day in the United States since the start of the outbreak. I want to talk about all of this from the briefing. Obviously, this was an extensive briefing with a lot of questions and answer. Kate collins, john king, and dr. Sanjay gupta. John king, the president welcoming question after question after question during all of this. He obviously wanted to be out there and it was a very sobering analysis presented by the chief doctors. Incredibly sobering. A different briefing especially at the top when it came to style, the president deferring to the experts right out of the box and then coming back and taking question. Throughout the briefing we saw evidence of a giant communications problem, a communication problem that still exist. When they talk about 100,000 to 200,000 people at a minimum. All the people saying with
mitigation they hope to push it under. That is green bay, wisconsin. Almost perfectly we do this, if its 200,000 thats tempe arizona or salt lake city. This is what were looking at in the painful weeks ahead the president s talking about. You take the numbers, project what do those numbers mean. This is stunning. I think thats why you saw President Trump to convey that message, a hundred thousand is within the realm of possibility, it could be higher than that. The they hope to push it down. I thought the style of deferring was interesting. I saw throughout, whether it was on the testing of testing, whether it was a question of ventilator or a question of ppe, awful 2 people there, all saying the supplies are out there. The states cant find them. The states are the problem. The states have said no, we
dont have them. The federal government is the problem. Theres a logistical disconnect. Lastly, the president insisting to jim acosta, he has gotten this from the beginning. Hes known from the beginning how bad that is. Thats not the indicates can. He talked about a friend who went into the hospital in a coma. He said em2359icly, this is not the flu. He said this is a flu, this is like the flu. He didnt get it in the beginning. Certainly didnt. Caitlyn, to this point it was a very sober president that we saw, taking question after question, even from reporters he doesnt like to take questions from. Talking about a friend of his in a comb because of coronavirus. Saying this is em2359icly saying this is not flu. This is vicious as he just referenced. As recently as march 9, the
president was comparing the deaths for the flu and the deaths for coronavirus and saying think about that, downplaying this. Perhaps the flu was more disruptive. Yeah. Aaron, that was three weeks ago that the president was saying that. Last week he was pushing the easter date to open the country. The president is acknowledging the grim reality that these numbers and these models that his team of doctors have been presenting to him over the weekend show. You saw the president disavow the flu argument, an argument he himself put on multiple occasions. The president did have a more serious tone tonight. That doesnt change the fact that he downplayed the coronavirus for months. Also there was a p incredibly slow start to testing in the United States, which some Health Experts say is what brought us to the situation were in now. Seeing the charts weve been hearing from some of the Health Officials who have been
skeptical of those numbers. Doctors fauchi and birks acknowledge some of these numbers are based off the worst case scenario. Theyre saying even if everything is done perfectly, you could still see 100,000 to 240,000 deaths. I do want to note one other thing the president said while he was in there. He was asked about a comment that Mitch Mcconnell made saying the government response to this is changed or altered because of the impeachment. The president acknowledged that his attention was likely diverted from that issue. He said he didnt think he would have responsibility t differently if as the coronavirus was happening. Sanjay, let me ask you on these numbers which both john and caitlyn are raising. You had a chance to speak with dr. Fauchi as well. When people here and i think john was apt to pat this in the
context, to talk about entire towns or cities, the equivalent of that perishing. Is that realistic . Is it possible that these numbers are below 1 is 00,000 10,000 . Id love to be able to say that. I think when you look at this what is now a best case scenario, really, this hundred,000 number, i think dr. Fauchi has said that. Thats what the modeling shows. This is the best case scenario. If you look at the models more carefully. I dove into this model. It relies on the social distancing measures going to the end of may, not the end of april. Its a longer sort of term proposition. Its more stringent if you dool that, you could get to the 100 you could be as low as the 100,000 number. I get no joy in saying this, but i think that, you know, you have the worst case scenario, which president President Trump talked about. The best case scenario, 100,000 to 240,000. Because we havent uniformly in this country enacted these social distancing measures across the country, the answers probably going to be somewhere in between the best case and worst case scenario. Geng i take into account what john is saying. Its hard to imagine, its hard to believe. But thats i think where were headed right now. And daniel, to this point, the president has kept saying he knew what was happening in china and knew how bad this would be. Obviously what he said many times publicly during that time frame shows that to be untrue. Youre a fact checker. What stood out to you . I think what we saw here was both the usual barrage of false claims and a broader overall
narrative. Trump said he stopped all travel from europe. It exempted several countries. He thought his impeachment was illegal. He said even the experts didnt know how bad this was. The experts were pretty uniformly warning us that this was going to be bad. The broader dishonest narrative was his attempt to portray himself as the leader who stood up to the people who were downplaying this as a flu. People just wanted me to ride this out and that was unwise. Because of the action that i and we took, now we can keep this to 100,000, which would be pretty good. He was the downplayer in chief for weeks and weeks, even amid these expert warnings. For him to now say he is the one who stood up against the people who were against himself, i think is quite dishonest. San yjay, when you look at china, their reported infection and death rates are incredibly small. It is not what were seeing here. So what really happened in . Are they just lying on a level of magnitude that we keent comprehend or was it somehow is it just somehow that much worse here . I mean, which do you think it is . You know, i think theres two things. One is that it is challenging to really make sense out of all the chinese daelts. Ive looked at some of very carefully. If you take its at its face value, youre right. There was a paper published in the lance it that says if you take into account everybody, the symptomatic and the asymptomatic, everybody who tested positive, the death rate is around 6. 66 . One thing i think were learning, this is important, is
that the virus is back. Its a lethal virus. When you look at places where the death rate is much higher, yrg is that . Is the population that much different . Genetically were all the same human beings. I think whats driving the uptick is the strain on the medical system. Its the lack of preparation. Its the fact that people show up that could have been saved that arent because they werent ready to handle it. Yes, the virus is bad. Its something that people are acknowledging but what is really the problem in these places, even in the developed countries is the sfran on the medical system. I think thats what were trying to avoid here. Did we act fast enough . Time will tell. It appears as from what the president was saying, you still have states saying they cant get what they want. Governors are saying theyre competing against the government and the federal government. Yet the president is saying that
isnt happening, basically. Lets hope were speaking of tuesday evening. Lets hope on tuesday or friday night well not be having this conversation. People think this is happy talk. The white house is trying to insist that things are in the pipeline. They are coming. They will get to you before you get to the crisis point. If you look to its not just the democratic governors. Palestinian of arkansas. Theyre saying we have a problem. There is either a giant Communications Breakdown or a giant logistical problem or worse. Lets hope by the end of the week they see more. Theres a lot of flipping pointing right now. Sometimes it gets fierce, sometimes less so. Lets hope they figure this out. To the other appointment, though, it is striking to me as we have this conversation, as they showed, california has shown some progress. There could sfwil a spike in the future. Especially in the play area, they acted quickly. They have some progress. Washington state, some problem. Look at kentucky where the governor acted quickly, the lines going like this, next to tennessee where the gorner just today did a stay at home order. Ing the fact that you have tennessee just today, texas still today, florida has not had a statewide position. If you mitigate, if you push down, then you may delay the crisis on the Health Care System. You may push it off, spread it out, so you dont get in italy its stunning to me that some people with wont listen even to the converted president of the United States who says this is urgent. Kate lineup, what do you understand from your reporting is responsible basically for
what has been a very sudden and dramatic turnaround, right, for him saying this is not the flu, this is vicious. Talking about the death tolls. When they presented these numbers to him what made him change his mind so dramatically . It wasnt just the numbers. Thats important. You look at the models, theyre stunning. It was also polling that showed americans favored keeping more restrictive measures in place. Theres images of elmhurst hospital in queens not far from where the president grew up. He talked about seeing the images over the week. The president was pretty shaken by those. Seeing what that looked like, the state of affairs there. The president said ventilators and talking about hospitals that have these needs. He said that some states and some hospitals have been requesting ventilator. The fehr government has decided they dont actually need. Thats different than saying we have them. He was simply saying that he thinks some of these requests arent founded. He didnt say which hospitals, were going to be asking, certainly. Testing issue has been resolved, the president says, where state governors say thats not the case at the time. All of us know people who will have a hard time to get a test. Thank you all very much. One of the cities now being hardest hit by the virus is detroit. Theyre reporting a 45 increase in deaths over the last 24 hours. The police chief, one of the more than 2,000 there who has tegsed positive. Hes out front now. Chief james craig. Chief, i appreciate you taking the time. First of all, think know youre home. Youre under quarantine. Yes. You have tested positive. How are you doing . Its not bad. Ive been fortunate. I had some mild symptoms now which ive had to deal with the last week, but all in all, im fightling a good fight and i appreciate all the support im getting across this country, particularly my family here in detroit, both the dpe family, just the thoughts have been wonderful. Chief, you know, the mayor of detroit said today that about 20 of your force, about 522 officers are now under quarantine. Theyre out. Let me ask you so people understand. What impact does that have on detroit . On their ability to do their job and your ability to keep that city safe and your ability to help people who may be sick and need care . You know, weve been very fortunate. We made some we planned for the whatifs. We tried to anticipate that we would have some loss of staff. As you indicated, were sitting at right now 639 total sworn
civilian members of our organization that are in quarantine. What we did, we collapsed some of our nonessential units and moved them into our hardest hit stations so they could kochbt to do the most important work and that is respond to calls for service. The emergency calls for service. Thats whats key. Weve done that very well. We have an impact to our communication system. The good news there, we were able to move out of our new Communications System into a backup so we wouldnt have any service disruptions. Weve been able to manage. Our Response Time has been lower than its been for sometime. Climb is lower, somewhat. Hmm. So weve been surviving this thing so far. And you know, i do, though i see members of the nypd every day here in this city and have a chan to talk to them. And you know, they are proud
and to go about their jobs as your officers are as well. I know many of your officers, they sign up knowing theyre going to have to go into the line of fire literally. I dont think that any of them going through a call that could kill them or their families. How are they handling this . Its got to be really hard. Its difficult, but you have to understand why an American Police officer, for starters, you know, we have contacts with people each and every day. Sometime we make traffic stopts. We dont know who were stopping. We may find out later that the person were stopping is armed and dangerous. As soon as the officer approaches that vehicle, the person opens fire. Our Police Officers are trained and diligent in dealing with the unknown. Ive been doing this for 43
years. Ive been through civil unrest, earthquakes in los angeles. There is nothing that can compare to this. I think some of my colleagues even in 9 11 will share some of the same anecdotes. People want to be out there. They want to serve. They understand that theyre going into unknown. Many of those who are quash teend want to go back to work. It sure is. I appreciate your time chief craig and i hope that your symptoms continue to be mild and youre back and fully better very soon. Thank you sir. Im looking forward to it. Thanks so much. Tom Health Officials are stressing the need for Antibody Testing. That will provide the crucial information, right, of how way spread. Who has it. Who has already recovered . We really cant anxious your
question until we can get Antibody Testing. Dr. Fauchi and i are very focused on getting serology testing out there to really figure out when it came. So testing, Antibody Testing is already under way in one town in america. Telluride colorado where one Biotech Company is testing every person in this county for coronavirus antibodies. Lou, thank you very much. Lets start with the process. If youre youre going about and doing this, what is the process to get this done, to test someone for antibodies . How long does it take to do it and how long to get your results . The process is a simple blood draw. Then those are applied to an eliza a peptide based eliza
dgt process in the lab. You do about 92 per hour or per hour and a half so its fairly fast. There are machines that allow high through put than that. Its not rapid but the idea is its about specificity and its about detecting whos built up some level of exposure to the virus. What have you found so fafr in telluride . There are some publicly announced things by the county and as it pertains to the results, you know, thats not something that our company is privy to thats really coup led. And i believe that they announced that there were of the initial kind of 700ish that had gone through, there were two that showed signals likely to zero convert during the 14day interim. Two out of 700 is not a lot. Look, both you and i both know its not just the
economic view. Being able to get a tets could be economically crucial. You heard what Deborah Birks was saying. She was saying were not going to know fundamental we got this right, if intervening earlier would have helped unless we can tell whether people have antibodies. If thfts sprelding in the community before we started doing social distancing. With your Antibody Test youre able to tell somebody has antibodies. Are you able to tell when they had the coronavirus . Are you able to know at what time they had it . You know, youre not able to specify an exact date of exposure, but you the antibodies persist for quite some time, it seems. Obviously, a new virus that were learning a lot about. With the bodies persist, the important thing is to get the front line workers back to work right now and the 650 or 700 workers that are in detroit
right now that is part of the police force that arent serving because theyre stuck home can be tested and robust antii mean cost wise. Is this something you could do more broadly across the country . Yeah, absolutely. I mean, these are things that are dollars per test an theyre absolutely scaleable. Elizas are well known technology. Our approach is highly specific. I think many this up stance weve been deploying it in hot spots around the country already and Major Hospital systems and working with communities to help give them real actionable information. Like we said right now were focussing on the front line and
trying to get people a that help us back to work so they can help other people. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Margaret hamburg was the commissioner under president obama. Dr. Hamburg, what do you mean . Earlier there was a little confusion on the fda and Antibody Testing. What do you make of the fact halt the they havent approved anything. Lou was talking about something theyre doing in telluride and for hospital workers on the front line. Im note certain but i think there have been emergency use authorization for some antibody tetss but they need to get out into use. I might be wrong about that. But its crucially important as dr. Birks said, that we get these out into use and that we use it both to define the nature and scope of the outbreak in communities and across the nation and that we use it as a tool in order to get people back
into the work force and importantly right now, to get Health Care Workers who have to play such a vital role in carrying for patients who are sick with covid 19 and sick with other causes and also front line workers like the police chief, we just heard from in detroit. Right. And the antibody concept does seem so crucial. You look at the numbers theyre giving. There are ranges of deaths, that is even with the states being able to get all these ventilators coming on line so if you want people to be able to go back to their lives at some point, theres going to be fear. People dont want too take that risk that this can still happen to you. Even when you have the medical care that you need. Its completely understandable to this point in new york, because you have spent a lot of time in the new york system as well, doctors Dierks Bentley and fauchi both point odd the curve from italy as a hopeful sign. Dr. Fauchi mentioned that there were ipg lings of this in new york. 17 the past week, 57 , the prior sevenday period. What does that say to you . Do the numbers mean anything . Well, i think we have to take it day by day. We have to do everything we can to help support the Health Care System. We have to do everything we can to make sure that the testing is adequate so we can assess the number of new cases. There are encouraging signs, some of the rates of up crease are slowing. And certainly there is reason to take hope from the other countries that have quite aggressively put in social distancing measures and are seeing kbrooichlt. So i think we are all dealing with an uncertain situation here. We are all hoping for the best
in preparing for the and preparing for the worst. Doctor, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight, maam. Thank you. One of the hardest hit states in the United States, still washington state, home to both the first confirmed case of coronavirus and the first death in the United States and washington hospitals are now bracing for a surge of patients as the state years 5,000 dete detected cases. Sarah sider in is out front. Its change nurses and doctors at seattles Harbor View Medical Center suit up to go to battle with coronavirus, they have to go through an exhausting dressing regimen, masks and gowns. We think the greatest risk is when they remove things, they contaminate themselves. They have a checklist and a spotter helping with every step. They have to adapt to new realities and shorters. Shes are the hoods that hook
up to these machines that filter air. You clean . They get scleend inside and out. The way they were built was for onetime reporter they have completely revamped two intensive care units. So this whole unit was meant to be for people with brain injuries and strokes and so forth. So now we have to move all of them someplace else because we have to continue that care. Reporter so all the people with brain injuries were removed and this was turned into a covid19 icu unit . Correct. Reporter all to try and help coronavirus patients live, isolate them from others, and keep the staff safe, too. So, i am not wearing the full personal Protection Equipment because in these rooms where the actual covid19 patients are, these are considered negative pressure rooms. That means that we are considered in a safe space not wearing full personal protection. Patients are being cared for, but we dont need to wear the full apparatus, unless you are a doctor or nurse who has to go into the room to care for the patient. Inside the rooms patients are hooked up to a shocking number of tubes, using those precious ventilators, the only thing keeping them breathing. So for the icu patients, they get sick and they stay sick long. They require a ventilator weeks at a time. Thats the big issue. Reporter across just their four hospitals, 60 coronavirus patients were hospitalized last week. Already this week its at least 100. For each one, a delicate dance to keep staff healthy and patients alive. It is just coming in here and seeing the work being done and seeing the patients being cared for, its stressful. Im scared for their families as well. And so as you walk through and you see the hard work being done and people doing everything they need to take care of patients, its awe inspiring considering the fact that they, too, could be putting themselves in harms way. Outside the hospital a large tent has been erected to assess and test potential coronavirus patients. And this is happening before the anticipated surge here. I feel dread and i feel fear and im not working on the front lines. What are you dealing with as youre dealing with these covid19 patients . A sense of anxiety because we, right now, were kind of wondering what its going to be like when that peak comes and when people are, you know, flooding in. Reporter while the number of new infections in washington seems to be slowing down, theres a growing sense they havent seen the worst of it yet. What they do every day is heroic. Going and taking care of
patients without protection is not acceptable. Reporter and we should mention that this is believed to be the first hospital in america to have a patient who died of covid19. That was more than a month ago. They are expecting a surge to happen here, the height of it in april 19th, and everyone here, the doctors, the nurses, the entire staff are hoping to ready. Erin . Incredibly sorry. Sarah, thank you very much. And tonight as we learn more about the coronavirus, it appears to be hitting some families particularly hard, including one Missouri Family that had five of its family members five family members become sick with coronavirus. One is still in the hospital. Joining me now, two members of the family recovering, michael and ryan weinhaus. Michael, you were hospitalized along with your wife who is in the hospital, though. Obviously your brother jason got it as well. And also ryan, your wife. So, let me ask you just to start with you, michael, how you are feeling. I mean, are you still i can obviously still see you have, you know, oxygen. So please tell me how youre doing, sir, how youre feeling. Well, im feeling great. Im home. I am on oxygen, but i really feel wonderful. Recovering and couldnt feel better. Wow, well, i know its just a relief in your voice. I cant imagine how terrifying a moment this may have been. Ryan, i know your mother who is still in the hospital tonight was the first in the family to get sick, and then it seemed to spread to the family. I mean, how quickly did this happen . People see this and say, oh, my goodness, an entire family. How quickly did this happen that
you all got sick . Yeah, its definitely been a long month, thats for sure. You know, shes a very healthy individual. By the time she got sick, it all started with a basic cough and about five days later after being laid up in bed, thats when the rest of us, my dad, my brother, my wife and myself all started having some symptoms. When she went to the e. R. Initially after about five days of it, she was diagnosed with pneumonia, sent home with some antibiotics, but two days later she was right back in the e. R. Where she was admitted by icu and hooked up to a ventilator within 24 hours for eight consecutive days. Wow. Look, and i know on so many levels you must feel so lucky because there are many who go to the hospital, get sent home like she did. By the time they come back, its too late. Michael, i know you must be so grateful that she is seeming to be getting better. I know that you and she eventually got to be together and share a private hospital
room which in and of it several is a small miracle as you know compared to what many are enduring. Were there moments during your hospitalization when you were really afraid for yourself or for your wife and what might happen . Well, certainly. But i always kept an extremely positive attitude with hope, and that made all the difference in the world, is to remain positive and hopeful. And fortunately, shes on her road to recovery, very slowly, but it was all the support of the community and always remaining positive and with hope. And, ryan, obviously our viewers here every day about ventilators and the short supply of ventilators. Of course, they are so desperately needed. I mean, when you talk about what happened to your mother and how she went in and was sent home with an antibiotic for bacterial pneumonia, ends up in the
hospital a few days later again, and is within 24 hours on a ventilator in an icu, do you think that ventilator, that access saved her life . Absolutely. We were scared, very, very scared. It was easy to think negative thoughts. Fortunately we have so many people wishing well upon us that allowed us to be more positive. When she was hooked up into the ventilator, we were certainly scared. And without that ventilator, who knows, right . It would be a mystery. But thankfully the doctors and nurses, you know, theyre rock stars. Theyre our heroes. Yeah, were definitely, definitely believing that ventilator saved her life. Michael, how long was she in the hospital and with such severe symptoms, and obviously in the icu . How far behind her, i guess, is the way i would ask this question, was your onset of symptoms and going to the hospital . Well, my symptoms were
probably three days behind her. And i was admitted into the hospital i think a couple days right behind her, maybe a day behind her, where i was admitted to the icu as well. Not on a ventilator thankfully, but serious enough to be in the icu for i think maybe eight days. Wow. Well, look, im so glad youre home, michael, and many look at you. You are hope for many and that your wife is getting better. And ryan, thanks to you, im glad you are better. Your brother, your wife, that all of you will end up a happy story out of this of recovery and togetherness. Thank you all so very much. Thank you for having us. Thank you. All right. And also tonight, new yorkers on their balconies showing a little love for those on the front line. Here heres jeannie. Reporter why are new yorkers heading to the balcony at 7 00 every night . To clap. Theyre clapping from balconies. Theyre clapping from doors, too. Its a standing ovation for the performance by doctors, nurses, sanitation workers and store clerks. Thank you were so appreciative. Reporter it comes across as a distant dm. Across the city scape or a loud woo. Woohoo reporter up close. Hooray reporter normally cool new yorkers are banging pots and ringing cow bells. So who knows where a new yorker gets a cow bell . Its enough to touch even a comedians heart. I have never been more moved by applause that wasnt for me. Reporter and on it goes by the clap because we care. Got to keep clapping for two minutes. Reporter in addition to applause, the Empire State Building lit itself up like a