Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20200331

Since the pandemic began. The global numbers are also so grim. At least 41,000 have died around the world. And more than 840,000 people have been infected. There are also growing questions tonight over whether the American Public should wear masks to slow the spread of the virus. Dr. Anthony fauci just told cnn he would lean toward that recommendation only if it wouldnt affect the supply for Health Care Workers. Lets begin our coverage this hour with cnns erica hill. Erica, youre outside an emergency Field Hospital in new yorks central park. Who would have thought. Tell us what youre seeing. Reporter yeah, wolf, its true, its something you cant really imagine, yet here it is, being built just behind us. A number of volunteers on hand, in addition to those folks from samaritans purse. This is one of a number of new facilities going up around the country to help meet this growing need. The headline across america, hospitals need help. More testing, more beds, more ventilators, more doctors. Reporter Convention Centers in detroit, chicago, new orleans, and los angeles being transformed into overflow facilities as Emergency Rooms are overwhelmed with the coronavirus. Navy hospital ships on both coasts available for noncovid patients while in central park, a Field Hospital is starting to treat those who have tested positive. We are still in a very difficult situation. We hope, and i believe it will happen, that we may start seeing a turnaround. But we havent seen it yet. Were just pushing on the mitigation to hope that we do see that turnaround. Reporter as beds, staff, and supplies run low, there are new concerns about the impact on care. Right now its kind of like drinking out of a fire hydrant. Reporter the chair of nyu Emergency Medical Department telling doctors in an email to, quote, think more critically about who we intubate, according to the wall street journal. In georgia, the states Nurses Association estimates as many as 3,500 retired nurses have asked to return to work, and they are needed. New modeling predicts the coming weeks will see a significant surge in cases. In midapril, 2,000 people could die each day in the u. S. We have been behind it from day one, since it got here. And weve been playing catchup. You dont win playing catchup. We have to get ahead of it. Reporter in new york city, new data on who is affected. More than half of the nearly 41,000 positive cases are under age 50. Across the country, a renewed push for more serious social distancing as the white house considers new guidelines. When we get in a situation where we have enough masks, i believe there will be serious consideration about more broadening this recommendation of using masks. Were not there yet. Reporter on board the holland americas zaandam cruise ship making its way toward florida, the company says eight people have tested positive. Nearly 200 have flulike symptoms. Four older passengers have died. Their cause of death hasnt been released. Its not clear whether anyone will be back on land. Florida has not yet approved the ship to dock. Its truly a nightmare scenario. And, you know, if your own country wont take you in, where are you supposed to go . Reporter as more americans begin to feel the Economic Impact of this pandemic, other needs are increasingly apparent. The line for this food bank outside pittsburgh stretching more than a mile on monday. Officials say they saw the demand increase three weeks ago, when the virus first hit the area. In response to the rapid increase in 911 calls here in new york city, mayor de blasio has said, wolf, that an additional 250 ambulances and 500 emts and paramedics are being sent to the city. About half of those workers, Health Care Workers, are already on hand. And 150 of those 250 ambulances are also already in the city, wolf. Erica hill reporting from central park in new york city, erica, thank you very much. The White House Coronavirus task force is scheduled once again to begin its briefing very shortly. Lets get an update from our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta. Jim, the president , were told, is expected to unveil new social distancing guidelines for the entire country. Reporter thats right, wolf, in just a few minutes President Trump is expected to outline the administrations plans for battling the coronavirus over the next month. The president is expected to call for the current social distancing guidelines to remain largely in place. But officials are strongly considering the idea of urging americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the virus. Even as Top Administration Health Experts are seeing some signs of hope in the battle against the coronavirus if you look now, were starting to see glimmers that that is actually having some dampening effect. Reporter dr. Anthony fauci is hinting americans may have to do more than practice social distancing and start Wearing Masks. When we get in a situation when we have enough masks, i believe there will be some very serious conversation about more broadening this recommendation of using masks. Were not there yet, but i think were close to coming to some determination. Reporter such a move would be a departure from what the administration has said for weeks, that it was only necessary for people to wear masks if they had coronavirus symptoms. What the cdc and World Health Organization have reaffirmed in the last few days is they do not recommend the general public wear masks. Reporter medical experts do not want to exacerbate ongoing shortages of personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses on the front lines fighting the virus. But with coronavirus cases soaring in the u. S. , the president suggested americans may have no other choice. I saw his suggestion on that. So well take a look at it. For a period of time. Reporter hardhit states are already competing against one another to scrounge up sorelyneeded ventilators, driving up prices. New york Governor Cuomo just purchased ventilators from china. We are broke. The last thing i want to do is buy a single ventilator that i dont need. Reporter Top Republicans are pushing back on the idea that President Trump failed to act. It came up while we were tied down in an impeachment trial and i think it diverted the attention of, uh, the government, because every day was all about impeachment. Reporter but hold on. Here is the reality. The president was acquitted on february 5th. Five days before he declared at a rally that the virus would quickly disappear. And by the way, the virus, theyre working hard, looks like by april, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away, i hope thats true. Reporter the president also played golf during the weeks that followed. Faced with questions about why he downplayed the crisis, the president says he was just trying to be optimistic, to keep americans calm. I dont want panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you, i would make you look like a minor league player, but you know what, i dont want to do that. Reporter but even some of the president s most loyal supporters say he hasnt done enough. Dont give me the my pillow guy doing a song and dance on a monday afternoon when people are dying in queens. Reporter the president says he hasnt heard recent complaints about the availability of states, but governors say states are still having a problem obtaining those tests. Im sure, womalf, hell be aske about that in moments. Im sure he will. Thank you very much, jim acosta. Ill have a live interview with Vice President mike pence, head of the Coronavirus Task force, at 11 30 a. M. Eastern tomorrow, right here on cnn. Lets get some more on the latest coronavirus developments. Joining us now, the governor of connecticut, ned lamont. Governor, i know youre very busy, thank you so much for taking a few moments to share with our viewers. The president , as you just heard, is expected to issue new guidelines when he addresses the nation momentarily in this upcoming briefing. What further action would you like to see the president take . I would like to hear him talk about the strategic stockpile. Weve only gotten 50 ventilators. No ppe. I appreciate him talk about people wearing surgical masks, i would love somebody to ask him how much ppe theyve got in the stockpile and how they will be distributed. Were desperate for it. This morning you said at a press conference that the National Stockpile of ventilators, you suggested, was empty. Thats not necessarily what we hear from some federal officials. With y can you elaborate on that . I hope youre right and i hope im wrong. We had heard rumors that the stockpile was running dry. I hope they can address that today. I hope theyre on top of ppe and ventilators. Were desperately short of them. We had you know, we are the fourth most infected state in the country per capita. Theyve really got to focus on these regional hotspots. How much ventilators do you think you need in the short term to deal with this crisis in your state . We have about 975. Weve put in an order months ago for 1,500 which we think gets us there. So far weve gotten 50. 50 out of thats all you got is 50 . What do they say to you, when you go to the administration and say, were desperate, we need help, weve got to save lives, what do they say . They say, your order is being processed, oh, at the last moment, it went to a place thats more urgent, youll be next in line. And im afraid weve heard that for some weeks now. And like i said, were part of the new york metro center. Were part of that pandemic. We have that same high infection rate. Its getting risky. Connecticut is a hotspot, according to u. S. Officials, of this virus. Youre just outside new york city. Yesterday you told cnn that fema had redirected some shipment of these ventilators that was meant for your state. Eral government on other critically needed supplies . Yes, i would say a month ago we got about 10 of our order for some ppe and masks and such. I really hope we want to look forward. We hope they have their foot on the accelerate right now, i hope theyre mask manufacturing. This is the time. Were ramping up over the next three weeks, this is crunch time for us. We need the material now. Your people will be desperate in a few days, the way this virus is exploding. The new york governor, andrew cuomo, says, and im quoting him, its like being on ebay with 50 other states bidding on a ventilator. Do you agree with him that the federal government should simply be the purchaser and the federal government should then distribute the supplies to the states . Dont make the states compete with each other. Yeah, andrew is absolutely right, its crazy the way were doing this. 50 people bidding back and forth, the federal government swooping in. Its like surge pricing, when youre trying to get that car. This is whats happening right now. It is crazy. The federal government ought to do this, allocate it based on need. If the president is watching us right now, and he watches a lot of news on tv, what would you say to him . I would say, thank you very much for taking a look at new york as part of new jersey, as part of connecticut, as a regional contagion, make sure you focus your energies on the entire region, and thank you for taking is seriously now, im glad you extended the social distancing, its so key for us to flatten the curve, we have to speak with one voice, federal, state, and local, and im glad youre on board. Governor, thank you so much for joining us, good luck to you, good luck to all the folks in connecticut. Well see what the president has to say in a few moments. Good luck. Nice to see you, wolf, thanks. Stay with us, were waiting for the start of todays Coronavirus Briefing over at the white house. You see reporters, theyre seated in their chairs over there. Were also watching this, a lot of folks are preparing for the absolute worst. Were going to take you inside a parking garage thats been converted into a Field Hospital to care for coronavirus patients. Youre looking at pictures of that. Well be right back. People used to care. Heck, theyd come all the way out here just for a blurry photo of me. Oh, thats a good one. Wait, whats that . Thats just the lowbattery warning. Oh, alright. Now its all, check out my rv, and, lets go fourwheeling. Maybe theres a little part of me that wanted to be seen. Well, progressive helps people save when they bundle their home with their outdoor vehicles. So theyve got other things to do now, bigfoot. Wait, whatd you just call me . Bigfoot . My name is daryl. Were awaiting the start of todays White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing in anticipation of the expected surge in coronavirus cases. Some states and cities now are setting up Field Hospitals. Cnns brian todd visited one of those facilities just outside washington, in fredericksburg, virginia. Reporter wolf, with hospitals being overwhelmed, youre seeing Field Hospitals popping up all over the country. This is in fredericksburg, virginia. This is the parking garage adjacent to the emergency room area. They have dozens of treatment areas, a Triage Center for the influx of patients theyre almost sure is coming. Some doctors and nurses on the front lines say their hospitals are facing an overwhelming flood of patients. Theres patients building up in all the corridors, on oxygen. Their oxygen tanks are running low. The rooms are short. The nursing staff is short. The doctors are falling ill too. Reporter these emergency room doctors say shortages are at dangerous levels. Were running out of medication. Were running out of equipment. And were even running out of oxygen, which is something that patients that have covid19 need. Reporter one of the most critical shortages, ventilators. Your lungs are filled with fluid like youre drowning. Once youre at that point, you need a ventilator to stay alive. Were running out of that equipment for people. Reporter new york is racing to fill the breach, building emergency Field Hospitals at the javits center, central park and where also. Around the country, cities bracing for impact are rush to go build out their capacity in case theyre hit by the same tsunami as new york. In fredericksburg, virginia, about an hour south of washington, Mary Washington hospital has set up a Field Hospital in the parking garage just a few feet outside its emergency room. Well start out with two triage stations. Well be able to scale that up as we need. Reporter er doctor eric tosh takes you through what loosely a an m. A. S. H. Unit. He says they got this facility operational in just a few days. Tonight there are only a few coronavirus patients inside the main hospital, nonin the Field Hospital. But tosh is confident that will change. That theyre seeing as many as 2 to 400 of daily volume. So this is designed for about that sort of influx. Reporter its required some creative ingenuity. The hospital took old waiting area recliners and converted them into treatment chairs. They put old plant hangers that well repurpose as iv bag holders. Reporter and theyve installed a sobering feature that tosh hopes his er team will never have to use in case patients get violent. People need to get out, well be able to get out through the back of the tent here, and into the main treatment area. Reporter tosh says right now hes balancing being prepared with managing the fears and concerns of his staff over what may be coming. I dont know that anybody alive has ever seen anything like this. But weve had lots of training at being flexible and creative and doing things in the way that maybe they werent meant to or designed to be done. Reporter one thing dr. Tosh is now concerned about is a dropoff in patients seeing Emergency Care outside of coronavirus. He said hes seen much fewer people come here in the last few weeks seeking treatment for heart attacks and strokes, fearful that theyre going to get coronavirus if they come in, wolf. Brian todd, good report, thank you. As we await the start of todays White House Coronavirus briefing, were joined by two medical experts, dr. Megan ranney with Lifespan Health system at Brown University in rhode island. Also joining us, dr. Daniella lomas from harvards brigham and Womens Hospital in boston. Doctors, thank you for joining us. Dr. Lamas, youre one of those brave doctors on the front lines of this crisis, were grateful to all of you and your colleagues. What have you been experiencing this week . So we are still not nearly at the point where new york is. And i think what were doing is looking ahead and were seeing numbers that are worrisome. Were seeing some projections of up to 250 patients who are sick enough to need intubation at our hospital. And so what were doing is trying to build a framework to care for these people. We already have started to build coronavirusspecific icus where weve started to see patients. Were setting up schedules with redundancy. And were trying to make sure to the best of our ability that were ready while learning how best to care for these people and really for learning and improving ventilator management, strategies to get people through this with the patients that were seeing already. This is lifesaving work that youre doing. Dr. Ranney, youre actively treating patients with coronavirus. You probably saw the wall street journal report that physicians at nyu langone hospital, theyve been instructed, in the words in the wall street journal, quoting from a memo that came out from nyu langone, think more carefully about who we intubate. It sounds like they have to make life and death decisions, who lives and who dies. That is absolutely a reflection of the lack of resources here in the United States. We are not used to rationing care based on availability of equipment. But quite honestly, if the number of patients requiring ventilators outstripped the number of ventilators that weve, well be stuck making some really tough decisions about who gets intubated and who doesnt. Is it first come, first served, or do we figure out some other method based on age or likelihood of survival . Those are decisions were not used to making in the u. S. Dr. Lamas, are you prepared to make excruciating decisions about who gets a lifesaving ventilator and who does not . Truly, wolf, i dont think anybody can be prepared as a front line physician. My hope is with this little bit of time we have, and i know my hospital and other hospitals are actively working on this, that we at least have an ethical framework whereby the front line physician is not making the decision, that we at least feel like were working as part of a team. With that being said, i am familiar with limited resources, with transplantation, these sort of things. But a ventilator and an individual sitting there is not something im necessarily prepared for. This briefing is about to begin, im told. Dr. Ranney, the Coronavirus Task force is reconsidering whether to recommend that americans wear masks. Would you support that recommendation right now, if there were plenty of masks available and it wouldnt detract from the masks really going to the front line physicians and nurses and medical technicians . So its the second part of your sentence that i think is so important. We dont currently have adequate masks for our doctors, nurses, paramedics, police officers, and other front line folks that are in front of the public constantly and getting sick at alarming rates. Were those masks fully available, sure, having the average person wear a mask is not going to hurt and may help. But the reality, wolf, is we dont have enough masks for the people that are in the hospitals or in ambulances right now. And so to tell the American Public to wear those masks when we dont have enough for the folks that are out there treating patients, to me that makes me nervous and its going to put my health care colleagues potentially at greater risk. Thats a huge problem. What do you think, dr. Lamas . I entirely agree with what dr. Ranney says. There are things that americans can do on a daily basis without Wearing Masks to keep themselves safe. We know that hand washing can reduce the rates of transmission. Coronavirus is spread by droplet and contact and we can prevent both those things without detracting from the masks available for Health Care Workers. Dr. Lamas, do you have enough personal Protection Equipment right now, do you have enough critical equipment right now to do the job that you anticipate unfolding very soon . We do right now. I mean, already weve seen changes, a couple of weeks ago i used a different n95 respirator in any room i walked into with a coronavirus patient or patient being evaluated. Now we have one n95 respirator for the day. That being said, there is a new supply coming into my hospital shortly. Were getting refit tested. So this is an evermoving target. Theres constantly change. And i do feel like i have the equipment i need now. Dr. Lamas, dr. Ranney, on behalf of our viewers, thanks to both of you for whatre doing, youre saving lives. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for the time. Thank you, wolf. Stay with us, once again, were standing by for todays Coronavirus Briefing at the white house. Were told its about to begin. Well also take you to new york where a Navy Hospital ship is getting ready to receive patients. Awesome internet. Its more than just fast. It keeps all your devices running smoothly. With builtin security that protects your kids. No matter what theyre up to. It protects your info. And gives you 24 7 peace of mind. That if its connected, its protected. Even that that petcamera thingy. [ whines ] can your internet do that . Xfinity xfi can because its. Simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ] some analysis right now from dana bash and dr. Sanjay gupta. Dana, the president , were told, is getting ready to extend the coronavirus guidelines based on the modeling of the possible death toll which could be enormous, 100,000, 200,000, maybe more. But some of his aides, and youve been doing the reporting on this, dont necessarily trust those numbers. Why did the public Health Experts win out and get the president to agree to extend these guidelines . Listen, its a great question. And in this particular case, the Health Experts, the medical professionals, won out. And the reason, im told, and you and i discussed this the day that the president made this announcement on sunday, is that the president got a very, very strong, powerful private presentation from dr. Anthony fauci and dr. Deborah birx, very powerful, the kind of thing that sanjay has been saying on tv, that theyve been saying on tv. But it was very focused on the overall numbers, but in particular that 100 to 200,000 warning. And more importantly, if he changes the guidelines and opens everything up around easter as he had been suggesting he might, then that would raise the mortality rate to a place where the president just didnt want to go. And hes also looking at his political polling, and the Public Opinion polling, that he has been told supports this notion of everybody taking a deep breath and sticking with this as opposed to, as you said, some of his political policy advisers behind the scenes have been kind of bristling about this, they worry it goes too far. But they did not win out, and thats the important thing to note here, for now it was the medical professionals who ruled the day when it came to the president s decision. Sanjay, should people be mentally prepared to continue all these social distancing measures, basically shut the country down, past april 30th, which it is current deadline the president has imposed . I think thats a real possibility, wolf. You know, i think what weve been seeing in terms of the way that this information, these recommendations have been sort of rolled out, is theyre coming out somewhat piecemeal, right . First it was a couple of weeks, now its been extended another month. If you look at some of the modelling, it was based on the these social distancing guidelines being continued until the end of may, thats where they got these numbers from, they said, if we continue social distancing guidelines until the end of may, we may actually be able to reduce deaths in this country to the staggering number, still, of close to 100,000 people. So i had a chance to speak to dr. Fauci today, interviewed him for our podcast, and i sort of asked him that question, i said, is this part of the strategy to slowly, you know, ease the country into these existing and deepening or at least lengthening guidelines . And he sort of said, yeah, look, we dont want to shock people with this, we want to look at the data, but the data certainly is suggesting that, wolf, this was likely to go on beyond april 30th. Whatthats what a lot of peo suggest. Dana, now that the president and the administration are accepting things wont be back to normal by easter sunday, april 12th, are they more seriously wrapping up plans to get medical equipment, badlyneeded ventilators over to the folks who need them the most at these front line hospitals . Its a really hard question to answer, because if you talk to the governors, you listen to the governor you just had on from connecticut, if you listen to andrew cuomo from new york, i talked to people who are trying to stay ahead of this, across states, across the country, the answer they give is, no, they dont feel theyre prepared. Obviously in hotspots its an urgent question. In the places that are just kind of hunkering down, it is more of a preparation situation. And the white house is continuing to say that theyre on it. There is its really hard to believe, given the fact that this is the United States of america, but there is still very much a disconnect between the governors, what they say they need, what they are in desperate what they desperately need, and what the federal government says theyre trying to get to them. There seems to be a logjam at fema or maybe its somewhere in the supply chain. Its really unclear where it is. But it really still appears to be chaotic, unfortunately. It certainly does. Everywhere, sanjay, in the country, there are different points in the curve of this virus. How do you prioritize where resources, desperatelyneeded resources should go . And can places that are less impacted right now send equipment or workers to the hotspots, could equipment be sent from new york after they get past the worst of it, and who knows when that might happen . Well, you know, its a challenging idea. You know, i think the idea of it going from someplace thats a hotspot, thats clearly gone over the peak of the curve, may be a more likely idea than it going from somewhere to one of the hotspots right now. The problem, wolf, and weve talked to people on the ground, people at these hospitals, they know theyre early in the curve but they dont know exactly how quickly theyll see this increased demand at hospitals. You have 20, 30, 40 patients today, it could go to 50, 60, a hundred tomorrow. They just dont know. Its very hard for people in that preparation mode to let go of these precious commodities. So maybe after the fact, perhaps, and i know Governor Cuomo has brought that up, i think even that might be a little bit challenging because there are waves to this. But thats more likely than people giving up this equipment before the curve really starts to steepen. Because, sanjay, you heard Governor Cuomo of new york say theyre desperately in need of medical professionals by the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, hes suggesting to come to new york right now. Yeah, i mean, i think, you know, in terms of manpower and personnel, you know, you are seeing people really answer that call, which is amazing, i have to say, just watching these Health Care Professionals who are traveling to new york, theyre going to the hotspot, theyre not entirely sure whether theyre going to have all their personal protective equipment. It is quite something, you know. Great admiration for them, i think we all do. I think its a little bit different than the equipment, though, wolf, because the equipment and the gear and stuff like that, i think the question for a lot of folks in a lot of states, theyre saying, look, we think we might need this, we see how the curve has sort of changed in these hotspots, and theres no reason to suggest, even though we have few cases here now, that we wont eventually adopt these same curves, maybe not to the same extreme as a denselypopulated large city like new york, but theyre still going to have growth, and maybe even exponential growth in terms of cases and the need for hospitalization in those places, wolf. Because, dana, these governors, theyre desperate right now, they need these supplies in order to save lives. And, you know, theyre considering their best strategy, how do they do it . Yeah, and look, weve talked about this, wolf, and sanjay as well, we saw this coming from weeks away. We watched what was happening in italy. We saw and heard Horror Stories of the doctors having to decide who lives and dies because of the lack of equipment, the lack of ventilators and so forth. And so now theres a situation where you have, as sanjay was saying, the denselypopulated hotspots, obviously new york is top of the list, where theyre dealing with that crisis. But then you have i spoke, for example, to the mayor of topeka, kansas today, thats the center of the country. Kansas ina huge number comparatively to, obviously, places like new york and others. And they have two hospitals, and they have over 100,000 people, including pretty large nursing homes. And theyre just one outbreak away from just overflowing. So its not like they are going to give up some of their bare minimum equipment. And that is very a very similar story, i think, sanjay, you agree, to what were hearing from medium to small towns across the country. Theyre in prep mode, theyre trying to make sure they dont become another new york or italy. Sanjay, all of a sudden im getting very confused about whether or not we should be Wearing Masks. Originally they said dont wear masks, it could even be detrimental if youre Wearing Masks, just let those who are treating these coronavirus patients wear the masks. But all of a sudden now, and you spoke with dr. Fauci earlier today, all of a sudden were being told, yes, maybe wearing the masks is a good idea. Just explain, because a lot of us are confused. Well, look, one thing ill say with all humility, is these recommendations are changing. We are all in the middle of an evolving situation together. So its in some ways not surprising that well hear different recommendations. Two big things i think that are worth pointing out, one is that i think what is really driving this is this idea that there is, you know, Significant Community spread of this virus. Thats important, because we know there are a lot of people who are asymptomatic, you know, dont really have symptoms, that can still spread the virus. So the way to think about this mask issue is its not really still for people who are not infected. This is more for people who might be infected and dont know it and to try and lower the likelihood that they would spread this to somebody else. It still sort of fits that same pattern, its trying to decrease the amount of virus that a person who is infected puts out into the environment. The second thing is, dr. Fauci and others have been very clear about this, these are not the masks that are being used in hospitals that theyre recommending average citizens use. Not the n95 masks, which are these sort of airtight masks, not the surgical masks used typically in hospitals, but even cloth masks, things like that, are the ones they would recommend for citizens. First advice for anybody is to stay home. But if somebody does need to go out, and look, anybody might be infected and not know it, we all have to behave like we have the virus, i think that is whats driving the idea that if you have to go out for something essential, that wearing a mask may not be a bad idea. I asked dr. Fauci who is always so hes very careful, as we all know, in how he chooses his words. But what i said to him, look, at the end of the day, what i imagine will happen is theyre going to look at you at this Task Force Meeting and theyll say, what do you think, dr. Fauci. And i asked him that and he said, well, i think that as long as Health Care Workers have it, i lean towards recommending that average citizens wear masks when they go out. What could be the harm, he said. The only harm here, wolf and dana, interestingly, as much as weve talked about the balance between Public Health and the economy with regard to the shutdown, this is more a balance between Public Health and the optics, if you will, the idea that america might appear sick because average people are Wearing Masks out in public. So its but even with that, dr. Fauci said, the benefits are likely to outweigh the risks. All right. Everybody stand by. Here is the president. Some of the recent events that have taken place and some of the statistics that we have that i think will be very interesting. Thank you very much. Please. Thank you, mr. President. If i can have the first slide, please. So, always, and thats what this slide is labeled, is goals of community mitigation. Really highlighting that this begins in the middle and the end with community. This community, and the community of the American People that are going to have to do the things for the next 30 days to make a difference. I think, you know, from that large Blue Mountain that you can see behind me, and i just want to thank the five or Six International and domestic modelers from harvard, from northeastern, from empirical, who helped us tremendously, it was their models that created the ability to see what these mitigations could do, how steeply they could depress the curve from that giant Blue Mountain down to that more stippled area. In their estimates, they had between 1. 5 million and 2. 2 Million People in the United States succumbing to this virus without mitigation. Yet through their detailed studies and showing us what social distancing would do, what would happen if people stayed home, what would happen if people were careful every day to wash their hands and worry about touching their faces, what an extraordinary thing this could be if every american followed these. It takes us to that stippled mountain thats much lower, a hill, actually, down to 100 to 200,000 deaths, which is still way too much. Next slide, please. Simultaneously, there was a modeler out of the university of washington that modelled from cases up, utilizing the experience around the globe to really understand how this information that we have from italy and spain and south korea and china could really help us give insight into hospital needs, ventilator needs, and the number of people who potentially could succumb to this illness. It is this model that we are looking at now that provides us the most detail of the time course that is possible. But this model assumes full mitigation. Its informed every morning or every night by the reality on the ground coming in from new york, new jersey, and around the United States. And it is modelled and informed every morning so that it is adjusted, so it is up to date every day. This is the model of the predicted fatalities and mortalities in the United States. As the president said, its very much focused on the next two weeks, and the stark reality of what this virus will do as it moves through communities. Next slide, please. But this is a slide that gives us great hope and understanding about what is possible. At the bottom of the slide, where you can barely see, that blue line at the very bottom, thats the current cases in california, the cumulative cases in california, where theyre doing significant testing. The next line up is connecticut, the orange line is new jersey. The blue line is new york. The yellow line is washington. We all remember Washington State. It was just a month ago when they started to have the issues in Washington State. But they brought together their communities and their Health Providers and they put in strong mitigation methods and testing. And you can see what the result in Washington State and california is. But without the continuation for the next 30 days, anything could change. Next slide, please. So im sure youre interested in seeing all the states. So on this slide is all 50 states and the district of columbia. But i think it shows in stark reality the difference betweenr. Our goal over the next 30 days see, the 48 across the bottom, maintain this lower level of new cases. With the hope that we dont have significant outbreaks in other states in other metro areas. As the Community Comes together to Work Together and ensure that the Health Care Providers around the globe and United States are strengthened by our resolve to continue to mitigate community by community. This is done community by community. We all know people are in their states and communities. We are very dependent on each person in the United States doing the same thing. Following the president ial guidelines to a tee. I know its a lot to ask because you have done it for 15 days. If you can show the next slide, please. This is what gives us a lot of hope. This is the case finding in italy. You can see that they are beginning to turn the corner in new cases. They are entering their fourth week of full mitigation and showing what is possible when we Work Together as a community, as a country, to change the course of this pandemic together. It is this graphic, and the graphic of many of the states that gives us hope of what is possible with continuing for another 30 days. Amidst all of that hope i must say that like we warned about detroit and chicago, we start to see changes in massachusetts. New orleans continues to be a problem of new cases. Although they are stabilizing. It shows the depth of dedication of the American People to the Health Care Providers because they can see the strain this puts on every nurse, doctor, respiratory therapist, pharmacist and Laboratory Technician that is working together to stem this tied of unrelenting sick people that come to their doors. No one has been turned away. No one that has needed ventilation has not received ventilation. But you can see how stressful it is on them. I know its stressful to follow the guidelines, but it is more difficult if you dont follow the guidelines. There is no magic bullet or vaccine or therapy. Its just our behaviors that can change the course of this viral pandemic over the course of the next 30 days. Thank you very much, dr. Birx. What dr. Birx has said simply is that there are two Dynamic Forces that are opposing each other here. As i mentioned several times in our briefings, the virus, if left to its own devices will do that dark curve that dr. Birx showed you. The other Dynamic Force is what we are trying to do and will do in the form of mitigation. Now these are very revealing bits of data because you saw what happened in italy where you make the turn around the curve. That doesnt happen all at once. It is a step wise fashion. If i explain the steps, which i will, you can see why we are convinced that mitigation is going to be doing the trick for us. Because what you have is you have increase in new case it is at a certain rate. When the increase in cases begin to level off, the secondary effect is less hospitalization, the next is less intensive care and the next effect is less deaths. The deaths and the intensive care in the hospitalization always lag behind that early indication that there are less new cases per day, the way we saw in italy and what we are likely seeing i dont want to jump the gun but that we are likely seeing in new york. In days or week or so we will see that go up. We cant be discouraged because the mitigation is working. The slide dr. Birx showed where you sought new york and new jersey and the cluster of other areas. Our goal, which i believe we can accomplish, is to get the hot spot places, the new yorks, the new engla new jerseys around the curve and places that have not gotten to that spot, the answer is mitigation. The 15 days of mitigation clearly has had an effect, although its tough to quantitate because of those two opposing forces. The reason we feel strongly about the necessity of the additional 30 days is because now is the time when you are having an effect, not to take the foot off the accelerator and on the brake, but just press it down on the accelerator. Thats what i hope and know we can do over the next 30 days. As i said the other day in one of the interviews. We are a very strong and resilient nation. If you look at our history, we have been through some terrible ordeals. This is tough. People are suffering and people are dying. It is inconvenient from a society standpoint and economic standpoint but this will be the answer to the problems, so lets all pull together and make sure as we look forward to the next 30 days we do it with all of the intensity and force that we can. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President and dr. Birx and dr. Fauci. I know i speak on behalf of the president and all of the people across the u. S. , our great appreciation in steering the nation through this challenging time. We now understand the president s decision at the end of 15 days, to allow us to go 30 more days the president s guidelines to follow. We believe it is working. As dr. Fauci just said, there are difficult days ahead. Our hearts and prayers go out to families who have lost loved ones. And those affected are struggling as we know in hospitals across the nation. But do not be discouraged. What you can do to protect your health, the health of your family, what you can do to ensure that our Health Care Providers have the resources and our hospitals have the capacity to meet this moment is put into practice the president s coronavirus guidelines for america. It is what every american can do. 30 days to slow the spread. 30 days to make a difference in the lives of the American People, American Families and life of a nation. A few brief updates before the president takes questions. First and foremost we continue to work closely with governors around the nation. The president and i spoke with all of the governors of the states and territories. We have mspoken with different governors around the state. There have been 29 major disaster declarations and authorized ten states to use title 32 funding to pay for their National Guard. Fema reports that 17,000 National Guard have been activated for states around the country to provide for coronavirus response. Testing, we have completed more than 1. 1 million tests around the country. We are working closely with governors around america to assist them in drivethrough and Community Testing centers. Iz spo i spoke with the governor of i will illinois about one they have established. We remind every hospital and lab that its imperative you report daily to the cdc to get the best data for the decisions. And we reiterated to governors in person and also throughout correspondent to every governor, fema is working to send supplies around the country. But we are urging governors to work with the National Guard to distribute it