Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20200330

You, craig melvin here. Today is National Doctors day and before we get started here lets start by thanking all of our medical professionals who are out there on the front lines putting their lives at risk to fight this virus. We are so very thankful to you today. Meanwhile, right now, the United States tops the world in coronavirus cases. This hour there are more than 143,000 known cases here, almost 2,500 fatalities so far. And as the number of cases continues to surge, the white house is responding by extending those social distancing guidelines. They had hoped to pull back by easter. Members of the White House Task force predicting millions of americans could be infected and as many as 100,000 to 200,000 could die. For the epicenter of this crisis in new york some new help, new help has arrived. Its the usns comfort, it docked in new york city a short time ago. It is a floating naval hospital, more than a thousand beds. Its going to help relieve some of the strain thats on the citys hospitals as a result of the virus right now. We expect to hear from new york city mayor bill de blasio this hour when we begins to speak well go to him. Thats, again, expected to be roughly 45 minutes from now. Right now there are some 60,000 cases in new york. Almost a thousand fatalities so far around new york state. Lets start with nbcs at the pier where the usns comfort docked. We heard from you a short time ago as that ship was arriving in new york city. Walk us through whats become a dire situation in this countrys largest city. Reporter it is indeed dire and i want to step out of the picture for a minute because i want you to see the bow of this magnificent ship that is now docking on new yorks west side. People have gathered here, youll see a lot of traffic, craig, in part because people are slowing down to take pictures of this ship. We saw a couple just a short moment ago. They were embracing. Its almost an emotional moment here because this is the comfort that people are looking for. The u. S. Navy comfort. Imagine what these statistics are that were talking about here in new york. In new york city nearly 100 deaths were registered in just seven hours yesterday. Authorities are saying that indeed this is the epicenter of this pandemic that is raging across our nation. And this ship, as you point out, a thousandbed floating hospital, it is a military vessel thats designed to provide comfort and medical assistance for wounded soldiers, soldiers in battle, troops in battle. Now its serving as this hospital facility as an urgent care facility. So new york City Hospitals can focus on covid19 patients. The patients who will come here will have anywhere from minor to critical conditions. It is massive. 1,200 crew members, a thousand beds as we said. 12 operating rooms. Radiology, cat scan, two oxygen producing plants. It is selfsufficient for this mission thats going on here and its just part of what is the help that is coming to new york right now, craig. Youre aware that its also an emergency Field Hospital with 68 beds. Thats now an iconic central park thats been put together and the hope is that it will be ready by this week, hopefully as early as tomorrow. And hospitals are feeling the strain all over the city. So the Javits Center is expected to be up and running as a Field Hospital with more than a thousand beds available for people there as well. Its something the city desperately needs. And people here are glad to see that help is coming. But more is needed because the mayor has said that he thinks that they only have enough medical supplies in this city to last for a week. So by next sunday if they dont get more supplies theyre not quite sure what the situation is that theyll be in. Craig . So good to see the usns comfort there, of course new yorkers will probably remember in the days after 9 11 it was that same ship that pulled in to pier 92 to provide Critical Care to First Responders then. Thank you. Lets turn to the white house, nbcs Shannon Pettypiece is there for us. Weve already heard from President Trump this morning, shannon. We just learned hes going to be talking to a group of governors Via Teleconference this hour behind closed doors. He also seemed to have a bit more to say about that decision to extend the social distancing guidelines. What more are we learning about how he got to that decision . And remember, today is the day that these 15day guidelines were supposed to expire. So at one point last week the president was hoping that today he would be able to start lifting, pulling back some of those and of course instead were in a much different place. What weve been hearing is that over the weekend the president s presented by his top health advisors, estimated 2. 2 milli 2. 2 million deaths, nothing to be done as far as containment and social distancing, best Case Scenario of 100,000 deaths if they keep the current measures in place. Tony fauci, said when they presented the president with the numbers over the weekend, the president shook his head and said i guess weve got to do it, referring to extending these guidelines and recommendations that tell people to avoid gatherings of ten people or more, not to eat out in restaurants, not to go out to theaters. Remember, last week, again, the president was talking about the idea that for the easter holiday, april 12th, churches would be full and that the country would be getting back to business. Heres what he had to say earlier today now what we as a country can expect by easter. Take a listen. Were thinking that around easter thats going to be your spike, thats going to be the highest point. We think, and then its going to start coming down from there. That will be a day of celebration and we just want to do it right so we picked the end of april, the last day, april 30th as the day where we can see some real progress. And we expect to see that. Now one real quick note to that, dr. Birx has said that peak is not for the entire country. Different areas will peak at different times. The country as a whole wont necessarily be able to expect to be past the worst of it by april 12th. Some parts will but many other parts of the country will going to continue dealing with this for weeks, possibly months to come. Shannon pettypiece from the white house, shannon, thank you. You mentioned peaks right now. That is exactly what seems to be happening in the bayou. More signs this morning that the state of louisiana is on the verge of becoming the next epicenter of this crisis. As of this morning more than 3,500 people have tested positive there in louisiana. More than 150 people have died so far. And new orleans parrish, home to new orleans, has the highest per capita death rate of any county in the country. Im joined by lieutenant generous sell who served as joint Task Force Commander during hurricane katrina. The atlantic warns of whats to come for your state, quote, the city of new orleans and potentially all of louisiana is going to become the next front in the fight against the pandemic. Theres good reason to believe that the southern outbreak will be even more difficult to contain and is perhaps a better harbinger of whos to come. Is louisiana ready for the worst of this crisis that is apparently still to come . You know, our governor has been saying this now for about four days and that story has not been repeated many times by many disruptions. We just spent five minutes showing the comfort arriving in new york. I think weve got to focus on the real problem. That is how we keep the people alive. And focus more on what these governors are saying and what their problems are. Right now hes looking at running out of ventilators by this weekend. That needs to be the real story were chasing is logistics. Were not chasing logistics. We keep chasing this story about whether we want to quarantine. The media spent a day talking about quarantine. It had nothing to do with solving the problems that doctors are facing inside the hospitals. It had nothing to address the peak that were about to see in new orleans. Then we spent the last 24 hours talking about extending the stay at home program. The problem is logistics. This need to be the main story. And we need to Start Talking numbers and this is where we need the American Media and all of the nice stories they tell, the comfort is done, the mercy is done, the priority is saving lives. Weve got to get ventilators, the masks, the equipment to our medical people and weve got to move medical people around. And the federal government has sent a hospital to new orleans but its not enough. Theyre sending the medical team. Thats not enough. We need more. We need to talk numbers. Were not talking numbers. Were being distracted by words like what is the death rate thats going to be . That has captured the news since yesterday, whether its a million, 100,000 or 150,000. Weve got to chase logistics. And right now the problem the doctors are having and the nurses who i talked to directly, they dont have the logistics to get the job done and they dont have enough ventilators. I know thats a long answer. I appreciate you letting me make that message but i make it on behalf of those doctors and nurses and the governors out here who want to talk logistics, not about the estimates of when were going to close down. We will close down based on conditions. Conditions of numbers will create when we go away from social distance. It wont be based on a calendar date or a model. And its going to change city by city and state by state. Right now new orleans is the next epicenter. But new york is not done yet. Whos going to be next . Is the question we need to help and get the numbers and we focus on logistics and numbers because i tell you right now the government does not know what the hell they have where in terms of numbers. They cant tell you where it is and when its going to arrive. General, i want to ask you about a part of st. John, the baptist parish, a part of louisiana you know well, unfortunately known as cancer alley because of the staggering rates of cancer in this particular part of louisiana. They are at an increased risk in this pandemic. How concerned are you about that area in particular . Im very concerned. You know, we had cancer alley and a lot of people in cancer alley their immune systems have been attacked by pollution. Just this past weekend did not make headline or one national news, the epa has relaxed the standards for pollution. Which means that companies can let more pollutions out in the air. And st. John, theres a plant there that creates the name of it is danka. Based on the epa they can let as much of that in the air as they want. That place is the epicenter for cancer and for upper respiratory disease. So the people along cancer alley theyre going to have a higher risk of dying as a result of this cause because their immune systems have already been attacked by pollution. And for epa all of a sudden say you boys can go ahead on out there, oil and gas and petrochemical and let all the stuff you want in the air and in the water because were too busy working with the virus. We cant allow that to happen. And that need to be one of the live stories. Im glad you asked that question, sir. General honore, thank you, sir, thank you for reminding us to keep our eye on the ball. Always appreciate you, thank you, thank you. Stay away from the political marriage and stay on the logistics, sir, test, test, test. Yes, sir, yes, sir. In times of crisis and in times of uncertainty, a lot of americans turn to faith. They turn to religion for comfort and solace. Its no longer practical to pray or gather in person as we know. I want to bring in bishop t. D. Jaks, bishop jakes is the founder and Senior Pastor of the Potters House in dallas. And bishop, always good to have you, sir, you chose to live stream your service on sunday and for folks who missed it, i just want to play just a little bit of the message that you preached for viewers and our listeners on sirius satellite radio. Discussion about whether we should have church or not or a building or talk about what would jesus do. I dont know because jesus never saw a church. All of this stuff you made dont have nothing to do with the power of god. Its never been about a building. Bishop, you say its not about the building. How are you how are you bringing members of your congregation and folks who arent members of your congregation, but people who just always appreciate and enjoy your message, how are you bringing them comfort right now . We have been streaming our messages for the last 12 or 15 years. But never have we seen the numbers that were seeing now because it is our only option through which we can connect with them but in addition to that were also going facebook lives, were doing instagram. Were doing Everything Possible just to communicate open help to people. But to people in need. In addition to doing social media and those types of things that kind of bring a warmth and really people underestimate the Faith Communitys ability to provide an ecosystem for community that keeps them from becoming enflared and enraged in teems of emotional pressure. Weve done practical things like feeding kids who are out of school now and the school meal was the only meal they had to eat. Weve been feeding First Responders who are working night shifts and the hospital cafeteria is closed and in dallas all of our restaurants are closed. That makes some of those working hardest to keep people alive shouldnt have to worry about finding something to eat. Weve sent thousands and thousands of meals all over the city and were continuing to do the work of the lord the best we can in the circumstances were in. Bishop, there are so many people who are watching and listening who are scared, who are anxious. They cant sleep at night. They have a hard time functioning throughout the day because theyre just so worried. Whats your message to those people who are watching and listening right now . How can we find peace and solace . These are Turbulent Times and theyre stressful for the very best of us. And to say that theyre not is just a misnomer all together. On the other hand i think that we have to be careful about what our diet it as it relates to what we watch. We cannot watch a 24hour news cycle 24 hours and expect to have peace of mind. Get the information, and then give your mind a break away from things like that. Spend some times with the kids that you normally dont get to spend times with. Check on the old early who are shut in and isolated. Provide a schedule for yourself every day that makes you get up and get dressed and put on some clothes, get some sunshine. Youve got to really fight back because if you dont fight back emotionally the emotional fallout from this can be as devastating as the virus itself. And may last for years to come. The ptsd from all of this could be amazing. We saw samaritans purse setting up that Field Hospital in central park. I saw the video of your church providing those meals for First Responders there in dallas and Health Care Workers in that area. We are saying members of the Faith Community all over this country spring into action to help their neighbors. How are people there in dallas specifically banding together in this time of crisis . You know, thats its been beautiful. Its funny the oxymoron of bittersweet, one of the most horrific times ive ever seen in all my life and yet its been very beautiful to see how the community has galvanized together. The vitriol has gone down, the rhetoric, the tribalism between political arguments has calmed down a bit, the racism, the sexism, all of that has begun to dissipate and weve begun to recognize a very important message, were all in this together and we need to stick together and were seeing that in dallas. Weve had good leadership in our city and in our state thats made some tough decisions, shut down some things, did not spare the economy because the priority was the humanity and they were good choices and hard choices. But were making it and i think at the end of the day were going to be all right. Bishop, 30 seconds. For folks who arent able to get to church yesterday ive never done this on the air. Can you lead us in prayer for 30 seconds . Yes, i can. Our father and our god we bow our heads to you in humility, understanding that we are not competent in and of ourselves to handle this kind of global calamity. We look to you, lord, to be the source, the strength, the help, the light that we need, strengthen our First Responders, strengthen even our broadcast people, strengthen all of us whose lives have been devastated and disrupted and give us the peace that passes all understanding in christs name we pray amen. Amen. Bishop jakes, always good to see you, sir, thank you. From the gulf coast to the great lakes hospitals already hitting capacity. Were going to head to michigan where doctors are preparing to make the heartbreaking decision of who lives and perhaps who does not. First, though, we want to recognize the doctors, nurses and entire hospital staffs who are putting their lives on the line to help others and finding hope amid the outbreak. This is how one doctor from new york put it. I look around at my nursing colleagues, i look around at everybody in the hospital doing every job and i cant help thinking to myself that maybe now is our moment, now is our moment to rise above this terrible disaster and what i would say to you is if we pull together like we have pulled together in the hospital we can and we will rise above this. Ys. Make sure that the network is working all the time. We are constantly looking at it, were constantly monitoring. We take that responsibility very seriously. The most rewarding thing about the work we do is whenever we see a customer able to communicate back to their loved ones. That is why we do what we do. vo were relentlessly committed to the network. So in times like this, we can all stay connected to work, school, and most importantly, to each other. Im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. From an everyday solution. To one that can take on a bigger challenge. From packaging tape. 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That was michigans Governor Gretchen Whitmer there talking about the challenges that lie ahead in her state of michigan this morning. As of this morning there were more than 5,400 cases in michigan, more than 130 deaths so far. Thats more than 1,800 new cases since i came to you at this hour on friday. The governor, Governor Whitmer there continues to warn that hospitals there have already hit capacity, many of them are running dangerously low on supplies. Many of them. I want to bring in nbcs Morgan Radford outside the Henry Ford Hospital there in detroit. Morgan, just how bad are state officials expecting this to get there and what are they asking for specifically from the federal government . Craig, theyre saying that this could get even worse within this week. As you mentioned the numbers increasing just within the last hour and as you mentioned we heard from Governor Whitmer today and even though she did receive more than 100,000 n95 masks over the weekend after the president declared this a federal disaster she saying they still need more supplies ask thats what were hearing on the ground here, craig. I spoke to the chief operating officer at Henry Ford Hospital, its treating a third of the covid victims in the city. Behind me there are 300 patients inside who have covid19 as we speak and theyve treated about 700. That coo said this is something unlike anything that hes ever seen. Just last week we saw this leaked memo from this hospital that they were basically preparing for a worst Case Scenario. If they did not get more supplies they effectively said our doctors are going to have to decide who lives and who dies. Who is going to get that life saving treatment, that life saving equipment . And thats a harrowing choice that no doctor, no person wants to have to make and theyre saying as long as they continue to get resources they think they can avoid Something Like that but it is a worst Case Scenario. Listen to what he said. You are there on the front lines, what are you seeing . Ive been in health care for 40 years and ive never seen anything quite like this. Weve weathered a lot of storms but this one is different and its more complex. Were dealing with a virus that is really bringing our Health Care System to its ultimate test. Do you have what you need . That question we ask ourselves on a shift by shift basis. We have enough for today. Will we have enough for tomorrow is what were working really hard to make sure of . We have enough for today, he said, craig, and that is as michigan is now the fourth largest total number of cases in the entire country. Craig . Morgan radford there for us in detroit, morgan, thank you. Be safe my friend, thank you, thank you. Lets turn now to dr. Paric, former Deputy Assistant secretary or health at hhs where he helped lead the response to swine flu, bird flu,o bola outbreaks. Hes the chief medical adviser for the bipartisan policy center. Lets start in michigan, Governor Whitmer with this dire warning that hospitals in her state could be in dire straits in a matter of days. How bad do we expect things to get there in the state of michigan . Craig, this is pretty personal to me. I was born in detroit, probably a couple miles from where morgan was reporting. Michigan right now is on the steep upslope of the pandemic curve. Unfortunately its going to get worse over the next week or two days. And so michigan like louisiana like the tristate area around new york, right now general honore is absolutely correct, its a logistical issue, we need to get all of our critical medical material, all of our personal protective equipment in our Strategic National stockpile, our military, the private sector, the federal government needs to coordinate the delivery and logistics of this Important Information to save lives. I will say, craig, one more thing. Where all the other states right now that are not a michigan or louisiana or a new york. There is also one more very important thing that President Trump can do in the next hour as he talks to all 50 state governors. Right now more than 20 states have still not issued a stay at home order. This is absolutely critical. The figures that weve seen over the weekend, 80,000, 100,000 lives that might be lost presuppose those models presuppose that in the next couple days every single governor issue a stay at home order so we still have 20 states, onethird of the u. S. Population not under a stay at home order. Do anything for every one individual who has the virus they will transmit it to two or three individuals. We know that social distancing stay at home orders if, craig, you can reduce the contact rate by 25 you can reduce infections up to 60 . You reduce the contact rate by 50 . You can reduce infections by 75 to 80 . If you can reduce the contact rate by 75 you can actually reduce the number of infections. So the most important thing to save lives right now in terms of the federal response, number one, for michigan, louisiana and new york, getting them the critical medical material and the personal protective equipment and then number two making sure all 20 governors that have not yet issued a stay at home order do so within the next 24 to 48 hours. To that point theres this New York Times reporting on the slowdown in seattle. Of course the first known case in this country was in the seattle area. Let me read part of this times story that caught my attention. Preliminary statistical models provided to Public Officials in Washington State suggest that the spread of the virus has slowed in the seattle area in recent days while each infected person was spreading the virus to an average of 2. 7, other people earlier in martha number appears to have dropped with one projection suggesting it was now down to 1. 4. Dr. Parekh is that because of the stay at home order, how encouraged should we be by that news . Thats exactly right. Thats called flattening the curve, youre trying to reduce the transmissibility from about two to three to closer to one, really we want to get it underneath one. So thats exactly what social distancing interventions, whether its telework, cancelling mass gatherings, School Closures thats exactly what its supposed to do. What that does then over a period of weeks it reduces the surge in our Health Care System so our Health Care Workers have the personal protective equipment and the critical medical material to take care of the patients. That is exactly what we need to do. Thats why this social distancing prong, along with testing so we can isolate cases, thats why it is so important so we dont see continue to see these pictures that unfortunately were going to continue to see in hot spots across the country. Dr. Parekh, always good to have your insight, sir, thank you, thank you for your time. Thank you, craig. Helping our brothers and sisters in need, how one food pantry is getting pretty creative to make sure people have what they need while also keeping volunteers safe. Well bring that story to you in just a moment. But first, close to home, senator Amy Klobuchars husband is at home, recovering from coronavirus, still in quarantine. I talked to the minnesota senator this morning how shes using her personal experience as a warning for others. Our story actually, craig, is like so many others and i think every family in america is going to know what this is like and i think its important to share. You cant go visit your loved one. You cant hold their hand. You cant meet the caregivers and give them a hug for taking care of him. All you can do is talk to them on the phone. I just want to thank all these ordinary people that did extraordinary things for him and so many. When i saw those people on your clip building the tents, when i see the grocery clerks where i am right now, its just an extraordinary moment and as hard as it is we have to remember that. Attention guardians of the grass, navigators of the turf and keepers of the green. To the rural ramblers, back to the landers, head turners and stripe burners. Run with us on a john deere mower. Because this is more than just grass. Its home. Search john deere mowers for more. But when allergies and congestion strike, take allegrad. A nondrowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. So you can always say yes to putting your true colors on display. Say yes to allegrad. Right now millions of americans are out of work, out of a paycheck, trying to figure out how to pay their bills and feed their families. Many of them are also trying to figure out where that next meal is going to come from. Nbcs sam brock is live at the Broward County food pantry where volunteers have stepped up in a big way to help out, sam, tell us whats happening there and how is it handling the increased need . Stepping up in a huge way, craig. Good morning, its been lively all morning here. Typically at the pantry in broward they serveseholds but r starting today this morning at 8 00 theyre doing 750 households twice a week instead of once a month. Over my shoulder youll see about a dozen volunteers behind me putting produce and canned food and fruit inside of those bags and theyre coming up and actually handing it to people as they drive right through, much like you would see a testing site, same general concept as theyre trying to create space and noncontact between people getting the goods and those volunteering. The line in terms of demand right now youll see down the street the cars go to the end of the block and beyond that, check out this video i shot a while ago, and youll see cars going for half a mile or more backed up coming in this way. That just speaks to almost a testament, craig, of how many people do need that food right now, are waiting to find out where their next meal will come from. We spoke with the ceo of the pantry who told us more about the urgency. Are you surprised to see the line of cars wrapped around the block right now . Im not surprised. Weve been answering the phone for three to four days now in preparation for this and the need is greater than any one agency can serve. We knew they were coming and we knew they were going to come fast. Coming back you see the bananas and eggs and produce going into bags here as volunteers are just doing everything they can right now to help out and craig just to give you context, 100 people about an hour, roughly how much they can serve or how many people they can serve but in the first 20 minutes this morning they tell me there was at least 100 cars. This is going to be going on for weeks and the good people here doing whatever they can to help out those in need. Send it back to you, craig. Always good to see the helpers show up. Sam brock there for us in fort lauderdale. Sam, thank you. A big thanks to those pantry workers as well. Let me bring in billy shore now. Billy is the founder and executive chair of share our strength. Its the organization that runs the no kid hungry campaign. And billy, this is something weve been talking about here since all are now closed. No kids hungry estimates that school kids in need have missed more than 300 million meals so far. Its a number thats flat out stunning. How do you even begin to make sure kids in need are getting healthy meals during this School Closure period . Well, youre right, craig, thats a Staggering Number and thank you for shining a spotlight on this issue. So many kids in this country, 22 million kids depend on school meals, school lunch and School Breakfast and at school they get them. When the schools are closed weve had to be part of an effort to build a massive alternate Delivery System to that. Your previous guest talked about stay at home orders. Just imagine every time theres another more restrictive stay at home order its going to make it harder for a hungry child to get the meal they need. So what weve been part of is an effort to fund School Districts food Banks Community organizations, ymcas, much like the Broward County food bank you showed a while ago and they are making up or at least trying to make up meals for these kids but its quite challenging. Weve got a list of resources were making grants of a Million Dollars a week now to dozens and dozens of organizations around the country. We hope that thats going to help. Billy, where is i mean, are you getting help from the government on any level or is this all private money . Well, its a mix, actually. The private money has been indispensable and weve witnessed astonishing generosity, 33,000 individual donors in just the last two weeks. The government has always subsidized school meals so school lunch and School Breakfast for low income kids have been covered. What weve needed the government to do now is to waive some of the restrictions that have been on those school meals to make sure that kids parents can come pick up the meals for them. They waived that restriction that kids had to show up in person. Weve needed them to be able to let kids or families take more than one meal at a time. Theres still other things that we need the government to do though and we should just apply common sense. I mean, god forbid some kid who doesnt need a meal right now gets it, how bad would that be given the crisis were facing . We need to loosen up these restrictions and let kids get the meals they need. Billy, for folks watching or listening who might want to help out where can they go . What can they do . Well, thanks, craig, our website, no kid hungry. Org offers lots of ways to volunteer, to donate, to do the advocacy work necessary so that policymakers do the right choices on this. Were working with hundreds and hundreds of nonprofits and Community Organizations around the country. Billy shore. Billy, thank you, thanks for all that youre doing, always appreciate you. Thanks. Any minute now, folks, we expect to hear from new york city mayor bill de blasio. We will bring that to you live. Once he starts talking. Were told he is going to be doing that. 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Italys death rate now more than double that of mainland china. But a new report in bloomberg also says italy has reported a second straight daily decline in the number of deaths from coronavirus, offering hope that stern measures from the government there over the last three weeks to combat the outbreak may be bearing fruit. Im joined now from rome by nbcs matt bradley. He remains on duty for us there. So matt, do officials there in italy think that they have perhaps hit the peak in cases now . Yeah, but not for those reasons, not because of that declining death rate. You know, craig, we cant really draw any optimistic conclusions either way or the other based on one or two days of death rates. Remember, two days ago we had the highest ever number of deaths in a single day anywhere in the world here in italy, 919 dead on a single day. What you say is true in the next two days weve seen the death rate decline a little bit but the week before that there was also a world record breaking day the past saturday and after that there was two declining days of numbers that showed that the death rate was decreasing but then that spiked up yet again and then again to that world record breaking high on friday so, you know, if you just look at two days of data, youre bound to be disappointed. What were going to hear the next couple hours, the new fresh data for just today and maybe it will show that the death rate has once again declined. Italian authorities are optimistic for a different reason. They say the number of new positive cases has not declined, its still hovering around 6,000 every day, but its slowing, no longer growing exponentially. Craig . Matt bradley for us there in rome. Matt, thank you. I dont add up the years. And i dont count the wrinkles. But what i do count on is boost high protein. And now, introducing new boost women. With key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. All with great taste. New, boost women. Designed just for you. All right, right now, new york city mayor bill de blasio speaking where the usns comfort just pulled in about an hour ago. Lets listen in. Because this city needs him again. My great honor to introduce the regional administrator for fema, tom von essen. Thank you, mayor. Yeah, its its really seemed to have gotten real personal for me this morning. About two weeks ago, we moved our Regional Response Recovery Coordination Team down to a naval base in earle, new jersey, where we have an Operation Center and were able to get people off public transportation. We have all our equipment down there, our setup there. Its really good setup. It was built during sandy at the naval base. So, we have about 30, 35 people working every day, late, late into the night working to try and accommodate everybody we can in new york city, in new jersey, puerto rico and the virgin islands. Thats what region two is at fema. So, ive been down there the last two weeks and i came back for this today, and i was driving on east river drive, and i looked across by 14th street, and i had a flashback to the morning i was driving in and they told me that a small plane had crashed into the trade center. And life changed at that time. And i remember having the comfort come then. You know, a couple of i dont remember when, a couple weeks later, whatever. And we didnt need it for what we need it for today. We didnt need it for people who needed hospital care. It wasnt necessary, but we brought it in. We needed it for crisis counseling for a lot of fire chiefs and Police Officers who were really, really overcome with the grief at the death that they faced with their friends and people that they worked with. And we needed it to house federal workers and give them food and everything. And we got it out of here and we started putting them in hotel rooms. But ill never forget the feeling. And i talked about it this morning the names are perfect, the comfort and the mercy. I was told they were here in 1918 for the pandemic we had then. Not these particular ships, but their predecessors. So, the federal government has always been here. The army, the navy, the marines, theyve always been here for us when we needed them. And theyre here again for you now. And for me, the flashbacks i get, knowing that the city is under such stress now, its real personal for me. The fire department, i spent 30 years in it. So, when september 11th happened, it was personal. It was friends. It was leaders, people i had worked with. Everybody was affected by september 11th. And thats whats happening now. Everybody you know is affected by the coronavirus in one way or another a friend, a relative, a loved one that you cant go and see because theyre in quarantine or you dont want to i mean, i stopped to see a 100yearold lady last week, and just talked to her from six feet away. And i know everybodys doing that, and its important, but this, this is a bigtime, visible sign of what our government is like when we put it into action. And the mayor said it, and its really im really proud to be part of it now. I know how tough the people of this city are, and ive seen us take on some seemingly insurmountable challenges. Once again, we need to do it. Once again, we need to be together, six feet apart. I saw the mayor taking pictures with some of the military folks. I never noticed it before, taking a picture with someone who was two or three feet away. Its weird. Its really strange what were all going through, but its necessary, and it is going to make a difference. The more we separate, the more everybody stays away, the better off well be and the faster well get out of this. But thank goodness now, help has arrived. Its going to make a big difference. Femas working with the city, with the state, to supply everything we possibly can, working with hhsy medical people here as we can, people to help us with the forensics and the mortuary problems that were going to have, because we are going to have an awful lot of folks that arent going to make it. But were doing the best we can. And its an honor to be back in the middle of such a tough, tough battle that we have in front of us. With september 11th, it seemed like every day we were fixing stuff, and it was getting slightly better. The grief, of course, was enormous, but the operation seemed to get slightly better every day. With this, it seems to be were not there yet. Its not going to get better. It might not get better for us here in the city for weeks, maybe a month. I hope not. I dont know. I listened to dr. Fauci and hear about models and worst Case Scenarios, best Case Scenarios. We just dont know. So were preparing for the worst case, and thats all we can do at this point, and were doing a good job, and were here for you. Thank you. Thank you so much, tom. Now, such an honor to bring to you the military leader of this effort. He comes from a family long connected to the u. S. Navy. He is someone were thinking about right now as one of our saviors, one of the people who led the forces that came to help us in our hour of need. But his day job is Vice Commander of u. S. Fleet forces. So, he has a big, big job and a lot to think about, but right now his mind, his heart, his soul is focused on new york city, and im proud to say he is also a resident of manhattan. And has a family here and understands what we are all going through. And i just want to express, on behalf of 8. 6 million new yorkers, my gratitude for your leadership and for all of the men and women who serve under your command. An honor to present to you rear admiral john mustin. [ applause ] thank you. Mr. Mayor, mr. Administrator, commissioner, thank you for being here today to welcome this great ship. To the officers, the crew, the medical professionals of the usns comfort, thank you for the Vital Mission that youve undertaken. Id also like to recognize and thank the many, many contributors who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this day possible. Each of those who helped to fit out and prepare this ship in record time, from the Maintenance Community to the dockworkers to the Ships Company to the doctors, to the dredgers, thank you, all of you, for the agility and professionalism that you have all shown over the past few weeks. That focused collective effort will save american lives. Today i also want to recognize that not all of our nations heroes wear military uniforms. Especially today,