Breaking News Coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. We are standing by for todays Coronavirus Task force briefing from the white house. Well see if it is a little shorter considering that some people are going to be having a celebration of passover tonight. This briefing is happening as President Trump knows his democratic opponent in november in an election we have to assume will be in part at least a referendum on his handling of the Coronavirus Crisis will be joe biden. Now that Bernie Sanders has officially dropped out of the president ial race. We expect the president will get asked about that today and hell probably do some predictable attempts at stirring the pot inside the Democratic Party but todays briefing also comes as the death toll in this country now 400,000 cases reported. New york is reporting its highest single day death toll of this pandemic, 779. The House Oversight Committee Just released these documents it claims shows the federal government has distributed just a fraction of the personal protective equipment and medical supplies that hospitals and First Responders need and as the head of the World Health Organization the same organization President Trump threatened to withhold funding from yesterday urged countries to stop politicizing the coronavirus if they dont want, quote, many, many more body bags. Those are all of the big headlines in their own right today. We may hear from the white house on all or some of them shortly but one thing were really hoping to get more information about tonight is this. While the pandemic is impacting every community in this country it is having a particularly devastating impact on communities of color, including africanamerican communities, particularly in some of the nations hot spots. In louisiana, africanamericans comprise onethird of the population but account for 70 of the coronavirus deaths. In michigan africanamericans make up 14 of that states population but account for onethird of the States Coronavirus cases and 40 of the states death toll. In new york, the epicenter of this pandemic, africanamericans account for 28 of the deaths in new york city far more than their percentage of the population. 18 of the deaths outside of the city, twice their population of the state. Today new York Governor Andrew Cuomo not only called out the discrepancy but also called for more research into the root cause of it. Why is it that the poorest people always pay the highest price . But lets figure it out. Lets do the work. Lets do the research. Lets learn from this moment and lets learn these lessons and lets do it now. So as we await this White House Briefing, which President Trump will face questions about the federal response to this pandemic, were forced to confront some uncomfortable questions as well. This virus is putting a spotlight on a huge problem we know exists in this country. We dont talk enough about it. Sometimes we only talk about it but we dont do anything about it. The coronavirus does not discriminate but a lot of other factors do like the lack of equal access to health care. Joining me now to go deeper into how Racial Disparities in coronavirus cases are playing out across the country right now we have msnbc correspondents in new orleans and atlanta. Morgan, i want to start with you down there in new orleans. I know we had talked earlier today. Look, theres good news overall, which is it looks like the curve is bending. The governor seems to be pleased. But louisiana is one of the first places were learning about this Racial Disparity and part of it is because louisiana is reporting this out. Not everybody is. Reporter yeah, chuck. You are exactly right. It really is becoming a tale of several statistics whichever you choose to look at. Right here front page of the paper today new orleans projections improving. That is the first glimmer of hope this city has seen in a long time, really since this pandemic took hold. But when you take a deeper look at those numbers and you do as you mentioned before, you have 70 of the deaths involving members of the Africanamerican Community here when they only make up statewide 30 of the population. I do think its important to note, however, that here in new orleans the africanamerican population sits at around 60 and we have seen just how hard this community has been hit. Governor edwards is calling these statistics specifically as they relate to the Africanamerican Community disturbing and wants to make it a priority Going Forward to try and find the reason why theyve been disproportionately impacted. As it stands, several things are being brought to the forefront that could have caused some serious impact. That being access to Quality Health care, cost of those tests that were made available. Louisiana doing a great job in testing. Theyre doing it more per capita here than any other state in the country but really when youre facing covid19 you can never have too much. Then you have the fact that a lot of these people able to stay home and shelter in place and follow Governor John Bel Edwards order thats almost a luxury, chuck, in that some of these folks deemed essential workers, delivery workers, out there on the front lines, coming into contact with people that they otherwise wouldnt have to if they didnt have to work. And then that third factor thats already being discussed is the Underlying Health conditions. Weve already seen some of those released and of the deaths that have taken place in louisiana, hypertension and diabetes, two of the most significant Underlying Health issues. All of those things combined lead the governor to believe thats at least one of the reasons why the Africanamerican Community took such a tough hit here. Much more to come as they dive into this data and the weeks, months ahead. Chuck . Yeah, well, morgan, i really hope actually they dont get drowned in data and instead start doing some action, because sadly, none of this is new information. All of this is stuff weve learned in the past. Any time weve had these things that, you know, communities who lack Health Care Access are going to have worse outcomes on Health Crises and things like that. Morgan chesky, great reporting down there in new orleans. Let me move over to you in atlanta. We just highlighted louisiana, where we were getting decent data on this and it is one of the reasons why i think this story is surfacing now around the country is because louisiana has been reporting. Were not getting that kind of reporting out of georgia. It seems were a little blind as to whether there are disparities in georgia. Reporter you know, chuck, of the doctors that ive been talking to over the better part of two days, doctors from around the country who are on the front lines, specifically serving africanamerican patients, they say the crucial thing is getting that data that you have been talking about. So today some new reporting out of georgia for the very first time. The department of Public Health is now listing a breakdown of cases by race. This is something that the website has not had previously but as of today theyve got the breakdown. It sounds like a good thing. Information is coming out. But heres the issue, chuck. Of that breakdown, about 64 of those cases as of right now are listed as unknown. So were really only getting a trickle of information. I just spoke with the Department Spokesperson and i asked her why is it that such a high number of these cases are reported as unknown . She said that quite simply when you look at the testing facilities, the hospitals, the Health Care Providers across the state, theyve not been filling out their forms in their entirety. What they have now is members of the department who are going back trying to get that information, trying to go back and kind of get the information, you know, that wasnt given in real time, and it is something that could take weeks or more, chuck. So that really just kind of gives you a glimpse into how long it is going to take, the sorts of delays youre seeing when you try and get this Accurate Information that wasnt given in real time. Now, one thing i do want to talk about again is the disparities, the fact that youre seeing not just in big cities, you talked about louisiana, you talk about certainly new york. Washington, d. C. But some of the smaller cities. Some of them right here in georgia in fact. I was down in albany last week. Its about three hours south of metro atlanta. Its got a fraction of the people that you see here in atlanta. Yet its got the highest number of coronavirus deaths anywhere in the state. And one important factor to note, chuck, is that it is about 70 africanamerican. So youre seeing it in big cities, small towns where they have fewer resources to fight back. And again, this tremendous pressure, this growing pressure from physicians who say, that will help them to get the data. That will help them to actually tailor their response and figure out how to sort of respond to this growing crisis were seeing, chuck. Thank you both on the front lines reporting not from living rooms. Thank you both for doing that. With me now is dr. Wayne a. I. Fredrick president of Howard University and also a trained surgeon. Dr. Fredrick, im curious what your thoughts are when you hear politicians say, boy. I really need to look into this disparity. I sort of scratch my head. It feels like its painfully obvious why we have this disparity. Dr. Birx, let me play her comments this morning. She, herself, this morning on the today show seemed to i think articulate why were here. The clear evidence from other countries that preexisting conditions particularly diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and asthma were particularly difficult in the disease course once infected. I just want to make it clear we dont think African Americans are more susceptible to getting infected but we do think with those number of preexisting conditions and this really brings us back to the social determinates of health. Once this is over we need to look very carefully into each of those items to really look at what its going to take to ensure the health of all americans. Dr. Fredrick, she said it plain and simple. The social determinates when it comes to health care. And she certainly did. Mr. Todd, thanks for having me on. I have to tell you that we dont need to wait until this is over in order to do something about it. We passed two stimulus bills in our legislature and neither bill addressed this particular issue. Are we doing testing in those neighborhoods . Are we bringing more awareness to those neighborhoods using other methods than the traditional methods that may reach people through cable news or the internet. Are we looking at other ways we can get into the community and make sure that we can get that community tested . And then when you look at the other things that the stimulus bill is doing the Economic Impact that this is going to have on the country while we talk about an Unemployment Rate of 13 , that will balloon very quickly to 25 in the Africanamerican Community, which means their ability to get healthy food, get good meals, to get access is going to be harmed even more. The stimulus bill does not address that. It does not address the access that the people in those communities are going to need. So i dont think we need to wait until after. I think you made a very good point as well. This is not something that is unknown. Its something we do know. In 1978 we graduated more africanamerican men from medical school in this country than we did in 2015. Which means that pause right there, doctor. Pause right there. Because i heard this from my producer that you talked to, this statistic. This is amazing to me. Why do you think this is . That is because we have an Education System that has marginalized a certain part of the community and decreased those opportunities. So we have to address this systemically. We talk about social determinates of health but it affects everything. It affects your health, your wealth, your security, your ability to move ahead in life. In d. C. , in ward 8, the Life Expectancy is 72 years. You move a few miles over to ward 3 the Life Expectancy is 87 years. There is a 15year difference in Life Expectancy in a threemile area. That is unacceptable. But it exists because of opportunity or the lack of it. And so we must address those things more systematically. We must have the pipelines. I heard senator harris talking about this the other night. People like myself with sickle cell, thats a risk. Are we looking at those people and actively going after them to make sure were testing them, make sure were messaging them about what precautions they should take in this environment . Were not doing that. That i think is a continuation of a broader, systemic issue in our country that we must address if we want the entire country to prosper. Right. Lets start with just medical research that specifically looks at Health Issues in the Africanamerican Community. We are behind on the research on that on the government level. What would be something youd like to say . I guess lets look at it this way. If you could wave your magic wand and solve one of these problems right now is it fully insuring the africanamerican communities, these communities of color or just poor communities in general immediately giving them equal access to health care . Is that the number one thing we could do right now to start to level this off . Unfortunately, no. D. C. Has one of the highest insured rates in the nation. Over 90 some percent of the population is insured and in most of these communities as high as 80 and higher are insured but you dont have access. In wards 7 and 8 in d. C. Where you have 160,000 people primarily africanamericans you dont have an acute Care Hospital where an africanamerican woman can deliver a baby. She has to leave those two wards and come across the city. You look at the Maternal Mortality rate, its high. We have to actually invest in those areas, put specialty care, ambulatory care. You may see a primary care physician in ward 7 or 8 because you have insurance but then they send you to see a specialist and there is no specialist within your area, you are still outside of that. I think there are several things we have to do. The pipeline is also important. Howard university has produced more africanamerican physicians in this country than any one Single Institution and today from my under grad campus i send more African Americans to medical school than any other institution. When you look at our endowment and the kinds of resources we have compared to the other institutions it is disproportionate. We actually as a country have to invest in the entire spectrum of the things that are going to change this if we are really going to address it. On the Research Issue there are lots of organizations that have put out research on this issue. Ive written research in terms of the disparities and outcome of Breast Cancer as an example. So there is a lot of data out there. We have to act as a country. Thats the most important thing. We dont need more research. I think what were basically saying here. We need more action. The research has been done. I dont know how much more information in some cases some of our folks need. Thats right. I hope that if there is a stimulus package that we do put things in there to begin to address this because this is the time to do it. Dr. Wayne fredrick, president of Howard University and, again, as i said a medical doctor as well. Thanks for coming on and sharing your passion on this and enlightening us on this topic. Thanks very much. We are awaiting the start of the White House Coronavirus briefing. Once that begins we will bring it to you live. Plus Bernie Sanders boughs out but isnt throwing his support behind joe biden yet. Did you know diarrhea is often caused by bad bacteria in food . Try pepto diarrhea. Pepto® diarrhea is proven effective to treat symptoms, and it also targets the cause of diarrhea. The 3 times concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. While the leading competitor does nothing to kill the bacteria, pepto® diarrhea gets to the source, killing the bad bacteria. So, try pepto® diarrhea, and remember to have it on hand every time you travel. Also try pepto®bismol liquicaps for onthego relief. From anyone else. So why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms which most pills dont. Get allinone allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase. There will be parties whicand family gatherings. There will be parades and sporting events and concerts. To help our communities when they come back together, respond to the 2020 census now. Spend a few minutes online today to impact the next 10 years of healthcare, infrastructure and education. Go to 2020census. Gov and respond today to make americas tomorrow brighter. Its time to shape our future. I wish i could give you better news. But i think you know the truth. And that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President biden and the path toward victory is virtually impossible. I have concluded that this battle for the democratic nomination will not be successful. Welcome back. Without the fanfare one would have expected a few weeks ago, the democratic president ial primary came to an end today. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders suspended his president ial campaign finishing as the next to last candidate standing for the second cycle in a row. His departure from the race makes former Vice President joe biden the apparent or Presumptive Democratic nominee and sets up a biden trump general election although youll be forgiven if you thought that was already the case. Joining me now with the latest on Bernie Sanders is someone who has been covering him every step of the way since 2016. It seemed in the last week or so bernie and jane sanders were looking for their exit ramp and i guess the scheduling of the debacle that was the wisconsin primary served as that exit ramp. Yes. That is exactly right, chuck. A source told me wisconsin kind of gave the natural exit ramp for something we all knew was seemingly to come. Its something that they were working on for sometime now especially after that loss in michigan. For senator sanders, he made clear in that live stream that he had to supporters and even on a Conference Call to staff just a couple minutes before that, he made clear that he believed he won the ideological battle, the contest for ideas. He talked about things like that 15 minimum wage, support for medicare for all, pushing for a green new deal. He also accepted that he didnt win he was far behind in delegates and that he just wasnt winning the support especially amid this crisis. He just wasnt able to capture any more attention and he had to make a decision and that decision seemingly came over the past few weeks as we know he and jane sanders talked to staff, talked to supporters, and had that assessment of his campaign. When you hear from his supporters, you hear different factions and groups have been pushing Different Things over the past couple weeks. Youve heard one group saying he should run through the tape. He should give the opportunity for other supporters, for people who believe in his ideas, who buy into his agenda, give them that opportunity to go out and vote for him. But then you hear the other faction, other people who support him who say, this is the time. He is losing support at this point. He wasnt able to expand his base. If he continues to lose races, if he continues to draw people out to the polls and doesnt build that support then it hurts the larger movement. It seems that after reflecting, after thinking and talking to people, it was that last faction that won out at the end of the day, chuck. What a journey its been. At some point i cant wait to have a longer debrief with you on this one. It almost feels like it is too abrupt an ending and there is too much information we have to get through but we are living in different times. No rally. No town hall. It was a live stream, which is weird. I know. Stream the burn. I saw that little there. I thought that was clever. Thank you much. Joining us now for more perspective our guests. You spent a lot of 2016 covering Bernie Sanders, covering the movement. Lets talk about the movement here for a minute. Four years ago very difficult to get some parts of the movement behind the Democratic Party. The bernie bros. Are they going to come aboard . Does the pandemic sort of dilute them, water them down . Does this sort of put them into the past . What happens . Chuck, i think thats a pretty small segment or at least a relatively small segment of this 30 or so of the democratic electorate, primary electorate that seemed to be throwing themselves behind Bernie Sanders. I do think there are some that will refuse they are onboard because they saw this as a screw you to the establishment. Those voters i dont necessarily think are going to jump on board with joe biden but im not sure it is the overwhelming majority of Bernie Sanders supporters. I am still in touch with some of them from when i covered the convention in 2016. They made a lot of noise. They were very angry. They are still telling me in twitter messages theyre angry and they dont like how this has played out but i think the dynamics between Bernie Sanders and joe biden are fundamentally different than they were between Bernie Sanders and hillary clinton. There is something of a rapport between these two men. Joe biden was frankly nice to Bernie Sanders when he was a member of the senate back when Bernie Sanders was new and a lot of people werent. Bernie sanders remembers that a little bit like when youre an intern in this town and you remember who treated you with respect and who didnt. And i think that, you know, the grace that joe biden, with which joe biden has treated Bernie Sanders is going to go a long way with a good chunk of Bernie Sanders supporters anyway. Peter baker, the president always viewed bernie as an ally even if bernie didnt act didnt want to be the president s ally but he sort of weirdly always used him. He tweeted this today, which i find interesting, because it is such a mixed messaging when it comes to bernie. Heres trump. Bernie sanders is out. Thank you to elizabeth warren. If not for her bernie would have won almost every state on super tuesday. Probably not true but thats okay. This ended just like the democrats and dnc wanted same as the crooked hillary fiasco. The bernie people should come to the republican party, trade. It is that last line that sort of has me laughing because every Congressional Republican campaign in the country wants to paint their democrats the democratic opponent as a Bernie Sanders socialist. Donald trump wants Bernie Sanders and his supporters to come over to the republican party. Bottom line is the president lost himself an important foil today, didnt he . Reporter he did. Exactly. They had hoped this campaign would be about two things, right, about the Strong Economy and about the socialist democrats. Both of those arguments now are a lot harder to make given the pandemic and the economic shutdown weve seen and now biden as the nominee. Also, of course, the eye of socialism depends on the seer right . 2 trillion is now being handed out by the federal government to businesses and american taxpayers so the definition as little more complicated. Youre right. This tweet was really interesting because it shows the president likes more than anything to stir the pot. He wants to, you know, provoke the kind of resentments democrats felt in 2016 on the left when they felt like hill hill had taken the nomination away from Bernie Sanders. And i think also, you know, there is some ideological synergy at times when it comes to issues like free trade with Bernie Sanders supporters. That doesnt mean theyll go for donald trump. He doesnt even necessarily need them to. They stay home. Thats just as good for him in some ways. Youre right. The measure of the oddity of our politics right now that that tweet would tell us so much. A lot of folks have looked to alexandria ocasiocortez as the likely heir apparent i guess to the bernie movement. But bernie himself is still a senator. I think about the Current Situation were in. Peter just brought it up the fact that you want to attack the democrats for all being Bernie Sanders socialists and everybody is voting for trillions of government money, dollars of government money now. In an odd way this should be Bernie Sanders moment. Where finally, governments being put into action. I think that makes some sense policy wise, chuck. I do think that this moment is so cataclysmic that in this particular moment in the course of this campaign if youre thinking about this moment in time what Bernie Sanders makes sense what Bernie Sanders did makes sense. I think in the long run and weve talked a lot about the age of all of the candidates running this time around. Everyone is going to be turning the page relatively quickly on a new generation of people, and this Coronavirus Crisis is already as you mentioned in your last block of programming exposing the inequalities in our society and the divides in a way that i think is going to sharpen the message that alexandria ocasiocortez has been bringing. I mean, her district, you know, parts of queens has really highlighted and underscored the differences between people who are facing this crisis with privileges and those who are having the toughest time of all. And i think thats going to be a Real Driving Force in our politics in the years to come. Peter baker, very quickly, the president with his tweet saying something that, frankly, there is not a lot of data that backs this up but i know a lot of republican consultants believe this. That is this. Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to statewide mailin voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud and for whatever reason doesnt work out well for republicans. Again, statistics dont really prove this out. This is a belief inside the president s own head. But this does tell me we are about to have a knockdown, drag out, polarizing fight over whether we should have mailin ballots in this country. It is rather remarkable. It is not a rarity these days. 57 million americans voted early or kind of mailin ballots and that is one or two out of every five. We havent had everybody going to the poll the same day same time inperson kind of election across the board for a long time. One of the people who availed himself of the option to mail in a ballot just last month in the florida primary was President Trump. So i think it is an interesting thing were having this debate. I think what the president is getting at is that wider the voter turnout, the less advantageous it is to republicans. And that perhaps mailins terrible messaging i think. Yeah. If you think your ideas are right yeah. If you think your ideas are right you shouldnt be afraid of the people voting. I dont get that one. Anyway, peter baker thank you. Kasie youre going to stick around and help us fact check the White House Briefing when it happens. Up ahead the very latest on the front line fight against the coronavirus. What are doctors and nurses facing inside our hospitals right now . Two Emergency Room Physicians join me live to try to give us a glimpse. Impse. Ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. And nutrients to i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. Because i can still make my own insulin. 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Ask your doctor about trulicity. Alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. Say hello to your fairy godmother alice. And longlasting gain scent beads. Part of the irresistible scent collection from gain this is hals heart. Its been broken. And put back together. This is also hals heart. And his relief, knowing hes covered by blue cross blue shield. And this is our promise, with over 80 years of healthcare expertise to be here for you now. And always. This is medicare from blue cross blue shield. This is the benefit of blue. Welcome back. This afternoon the House Oversight committee released an hhs document that according to the committee shows the critical medical supplies from the National Stockpile were not distributed to states based on their requests. The Oversight Committee also says the National Stockpile is depleted of personal protective equipment for front line workers. A shortage of ppe has been one of the top concerns for Health Care Workers and hospitals across the country who are putting themselves in harms way and many of whom are now facing the illness themselves. Joining me now two of the doctors on the front lines of the crisis. We have dr. Ranney an Emergency Room Physician and dr. Austin also an emergency physician and president of the Government Services chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. She has also served in iraq. So welcome to you both. Dr. Ranney, let me start with you. On one hand i guess i should be relieved to know that the stockpile is deplated on one end because it does mean theyve sent out this equipment but when you see this report i think it is just a reminder at how low inventory was from the getgo. Thats exactly right. It reminds us of how low the inventory was at the getgo and makes me scared for the future. You know, new york may be peaking in terms of its deaths but we have all these other areas of the country that are just starting to emerge as hot spots. And if weve already depleted our National Stockpile of protective equipment, it makes me wonder what is going to be left for all of my colleagues across the country that are just heading into the thick of this epidemic. Im also worried because if we didnt have enough protective equipment, you know, were already seeing shortage of medications and of other essential equipment like albuterol spacers and things like that. So it is concerning to those of us on the front lines. Dr. Austin i saw out in california the governor there is talking about essentially creating his own stockpile for the fall. Right now paint me the picture of how things are. Does it look like youll have enough beds and room to handle the peak when it hits . So in california we have been fortunate that things have been slower than they have been on the east coast. And right now what im seeing in my Emergency Department is our overall volume is down but the number of presumed covid19 cases continues to climb. Were seeing more patients require intubation and icu level of care. I am concerned about Going Forward but i am thankful that our cases have been lower than the east coast and weve had more time to prepare. Dr. Austin, when do you think you can start handling noncovid patients . When can the system in california start to handle the sort of the day in and day out medical care that most americans were used to before the pandemic . So this is a great question, chuck. Thanks so much for asking. Because our volumes are actually down. What ive seen this week is ive had patients that have presented very late and should have come in earlier but were scared they were going to contract covid19. I want patients to know at least here in los angeles, our Emergency Departments are not overrun yet. If you think you are having an emergency you should still come in. Weve made preparations to keep the covid19 presumed cases away from other patients in the Emergency Department. While i cant tell you your risk is zero when you come to the hospital and that you should only come when you think youre having an emergency, you need to come in if you are having symptoms consistent with a stroke, heart attack, anything that you think is life threatening. Trust your gut and come in. Dr. Ranney, same question to you but try to answer it from the east coast perspective here. I think in some ways, you know, california got a head start on social distancing. The curve is flatter. They got everything that all of this is supposed to do, right, buy time and space. Give yourself the ability to handle the surge. Given that were in a different situation here on the east coast, when is it likely to be that our medical system goes, i dont want to say back to normal but a new normal where it can handle the day in and day out medical issues . I dont think our medical system across the United States is ever going to go back kplaetly kplae completely to normal. I think well see a lot of major changes in the way health care is delivered across the United States. Even here on the east coast we are ready and prepared to take care of those life threatening emergencies were used to seeing come through the doors of our e. R. Whether it is chest pain or belly pain or severe headaches. Ive said before on this show and elsewhere, you know, use telehealth or call your doctor first before showing up in the e. R. But as dr. Austin said, if you are worried that youre having an emergency, we are ready and prepared and we have ways to try to keep you safe even in the Emergency Department. Now, we may not have as many resources as we normally would, but there is space and we have methods to take care of people. So the other thing ill add there is the social distancing helps because it decreases the number of traumas were seeing so were seeing fewer Motor Vehicle crashes and similar things that happen when people are out and about. So there is space for those emergencies and i urge people to come in if theyre sick. Dr. Ranney, im going to take the bait here. You said something and i have a little bit of time so im going to ask. You said you think were going to change the way we deliver medicine. It sounds like you think there will be enough Lessons Learned out of all of this that we could actually change the way we do health care in this country. What are you thinking . Yeah, i think were going to have to change the way we do health care. Listen, because of the decreased volumes in hospitals across the country hospitals are experiencing enormous financial strain. Every hospital and clinic is putting everything they have into preparation for covid19. Well, overall volume is going down. Right . And the government, i know the Democratic Senators today proposed a new bill which is going to help prop up Health Care Systems but were going to see a lot of clinics and hospitals shutting their doors. I think were also going to see increased cooperation, data sharing, and hopefully a change in the way we deliver care to our under served and vulnerable populations and the way we prepare so we dont get caught empty handed in the next pandemic or national emergency. So i know theres a lot of smart folks talking about how thats going to change but i will say from my end as a Public Health researcher i fully expect were going to see shifts in the next months to years. Dr. Austin, what kind of financial shape is your Hospital Center in and how concerned are you Going Forward . Well, i think thats something that were still going to have to look at Going Forward. Ive heard colleagues, not where im at, but their pay is being cut because theyre seeing less patients per hour right now and thats just a double punch in the stomach that on top of people having to worry about contracting this illness that Emergency Physicians are being asked to take less pay right now is very disheartening. I think what dr. Ranney said is completely important that were going to have to see some transformation in our Health Care Delivery system Going Forward. Dr. Ranney, dr. Austin, two Emergency Room Physician experts, thank you for coming on and sharing your perspective with us. Were going to take a quick break here as were waiting today as the white house Coronavirus Task force briefing to start and up next well head to a hot spot just outside of new york city. New york city. Thats why lincoln offers you the ability to purchase a new vehicle remotely with participating dealers. An effortless transactionall without leaving the comfort and safetyof your home. Thats the power of sanctuary. And for a little extra help, receive 0 apr financing and defer your first payment up to 120 days on the purchase of a new lincoln. And defer your first payment up to 120 days i thought i had my moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis under control. Turns out, it was controlling me. Seemed like my symptoms were taking over our time together. I knew i needed to talk to my doctor. Think hell make it . Thats when i learned humira can help get and keep uc under control when other medications havent worked well enough. And it helps people achieve control that lasts. So you can experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. Welcome back today new york Governor Cuomo asked one of the toughest most uncomfortable questions of the crisis. Why does it seem the poorest people pay the highest price . That is certainly the case in Suffolk County, long island where more than 16,000 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. County Officials Say low income and immigrant communities have been hit particularly hard and they are working to ramp up accessibility to affordable testing as soon as possible. With me now is steve malone the Suffolk County executive. First of all, walk me through how things look today. The death toll not good. Are you seeing, though, the green shoots of flattening the curve in your county . Thank you, chuck. That is not what were seeing here in Suffolk County at this point. You know, a month ago we had our first confirmed case. Today in Suffolk County and across long island we have more than 35,000 positive cases for covid19. That is more than any other state in the country other than new york of course and new jersey. Hospitalizations continue to rise and, of course, you mentioned the death toll. We are looking at on long island approaching 1,000 deaths. So this is not flattening and weve seen some of the reports and our concern is that people will take away the message that this is a time to pull back when we think the opposite. We have to stay the course with the measures that we have in place. Do you feel as if your measures are working, that social distancing is working, or that folks in the county arent listening or that, you know, you just have too many essential workers and just going to have too much travel . No, we do think theyre working. They are having an impact. But even with that the numbers that we are seeing are staggering. And with the people who are on the front lines, our Health Care Workers, we have nearly a thousand Health Care Workers who have contracted the covid19 virus. In addition to that, we have two nurses who have been treating covid19 patients who have lost their lives. These Health Care Heroes are risking themselves, their safety, and that of their families. We need to make sure they have the ppe moving forward that they need. I apologize. I have to cut this short. The president just came to the podium. I am glad we got a couple minutes with you. I hope we get to check back in later. Id like to get at this issue of the Racial Disparities were seeing here and i know you had a lot to say about that. I apologize. I need to cut this off. The white house Task Force Briefing is about to begin. The president is starting his preamble now. It could be another day where he may veer in and out of a lot of topics from the 2020 president ial race now that Bernie Sanders has dropped out to the Racial Disparity in covid19 cases to the questions about which states are getting critical medical supplies and why. Were going to jump in multiple times throughout this briefing. Any time we think this thing has veered way off the truth lane and well try to bring it back in. For now well take a listen. We do think that you are capable of discerning this on your own as well. Earlier today i spoke with 10,000 of americas faith leaders to thank them for raising the spirits of our people during these very difficult days. While we may be physically apart, we can use this time to pray to reflect and to focus on our personal relationship with god. I also spoke with more than 3,000 mayors, county commissioners, state, and tribal leaders to provide an update on our administrations ongoing drive to beat the virus, to crush the virus, and thats happening. Its happening i think if you look a little bit more quickly than people thought, maybe a lot more quickly i hope. And its something that all over the world were watching but people are watching us and seeing what were doing and they are very impressed. We are dealing with many countries. Right now many, many countries. And were giving them whatever information were able to glean. I just spoke with the representatives of the uk and i think that their great pramtsim minister is doing better today. Certainly he has had a tough bout and he is still going through a tough time. But he seems to be doing better. Thats good. We send our regards to boris and his family and his friends, all of the people that really love him. Hes become a very popular before this happened became a very popular prime minister. He is doing an excellent job. He loves their country. He loves our country. So we appreciate everything hes done and hopefully hes going to so we appreciate everything he has done, and hopefully he is going to be okay. Speaking of great people and people who have done a fantastic job, i have secretary of state mike pompeo with us, and id like to ask mike to say a few words. And then i think what well do, in order to get him back to the state department, well take some questions, and well then go on with the rest of what im going to say. Then well take some questions after that. And Vice President pence will take over. Mike pompeo, please. Thank you, mr. President. Under the president s leadership, my team at the state department are doing their part to protect the American People from the virus, and importantly, to get them home. As you know, when many people shut down, the capacity out to get out of the countries, tray were trapped. Since january 29th, we have now repatriated over 50,000 United States citizens back to their homes from more than 90 countries, more than 490 flights back to the United States from all across the world. This worldwide scale of our repatriation efforts is without scale in our lifetime. Were coordinating with foreign government, medical units, transportation companies, hotels, you name it, were working with them to make sure the American People get back to be with their families. You can see behind me the map of the flights that we have brought back people from all across the world. Every day i get a chance to hear some of the remarkable stories from our team. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Our mission in peru, working with the peruvian military and Police Forces to send riverboats up the river to get citizens that were stranded deep inside the amazon forest. Our mission in nepal made sure their woman who was running low on medication made sure she could get what she needed at a pharmacy before boarding an evacuation flight that brought her back here. In honduras after the government closed airports our embassy sprang into actions, for thousands of stranded americans. Thank you for helping me get back home to my dad. Pretty neat. We received similar messages from lots of people. Theyre proud to know that their country will not leave them stranded and were going get them back home. One woman wrote, quote, i was in tears when i received the email approving our flight back to the United States. God bless the United States of america. And another said i felt like i had ally theres that actually treated me like a person or a family member, not just a number. The Repatriation Task force, our consular officers are doing great work. I want to thank our partners in the department of defense who have helped with some of these flights back home and our sisters and brothers across the United States government in this administration that have helped get these people back. And lastly, aside from our repatriation efforts, we continue to help countries around the world as well. Weve got cdc officials helping these countries with expertise, and all the things that these countries need to get their citizens safe and healthy and back so that we can get the economy all across the world, a Global Economy back on its feet when this crisis is over. Thank you. Well see if anybody has any questions for secretary of state. Anybody . Please. Mr. Secretary, thats an amazing effort that you have made. How do you know when youre done . Because i imagine there are americans on all corners of the world and always someone is going to pop up and say i want to go home now. So its a great question. We still have several thousand people that were working. They identify themselves every day, new people find themselves in a difficult place. Look, were going to be done when people can travel on their own again. These people traveled abroad on vacations or with their church and were intending to get back on their own. We hope that day comes pretty soon where they dont have to rely on the state department to get them back home. But know this. In the meantime, were devoting all the resources we have to get them. Theyre often in difficult places. Theyre not in the capital or near the airport. Its not just a matter of getting a flight down there. There is a lot of work to make it all happen and get those people available so theyre sitting there when the flight lands, they can get on the plane and we can get them back home. Well still have several thousand. Were working on it. We chip away at that number every day. But new citizens go to the state department website, identify themselves and say i need a little bit of help in some way, and we do our best to get them that to them as quickly as we can. Indefinitely . Were going keep it up as lon as we have resources to do it and there is a need. Yes, sir . Mr. Secretary, how many of these staffers have tested positive for coronavirus . Have they been tested or are they going into quarantine . And what does this do to diplomat efforts overseas if youre pulling 50,000 people out of national capitals, nation capitals all over the world . So the vast majority of these 50,000 werent our officers. These were ordinary citizens who were there traveling for business or for commercial or for their trip of a lifetime. Weve seen some of that on the cruise ships. But of course, theyre stranded all over the world. So our embassies, save for the one that is in wuhan, which we did pull everybody out of, the rest of our facilities around the world are all open. Weve had a handful of our folks now test positive. But we feel like we have a good handle on it, and were doing everything we can to make sure not just the state department, but our department of defense colleagues are working on these missions as well, doing so in a way that reduce risk for them and their wellbeing also. Yes, maam . Thank you so much. Do you feel like china got hewi information from the United States and will there be consequences for that . This is not the time for retribution, but it is time for clarity and transparence it is. Were still working on data that these good people need so they can perform their analysis of how to develop their therapeutics and a vaccine and understand where this virus is. So every country, china included, every country needs to be transparent about whats gone on in their country, needs to share that data. We share ours with the world so the best scientists in the world can get to the right conclusions and bring this economy, this Global Economy back to the place we all want it to be as quickly as we. Every country has that responsibility. It started in china. And so they had that special responsibility, get it right quickly and fast. Ask every country, as we move forward in the days and weeks ahead. Make sure we share that do it right. Do it well. And when we do, well get this back online. Would they have shared their data soon were the United States . Every country has the obligation to share that information as quickly as they can gather it. Well leave for another time to evaluate how everyone did in that. Thank you. Thank you, President Trump and secretary. I have a question. The World Health Organization has a fundraising drive for 700 million for coronavirus resources. China has only donated 20 million. The United States has donated less. So do you feel that china should be giving more to this World Health Organization effort and comments on the u. S. Donation . Do you want to say something, mr. President . At this point were reevaluating our funding with respect to the World Health Organization. This is very consistent what President Trump said since the beginning of his campaign. Organizations have to work. They have to deliver the outcomes for which they were intended. And we need to make sure not only the World Health Organization, but every International Organization that we take taxpayer money and give it to them for the benefit of america. We need to make sure its delivering on those taxpayer dollars. The World Health Organization is no different in that respect. They have to execute on the mission that they are designed to achieve. And weve seen with respect to the World Health Organization, here we are. We it hasnt accomplished what it was intended to deliver. Thank you, mr. President and mr. Secretary. You said a handful of staffers have tested positive. Are they going get the hydroxychloroquine treatment . Is that going to be made available to personnel overseas . I dont know the answer to that. But know that well deliver the best medical care every place we can. Some of them are in difficult places where there is not a lot of medical help. Weve done our best to move the medical assistance forward to them in the field. Mr. Secretary, right here, can you give us an update on numbers youre seeing about coronavirus cases in iran and whether or not you have any updates on the United States helping them with that . With respect to our assistance to iran, weve offered from the first day we knew the virus had struck the people of iran. We offered humanitarian assistance. I regret that they chose not to take that. Ive heard people talking about sanctions. The world should know there are no sanctions that prevent humanitarian assistance, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals from going to iran. We offered american assistance. Weve tried to help other countries get assistance in there as well. Weve had some ability to do that. I dont have any better data than what youve seen publicly that i can share with you with respect to the extent of the virus inside of iran. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Are you allowing exports of medical supplies at this time . Or whats the status of that . So youve seen were making sure we have what we need for the American People, whether thats gloves, ill let the Vice President talk to numbers on that. But at this point, what we are doing in terms of assistance is providing what most of these countries need to learn thou do surveillance themselves, to learn how to conduct tests themselves, to learn things that can reduce the peaker in countries. Those interest kinds of things. Weve been doing this, you should know. The United States has been incredibly generous. We have cdc officials like no other country in the world out helping these nations build out their global Epidemic Health care infrastructure. Its good people like you see sitting to my right putting these countries in a place where theyre better prepared for a virus like this one. Have any u. S. Diplomats or u. S. Officials contracted the virus as they have tried to rescue citizens abroad . Not that im aware of. Not that im aware of. Blue is no doubt, i remember when we sent our team to get our officials and about 800 nongovernment citizens that were living in wuhan, i remember when we sent one of our first repatriation flights in there we were very careful. We sent trained professionals in. But they were going into a very difficult, very fraught place. We were blessed. They all got back with no one having contracted the virus on that trip. Im not aware of any of our officials that have had the virus attack them while they were performing their functions trying to get people back. We have a number of state Department Officials who have covid19 now and are work their way through. In fact, weve had three fatalities of local employees. Not u. S
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