Day. Thats the highest yet. Well ask dr. Deborah birx of the White House Task force about that spike, plus possible new guidelines to get americans back to work. On the front lines. Hear from Grocery Store workers risking their health to stock the shelves. How they want their companies to keep them safe. Lockdown lifted. China ends the travel ban in wuhan, the original epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak. Why experts are worried about a second wave. And remembering a folk legend. The legacy of grammywinning singer songwriter john prine who died of coronavirus complications. Very sorry to hear that news. First, heres todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. By the time we get to the fall, we will have this under control enough that it certainly will not be the way it is now. Reporter the u. S. Has again set a record for deaths in a single day. We want to start hitting the downside. I think were going this is going to be a very difficult week, however. This week will be a very difficult week. Continue to practice physical distancing. Lets not run the 90yard dash. We still have an enormous amount of work ahead of us. Reporter the uk has suffered its worst day so far with the highest rise in fatalities. This as the Prime Minister remains in intensive care. Remains in good spirits, and his progress continues to be monitored closely in Critical Care. Reporter voters in wisconsin participating in democracy at a distance. Long lines outside voting locations despite pandemic concerns. I have food. I have water. I have a lawn chair. I have a mask. Reporter the resurgence of the milk man. People are relying on an oldfashioned way of doing things to keep their fridge stocked. All that everyones going a little nuts. One of our writers found himself lysoling his lysol yesterday. If you did infect a disinfectant, does it become an infectant . All that matters ufc getting a private island. Come to the island of manhattan and try to get toilet paper. Its a blood bath and nothing to wiwipe it up with. The death of a legend, american singer songwriter john prine has dead following complications of covid19. When i get to heaven, im going to shake gods hand. Im going to thank him for more blessings than one man can stand. Then im going to get a guitar and start a rock and roll band. Check into a swell hotel. After the afterlife grand . Then im going to get a this mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Aw, john prine. Anthony, i have to say when i heard the noise, i thought of you and John Dickerson because you both have done trick pieces on him and got to meet him. Yeah. And the news came last night. Incredibly sad news. John prine beat cancer twice but could not beat the coronavirus. Well have a tribute to him later in the show. By the way, the song he was singing at the end, when i get to heaven, was his last song on his last album. Gayle . Wow. Well, of course, we will have more on john prine a little bit later on in this newscast. We welcome you to cbs this morning. As you see, we are broadcasting from our homes to yours. We hope everybody, everybody is following the guidance to stay home as much as possible. So you know were committed to continuing to give you the news you need during this crisis. Even while we practice social distancing and hope you are, too. And thats where we will begin with coronavirus, of course, because it has been a painful 24 hours in this country. Nearly 2,000 americans died of the coronavirus yesterday. Thats the most in a single day by far. This chart shows in very stark terms just how fast we got here. Just think about this five weeks ago, only nine people in the u. S. Had died from the virus. You can see how the toll has certainly accelerated since then. Anthony . And hospitals are still trying to find room for all the patients who need treatment. Our lead national correspondent, david begnaud, is outside new york citys Javits Convention center. It is now an army field hospital. David, what is happening inside . Reporter there are only 66 patients inside, but they can hold so many more. Heres whats being done to increase the number quickly. You see the buses . They just pulled up. They are picking up medical personnel to take to hospitals around the city. The medical personnel from the military is going to start the transfer process to speed it up. To get the patients here because they can hold as many as 2,500 inside the javits center. The state of new york is in the middle of the deadliest week yet. Around 730 people died on tuesday alone. Thats nearly one person every two minutes. Behind every one of those numbers is an individual, is a family, is a mother, is a father, is a sister, is a brother. Reporter the city is converting one of the largest churches in the world into yet another field hospital. There is some good news. Governor andrew cuomo says that the state appears to be reaching a plateau in terms of hospitalizations. Weve been called to the reporter dr. Sanam ahmed who works in Critical Care at mt. Sinai hospital here in new york recorded this video diary. She says shes been encouraged by the number of patients who are coming off of the ventilators. Its sort of a reminder of the resilience that we have as human beings. Reporter Top Health Officials are concerned about growing data come shows that people of color are at greater risk. The Elderly Population is also being hit hard. At Nursing Homes around the country. There have now been 42 deaths at the Life Care Center in kirkland, washington. Another 32 people passed away at the canterbury rehabilitation and Health Care Center in virginia. And the Elizabeth Center in new jersey has lost t at least 12 residents. In los angeles county, the Public Health director now says its appropriate to pull loved ones out of longterm care facilities if you are able to care for them at home. Shes definitely worried. I think she thinks this is it for her. Reporter wendi ezzes mother dorothy lives at an assisted living facility near los angeles. Shes unsure whether bringing her home is the right thing to do. She called her tuesday night. If you would feel safer here, wed love to have you here. I know, i love that thought. And i know youre superwoman, and you can do anything. But i dont think you could protect me from this. Reporter and heres hope for those on the other side. David lat spent most of the last month battling covid19 including 17 days in the hospital, six of those on a ventilator. He says he did receive at least four different drugs, the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin. Its hard to tell whether the medications helped, hurt, worked together. Its hard to tell. Thats why we need more research in this area. Reporter davids 44 years old. Hes a lawyer in new york city. He only had exercise induced asthma as a preexisting condition. He is home this morning. And the simple task of getting from the couch to the kitchen, he says, leaves him out of breath. The bottom line, he is a survivor. Yeah. More than a quarter of a million survivors globally. Important to highlight that, as well. We appreciate that report. Now to washington where President Trump is threatening to pull u. S. Funding from the world health organization. The w. H. O. Sent out multiple coronavirus alerts earlier this year. In fact, declaring it a Global Health emergency in january. The president largely dismissed those warnings saying also in january its going to be just fine. Thats a direct quote. As ben tracy reports, mr. Trump claiaims the w. H. O. Failed. They called it wrong. They missed the call. Reporter the president is shifting blame for the spread of the coronavirus to the world health organization, saying it should have provided better warnings. They didnt report it. If they did they must have seen it, but they didnt report it. Reporter the organization labeled coronavirus a Global Health emergency in january. Im declaring the Public Health emergency of international concern. Reporter meanwhile, the president says he was not aware of memos written by his trade adviser, peter navarro, in late january and february that warned of a fullblown covid19 pandemic that could infect 100 million americans. I heard he wrote memos talking about pandemic. I didnt see them, i didnt look for them either. Reporter the president did ban most travel from china and formed a Coronavirus Task force in late january but downplayed the threat publicly. I think its going to be under control. Reporter the president now says he did not want to alarm the country. Reporter you said within a couple of days the cases will be down to zero . Im a cheerleader for this country. I dont want to create havoc and shock and everything else. But ultimately, when i was saying that, im closing it down. I obviously was concerned about. It. Reporter for cbs this morning, ben tracy, the white house. Dr. Deborah birx is the White House Coronavirus response coordinator and joins us now with more on this story. Dr. Birx, thank you so much for joining us. I know you are very, very busy these days. I want to start with the numbers. Again here in new york because there are now 730 more families who are mourning the loss of a loved one. Yet despite the devastating number, there do appear signs in new york that the virus is slowing here, the spread of the virus is slowing. What is the data showing you all, and what does that mean for other states . Thank you for recognizing the impact that this virus is having on families, on communities, on counties, and on states. And i think really when you work on pandemics, you have to always be conscious that there are human beings behind each one of the numbers. So we do track the numbers very carefully. We track the numbers because they were a reflection of whats happening to people in the community. We are beginning to see some flattening of the number of new cases per day in specific metro areas. Remember, we do this granularly. We look at the county level. We triangulate testing data with case data with hospitalizations, with icus, and the deaths that are occurring to get a full picture of whats happening community by community. The cdc were hearing is reportedly considering easing the guidelines for workers in critical jobs if theyre asymptomatic. What can you tell us about that . I think theyre going to publish it today. Its a very important piece because it looks at degree of exposure and really making it clear that exposure occurs within six feet for more than 15 minutes. Really understanding where you shouldnt be within six feet of people right now. But if youre in a work situation where you have to be, there will be a series of recommendations that if you had had a significant exposure of what specifically to do. And if youve had a less exposure, what to do. We really want to thank all of our critical frontline workrs. The Health Care Workers. But also the individuals driving the trucks and bringing food to Grocery Stores and making sure that we have the ability to have the essentials that we need every day. I would imagine you dont want to step into this controversy that the president apparently has created where hes blasted the w. H. O. Does he have a point for blaming them . What he says, for spreading the virus . Does he have a point . You know, the w. H. O. Can only react to the data its given. And when you go back and look at the timeline, it wasnt until i think almost the middle of january that china reported that there was humantohuman transmission. We have to really investigate reporting and how the reports were received there. I think it did delay the ability to declare this a Global Pandemic, an emergency. We can do all of that when we get through this as a Global Community to really understand how to do this better the next time. Dr. Fauci says, listen, we all know that summer plans look dicey right now. Dr. Fauci said something i think was encouraging to a lot of parents that he thinks schools will be able to go back in session in the fall. Do you see that, as well . Were very encouraged about no one has done this kind of mitigation before. I just want to be very clear, nowhere around the world have we done what were doing together as a Global Community, and specifically as americans here in the united states. Were learning every day how to do it, how to do it better, what needs to be done. All of this was theory et ic until we saw the incredible impact of mitigation in california and washington state. And beginning to see those early chutes of success and mitigation in the large metro areas. These are what were learning from. Well learn also clearly what happens in china now that theyve opened things back up. Were watching closely. I think were better prepared for analyzing whats happening now and whats going to happen in the future. Dr. Deborah birx. Thank you. Always good to see you. May we say i hope your granddaughter is better. You talked about her with the 105 fever. We gasped at that. Five days of that was tough, but now she has the rash, so i noti roseola, so im very relieved. Rash looks good under the circumstances. Yes. Tony . A rash does look good. It was nice to hear dr. Birx say that frontline workers with more than Just Health Care workers. There are all kind of frontline workers. Thats where were going to go now, to Grocery Stores. At least five employees at supermarket chains across the country have died from the virus including two at the same chicago area walmart. Walmart says it is, quote, heartbroken by those deaths. It faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of one of those workers. Our adriana diaz spoke to the sister of the other worker who died. Everybody at walmart loved him. Reporter when Angela Mcmillan called to check on her brother thomas at the hospital, a nurse came to the phone instead. Said, we did everything we could. And i said, wait a minute, are you telling me my brother passed away . Reporter 48yearold thomas, whod worked for walmart for nine years, died two days after calling an ambulance for himself after struggling to stand up. Do you think if your brother was wearing a mask and gloves at work . I dont think they were wearing none of them were Wearing Masks and gloves. Reporter for employees trying to keep up with customer demands, theres no break. What do we want ppe reporter tuesday, Grocery Store workers in boston demanded masks and gloves, fully paid sick leave, and hazard pay. Some stores have installed floor markers and plexiglass including walmart. The company is limiting customers in stores, providing masks and gloves for employees who want them, and taking their temperatures upon arrival. These measures should have been taken from day one. Reporter thats not stopping attorney Tony Kalogerakos from suing walmart on behalf of rolando evans who died from the virus the same week. The wrongful death suit claims the store failed to notify employees that others had symptoms of the virus. I am concerned because im a walmart consumer. I love walmart. So to think that i have to risk my life when i walk through the door is scary. Reporter walmart responded to the wrongful death suit saying its taking the issue seriously and will respond in court once it receives the complaint. Its not known if the employees contracted the virus while working here at this store. Of course, any essential employees faced increased exposure despite leaving their homes and being around others. Anthony . Thank you. Tens of thousands of people left wuhan, china, this morning for the first time in 2. 5 months. Chinas government just lifted travel restrictions on the city where the worldwide coronavirus outbreak began. Ramy inocencio shows us a region possibly on the rebound. Reporter at the stroke of midnight, wuhan celebrated liberation from its 76day lockdown, honoring its frontline workers in a light show. Drivers sped off as highways reopened, and highspeed trains departed just after dawn. Along city streets, cherry trees are now blossoming as shoppers return to reopened stores. A stark contrast to a city that just days ago was under one of the largest lockdowns in history. Cbs news was the first u. S. News network to report from wuhan in january. Our team evacuated just before the city went into confinement. A measure that grew to more than 60 Million People across china. Emergency hospitals sprung up almost overnight, and empty streets were the new normal. Those who disobeyed containment were beaten, hauled away, or sealed in their homes by authorities. 21yearold megan monroe has been in wuhan since the lockdown began. Everyones out and about. And everyone was just so, so happy. I felt joy in the air. Reporter but epidemiologists warn that widespread travel out of wuhan could mark the start of chinas second wave. One of my concerns is that were going to get into a nasty cycle of having to have repeated lockdowns. Maybe every two or three months because there will be a resurgence. 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