Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Fredricka Whitfield 2

While investigators determine if anyone else was exposed. In the u. S. Cases are now being reported coast to coast. More than 330 people have been infected so far. There have been 17 u. S. Deaths, and there is concern that the numbers will only rise. Thousands of passengers on the grand princess are still in the sea. Cnn spoke to another passenger just last hour who said nearly everyone on board is being kept in the dark, including the captain. I called Passenger Services and i said, hey, im watching cnn or msnbc right now and Vice President pence is telling us there are positive tests. You better get the captain on the intercom and let us know whats going on. So about ten minutes later, the captain came on and he said he had not been told either. Its all news to him. On the east coast of the u. S. , fears are growing after new con fermfirmed cases. Two people from new york who tested positive for the virus attended the aipac conference earlier this week, potentially exposing other people to the virus. And connecticut had its first confirmed patient at work shifts, possibly putting patients and staff at risk. In the last two weeks severn people died at one Senior Care Center outside seattle. At least 34 people there have been infected. And then its florida reporting its first two deaths last night. Both victims recently returned from international trips. Lets begin with the situation unfolding off the San Francisco coast where thousands of people on board the grand princess cruise ship are waiting to rin to shore. Cnns louiucy kavanaugh is join us with more. What do we know now . Not much. The captain took to the speaker to say a helicopter was airlifting a passenger that needed medical attention and the passenger was taken to a San Francisco hospital. No details on the condition of the passenger. We also know supplies were dropped off on board the ship. The question in everybodys mind, what happens to the 3,500 people on board . The Vice President said the ship would be taken on a nonspecial port. Its not clear when. Its not clear where. We know the 1100 or so crew members, theyre not going to be allowed to get off that ship. They will stay on board under quarantine. The rest of the passengers will be taken to military bases. They will be tested. Its news that came as a shock to a lot of people on board. Take a listen to one of the passengers. The person in the balcony next to us told us to watch the news. So we turned on the tv and watched the Vice President tell us. The captain didnt say anything until 30 minutes later. And i was so shocked, i couldnt believe it. Vice president mike pence announced about 21 people have tested positive for covid19. You may have heard this on the news by the media already but we apologize, we were not given advanced notice by the announcement of this by the u. S. Federal government. Even the captain taken by surprise, fred. One passenger texted me and said it feels like no ones in charge. Were comfortable but were stuck. Fred . Thank you very much. Keep us posted. Concern is indeed growing not just on that ship but the east coast of the u. S. New patients are testing positive in new york and potentially exposing others outside the state. Cnns Polo Sandoval has details on that. What do we know so far . Reporter we have seen the number of cases in new york double, but now 44 have been confirmed here in new york city. A vast majority of them have been confirmed in westchester county, suburb of new york city. Were told about 34, a majority of those, are linked to a one particular patient, a family, friend, someone they lived with or worshipped with. So the governor made it clear that should reassure the bubble t public that the process is working. Those numbers have grown significantly but it should serve as a reminder to the general public, according to officials, say the process seems to be working. Here in new york city the mayor reminded you should remain vigilant, but go about your lives. Polo sandoval in new york, keep us posted from there. Thank you. The American Nurses association is now weighing in on the u. S. Response to this outbreak. Cnn senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining me with details. What is is this organization doing . It represents 4 million u. S. Nurses. And nurses are really on the front line. I know theres a lot of concern, fear and sometimes even panic whether the american public, but the people most at risk are elderly, those with underlying conditions and health care workers. We need to protect them. They are the ones taking care of sick people. And so lets take a look at what the Nurses Association said. They put out a statement saying the current lack of supplies, testing kits, proper protective gear and lack of universal set of guidelines all contribute to the spread of coronavirus. So theyre concerned about these shortages and they also seemed to be concerned about communication from the government, from hospitals that employ them. They want to make sure the right steps are being taken and also that the communication is right there on target. Are the nurses being told what they need to protect patients and to protect themselves . And are they being told what to convey to people . There has to be some kind of uniformity to the messages to patients and people who are just concerned and worried. For sure. I have been getting calls and texts from health care workers, even just friends of mine, saying i feel like i dont know what to tell patients. Every day patients are asking me questions and i dont quite know what to tell them. Another thing thats unclear there have been several patients successfully treated for coronavirus in this country but so far, most of them have not been written up in any kind of a way that doctors and nurses can read. And say oh, this is what they did with this patient. This worked, this didnt. Theres a concern about lack of communication in that regard. Elizabeth cohen, we will see you again throughout the afternoon. Appreciate it. Amid all of the concern about the coronavirus, the president continues to send out mixed messages. This week the president downplaying the severity of the illness. So if we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work, some of them go to work, but they get better. So the latest confusion centers on testing as well. The president and top members of his administration have begun givi been giving conflicted information on how many tests are available, when these tests will be available and to whom . Will they be available to anyone who feels they need one . Cnns White House Reporter Sarah Westwood is in west palm beach, florida. Whats behind the confusion, and what do we know about the availability of testing and to whom they go . Fred, we have been seeing some mixed signals about the vablt of coronavirus tests coming out of this administration, particularly from Vice President mike pence and President Donald Trump. That sort of reflects this broader disconnect in the tones from these two leaders. We have seen Vice President pence have a measured tone, set realistic expectations about what the outbreak in the u. S. Could look like. While we had President Trump painting a bit of a rosier picture of the progression of the virus in the u. S. But i want you to take a listen to the Different Things President Donald Trump and Vice President pence had to say about the current availability of tests this week. Anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test, gets a test. Theyre there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful. We trust in a matter of weeks the coronavirus test will be broadly available to the public and available to any american that is symptomatic and has a concern about the possibility of having contracted the coronavirus. So a clear difference in tone there. President trump suggesting that widespread testing is available now, while Vice President mike pence is setting the more realistic expectation widespread testing may not be available for a few more weeks. Of course, the administration was criticizing being slow to test before the coronavirus, especially the other countries having an outbreak. They expect to have a million tests available by the end of the week and Vice President pence said theyre on track to hit that target. Sarah westwood, thank you very much for that. Its been a week since the first coronavirus death was reported in the u. S. Still Health Experts say there are not enough tests, despite the president s recent comments. The Trump Administration ramped up efforts, however the u. S. Response to the deadly virus lags behind other developed countries. That is what the experts are saying, including cnns chief medical correspondent, dr. Sanjay gupta. Were going to need millions and millions and millions of tests. The problem is more than a month after the first patient was diagnosed in the United States, we still dont have nearly enough tests. According to our review of cdc reports, only around 1,500 people have been tested total. Its a big difference from other countries like south korea, where nearly 160,000 people have been tested. Even in the drivethru. And in the uk, more than 20,000 people. Its basic surveillance, and in the United States that lack of testing has led to a lack of planning. Its very important theres an aggressive approach in the beginning that you look for all of those cases because as case numbers increase, systems become overwhelmed. And so as much as can be done in the early stages of this, the better chance you have to delay and reduce and suppress transmission. Reporter the test itself is similar to one done for the flu. A swab in the nose or throat. The culture is then sent to a lab to see if there are genetic traces of coronavirus. Takes about six hours. So what happened here many point to two issues, the initial test kit sent to state and county labs were defective. And then the initialing cdc criteria limited testing only to those who had traveled to areas impacted by the epidemic or been around somebody who had tested positive. That greatly limited the number of people who qualified to get a test. On thursday the Vice President publicly acknowledged the u. S. Effort is behind. We dont have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward. Reporter and even dr. Anthony fauci is making no promises that the problem will be fixed any time soon. It got off to a slow start. There were some missteps. But up to this point there has been a lag in the ability to get tested. Reporter this is not to suggest everyone should run out and start asking for tests. If you go to your doctor with symptoms, the doctor may say first, look, lets rule out common things first such as the cold or the flu. If you dont have anything to explain your symptoms, this coronavirus test may be ordered at that point. It may still though take a few weeks for all of these tests that you just heard about to make their way into clinics and hospitals around the country. Back to you. Dr. Sanjay gupta, thank you so much. Coronavirus, what to do, what to avoid and when to see a doctor. Cnns new podcast has answers. Join sanjay good nightia, coronavirus fact versus fiction. Listen whenever and wherever you get your favorite podcast. A stark warning issued to congress over the coronavirus, saying the virus will be like an angel of death for elderly people. That doctor joins me next. Plus the south by southwest festival now challenged. This as coachella concerts and other big towers are potentially reconsidering opening to the masses. Cnns live coverage of the coronavirus continues next. Wifi were over 50k in debt. Through sofis help refinancing we paid off all that debt. Now were debt free and visiting places like this. Thank you guys doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Finding the right words can be tough. N it comes to autism, finding understanding doesnt have to be. 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Finally a totally different way to finance your ride. Only from carvana. The new way to buy a car. Welcome back. In response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the cdc is now encouraging older adults to stay at home as much as possible. This as one expert tells congress the virus is like im quoting now the angel of death for the elderly. In an attempt to calm public fears,ing youre hearing things like its a mild illness, this is like flu. Its not really the case, because this is an unusual virus. For many young people especially it is a mild illness, but we are seeing devastating things. Look at what this virus did in that nursing home in kirkland, washington. It rolled through it like a train. This is like the angel of death for older individuals. Dr. Peter hotez is here with me now. Hes a professor at the Baylor College of medicine in houston and the codirector of the Coronavirus Vaccine team. Doctor, good to see you. So we just heard a clip of you testifying before congress this week and Health Officials have been telling the public, dont panic. But your words, angel of death, if anything does insight real concern. The are you concerned that people cant help but panic or feel very fearful about this virus . Well, you know, you have to remember how this virus works. Were talking a lot about case fatality rates, whether its 1 or 2 , but thats not really the issue. The issue, we got the headsup from chinese physicians working in wuhan, especially with patients in nursing homes, where we saw mortality of 10 to 50 among individuals over the age of 70. And that was a want call to us we better get our facilities where we have large numbers of older individuals clustered together, like a nursing home or an assisted living facility, because that virus can be very dangerous. Sure enough, this virus indeed swept through that nursing home in kirkland, washington. And my understanding is we had 11 deaths in that one nursing home of about 100 residents. So thats about 11 , exactly what we saw in wuhan. The point is what happened in that nursing home was both predicted and predictable. We cant let that happen again. So it was really meant to wake people up to get our nursing facilities ready. And theres actually been some response to that. What does that mean, get ready . Because i think, of course, think of those elder parents and patients, i think about my 87yearold mother and her vulnerability. And my 90yearold mother is in a nursing home outside of brooklyn, massachusetts. Yes. What are the actions whether its nursing home, senior centers, what kind of action should they be taking . What about at home, how long can your elderly parents stay at home and out of the Public Contact . I think theres two Different Things were talking about. In terms of staying at home, you want to be also not to overisolate our older individuals. We know the downside of preventing them from socializing and that could have a damaging impact as well. So what im mainly concerned about is areas we know Community Transmission is under way, thats when we have to be extra careful for our older populations and our nursing facilities. And exactly what we do we really need guidance now from the cdc and local hasnt departments. Should we in places where Community Transmission is under way, should we respect the number of visitors . How should we focus our testing . Right now its clear were not going to have a million kits available for a couple of weeks. How do we ration those kits . I would argue because our nursing home facilities are so vulnerable, thats where we should prioritize making Testing Available for people coming in and out of the facility. So its things like that to be a little more strategic, not just aspire to do testing for the whole population at once, but lets look at our two most vulnerable populations. One of them are older individuals in nursing facilities. We know thats a red flag. Weve seen it, right. We saw it in wuhan and have seen it in kirkland, washington. It could happen in any nursing home this Community Transmission, but also Health Care Professionals. We heard the segment about the nursing association. Theyre absolutely right. We saw in wuhan where there were a thousand Health Care Professionals got sick. But the other piece to that is 50 not only got sick but were severely hill so many in icus. So you had this transic situation colleagues were taking care of colleagues in an icu setting. We saw that with ebola in dallas in 2014