Velshi starts now. Good morning, it is saturday, october the 3rd. Were 31 days until election day, one month to go. Im ali velshi, roughly 210,000 americans are dead from covid19, and roughly 7. 4 million have been diagnosed with the disease. President donald trump and First Lady Melania Trump are now two of them. As a precautionary measure and on the recommendation of his physicians, the president is right now in the Walter Reed National military medical center, and he will be working out of the president ial offices at the facility over the next few days. The white house says that the president is experiencing, quote, mild symptoms. Nbc news has learned that trump has a low grade fever. The president s physician, u. S. Says trump, quote, remains fatigued but in good spirits, and melania has a, quote, mild cough and a headache. Commander connolly also said trump has started remdesivir therapy and has received a single eightgram dose of regenerons experimental polyclonal antiviral cocktail. Well talk more about that in a moment. Nbc news medical unit notes that compassionate use requests are a means of, quote, accessing experimental drugs outside of clinical trials, most often in situations where patients have no other options and have severe or lifethreatening disease, end quote. And according to regeneron, they are approved, quote, under rare exceptional circumstances on a case by case basis. In his first tweet since announcing his diagnosis, trump sent this video message. I want to thank everybody for the tremendous support. Im going to walter reed hospital. I think im doing very well, but were going to make sure that things work out. The first lady is doing very well, so thank you very much. I appreciate it. I will never forget it. Thank you. Lets look at something the president never took very seriously, contact tracing, trying to figure out where hes been and who hes met over the past seven days, which includes last saturdays rose garden ceremony announcing the nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and a Campaign Fundraiser and rally in minnesota. It also includes a Campaign Fundraiser thursday night at his private golf course in new jersey. The white house says trump tested positive thursday night, although its not known whether that was before or after the event in new jersey or before or after he traveled back to washington. Vice president mike pence and second lady karen pence have tested negative as has secretary of state mike pompeo, treasury secretary steven mnuchin, attorney general william barr, White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany and rudy giuliani. Jared and ivanka trump have also both tested negative. However, it is important for all of us to remember, not just for our government officials but for our own lives that a negative test result only means that the person being tested does not have covid19 at the time of the test. The incubation period for the virus is long, symptoms can appear as late as 14 days after initial infection. If youve been exposed to someone, you should either quarantine or test regularly over the course of two weeks. Nbc news has learned that hope hicks, one of President Trumps top aides began showing symptoms of the disease on wednesday evening and reportedly quarantined on the air force one flight back to washington from a Trump Campaign event held in minnesota. Hicks tested positive for covid19 thursday morning before trumps new jersey fundraiser. Another high ranking official in the president s orbit to test positive rnc chairwoman Ronna Mcdaniel. According to rnc spokespeople she tested positive on wednesday, quote, after a member of her family tested positive. Trumps Campaign Manager bill stepien announced he has covid19. Also testing positive, university of notre dame president reverend john jenkins, utah republican senator mike lee and north carolinas republican senator thom tillis, all three of whom attended trumps announcement last saturday nominating judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. None of them wore masks. Senator lee also met with judge barrett on tuesday. Judge barrett has tested negative and now the Washington Post has learned that she actually had covid19 over the summer and has recovered. However, its very important to remember that there have been cases of people getting covid19 more than once. It does not, however, appear to be common. The president s diagnosis, which is startling but not all that surprising given his cavalier attitude toward the disease and precautions like mask wearing came days after what is widely being called the worst president ial debate in u. S. History. One of the people who helped prepare trump for the debate, former new Jersey Governor Chris Christie says that the sessions included about five or six people and that, quote, no one was Wearing Masks in the room. Nbc news has also reported that Kellyanne Conway was a member of that debate prep team. She also taattended judge barretts ceremony. She also confirmed late last night she is positive for covid19. And remember, that cavalier attitude i just mentioned, heres the president on tuesday. President trump, you have begun to increasingly question the effectiveness of masks as a disease preventer, and in fact, recently you have cited the issue of waiters touching their masks and touching plates. Are you questioning the no, i think masks are okay, you have to understand, i mean, i have a mask right here. I put a mask on, you know, when i think i need it. Tonight is an example everybodys had a test, and youve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to, but just like at rallies. When needed i wear masks. Let me ask i dont wear masks like him, every time you see him hes got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away, and he shows up with the biggest mask ive ever seen. He could be 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask ive ever seen. Joe biden has responded to the president s diagnosis tweeting, quote, jill and i send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery. We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family. Biden followed up a short time later, quote, im happy to report that jill and i have tested negative for covid. Thank you to everyone for your messages of concern. I hope this serves as a reminder, wear a mask, keep social distance and wash your hands. Biden expanded on his thoughts at a Campaign Stop in michigan. Look, lets id like to start by acknowledging, which im sure all of you do as well, sending my prayers for the health and safety of the first lady and president the president of the United States after they tested positive for covid19. My wife jill and i pray that theyll make a quick and full recovery. This is not a matter of politics. Its a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. Its not going away automatically. We have to do our part to be responsible. It means following the science, listening to the experts, washing our hands, social distancing. It means wearing a mask in public and it means encouraging others to do so as well. It means having masking mandates nationwide. Joining me now White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post phil rucker, also an nbc political analyst. Notably he was not at last saturdays rose garden ceremony, which is starting to look a bit like a possible Coronavirus Spreader event. Hes also the author of the best seller a very stable genius donald j. Trumps testing of america. His latest story dives into the details of the past week quoting im quoting from the article now, invince blt punctured by infection, how the Coronavirus Spread in trumps white house. Phil, good to see you this morning. Thank you for being with us. Good morning. I just want to check on you, my friend. How are you feeling . Are you good, and have you been tested . Thankfully im feeling great. Its been actually a couple of weeks since ive been physically at the white house and around any of those, so i dont have a lot of concern for exposure at this point, but thank you for asking. But your headline is remarkable, invince blt punctured that is a thesis unto itself. Weve heard it from you, our reporters, a ton of people, they sometimes function as if its what we call the before times, right . Before coronavirus, for whatever reason there seems to be a sense, and sometimes that happens to us as reporters when we cover stories. I cover hurricanes, we sometimes think the rules dont apply to us the same as it applies to everybody else, but it turns out that they do. Youre exactly right, and the culture in the white house for hon ho months now has been the before times. You have staffers working around the president in very close proximity, virtually nobody wearing a mask indoors or outdoors, no social distancing to be heard of. They do take rapid tests every morning to make sure that they dont have that they dont show up as testing positive for the coronavirus that day. However, those tests are not entirely accurate. It has a reasonably high rate of inaccuracy in some cases, and theres a reliance inside trumps orbit on that test as if it were creating some invin invinceability. For the rest of the day nothing can touch you, that this virus cannot somehow puncture the walls of the white house. The virus doesnt discriminate based on whether you were tested or whether you work in Donald Trumps administration. The virus is contagious. Its spreading. Its all over washington, d. C. , as it is all over the rest of the country, and it ultimately has gotten into the president s orbit as were seeing, and we should point out, the chief of staff at the white house, mark meadows told reporters yesterday that they are bracing for many more positive cases to come in the days to come as the virus spreads and symptoms become more clear. So phil, weve talked for three and a half years about whether certain events will cause a sea change in the president s behavior, and generally speaking most people think thats an exercise in folly. However, there are americans who are wondering and maybe hoping. Were right on track for the numbers that the university of washington predicted for the number of americans who will be dead before the election. Were at 210,000 almost right now. They were saying about 225 by the election, and thats probably going to happen. Heres the question, will anything that has happened in the last seven days result in a policy stance change about social distancing and masks and i want to read an article, a line from your article in which you write the white house is handling the period between the first known symptoms, those of hicks on wednesday and the president s infection, which was confirmed at about 1 00 a. M. Friday is what experts considered a case study in irresponsibility and mismanagement. Your article suggests the answer to my question is no. I think we already know, ali, that the answer is no. For instance, you would think with the infection spreading inside the white house and among trump staff that there would have been some sort of emergency rule until that building that all employees are to wear masks, that people are to work at home and socially distance as best they can. And yet those things all remain optional in this white house because the president continues to believe there should not be a mandate on masks. Phil, good to see you as always thank you for your great reporting. The author of a very stable genius. Former assistant secretary for health and human services, dr. Howard ko. A professor of practice and Public Health leader at the Harvard Kennedy school, former commissioner of the fda, dr. Margaret hamberg, the foreign secretary for the National Academy of medicine. Dr. Hamberg, i want you to give us the early evaluation of what you have seen unfold this week starting with the diagnosis of hope hicks to the president to the various people in the president s orbit. Things have become very real for the administration in the last three days. Well, its certainly been a very dramatic picture unfolding with cases spreading. We dont know the source. My guess based on the time lines is that hope hicks and the president might have been exposed actually at the same time, but we dont know the source, but certainly it reminds us that this is a serious disease that can spread. It reminds us about the importance of those Public Health measures that we talk about a lot that the president has not modeled and his staff have not adopted masks, social distancing, and of course also, you know, hygiene, washing hands, et cetera, and its worrisome. The president is in a high risk group. He is, i guess 74. He is markedly overweight, in fact, i think hes technically obese, and hes male. Males actually have a two times higher risk of death from this disease. So he has three reasons for serious concern about his risk factors. We know hell get the best of care, and we all wish him well, but this is a dramatic moment for our country and hopefully it will be a teaching moment for all of those about the importance of taking this disease very, very seriously. Dr. Ko, lets just talk about this from a policy perspective. The president is better tracked probably than any american in existence, and yet we arent sure where Ronna Mcdaniel got covid from. Were not sure where hope hicks got it from, were not sure whether hope hicks gave it to the president or who got it from whom. Contact tracing, mask wearing skprgs social distanci and social distancing are things this administration has not taken seriously obviously only a personal level or on a policy level. Does any of that change now . We certainly hope so because whats happening at the white house in the last few days is a microcosm of whats been happening in the country for the last eight months and counting. Right now in the white house its critically important to pursue aggressive contact tracing, identify, isolate, care, and treat those who are infected ask also find out who have been exposed and make sure they are quarantined and tested, and those are some of the key measures for prevention right now. As phil rucker said, there should be a mask requirement for everybody in the white house and anybody coming in contact with the president and other high ranking officials. But thats a lesson that should be applied to the whole country right now. We have not had a united effort for the United States up until now, and we still have some 40, 45,000 cases a day. This is as were heading into a potentially difficult flu season and a second wave of covid coming on. So we need to elevate the importance of prevention, mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing, ill tell you, ali, one thing i learned from my patients is that when a loved one dies, thats a tragedy, but when a loved one dies and that death could have been prevented, thats a tragedy that haunts you forever. Thats why prevention is so critically important right now. How many of the 210,000 americans who have already died were preventable, in some cases by policy . Dr. Hamberg, the organization that you head, the head of the fda and cdc both have been politicized and diminished as a result of this president who has largely sent the message out that dont take them as seriously as you take me. In this very moment when all of a sudden you realize the president who, for very obvious reasons, could have been prevented from getting coronavirus by practicing some of the same things that he wouldnt practice now has that, what does this do to the trust in institutions . Because we are always looking at both the fda for medical approvals and the cdc for Public Health guidance on how to deal with these things. This president himself has diminished those two organizations. Well, its been a terrible thing to watch. In fact, the centers for disease control, the cdc and the food and drug administration, fda, are considered the gold standards around the world. They have a depth and breadth of expertise and experience, and the president , for whatever reasons has chosen to discount their expertise, to devalue the role of science and evidence, and has looked to others without the expertise of his own employees within these federal Public Health agencies for advice that is not accurate and has been misleading and has undermined the ability to really do the kinds of critical Public Health programs that weve within talkibeen talking about this morning and have been part of so many of the efforts to control this virus, but as howard ko noted, our efforts have been fragmented. We havent had a National Plan with a clearly delineated strategy. We havent had the kind of clear, consistent messaging from the top down about what people need to do and why, and we havent had the commitment to Public Health, the testing, the contact tracing, and the other behaviors that are so crucial. And the countries that have been more successful than the United States in controlling this disease clearly did those things, and we should learn those lessons and, you know, we are entering a very fraught period now as we move indoors, as people go back to school and to work as the virus continues to circulate, and also as we have the threat of seasonal flu as well. Dr. Hamberg, you know, the three of us are all on the same page on had this thing, but what the hell are we doing talking about learning lessons with 210,000 people dying . It is just ridiculous that this is what it might even take, and i think to dr. Kos point, i dont think its going to do it