[Paula Newton, Cnn Anchor:] Welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. The headlines this hour. The free fall in global stock markets is only getting worse amid the uncertainty over the coronavirus. So far the Seoul Kospi has seen its largest decline in Thursday's trading in Asia. You see it down there, more than 7 percent. This follows another devastating day on Wall Street which saw more steep losses right cross the board. Italy's cases continue to soar. The Civil Protection Agency reported more than 4,200 new infections Wednesday alone, bringing its total to more than 35,000 cases and nearly 3,000 deaths. The government says on average, deaths in Italy are happening eight days after patients show their first symptoms. Now we know you have a lot of questions about the coronavirus. And we, of course, want to get you some of those answers. For that we turn to Dr. Anne Rimoin. She is a professor of epidemiology at UCLA.
[Newton:] We just went through Europe. it is clear how this virus is ravaging Europe. Is North America likely next? It doesn't matter how much shut down as we are going through that now. Do the spikes in the cases and the deaths alarm you here right now?
[Dr. Anne Rimoin, Professor, Department Of Epidemiology, Ucla:] Absolutely. I think we have to look at the global data which is very compelling. And countries that have not deployed rapid social distancing measures that have been very extreme in nature are suffering the same fate that Italy has suffered. And we in the Untied States having had major testing failures, not being able to ramp up quickly to be able to test people, to employ social distancing measures are far behind the curve. So I believe that we will be too, going in the same direction as Italy.
[Newton:] So you do expect hospitals to be overwhelmed? You expect a lot of suffering, in terms of people getting sick with this virus, and having severe respiratory illness?
[Rimoin:] I think you have to look at the global data. And the global data tells us what happens when we do not have the right methods in place. You know, the good news is that we have had a little bit of time to prepare. We are probably about 10 days behind Italy, as we understand it. And so hospitals are ramping up. They are doing the best that they can. But we do have major shortages with PPE, with the personal protective equipment that is really necessary, the masks, the gowns, the gloves. All of these things are in very short supply here. So, you know, the truth is, we will you know, it will really depend on how well the social distancing methods that are now in place are working, and how well the population sticks to it.
[Newton:] And to that end, something that is alarming we interviewed Dr. Steven Choi. He is the chief quality officer for Yale, New Haven Health System, right just outside of New York. And that is a hot spot right now. You know we asked him what is keeping you up at night. He said the lack of social awareness in the community. He says this battle will be won or lost outside of the hospitals. He says we have days to respond to this call for action, not weeks and certainly not months. How, Doctor do you then take that plea from somebody who is on the front line in a hospital in the United States? And really trying and get it through some people in the United States that, as you said, it's business as usual really in some communities.
[Rimoin:] I think that the reality hasn't set-in for the vast majority of the American public. I think what is different in the United States is that we haven't had to deal with these kinds of emergency situations before. You know, I've spent my career working in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other places in Africa, you know, where epidemics have ravaged communities. And people understand what it's like to have to take action. And that actually, public health depends upon the community. And so I agree very strongly with that statement that the battle is going to be fought on the basis of how communities behave. And if people can take social distancing seriously and really limit the spread. I mean we keep talking about flattening the curve. And the only way to do that is with really community engagement. And you know, this is no different than any other outbreak that we'd ever seen. It all rests with the community.
[Newton:] I'm sure it is still possible to flatten the curve but do you believe this social distancing started too late to really get it to where we need it to be.
[Rimoin:] Well, what I would say is its' never too late to do something, to make it better. And we are really at a critical point. Could it have been better if we had all started earlier, had the testing ramped up earlier and we knew exactly what we were dealing with? Absolutely. But there is still time to make it better than it was going to be if we had done nothing, or if we had done a little. Every minute counts. And so that's the key thing I think people have to really understand. Every minute counts. Let's do the best that we can. Any social distancing that happens right now, will pay off two weeks from now. So I think we're the key.
[Newton:] And in terms of some of the problems that have happened happening in United States, one of them, of course, has been testing. I read in the Italian press that there was a community in Italy of about 3,000 people, so it was a small community. They decided, ok, let's just they could and so they did. They tested everyone. They then isolated the people that were positive. And then in the next week they had zero cases. Do you believe that, going forward, that as the testing ramps up, that that will also contribute?
[Rimoin:] Absolutely. We are able to test and really understand who has COVID-19, who does not. We will be able to do the same thing on a much larger scale. It is all dependent upon the testing that is available. However, we do know that it isn't just about getting the test kits. The test kits are one thing but there are other pieces of it that we need. There are all sorts of what we call re-agents which are basically the chemicals that make the test work. We need the swabs. There are shortages in many, many places so it is not just the test. So I think the people really need to understand that testing, while critical, is not just a magic kit that gets put in somebody's hand and it gives a result. So, I think that there are many complicated steps to putting it all together. But I do believe that with testing and with good social distancing, we will be much better off.
[Newton:] Ok. I have to go, but there is one thing that is top of mind, I know for many people right now. They are wondering if we get through this wave and people do get infected, can you get re-infected or does that give you the key to what we want right now which is some sort of immunity against this virus?
[Rimoin:] What we know about coronavirus, this coronavirus COVID-19 and other is based on what we know from other coronaviruses really. We do know that other coronaviruses can provide some protective immunity at least for a period of time. We don't know where we stand with COVID-19. What we think where we keep hearing about these issues of re- infection, they're likely to be relapses. So that the virus have been totally cleared from somebody's system and comes back again. And there have been this happened with SARS in fact. So this is not an unheard of phenomenon. I just think we're waiting to find out what it all means. And that's the tough part of where we stand with the virus right the novel coronavirus.
[Newton:] Yes. It really is tough the waiting, when even experts like you are saying you're still waiting for the data. Dr. Anne Rimoin in Los Angeles thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it.
[Rimoin:] My pleasure.
[Newton:] So you just heard her speaking there about how important testing is, right. Well, as the number of cases of coronavirus grow around the world, tests and even supplies for the test key are becoming harder to find. CNN's Drew Griffin spoke with experts who say preparations should have started the moment China experienced its outbreak.
[Drew Griffin, Cnn Special Correspondent:] In the cascading shortfalls of the national response to coronavirus, testing labs across the country are sounding the next alarm. Telling CNN there are shortages, not just in tests but the components needed to conduct the tests. The head of a 51 hospital network in the west says key parts are missing.
[Dr. Rod Hochiman, Ceo, Providence St. Joseph:] In certain cases, it's reagents for some of the chemicals that are used. And even in certain cases it's just availability of the appropriate swab in order to take the sample.
[Griffin:] It's the same story at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
[Dr. Yoko Furuya, Medical Director Of Infection, Prevention And Control, Ny Presbyterian:] There do continue to be some challenges around expanding the testing significantly at this point.
[Griffin:] And at the University of Nebraska's testing lab
[Dr. Mark Rupp, Infection Control Chief, University Of Nebraska Medical Center:] We're in the situation now where we actually don't have the reagents to do the extraction from the samples so that we can run the tests.
[Griffin:] Health officials in multiple states tell CNN they do not have enough tests for people who need them because of a shortage. In Minnesota, the state health agency is limiting testing to only the highest priority specimens, due to a national shortage of COVID-19 laboratory testing materials. The Ohio Department of Health told CNN, they are only testing our most vulnerable patients due to a global shortage of supply. And in West Virginia, the state health officer says she had to scrape together supplies from flu tests.
[Dr. Cathy Slemp, West Virginia State Health Officer:] There's all kinds in the chain of testing. There's swabs, there's extraction things, et cetera, et cetera. There are shortages on many pieces of it.
[Griffin:] West Virginia still has a critically low number of tests. Military veteran Kenneth Hawthorne says he's been to the medical room three times in the past two weeks, sick with a cough, fever but tested negative for flu. He says he cannot get tested for COVID-19.
[Kenneth Hawthorne, Veteran Unable To Receive Test:] They keep telling me that my wife and I were at low risk, so we weren't priority to take the test.
[Griffin:] A major test maker Roche Diagnostics Corporation tells CNN demand for its test is "greater than our ability to supply it". How did this happen?
[Dr. Rod Hochiman, Ceo, Providence St. Joseph:] Well, I think we needed to rethink how we're going to deal with an epidemic or a pandemic in this case. The minute there was an outbreak in China several months ago that should have started a whole sequence of events going. Now, as everyone would say, that's the history. But what are we going to do now?
[Griffin:] Industries are responding. Ramping up production and both Lab Corps and Quest tell CNN they are greatly increasing the number of tests they can process per day. But in the meantime, the CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories calls the situation a huge problem. "I am really concerned that we are not going to have the capabilities to test those who really need and should get a test. The Food and Drug Administration told CNN it's well aware of the shortages and is trying to provide information on alternative sources of re-agents, extraction kits, swabs and more. But as one lab official told me, this is analogous to the run on toilet paper. Labs now chasing dwindling supplies and hoping manufacturers can fill the void and soon. Drew Griffin, CNN Atlanta.
[Newton:] Ok. We know you still have lots of questions, right? Join Dr. Gupta and Anderson Cooper for a third