U.S. Breaks the Record of COVID Cases; Hospitals Cry for More Supplies
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You please stay safe, be careful. Thanks also to Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill gates who joined us, and also to all of you who wrote in with your questions and to everyone who joined us tonight. Be careful. Be safe. We are all in this together. And remember that tomorrow night we have another town hall. This one will be with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden who joins us to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. That's tomorrow night, 8 p.m. Eastern with Joe Biden. The news continues right now with Chris Cuomo. Chris?</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Chris Cuomo. And welcome to Prime Time. The United States now has the most coronavirus cases on earth, more than Italy, now even more than China where all this started. This is the fact. We can debate why this fact exists, how we got here. But what matters more is that we make changes immediately. We are not ahead of this. It is not getting better. Like Dr. Fauci told us last night, the virus is making the timetable. Back to normalcy is not happening any time soon. I don't want to say that. But false hope of a return to normal any time soon is only proof of abnormal messaging. We're not going to do that here. The need is real, and so must be our determination. Our focus is on the front lines and it reveals that one nurse just lost his battle, his battle against this virus. We have his sister here tonight to tell you the story of who he was and how it happened along with the doctor who is going to tell you about the unbelievable choices she is now forced to make in an emergency room. This problem is not going away, so neither can our resolve. Together as ever as one. Let's get after it. Eighty-two thousand cases. And more important than that number is the rate. It is climbing. It is accelerating still. How do you reconcile that with looking at where it's spreading and moving to other places at the same time? And then the president saying tonight we need to start easing restrictions that are in place. You cannot reconcile the facts and his feelings. Again, I apologize, but not for telling you the truth, only for bursting any bubble of false hope. You can't dream in false hope when we have real problems. We have more breaking developments. I want to give you the facts from our national correspondent Nick Watt.</s>NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 1,000 now dead, and as of tonight, the United States has more reported cases of coronavirus than any other country on earth according to Johns Hopkins University.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's attribute to the testing. We're testing tremendous numbers of people.</s>WATT: Despite the rising numbers, the president now considering easing social distancing guidelines in some parts of the country to get some people back to work.</s>TRUMP: We've got to start the process pretty soon, so we'll be talking to you a little bit more about that next week.</s>WATT: And today a glimpse of the staggering economic impact. Last week nearly 3.3 million more Americans signed up for unemployment, a record since such records began more than 50 years.</s>TRUMP: It's nobody's false, certainly not in this country.</s>WATT: A $2.2 trillion stimulus package to help industry, individuals and the healthcare system passed the Senate, still waiting on a House vote.</s>TRUMP: Hopefully it will get approved equally, easily in the House. Really, I think it'll go through pretty well from what I hear. Virtually everybody -- there could be one vote, one vote, one grand stander maybe. You might have one grand stander.</s>WATT: Meanwhile on the front line.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the people that you see, they all have COVID.</s>WATT: And 13 died at this one New York hospital in one day.</s>COLLEEN SMITH, EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR, ELMHURST HOSPITAL: We had to get a refrigerated truck to store the bodies of patients who are dying.</s>WATT: An E.R. doctor sharing a rare look inside her hospital with the New York Times.</s>SMITH: I don't have the support that I need and even just the materials that I need physically to take care of my patients. And it's -- it's America.</s>WATT: CNN has reached out to Elmhurst Hospital for official comments on the statements of this doctor.</s>SMITH: Various offices from the president to the head of health and hospitals saying things like we're going to be fine. Everything's fine. And from our perspective, everything is not fine.</s>WATT: New York's governor says there is enough protective equipment for now but distribution might be stopped in the start.</s>GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): You cannot get the curve down low enough so that you don't overwhelm the hospital capacity.</s>WATT: New York State has by far the most confirmed cases right now, but they've also done by far the most testing. Twenty-five percent of the national total says the governor. So, everywhere else --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it could be as much as one in three walking around asymptomatic right now.</s>WATT: The first confirmed case in the U.S. was January 21st, Washington State. About a month later, the president said this.</s>TRUMP: We're going down, not up. We're going very substantially down, not up.</s>WATT: That day 56 cases. Today more than 80,000 cases across every single state, hence, more than half the country ordered to stay home to slow spread for now. So, we just heard from Mayor Garcetti here in Los Angeles, he says he expects California will be the next New York and they are getting ready. Cedars-Sinai they say they've got the capacity. They've cancelled all elective surgeries. But tomorrow morning the Mercy, that 1,000-bed U.S. Navy hospital ship will pull into the port Los Angeles. And the plan is to take people from other hospitals around L.A., put them on that ship, clearing space, Chris, waiting for this COVID-19 surge. Back to you.</s>CUOMO: Right. Thank you very much for putting this together for us, Nick. I know it's a very fluid situation. That hospital ship will not have COVID patients on it. It will be clearing space for COVID patients. You don't want to mix the two. Nick Watt, thank you so much, brother. I appreciate it. Make no mistake, this is no longer about contact tracing and doing investigative work to stop the spread. Not here, not in New York, not in the big population areas where it's hit. Now, that is a story to be told. That is the rest of the country's story and it's not happening there. The testing levels around this country are no why near where they need to be. That will be emerging. But right now, you have to focus on the hospitals in the big population centers. There is no containing the inevitable here. It will hit hard. We are told the worst is yet to come but that doesn't mean that the fighting isn't already fierce especially in New York City. And that's why a doctor like Sylvie de Souza did something that she didn't want to have to do. She doesn't want to have to talk about what's happening in the hospital and make herself controversial. But she is the chair of emergency medicine at Brooklyn Hospital Center. And we read about that harrowing story in the New York Times. And it's important to get her stake on what's happening here. Doctor, thank you for joining us.</s>SYLVIE DE SOUZA, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER: Thank you for having me.</s>CUOMO: So, everybody says it will get worse. There will be more cases. But what are you already dealing with?</s>DE SOUZA: We're already dealing with a huge influx of patients coming into the emergency department, both symptomatic, some asymptomatic, some with severe symptoms. And we have to sort of make the decision on how to best cater to all their concerns and attend to all of their needs.</s>CUOMO: So, you're already dealing with the more extreme cases, right? Because there were people who couldn't deal with it at home, needed to come in, obviously symptomatic, into the hospital. Let me ask you, how quickly is the rate of case growth among your own workers?</s>DE SOUZA: We've had a few of our employees who converted. We've been very fortunate that they all recovered and were able to return to work. Most of them are back at work now. A few of them are still in isolation at home, self-monitoring their symptoms.</s>CUOMO: All right. Now hopefully it'll stay that way. It sounds like you're getting lucky so far in terms of keeping them out of harm's way when they're dealing with this virus so closely and intensely over time. Now, when you have multiple patients that need the most extreme protocols and you do not have the beds and/or the equipment, what kind of choices are you having to make?</s>DE SOUZA: Well, at this point, we're still fortunate to have the equipment we need. But we don't know what tomorrow holds. The decisions we are faced with right now are basically who gets an ICU bed, who gets it first. Many of those patients end up boarding in the emergency department for hours, sometimes days, until they either get well or they get an ICU bed. So, we have not reached that point yet, but certainly we see an increase of severely ill patients coming into the emergency department. We've also put together a tent outside of our hospital, outside of the emergency department to provide screening for those in the community who are concerned about having the illness. And once we screen them, we're able to determine who needs to get tested, who needs further investigation inside the emergency department. This has really helped us in decompressing the volume of patients coming into the emergency department.</s>CUOMO: You are being asked to increase capacity by 50 percent. Easy to say, hard to do. How is that process going, and what do you need that you do not have in order to do that?</s>DE SOUZA: I think our biggest need right now is staff. We're going to have to review our staffing models, and that's what we're in the process of doing. We're increasing capacity. Our biggest issue is being able to staff those extra beds that we are implementing in the hospital.</s>CUOMO: Now, your hospital is a little different than many others. You don't have a parent company. You're depending on yourself for supplies. There's been generosity. And it's an interesting community, your hospital, the stories that I've heard. That there are actually traditions and culture within your hospital. Tell us a little bit about that.</s>DE SOUZA: Well, we've been incredibly fortunate of the support of the entire community. We are -- we serve a very diverse population and very diverse both culturally and socioeconomically. But I must say that the support has been pouring in. We've been receiving donations on a daily basis. They're increasing every day. We've been fortunate to be able to vet this equipment as being safe for use in the hospital. So, so far, we're able to protect all the staff. We've also been able to divide the emergency department into a safe zone to still care for the other patients who are coming in with other emergencies, heart attacks, strokes, et cetera, just already the patients. And then have a zone dedicated to the care of these patients who are suspected to have COVID-19.</s>CUOMO: I mean, this is very difficult. The Elmhurst Queens, you know, it's always a busy area. It's a busy catchment area. You see a lot of cases ordinarily. Now you have this entire new wave of need. And I've heard that you've started a tradition of you don't touch. You're at safe distances. But you pray together, that you will be protected along with your patients. Know this, you, Dr. De Souza and your staff, you are our, our angels. And you are in our prayers. But more than in our prayers, you are going to be on our mind. If there's anything that we can do to get information out about your needs and about what's going on, we are a call away for the duration, OK?</s>DE SOUZA: I thank you. I thank you, Mr. Cuomo for this opportunity to have our voice heard. There is actually something that we -- I've started with a colleague of mine to encourage the health care workers at the front lines. And it's hash tag, HCW -- healthcareworkershoutout. We want to start the movement that is happening in Europe and many countries where at 8 p.m. folks get at their windows and their balconies and either clap or flash their phones to encourage the people at the front lines. Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.</s>CUOMO: The hash tag is -- tell me the hash tag again.</s>DE SOUZA: Hash tag hcwshoutout.</s>CUOMO: Done. hash tag HCW for health care worker shoutout. Thank you very much, Dr. de Souza. It is the least that we can do for you for all that you are doing and will do for us. God bless, stay well, stay strong.</s>DE SOUZA: Thank you.</s>CUOMO: Now I know you're going to reply to that call. It's not like you don't have time on your hands right now. Hash tag hcwstaystrong. You can put it out there. You'll see the hash tag online. There are going to be a lot of different efforts. Stay involved. Now, the president -- I know he is saying something different than what you're hearing. I understand that. But we can only deal in the facts. That's why I will bring you another doctor, Dr. Jha. He is going to give you what he sees in the modeling and on the front lines that suggests where are we in terms of timing, OK? And what does it mean for the next wave? What does it mean for us and our country? Next.