Democratic National Convention Delayed Due To Pandemic; NY Testing Malaria Drug As Possible Virus Treatment
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: This just in, another new ripple effect from the coronavirus pandemic, the DNC has announced that the party's convention scheduled for mid-July now postponed. Joining me right now is CNN's Jessica Dean with all the details. Jessica, this is just coming in the DNC. What are they saying about this decision?</s>JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, they're saying that look, they took a look at what was going on in light of the COVID pandemic that they felt that it was the responsible thing to do to postpone this convention by roughly a month. It's now supposed to take place on August 17th in Milwaukee. Originally, it was scheduled for July 13th. So bumping it head -- ahead by about a month. This is something that we had kind of seen foreshadowed by former Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading in the delegate race right now. He has said over the last couple of days that he could foresee perhaps the convention moving into August. And now in fact, we are learning that is what's happening, as you mentioned, just one example of the ripple effects of this pandemic across the Democratic process as we move through 2020. Through an election year, we saw rallies come to an end for the presidential candidates, everything now being moved virtual. We've seen everything kind of come to a full stop and that -- in terms of the public events going all virtual right now. And now we learn that the convention has indeed been moved ahead. The Democratic National Convention has been moved ahead to or moved back rather to August 17th. As for the Republicans, they were always scheduled to go after the Democrats. They say right now, their plans are full speed ahead. They are scheduled later in August, Kate, in Charlotte, North Carolina. But this is of course, a very fluid situation for everybody, Kate. And probably just the first of a lot of changes we're going to see.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes, move back to August at least for now is I guess what we say.</s>DEAN: Right.</s>BOLDUAN: Jessica, really appreciate it. Thank you so much. So just as quickly as the outbreak is intensifying, so is the race to find a treatment. We know doctors are on the hunt for possible antivirals. We also know that President Trump has been focused on one in particular, an antiviral drug. Here's what he said just the other day.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It would be a total game changer. It's a malaria drug and also an arthritis drug. So it's been out there for a long time, very powerful drug. But it's been out there for a long time. So it's tested in the sense that you know it doesn't kill you.</s>BOLDUAN: For all the countries and here in New York, tests and trials are underway to find out just how effective and safe that drug is, and many others, quite frankly. And also new, we are learning early data from researchers in China is suggesting some promise. Let's get a view from the ground on these treatments and the situation. Joining me right now is Dr. Robert Brown. He is a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. He's the head of the liver transplant program at New York Presbyterian. He's also a doctor I've known for many years. It's good to see you, Bobby.</s>DR. ROBERT BROWN, INVOLVED IN NEW YORK'S DRUG TRIALS: Good to see you.</s>BOLDUAN: Thank you for being here. What do you take from this report out of China, this new trial, this new research on hydroxychloroquine?</s>BROWN: Well, I think it adds to our knowledge. You know, the data from Europe seem to suggest that hydroxychloroquine either alone or in combination with the antibiotic, azithromycin might shorten the course of illness. And this randomized trial from China does seem to support that, that we can shorten the illness. And obviously shortening the illness would be of great value, it would improve health care workers returning to work, it would decrease the period of time that people were infectious, and potentially decreased spread. So I think that we're beginning to see some encouraging data on hydroxychloroquine. And obviously, the biggest advantage is it's available.</s>BOLDUAN: Right.</s>BROWN: And so though we have a lot of hope for antiviral drugs that are being developed, this could be used broadly and we are using them.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes. And that's what I was going to ask you. I mean, you and I've talked about this that you said, almost all the patients we're seeing right now are COVID patients. And you're trying out some of this on your patients in real time. What are you seeing?</s>BROWN: Well, you know, our hospital is seeing an extensive amount of COVID patients. And I, among the volunteers who agreed to go in and care for patients with COVID infection. And we are using it in most cases of moderate disease, mild disease, we're tending to leave at home if we can in self quarantine. And so, it's so hard to know because the course of this illness can be so variable and unpredictable. So what I'm hoping is that we're going to get a lot of data because we're seeing a lot of patients. And when the dust settles, we'll be able to look back and figure out which of the drug combinations we're trying are the most promising and need to be studied in more detail, which ones are complete duds. And we can hope that we're going to find in there the game changer that we're all looking for.</s>BOLDUAN: You know, I'm always struck, I mean as I mentioned, you're the head of liver transplant for New York Presbyterian. What does this entire crisis meant for liver transplants?</s>BROWN: Well, you know, it's been challenging. We need to -- we needed to quickly find ways that we could screen donors for COVID infection. Nobody wants to do it. There have been places where they won't accept the donor team coming from New York City. And patients are scared to come to the hospital.</s>BOLDUAN: I think we just lost a connection with Dr. Brown. Bobby, thank you so much for joining me and for all of your work that you're doing for your patients and for the city, Dr. Robert Brown. Coming up for us, there is so much of the focus has been on major cities. But one community in rural Georgia has one of the most intense clusters right now. I'm going to talk with the top hospital administrator in that area about how they're coping.