With the pandemic. Governor larry hogan is joining us from annapolis. And we will talk with the mayor of seattle, washington. First we will talk with an Infectious Disease specialist from Boston University school of medicine and Public Health, and we want to hear from you. Open. One lines are if you are a medical professional, we would love to hear from you. Send us a tweet and we will read it. Or on facebook. Good tuesday evening. We will walk through the numbers from Johns Hopkins university, indicating there were 785 deaths in the single day in the u. S. The total confirmed cases around the world, 855,000, more than 42,000 deaths in the u. S. , leading the world with well over 180 6000 cases of coronavirus. Is dr. Us in boston benjamin linus, an Infectious Disease physician and a professor of medicine in epidemiology at the Boston School of Public Health. Thank you for being with us. Let me begin with the numbers that again, between 100,000, 240,000 potential deaths in the u. S. Alone. How did they reach those numbers . Guest they are staggering numbers. I am on as a doctor but i think i have to react just as a person. It is very upsetting, these numbers rival deaths in the vietnam and kia and korean war. Scientifically, what we are experiencing is this is what it means to have a pandemic with 1 mortality. There was a time several weeks ago or month ago where people were debating if it is not so bad, 99 of the people recover, is not so much. This is what it means to have 1 mortality. It isa lot of people when a novel virus and theres no immunity in the community. It is difficult to stop transmission, and 1 is a large number of deaths. Host as somebody who studies Public Health and this virus, what are your questions . What do you want to know about covid19 that you dont know tonight . Guest one thing i think we really need to find out is more about longterm immunity to the virus. With thery preoccupied crisis and the surge, and trying to stabilize our hospitals for what is coming. I think we are making progress, but if we think one step ahead, the big question lingering on everyones mind, how does this in . What does it look like when we come out of our houses . Until we have a vaccine, how can we come out of isolation and physical distancing and feel comfortable we are not going to have a rebound . It is theoretically possible. I think we need to learn a lot about the immune response of this virus. How neutralizing are the antibodies people make after theyve been infected, how long do they last, what is the possibility of a vaccine . These are the things we need to know to have an effective strategy to end the epidemic. Host part of that strategy is communication and Public Health. If you could turn the clock back to early or mid january, what do you think should have happened that did not . Guest what happened in january is not an immediate recognition of the fact that this is a novel, potentially pandemic respiratory virus. This is a scenario that Public Health experts and emerging pathogen experts have been thinking about forever. We know this can happen. Things like sars and mers in recent memory. To recognize and has real potential for danger, and jump into action. That doesnt necessarily mean we should have been social distancing from day zero, it we should have been rolling out testing more effectively so we had a shot at isolation and containment. On to mitigation where we are trying to minimize the damage being done now, but early on we mightve had an opportunity to contain it and end it. And weve done that in the past. Sars was very scary. It was a little like the coronavirus, but 10 times more fatal. We avoided that epidemic. I wish we had been more active with their containment six weeks ago. Ist dr. Benjamin linus joining us via zoom, he is associated with the Boston University school of public medicine and health. Ron is on the line from new york. Good evening. Caller i am just curious if when the warm weather comes, if the virus can be passed along by just getting a mosquito bite . Host thank you, we will get a response. Guest there is no evidence the virus can be passed by a mosquito bite. It is an upper respiratory virus and we know the transmission is from what we call aerosol droplets, from coughing and sneezing. D spit droplet that comes out. It does not hang in the air and its not really something that is circulating such that you could pick it up from a mosquito bite. I want to reassure him, that is not in our future. Host how is the Boston UniversityMedical Center preparing . They are already in the throes of this, but preparing for the worst in the weeks ahead . Guest we are doing everything we can. We put a lot of systems into place for officially testing people, thinking about the way patients move through the hospital so we can isolate those infected, take good care of them, but also keep people not infected separate, and work thinking about how to keep our staff safe. Were we are we are working hard and treatment protocols. All of the hospitals around boston are working together to think about protocols. As much as this is an anxiety isvoking time, it scientifically and professionally thrilling to see the level of science and the level of collaboration going on around the world. There is really so much activity right now going on with trying to figure out the best treatments and how we can help people infected. Host is what we are seeing right now in new york going to be repeated in boston, cleveland, philadelphia, and other large melt metropolitan areas . Guest i wish i could answer that definitively. No one really knows the answer now, but i am hopeful, and not just naively so, that new york is facing a specific set of difficult challenges that are somewhat unique to new york. How densely populated new york is, its heavy alliance on public, mass transportation, and not as much space for so many people. I think other cities can hopefully avoid that outcome. We are going to see, but i want to be hopeful the answer is no. Host the president with a tweet a short while ago, 30 days to slow the spread. He advises allamericans to stay at home for the month of april. Many states having stayathome orders intimate and some into early june. Eugene is joining us from new jersey. Good evening. Caller yes, i am really alarmed at what is going on in new jersey. I have been a lifelong democrat said, life, so i they are only testing four hours a day even though new jersey is supposed to be the second worst hit by the disease. I tried to, governors office, because i contributed to his campaign. I could not get a person anywhere. I tried to, Representatives Office in washington. I could not get a person. I tried to call my state senator and could not get a person. What is going on . I am not a conspiracy theorist but this is dreadful. I am thinking, if i had the disease and was trying to contact someone and i could not get anyone, and then why is camden working on bankers hours . Stations inesting new jersey and camden is testing p. M. 12 00 until 4 00 host we will get a response. Guest thats an outstanding question. I cannot comment on camden specifically or your elected officials but i can comment on testing. You have your finger on a big problem. We are still behind in testing. There was a time a couple of weeks ago we were having a hard time getting test even in hospitals, there were patients who did not have test results for eight days. , where ial settings work now, we are able to get tests. We would like to have a onehour rapid diagnostic and i think that is coming, we now have a 24 hour diagnostic. If you are sick and you come into a health care center, you will get tested. However, what we dont have now, and as you point out, is Widespread Community testing. I dont see how we get out of this epidemic until we are at the point where we have Widespread Community testing for anybody who had any system or risk of exposure. If we dont see that, we are behind. We see that in the numbers now, because what we call a positivity rate, the percentage of tests we take that is positive is still far too high to suggest we are doing enough testing. As we start to roll out more and more testing, you would think we would be testing more and more negative people because we are expanding the pool of people being tested and we havent seen that yet. We need to see that if we are going to end this. Thats the only way we get containment. Host william, you are on the air. Caller thank you. With, my question deals older individuals such as myself trying to get medications from my Health Care Provider that under law are restricted. , and imultiple sclerosis deal with a lot of pain. I used to be a republican a long time ago and now i am a democrat. Beingnestly, i am a human and i am trying to selfisolate. Provider isre making that almost impossible in to gethave to go my meds once a month. I am asking for a two month supply and i cant get it. I dont understand why health care is putting me at risk. Host thank you for the call and good luck to you, william. Guest i am very sympathetic to that situation, and i am assuming from the question that the medication is some sort of painkiller. This is a topic very near and dear to my heart because still, but prior to the covid epidemic, the main focus of my research was this. Other people experiencing this our folks in recovery but potentially taking medication for opioid use disorder, and they are having similar problems. If you are on methadone, in normal tones times, you go to your methadone enacted what you do your methadone clinic every day. What do you do . Healthful issued some helpful guidance on methadone. You can bring home a one or two week supply and not have to come in every day. I think youre provider in thinking about a pain medication is trying to balance a desire to help you to stayathome and at the same time wanting prescription safety. Before we had an epidemic of cobit and we still have an epidemic of before we had an epidemic of covid19, we had an epidemic of overdoses. Frankly, i dont know the exact right answer for how many opioid medications we should be giving to people to balance out that not difficult situation of wanting you to come out of the house but not wanting to flub the prescription opioid situation. I cant speak for your provider, but i would imagine those are the things in his or her mind, and i think you have to have an honest conversation with your doctor about that. Host we welcome our listeners on cspan radio. Our guest is dr. Benjamin linus, from boston Universities School of health. The task forceg is considering the possibility of asking all americans to wear a face mask. Is that beneficial . Guest you know, i dont think anyone knows that answer. Whetherthink we can say facemasks and public is helpful. I will start with the easy part. To the extent that that guidance causes a rush on facemasks in the community and causes competition in community settings, then absolutely not in my mind. Ofre is a very real risk inhospital transmission now that is occurring even with masks. When healthcare workers become infected, they can affect infect other patients come and the virus spreads in the community. We know that is real. And to the extent that guidance for public masks is going to limit our masks and hospitals, i think we cannot possibly go in that direction. The harder question is ok, fine, but if we are able to wear masks in public and also in the hospital, is a beneficial . Going in that is directions and other countries have done that. I cant tell you the exact answer. I think with all things, not just masks, a lot of questions come my way about the safety of delivered groceries, things like that. It is important to make a difference between what is theoretically possible and what is happening in the real world. The virus is driven by respiratory droplets. It is driven by people sneezing or coughing in close proximity and enclosed rooms. It is spreading in workplaces and in homes. Potentially in the subway and places like that. Its not really being spread by the specter of a secret vice floating in the air while you go youra walk or is on grocery delivery on a piece of plastic. But these are the things the imagination can see and of course it is theoretically possible but that doesnt help us. I want you to remember that you can always dream up scenarios, but what we have to do now is stick together and listen to the data. Host melissa, thank you for waiting. Thank youllo, dr. , for speaking to the American People about this plague on our great nation. I just want everybody in america to take time to pray more frequently for each one of us, if a want to ask you, superhuman has the virus, can they give their plasma and help some deals . Guest thats a fantastic question and the nih is asking that question right now. There is some evidence that if you give monkeys plasma of a monkey that has recovered, it can be protective. I dont know all of the details of the protocol but there is a study going on right now with plasma from people who have been infected who produced antibodies, and administering that. Theres also a large effort in the pharmaceutical industry to synthetically manufacture those antibodies. You can imagine, that is a better approach if we can do it, because we can manufacture a lot more than we can harvest and we dont have the issues of putting human product into another human. It is a strategy we are pursuing heavily right now. We will have to see what happens. I think there is reason to be hopeful. Host finally, the timeline in terms of a vaccine what is your guesstimate . Guest 18 months . Its not a given that a vaccine could necessarily be invented. This, i haven do some colleagues who are some of the smartest people i know, incredible scientists working on this. I think we also have the entirety of the american pharmaceutical industry, and a lot of ingenuity behind this. I think we will get there. If we do, i think it will take about a year and a half. We might be able to speeded up a little bit because of the urgency, but it will be one of the single greatest scientific achievements in history, and i will go down now that whoever gets the vaccine should win the nobel prize. Host thank you for your time and expertise. Hopefully we can call you again, dr. Benjamin linus affiliated with the boston Medical Center and a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University school of medicine and Public Health. Thank you. Guest thank you you, good night. Host youre watching the primetime addition of washington journal, we are back every morning at 7 00 eastern time. Governor larry hogan joined us from annapolis earlier. A reminder, in a couple of minutes, we will check in with the mayor of seattle, washington, to continue the primetime programming. Host how is your state doing . Guest we are trying to deal with that the best we can. Host the president said we are in for a very painful two weeks ahead. You are talking to the experts, just how painful . Guest i think it will be pretty painful. Theelieve that here in maryland, dz and virginia area, we are maybe about two weeks maryland, d. C. , and virginia area, we are about two weeks behind. We expect dramatically escalating numbers in our region and we are dealing with the same issues everyone around the country is faced with, looking at hospital surges and the lack of availability of ventilators and personal protective equipment and masks, testing. We are working around the clock with a dedicated team of incredible people that are trying their best to save as may lives as they possibly can and keep people from getting sick. Host there was a story in the Baltimore Sun that at least one pastor is going to continue to hold Services Despite the order you put in place this week in maryland. What do you tell that pastor and others who defy the order, the stayathome order . Guest i havent heard that report, but we will make sure that does not happen, because it is against the law for them to hold any kind of a gathering over 10 people, and we will make sure the state or local Law Enforcement will shut that down. Host we also heard from governor andrew cuomo, indicating the states are competing against each other in terms of getting these ventilators, and now fema is getting involved. Have you had that problem in maryland . Guest it is sort of an issue not just with the ventilators but with all of the things, from the white house and the folks at the federal level, theyve been saying the governors are on their own and they should go out and secure these things on the open market. Which weve all been trying to do. But governors are all out there trying to compete for a very small number of these various have the and so now we federal government and each of the states and other countries trying to compete for what is basically not enough of all of these various things that everybody desperately needs. I think we are having discussions with all of the nations, governors and the federal government about how to set up a better system and improve that. Weve got to figure out how to best allocate some of these limited resources, and this overwhelming demand. The bottom line is there just are not enough to go around for what everybody desperately needs. Weve got to figure out the best way to fix a really bad situation. Host how would you fix that after the pandemic is over . Guest i think in the future, weve got to be better prepared both at the federal and state individualour Hospital Systems and hospital levels. I dont want to monday morning quarterback and take a look at what went wrong 10 years ago or last year or last month or last week, i just want to focus right now on what we can all do ether to do the best while best job we can for today and next week into two weeks from now, so we can make sure we dont lose so many folks in america. After this is over with, weve got to look at what happens when this thing comes back again in the fall, or when we have another pandemic. We cant be caught flatfooted like this again, it cannot happen in america. Host a nursing home in mount airy, maryland had multiple cases, i believe more than 60. What happened . Why so many . Guest it is a tragic situation. One of the most difficult things we have been dealing with, and it is very similar to the situation in the state of washington, and which has just repeated itself in the past day or so in georgia and tennessee, and minnesota and another of other places. We actually shut down access to all of the Nursing Homes and assisted living so they could not have visitors, but one of the Health Care Workers, who are being screened and tested and checked to make sure they dont have temperatures, one of them somehow, who was asymptomatic, came into the facility and brought the virus in and infected the population. It went like wildfire and we now have a situation where nearly 70 of these patients have tested positive, and a whole number of staff persons. We have a number of deaths already in the facility and a number of people, nearly half of the patients have been hospitalized. It is a tragic situation. We have had to send in the National Guard and Health Department officials, and a team of folks just trying to get a handle on this. , as tragictunately as it is, its not an unusual situation. It is happening in other places around the country. Host i want your reaction to what the president said yesterday at the White House Briefing on the issue of testing and get your response. President trump we reach a historic milestone in our war against the coronavirus. Over one million americans have now been tested, more than any other country by far, not even close, and tested accurately. Host based on what the president said yesterday, is the testing problem fixed in this country . Guest no, it is not fixed by any stretch of the imagination. Look, we have made progress, the , theal government Coronavirus Task force, the team there are a lot of great folks that have been working around the clock. The Vice President s leadership, bthony fauci, ambassador irx. Labs have been stepping up but we cant get these things out fast enough. There is a lag time. While we have made dramatic improvements in the past few weeks, we have not done enough testing. No state in america has enough testing, and it is a big part of the problem. But we are making improvements. Its just not fast enough. I want to give credit where it belongs, the states, private sector and federal government have made dramatic improvements over last week in the week before, but we still have a long way to go. Host you are the chair of the National Governors association, and maryland, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, the number of states with blanket stayathome orders. Other states have a different approach, most notably in florida, were only some south florida counties are included in the order. What does that mean for the spread of the virus and what are you hearing from other governors . Guest right now, about 80 of the people in america are under a stayathome order. Obviously the federal government has decided not to take those actions and left it up to the individual governors. Certain governors have made different decisions than other governors. Somenk we just heard discussions from the federal level where they were saying if we dont take these actions, we will see a dramatic spike. These kinds of things could make the difference between 100000 and 200,000 deaths at the low level to up to 2 Million Deaths if we dont take the action. Our state and many others are the side of doing as much as as we can. But i will let the governor of florida speak for why he hasnt taken those actions. We are certainly about as aggressive as anybody in the country and we think it will be important to take those steps. Host Governor Hogan from the statehouse in annapolis, maryland, when you see the numbers, up to 200,000 potential deaths in the country, how do you wrap your head around Something Like that . Guest it is really hard to fathom. It is impossible to wrap your head around it. Even on the lowest end, if we do everything these are the federal leaders, the smartest guys in the room, they are saying if we do everything perfectly right, the best we can hope for is 100,000 deaths. That is more people than all the americans we lost in the vietnam war and the korean war added together. We are talking about that over a short period of time. It boggles the mind. But if you look at what has happened in places around the world, you look at what happened in china and italy, you look at what is happening in new york, it is just hard to wrap your arms around it. It also tells you why we have to take some of these drastic actions that would have been unimaginable a week or two ago. Every single day for the past 25 days, we have taken unprecedented and aggressive actions we never would have imagined last month or last year. But they had to be done. We will continue to do whatever we think is necessary to keep our citizens safe. Host when did you first realize how serious this virus was going to get . Guest it was an evolving process. We started talking about this in our state back in early january. By the end of january, our Emergency Management teams were strategizing about it and meeting about it. I brought in a team at the beginning of february as the chairman of the National Governors association, we brought an dr. Fauci and another and a number of other leaders who gave a presentation. We had the winter meeting of the nga in washington. They gave some frank talk. This was quite a while before a lot of people were focused on it. I came back the day after that and we wrapped things up dramatically. One of the first governors i think i was one of the first governors in america to declare a state of emergency, the second person to close all of the schools in the state. Institutedhave now 26 or 27 executive orders. Each one was taking more and more action, things like shutting down all but essential businesses, now stayathome directives and things that would have nobody would have imagined we would be thinking about taking. But we had to do it because as we talked to the experts, the doctors, we have a Coronavirus Response team here in maryland made up of the smartest epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins and the university of maryland medical system and medstar health, all of these guys ive been listening to, doctors and scientists telling us staggering numbers about the crush on our Hospital System and the inability to handle it, and the numbers that could be possible, the people we can lose in our state, the deaths and the people that could be safe if we did not take these actions. We felt we had to do it. It has been involving for months. Evolving for months. Host final question, what keeps you up at night . Guest keeping up a lot at night and there are some neat things we are worried about, but probably the scariest thing, or the lack of resources in the hospitals, this surge everyone talks about, if we dont flatten this curve, and too many people get sick at the same time we dont have enough ventilators, we dont have enough personnel in our hospitals, another icu beds and Emergency Rooms to handle that, that is the scariest part. There are a lot of things that keep you up at night, but that is the one that we really have to get a handle on and thats what you are seeing in new york city right now, trying to stop maryland and the washington region from being like new york city, that keeps me up awake at night. Host governor larry hogan joining us from the state capital in annapolis. Inc. You for being with us. Guest thank you. Host we want to head west and hear from seattle residents as well. If you are in seattle, give us a call. Other timeuse the zone numbers. This is the headline from the New York Times coronavirus slowdown in seattle, suggesting restrictions are working. The New York Times pointing out the seattle area, home of the first known coronavirus cases in the u. S. , now seeing evidence that strict containment strategies imposed during the earliest days of the outbreak are paying off at least for now. Deaths are not rising as fast as other states, dramatic declines in street traffic show people are staying home, hospitals have so far not been overwhelmed, and suggesting models that the spread of the virus has slowed in the seattle area in recent days. Joining me is the mayor of Seattle Washington seattle, washington. Thank you for being with us. What have you seen in recent days and what does that tell the rest of the country . Guest i want to backup from where we are today. When we first learned about this, every 28th on a friday, we learned we had the first case in the county, but still no cases in seattle itself. The next day was the first death. We were fortunate, we had some of the best modelers in the country. Some of those the president is now listening to. Because of the inadequate testing, they told us what we were facing was significantly more than we thought, and from that point in time, if we did not take significant action by mid february he would have over 70,000 cases. Significant action, by mid february, we would have over 70,000 cases. We worked with the department of health, county and State Government working together deciding that the only option we had was to put in significant restrictions on our autonomy. We started days after learning this information, to having people telecommute and not come into the city. We ratcheted the dial further because the only way we can stop this virus is to make sure people who have the virus dont come into contact with those who dont. The only way we can do that is through physical social distancing. We cranked the dial pretty hard. It was a difficult decision and remains one for myself and the other leaders of our region, because in seattle, we had a booming economy, one of the strongest economies in the country. We had cranes building new ldings, Marquis Companies and a monthanies, later we are shut down with hundreds of thousands out of work. So making these decisions are tough, but when you look at the science, the only way you can survive this is if you protect your health care system. Sodoctors and nurses those doctors and nurses dont get overwhelmed. Curve,alled flatten the but what that really means a slowing transition and saving lives. Lucky,now seeing, we are the data shows at the beginning, and transmission rate was about three. For every one person infected, they infested on most of three people, now it is a little over one. We have cut it significantly but we still have to drive it down further if we dont want to see an increase that will overwhelm our hospitals. While we have seen great progress and we know it works, we also know you have to keep it up. Host if you flatten the curve and it comes back in september, october, november, what will you do . Guest we are planning for that right now, talking to our scientists and Research Hospitals and inking which parts of our economy as we come out of this can we start up without risking it coming back . And how do we make sure it doesnt do to us the second time what it did this time. I think we come up being some of the first in america to go through this, we are caught unawares likely because of the failing of cdc testing. It was spreading in our community and we had no idea. I want to send a message to the governors of florida and any other governor or Community Leader who thinks they can wait. That is a grave mistake. Every day you wait, you will cost lives. Again, we started our restrictions before there were any cases in seattle itself, but today we have significant numbers of cases. Firefighters pulled off of duty because they have been exposed. Police officers pulled off of duty. Employees. The way this ripples through your city cannot be overstated. The scale and scope of it is phenomenal. I think what the president announced today should be sobering to every american on not just what we have to do to get through this, but what we have to do to make sure that when it does come back, because all signs predict it will, that we are ready and it doesnt happen a second time. Host we are talking with the marist, washington. Lets bring in our viewers and listeners. From south dakota, good evening. Caller i have a comment, i guess. In theother people toted states can step up help the people who are shutins and cannot get out to get medications and groceries. If we could drop them off at they could clean them up before they take them in their homes and use them. If we could help in that situation, that would be great. Host thank you. Are you seeing that in seattle . Guest she is exactly right. It has been inspiring to see how people have stepped up. The sense of community and compassion. Knowing the most vulnerable this would hurt, we did things like freeze evictions, making sure people knew utilities would not get cut off, repurpose money to give small grants to Small Businesses to keep them vibrant, and grocery vouchers to our most vulnerable. But this is a time when every american has to stand together to help the people in their community. We will be in this for the long haul and none of us know when exactly it will end. End, but only if we get through it together. Host tracy from ohio, you are next. Caller good evening. Medicalion is, i do transport in toledo, ohio. Mostly taking patients for kidney dialysis, hospitals, methadone clinics. Priora Financial Hardship to coronavirus. I have to work. I am asking, what can i do to protect myself and what can other people do that have to work . Host thank you for that. I assume you are hearing that in seattle or have heard it over the last three or four weeks . Guest absolutely. The situation is different in every area so i dont know what is happening in ohio, but number one is the transport people will be some of the first to see the patients not yet diagnosed. It is important to know what those symptoms are and to be able to get civil get sufficient personal protective equipment, masks, gloves, gowns if needed, so you dont expose yourself. It is a heroic action every day of our firefighters, ambulance drivers, and Frontline Health care workers. If we dont protect them, we will not make it through this. My heart is out to you. Make sure you know what the regulations are in ohio and how for the ppe is available transport people like yourself. Thereuld make sure are clear protocols about what symptoms to look for. You can reach out to the fire department. We learned quickly it was not necessarily the cases he would have thought were associated with covid19, often people who suffered other vulnerabilities proved to have covid19 pure we got some good covid19. We got some good information and i know our fire Park Department was happy to share. Next collar, good evening. Caller i dont know if the mayor of seattle is aware of this, but boeing plans to reopen their factory on april 7. Will they allow that to go on . Host thank you, carrie. Guest thank you. I think the governor is looking at extending the stayathome order, and if he does, those businesses would be under a different order. I dont know exactly what is happening with boeing but i know there have been a lot of discussions about how to make sure that when we have a stay at home, we know it is working and how do we keep it working . This has been an a norm is burden enormous particularly on Small Businesses and employees that are Service Workers and minimumwage workers. They are the first to feel this. We have to make sure as we go forward, we continue to do what we need to do so that when we come out of this, we can get money back in the pockets of those people. Host President Trump called your governor a snake. Has that impacted the federal response to your state and community . Guest i am really proud of jay inslees leadership on this. He has looked at the science and data and been guided by that and ignored any of the background noise coming out of washington, d. C. I will say that the Vice President s office, fema and the like have reached out to me and the governor, have been very responsive to us. We still have a lot of requests pending and we are hoping they will get filled. We know we need more hospital beds and ventilators. We also know we need more testing. I keep hearing about all of the Testing Available in the United States it is not widely available in Washington State, king county, or Seattle Washington. We have dozens of places, Retirement Homes and the like, where we have Vulnerable People and we are asking for Testing Capacity so we can save lives. I have to again say, we will not let any of that distraction distract us. This will not be a political response. We will base it on the science and health care response, and we will really expect our federal government to support us and so far they have. Host are you home tonight . Guest i am home tonight. Host lets go to jim in virginia. Caller i was curious why there has not been any sort of outrage from any of our political leaders or World Leaders or in relation to the pressure of the World Health Organization to do something about the fact that these pandemics seem to be caused by outbreaks in areas such as china i think there was one in the middle east, but they have all been tied to these wet markets, consumption of when they bring in live bats and things like that. If this is bringing the world to its knees and stopping the entire world from functioning, why doesnt somebody do something about that and put pressure on them to eliminate that kind of marketplace . Host thank you. Guest i think that we can look at the cause of anyone virus, virus butk any one i think what an epidemiologist will tell you is we will have pandemics and the virus or disease come from a range of places. The question is not will they come, the question is what you will do when they come. It is believed the vast majority of cases in Washington State came from a single transmission from somebody who had traveled and came back. Now,e a Global Society where people travel by airplane to and from different countries. There is commerce. You will not stop travel and that type of social interaction. Regardless of the source of the virus, you know you cant stop it all thats just how science works. But what you can do is make sure you are better prepared, and we were woefully unprepared as a country. We had ample warning of this. I think people did not take it seriously enough. People did not raise their hand soon enough to let us know the testing was not adequate and flawed. It, it when we did see was already spread in our communities, and has spread silently without us being able to see. So we have these catastrophic results. Host the death toll in Washington State and seattle . Guest i dont want to say because they are just going to adjust the numbers, but we have seen it steadily climbing. Even though we have reached what we think is a plateau in the amount it has grown, it is still each one of those numbers as a loss of someone who was loved, a life turned upside down, and the people that recover, their lives have been really impacted, as has everyone of the healthcare workers caring for them. Host susan in virginia, good evening. Caller good evening. Nurse andn, i am a ive been a nurse 41 years. Been anrimarily always operating room nurse at level one trauma centers. Our governord, spoke yesterday about essential personnel. What did you all consider essential personnel . They are still doing elective surgeries in Surgery Centers here. We still have Landscaping Companies working. A lot of people from mexico who really dont speak english very well. What have you all done . What is considered essential personnel . With my nursing background for 5any years, i know what n9 masks are and we should not be wasting these. Host you are breaking up but we got the essence of the question. Guest first, thank you for your service as a nurse. Ive always admired our nurses and doctors and Health Care Workers. Having seen this up close and personal, going to tour some of these units in the past weeks, it is remarkable what people are doing. In our hospitals, our governor asked them to cancel all elective surgeries, which they have. We wanted to free up the beds, and just as importantly, the protective equipment for those doctors who will be treating those with coronavirus. We also did a callout we have a number of surgical clinics and dentists offices closed. We put a callout for all of the personal protective equipment they would not need. I think you are exactly right that one of the first steps you have to do is decide that the hospitals have to be prepared, and the way they do that is to stop elective surgeries and prepare themselves for the coronavirus. In terms of what else is essential jobs, it varies in places, but we focused on what exactly we need to get through this and what are the things our underwayt projects that could be conducted in a safe manner. We want to keep our hospitals and Health Care Workers and all of the supply lines open. We want Grocery Stores and pharmacies open. You have to look at the supply chains for those. It was much more of an exercise in what do we need and building out from there. Im not sure what the scope is under your governors rules. Host cindy in michigan, you are next. Caller hello. Host go ahead. The man might not be able to answer this, but i wanted to know if the experts have said anything about soft foods like potatoes, spinach, kale, berries. If someone is asymptomatic and they cough on the food, how long the virus could last on that sort of food itself. As opposed to the packaging. Guest thats a good question. Let me first say im sorry about michigan, it is getting hit very badly. You have some strong leaders there, and it is proof of the case this to we ago there were very few cases and now it is one of the most significant states growing in the country. In terms of what foods carry it, we dont know the answers to that, but we know from studies that for example, on the cruise ship, they think one of the ways the virus was transmitted was from the food servers. It was not in the preparation itself, but perhaps that they had coughed on their hands and handled the silverware and the like. It is still very unclear right now. The best thing to do is make sure you are staying home, washing your hands, and being careful not to touch her face. Host david is our last call from albuquerque, new mexico. You are on the air with the mayor of seattle. Caller thank. I want to think, first of all, the university of new mexico hospital. They saved my life when i had to go in. March 12, i had congestive heart failure. In a red zone and there was a heroic effort to the doctors, nurses and techs. I was released on the 16th to go home because if i had stayed, i probably would have contracted the virus. The reason i am calling in, i was born in michigan, i graduated from michigan tech, the university of michigan, and the university of new mexico with graduate degrees and undergraduate degrees in engineering. Michigan,t a plant in detroit transmission, which at that time during world war ii, was the largest plant under one roof. Is bolted together and has overhead cranes. Rooms can be built and there. I designed a clean room for special projects for the air force weapons lab in the 1970s. The clean room was designed and built by Sandia National labs. The clean room i made, it had to a a class 100, i ended up class and needed to be a class 1000 and i ended up class 100 it had air filters manufactured here in albuquerque that came from boston, massachusetts. It had a roof that was 20 by 20, 2 sections bolted together. I would lift it up with the crane in that large hanger we had out here at the air force put the lid onld and the sides and ends were vinyl that you would get like meat market, like in a market. Host ive got to jump in because we only have about 30 seconds left. Do you have a quick question . Motors builtal these clean rooms. Host thank you for your call and for your service. We are glad you are doing well. An example of how private industry is coming together. Guest it is, but it also shows you it was a time when the federal government said we are going to get this done and they directed that kind of work. That would not have happened unless the federal government decided to activate all corporations moving in one direction. I really think it has been a big mistake not to activate the defense procurement act and other things. I have set it in other locations, but i feel like it is the hunger games, city versus city and state versus state. That is not the way to proceed. We need to be moving as one country, and we have the resources to do this, but we need the federal government to lead. Host final point, you brought up the governor of florida, your message to Governor Desantis tonight is what . Guest dont wait. Every day you wait, lives will be in the balance. It is hard. We had to make decisions to shut down one of the strongest economies in the country, but i think the early evidence is showing that by doing that, we not only have save lives, we have made sure our Hospital System would not collapse. I want everyone in florida to survive just as much as i want washingtonians and people in seattle to survive. Host the mayor of Seattle Washington seattle, washington joining us from her home. Take you for being with us. Guest have a good evening. Host joining us on the phone is a congressman representing new jerseys ninth Congressional District. Every net we check in with members of congress. How are you doing . New jersey is part of the epicenter of the virus. Guest yes it is, steve. Good to talk with you. Weve been having three or four Conference Calls every day. The governor is on top of this very well. He started out early and planning. We had the cooperation of all of the agencies in new jersey. We are in the center, the of connecticut, new york and new jersey. We have the same problems as new york in terms of getting supplies. When you go down the list of what is needed in the hospitals by the First Responders and by emts,ctors, nurses and you understand it is lacking. If i could go back to what the mayor of seattle just said, who has done a fantastic job along with governor inslee, who i worked with when he was in the sayscongress when she every day you wait is lives, she means that. She means it. There have been tools the government refuses to use in its full capacity, tools we can use to bring about equipment into the hospitals, protection for First Responders, we refused to do it. We will not do it by having companies volunteer here and there and attempting to make these products because the supply chain is totally broken. The American People have to understand that. Where we used to get these products are not dependable anymore. They are cut in half or cut in three quarters and we cannot depend on them. We have to be the supply chain. Making in america makes more sense than ever. Host what is your routine like these days . Can you go to the office . Guest i am staying at home and having a phone grow out of my ear, steve. One Conference Call after another, whether it is the state , fema, the federal government, the caucuses we have just about every day. Nancy pelosi has called. We are talking to democrats, talking to republics and independents. This is not a democrat and republican issue, it is an issue for all americans. Anybody who left at this a month ago should be ashamed of themselves who laughed at this a month ago should be ashamed of themselves. We were not prepared. Just like we were not prepared for iraq, we were not prepared for this war. Host what will the next week look like . Guest the next week is whether we can level off dr. Faucis curve. More states and more communities are having folks stay home. Act as if the disease is on your doorstep or in your house. Dont talk to other people close, youve got to stay at least six feet. Dont put yourself in jeopardy or at risk. Youve got to stay home, where else are you going to go . Host just in the hour we have been on the air, think about this there have now been more than 2400 new confirmed cases and 75 deaths in the u. S. In just one hour. Guest i guest i just looked at the numbers, and hopefully there will be a time not long from now that these numbers will level off. We cannot wait for the numbers. Those of us who have the authority to do it cannot be sitting at home at the Kitchen Table having a meatloaf sandwich. We have to be thinking what we can do for the suppliers, how we can get more suppliers, what we do for First Responders. I had a telephone Conference Call with 30 people from hospitals, people who take care of our dear seniors, these people have needs. When certain members of the administration take this to thingsly and point they have done, it gets me angry because so much more has to get done. I am hearing this all of the place. We do not have product that we can use on the front lines. If this is a war, we need a wartime president , not an incompetent tv personality. We need a president. This is not a democratic or republican issue, it is an issue for all of us. If we think it will get better, we are in worse shape than i thought we were. Host we could have as many as a quarter Million Deaths in the u. S. Alone. Guest i have seen those at them, i have looked i tried to read as much as i can every day about whether talking about the medical side, health side, or financial side, those figures are conservative. I do not think this has been blown out of proportion. It is a long way from what we heard a month and a half ago, that this is a hoax. I think the president is understanding how serious this is. Him for that. This country can do anything. War,nd of the second world when we went to korea, we chose, we made that decision. Decisiondent made that to use the defense production act, that gets more to produce masks, medical equipment, hand sanitizer, whatever else our nation needs. The ventilators. Producedthe act that what we needed, we did not wait for industry to get on board. The president then says, you must act to produce these items. That is a president who understands what a war is all hopingand is not just for the best. We are all hoping for the best, praying for the best, you have to do something about it. Congressman Bill Pascrell joins us. Ninth Congressional District from new jersey. Be safe. And a reminder, we are back in the morning with another edition of washington journal. We are back live here tomorrow evening at 8 00 p. M. Eastern time with a prime time edition, and another chance for you to call. All of our coverage is available on our website, cspan. Org. Cor coronavirus. 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