Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 04032020 20240713

News writer thomas frank discusses how clean and the army corps of engineers are responding. At 9 50, representative danny davis of illinois on the pandemic in the state. Host good morning, this is washington journal for april 3. We are showing you footage from d. C. Terryton , Cherry Blossom festival last year. We want to know how you are responding to the covid19 outbreak, particularly in positive ways. Maybe there is a search of volunteerism in your community, or assisting others who are desperate and needy during this time. Tell us your story on two lines this morning. 202 7488000 for the eastern and central time zones, and 202 7488001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. If you want to tweet us, it is 202 7488003. Make sure you put your name, city, and state if you text on that line. You can tweet us at cspanwj and post on our Facebook Page at facebook. Com cspan. Even in these dire times, there are several positive stories in the papers across the United States. Just a couple to show you, this is the Delaware County daily times, showing out of edgemont 10 days ago, six members of the white horse village, all members quilters, are making facemasks. They are being used among skilled nurses and outpatients, and they are working on requests for personnel who work in the mailroom. So far, the quilters have produced 180 masks. Although a large majority have been used at the village, as monomers have been donated to numbereds a small have been donated to fill needs elsewhere. Some residents have friends or family who need them and they may not be available. N outelevision station kwr of birmingham putting out a story there, an officer of the act of kindness. The officer was patrolling a community when she noticed a group of Homeless People outside of a church. Talking to them, she learned that the church had not been able to do with breakfast feeding for the homeless, so that is when she decided to take it upon herself to drive to mcdonalds to buy food and drinks for the homeless. And hand them out herself. That is one other act of kindness. The New York Times magazine, they have a series going on, this is particularly First Responders, how they are responding to this thing, what they are seeing and the other things they are seeing as far as how people have come alongside them. If you go to the los angeles times, two millennials are described, they started a website where they connected members of the Community Together to help deliver groceries, pick up pharmacy needs, that kind of thing. Those are some of the positive aspects of what is going on during our current time as all the nation is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. Some of you have shared this morning or thoughts on our social Media Channels as well. This is amelia bell off of facebook, saying we are supporting restaurants and small fornesses, putting up signs essential workers, we are distributing food and supplies for those in need, adding and adding in all caps, we are getting each other through. Elaine on facebook, we are offering help to people who cannot get out. People are checking on neighbors who are alone, food pantries are swamped but still open, adding we are worried about the people suddenly unemployed and certainly we worry about the increase in infection and debts. Aaron saying when it comes to activity in his community, describing it as an excellent job. ,arks and schools are empty schools are closed, and there are accommodations for the immunocompromised. Restaurants are providing takeout and free delivery. Churches and local restaurants are providing daily free mills for needy families free meals , all ladiesmilies make masks for the community. My childrens teachers provide educational packets and free access to Premium School online programs for them. Communities dealing not only with the seriousness of covid19, but helping each other cope with that. Maybe you have stories to share of that as well. It is 202 7488000 if you want to call us from the eastern and central time zone. 2027438001 if you are calling from the mountain and pacific time zones. Gary starts us off in new jersey, east brunswick. Good morning. Caller good morning. You made my day. You always make my day. I am 82 years old. You are a great station. Let me tell you what i am doing, but first let me give a compliment to the mayor, brad j east, the mayor of brunswick and an Emergency Management officer. I have an emergency pacemaker in my heart. I utilize a walker because i have a stability problem from two tiny strokes, but i have gone to the gym seven days a week until this incident. This is what i have been doing. I want to give a tremendous compliment to the mill town , newacy in milltown jersey, my next community. I have been purchasing masks and sending them out, distributing them to different Senior Citizens, elderly, and disabled people. Aldie also been going to allowing people to get their fresh vegetables and everything. I want you to do a favor for the Senior Citizen community. I purchase items from amazon. I do not have a computer, so since the libraries are closed, amazon will not take a credit card over the phone if you call Amazon Customer care. They have been very kind to me. They have been extremely kind. They said to send a note to jeff bezos in your own handwriting and tell him please, try to allow your company to take an american express, visa, or mastercard over the phone in able to order. I want to compliment cspan. You are doing great work. Great work. Im doing this in the name of my young daughter, who died 31 years ago. Programs and concerts for children in the by county area. I am grateful, im extremely cohen,l to mayor brad j the mill town pharmacy, and thank you to everyone else in the community. Thank you and god bless you. Contact amazon and tell them to order let people order over the phone. Host gary starting off the morning, telling us about his experience in new jersey. Lets go to south carolina, North Charleston, and we will hear from ike. Good morning, ike. Caller good morning, pedro. How are you doing, buddy . As an aside, i would like to say, we need more stories about what these manufacturers are doing. It would be nice to hear from 3m and it would be nice to hear from the people who make the ands and the faceplates maybe see inside your factories and see if they are expanding. I know they are ramping up. This constant beating on the public with these stories, we know it is bad. We know we are behind. We know there has been missteps. We get all that. But we need to turn this thing around, and to turn it around we need more positive stories, just like what you are talking about. , we hadNorth Charleston a young fellow that just got out of the hospital. He had about with leukemia. , and about six years old now of course everyone is quarantined, so his birthday came up and his parents put a sign out front, which said honk if you go by, for my sons birthday. The next thing you know, they had the entire North Charleston police department, the fire department, and total strangers come by, drop off gifts, bicycles, he has been made an Honorary Police officer, and that is just out of the goodness of peoples hearts. Right now, as i said, we are tired. We are just tired of all this. We are tired of the negativity, bleeds it leads, and all the problems. I would like to hear from the manufacturers and the workers that are putting out the new machines for the testing and start showing some progress instead of all the negativity, because it is killing us out here. Host that is ike in North Charleston, south carolina, talking about the manufacturing aspect and highlighting a little bit of the Community Effort there. Connectedent in a story invoking the defense protection act, particularly when it comes to 3m, saying we hit 3m hard today after seeing what they were doing with their masks. To manya big surprise in government who were doing what they were doing, and a big price to pay. Is wall street journal, this the effort of the patriot to get masks to his neighbors in massachusetts, and what they have to go through as they flew the patriots jets, saying this was a week long saga that began with the states governor and ended with embassies, private partners, and st successful football franchise. The plane was given permission to land in china to connect the mast collect the masks. The primary issue is getting the right to land the 767. Governor baker had sent letters requesting this permit. Help iner asked this humanitarian mission and said that no one would leave the aircraft, and that the crowd had managed to pay half the cost of the goods. The n95 masks were produced by various manufacturers across the country. Thenolan, who spearheaded logistics as the chief operating officer of craft sports and entertainment, we are boots on the ground together the goods and get them to the right place. You can read that in the wall street journal. That is on the large level. What is happening in your community, we go to massachusetts in oxford. We hear from carl. Hello. Caller thank you for cspan. I want to encourage people, you go into a store, you have any kind of a transaction, go to the bank or whatever, always thank the clerks, the people who serve you. They really appreciate it. People, i find people are very polite. Some people dont know how to which isuse, you know, understandable. I guess there are some people there who are nasty. They take it out on the people who serve in the stores, the clerks in the stores, and it is not a good thing. Tell the people you appreciate them. You will make their day. Can i make a quick comment about cspan . You do that, when you tell people that, what is there exact reaction from those in the Grocery Stores, when you do that and give those comments . Caller they really appreciate it. They respond. I was in a conversation with a young woman in the drugstore, and we were talking. You know, one Silver Lining out , youl this is that people appreciate people. Not just the doctors, nurses, medical people, but truck drivers, people who do the cleaning, you know . Everybody, you appreciate the simple things that you dont even think about in normal times. Thats basically what i have to say. Can i make my quick comment . Host if it is quick, yes. Is there anyway you could change the 30 day rule for calling . Host the 30 day rule has been in existence for as long as i have been with this program. We generally find that it works for the most part. We understand people might not obey it all the time, but generally it works for us as far as allowing people 30 days from the time they make their calling to the program or not, but thanks for your comments and the comments of the 30 day rule as well. Robert in maryland, waldorf , maryland. Caller thank you, pedro. Here in the state of maryland, our governor has decided to tell home,t we got to stay at but basically suspended our First Amendment rights. We still do have the right to peaceably assemble in this country. I dont understand why people are rolling over and taking this. We are talking 5000 people have died from this . Up aca needs to toughen little bit. If this was a world war, we have lost many more people in wars than this. We lost 50,000 people year to tiresu if you lose two on your car and you need to replace the tires, you do not take your car to the junkyard and total it. Shutting down this economy is destroy wipe out, this country. People need to go back to work in order to save this country. Host as far as maryland, the governor putting those requests in place. You find that people do you find that people are largely obeying that there . Caller i certainly hope not. Pedro, when they stop your right to go to church, congress should about freedom of religion. Our freedom of religion has been taken from us. Can you go to church and worship on sunday, pedro . No you cannot. Churches are Offering Services online for people who have been affected in the way you are talking about. Caller millions of people have died for the right to protect this constitution. Our First Amendment rights, sir, are being stripped from us. That is what is being done here. For American People to sit back and take that without even getting up and raising holy hell over that amazes me. Host ok. Lets hear from mike, North Carolina. Your community and its response to coronavirus. Go ahead. Caller how are you doing, pedro . I cannot speak for the whole community, only the people i am with y interacting the two organizations i am currently interacting with our the university of North Carolina Health Care Services and oncology center, because i am currently undergoing chemotherapy. I had surgery in january. As everyone has said, and i will echo it, the Health Care Professionals in this country are nothing short of outstanding. The nurses, the doctors, they have upped the ante. When i have to go in for my treatments with their precautions, you get off the elevator and they take your temperature immediately. No visitors are allowed, so they are doing just a fantastic job. The other place i have to go to on a regular basis is the local supermarket chain, so that is called harris teeter. As one of the earlier callers mentioned, i go out of my way. I used to be in supply chain and logistics, so i know what it takes to keep those shelves stocked every day. I dont think Many Americans have any kind of understanding of what goes on to get those crops out of the field or get that beef from the ranches and processed and on trucks and have those shelves stocked every day. It is somewhat shocking to see the shelves now somewhat barren, and they are doing their best. I go out of my way, as that person said too. E shopped there for many years. Im not friends with them, i dont socialize them, but i see them all the time, the pharmacist and everybody else. I got up my way to praise them and thank them for their work, and some of them know about what i am going through and they always ask me, can i do anything . Can i bring you groceries whatever. They are great. I think our state is weathering this so far, god bless. We are doing ok in North Carolina. I dont think we have been hit terribly hard yet, so i think in general the state is doing well. Fairlyorth carolina is a upscale Bedroom Community in raleigh. E, thereets are bar restaurants are empty, like everywhere else in the country. It is terribly sad. Host mike in North Carolina, thank you for your comment. If you want to give this bring this on the hyper local level, where you live in the United States, dont be afraid to that. He said he can only speak for where he lives, and that is fine. Share your stories through the course of the hour. The eastern00 for and central time zones, 202 7488001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. In spite of the dire situation, we have been showing you this chart every single day, from Johns Hopkins when it comes to cases across the United States, with one million plus cases of coronavirus now, almost 54,000 217,000 recovering from it. When it comes to Johns Hopkins in the United States, over 6000 deaths and 9228 cases of those recovered. Those are the latest figures on the medical front. On the economic front, many of the headlines accounting for yesterdays unemployment filings for weekly job assistance, 10 million losing jobs according to the Washington Times headline. Over the last two weeks. For statistics numbers new labor statistics numbers coming out today, with what is going on in the economy and particularly jobs. That he in palmetto, florida, you are next up. Good morning. Betty in palmetto, florida, you are next up. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I am an 88yearold lady and in my community, we have no Grocery Stores, banks or nothing. It is a small black community. Have thext town, i wells fargo bank, where i go to. The door is locked. You have to give them your name standing outside the door, and they open the door as they get your name. They are supposed to open up at 9 00, but you have to wait outside until 9 30 until you get the names of people. Of people. The names you have to stand six feet up from each other. And we have to go to another town to get everything. You can only get one roll of paper towels, one thing of toilet paper. Then the governor, i cant believe i dont live where this happened he had a pastor arrested because he had Church Sunday going on. I cant believe it. I go to another town and we had church last sunday. Our Community Church is closed, but can you believe the governor has a pastor arrested . A white 200 he is pastor, i am not speaking about blacks, but this is a white minister. 400 members to the church. If they had been sick, they could not have went to church, the way i see it. He had to pay 250 to bond out of jail. I think this virus has gone too far. I just hope it leaves. Im 88. I have not stopped doing the things that i do. I am a member of the Historical Society and when i need to go to a meeting, i go, but i just cant believe that they are really having everybody afraid to hardly go anywhere now. Int ok, that is betty palmetto, florida, the governor putting the stayathome order recently in place. Betty is there from florida. If you go to reuters, the website, they highlight some of the acts of kindness, so to speak. One person, this is someone who decided to dress up as the superhero character spiderman in manchester i guess that is knoww hampshire, it do not i do not know if it is in the u. K. , but he is going home to home and providing entertainment for some children. That is on the reuters website if you want to see more there. From new york, laura is next. Good morning. We are talking about Community Response to coronavirus. Go ahead. Caller i am in a community that is so helpful to one another, everything that you need delivered is delivered and the people are extremely kind. It is a remarkable community, and we have Historic Buildings food andaffordable good restaurants, and a lot of to recover. However, i want to mention that there is some kind of surveillance activity, even andughout this time period, has surveillance activity harmful military weaponry and that people like myself, which i have had trouble with before aimed at people like myself, which i have had trouble with before, aimed at me and my pets, and comments made by the governor and others about their deep concerns for a stayathome comfortably. I do not know why this is happening, there are drones. A great deal of phoniness coming from the government about concern for people outside of their circle that have coronavirus and then being comfortable. Host laura in socrates. Andre in hubbell, texas. You are next up. Caller good morning. Community in i was verylas, and selective on who i came in contact with. To cut us off totally is very disturbing to me, when pawnshops and Liquor Stores are not really practicing what we are trying to prevent as far as stayathome , because i dont not know about it. I am seeing people are still really trying to engage with each other. We have more masks, people are covering up, this, that, and the oner, but the strictness closing down totally i mean, give us at least one or two days. I am hoping this does not continue after april. Because this really hurts the community. Host how much business were you doing in a week . How many customers were you getting in a week . Caller it varies. At the beginning of the week it was slow, at the end of the week is when the majority of the customers will come. I am getting close to retirement age, and i was already trying to maybeure myself to work dayst take two, three during the week anyway. I did not work very much earlier because of my kids, but as they have gotten older, i have become busier, more active in the shop, and i thought about going to barber school, but everything is shut down. It is a total freeze. I can only imagine those that have committed more than i have to their craft, you know . I have had trouble trying to hire people or getting people to work with me. I have a small shop with one ere withrson in th me. If youve got one of these i saw this on facebook the other day someone opened up a brandnew salon with about 10 shearers in it. And i know rent, rent has been going out the roof to rent these places. For a Small Business person, for the American Dream to come here and participate like this, to shut it down totally, i get it to some degree, but there needs to be some limitation on how much we can achieve the American Dream i get that as well, because back in the day, we used to have limited access or hours to work. Now everything is 24 7. Host andre, do you fall under the category of assistance you will get from the federal government with the passage of the cares act over the last several weeks . Caller im not sure. I have been looking in many different ways, and my insurance i was covered if something structurally happened to my business. The care act, i am not very familiar with that. Host let me walk you through a little bit, a feature of the cares act, direct payments to household that are that households that are expected to be delivered in the next couple of weeks, three weeks according to usa today. Qualifications, if you already filed your 2019 taxes, the irs will use those returns to determine your payment. If not, your 2018 returns will be used to determine your check. Forviduals will be eligible a onetime payment of up to 1200, 20 400 for joint tax returns, 2400 dollars for joint tax returns, and the payments will start to fade out for americans who earned more than 75,000, or 150,000 dollars for a joint return. The amount you receive will be to be decreased by 5 of the amount your income exceeds 75,000. That from the new york that from usa today this morning. Automatic payments are guaranteed only to those whose information is onl already in te computers of the Internal Revenue service. Others, follow instructions posted by the irs, which says those required to file tax returns will need to do so if they want their payments. An abrupt reversal on wednesday night, the guidance also applied to Social Security recipients who did not receive tax returns. Social security beneficiaries who did not to do with file returns would receive their payments automatically after all. The treasury said the irs would use information on several forms to generate 1200 in payments to Social Security recipients who did not file returns in 2018 or 2019. Plenty more in those stories, you can read them online. Lets hear from earl, nashville, georgia. Hi. Caller how are you doing, pedro . Host good morning, you are on. Veteran,m a military [inaudible] but i want to speak on a couple of things in my community. My family and i, we are always checking on one another and bringing each other dinner, but i want to say about what people are talking about, about the jobs. Youve got to use common sense with this thing, because this is not anything to play with. And i havethe air, myself, you know . We have it going out in the air. You got to be very careful. I work at nighttime, and on my job they give us a sheet. You show them that sheet and you can still go to work. What if i go there and get sick . You . Your job take care of [inaudible] inhaler. Already, my chest is tight. [inaudible] i am by myself. We have to use common sense with this thing. [inaudible] but it is still common sense. Host ok, that is earl in nashville, georgia, talking about his situation, particularly the Health Situation when it comes to the federal government. The assistant to the president for trade in any fracturing has an oped and many fracturing has an oped today, saying in manufacturing has an oped today, saying in the next 30 5000 newe than thanlators, and more 100,000 additional ventilators by the end of june. He added, what we have learned is america is too dependent on forforeign supply chain medical supplies, like masks, gloves, and medical equipment like ventilators. This theme taken up by the president yesterday during the daily briefing. You can see these on cspan, and if you missed it yesterday, you can watch it on cspan. Org. Talking about the state, what they need to be doing on their own, aside from waiting on the government for federal stockpiles. [video clip] we are building federal stockpiles the states should have been building their stockpiles. We have almost 10,000 in our stockpile. We have been building it and supplying it, but the states should be building it. We are a backup, and we have done an unbelievable job. For instance, whoever heard of a governor coming up sir, can you build us a hospital with 2500 rooms . We built it. Can you build us four medical centers . We built it. Can you deliver us a hospital ship with 1000 rooms . We did it, and we did in los angeles two. Los angeles too. We did it, and all those wonderful people have done it too. The statesa backup, should have had this agreement and i think will have it next time. You heard that news, states could have had those mental lasers those ventilators five years ago, but they decided they wanted to build Something Else that is big money. 1 billion. That is a lot of money for something that may never happen. You are normally not on a ventilator other than in a pandemic, or an epidemic, you would not need anything like this. Hospitals have three ventilators , big hospitals, and they get by with it. Now they want thousands. They want thousands of ventilators. You call up the governor, and they say sir, could you send us 40,000 ventilators . No one has ever heard of anything like this. Host usa today reporting on the first load test produced for the coronavirus fort blood test produced the coronavirus, receiving emergency authorization for the test on thursday from the fda. It uses blood drawn from a vein to measure the sars code2 virus virus that causes covid19. This bloodbased test are different from nasal swab tests that identify the virus in their mucous membranes. Blood tests can also determine if someone had and recovered from covid19. You have heard some stories of people talking about their individual situations. Eastern88000 for the and central time zones, 202 7488001 for the mountain pacific time zones, and you can text us at 202 7488003. You can post on twitter and facebook as well this morning. In akron, ohio, mike is up next. Hello. Caller hello. First of all, i want to express my gratitude for our governor dewine and his Wonderful Team that have kept us safe. I believe we were the first state to close the schools to protect our children and the teachers, and i do appreciate everything they are doing. Ar governor daily has conference, a press conference at 2 00 every day, and of course, many of us, because we are basically at home, watch it. He and his health director, dr. Acton, are very professional, very caring. They outline everything, they talk about everything and explain everything, no showboating, no entertainment. So reassuring. Locally, i cannot say more other than our grocery chains are all opening the first hour, or they open early for Senior Citizens and people with compromised immune systems, and only allow those folks in the store right after it has opened and been cleaned. Many of them, most of them are doing home delivery. One of the large chains turned one of their large stores into, no one goes in the store, it is a for film and center. Eighth the film and a fulfillment center. You order it and drive up. Many restaurants have been doing the same thing, where you call, pick it up, tell them what kind of car and they run it to your car so everybodys contact is kept at a minimal. I do appreciate all this. That ourate the fact bishops for the state of ohio had closed all the churches, but services are online and available to make sure everyone is safe. I just dont understand the people who carelessly think that their rights are being infringed or worry about those kinds of things. This is a war. This is something we dont fully understand. I think it makes so much more err onfor all of us to the side of being careful. Host mike in akron, ohio, giving us his thoughts. Bill from twitter, when it comes to Community Response, adding with resilience, people are Walking Around more, giving a respectful distance, and are more friendly than normal. In my neighborhood, kids are writing all manner of hopeful and encouraging things with sidewalk chalk and we have these direct challenge. Leave your thoughts there, on many before the start of the program making their thoughts there. In leadville, colorado, marvin. Caller this is marvin in leadville, 8000 people. We had our first two confirmed patients monday, and automatically, pretty much they have safe shopping for seniors two hours the bank has driveup service, and people are six feet apart. The local food bank has extended food help for workers and they let people go in only one at a time, everybody is Wearing Masks and they keep people six feet apart. My family, my doctor from rocky practice, called me because i am 72 years old, high risk, and asked me if i need anything. Catholic churches are closed, services are closed down, and it is the First Time Since i have never been born in leadville that the churches are ever closed down. And the Senior Center stopped having potluck meals, but they do have meals on wheels. They did meals on wheels for five days, because a Family Member was being tested for the virus and they had to be sure to share the virus, and my community did pretty much everything beforehand. I am glad the governor closed the ski areas. A lot of workers go back and forth to the ski areas, and there were locations in vail and ski areas,ty, the and every thing was done pretty much automatically. The business is closed down. The businesses closed down. Shiloh, walk my dog, behind the school since it is closed, and i get to walk my dog shiloh every day. [inaudible] i think we have had a terrific response. People in the Grocery Stores are Wearing Masks and everybody seems real careful. Host marvin, got you. Thank you for your thoughts from leadville, colorado. This is from gregory, in sherman oaks, california, saying my Los Angeles City council says he will encourage our grocery and Pharmacy Stores to take out signage, to display that reminds customers to wash and clean their packages right after they take them home. Hopefully that will help. There is discussion in the house, particularly on the democratic side, about another bill on the heels of the one that was passed a couple weeks ago. It was during an audio conference yesterday that speaker of the house nancy , or at leastghted touched on, what she would like to see included in a fourth bill. [video clip] i want to go back to the need for another bill, we talked about some of the issues that relate to the state and local governments. Democratic and republican governors and mayors, and their own statements, calls for more funding. Government is so important, hospitals and Health Care Systems are crying out for i will answer your questions about that if you wish. Again, the osha regulation that we tried to get, 1, 2, 3, and four, now all the more necessary and obvious that we need to protect our workers. Family medical leave needs to be more clear and expand who can take advantage of that opportunity. Pensions, this is something that to, evenage was agreed the president agreed to. Leader mcconnell did not and said we will do it in another bill. Here is another bill. Not get all that we wanted in terms of food, nutrition, etc. In the previous bill. We have more needs, so we need more resources to feed the hungry. Again, i come back to the free treatment. If we say testing is free, then everything about it should be free. We do not want people having to incur costs for doctors to be tested. Testing, testing, testing, because that is where we began on march 4 with a bill that we pass. Since march 4, we have had two other bills. We have moved to address those needs and hope that we will be able to do that with the fourth because whether some in washington realize it or not, this virus is taking its toll very quickly and we need to be in front of it rather than behind it. Host again, if you want to watch more of that, by the way, you can do that on our website, cspan. Org. It is the audio portion only of it, but at least you can listen there on cspan. Org. One of the other things that came out yesterday was the formation of an Oversight Committee to take a look and to watch over the funds that are distributed under the care act cares act. That drew some criticism from republicans, including leader Kevin Mccarthy. There is a hill story posted at. Com, saying republicans are blasting this move to establish a special committee aimed at oversight, saying an Additional Panel is unnecessary and raised concerns about the selection of the majority with jim clyburn Majority Whip Jim Clyburn to lead the panel. Republicans holding their own audio conference about issues and oneto coronavirus, of the topics indeed coming up from Kevin Mccarthy was the formation of this committee. [video clip] i know the speaker just talked about an Oversight Committee. I have a couple concerns about this one, who she is naming. That is concerning to me, because clyburn is one who thought this crisis was an opportune time to restructure government. That is not what we should be doing, we should be taking care of the health of the american public, keeping our economy strong as it was before, and moving forward. The other concern that i have from this standpoint is inside the bills that we passed, we did put in oversight and this seems really redundant. First of all, we have the Oversight Committee in congress that is focused on oversight. Every committee has oversight. But in the bill we just passed, we had the Pandemic Response accountability committee. This is a group of igs headed by glenn fine. We also created the special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery and gave him a try 5 million budget, which a 25 million budget. And then we gave the gao another 20 million, in essence their last bill for oversight. Another concern i really have, for any select committee to get up and running, it takes a vote of congress. I do not know when we would go back and vote on this. I do not know what the budget would be, what the responsibility would be. Host that is going on in the world of politics. Again, the community and how your community particularly is responding to coronavirus. You to give input. Dave in alaska, hello. Caller pedro, hello. Can you hear me . Host yes, you are fine. Caller we do not have any cases of coronavirus here. We dont have roads here. We are at the very top of alaska, so we are fortunate that we are isolated. The airlines, we only have one flight a day now and it comes directly from anchorage. Oilfield, go to the and then over here. You had all the oilfield workers on the plane, and a lot of them come from the lower 48. So they just shut that down last week, last friday. So we are very fortunate that our airlines, Alaska Airlines has worked with our mayor to accommodate us. Here, limited to travel people with medical problems that need to go out and their escorts, certain workers are allowed to come in and they have to get prescreened. The problem with that, the prescreened is just just a check for elevated temperature and they ask you some questions. It is a possibility that we could have coronavirus carriers get appear undetected get up here undetected. The whole community, except for the essential workers which i am one, but i am on quarantine because i drove a vehicle up e last week to put up a prudo bay over the tundra with my daughter. I was under order to be quarantined because we have done that. Every winter, they make a snow trail over here, so we drove our vehicle appear. Here. Nder vehicle up i am under quarantine. The Commuter Airlines that fly to outlying villages, there was that Commuter Airline shutdown. Now we are trying to figure out how to get groceries and supplies to the outlying but basically, each village on the north slope, which i believe there are seven altogether, is basically in lockdown. No one authorized people can no unauthorized people can come in by air, land, or sea. We are our own Little Island and so far, so good. We do not have any cases of here cases up here. 100 cases now,t 12 or 13 are in the hospital if i were never correct. We have had three deaths in the state of alaska, one was actually down in washington, an elderly man that passed away him asso they counted an alaska resident that died, but we have had two deaths in alaska. The governor has done a pretty good job shutting it down fairly early, and i think it has helped a lot. Host that is dave in alaska, giving his perspective there. Darlene is in washington state. Darlene, go ahead. Caller yes, we are just over from everett, the first case. Company, they are working for the aerospace and highend furniture companies. Early february, the owner of the company, jeff cash, he has a friend in sweden and called that and said, iital have a manufacturing company, what can i do . They gave him the designs for the masks, so they have been producing masks and faceplates and gowns since the start of february. It has been great. My daughterinlaw, she is a nurse. She is on the psych ward. It seems like our hospitals are not overwhelmed. Maybe that is because we had the first case and got them knocked down first. Im not sure. But all my other kids are virtual, which is wonderful. My community is wonderful. Besides the grocery store, which they have the seniors separated out hours, which is great. Everyone is Wearing Masks, 90 . Everyone is friendly, the stores have the lines marked off six feet. Everybody is good, everybody is behaving. Host darlene, governor inslee just extended the stayathome there in your state. What do you think the reactions will be as the weeks progress under the stayathome order . Caller i dont know. I do not know what it is like for any other community, but everyone dancing and smiling and happy to be home. If they are able to do virtual, i do not see any consequences of it. Everybody is happy and on holiday, which is odd. But the one caller saying Everyone Needs to get back to work and things like that, i do not know if he likes to be sick. I do not like to be sick, and i think if i was sick for a month there would not be much left in me. I do want to say, i have a daughter that is essential in utah, and she woke up with a fever yesterday. A 100 degree fever. It has she is essential, because she is essential, she had to get the test. By the time she woke up, three hours later, her test was done. We have to practically be on our deathbed before we get a test. Host what was the result of the the she i may ask at will if i may ask . Caller one screener told her two days, the second screener told her three to five. I want that caller to know, if theaughter ends up in hospital in utah, i cannot go see her. If my daughter passes away in the hospital from this virus, all i get to do is pick up her body or have her body sent. I want that man to think before he sends everybody back to work, because this is so contagious that we cant even go see our loved ones if they are ill, ok . All we get to do is collect their bodies. I do not appreciate him saying hey, lets go spread this around and see what happens. Have a great day, and prayers up to everyone who is doing the right thing. Host thank you for sharing that with us, darlene. Lets go to cameron in bethesda, maryland. Good morning. Morning, pedro. Thank you for taking my call. I want to say this is an amazing situation, because here in bethesda and montgomery county, maryland, we see people have really gotten the message. They observe the six foot distance and some people wear masks and gloves and everything. The emergency, the first , workers are busy, and it is amazing. They are training and preparedness and learning about , and i shouldgs thank the u. S. Government, all the way from the office of the president to the congress, despite our differences. It might be a slow start, but they have really followed up with great advice from top experts who make decisions i speak a few different languages, and i try to keep up with news that is coming from around the world, to try to learn the best practices. Here in our neighborhood, you know, we way that our neighbors atm a distance we wave our neighbors from a distance. My grandson, he is getting his lessons online from school and the governor has the curfew set in. People have to have a reason to be on the roads shopping, going to the pharmacy, going to maryland hasically started giving out from books ks to students who did not have computers, because school is online now. My grandson will get math tutoring from connect ed, they are doing it online. All the best practices i have gathered from all the information from around the world, i should say, we at home, we do water, you know, we make a steam, put the pot with just regular water, and everyone of us. The virus is susceptible to heat and humidity. The other thing that we do, we burn frankincense every day and stuff like that. Int thats cameron bethesda, maryland, giving thoughts about what is happening in his community. You heard him mention the governor, larry hogan. He was a recent guest commented and enter interview on our washington journal Primetime Program. That airs monday through fridays here, an opportunity to talk with experts and here firm you on issues hear from you on issues. Tonight, ted mitchell, the president of the American Council on education, will be one of the guests, talking about the educational aspects. You heard our guest touch upon it and flesh those topics out more. That will be at 8 00 tonight. One of the discussion points from yesterdays briefing from dr. Deborah birx about this advisory coming from the white house as far as using masks or mouth coverings when people go out in public and in general. She had a chance to comment about that yesterday. [video clip] when you look at communities that have often time utilized masks in general for personal when they, particularly are themselves sick, have used their masks in public. We have look at the rate of covid19 and we are looking at the Scientific Evidence to bring those two pieces together. Let me say one thing, though. The most important thing is social distancing and washing your hands. We do not want people to get an artificial sense of protection because they are behind a mask. It is they are touching things. Remember, your eyes if they are touching things. Member, your eyes are not in the masks remember, your eyes are not in the masks. We do not want people to feel like oh, im wearing a mask, i am protecting others. You might be protecting others, but do not get a false sense of security that that mask is protecting you exclusively from getting infected, because there are a number of ways to get infected from a systematic and mild cases out there. This worries us, and that is why the debate is continuing about the masks. When we are trying to send a signal that every Single Person in this country needs to stay six feet away from everybody, washing your hands constantly and know where their hands are, to send a signal that we think a mask is equivalent to those pieces. When the advisory comes out, it will be an additive piece, if it comes out, rather than saying this is a substitute for. We want to make sure everybody understands, it is not a substitute for the president ial guidelines that have already gone out, to be absolutely clear about that. Host a couple of quick stories from the Business World in particular, how coronavirus is affecting those things. The Washington Post highlighting that it was stars that sars that led to millions of dollars in interruption and insurance claims being paid out. Told, many insurers add exclusions to Standard Commercial policies for loss caused by viruses or bacteria. Added policy language would potentially allow Insurance Companies to avoid millions of dollars in Business Interruption claims because of the covid19 pandemic. If you go to the wall street journal, it takes a look at the president s businesses, the various business he holds, losing about 1 million a day and seeing revenues from those businesses come from travel and , industries that have been hit hardest. Also accounts for the roughly 340 million of income president announced in his last disclosure. Our next caller, hello. Caller hello, am i on with you . Everything goes good and well over here, and i want to bring inone bright spot possibly this whole coronavirus thing. The fact that we are not spitting out as many pollutants with our vehicles and our machineries we do all the time, and perhaps this earth can finally take a little bit of a breath and regenerate itself a e bit. Happythe dogs are real that we are home. They feelot so much, like, well, they are finally leaving. That is all i have to say, and you all have a good day, and thank you very much. Stephen from oklahoma finishes off the first hour. In the next hour we will be joined by an Infectious Diseases expert, dr. Wafaa elsadr, columbia university, to answer your questions about where we are in the fight against corona covid19. And from the army corps of e e staff writer thomas frank. First i want to show governor phil murphys News Conference from thursday. A lot of these governors reporting every day. You can see these on cspan. He provided an update on the number of corona basis coronavirus cases in and deaths in new jersey. Today we are reporting another 3400 89 positive coronavirus test results. Our statewide total to 25,590. Positiveat is 3489 test results, bringing our statewide total to 25,590. As usual, judy and her remarks will get into some of the details of those positives, as well as negatives. Reportnally, we must with the heaviest of hearts that we have lost another 182 members of our new jersey family to covid19 related complications. 537ave now lost a total of precious souls. Their memories are in our prayers. God rest each and every one of them. Our prayers and thoughts and sympathies go out to their family and friends. Morewill give you some dimension on this, and some more color, but as a headline, as a teaser, to when you speak, judy, you should not assume that 182 people passed since yesterdays press conference. There is a lag here in terms of confirming cause of death in particular. Judy would get into that detail. So every one of these lives is a life lost. Let me be unequivocal about that. But in terms of how these have actually transpired and these blessed folks have left us, i think i would just say as a nonmedical professional, you need to think of this over a span of days, and particularly given the stress that we have on the system right now, that is more true than ever. Us thatjudy will tell even in a normal, regular time of peace, that there is a lag associated with this, and there is an overwhelming challenge, as you can imagine, given the stress we are going through. [end video clip] announcer washington journal continues. Host our first guest of the morning joining us from new york is dr. Wafaa elsadr, a professor of epidemiology at columbia university, and director of the ic ap at columbia. Guest thank you very much, its my pleasure. Host can you tell the viewers the work that and it does . Guest yes, i am the director of the center here called icap, and it works in the u. S. As well as in more than 30 countries around dealing with the threats that these countries and communities face. This includes doing research as well as training, and also trying to establish and evaluate theseogram with some of Public Health threats that exist around the world. I think in terms of covid19, we have also, because we are established in many of these communities around the world, we have taken upon ourselves to try to think ahead and try to work with these countries to put in place preparedness, to prepare them for the oncoming onslaught of cases of covid19, as well as also to develop specific studies that try to measure the attentional impact of covid19 in these communities. At the same time here in new have communities in harlem and the south bronx that are also aiming to contribute to the response to covid19 by doing some studies there as well. As anyour point of view epidemiologist, what is the worst and best Case Scenario for the weeks ahead, not only for deaths and sicknesses but the ability to flatten the curve, so to speak . That i think i believe the reason for potential there is reason for potential optimism, cautious optimism, if we can put in place the measures that we have been talking about as Public Health professionals for the last several weeks. There are important Lessons Learned from other countries, from countries like china, from south korea, and other countries as well, that give us some guidance in terms of what really to do. There are two ways to tackle this pandemic, and one of them is through the individual behavior that we talked about in terms of washing of hands or sanitizing of hands as well as also avoiding contact with surfaces that may have been contaminated by somebody else who may have sneezed or coughed on those surfaces, as well as some of the mitigation measures that we are trying to put in place now that include the physical or social distancing, as well as some of the measures to prevent congregation of large numbers of people together, for example schools, as well as meetings and other venues, where a lot of people can come together at close quarters. So it is by using these two types of measures and using them effectively and universally that i think we have a chance to stem this pandemic and to prevent further increases in the number of cases. I do believe, though, that it is very vital that we all observe these interventions, that we all observe the behaviors, the individual behaviors as well as also that we all as a society, as a community, observe the population measures that i mentioned before. Scenario, best case if everybody obeys that, as far as timeframe, what is a realistic viewpoint as far as how we how long we are before we start flattening curves and be able to resume life as we knew it . There are several models, and modeling groups that the researchers who conduct models and modeling, including here at columbia university, who have tried to answer this question specifically. And i think the hope is that if we are able to put these rigorous, strong measures in place universally across our country and across our various communities, that we might be able to see the flattening of the curve hopefully by the end of this the beginning of the flattening of the curve by the end of this month and into next month. What this will mean, though, is that we need to watch very carefully the data, to make sure that we are looking at the numbers of new cases day in and day out, and that we are again adhering to these mitigation measures as we move along. Host how much can we cut current modeling, considering the amount of testing that went into place weeks ago that is currently going on . How long before we can develop a good baseline of where we are . I think we are Getting Better at it now that there is better access not universal access, but nonetheless better access to testing, and there is data pidemic illogic epidemic logical data to be able to project what is happening down the line, several weeks down the line. Remember, at least it takes at least two weeks but to be able to see an effect because of the incubation photo that incubation period of this virus. Incubation period of this virus. They are utilizing some of the data from other countries to try to distill from the Lessons Learned from there and apply the information into the model and add them into the situation, for the situation in the United States, recognizing that the epidemic in the u. S. Is clearly very different from the epidemic in several european countries, as well as the epidemic in china. Host what can we take from other countries as far as testing or analyzing modeling that we can apply in the u. S. To make our fight more efficient . Lots of think there are Lessons Learned. I think one of them is one that is very important is the importance of really putting in place strong and universal mitigation measures. At this point in the pandemic in the u. S. , we have what we call sustained community transmission, meaning ongoing transmission and the community, and people with covid19 today, somebody diagnosed today with covid19 is very unlikely to be able to point to a single individual and say i think i got it from soandso from another individual. Ongoing really Means Community transmission. I think the Lesson Learned is in situations like this, and china, for example, and in some western european countries, it is still ongoing there, that these mitigation measures are very critical, and very important. And that is a critical that is critical particular from the experience in china, the need for everyone to observe these measures. As difficult as they can be for people to change completely their social behavior and so on. But they are vital. One thing wely the have at our fingertips to enable us to control the epidemic. So that is one thing. I think another Lesson Learned probablye learned that with people who do not have symptoms of covid19 may be capable of transmitting to others, and that is really an important fact. Although, keep in mind, someone who had covid19 and is sneezing or coughing is much more likely to transmit to others, but nonetheless, what the data are showing us is that even people who are a symptom attic may be able who are asymptomatic may be able to transmit to the community. That is another factor we have learned from other countries as well as our own experiences in the u. S. That is also guiding and modifying our response here in the country. Host this is dr. Wafaa elsadr, joining us for the hour. If you want to ask her questions about the covid19 virus from her point of view as an epidemiologist, you are invited to do so. For the eastern time zones, 2027488001 for the pacific time zones. If you are a medical professional who wants to add to the conversation, it is 2027488002. Do the other viruses give us clues on why this virus affects one person to another, or to the degree of seriousness that might affect another person to another . With light symptoms, heavy symptoms, some diane . Is there some type of guideline why this virus some diane . Is there some kind of guideline why this virus affect people differently . Guest it is much more transmissible, and it is much more severe and deadly than other viruses, for example like influenza. There are similarities. The way it is transmitted i think another similarity, unfortunately there are some populations that are more likely to have more severe illness with covid19, and this includes older individuals, and particularly those with what we call comorbid conditions, those who have other medical conditions like diabetes or orrt disease or lung disease high Blood Pressure or any immune suppressant, any disease that weakens the immune system. Those individuals appear to have a more severe course with covid19, and a higher chance of dying from covid19. And that is very important because it really becomes evident that we really need to protect these populations as potentialssible for contact with covid19 because of the severity of the consequences for them individually. Host we will take some calls. Dan joins us first, from topeka, kansas. You are on with our guest. Go ahead with your question or comment. Caller i was wondering about maybe washing ppes or dry cleaning if they cannot hold up steamt or something, and cleaning, dry cleaning. I am also concerned about the splitting of the ventilators. If one ventilator its pneumonia, wouldnt that just give it to the other patient . We would be doubling our deaths. Guest let me take your first question about the ppes, and clearly it is very critical to maintain the supply, adequate supply of ppes, particularly for healthcare workers, Frontline Health care workers and technicians and so on, because they are really at the highest risk. So i think that a lot of attempts to try to think of ways of how do we preserve the ppes, including utilizing them for more than a day, for example, so they are not disposable after onetime use, they do not need to be disposable after onetime use. As well as now they are trying to do similar to what youre saying, to use a specific measure, specific gases that can disinfect ppes so they can be reused. This is something several people are working on. Some communities are putting into place some of these ways of decontaminating ppes. I think as we are successful in doing that, that will be very helpful to maintain the supply, the viral supply of ppes. Host go ahead, if you wish. Guest and the other issue is the issue of ventilators. Obviously ventilators are very critical for taking care of very sick patients who already have pneumonia, due to covid19. And i think the shortage of ventilators, in some communities, and the desperate situation, has motivated some to consider the use of doubling ventilators. Obviously, these are amongst the patients who both staff the patients who both have covid19 pneumonia. Host albuquerque, new mexico. This is david. Thisr i know that coronavirus is very, very other urging to all of us. But what i would like to know from you is how upsetting is pelosi, getting the 25 million for the candidate center, and not for the equipment that is needed to care for these victims of the coronavirus . That been,ting has knowing that she doesnt really get herself in reality concerning this situation, but only looking for her own good or her own interest for this and not for the victims . Can you explain that . Host thanks, david. Guest i think at a moment like this, it is critical to focus on the right things. Clearly prioritizing the response to the pandemic is absolutely critical. Certainly at all levels. That has to be priority number one, and Everything Else will have to go second, third, fourth, and fifth. So most importantly is of course trying to ensure that we are putting in place the measures to prevent continued transmission another19, as well as very important measure of mitigation is taking care of people who are sick. That is very critical, to make sure they have access to the Health Facilities, if they need to be admitted to a hospital. Secondly, that they get the right supportive treatment when they are sick in a hospital. And if need be, that they also get support with ventilators and so on. Inhink we have to invest both prevention as well as in treatment, because those are the in which weons rest, on which we depend, to be able to address this pandemic. So prevention is one piece, and then appropriate management and treatment is another. And we cannot take our eye off those two goals. We have to focus on those and do our very best, and put all of our resources and all of our attention to those at this point in time, and Everything Else can come later. Hugeappreciate the economic impact, of course, of this pandemic, as there usually is with pandemics. It is not just a clinical medical issue, it is a huge issue of economics as well as many, many other societal impacts. And being able to sustain people who have lost their jobs and who are desperate now to continue to survive is also very vital in order for us to overcome this pandemic. Dr. , we heard dr. Deborah birx at the White House Press briefing yesterday float the idea that apparently there is a report perhaps coming from the white house that you are out in public you should just wear a mask overall. What do you think of that Going Forward . Is that an appropriate move, do you think . I think the recommendation that dr. Birx mentioned is important because it is based on evidence, and it is really important that all of our actions and recommendations are based on evidence. That is number one. I believe that the reasons that this is now a recommendation is because of a very important fact that i mentioned before, which is that these effects, we believe a substantial portion of the transmissions that are occurring in our country are from people who do not have therefore, they are not aware that they are actually shedding the virus and the secretions and unknowingly transmitting it to others, and if you cover your face, you are then less likely to infect somebody else around you. So the reason for using a face cover of some sort is not to protect yourself, it really is rather, in this context, to protect others if you do have covid19, and you are unaware of it. But i think there is a movement now in several communities, including in new york city, the recommendation actually from today or last night, by the mayor, recommending that people incover their face while public in order to prevent transmission to others, to protect others. It is very important, though, to keep in mind that you do not want to over review to the masks that are needed by the healthcare workers, and therefore be advised to use other means of covering ones face. Host to that, there is a report in science magazine, and over the last couple days in other sources, about the National Academy of sciencess giving boosts to the idea that the amount of coronavirus that can be spread through the air by means of breathing, not only by cash by means of breathing when usually we have heard it is through sneezing and other types of droplet transmissions. Talk about that airborne transmission. Guest it is a very controversial topic as to whether it is airport airborne or droplet transmission. Most of the data suggests that it is droplets, meaning the virus is contained within droplets that people expel from their respiratory tract, through sneezing or coughing or sometimes even forceful singing, and the virus is within those droplets. And that that is a major means of transmission. Speculations,n there has been speculation that it might actually be transmissible airborne, and not in these droplets. Most of the evidence we have is that it is droplet transmission, but again, the evidence of transmission from somebody who does not have symptoms seems to lend itself that potentially it might be transmitted by just talking forcibly or you do not have to have symptoms like coughing or sneezing, which would give credence to the idea that it might be airborne. Nonetheless, what really matters is whether it be airborne or droplet transmission, i think the measures that we are putting in place now as a Public Health community or advocating should really be sufficient for both types of transmission, particularly the idea of covering ones face in public, because again, that would also prevent transmission, airborne or droplet transmission, from someone who might be infected. Host our guest is dr. While fat l solder our guest is dr. Wafaa elsadr, from club university. This is sue from colorado. You are on with our guest. Good morning. Guest thank you. I am very glad to be able to talk to someone who has epidemiology information from me. I am a retired registered nurse, and i know a lot about reverse isolation and so forth. I called the red cross the other day because here in the denver metro area, they are asking for blood donations, and i have heard about people being a , andmatic asymptomatic all they are doing is asking questions for. Some of them made sense when the virus was not that widespread, whether they had traveled to places where you could contract it, now it is so widespread, you would know that you might have come into contact with someone. Why are they not i called the red cross and they said they do not process, after they collect the donation, they do not check for coronavirus. They go ahead and do the processing that they need for platelets, lets say, or plasma and so forth. And they are not testing. So all they are doing is asking people if they have a temperature and if they have been coughing or sneezing. And since you can be asymptomatic and carrying it, why is the red cross not testifying not testing their products after collecting them. A lot of people are immune suppressed or in bad situations. I dont know how high up in that persons wheel room she was, the medical person. The medical person said they were not testing their collections afterward. If you were here in new york or i used to live in new york, and the new York Blood Center had a real problem in the early 1980s because they were asymptomatic hiv carriers that they were not asking about anything like that, and they separated those products out. And i know for sure factor eight was being derived from the blood product for hemophiliacs, and a lot of people at the New York Hospital who were hemophiliacs and had received factor eight for them developed hiv. So i am curious why there is not testing for donated blood products. Host . You, caller. Lets let her respond. Guest thank you for your comments. I think there is a distention between hiv and coronavirus. ,es, i have been in new york and i moved here since the early days of the hiv and Emmett Deming hiv epidemic. Secretions,ood and blood products. It is really important. We have no evidence that this Novel Coronavirus is transmitted through such products. That is the difference, and i think that is the reason why they answer the way they entered to you. We have no evidence that it is transmitted in this matter in this manner. Ust this is ken who tested who texted us this morning that said the ebola scare in the Obama Administration had a death rate of 50 . It was dealt with swiftly. What is the difference now . Bigt i think there is a difference between ebola and the coronavirus. It is really based on how it is transmitted. The challenge with coronavirus is that it is transmitted easily through close contact. You just have to be maybe 10 to 15 minutes in the same space with someone else, within two meters of them to be at risk for getting infected. That is very different from ebola, where you had to actually have physical contact with blood or secretions. That is a very big difference. Ebola netission with occurred in this country were largely for healthcare workers dealing with very sick patients, and therefore had exposure to their secretions and blood products and so on. I think when you have a respiratory infection like this coronavirus, it is at a different scale completely. Contact of it i surfaces come if somebody else had sneezed or coughed on it, but it is transmitted again by close contact with an individual with covid19. This makes a huge difference, so that you are able to, one person can transmit to many more. One person with covid19, whether they have symptoms and now we know whether they do not have symptoms, can transmit to large numbers of individuals. I think that we estimate that one person can transmit to three or four persons. I think that amplifies the number of people who are at risk. That is the big distinction between people between ebola and covid19. I do think, though, that are important principles to keep in mind in terms of how one responds to any threat like this, and the same principles apply to ebola or covid19 or influenza, very early identification of the outbreak is very critical. Rapid efforts at communicating to the public and frequent communication with the public with Accurate Information is very vital. The efforts to contain and find people who are infected especially early on in an outbreak like this. And then finally if there is sustained transmission, to go into mitigation phase as i described before. And then to also work at trying to take care of people who are affected. The public has suppose of are thewith an epidemic same. They require different tweaking it how the germ itself is transmitted and who is affected and who is not effected, but the principles are very similar and need to be applied as quickly as possible and as universally as possible. Host i am sure over the weeks you have heard comparisons made between covid19 and influence of. What goes through your mind when you hear and influenza. What goes through your mind when you hear those comparisons . Guest i think the similarities is that they are transmitted in a similar way. Is highly transmissible, although covid19, the coronavirus is more transmissible. Again, an impact on morbidity and mortality, coronavirus appears to have higher, almost 10 times as much mortality as influenza virus. I think the differences, we are fortunate to have vaccines, where every year we have new vaccines for influenza, which is important. Foro not have a vaccine this coronavirus yet. And we have treatment for those who get sick antivirals and specific drugs against influenza virus, and we do not have as of yet for this novel virus. Those are kind of the differences. I think also, interestingly, we know that influenza is very seasonal. It starts in the fall. The season starts in the fall and ends about now every year, almost regularly. We know it, we anticipate it. That is how we prepare for the vaccine. Sure what isot going to happen with this Novel Coronavirus, and whether it will be seasonal as well. I am particularly concerned because there is some evidence from other respiratory viruses that they are not as stable in warmer climates and more humid conditions, and we dont know whether that will apply to this Novel Coronavirus or not. But it might, and therefore this gives me concern about also what is going to happen in the Southern Hemisphere in countries in africa, for example, where they are very vulnerable, and where their Health Systems are very fragile. Whereat is the reason why i direct, we are working now with Health Systems in those countries to prepare them for the potential impact of this virus. Footholdctually gets a , and it has started to get a foothold in many of the african countries. Where we work. Elsadr,s is dr. Wafaa the director at columbia university. If you want to see the work of that organization. Fairfax, south dakota. Doug is up next. Caller good morning. My big question is, this virus how do they tell if it is dead . They say if it is only for two days, wooden protective gear be ok to wouldnt this protective gear be ok to use again in two days . Also, without doing a total shutdown stop of travel, isnt it going to move across the country . They say three days might starve it, but if they dont stop travel, it is going to be like going back and forth since it takes more than one person to get it started. I will wait for your answers i guess. Have a good day. Guest thank you for your question. I think the question of how long the virus lives on different surfaces, it has been looked at as very experimental in the lab as long as as to how long it is a life or stable on different surfaces. We have some information on this, but this is done under very artificial kinds of experimental conditions, and we know for example that it can be it can stay stable on cardboard for maybe 24 hours. On other surfaces even longer. But we are not sure whether this means it is transmissible. That is one of the reasons why we are very careful about with ppes and gowns and so on, that they that the ones, that there are some can be used that there are others that cannot be used. And this idea of how do we decontaminate these ppes between use is very, very important. The other issue is about travel and so on. Major like i said the onei think we have important weapon we have in our hands now is to try to calm a as much as possible, control the movement of people. Very, very important. I think if we are successful at this, we will break the cycles of transmission. This is what we are trying to do, break the cycles of transmission. Each one of us has a responsibility to, for the time being, absorb observe these guidances because we are trying very hard to break cycles of transmission, and this means that it applies to everyone. I think that is the importance of having universal, rigorous guidance, that everybody in the country observes, that if we are able to trick the cycles of change mission between people across borders come across states and so on within communities, within cities, then we have a chance to essentially dampen the virus and decrease the transmission to very low to lowand hopefully transmission or no transmission. Everybody, everybody has to do a singlet to prevent cycle of transmission. Host we have about 25 minutes with our guest. Just to let you know, this information just coming in from the labor department. The march jobs reports out the economy loses 701,000 payroll jobs. The Unemployment Rate jumps 7. 4 . Maryland,om columbia, a medical professional. You are on with our guest. Caller hi. Therapist, aatory retired respiratory therapist. Respiratory therapists are called to try to intervene in a patient who is going into respiratory failure. The tools of our trade are positive pressure ventilation, and the nobel prize i think was for patients, for scientists who suggested that oxygen, too much oxygen may actually harmful to healing, for oxygen was restricted some patients, they had a better survival rate, and that is, again, one of the tools of our trade. So i am curious about that intervention. Maybe that is contributing to that. Pressure, to try to relieve some of the shortness of , and alsothe patients then, that may stop the patient and puto be intubated on a ventilator so that that is my question. Input,hank you for the pete. Doctor, go ahead. Guest thank you for your question. Tohink we need to we have acknowledge respiratory therapists because they are on the front lines and they are really at very high risk and are doing an amazing job in confronting this pandemic come in addition to other Health Care Workers nurses and doctors and social workers and many, many others. As i mentioned earlier. Theree that there is now attempts to use some of the positive pressure means that the caller mentioned. In situations where there is impairment of oxygenation amongst patients with covid19. But keep in mind that individuals with covid19 who have to be intubated, who have to be put on a ventilator are those in which we already have specific through measures, that they are not oxygenating their bodies sufficiently. By looking at the amount of oxygen in their bloodstream and so on. And obviously it is really critical to maintain the oxygen in the bloodstream to be able to maintain the functions of different organs in our bodies, like the brain and other organs. So i think that the hope is by using ventilators and using supplemental oxygen, that we can support these individuals and sustain their oxygenation, and hopefully their lungs heal and they are able to do it for themselves. So i think that is one of the reasons for the ventilators. And that is particularly i think there is a huge concern, in this country, about the availability of ventilators, oxygen and so on. But you can imagine in other countries around the world, and certainly where we work, in countries around the world, where there is a dearth of intensive care units where hardly any ventilators exist in oxygen and oxygen is in very short supply. Of aso need to think Global Response in order to be able to support countries that really need our help more than ever. Host from bethesda, maryland, go ahead. Caller good morning. I have two questions for dr. Elsadr. Virus, number one, the this virus does it have a preference which human cells in the body it attacks . And the second question is, does this virus attack the beneficial bacteria, which is responsible for food digestion and therption of nutrition and health of 70 of the immune system, etc. . And if it does attack bacteria if the bacteria is disrupted, the whole body, all the cells in the body will become malnourished, and eventually they will starve start malfunctioning, and that is why we see water accumulating in the lungs, which causes the patient to drown . And right here, for example, at home, i have told everyone that their prokeep up with and prebiotic supplements in their diet, to keep up with that, to keep the blood flora , so these areive my two questions. Host thank you, caller. Guest thank you very much. Again, we have some answers to some of these questions, and others we do not have answers to specific questions. That the virus attacks cells that have different types of receptors in our respiratory tract in the lungs, for example and that is why the major damage for people who get covid19 who are sick with covid19, who get convicted who get infected with the coronavirus, are in the respiratory tract, in the upper, and most alarmingly, in the lower respiratory tract. Thee are the linings of respiratory tract, the ones that are the target for this virus. We really do not know the effect on other cells in the body, for example. For example, the gut it is unclear. I do want to point out that some of the most if we think about what are the most common symptoms for someone who develops covid19, obviously fever is one common symptom. Another one is cough, shortness of breath is a symptom in another one. People will have diarrhea as well as a manifestation of covid19 disease. So we know there are effects besides the upper respiratory tract, and i think it is early in the research to be able to say exactly what is going on in each of our bodies. Host larry, good morning to you. You are on with our guest, from new mexico. Hello. Caller good morning, doctor. I am calling from new mexico, and we are part of the navajo , the size ofation west virginia, and our population is close to 300,000. Now as of today, this morning, positive members. From that we have seven deaths. Now with your recommendations, i like the thought of Contact Tracing, which involves hippo rules, etc. Aa that will break the chain of infection, and then discussing travel history, preexisting conditions. And then on top of that, the tests, and then what we are doing here also is doing psas on travel, Radio Station discussions, where to get treatment at the area hospital. Now, your recommendation on Contact Tracing, i like that. Traveluss that with out members, with our charter members, what would be your recommendation . Should we implement that at a full force without tribal government . Right now one of the measurements is stay home, tribal resolution a curfew from 8 00 p. M. Until 5 00 a. M. Idea of contract tatian. Can you discuss that . Thank you. Guest thank you very much. I am very impressed by all the measures you are putting in place. You are to be applauded. I think not only are you focusing on who is diagnosed, but i think also that the education and so on of the population is very critical, as well as some of the efforts at decreasing travel and mixing of populations is also very valuable. I think there is a role in situations where you have a limited number of cases. If you have at this point in time, and you are able to identify the cases and rapidly put them in isolation, so that they do not transmit to others, as well as, of course, in that context, what we do in Public Health is attempt to do as well Contact Tracing, and such individuals are then advised to be quarantined for the period of 14 days, which is the incubation period for this virus. These are again, some of the tools that we have always utilized in Public Health, and i think in a situation where you , as it earlier phase appears that we do in the community where you are working, that this might be quite useful, actually. Obviously, it is very important when we talk about ventilation, quarantining, isolation of a sick person or quarantining of Healthy People who have been in covid19, it is most important to think about all the things that they need, that they do have access to food and health care and so on, because obviously set isolating such individuals, if they do not have access to these it would be impossible and certainly inadvisable. We need to put in place these measures, and then you could continue to do isolation and Contact Tracing and quarantining host of the host contact. Of the contact. Host addy in wisconsin, hi. Guest doctor caller doctor, thank you. What do we need to do in the world to prevent Something Like this again or do with it more closely . Thank you. Guest thank you very much, and i appreciate your question because i think one of many of us are asking the same question. How can we prepare better . Because it is inevitable that hopefully when this is behind us, when covid19 is behind us, it is inevitable that there will be other such outbreaks and potential pandemics in the future. We need to distill the lessons we have learned from this experience we are going through now and be better prepared for the future. One, a couple things i think are very vital. In publicvesting health is very important. Often Public Health is silent, something done in the background, something nobody really knows about very much. We are much more cognizant of health care, of clinics and hospitals and their vital importance. But often the role of Public Health in terms of protecting the community and in terms of responding, the early response of being able to track down the cases and count the cases, and put in place the isolation and quarantine measures and so on and so forth, that function of Public Health is unfortunately not as appreciated, well appreciated. I am hopeful that this pandemic would highlight the fundamental importance of Public Health and Public Health practitioners all over the country, all over the world and their role. I think also another important Lesson Learned is global cooperation. We are one world, and what we have learned from this pandemic is that we are all connected. And what starts in one country is very likely to end up right at our doorstep. And we have to Work Together to think of a global preparedness rather than thinking, you know, i want to prepare for my country, but i dont really care about somebody elses country, if they are prepared. What we have learned is that ultimately it does matter, and we have to come together and think of ways in which we are both prepared and we can help each other. Whether it be through scientific cooperation, whether it be through sharing of information, whether it be through having measures in place to respond, whether it be investment in Public Health or investment in stockpiling some of the Vital Equipment and supplies that we have realized that we lack, these are the things that i think about, almost the concept of a global preparedness rather than thinking in terms of a very narrow way of a countrys preparedness or a community preparedness. Host on a personal level, dealing with this every day, what is your level of offense on this . Do you wear a mask outside, do you wipe things down obsessively . What level do you take . What can they apply to what they are doing . Guest i am one of everybody. What i try to do is follow the recommendations as vigorously as i can. I do wash my hands frequently. If i dont have access to soap and water, remember, soap disrupts the virus. It is very effective at that. If not, i use Hand Sanitizer frequently. I also am very conscious of not touching my face because i think that is something that we do almost without realizing it, and sneezing and coughing, protecting others when i sneeze or i call. Never sneezing or coughing in my hand. Now,ll as again, in public i certainly will follow the recommendations now that are coming out in terms of covering my face, and largely to protect others. I think that is very important. Physicalned a distance, as recommended. Not being in contact with people, not being in meetings and so on and so forth. I try to do my own best to contribute to try to do as much as possible to control this pandemic. Host lets hear from woodbridge, virginia. Patrick, hi. Caller there are people who have the virus and show no symptoms and wont get sick. How do they know when they are safe, free of the virus . That is my question. Guest well, i think there are challenges. If you are a person and you have no symptoms but on the other hand you have the virus, you are shedding the virus in your secretions, you dont know about it, and you wont know about it. And i think that is part of the challenge, is that you probably will then you are asymptomatic and you will probably stop shedding the virus and do well. So there is no way to monitor this at this point in time. To detect when someone is shedding and someone stop shedding. We do not have to do that we do not have the ability to do this at present at scale. Yesterday there was an important announcement of the availability of a test. The testing we do now for this virus, it gets the viral particles. So when people get their gnosis swabbed to look for the their noses swapped, that is detecting the germ itself, the virus itself. Yesterday there was an important announcement about a measure of antibodies. Antibodies, what our body produces to fight the virus, to we are goingm to be able to come hopefully, be able to use that to identify, you know, how many people in our population have evidence of antibodies . Meaning that they were infected at some point. They may not have had symptoms at all. Maybe they had mild symptoms. Researche to do some and surveillance of populations, we will have a much better sense of essentially what the trajectory what are the different manifestations of this infection, we will be able to identify what proportion of have antibodies, had symptoms, and what percentage do not have symptoms . That will be Important Information down the line once we are able to do these kinds of studies in the u. S. And elsewhere. Host from dalton, georgia. Richard, up next. Hello. Richard and dalton, georgia, go ahead. Caller yes, sir. Am conscientious of everything that i do with myself, and i am trying to stay away from people. Very intricate situation that we are in right now, and i understand there is a lot of things that they either have neglected to tell us or. Ust have not explained to us you know, i am very conscientious not to touch my face, and i always wash my hands and try to keep away from people. When i do get around people, i have a mask on, like if i have to go to home depot or Something Like that, i wear a mask. I am just trying to follow the guidelines that they sent down for us because it is for our own benefit and everything. But yet i was kind of curious as symptoms ifuld get i was to get infected, because it is very, very important to know that you have got the antibodies, whether or not you are coronavirus free or not. Host got it, richard. Thanks. Think ah, i mean, i i applaud you. You are doing everything possible. It sounds like you really are doing your hardest to adhere to a lot of the recommendations, which is very laudable. Thank you for that. I do think, again, now at present, it is only recommended for people who develop symptoms. Subjective are suggestive of covid19. Especially particularly if the symptoms do get severe, or moderately severe, with the moderate symptoms, is to try to get tested to document the infection to make sure that this individual is getting appropriate treatment. I need toe again, assure everyone that the vast majority of people who do get infected, thankfully, will have a mild illness, an uncomfortable illness, but nonetheless a mild illness that hopefully will resolve itself within two weeks. The recommendation for people who do suspect that they have covid19 is to stayathome. That is very important. Stayathome and monitor your health, and a few get worried because you are not Getting Better or you are getting worse, please do not hesitate to seek medical attention. Host one more call. This will be from jay in las vegas. Caller hi. Hello . Host j, you are on. Caller yes, good morning, doctor. The reason i am calling is hasuse i noticed nobody spoken on the incubation portion of where it starts, in the beginning, and to my knowledge, i am understanding that it incubates around the ear, nose, and throat area, or in the esophagus. And what i dont understand is how come we are not treating it there . Because from there, it seems like it goes down into the lung area and it starts to deteriorate the lungs. So how come we are not starting with treatment there before it also like and premedicines kinds of situations. And also, why are we not using mists and vapes to treat a lot of us beforehand . Host we will have to leave it there. Doctor, go ahead. Guest unfortunately, we do not as of yet have specific treatments for this virus, and that is a challenge. On the other hand, there are numerous, numerous studies that are ongoing both in the United States and around the world to try to identify effective treatment for covid19. We do not have it yet, and therefore now, the treatments we have are supportive, meaning that if somebody has a fever, to give them medication to bring down their fever. If they are having aches and pains, to give them something for the aches and pains and the muscle pains. But we dont have a specific treatment. Bedont have the drugs to active against this virus specifically. That has been shown to be of clinical benefit. Again, because of the massive collaborations around the world and investment by scientists everywhere that hopefully we will get some evidence of some medication that is effective within the next few months. Host our guest has been dr. Wafaa elsadr of columbia university, a professor of epidemiology and medicine. Thanks for your time today. Guest my pleasure. Host coming up, were going to talk about the role of the federal agencies such as fema. Nd the army corps of engineers joining us for that conversation, any news staff writer thomas frank. We want to show you one of the governors responses we took in yesterday. This is michigan governor gretchen witmer. She provided an update on covid cases in her state. Witmer as of yesterday we had the thousand 549 cases. Onhink it is incumbent everyone of us to remember that each one of those people was a michigander with a story and a family who cannot mourn up as we traditionally would. For us tortant remember this. This is what is at stake. Michigan lives. Michigan is a hotspot for covid19 cases. Our numbers continue to climb every day. We found nearly 3000 more positive cases since i set in this stair on monday. We know that the impact will hit the height of this. I need to reiterate every time i address you that no one is immune from this virus. People of all ages and all walks of life are testing positive across our state every single day. This virus moves easily from persontoperson. Sick, heou dont feel could be carrying yet. I was struck by one of the stories i saw just this morning of a special Education Teacher who is 30 years old that passed away after three days of combating the symptoms of covid19. His wife had as well and hardly had a fever. Each of us responds differently and that is why we must all act as though we could be carrying it. And stay home. Just one person with this virus can infect another 40. In turn they can affect thousands more. We must do everything we can to protect our families, our communities, our health professionals, and everyone on the front lines. Covid19 will touch every one of our lives. We all must do our part. Tonight, a special evening edition of washington journal on the federal response to beacon to the coronavirus crisis. Join us at 8 00 eastern with ted mitchell on the coronavirus pandemics impact on the nations colleges and universities. On how theweingarten nations primary and secondary teachers are changing the way they work during the pandemic. Join the conversation about the coronavirus crisis. Washington journal primetime, tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Washington journal continues. Host joining us his thomas frank of e e news, talking about the role agencies play. Guest great to be here. Host as far as the role we are going to see in the next couple of days, lets start with fema. Guest fema is the federal governments logistics coordinator. Tells other agencies what to do. Isa is in charge of, it really the conduit between states and the federal government. When a governor or mayor wants something from the federal government, fema is the point of contact. It is a way of keeping the requests organized so there is only one point of contact and the states arent going to different agencies. It is a logistics coordinator. On the other site, femas main role is that it has the authority to assign any department, any agency to do anything. All of these efforts we have been seeing, the Army Corps Engineers scanning out hundreds of sites to see if those would be appropriate for makeshift hospitals, fema is telling them to do that. That is the way chain of command works. It is a military structure in the sense that people are following chains of command and orders. The other thing that fema does is, fema controls the keys to what is called the Disaster Relief fund. Now it has about 100 lean dollars in it. That is money that fema can give to states to reimburse it for all sorts of costs having to do with dealing with the covid19 disaster. Host as far as an institutional design, we have seen fema in the roles of disasters such as earthquakes and the like. As an institution, how welldesigned is it for virus . Guest because of the disaster is really not relevant to fema. Whether it is a virus, a pandemic, hurricane, and earthquake, it is really all the same. , it is sort of agnostic when it comes to the actual event that it is responding to. Basically, it is logistics. It is designed just fine. It doesnt have much experience dealing with pandemics because most of what fema has dealt with has been what we think of as natural disasters. The hurricanes, the floods and such. To, it is set up perfectly be able to deal with any sort of disaster. That is the design of fema. It is this allpurpose agency. Host is a power that is currently being applied to covid19 from fema . Guest they have got about 1200 people out of a workforce of 14,000 assigned to covid19. Actually, fema has had some staffing issues in the past. They are in relatively decent shape right now. Toyou go back a year ago, when we had these massive floods in the great plains and upper midwest, fema was stretched a lot more thinly and they have done an ok job in the last year adding staff. They are ok, for now. The question will be, what happens in the coming months when the spring flood season arrives and you start getting all of these communities in missouri and the dakotas flooded . That is when you will see a real strain on femas resources. As of now, it is ok. Host has fema leadership address that possibility help what happens . Have they made indications if they are prepared . Guest you are asking these questions and they say, basically, we play the hand that is dealt to us. We will respond in the best way we can. , i think the last number i saw is about 5000 workers available to be deployed. That is a reasonable cushion. Fema has gotten as low as just a couple of thousand, just to give you some context. Fema is in better shape than it has been. Nobody knows what is going to happen. Fema has the capacity to hire shortterm, temporary basis in localities. Fema has got a lot of resources he can call on. The question will be, how well let be able to do that . For tom frank joining us this conversation about femas role in the covid19 response. If you want to ask him questions, it is 202 7488000 for the central and east time zones. Andou live in the mountain pacific time zones you can call us at 202 7488001. You can also text is that 202 7488003. During hurricane season, we always hear about the issue of money and whether fema has enough money to do what they have to do during that time. What about the sources of funding in this case . Are those same concerns there . Guest no. Will the 2. 2 trillion Congress Just passed, that bill 45cates an additional billion for fema. What i mentioned at the beginning of the show, this Disaster Relief fund, which is basically the big pot of money from which fema pays expenses, that is now up over 90 billion, which is an extraordinary amount of money. The thing to understand about lows that, if fema runs low on Money Congress can pass another appropriations bill. Congress has done that repeatedly in the past few years, like after the 2017 hurricane season. The money issue is a bit of a red herring. If the fema funds runs low, then really all congress has to do is just appropriate more money. As congress has shown, with the 2. 2 trillion budget that it just enacted, it is not going to hold back. Money is going to be the least of femas concerns right now. Host talk about the relationship between fema and the army corps of engineers. What did they do and then how does fema complement that . Guest to put it simply, the corps works for fema. Fema has this authority. Fema acts on behalf of the president to assign any federal agency to do anything. The army corps plays a lead role in construction and building up facilities. So, just taking for example what happened in new york city with the Javits Center, that went through fema. Governor cuomo, mayor de blasio, they say, we think we can convert the Javits Center into a makeshift hospital. Fema says, Ok Army Corps of out. Eers, go check it the army corps since of people to check it out and then fema some ok, go hire contractors to do the work. That is how it works. The army corps is really a key player, the key player in building or getting built all of these shift hospitals and tickle centers that are being established all over the country. The head of the army corps was on tv saying that they had 620ived, i think it was requests from mayors and city officials around the country to check out convention centers, empty stadiums, abandoned warehouses or whatnot to see if they could be suitable for conversion into some sort of temporary medical facility. Some of those medical facilities are going to be used for treating patients with covid19 and some will be used specifically not for patients with covid19, but to handle what would be called the overflow so that the hospitals can handle the patients with covid19. Host again, tom frank joining us. In new york. Start to soft. Cass, good morning. Caller good morning. I have been listening to your comments this morning and i would like to point out that as a former fema employee currently there are not enough Disaster Assistance employees in the nation. There is only about 4000. At the peak of that staffing level they used to be about 12,000. I just want to remind everyone aat femas main goal is running agency. Resources tote respond to natural disasters and pandemics. Agency agencies that supply the assistance at this time our state department of health. I also want to remind everyone that there seems to be a little confusion about how disaster declarations are declared. Disasters are handled at the local level and once at the county level, those resources are overwhelmed. Those counties ask for a state declaration and the state supplies resources to those counties. Then once those state resources are overwhelmed, that is when they ask for a president ial declaration. Once estates are issued president ial disaster declarations, that is when federal funds and federal resources are applied to whatever disaster it is. Caller, you are putting a lot out there. Mr. Frank, you can respond to any of that as you wish. Guest it is a confusing, bureaucratic process. Is theant point caller is talking about president ial declarations. A president ial declaration is when the president declares, you know, such and such an area, a state, is a major disaster. Its means that a state is overwhelmed. A state doesnt have to actually get to the point that it has spent its last dollar. When Hurricane Harvey was headed toward texas or have Hurricane Maria was headed toward puerto rico, those governors did not wait until the hurricane had hit, they asked for the disaster declaration when they see the hurricane coming. The president , with the advice of fema usually will declare it. Nobody wants to wait until everything has gone haywire before the federal government gets involved. They want to do that as much before as possible. Host houston, texas. Thomas is next. Caller another thomas. Fema, are you serious . I am in houston. We are still waiting for harvey relief. Four for the toxic of the top executives of fema were fired for corruption. Listen people, i dont know what you are going to do. I went to a contractor. The guy signed off on the thing. Never got it. Still waiting on it. He was denied. You think fema is going to help you out . Lord help you. Be veryema can frustrating. One of the things fema does, it doesnt just write blank checks and send them to governors. It goes through an incredibly incredibly laborious process reviewing reconstruction sure that it complies with all sorts of federal standards. When they work is done, reviewing it to make sure everything has been done properly. Then it writes the check. It is reimbursement, not advance payment. T can take years just give you an idea hurricane katrina, ima is still writing checks to louisiana for reimbursing those payments. It is a long, frustrating process. Up,way the system is set those checks and balances built in. As far as individuals getting their own checks, or if your house got destroyed, that also can be a very frustrating process. Because there are rules that fema has the following about who is eligible, who can get it, who cant. If you have insurance, and you can get certain things, cant get other things. No one ever accused fema of being too simple an agency or a pushover. It is difficult and it is very frustrating. One of the goals fema has laid out in the past couple of years is simplification. Fema follows the rules that congress wrote. Really, fema administers the system it was given by the lawmakers. Fema can do certain things to make it more simple, but it has to follow the law. It is a federal agency handed inferred and enforces laws. Hello. Mr. Frank, im a little confused. Are you an employee of fema or are you a news writer . Guest i am a news writer. My question is, the president and the doctors made an announcement yesterday that they are going to stop the middleman trafficking of the masks and so forth. They are buying them up and selling them to foreign countries. Does fema guest have control over that . Guest no. Agency on acquisition behalf of the states. Fema is not involved in that. That gets into businesses and what they are selling. Role that femahe plays in the distribution from the federal stockpile . Guest fema decides who gets it. Fema consults with ecdc to figure out the cdc to figure out where the need is greatest and then does the distribution. Unusualin a very position because this is the first time in femas history fema started in 1979 that it has actually had to make these decisions. We are going to give x to new york, and y to washington. Usually when fema is dealing with a disaster, it is only a few states at a time. Had, it isane harvey only texas that is set so fema doesnt have to make these decisions. But that is the decision fema will have to make. They dont have to make it on their own. There will be in touch with the department of health and human services. Host does the white house have a role in that distribution decision . Guest sure. , inything that fema does is theory, on behalf of the white house, whether the white house will actually get involved in saying you can send this many masks to such and such a state, i dont know if they will. Fema is usually able to act on its own. Going are asking, is he to be political interference . That is always a possibility, but i think that Something Like this will be left to the professionals. Saying, oh,ple are this is all going to be political, but if you look at the states, for example, have gotten, where the army corps has gone to build these makeshift medical centers, the states that has got the state that has gotten the most is new york state. Which, of course, is a blue state. California got a Navy Hospital and new york got another Navy Hospital. People will certainly be watching. Theake sure that distribution of all resources is done where it is needed. Host who are the people at fema who have to make those choices directly . Guest the head of fema, the administrator, peter gaynor, is ultimately the one that will sign off on the decisions. He has got a lot of deputy administrators who specialize in these things. Ultimately it is the administrator who makes the decision. He is a political appointee. Host does the administrator depend heavily on the white house for those comp those consultations . Guest i dont know. The White House Coronavirus task force is involved. But the White House Coronavirus Task Force Includes people from the cdc as well as the white house. Who is actually going to sit down and make the final decision about who gets what. Host sharon is next. Sharon from beaverton, oregon. Caller thank you for taking my call. My concern is, the states are bidding at up against each other. It surprises me that the federal government has not taken more of , and overall picture. Even with logistics, because we know our military go into countries and set up entire systems of living in a short time. That is what concerns me is, i see the state bidding each other up. Right now the money doesnt mean inh, but all of that gouging the end when this is all over and our economy is rough, we will have gotten fewer supplies and it will have cost tax dollars greatly. Your comment on that please . Guest it is a good point. Governors have been saying that as well. You have heard Governor Cuomo saying he is getting into bidding wars. Fema,e extent, you know, peter gaynor has given that signal. States,aid publicly to if you can get these materials on your own, get them. Of course, states are going to do whatever they can to get what they can. Fema does not have enough ventilators right now. Stockpile has not been able to meet the demand. That is why you are getting to this situation where states are going out on their own. They cant get everything they need from the National Stockpile and that is leading to these adding wars. It is leading in some cases to price gouging. Price gouging happens all the time after disasters, whether you are talking about medical supplies for gasoline. Price suddenly doubled doubling overnight. That is something for the Justice Department to enforce. He wrote aat and, story about the defense production act. I know plenty of heard over the days, tell us about its use at this point in the coronavirus response. The defense production act is used. The president voted a week ago or so to enforce to force General Motors to start making ventilators. And, that is the main way it can be used. The other whether people dont understand as much is that, instead of ordering a company like General Motors to start producing something that it does not ordinarily produce, fema can go to a company and that is producing an item and say, you are already producing these things, we want the first batch next. In other words, what is at the front of the line. We dont care if you have lots of orders. That is a federal law. Fema does that all the time to get things. ,n the case of hurricanes tarps. They will go to the manufacturer and say you want the next 10,000 that you produce. If fema is going to be using it so much now, because the supplies that are needed arent really disaster supplies as much as they are medical supplies. From we will hear next atlanta, georgia. Caller yes. I agree with the person who commented about the fema issue. Because westronger dont have stronger laws on the books to keep these people from committing arson. In california and the tornado victims are not being concentrated on trying to get their lives back on ground. There house got torn down a big wind, but that is not the issue. Continue getting their lives back on track. If fema denies them that right, then the states get what they deserve. I am not a government person. I am a person who believes that man does not stand on its two feet just to stand on its two feet. We dont all have billions of dollars to get us out of the hospital or rebuild our houses. Guest you mentioned tornadoes. Of that is a good example one disaster not related to covid19 that fema is responding to. The tornado that swept through tennessee several weeks ago. Fema is there and fema is doing what it normally does in terms of helping communities rebuild their infrastructure, trying to get money to homeowners whose homes were destroyed. Tornadoes can be very devastating. They are not as big an issue in this country as hurricanes and flooding are. But fema definitely responds to tornadoes and they are on the ground in tennessee has we speak. From overland park, kansas. Caller this is rick. I just wanted to quickly make the comment, you mentioned you were a news writer. Actually, you are an author and a pundit. Guest no, stop. That is my namesake. There is another tom frank who is an author and a pundit and he also lives in washington, d. C. We are two completely different people. Caller i apologize. Guest thats ok, it happens all the time. Caller on fema, you mentioned that it was established in 1979 under jimmy carter. I just kind of wonder, really, if you know how much input he had into the structure of the was it up toally, someone under him . And why they made the decisions that fema become what you call a Procurement Agency rather than a more proactive one . Guest thats a really good question. I dont know. Itiously when it was created took an act of congress. So congress was involved as well as the administration. A far as this being to call proactive Agency Versus an Emergency Response agency, that is something that fema has struggled with and congress has struggled with over the years. There has been in recent years, an effort in the agency itself and congress and everywhere to make fema to make it do more to encourage states, and counties, and communities to try to prevent disaster damage. So, instead of writing checks after a communitys head with a disaster, to build in incentives so that communities will do things like move homes and buildings away from flood zones and not build in dangerous coastal areas. To try to be more of a Disaster Prevention Agency as opposed to a Disaster Response agency. You know, fema is both. The consensus early has been to try to make fema more and more of a Disaster Prevention Agency. A law was passed in late 2018 that does some of those things. Tot gives fema money distribute to states for disaster prevention. In other words, gives states money before a hurricane hits to try to lessen the damage that might happen in a hurricane. In lily, kentucky. Caller good morning. I just wanted to say, i suppose the country is about to face a very hard week. There are people in different areas that are going to face hard times. One quick scripture says that dry, wipe every tear from their eyes, there will be no more pain for the old order of things has passed away. I just wanted to say that to everybody on the front lines of this in the next couple of weeks. Another thing, these increasingly draconian measures that are being placed to help the nation mitigate the virus, we cant help but be uncomfortable with them because they do go against our american nature. Constitutionally speaking, we cant go to church at this point. That is a very strange thing to the american mind. There will bever, nefarious actors wishing to atcreate more looking inspiration to do us harm. Host lets go to dave and ohio. Caller top of the morning to you, pedro. Host thanks. Go ahead with our guest. Caller earlier in the program you talked about expediting orders that were on the books. Placed aources Research Grant with royal lowcostto develop ventilator systems. That was five years ago. In september of this year, the ventilator. Their to this day, which is seven months later, we have not received one into from them. The cost of the ventilator was going to be 3280 each. We placed an order for 10,000 ventilators. We have not received one in seven months. Now Jared Kushner is in negotiation with royal phillips to purchase more complicated , atilators, 43,000 of them a price on the going market at 17,154. In my estimation, our government is completely incompetent. Contacted royal phillips to expedite this order. A very good question. Where did you say you are calling from . Ohio. Are you guest are you with an agency . Caller no sir, i am just a concerned citizen. Guest i dont know if fema is involved with the vendor you are talking about. Host is mr. Christer involved . Mr. Kushner involved . Guest i dont know. Caller i am interested in Emergency Management that is a part of fema. Into what they do, their waste, fraud, and abuse . They always write the reports on tornadoes, flooding, but they are never there. They just get the information from the Highway Patrol or the local police department. The caller have you ever done a research on waste, fraud, and abuse of fema . Thank you very much. Guest thank you for the question. I have done that kind of reporting. Waste, fraud,e is and abuse. Inspector generals and the Governor Accountability Office have written those reports. I think the Biggest Issue for fema when it comes to i dont want to say fraud and abuse, but waste is the issue that fema spends a lot of time and a lot of money responding to what im disasters. Ll routine i note that is kind of an oxymoron. Law sets damage thresholds so low that fema ends , you know,people to big snowstorms in New Hampshire that because 3 million worth of damage. There are a lot of people, including those in fema who said that fema is wasting its time and wasting his money. Responding to, again, what i call teen disasters. And what fema really needs to do is just not deal with these routine disasters. Beate in new england should able to handle a major snowstorm and fema should be focusing on the catastrophe, you know, the Hurricane Marias, tornadoes in tennessee. The ones that caused tens of millions of dollars of damage. The ability of local governments to handle. I think that is the Biggest Issue with fema. The problem you get into his when fema says, we are not going to respond to this minor snowstorm or minor flooding, is that fema starts to get calls from members of congress who say, what are you doing . You have to help us. And congress in some ways is femas boss. Fema is under lots of pressure from people all around the country to help them and the law is written in a way that fema is required to help out in stuff that fema really shouldnt be having to bother with. Democrats want to see this Inspector General applied to the care zach. Cares act. Guest i think it is for other aspects of the spending. Fema is part of the department of homeland security. So, the money that fema gets goes into as i said, the Disaster Relief fund, which the. Nspector general oversees there is no need for additional oversight of the additional money fema is getting. It is not a new stream of money. It is just more money in the same old pot. Host we will go to doyle. Doyle is in chattanooga, tennessee. Caller hello. Conditions, who controls the National Guard . He said that congress controlled fema. Executive branch controls fema. Host we will leave it there because you have a lot of background interference. Guest the National Guard is controlled by states, by governors. Governors have the authority to call up the National Guard in their states. The issue that you are seeing happened now his that there is something called title 32, which is a provision of federal law which says which allows the federal government to pay for the deployments of the National Guard in certain states. So governors are asking the administration to pay for the National Guard when the governors call up the National Guard. I think the administration approved some of those requests. It is part of states asking for the federal government to papers much as they possibly can. , really, again it is unique about this is a lot of times when you have disasters and they are localized, a neighboring state will send its National Guard to help. Oklahoma National Guard might go to texas to help with Hurricane Harvey. That is not happening now because every state needs its own National Guard. This notion of mutual aid that is such a part of Disaster Response in this country, really just is not happening right now. Host from ohio, this is jane. Caller hi. I would like to comment on the fact that we do not have production in the United States that we should have. We are at the mercy of china for our supplies. War,u look at the civil one of the reasons that the is, wene over the south were industrialized, we made our own supplies, we did not have to count on anyone outside of our own country to get supplies to us. It is going to continue. Whenever i buy something it is made in the u. S. , you cant buy anything that is not made in china. Your point is right on. Youre are absolutely right that a lot of so many of the basic goods that are sold in this country are made in other countries. One side effect that this whole pandemic is having is it is making people understand that. Most of the time we dont have any problem. The u. S. Does not have any problem getting goods from overseas. Countries like china are only too happy to sell us. Now you are talking about items that are really scarce. Suddenly, other countries dont necessarily want to sell to us. Absolutely. The United States doesnt manufacture nearly what it used to. Seeing that. We are seeing the consequences of that right now. Is fema basically deployed to the most urgent cases right now . How far spread out are they as of right now . Guest fema is all over the country. I think they are in 30 some odd states. They are going to be more concentrated in some of the harder hit states. One thing to understand is, fema has 10 regions. Geographic regions. Fema already has a presence all over the country. It is not like everybody from fema works in washington and they have to send people to california. Fema has a region in california, they have a region in new york, they have a region in the south. Fema is activating all of its 10 regions. Those 10 regions are, in turn, doing some local hiring and calling up some of their reserve. A is, you know, i design this event is exactly why fema is structured the way it is. It needs to have a presence all over the country. It is everywhere right now. Oft tom frank, what level protection do fema workers have against catching the virus themselves . Guest that is a good question. There have been reports i think the last report i saw his seven fema workers have gotten covid19. I think that like a lot of frontline workers, whether they are in medical facilities or in police departments, they dont have as much protection as they need. Therefore horrible because part of what they are doing they are vulnerable because part of what they are doing is interacting with the public. Host this will be rachel. Caller good morning. I have been reading several news articles about the hurricane hit that trump was able to get 17 million for damages and there was only a few trees that was knocked down. How could he get that money . Guest i dont know if what you are saying is true. I havent heard anything about that. I dont know. Maralago is in palm beach. Definitely in an area that is going to get hit by hurricanes. I havent seen any credible reports. I dont know that what you are saying is true or not. Host in the long range, what are you looking at . What is the next story bring . What do you want people to look out for . Guest the big role is going to be to what extent is fema going to be able to meet the demand for critical supplies such as ventilators and protective masks . That is the big issue, because what you are going to start to see his more and more people getting sick, going to hospitals. The real risk is going to be not just those increased infections, but the infections of these people on the front line treating the patients who were going in sick. That is going to be the big issue. What can fema do to try to supply the states and the hospitals . Tom frank focuses on agencies like fema and the corps of engineers. E writes for e e news then for coming on the program. Guest great to be here, thank you for having me. Host we have talked a lot about governors and statewide levels of reaction to covid19. Closer, disaster declaration was declared in this state of illinois. It was approved by President Trump last week. It is the biggest city, chicago, that is being hit particularly hard. To show you how they are responding, mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the death of a Chicago Police officer. It is the first in that department. Lightfoot unfortunately, the severity of the virus became overwhelming and he passed away with his family by his side. Reminders yet another of the lethal danger of covid19. And the danger it poses to our city. The numbers that we hear everyday are more than just statistics. Our neighbors, our grandparents, children, colleagues, and friends. We need to be clear right clear eyed that what we have been saying, unfortunately, these numbers will worsen before they improve. That is why every single day you will hear me say that we have to stay home. To save lives. What each of us does, what you do, matters. Every time you go outside, it matters. Every time you violate the orders against congregating in large groups, it matters. You are not only putting yourself at risk, but you are putting others at risk. I implore those small segment of you who still have not gotten the message, that you must stay home. The more chicagoans stay in, the more this crisis will end. More lives will be bad be spared. To be all in this together. We will only get through it by working together. Officer was an example of what our First Responders are our workers are doing every day to serve our city and keep it running and keeping us safe. Life andets honor his his service by doing your part to stay home and save lives. [no audio] joining us for the continuing discussion on the impact in illinois, it is representative danny davis. He is a democrat from illinois, serves the seven seventh district which include chicago. Thank you for joining us. Guest thank you very much. Host we have just shown a little bit of layer mayor aretfoot, what what else you seeing in the city of chicago . Guest let me say that mayor lightfoot has been tremendous in terms of the leadership she has provided. And i tough, nononsense, think that is one of the reasons that chicago seemingly is doing as well as it is. We have had a leadership from our governor. All around, even the county government, which is actively involved in the area were i am and where i live so chicago has done fairly well. Like everybody else, we are on serious alert and we are following to the extent that we can, the protocols that have been laid out. That is social distancing, people are being encouraged to stay at home, medical personnel are coming in out of retirement, got a large assortment of hospitals that actually 24 hospitals in my Congressional District alone. We have been able to keep up and come up to some degree, stay ahead of the curve. We are actually ready and prepared. Thatour Field Hospital will be ready for people as needed. You know, we are surviving. We are not thriving, but we are surviving and we are in better shape right now than many other places throughout the country. With the mayor talking about the death of that police officer, what are your concerns about the police force overall, First Responders and the like . Done, and police have all of our First Responders have done an outstanding job. The police officer, quite asnkly, i am indeed aware of a part of the community that i know. All of them, people who put themselves on the front lines, the nurses, the firefighters, the police officers, individuals areiding essential services doing outstanding work. We combine all of this together and i cant overemphasize the leadership that the mayor has provided in chicago. In and she is a trooper of herself. I think her leadership has to come together and recognize, if we Work Together and follow the recommendations, follow what the experts are telling us im a that we can overcome this, again ride it out, and we will be ok. Host what is your sense of the citys medical community, particularly with concerns over its in other areas of the country such as ventilators, masks, and protective equipment . Done our government has an outstanding job of trying to make sure that we have quit meant and also we are proud of what has been happening in terms of the work that has been done down at the university of illinois to come up with equipment that will help us meet the needs. We are not out of the water, in terms of equipment need. We are like everybody else, trying to make sure that things are available. The governor has provided the lead on this and he has been doing quite well. Host representative, we saw today from job numbers for march, 700,000 plus people using their jobs. How does that play out in chicago do you think . Guest that is serious in chicago. It is serious across the country. That is why we are hoping that we can get a handle on the spread so that we can stop the spread of the virus, so that people can get to work get back to work. I think the stimulus package we put together is very helpful, because part of it is seriously ,esigned to keep people at work to keep their paychecks coming, and keep the economy flowing. That is the only way we are going to be able to produce the level of unemployment that exists. We have got to get this fire is contained so that people can get back to work and the economy can get back in check. Host republicans have made the argument that current discussions among House Democrats for another stimulus bill, that maybe they should hold off passing bills until you have seen what is best so far. Where do you fall on that argument . Guest i dont think they understand what helps the economy to grow. The only way that the economy comes back is that resources,. Oney continues to flow exchange hands. If people cant work, if we keep produce, if we cant the backandforth flow of money, there is no way that the economy gets back on track. Taking iseir antiquated, outmoded, outdated, and not what is going to help the economy. Host if there is another stimulus package, what would you personally advocate for . Guest we have got to make sure that our Health Facilities are able to survive and thrive. We have got to make sure that Small Businesses get as much help as they need. Business, to not have to close their doors and never open again. And we have got to make sure that individuals, that the resources get to individual put it not necessarily all in the hands of big corporations and those who would use it for other purposes. If we get it in the hands of the people, they are going to spend it and put it right back into the economy. That is what is going to help us overcome the economic crisis we are in. Host the discussion has been now for a type of new oversight over this spending. Make the case that such a program is needed. Guest i think we understand that if we dont provide the oversight, then we dont have a way of making sure that the resources it to where they are designed to go. We want to make sure that this money, when you get right down to the bottom line, gets in the hands of people who are going to spend it, theyre going to put it right back into the environment, they going to put it right back into Grocery Stores, and the barbershops, the beauty shops. They are going to take it to the automobile repair people. So, oversight is going to help us to ensure and there is some precedent for this, it is not something new. The oversight is simply to make sure that the money gets to where it is designed to go. What is it like not being able to come back to capitol hill as far as conducting the business of congress . How are you and your colleagues working together in this time to make sure things continue to get done . Great,technology is so and some days we are working together all day long, every day. We have conference calls. We have calls where almost every member of the caucus, the democratic caucus, is on the phone. 220 people, 215. On. Work is Going Technology has been good to us, good for us. We are making great use of it. Our leadership understands as well. We are working every day. All along. Host representative danny davis, he served the seven district of illinois. Served the seventh district of illinois. Thanks for your time this morning. Guest thank you so much and we are so delighted to be with you. We are going to like this, we are going to do it. Optimism is the key. We are going to work to make it happen. Host thank you again, sir. That is it for our program. We have a Primetime Program at 8 00 tonight. Ted mitchell joining us for a discussion on how education is being affected. The house is out, as you heard presented of davis said, yet they are meeting for socalled pro forma sessions, which