Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 05082020 20240713

Coronavirus pandemic with dr. Kristin englund from the Cleveland Clinic and later, author Rick Atkinson joins us to iscuss the 75th anniversary of ve day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] host u. S. Workers continue to lose their jobs and file for Unemployment Benefits at a record rate. And in todays report on the overall jobs number for the month of april could be the worst since the great depression. It is friday, may 8, 2020. Good morning and welcome to washington journal. Well spend this first hour asking you how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted your job. Heres how to joins us. For those of you in the east and central time zones, 2027488000. In the mountain pacific time zones, thats 2027488001. You can also send us a text. That line, 2027488003. Include your name, where youre texting from. On twitter, were at twitter. Com cspanwj. And your posts at facebook. Com cspan. Like to hear how its affecting you. Are you laid off . Are you on furlough or part time . Are you an essential worker . Ed love to hear from you. The jobs numbers coming out in april at 8 30. This is from the Associated Press this morning. Their headline. A devastating report for april will show virus impact riding the u. S. Government on friday is poised to report the worst jobs set since 1948. A snapshot of the damage the coronavirus outbreak has inflicted on the economy. The Unemployment Rate for april could reach 16 or more. According to economies surveyed thats from the Associated Press. Three million more filed jobless claims. The u. S. Braces for what is to be expected friday to be the worst employment on record. U. S. Workers have filed nearly 33. 5 million applications for Unemployment Benefits in the seven weeks since the closures were put in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic, showing a wave of layoffs that is likely to push april job losses to record levels. Workers filed 3. 2 million job lest claims last week on thursday. It was the fewest since the week ending march 14 before the pandemic caused claims to spike but 15 times early march readings. Recent leadoffs are expected to thats from the wall street journal. 2027488000 the line for the eastern and central time zones. 2027488001, mountain and pacific. And there may be further federal aid ahead. Legislation being developed by the democrats on the house side and the house coming in today 10 00 for a pro forma session. Nancy pelosi with new coronavirus package. The speaker is in negotiations with the white house on the next aid bill. In her News Conference shembs asked if shes concerned about the mounting budget deficit these packages are causing. Speaker pelosi cll were talking about a stimulus to our economy at a time when premium crippled th concern about their physical wellbeing as well as their economic wellbeing. When we talk about food stamp, direct payments and unemployment , stay stimulate the economy. Their purpose is to meet the needs of people but they are a stimulus to the economy. And far better to spend our moneys that way when the republicans had no hesitation whatsoever in the dark of night in the speed of light pass a bill that takes almost 2 trillion in debt in order to give 83 of the benefits to the top 1 . So when we look at the needs at our people have, that top 1 , bless them all, we dont their success but their achievements, but there is no upside for our economy unless its Consumer Confidence and unless people understand that the wellbeing of our working people in our family is what keeps our economy strong so much yes, im concerned about the National Debt but i think its it would be penny foolish to say im sorry, we cant do snap to give you today because theres a National Department we just did 2 trillion for the wealthiest people in our country but we cant feed one in four children in our country because of the National Debt. So i think that i think that the secretary the chairman of the fed, chairman powell had said it again and again, publicly said it to me. Think big. Think big. The Interest Rates are very, very low. Think big. And thats what were doing. Host steve in charleston, South Carolina, first up. Caller good morning, bill. Hope you and your family are doing well. Host thank you. Caller well, first, i am retired but i do have a job. And i work for a company that staffs sporting events and concerts and that kind of thing. We have a 12,000seat venue in the North Charlton colosseum and when this thing first hit were in the concert season is basically what were in. And all those have been canceled and i he has no source of income. Im not getting any income. The earliest reschedule ive seen is for october. Thats just devastating to him. On the other hand, im not sure i want to get down in the middle of 12,000 screaming bus fans too. Its a mess. Were in the biggest mess ive ever seen in my life. Youre darned if you do, darned if you dont. You certainly dont want to kickstart the second wave of this thing. So its just the biggest darn mess ive seen in my life. Weve got this evil viral pyramid scheme going on. Host so steve, the venue you work for, you said october was the earliest that they thought they would reopen for concerts . Caller so far, thats what ive seen. It may change. But i havent seen anything in my email yet. You know, the that we have at professional tennis matches and sports vens use at baseball. Its all over the country, obviously. Host and the artists are reluctant to tour as well, right . Caller im sure. D i understand but think of all the other logistics involved the Truck Drivers that bring the roadies that are on the road and the Food Beverage industry. Its just awful. All the spinoffs are hurting too. Host great to hear your story this morning, matt. Lets go to matt in vista, california. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host tell us your story, matt. Whats going on with you and your line of work. Caller shipyard in southern california, which are there a few. We still havent been impacted by this. Ry few of my friends are affected by it at all. Host so in the shipyards, theres still ships coming in, still trucks coming in . Caller naval ship repair, actually. Host i see. Ok. So its essential work that it s, military navyrelated work . Caller i believe so. Matt from ght, california. 2027488001. Eastern and central, 2027488000. A couple of comments on facebook. This one from john who says this. Im a essential worker dodging the virus every day. Do your part. Wear a mask, he says. Russell says my entire industry is shut down. Doesnt indicate what that is. And this from john who says that history, 75 years ago today at 11 59 p. M. , the war in europe ended. Americans built the arsenal for event, sent our grandfathers and grandmothers to war. We were united in defending freedom, defeating up brutal enemy in saving the world to be made better. God bless with us the greatest generation. We then faced new challenges with the knowledge of our power in this unity. We overcame them. Now we face a new enemy. A virus as ruthless as any. We must unite, support our efforts and defeat it and with all the skills that we have, do your part. John, referring to 75 years ago today. It is ve day, victory in europe day. And i want to let you me a that we will be joined this morning by historian and author Rick Atkinson this morning at 9 00 eastern and our partners with American History tv. Rick atkinson the author of the american trilogy the guns at last night about the final year of the war, 9 00 eastern. Welcome your calls and comments as we welcome Rick Atkinson this morning. Back to your calls. This is william in maryland. Good morning. Caller hello. Hello. Host good morning, william. Youre on the air. Caller yeah circus produce an event in maryland and one a nonprofit called juice box jams. And its our fifth year. And at this point, were looking like we have to cancel it in july. Weve reached out the Governors Office multiple times to figure out what phase we need to be in and at this point, our only option to do an event is one of these driving events which is kind of weird keeping everybody in their car, driving in the Anne Arundel County fairgrounds and letting them do a drivethru festival. So for them, im sure were done for this year looking to move on to next year. Host do you think typically, how many people would you draw to an event like that . Caller its about 4,000, 2,000 to 4,000 people. Its a nonprofit. We let in military veterans, sponds, wives, significant others, children, all free. Last year, we did close to 1,500 people free 1,500 people. So for us, its really hard because we relied on donations and input from the community. Liquor sponsors and all that money is gone. For an event like ours, we make zero dollars we lose money every year to support our community and were not getting any feedback from the local government on what our options are. I wanted to move forward with the governor by just getting an approval to do a drivein event. And as a nonprofit, we dont want to do something that is with strict approval. Went to do something and have everybody look forward to. Host marylands governor came out with some new guidelines yesterday for outdoors events and yours was not covered in that . Caller no. Live events like that with that number of people are just not covered. We can go the beach. We can go to private beaches. We can golf and stuff like that. But, you know, and i wouldnt feel comfortable producing my event with 4,000 people either. I would much rather do something and theres plenty of space there. The idea is to have hourlong events. So you buy that 1 00 p. M. Ticket, you come in and you pull through all the vendors, you order some food, you park at the end and you watch a concert and you leave. Per hour. Tickets and you can drive by the vendors and hop out and everythings cleaned after you. And really, theres no money to be made here. Its really to help a community, shed some light, give some hope. Were all moving forward. Host well, thanks for calling in. Hope youre able to pull it off in some fashion. Pettersson foundation with their survey nearly, seven in 10 americans say their incomes have take an hit from the pandemic. We go to winter haven, florida, next and hear from brian. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing . Host doing fine. Thank you. Caller yeah. I work for a grocery districts center and were actually nationwide. And weve experienced layoffs and they offer furloughs to employees that want to take time off and they can actually use time out of their vacation or they can go on furlough without being paid. But weve actually since florida has been opening up or reopening over time now, weve actually our business has picked back up. Kd so we did experience an impact at first and it wasnt too, too bad but like i said, now were just picking up. Looks like things may be getting back close to normal here soon. Host ok, brian, in florida. Other story were following this morning the front page of the Washington Times on the Michael Flynn case on the khris davis against flynn dropped is their headline the Justice Department on thursday dropped its khris davis against President Trumps First National security advisor Michael Flynn. A shocking reversal in one of the most highprofile cases brought by special Council Robert mueller. He plead guilty to lying the f. B. I. About his conversations with the russian ambassadors to the u. S. He was the first of the president s inner circle to admit guilt and agreed to cooperate with mr. Muellers search for russian collusion although last summer when he began a crusade to withdraw his guilty plea. Documents last week raised questions about the case against him. Among the revelations were showing the f. B. I. Showing there as no wrongdoing host there are several lead Opinion Pieces from that. And we will read first from the New York Times. This is their opinion piece from the Michael Flynn case. They said to review, mr. Barr is saying he cannot prove bars to which mr. Flynn has pleaded twice to guilty in new york. And for which there is ample evidence. For legitimacy and materiality, the f. B. I. Was on a host thats in the New York Times view. This is the wall street journals view. On the Michael Flynn case. And their headline is title. Titled the vindication of Michael Flynn. The document filed on thursday vindicate the generals reversal. The f. B. I. s interview as mr. Flynn was untethered and unjustified by the f. B. I. s county intelligence investigation to mr. Flynn. And at the interview was not conducted with legitimate investigative basis on the wall street journal where is we recommend the filing for readers who think this couldnt happen n america host the opinion of the wall street journal. Heres what President Trump had to say yesterday in the oval office during a meeting with Texas Governor greg abbott. President trump he was an innocent man. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama Administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president and what theyve done is a disgrace and i hope a big price is going to be paid. A big price should be paid. Theres never been anything like this in the history of our country. What they did, what the Obama Administration did is unprecedented. Its never happened. Never happened. A thing like this has never happened before. In the history of our country. And i hope a lot of people are going going pay a big price because theyre dishonest, crooked people and theyre scum. I say it a lot. This should have never happened in this country. A duly elected president and they went after him by going after fine people. And those fine people said no, im not going to lie. I cant lie. And hes not the on one. There are many of them. And they all said i cant lie. They could have said Something Like oh, make up a lie. Trump loves somebody or something or some country. And they said no, you wouldnt have any problem. Thats what they were trying to do. And its a disgrace. The Obama Administration Justice Department was a disgrace. And they got caught. They got caught. Very dishonest people. But much more than this, treason. Its treason. So im very happy for general flynn. He was a great warrior and he still is a great warrior. Now in my book, hes an even greater warrior. What happened to him should never happen to him again and what happened through this presidency to go through a more than that and its Pretty Amazing when you think of it with what weve done with regulations and tax cuts and second amendments and all the things weve done. Its never happened and until two months ago, we had the greatest economy in the history. Unfortunately, like you did in texas, we to close it down. But for these people to have done that, i am very proud of general flynn, i can tell you that right now. Who would you like to see pay a price for this . President trump oh the people should pay a big price for what at the done for this country. They should pay a big price. And their partner, very complicit is a thing called the media. The medias totally guilty. And all of those writers and socalled journalists. Theyre not journalists. Theyre thieves. All of the journalists that received a Pulitzer Prize should be forced to give those Pulitzer Prizes back. Host President Trump yesterday in the oval office and just tweeting this morning about the flynn case saying yesterday was a big day for justice in the u. S. A. Congratulations to general flynn and many others. I do believe there is much more to come. Dirty cops and crooked politicians do not go well together. Back to our calls and comments about your job situation ahead of todays release of the unemployment numbers for april. A look at the chart in u. S. A. Today. Over the past seven weeks, 33 million file for unemployment. The past week, 3. 2 million. And the Unemployment Rate expected to go as high as perhaps 16 today by some reports. We go to calls and hear from dylan in sturgis, south dakota. Dylan, go ahead. Caller good morning, everybody. Work at a campground here during the bike rally. Host yeah. Caller and i dont think were going to have that bike rally. I truly hope we dont. Ive been off for about two months. And i just been isolating. But when i go downtown, i see a lot of cars from florida, washington. It kind of makes you nervous. Host well, dylan, the governor did not shut down the state entirely. Why do you think the sturgis festival and that happens in july or august, correct . Caller first week of august. Host ok. Yeah. Caller but this years going to be the 80th, its supposed to be the 80th. And they were expecting over 200,000. Host do you think bikers will be reluctant to come . Is that what youre saying . Caller well, the city says theyll come anyway some why even bother with they say that they cant put a fence around sturgis. So i dont know. But over on the west side of the state excuse me, on the east side of the state is where were having a lot of problems, you know. Ere out here by fort meade. I am a disabled veteran from vietnam and ive got a lot of other issues for me to stuff. Host stay there in south dakota. Next caller. Caller good morning. I have a Small Business and i ad to close it for this virus. The reason is i dont know how long its going to take before we get tested out here. And i believe that if we dont get tested, were just spinning ur wheels, you know . It seems that the president of this United States thinks that hes infallible from this virus because every time gets involved with people that have the virus, he doesnt seem to get infected with it. Not quite sure why. And i hope that whatever hes got to protect himself with, we all can get someday. Host whats the status whats the statewide status there particularly on key largo . Caller well right now, nobodys testing anybody. Even my v. A. Is closed. I cant even go to my v. A. , my clinic, and get my own test. Usually every year, i get a blood test and a urine test. Host what are they telling you on the phone . Why are they closed . Can you speak to a from . Caller i cant speak to no one. Unless i go up to miami and i dont know if i can get in there or not. I never tried i havent tried yet. Host why did they close the largo facility . Caller were in a situation right now that well, we got to wait six months before we change this administration and get a real president in. So i dont think were going to be doing anything until joe biden gets into the white house salvation a our for the world. Not only the country, but for the world. Host ask you this morning about your employment situation. How has the pandemic impacted your employment . Are you unemployed . Furloughed . Worker . Heres mike in sun city, california. Good morning. Caller yeah, im a professional sales manager. I got furloughed for about six weeks, as far as that goes. And i think the economys going to come back quite strong to be honest with you. I think that President Trump is excellent at the job. I think regardless of where you fall on the political continuum, if youre left, theres no arguing that. Is confidence is through the roof. The real problem is and its really sad is this virus has been politicized by the left and they obviously control the media , serving as a as the offense on the left and the defense serves and its sad. A lot of americans stay at home. I think theyve tuned into the politics more. And i think theyre going to see it more from the bottom up instead from the top down. And not to mention i think and i predict the 2016 election, by the way. I think something else. A lot of the people that didnt vote for President Trump in 2016 because theyre unsure that hes going to come out in force. Host quick question about it. You say youre a sales manager. What is the industry that you are involved . If you can tell us about that and how is that industry doing. Caller hazard waste. It is pretty economic. So, i mean, economically and that sense, we have a steady stream. But the real problem with the country is the elite level media. Publish is not the problem. President bush is not the problem. The elite media is. Host the shooting in georgia, fatherson charged with murder in brunswick area shooting. A brunswick father and son were charged with murder and aggravated assault thursday night in the shooting death of 20yearold man. They were arrested one day after the Georgia Bureau of investigations Kingsland Branch opened its investigation into the shooting. A video showing aubreys death posted online Tuesday Morning i want to take a time to talk about the death of ahmaud arbery. I watched i can tell you that it is absolutely horrific and georgians deserve answers. I have full confidence in Vick Reynolds and the Georgia Bureau of investigations and i know they will be working around the clock to thoroughly and independently investigate mr. Arberys death to find the truth. In these moment, i will ask that you continue to pray for his loved ones, the local community, as well as our state. Host your comments and calls on how the pandemic has impacted your job on the east coast, in the central time zone. That number, 2027488000. Mountain and pacific, 2027488001. Newsweek headline this morning. U. S. Job losses due to coronavirus likely to set country back two decades. The jobless figures come out one hour from now. Those numbers for the month of april. James is next in brooklyn, new york. Good morning. Caller how are you doing, sir . Host fine, thank you. Go ahead. Caller so im an essential worker for the state of new york fair far, weve seen our share of support. I work for the State University of new york. So basically what we do is we secure the campus building. Our hours and our responsibilities really havent changed since the beginning and fortunately in the near future, the end of this virus. Host how are they ensuring first of all, you are working more than you have before . Caller were working about the same amount of time. Order onnors executive may 14. We are hoping to go to regular schedule. Host what is your job and are other people you work with in the same sort of situation . Are they working more . Are they furloughed . Caller no. Departmentlic safety for the city and university of new york where we so basically, we work the same schedule. We have the same days off. So were a fairly balanced department. Host appreciate you calling in, james. James calling from brooklyn in the city this morning. New york times this morning, about the beginnings of the disease and their headline. Travel from cities seated spread nationwide. New york citys coronavirus outbreak grew so large by early march that the city became the primary source of new infections in the United States, new Research Reveals as thousands of infected people travel from the city and the Research Indicates that a wave of infections swept from new york city through much of the country before the city began setting social distancing limits to stop the growth. Host they compare the genetics sample on the state of washington and those related to new york city. And you can see, its pretty graphic in terms of where those genetic samples came from. The majority of this whether its from the west coast, other western states the midwest or the south, the majority of that track back to new york city. According to a research from yale and reported this morning in the New York Times. And wisconsin, we hear from john. John, tell us your situation. Caller my work situation is kind of different from everyone else. I really planned early in life on retiring. In fact, i bought a private retirement for myself, plus my Company Provided me with one. As far as employments concerned, im pretty well well off. I wanted to mention something about this guy that got killed in georgia. Thats the worst thing i ever heard. And it happens all the time. Are these guys going to get the Death Penalty for that . I think they got the Death Penalty in georgia. They should. Host ok, john from wisconsin, focusing on jobs this morning. How its affecting your work. 2027488000. The eastern and central time zones on that line is paula from florida. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am a hairstylist and right now, were a little bit still on hold as far as working. I have been trying since the 21st of when i was last day of work to get my unemployment with our faulty system, which theyve been trying to fix, have not been able to get it yet. I can only get a paper that i sent in to them and a paper copy. So when i didnt hear from that, my status, ive since gone on many times. I am going to try again today, hopefully, that ill be able to do that because im a commission worker. So hopefully, this situation will get better soon. Host so the state has not given clear guidance on your business . Caller yes. Were not starting yet because were in phase one. Host when so you dont know when phase two or when that might happen . Caller correct. We do not know yet. Host paula, good luck. Also in florida is frank in jacksonville. Tell us your situation. Caller hello. Can you hear me . Host yes, frank. Go ahead. Caller well, im retired and live on a pension and social security. So im not that much impacted. But my relatives are. My niece and my son and daughter are trying to get their unemployment. And as you know, the system here just sign on electronically has totally broken down. So, thats my concern about the pandemic and how it will affect their jobs. So im trying to support them somewhat with the small pension that i have. Host comment from donna on facebook who says this those who have their checks and benefits intact, especially those who are getting paid, consider Small Businesses and entrepreneurs Collateral Damage so they can feel safe. Its devastating. Back to capitol hill on the senates side. Senator schumer calls for leave in next bill. Senate minority leader said the democrats wont unveil a bold Coronavirus Relief package that he compares to the new deal. Mr. Schumer said that he and House Speaker nancy pelosi are still working on the package but should be ready to roll it out shortly. Also in capitol hill, the republican leader in the house, Kevin Mccarthy holding a news briefing yesterday and announcing the appointment of the members to the g. O. P. Task force on china. We can not wait any longer. The stakes are too high to sit idly by, which is why today im announce the republicanled china force. And i invite the democrats to join with us. There was one moment in time they said yes. A few months ago, they said no. I would say theres no more important time now to join with us together, to work as one nation as we face these challenges. This group will be led by Michael Mccaw and it will include liz chaney and anthony gonzalez. Darren la hood and mike gal her. Andy barr, john joy, jim banks, Michael Wallace and chris stewart. It will be a microcosm of our entire conference taking more than 10 committees of jurisdiction and others. They will be looking at a wide range of chinarelate issues including unless operations targeting the u. S. Economic threats to our government and our allies. Efforts to gain the technologyly advantage and roll in the origin and spread of coronavirus. The work will lead a comprehensive report due by october. Host and capitol hill, u. S. A. Today, trump to restrict worker visas for now. Four republican senators asked donald trump to suspend issuance of guest worker visas until employment has returned to normal levels because of the coronavirus pandemics impact on the economy. Argued in a letter dated may 7 first reported by politico that the visa suspension would be critical to protecting American Workers as our economy gets back on its feet. The impact of the pandemic on your employment. Lets hear from lane, next, stillwater, oklahoma. Good morning. Caller yes, sir. Yes. We got this guards ban thats the size of a small trailer in this Mobile Home Park thats sit in front of our trademark at the entrance and its just filling up and growing and growing and growing. So i dont know whats going on. Anybody going to work . Host davids in georgia, next up. Hi, there. Caller how are you doing this morning . I want to make a complaint. I thought that was very disingenuous to hang up on that guy when he made a little comment about the shooting down in brunswick and in georgia. You said it was off topic but you brought up the whole situation with that and the way yall screen these calls up, youre going to be hateful up there just like youre showing up there. Seem like yall dont care except certain things over the internet. You need to regroup and get some better people up there that act like they care about somebody you act like you dont careanothing. I dont know what it is about you. I dont even ouachita watch the show. Yall need to get some new talent up there. That there are a lot better than what yall got right now. I appreciate that. Host ok, david, in georgia. A reminder too, we offer the program in prime time. Washington journal prime time, focusing on the coronavirus pandemic tonight, coming up washington journal prime time at 8 00. We will be join by House Speaker nancy pelosi on perhaps some of the next steps that lawmakers are going to take. Also joining us is economist michael boss kinks the former chair under on the economic affect and the impact of the andemic. Claw dell is next in van nuys. Ood morning. Caller i want to talk about the kill the disease. Host say again. I didnt catch that, claudell. Go ahead. Caller as far as what theyre trying to use to cure the disease, to make some kind of cure for it . Host yes . Caller and i think theyre using it its a high level of zinc and iron supplement daily with abs. I believe it would antibiotics to kill that disease. Host the next hour, we will talk about the treatment of the vaccine as well. Goes to robert from new york. Youre next. Caller how are you doing . Calling out from new york city. I work for the new york city transit. St so, how busy or not busy are you guys these days . Caller it depends on where you live. If you live in the more affluent rich neighborhood, then they pretty much have the choice to stay home and quarantine. If you live in a poor or working class neighborhood, the riders are a lot more. And we working with less service. So the buses are more crowded. And one of to the causes why its spreading so much around the city. Host youre calling us from jamaica queens in the city. Where is your job in the city or are you an operator, a driver and all over the city . Caller im an operator driver. I work at queens, new york. Host so you dont have to travel that far to get to your work . Caller no. I dont have to travel that far, but the recommendation of what theyre saying is 10 or 30 people on the bus but the times that im traveling, its packed because black people dont have the chance to take off from work. Were the essential workers as theyre safe. When im going into work, the transportation im taking i take the bus too, and its packed. Were all together. And they have not increased the service. Were not running a regular small schedule. Were running a sunday schedule some you dont have the choice. Host they gave you the guidance that it should be 10 to 30 people on a bus. Of a regular new york city bus, what should the Maximum Capacity be . Caller well, youre talking on a regular also remember the front of the bus is blocked up to protect the driver. So pretty much i guess on a regular bus, it probably would be 40 something seated and maybe 20, 30 standing. So now were dealing with half the bus now and you have all these people packed in them in the back all close together when were all supposed to be separated by six feet and its not happening and its not working. Its not working. Host and i assume as an operator, its tough for you to say to people that you cant get on the bus were full or do you just drive by stop . When youre full, you can stop anymore. Caller oh, yeah, theres a lot of people you see a lot of people working, they have to walk to where theyre going. Its been plenty of times that theyve just given up and just had to walk to work, myself. Host appreciate you calling in. Yeah, go ahead finish up. Caller yes. Safetywise, you just dont want to get on the bus. So the m. T. A. Should have jumped on this a whole lot longer. I just had a coworker that passed away, michael, from queens. And the m. T. A. Should have supported us at the beginning from all of this. You had some people that were getting threatened with writeups and discipline for Wearing Masks and i think out of everybody talks about essential workers, they talk about the police, they talk about the firefighters, they talk about the Health Care Workers, over 100 m. T. A. Workers have died in the city of new york from this virus and we are hardly mentioned. And i personally think that that has to do with the majority of our employers is black and hispanic. Host and robert, one final thing. How long have you worked for the new york city m. T. A. . Caller over 13 years. Host we really appreciate you calling in this morning. Stay safe. Well hear next from david in gaithersburg, maryland. Go ahead. Caller yeah. Im still working. We are i do airconditioning. Were a little bit slower, but people still need their heat and their is ay. I love traffic. I hope when all of this thing is over, i hope that people can stay home still do if they can stay home. Weve been packing lunches and cooking food at home and getting haircuts in the house since before all this begin. So other than that, were really doing ok. Host so you are an essential worker in heating and airconditioning when its that season where people have their systems checked for airconditioning. Do you have any hesitations going into some folks house . Caller i do also sales and estimates. And there have been at least a half a dozen or so where weve just been doing virtual estimates for people and actually, its been working out pretty well. People understand and theyre more than helpful with taking pictures and video calls. Yeah. Caller and we work outside a lot. And were wiping down the thermostats when we touch them or using gloves and masks. People understand and were just doing what we can to try to keep everyone safe. Host could you see this changing the way you do business . Youre talking about these virtual estimates . Caller oh, yeah. In general with the estimates and stuff, i think that could potentially take on. But there is something with actually putting your eyes on it in person. But other thing is we do a lot of these Company Meetings and stuff. And now weve switched to all online. And it does make sense that just in general. I think people are going to want to stay away from each other a lot more after this is over. Host thanks for your call. Thomas is next in lincoln park, michigan. Caller yes, hello. How are you today . Host fine, thanks. Caller thanks for taking my call. Hey, im a skill trades. I have never really been laved before and im actually kind of enjoy this because ive never had such a long break. Host what do you do to fill up the time . Caller i do a lot of i jump on my computer a bit and run around and go down to the kids house and do some fishing. Overall, i feel like im semiretired here. I guess im one of the lucky wuvens i am getting my unemployment. I havent gotten my stimulus check yet. But everythings fallen in line, actually. Im getting emails every day for jobs theyre looking for skill trades out there. Host and how soon do you think you will be back on the job . Caller ill be back on they said the 18th but the governor moved it up to the 28th some ill be back on the 28th if were open. But yeah, its all there. The work is there. Were just waiting to go back. Host thats thomas from michigan the Senate Returns to work this week not only on the floor and in the hearings and one of the hearings we covered yesterday. The Labor Committee the health and heard from dr. Francis collins and heard from the ranking democrat on that committee criticizing the Trump Administrations approach to the handling of covid19 testing. We have to remember that the fight against this virus is reality. It is not reality television. It has to be led by scientists and it has to prioritize Public Health, not profits, not politics. And now innovation plays an Important Role in the development of vaccine and treatments and tests, there is no skills or goods we already innovated faster tests at Home Collection tests and point of care tests and critically, there is much more in the pipeline. The problem is not lack of innovation. It is lack of National Leadership and a plan from this white house. You can innovate the fastest car in the world. It still wont get you going with a good driver and good direction. And when it comes to testing, this administration has had no map and no one at the wheel. There is a reason, they say, failing to plan is planning to fail. And this absolutely applies here because the fastest and most invasive innovative test is not used if we dont have a supply chain with capacity to manufacture all the tests and supplies that we need and if we dont have the workforce and lab capacity to actually use those tests and supplies. And even if we had enough tests and supplies and labs and workers, they cant have the necessary impact if they arent distributed widely across the country, if they dont reach essential workers and underserved communities and tribes, people with disabilities, communities of colors and high risk populations. If tests dont become available to asymptomatic people or enforce current law that require free testing for everyone. And even addressing these issues wont be enough without plan to use testing results as effectively as possible to fight coronavirus like rapidly recruiting, training and sustaining the workforce we need for Public Health efforts like Contact Tracing and quarantine and isolation. And using data to surveil and track this disease within our community while protecting privacy. Host and on testing, President Trump now says that the white house staff including himself and Vice President pence will be tested daily, not weekly because of this. He story trump valet tested rapidly coronavirus testing for those around President Trump and took other emergency measures thursday after a staffer whose job potentially put him in close daily dwheakt president had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The exposure marks the president s closest known contact with an infected person since the early days of the u. S. Response to the pandemic and raises the possibility of the virus spreading in the west wing. The president commented on that report yesterday at the white house. Reporter how is it possible that someone who tested positive for covid19 got so close to you . President trump well i think probably that has to do with the fact that we all believe the tests. We have the best test in the world. But they were tested, i believe, theyre tested on a weekly basis. I just had a test as you probably heard. I had one yesterday and i had one today. And its negative. Mike just had a test. And its negative. But they do the tests and it just shows you that the fallacy its what ive been saying. Testing is not a perfect art no matter what you go. Testing is not a perfect art. So we test once a week. Now were going to go testing once a day. But even when you test once a day, something happens where they catch something, but we ive had very little contact, personal contact with this gentleman. Know who he is. Good person. But ive had very little contact. Mike has very little contact with him. But mike was tested and i was tested. We were both tested. Yeah, its a little bit strange but its one of those things. As i said, i said yesterday, governor, all people are warriors in this country. Youre a warrior, were a warrior. Something happens to that person and all of a sudden, test positive, and were all warriors together. I am. You are. We all are. Its what we were saying before. We have the best test necessary world. But what happens in between when you got tested and just a couple of days later . So, in this case, there were a number of days missed and it was a long weekend and things. So you never know. T we boast at the timed tested in a negative fashion. Host back to your calls and comments an how the coronavirus pandemic has impact your job. Jules this brooklyn, new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing . Host doing fine, thank you. Caller i just want to say one thing before i make a comment. I appreciate the job you guys are doing. But my question is im an employee, im a nursing assistant that work in new york and im 68 years old. I work for 40 years in a cancer hospital, one of the worlds most famous cancer hospitals. And i am now not able to work because of my age and preexisting disease that i have. And i feel so helpless that as a caregiver, im not able to help all the people that need my help not ts a dilemma to me to help people as being a caregiver. Host so what would it take for you to get back to work . Does that mean you have to get tested and you would be cleared . Caller well, im 68 and im with a disability war, preexisting. So theyre not going to take me back to work. Because im too high of a risk, especially in the cancer hospital. So, you know, its very sad for me. Ive work for 40 years, taking as a caregiver. So its a very strange feeling not to be there to help and im sitting at home and being expressed and not able to help people because ive done that my whole life. So thats how its impacted me. And just hopefully, thats my situation. But i got one quick question i can ask you . Host yeah. Caller i dont understand one thing about how much money they give like new york only gets a small amount. And then the state where they dont have many people get like 2. A million. Do you understand the question im asking you . Host in terms of the coronavirus aid thats come out . Caller yeah, for the states. You know, so new york, say we et 15,000 or 18,000 or 20,000, not to me, but to the state. Host sure. Caller so what goes to and then arizona could have 20 people and they get 2. 5 million a person. Host well, i dont have the charts inen from of me there, jules, but sounds like a good idea for a segment anyway. Thanks for calling. To our text line, 2027488003. This is larry in virginia who says that my wife lost her parttime job permanently as a seminar facilitators. All future seminars will be online only. Mike from albuquerque. Being an educator for the school district, the pandemic has forced the caloric of the school buildings. However, education continues through Distance Learning and teaching from homele and sam from georgia. Im currently on furlough from the parking charlotte in chattanooga. It does appear i will be able to keep my job. We were furloughed later than most on the city. We received our stimulus check and im on unemployment. So were hanging on. To hannah, in perry, florida. Good morning. Hannah in florida. No. Looks like we lost your call. We will look at the headline of the Financial Times this morning and a poll theyre doing with the peterson foundation. Americans signal rising unease over trumps handling on the crisis. Most American Voters entrust their states governors over donald trump according to gnaw poll for the Financial Times. That signal mounting dissatisfaction with the president s handling of the coronavirus crisis. Coming up next here on washington journal, we will get an update on the fight against covid19 with dr. Kristin englund, an Infectious Disease physician at the Cleveland Clinic. And later today marks the 75th anniversary of ve day. We will talk about the significance of that with author and historian Rick Atkinson. First though, the Senate Arms Service held a meeting for several pentagon nominees. Heres the top democrat on the committee questioning the ambassador from norway who is President Trumps pick to be navy [video] you made it clear the navys command is in disarray and nobody showed that more in the roosevelt situation when an actor of the navy is calling a commander and trying to work out problems with him. Somethings wrong. And when that commanders superior is several staterooms down the hall and no apparent communication, something is wrong. It goes to trust as you alluded to. It goes to the culture of the navy and reliance upon the chain of command and by civilian authorities of getting advice and supporting them, etc. D its also, i think in your position keeping your end as in the navys eyes, focused on the threat and the force, the fleets at sea and all the force and not being distracted by some of the things that happened here in washington. But what specific steps are you going to take to correct this situation because without a functioning chain of command, thout a culture of trust and confidence of the platforms are irrelevant. Nor, i would agree with you and i thank senator, i would agree with you and thank you for the question. Over the course of my career in the public and private sector, culture trumps everything as a famous entrepreneur says, culture its strategy for breakfast. Culture is the one thing that creates for an organization, a sense of belonging, a sense of good order and discipline. Priority if er one affirmed to restore the appropriate culture in the United States navy. Culture exists. I wont say its broken. I think its been tarnished and the events over the last several years have helped see that occur. And if im confirmed, i will make sure that i get at that. Again, predicated on good order and discipline, empowering people to understand their responsibilities along that chain of command as you and i both talked about yesterday, as well as setting the tone here from the very highest level. I think its contingent upon leadership first to establish that and hold those who are responsible throughout the chain for the same. Washington journal continues. Host we welcome you back to washington journal, dr. England ho is a Infectious Disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic and here to talk to us about the investigation, the c. D. C. , dr. England just added additional symptoms they think are related to covid19. Tell us about this of those and what to you think this expansion of the symptoms says about the virus . Guest good morning and thanks for having me on this morning, bill. The c. D. C. Listed new symptoms. Initially we talked about having a fever, cough and shortness of breath. But as weve gotten worldwide experience with this disease, were seeing different symptoms, people are having chills. There are rashes that were finding that are associated specifically with this. People are having diarrhea illnesses we may have missed before if we were just looking for the upper respiratory type symptoms or lower respiratory type symptoms, nausea, vomiting. Theres new symptoms we call covid toes which is kind of a purplish, reddish zhror discoloration of the toes and fingers but mostly on the toes. As we getting more familiar with this virus were learning more and more things about it. Host we were talking with dr. Childress from nashville talking about the spread of the virus. The wall street journal touches on what he had to say and their headline is multifront attack, how covid19 affects the body. Essentially this virus find a place in the body to go and thats why it can spread all over the body so the symptoms can be felt all over the body. Guest absolutely. Certainly the virus is most often brought in through the respiratory tract and touching of your fingers to your nose and to your mouth but we certainly have seen it landing in the g. I. Tract with symptoms there and then it causes a multitude of other problems. We know that our patients with covid19 are particularly prone to developing blood clots. So then we see a multitude of symptoms from that, including stroke, which can be absolutely devastating. Host of the deaths weve seen what are the majority of those deaths the final caused by, is it by pneumonia or a stroke or heart attack . Guest certainly the majority of cases were still seeing of our deaths are due to the horrific pneumonia caused by covid19. But we are seeing other complications when people are in the intensive care unit with the pneumonia, they still can develop blood clots and on top of that can get a blood clot that clots part of the blood flow to the lunges. On top of the pneumonia theyre not getting good blood flow to the lung because of the clots and compromises them more fully. As we get more experienced with it, well certainly see more complications of people showing up with strokes as an initial onset of symptoms or certainly that pulmonary embolism or blood clots in the lungs as initial signs of infection as well. Host tell us broadly what the Cleveland Clinic is focusing on specifically with covid19 and your work specifically . Guest what were working on right now, looks like were at a plateau in the number of cases were seeing in the state of ohio, thankfully. Were continuing to work on making sure our caregivers are safe and making sure our patients are safe and assuring that every time somebody comes into the hospital theyre getting thermoscanned and looking for their temperature to make sure they dont have a fever. Were making sure that they dont have any symptoms, and if they do, were moving them into virtual visits so they can be in contact with a provider very quickly so we can assess how theyre doing. A lot of our work has been changing from inperson visits over to virtual visits which is a different way of seeing patients. Its not the hand touching in person i think most of us physicians are used to and most patients of used to but thats the world were all moving into across the country and the world. Both we and patients will have to get used to that form of interaction but it also keeps our patients who are in the hospital safer. Host our guest dr. England, talking about covid19, an Infectious Disease physician at the Cleveland Clinic. 2027488001 nd and if youre a medical professional, 2027488002. There are several reports of the effectiveness of masks. One of the headlines were seeing at the guardian, the report of pass mask is dividing scientists. How best should people use masks in public . Guest we know there are different kinds of masks, the surgical masks and n95 masks which are really meant to be used in the clinical setting. Weve seen the devastating reports out of certain cities where they dont have enough of this p. P. E. Or personal protective equipment and were trying to limit those. When i go out in public, im not wearing a surgical mask. I wear a surgical mask only when im in a hospital and in a unit specifically related to patients with covid19. I know i have a clear exposure there. The rest of the time in public going Grocery Shopping or Walking Around in the hospital im wearing a cloth mask and my way of saying to people around me, i care about you and am protecting you. It doesnt protect me from getting covid19 but in case im coughing or in case i might be sneezing anything, it keeps the virus close to me and not spreading it to somebody else. This is really a way we become good maybes Good Neighbors to each other and take care of each other by wearing the cloth mask but everyone has to do it to make sure were keeping those around us safe. We all have to arts pate with it and wear our masks. Host given the spread across the country, is that sort of a thing that should be National Policy . Guest i do. It should an National Policy. The centers for Disease Control is not mandating it but certainly is suggesting they wear it. Mandates become a political challenge and i understand that. But its something we as americans can take on ourselves to say this is part of what being a Good Neighbor and Good American is to make sure we protect everyone around us. Host i want to ask you about Antibody Tests, the headlines, few new antibodies tests are judge reliable. I want to play you the comments of the n. I. H. Director dr. Francis ens and was asked about it by bill cassidy, also a physician. Heres a bit of that. [video] can you get reinfected with this . Theres been a few cases and not incredibly convincing. If you develop immunity, how long does it last . There is evidence that the rhesus monkeys it is protective and sars 1 if you will someone writes about immunity being for 18 years. It seems as if the Scientific Evidence is pointing in that direction. Its pointing in that direction, youre absolutely right and counting that to be the answer here but until we know well need to know. What do you define as knowing, which cant be but one or two years and we have to make policy decisions before then. Indeed. At the present time to evaluate the meaning of a positive Antibody Test one should be quite cautious. I think its going to help a lot to see if theres anybody that has a Antibody Test and turns out to get an Early Warning sign and we wont know whether three years or five years or 10 years. Youre suggesting not only test but track who is positive so we can follow them longitudinally to see if they develop once more. With their appropriate consent, of course. And were talking about the program who enrolled 300,000 americans who have consented and it will be very unusual to track and see what happens. Host and your take away between the two doctors specifically the Antibody Test, how will we move forward nationally on that . Guest we need to make sure were looking at these tests with clear screwed any and a lot of companies produced Antibody Tests but didnt go through any kind of regulation to make sure theyre appropriate and as a result we have a lot of Antibody Tests are on the market and we dont know what they mean and would the worst Case Scenario is to get an Antibody Test thats not been regulated and think they have an antibody when they truly dont and feel theyre im mune and can go out safely in the world but in all preelt might be safer than anybody else. Getting a false positive would be harmful for people to do. We need to make sure the f. D. A. Is clearly regulating the accuracy of these Antibody Tests before we start to use them widespread. Host we have calls waiting. We go first to falls church, virginia. This is barry. Go ahead. Caller dr. , my names larry and i have a quick question for you. When trying to determine, you know, where we are with the covid virus, whats the best place to find good Empirical Data on whats working and whats not. Is the virus picking up and going down . Its hard to find things outside of headlines. And id really like to look at data. Guest good for you, larry, thats appropriate. And i would go to the centers for Disease Control information often and im looking at what kind of data is currently available as far as straight numbers across the world United States and the individual states, i use the Johns Hopkins website. They have a wonderful map that has a tracker updated on an hourly basis and get my heart numbers from that. When im looking at different test sights and information, as a Infectious Disease doctor, i use the infectious diary website and they keep guidelines and recommendations to date and certainly n. I. H. Ion out of the about what studies are good at the time. Good sites. Host next is martha from go ahead ford, massachusetts. Caller im bringing home my significant other from the hospital after two weeks, he did not have covid but gastrosurgery, should i quarantine him two weeks at home . Guest thankfully hes coming home and good for you. The fact he simply was in a hospital doesnt necessarily mean he was exposed to covid19. Most hospitals, and my own including are very cautiously testing patients for covid19 and were putting them into separate wards away from the general population. So y2j play been in the hospital doesnt mean he was exposed to covid19. I would not consider that a exposure and would not feel you need to quarantine him at all. Host next is bee from hawthorne, new york. Go ahead. Caller you want me to ask my question . Host yes, youre on the air. Caller ok. Thank you very much. I heard a couple Different Things about the m a s h, good or bad. Have a what really i question about is why is medicare paying doctors 13,000 to diagnose covid19 and 39,000 for putting them on a ventilator when ventilators arent the right treatment . And why are there fetal cells in the vaccinations which everybody is supposed to have . Have you phone to Robert Kennedy jr. Who has discussed this about dr. Fauci and dr. Birx, have you . Guest i have not talked to Robert Kennedy jr. To be honest with you, i have not looked at the statements hes made about dr. Fauci and dr. Pirks. I am a Firm Believer of a lot of different voices that come out of the medical field. With regard to particular treatments madeed. When it goes to payments, i dont know about the payment structure going into this from medicaid and medicare. I certainly know it from the patients standpoint. As far as ventilators go, the fact theyre not helpful is completely inaccurate. When people are unable to get enough oxygen into them anymore, we dont have another choice. If the choice is to let them e versus putting them on a ventilator. We dont do it willynilly but when we choose to put them on a ventilator, they cant get enough oxygen in their lungs to survive and im not willing to choose death for them. Id rather give them a chance. Host was your supply in terms f ventilators ever an issue . Guest no. Remarkably we have people that run our fly team and making sure we have Surge Capacity to e ready for ventilators and we realized we were at a plat to to donate our ventilators and personnel to place this harder hit like detroit. Plateau ioned the word and how worried are you about a second wave of the virus . Guest extremely concerned about a second wave. Well have to watch this. People are doing modeling which are looking at cases coming out and trying to project one month, two months further out as far as the numbers were going to be looking at. And as we start to release the restrictions on people and allow them to get out into the public, if theyre not following good hand hygiene, if theyre not Wearing Masks, if theyre not following a six foot distance rule away from each other, well see more and re people passing this virus from one to another and see the numbers increase again. Its not gone. Were still at a level of virus out there in the community right now which is dangerous and people shouldnt feel that they are free to go out in public and not get exposed. But if were not taking care to keep the level of spread down, were definitely going to see a wave rising again. Host well hear next from wendy from vero beach, florida. Caller yes. Im calling about all of the out there about the masks. Unless its changed, these are the facts as i know them. The n95 respirator masks are the only masks out there on the market that block any virus, bacteria from getting into your lungs and theyre designated for Health Care Professionals only right now unless that has changed or you were lucky enough to have one before this started. The paper masks, it says right on the box when you buy them, they only block 2 to 3 which means 97 of Everything Else you inhale goes right into your lungs. Theres an article in todays paper in vero beach that literally is so irresponsible, it says that people who are Wearing Masks, they care about people and are democrats and people who have chosen not to wear masks are Trump Supporters or people who believe their freedoms are being infringed upon. Host wendy, well get a response from the doctor. Guest a couple different points. I dont think theres anything political about wearing a mask. Theres something medical and being american about wearing a mask, to be honest with you, i dont care what your political preference is and you dont need to know mine. All you need to know is im wearing a mask so i can protect you, so that i can keep from passing the virus to you. When you look at the pictures of people crossing and how far the droplets can spread and thus the virus can spread, were talking many feet. If im wearing a mask and i cough, thats going to keep those cough droplets much closer to me and its protecting you. So the mask is not necessarily the the cloth masks are not necessarily meant to keep virus away from my face and if somebody coughs they can get on my mask and penetrate into the mask to me. But it will keep me from touching something and touching my nose and mouth which is a very common thing for us to do without even thinking about it. There are a couple Different Reasons for wearing a cloth mask. The n95, absolutely, those are meant to be for Health Care Workers who are working in close proximity to patients with known covid. I dont wear an n95 mask and i go into patients rooms with covid on a regular basis. What i dont do is i dont intubate the patients and i dont put the breathing tubes down their throat. Im not working with them like our respiratory therapists are in having them cough and doing breathing treatments with them. That clearly makes the droplets and generates the virus up into the air for them to get exposed to. I see Covid Patients on a regular basis and i wear a surgical mask and im very comfortable that keeps me protected along with the eye shield to make sure i dont get droplets into my eyes. Host heres chris from newport , california. Caller you wont like my comments previous to mine because im on her page. Im reading a study, a compilation of many studies put out in an article in 2016 by the canadian Oral Health Group representing the canadian dental association. And in this study they conclude that theres absolutely no evidence that wearing any type of a surgical mask, paper mask, cloth mask does anything to protect both the wearer or the other person coming in contact with that wearer from contracting any airborne pathogens, zero evidence. And this is based on studies sierra era leon leone and in canada during the sars. At least a dozen, and im finding more im researching, probably a couple dozen studies. They are shaming the c. D. C. For not coming out and changing first of all, alerting the public to this. And secondly, coming out and documenting this evidence and researching the evidence and changing their methods of long established Belief Systems that sometimes need to be changed in the face of research that actually shows that these practices are worthless. Host well get a response from dr. Englund. Caller im not familiar with that article from canada from the dental associations. Ut what i am confident about is when we talk about airborne versus droplets, those are very Different Things. So airborne selectors, things that you can see like chickenpox that remain in the air is different at least at this point in time we know from the current sars, cov2 in that sars is on droplets. You can keep yourself protected f youve maintained at least the large and medium sized droplets away from the mask. The virus itself may be able to penetrate through but youre at least going to slow it down using a cloth mask. The studies looking at the cloth masks here and the recommendations here in the United States are recent. This is not old time data weve been using. So this is something weve taken on recently. Weve not seen people being advised to wear cloth masks in any other situation. These are new recommendations and they are based upon the best evidence we have at this point in time. So i would encourage continuing to wear cloth masks. Host let me ask you about the headlines about opening states. The Trump Administration buries c. D. C. Advice on reopening and say the 17page report by centers for Disease Control and Prevention Team titled guidance for implementing the opening up of america framework was researched and written to help faith leaders, Business Owners and educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen. It was supposed to be published last friday but the scientists were told, quote, the guidance would never see the light of day. The official was not authorized to speak to reporters at the Associated Press. How important is that guidance in general from the c. D. C. In your world . Guest in my world we certainly strong belief in what the c. D. C. Recommends and i would love to see what their recommendations are. Recommendations have come out to some degree, though, and while the c. D. C. Is a national organization, were also looking at how well be doing things on a state by state basis and more of the policy out there with regard to how states are open and who opens them are coming from our governors and from our Public Health department leaders. And i think those are strong leadership rolls here in the state of ohio. And while we look at guidelines, theyre simply that, theyre guidelines and starting to develop those in our own states depending on what the situation is in each of our own states. Host we hear from irene calling from pimlico, South Carolina. Caller good morning, dr. Englund. I wanted to ask a question about the gloves. I heard earlier about the mask and how it protects more of the people around us so much but i see a lot of people here and in South Carolina have a lot of gloves walking through walmart and different shopping centers. S it helping us or hurting us . I do see a lot of older people with it more so than the young ones. Guest thats a great observation. Thank you. I do not wear gloves. We do not have recommendations on gloves. Whats most important is that youre using hand hygiene. I think sometimes gloves can give people a sense of false security. Quite the hops. If youre wearing gloves in a store and feel like youre keeping your hands free, youre still touching things and then potentially suching touching your face. Whats more important as youre going through the store or leaving a store make sure youre using hand hygiene, taking gloves off if youre wearing gloves and doing hand high gene well before you take your face or well love you take off your mask if youre wearing a mask at that time. Gloves are absolutely not necessary and are not a replacement for using did hand hygiene with a good alcoholbased product. Host following up from the New York Times f. D. A. Bans faulty masks three weeks after failed tests. The food and Drug Administration prohibited 65 manufacturers from selling mask for medical use but the move came out of tests last month those those masks didnt meet standards. Here from washington, d. C. , this is chris calling in, good morning. Youre on the air. Go ahead. I think we lost him. Youre on the air. O ahead. Caller i was thinking about a question regarding the zones of the infection. Is the total number of infections, thats a constant, right . When you hit a plateau and the time of the infections, and youre flattening out the curve, youre not preventing total number of infections. Thats my basic question. Regarding in the context of opening up the economy and letting everybody back in, theyre still going to be the same total number according to the models. Is that correct, assuming no vaccine or other guest those are excellent points as far as looking at the numbers. When were talking about a plateau, its the total number of new cases coming out every day. And were seeing thousands of cases every day being identified in the United States every single day. It hasnt gone down but at least we werent at an exponential rise of 300 a day, 600 a day, 700 a day. And the new cases are reaching a static level so that at least looks and the hope is eventually we would be bending the curve and coming to the point were seeing less and less cases identified every im and day. Were not there yet but were getting a new number of cases every day and will increase the total number of cases. Until we get a vaccine well have the same number of people getting infected. Lets say a hundred Million People will be infected. And thats a guestment. With covid19 if we dont flatten the curve well have tens of thousands of people getting infected instead of thousands of people getting infected every day and will fill the hospitals. As we try to reach this flato of new infections every day, it simply lengthens out the time course that number of people are going to get infected. The same number should be infected before we get a vaccine but over a longer period of time so we can handle it in within the health systems. Host from dave in charleston who asks this, is quarantine meant to slow the spread of the risk of overwhelming medical services or increase final morbidity by the development of herd immunity in quarantine . Guest the main thing im looking at with quarantine, i can take one person and keep them from infecting others. Its really to slow the spread of the disease. Now, if theyre not infecting others, those people are not getting antibodies and thats what we need people to have for herd immunity is antibodies. What we try to do with herd immunity with the vaccine, were able to vaccinate a large p. M. Of people so those unable to get vaccinated are surrounded by people who cannot get the infection. Theres two concepts certainly meant to try to protect those around us but were quarantining one person with the inflection so we can give it to people who havent seen it or herd immunity, where we vaccinate people who had the infection and seen it and developed antibodies who surrounded one person who is vulnerable. Host 20 minutes left with our guest dr. Englund, at the Cleveland Clinic, 2027488000 for those in the eastern and central time zones. 2027488001, mountain and specific. If youre a medical professional call 2027488002. A quick look at the unemployment numbers for the month of april. We talked about it in the first hour just out from the statistics, 14. 7 , the jobs lost in the month of april, 20. 5 million. Thomas is next in ruskin, florida. Welcome. Dr. , thank you for taking my wall and you work at the Cleveland Clinic, a shining star of health care. Ive worked in the health field 30 years and Cleveland Clinton sick well known. You talked about it, i believe masks are helpful, but i really believe and i learned it a long time ago in health care, keep your and out of your eyes, nose and mouths. And if we could stress that, and proper hand washing wed be in a better place. Thank you and have a nice day. Guest thank for you your Health Care Service over the years, absolutely. To taken this pandemic reak my habits and keeg in a professional league, im constantly rubbing my face, scratching my eyes, chewing on a nail and looking at the opportunities i have for being ble to take anything ive been touching and we do things without thinking and where a mask can help with that automatic rub of your nose or whatever might spread it. Its tough for everyone to remember to do that. I think especially with our children and this is where i think we can do a Wonderful Service to all of our communities is by learning how to stress with our children good hand hygiene. Whether its covet kit and coughing into your elbow and using a kleenex and hand hygiene afterwards. Impressing upon our kids how important it is to make sure theyre washing their hands regularly and using the alcohol. Sed foams that are out there thankfully children have not been infected by this disease as Older Americans have been. However, we certainly understand they can be asymptomatic selectors and they could get exposed to it and carry the vice back home in the home. If they can make sure of being conshen shuss when school open again make sure shear policying if hand practices and when they come home it will be tremendous in keeping a lot of infections from being spread, roto virus, influenza, a number of Different Things. Host dr. England got her m. D. From the university of Cincinnati College of medicine. What first got you interested in the field of Infectious Diseases . Guest when i first was training, it was around the term of the aids epidemic. I certainly was i guess intrigued is not the right word but really drawn to the young ople that were my fage being infected by this horrible disease. As i went to train on further in chicago, i had tremendous mentors there who were professional disease decisions and some of the cratest pictures ive seen, taking care of these patients with h. I. C. Who in that point in time wasnt sure huh it could be transmitted but they went in anyway and made sure they were touching patients and taking care of patients and giving them that personal touch so boy, i wanted to be just like them. Host it was pointed out yesterday researchers have been looking for 40 years for a vaccine for hivaids and there is no vaccine yet. How confident are you of a development of a vaccine for covid19 . Guest so covid19 is a bit of a simpler virus than h. I. V. Which has a number of different opportunities to mutate and be able to form slightly different versions of itself. Coached, while we do have different barriers weve not seen significant changes with ito im terrible certainly hopeful and we have vaccines that look somewhat promising and in the early phases of study where were looking at putting them into humans to make sure that vaccines are safe before we benefit look at thive keas of them. I think well be able to find a vaccine for coronavirus soon but soon is tough to pin down term. Whether it will be 12 months, 18 months, two years, well find one. Host go back to calls and hear from neil next in myland, michigan. Caller thanks for having me on on my question was, ive been reading up on mutations of the virus and wonder what effects that possibly would have medically with symptoms and things like that. Guest thats a great question. Theres been suggestion theres a new mutation out there of the virus thats much moring a agreesive more aggressive we found in china. I dont think its panned out at this time and dont have information to show there is a virulent irulent virus out there right now and were seeing Better Outcomes than others. It hit italy very hard and due to a gift mutation. Symptoms was the were overwhelmed in having a different virus. Thats probably the situation were seeing in certain cities where theyre having a higher death rate and thats more because theyre awning out of supplies and ventilators and having to use part of the work force to run the ventilators that might not have the experience in other workers have been. Yes, were finding a few notations in this virus but nothing thats confirmed that shows if is much more difficult to treat or more aggressive virus. Host this gentleman is from ohio. Welcome. Caller the question that was asked is right along what i wanted to say. Rtner was quite sick [inaudible] he was exercising and for three days he had a cough and after about two weeks she stayed home and took care of herself. It sort of went away. But here recently in the last week, shes had a slight rattling when she coughs, a small amount of blood came up and shes also had blood in her urine, so im wondering, is it possible that this virus can lay dormant . She actually got better and here she feels maybe its coming back. Host lets just ask you, has he been tested at all . Caller no, she was not tested. Host appreciate your call. Dr. Englund . Caller its important to try and get her tested to make sure this truly is covid and not something else. Guest we do tend to see a bit iphasic we call a by response and people will be sick and look like theyre Getting Better and then can recur with the virus again, whether its new fever, more shortness of breath. So i certainly think getting a secondary phase this is possible. The other problem you can run in to is see somebody who had their lungs compromised by the virus and the virus has gone away but get a second bacterial infection on top of it. I hesitate to say its just the virus persisting and suggest they get in contact with their doctor to make sure its not something else. Blood in the youren is not necessarily one of the early signs we see in covid19, so i think that would also alert me to something that needs to be discussed with her physician. Host whats your take on the anecdotal and other stories about the symptoms people say they have, going back into january, is it your belief well find the spread started ooner than we thought . Guest i dont doubt this wasnt around sooner. Some of the symptoms people had at that point in time may also have been influenza which can cause a lot of similar symptoms and may not have been tested for influenza at the time though ive heard of folks who were tested influenza negative and then were just told it was some virus out there. I suspect this has been around a lot longer. We dont know because we didnt have testing at this point in time and at this point we dont necessarily have all the testing we need to make sure were finding out the accurate numbers of how many are infected p. A huge amount to get the epidemiology of this and be able to get the scope of this is highly dependent upon the availability of tests. Host to the best of your recollection, how early was it the Cleveland Clinic was able to Start Testing for covid19 . Guest the first case we found here in ohio i believe was march 9. Its been roughly two months weve been testing for the virus here. Host lets go to steve calling from booneville, indiana. Good morning. Caller i have two quick questions. Can you help me make sense of he numbers from new york state two days ago Governor Cuomo aid 66 of the cases came from stay at home people and 18 nursing homes. Thats 84 not traveling outside in the public. Can you explain that and have any ideas what caused that and have one more question. Host go ahead with your second question, steve. Caller could the increased incidents or severity of the disease in africanamericans and i think also hispanics be in part due to lack of vitamin d . We know vitamin d deficiencies are commor common in the darker skinned people and also vitamin d is needed in the immune defenses helps make and other antiinflammatories. Host thanks for calling in. Guest two great questions. Certainly the data we see coming out of new york clearly highlights the Skilled Nursing facilities and the challenges we see with people who are basically enclosed in care facilities and how rapidly infections can spread through those. So whether its an extended care facility for our elderly or a jail system or homeless shelters, those are really areas of high risk where if one person comes in with an infection, its very difficult to protect those around and it can spread like wildfire. As far as those who were having it when they were staying at home, i do find that many of the people that were allowed out in new york city around this time were essential care workers and were often wearing protective equipment. Certainly you look at the folks that were the e. M. T. s, the nurses and physicians who were going out to work, they were wearing protective equipment. For those folks out in the community and not necessarily maybe going to get groceries or going out to pick up essentials and bring them home may not have been aware of what they needed to prevent getting the infection. While they were staying at home im sure they were venturing out to the community and ultimately bringing something home. But we certainly know theres a tremendous risk in these areas where we have a lot of people gathering together and they cant necessarily get out from that area. Vitamin d is a great question. I think were looking at a lot of different supplements that might help boost up the infection and fight this infection. When we look at americans and hispanics, theres ways to postulate why theyve been seeing a more difficult case with this. Some is due to higher incidents of comorbidities, whether its uncontrolled diabetes or uncontrolled hypertension. We know some of the underserved populations which are predominantly in the africanamerican and hispanic populations werent getting the appropriate health care and getting care for these comorbidities before covid hit. So we know that they were higher at risk just from that standpoint. I think were looking more into the genetics of whether there is something more involved in our africanamerican or hispanic communities that make them more at risk. Certainly vitamin d is something to consider and i think well need to look at all of those. Host lets go to Washington State and hear from margey in arlington, washington. Youre on the air, go ahead. Caller i want to know you dont die of the virus, you die with it if you have diabetes, is that still true or can you die of it . Guest i think we know you die of this virus. This virus is devastating in the effects it can cause, especially within the lungs, the pneumonia that it causes is horrifically deadly. So unlike other diseases which can cause other responses within the body, this is most often a direct cause of the virus and the damage that it provides. Host in washington, d. C. , this is ariet. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller good morning, doctor. Guest good morning. Caller im glad youre on. I just woke up and i cut the tv on and heard yall talking and thank god yall had a number for us to call in and ask questions. Thank you very much. My question is this, ive probably been laying around for three or four days. Excuse me. Get have my husband checked out because he was wheezing and wobbling and laying around and coughing and things like that and i told him to go get checked out. He went to get checked out. I went down there and said you dont get checked out, im calling the police to escort you out so he got up and went and got checked out yesterday. And a reminder, this been four or five days ago before he got checked out. So he went to the doctor and got checked out. He was positive of the virus. My thing is this, they sent him back home. I dont know what to do. So hes dazed. You see how im sounding host listen in and dr. Englund will respond. Guest im glad he went to the Doctors Office and got checked out. Certainly he got a test but you may have known already he had this even before he went to the hospital it get checked out. Im assuming he got admitted to the hospital if youre worried about him coming home. If he was that symptomatic at home, i do worry that you probably got exposed to the virus. And may very well have it. Certainly a cough, sore throat, fever, you know. Asy aring kind after sounding voice and may be signs youve been exposed to the virus yourself. I would suggest that you contact your physician and see hat their recommendations are. As you know, we have no treatment for a the a this point in time but at least make sure youre staying in touch with somebody from the hospital or some family members or neighbors to make sure youre doing well each and every day and to make sure youre not getting more and more short of breath. If you do or if you start to get higher feefers, i would strongly suggest you get yourself in to the emergency room. But calling your Doctors Office today and letting them know youve been exposed is certainly a good first start. One of the programs weve been able to do here is patients that we know tested positive for covid19 that do not need to be hospitalized are being called every day by some of out of providers to make sure and ask them a number of questions to make sure their fever is not getting worse and theyre not getting short of breath and make sure they can still climb a flight of stairs without getting winded. We want to make sure we catch them early if theyre showing signs of getting worse and then recommend they get into the hospital. So i would suggest keeping an eye out for those worsening types of symptoms but maybe talking to your doctor sooner rather than later. Host you mentioned treatments, how hopeful are you about things like the eerie the early remdesivir testing . Guest weve seen conflicting evidence. So far the published trial coming out of china was not optimistic about the benefits of remdesivir. We know a number of us have seen a few paragraphs of some of the most recent information thats come out showing it has shorten down the time frame of symptoms patients have been dealing with from 15 days down to 11 days. Havent seen necessarily the release on mortality data and i think while its important to make sure people are getting healthier sooner given as severe as this disease is, being able to scrutinize the mortality benefits will be key to it. So im going to remain optimistic but i need to see the data. Host lets see if we can get one more quick call in here. We go to steve in topeka, kansas. Are you there . Sorry about that. Steve in topeka, go ahead. Caller the thing is i called a little over a month ago about basically, very quickly, doctor, im originally a resident of northwest ohio, 60 miles west of toledo, and my again, just between you and me in a sense because i had a good friend that was older than my age now that the goto place for him was the Cleveland Clinic with heart problems back in the mid 1960s. I dont know youre still that way but just as a shoutout if im right to the clinic itself. Guest thank you. Caller i dont know if its still that way or not. T but anyway host im going to let you go there. How many patients typically does the Cleveland Clinic treat each year . Guest overall treating, i dont know how many . We see patients were located here in northeastern ohio. Were located in florida, abu dhabi, canada, nevada. Weve got a bit after scope. We do see people all over ohio and welcome people from any state to come here. Thankfully we have a tremendous Heart Hospital here and were working very hard to get those Services Back up and online. Were being very careful opening things up to make sure every patient that visits the Cleveland Clinton sick safe. We want to make sure were monitoring who comes in with our patients and limiting the number of visitors that can come in with patients. You know, we want to make it a safe place for you to come and get healthy. Host we appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to join us here this morning on washington journal. Guest thank you. Host up next a conversation with john barr, weve been checking with the house and senate, don buy war sits on the ways and don byar sits on the ways and means committee. How are you doing this morning . Guest doing well. How are you . Host doing fine. We talked about conversation between Speaker Pelosi and the senate on coronavirus aid. What do you think that next phase of legislation will include . Guest many Different Things but i think that Speaker Pelosi and most of our priorities are first and foremost more money to state and local governments. Character losis was the heroes act and sounds bureaucratic but you understand this money goes to our firefighters and Police Officers and doctors and nurses, Child Protection services and even the people that pick up the trash, the people who make our communities work. And theyre the ones who have suffered. Governor hogan of maryland, a republican, said up to 550 billion is the revenue loss of state and local governments from the pandemic. Host your governor Ralph Northum says the state may keep part of the restrictions underway as reopening gets underway and you represent a portion of Northern Virginia. Why are the concerns of Northern Virginia different than say, more rural virginia . Guest we have the only governor in the country who is also a physician. That gives us a little advantage and i think the governor northum struggle with the fact you get to southwest virginia to wytheville and marion there are very few cases and in Northern Virginia where i live its a hot spot and were not quite as bad as new york but we have a lot of cases and a lot of deaths. So hes trying to lead the state as a whole and yet look at the differences where its safe to do so. Host tell us about the experience of Small Businesses in your district. How are they faring and have they been able to take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program . Guest bill, its varied. Our medium sized Small Businesses, you know, 200, 300, 400 i think have done pretty well. They have good lawyers and accountants and smart and good banking relationships which is probably the biggest thing and were able to get the loans first. The smallest businesses are the ones that mostly got left out. In the last iteration we passed, the cares 1. 5 bill we focused the first 60 billion on the smallest businesses and were like to again when we meet. I find that most businesses are hit but the hardest hit are the restaurants who have seen recent dents fall to almost zero and were trying two protect everybody but especially them. Host you come to congress with the experience after businessman in particular, a great deal of experience in the auto industry. What do you think is ahead for the u. S. Auto industry . Guest well, the april numbers are off 50 which is better than 100 . But still not good. You know, im vice chair of the joint Economic Committee and weve been having a lot of conversations with the best economists in the country. And most expect a ushaped recovery, not vshaped and relatively long. The Congressional Budget Office says 9. 5 unemployment in december 2021, which is 20 months from now. Not this christmas but the christmas after. We saw the 14. 7 numbers this morning, it will be a long slow rebuilding and we are putting policies in place that will make it go as fast as possible. Host that current paycheck gets twon program months of additional funding for those businesses. Is there any consideration that there may have to be additional money . Guest absolutely. At least extend those two months. The First Priority is a state and local government and the second is to protect paychecks. Theyre all our alternatives. The Washington State representative promotes a paycheck guarantee act which is plan. Acement to the ppp a lot of people take it seriously. That would help his this is through the rest of the pandemic. Congressman from Northern Virginia joining us. Thank you so much from being here for being here. The allies accepted nazi germanys surrender. American history washington journal are marking the anniversary with a look back at ve day. In a moment, our guest is Rick Atkinson, author of the war in western europe. The liberation trilogy about the allied triumph in europe. May 1945, part of an united newsreel film on the end of the war in europe. [video clip] throughout the world throngs of people hailed the end of the war in europe. It is five years or more since hitlers marched into poland. The end of suffering and death and sacrifice. Now the war against germany is won. A grateful nation gives thanks for victory. Intoeds of thousands crowd american churches to give thanks to god. President truman announced the official surrender. Solemn, but glorious our. Wish that Franklin Roosevelt had lived to see this day. M informed that the verses forces of germany had surrendered have surrendered to the United Nations. The flags of freedom fly all over europe. For this victory we join in offering thanks to the providence which has guided and sustained us through the dark lifeof adversity and into like. Much remains to be done. Light. The victory won in the west must be won in the east. The whole world must be cleansed of the people from which half of the world has been freed. , the peaceloving nations have demonstrated in the west that their arms are stronger by far than the might of dictators that once caused us to weep. The power of the people to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in the pacific war as it was proved in europe. Historic pictures of the last days of war show american and Russian Troops on the river splitting german armies in two. United states general meets the red army general, a moment that spelled out german defeat. Itself, the scene withuntless nazi rallies this german city, the American Flag flouts out the swastika. In a symbolic gesture, american troops destroyed the nazi party emblem. Host American History tv and washington journal are marking the end of world war ii. The 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii in the european theater. Ve day, victory in europe day. We welcome author and historian Rick Atkinson whose final book published in 2013, the final of three books focusing on the years 1944 and 1945. Started,r conversation just a quick timeline of where things were and how they came from ve day on june 6, 1944 in late august deliberation of paris in august 25, 1944. The battle of the bulge in december that year into january of 1945 and then to ve day. Eighth back to may 7 and of 1945. How did the war end in europe . Guest the war ended with the germans basically deciding hitlers having killed himself more than one week earlier that there was no profit in dragging it out with the russians in berlin. The russians murdering civilians, killing german soldiers by the hundreds of thousands. The germans decided that trying to make peace with western allies, americans in particular, was their best bet. They were going to get a better deal from washington allies than they were from the soviets. Eisenhower had his third headquarters in the french town in northeastern france. Delegation who spoke about what the conditions would be. They were told that Unconditional Surrender were the only terms by which the war would end. The operations chief of the local German Armed Forces showed headquarterswers which was a former technical college, a brick building. Reporters were there and it was 2 00 in the morning on may 7, 1945. Of surrender had been boiled down to 200 words. The whole ceremony with cameras rolling lasted about 10 minutes. That heer told him would be personally held responsible for ensuring that the terms of the capitulation were honored and that was that. It was going to go into effect the next day where they could get time to alert german crews in the atlantic and in norway. The soviets felt it was important to have a surrender ceremony on german soil. They did not want the germans to be able to say that they had , itr been actually defeated never capitulated in germany proper so they insisted that another surrender ceremony in a suburb of berlin which happened on may 9. The soviets, now they russians, consider that to be ve day. To the rest of the world, the surrender went into effect on may 8 and that was the end of the world war in europe. There was still war in the pacific and that certainly had a moderating effect on the jubilation that would have taken place otherwise. No one knew how long that war would go. Host on the timeline from ve day in 1944, did the final victory in europe, based on your research of u. S. Forces and british forces, did that happen sooner than they thought or did it take longer than they thought . Guest it took longer in the sense that after the battle of the bulge ended at the end of january in 1945, there was a widespread understanding that the germans could not recover from this catastrophe. That they have lost the war. What no one in the west could understand is why they would not give up, why they continued to fight, why one little town, one mediumsized city and even big cities continued to resist. There were 10,400 american soldiers killed in april 1945 in germany. That is almost as many as were killed in june 1944, the month of invasion. It was virtually the last gunshot. As a consequence, there was great consternation about whether they would surrender, whether the last german soldier would have to be killed, whether more german civilians have to die and of course whether more allied soldiers have to die. I think there had been hope that the war would end sooner. May 8 turned out to be the day. Host our guest is Rick Atkinson. It is the 75th anniversary of ve day. We would love to hear from you. Here are the lines. 202 7488000 for the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001, mountain and pacific. And for those of you who are world war ii veterans or families, if your parents served in world war ii, we ask you to call on 202 7488002. , it is a alarming to read the death tolls. You spoke one story about the training for the day alone. There was an accident that killed 700 soldiers. Looking at the statistics of how many people died and overall military deaths, 417,000 u. S. Deaths. On the soviet side, 8. 8 million to 10. 7 million soviet soldiers. That is not just civilian deaths. 190t the soviet union had Million People. Total deaths were 26 million. That is a staggering percentage of 13 or 40 of their total population. We had 291,000 killed in action. A little more than 400,000 as you mentioned, all of this including accidents and disease. That is about one third of 1 of the American Population of 130 million during world war ii. As staggering as those numbers are for us, they are monumental for the soviets in particular. The germans lose about 7 Million People. About 60 Million Deaths worldwide in world war ii. That is a death every three seconds for six years. It gives you an idea of the magnitude. It is the greatest catastrophe selfinflicted catastrophe in history. Host and the war ending three weeks after the death of fdr in of 1945. N april 12 harry truman, the president on ve day. What was the effect stateside when that news came . Guest it was a great shock. Anyone looking at newsreel footage is could see that president was about was not a healthy man. Feared hent roosevelt to meet with malta churchill and then they flew to meet with the soviet meal or leader, stalin. Those pictures do tell, here is a man who is dying. His Blood Pressure was in the stratosphere and he had all kinds of health problems. Hemorrhage at his cottage in warm springs, georgia , april 12, 1945. The war spreads through the country quickly after lunch and by late afternoon, all americans are aware of it. It is a shock to all of it. He had been president for more than 12 years. He is our war president. He was the president for the days of the depression. There were young men in uniform who had very little memory of the time when roosevelt was not their leader and now their commanderinchief. , aning who harry truman was obscure senator from missouri, he had been a captain in the artillery in world war i. He is a bit of a cipher in the eyes of most americans with the notion that he is going to step in and fill these very large shoes that roosevelt has left behind, something that a lot of people had difficulty copper heading. Host we have a lot of calls waiting. Lets go first to larry in mexico. Good morning. Caller good morning. My father was in the south pacific. On your research, i wanted to know what the role was of the , how much onan your research have you done on them, if any and what was their role during the war . Thank. Guest thanks for the call and thanks to your dad. American indians were important. They had a tradition of being warriors. That was critical when you are trying to put together an army. Wereu mentioned, there code talkers and they had their own language and it was assumed correctly that if a navajo talking to another navajo on the radio, that even if the japanese, and we are talking about the Civic Theater in this case, could eavesdrop and hear that conversation, which they could, they would not have been able to decode it because very few japanese spoke navajo. The code talkers were important for operational security. I think there was also a sense with native americans as part of the force that it really was a comprehensive American Force in the same way that we wanted all ethnicities to be represented by 1945. It is a painful process of getting there to acknowledging that there is a rightful role in combat units for black americans. T black amyris can be black americans can be excellent fighters as the Tuskegee Airmen who got into combat showed. For native americans, it was a feeling that first of all they have practical skills that were second, it is an affirmation that this is a panamerican war. From annapolis, maryland. Welcome. Caller yes. Our dad fought in world war ii in the pacific. He had Four Brothers lost. He had another uncle who fought in the civic in the navy. My dad was a secondgeneration italian american. Against italian americans is less against japaneseamerican. Im wondering why that was true. And the second question, dropping the atomic bomb is probably the reason im talking to you today and wondering how that impact had on the outcome of the war and the ability of more american soldiers to survive. Thank you. Host thank you. Guest thanks for the call and the question. Yes, i think it is fair to say that the prejudices against italian americans were considerably less than they were against japanese americans. Italians were our adversaries up until 1943 and they switched sides and became our ally. The italians did not launch the kind of attack that occurred at pearl harbor in 1941. I think there is a racial component to it. To dislikewas easier asians, japanese specifically. Of course, they were treated dreadfully. We were just talking about native americans in the force. Japanese americans who fought valiantly in italy and france during world war ii, they were exceptionally capable and ferocious fighters. They had something to prove because back home there had been tens of thousands of japanese who had been interned in camps. Only secondclass citizens, but as noncitizens. In respect to the atomic bombs, yes, i think that the two atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki brought an end to the war in the pacific and probably saved hundreds of thousands of american lives. May 8,e day occurs on 1945, one of the reasons the jubilation is not as it was is that the battle is occurring precisely. It was a cave by cave bloodletting. What it would be in attacking the japanese islands directly. There were estimates that american casualties could rise to one million if that were required. When ve day occurs in 1945, no one knows about the atomic bombs except they small group of businesses in new mexico. No one knows whether it is going to work. Those bombs, as horrible as they were, brings the war to an absolute truncated end. It saves Many American lives. It saved even more japanese lives. Russians were ready to come in. The war was going to expand in the pacific because the russians had agreed to be part of it. The atomic bombs saved a lot of heartache. Host we are talking about the end of world war ii and the european theater. The 75 anniversary of ve day heath from us is davidson, oklahoma. Caller hello. Host good morning. You are on the air. Caller thank you. May 6,was over there on 1945. 15got on a ship on may headed for the pacific. And we stopped by the United States. We would fly in v 24s and we would train on b 29 for a couple of weeks and go into the pacific. During that period of time, they dropped the bomb and ended the war in the pacific. Theombed all of europe from base in italy. Heath, great to have you with us. Thank you for your story. Rick atkinson, how quickly was the military to pivot the focus on the Pacific Theater . Europethe commanders in had been thinking about how to take a good portion of that force and move it to the pacific and how you would do that and who would go and what had failed for those who have been fighting in north africa in 1942 and in italy in 1943 and 1944. And for them to have to find the pacific. There were plans that had been put together. There were units being shifted as he just said in may of 1945. They were getting ready to retrain for the assault on the japanese homeland. 29 he mentioned was the first of long range bombers ,oing extraordinary work devastating japan. They were used to drop those two atomic bombs. Ares the belief that you going to have to take a good portion of that european force, leaving some behind as an army of occupation. But the majority of it was going to end up in the pacific. Host in the wall street journal, there is a photo of eisenhower flashing the victory pans at the signing ceremony. Rick atkinson, one of your early interviews in 2002 for your first book, you said that in a different photograph that the photograph reflected a buoyancy of spirit that served him well. You are right you write in your final book that his fellow commander and some of the allied commanders were not confident that he was the commander type. The british in particular had doubts about eisenhower. Not all of them. Some of them revered him. He had difficulties through the. Ntire final year of the war the senior british commander in europe, a very difficult character, it must be said. There were those who had doubts about eisenhower. There were those who had doubts when he had became the commander in the mediterranean in 1942. He and his west point classmate had missed world war i, they had not been deployed. There was a feeling that here is this guy and why is he the one to be the supreme commander. Eisenhowerh dwight. Etaphorically for 15 years he was an extraordinarily capable leader. He was an extremely capable general and his primary job was to hold together this allied coalition. Eventually there were more than 50 countries in what was called the United Nations fighting with the United States. Eisenhower was brilliant at Holding Together that coalition against all of the centripetal forces that tried to pull apart every wartime coalition. At the ends honors of the war are fairly earned. He showed himself to be a capable commander and that big smile of his which one of the subordinates said was worth an army corps in morale terms. Host was here next from st. Petersburg, florida. Tom, you are on the air. Caller my name is tom and the reason im calling is i often wondered who engineered the end of the war. Was it admiral dorn is and secondly, did he believe throughout his entire career that his losses in the atlantic were not caused by the anemic machine. Thirdly, what happened to him at the end of the war. That is a lot of questions. He was the commander of the german navy at the end of the war. There was not much of a german navy to command at that point. The german submarine force had been almost completely destroyed by may of 1945. In terms of ingenuity at the end of the war, there were conversations among those who were still surviving in berlin and northwest of berlin about how to go about contacting the allies and how to go about bringing this catastrophe to a close. Hitlers having killed himself 30th, hannah tried to pull the temple down around him as he perished. Had tried. But not everyone was willing to take that route, not everyone was suicidal. Been an agreement that they would send a delegation to allied headquarters in montgomery. And then they end up at eisenhowers headquarters. It up as they go along. They are very aware that every day that passes, there are more germans who fall under soviet control. This they are determined to avoid. They are trying to stall as long as they can to allow germans to flee westward and they are fleeing westward by the hundreds of thousands and eventually the aliens in order to avoid being under soviet control. The final decision is made that we are going to give up and conceded to the allied demand of unconditional render, at that point Unconditional Surrender. Host steve from rhode island. Caller good morning. I would like to make a comment. The war was decided on the eastern front. The western front was a skirmish compared to the eastern front. There would not have been any western front, there would have been a settlement. The most important issue i want to state is the russian crime when they entered berlin and over 2 million german women were raped by those communist animals. And mygermanamerican father is a germanamerican who served in the italian campaign. Host steve, we will get a response from Rick Atkinson. Guest thank you for the call, steve. There were war crimes of the first order committed by the soviets in berlin and all of Eastern Europe as they overran into thed pushed eastern precincts of the german empire. The ways that the soviets were ofng that besides the lack discipline was the feeling that the depravity that the germans had visited on the soviet Union Beginning with the invasion in 1941 and extending right on german the end of the was to pay in kind. Was out of control in ways that no one can perceive at the beginning and this is a good example of the atrocities the germans committed or repaid probably with interest either russians. By the russians. The weightnly carry of the war for all of the allies. Soviet soldiers killed nine german soldiers for every one who was killed by british and american troops combined. I mentioned 26th millions dead. It dad was vital to have them remain as part of it. Host it is the 75th anniversary of ve day. ,e are joined by Rick Atkinson the author of the liberation trilogy. It is a three book series on the war in the european theater. More of your calls and comments coming up momentarily. We are joined next by senator roberts of kansas, chair of the eisenhower memorial commission. Senator, we saw you yesterday on the floor with your eye like ike button i like button. You were a youngster when that happened. Tell us about that. Guest actually, the button says i still like ike. We handed them out at the congressional lunch yesterday. They were a hot item. I think most of my memories came when i was 16 and i got to go to the Republican Convention in 1952 where eisenhower won on the first ballot as opposed to robert taft. And then again during the inaugural and those are the only times i personally met the man. That was back in kansas. I remember that day as i was swinging on the front porch and my mom came in with tears in her eyes and she said we have andated hitlers hitler. I asked her, does that mean dad can come home. Not at that time. He was in the pacific. Jima. A in iwo at any rate, the one thing i remember about him, you knew he came into the room even though your back was to him. He had that presence. He had a very ready case. A wonderful smile. Host we are talking about eisenhowers role in the victory in europe. We are talking to you about the eisenhower memorial. General eisenhower led the allies to victory in europe and served two terms as president. Why has it taken so long for a memorial to be created in washington for president eisenhower . Guest it is amazing how many groups that you have to go through, the National Capital Planning Commission and the fine arts council, etc. You have to raise the money and have federal funds. You have to have all members of the family on board. There were changes, i was the second german way back chairman. Fromedal of honor winner the senator from hawaii and senator ted stevens, two veterans who pushed very hard on this. If you take a look at the memorials, not many are built on a rapid basis. It takes a stepbystep. Simple. Ess is not you have site selection, design approvals, construction, it is a monumental undertaking. We arethat terrible pun. Thrilled to see the hardwood come to fruition. It is done and all we have to do until when social distancing will not be much of a problem. If it still is, we will have the dedication accordingly. Host it was supposed to be ofay on the 75th anniversary ve day. What were you going to say in that dedication . Guest i think i had four minutes. The president had accepted the invitation to speak. We had a flyover. Basically the eisenhower family would have spoken. We had a number of world war ii utterance including bob dole veterans, who really helped raising money on the private side of it. Hink this remortgage memorial honors not only an extraordinary man, but i think he served as a symbol for all generations of the promise of our values made possible around the world. I think he really was the wasident that basically president when we entered the world stage and especially when he was the supreme allied commander in europe. Senator from kansas, we look forward to the dedication when that happens every thank you so much for joining us this morning on the 75th anniversary of ve day. And back to our guest, rick your calls andg comments on this 75th anniversary. James is in south dakota. Go ahead. Retired air force, i was 9 11aqi war veteran post saudi arabia, ground zero. I served one year in korea. Fundraiser with my dad, he was a world war ii veteran. He delivered coffins and there were a lot of them. Graduated. 945, he i was calling to thank all the veterans and share a little history. Host thanks, james. Rick atkinson, your dad served in world war ii and he was a career military veteran. What was that experience in particular like, ve day, when that will come up every year with your dad would come up . He enlisted in the army after he turned 18 in 1942. He went to ocs and became the Second Lieutenant and got to europe after the war ended. The occupational force in bavaria with Extraordinary Police powers because germany was in ruins and anarchy was a big threat in bavaria and every will else everywhere else. He went back into the army and liked it well enough to make it a career and he served for 30 years. He died 18 months ago at the age of 90 or. Ve day was not anything particular in his review worldview. These were important holidays for him as they are for many of us. , it was debated about whether or not we would end up in the pacific. Orton at least for me and for him, that was not necessary fortunately for me. Father having gone back into the army, went back to europe and was part of the army of occupation of salzburg and the Army Hospital happened to be in munich and austria was still petitioned and he was part of the occupation of austria until 1955 when the russians and americans both left austria. Warresidual effects of the have persisted in many ways and even 10 years after, we still had occupational forces in austria and to this day we have American Forces in germany. They are not Occupation Forces because there they are our allies now. Military topography was profound and affected me personally and certainly my father. Host next up is robert calling from virginia. Morning, gentlemen. Bothandfather served in theaters. He was in the navy during the european conflict and when they decided they would call it quits, ve day, he transferred over to the United States remain marine corps so that he could go to the Pacific Theater. And thanky saw action god he came home to us. He served in two different branches of service and two theaters of war. Questions . Pecific caller is it true that during the Second World War they had a acret group of nazis to make after the war. Forthrike. Guest there were certainly good nazis who got away and escape either the hangman or present. Prison. Some of them went to south america and there were a few who had ambitions of either reich. Ituting the german this is a fringe group not to be taken seriously. Those who may have had ambitions to put together the tattered remnants of the german is higher and reconstitute it in some fashion. In germany and elsewhere, it is not just germans by any means who feel that the. Of the third. Eich somehow should be honored you cannot legally be a nazi in germany. The germans have been extraordinarily capable at educating all germans, germans,rly younger about what had happened and who was responsible. Outit is difficult to snuff this virus. We see it cropping up in hungary and other places in Eastern Europe. We see sparks of it in portions of germany. It is very concerning. Wherever there is a populace who wants to take the neofascism. Ism or that is a greater concern than any residual of nazis from 1945. Your lastwrote in book about the discovery of a trove of treasures after the remains of the war. How did allied forces prevent looting of that and prevent revenge violence against germans who may have been prisoners or in pursuit of german troops . Guest the germans were great thieves. Nazis had looted artworks and treasures of all sorts from individuals and galleries and museums all across occupied europe. To discover that stuff and get back to the original owners is a process that goes on to this day. It was a great concern. When american soldiers liberated the concentration camp and saw tens of thousands in emaciated conditions and thousands who had , there were american soldiers who lost control and discipline broke down and there are an estimated several dozen german camp guards who were murdered either by the americans, in one place they put them up against the wall and murder them with a machine gun or they were murdered by inmates who got into a frenzy until order was restored. There was concern about this for the most part, discipline of pain, there were a number of revenge killings by american troops and western allied troops. Was admirable. About the soviet troops coming from the east, that was part of the price and the pain of victory. And lets go back to calls here from florence in minnesota. Caller two comments. I always admired eisenhower for having to pull in citizens from the town near the concentration camps so that they could witness what the nazis did, but that is not my question. My question is studying world war ii is so impactful for understanding where we are today from a political, military, and social perspective. Thatan count on particularly as it relates to the politics involved in making the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Thank you for the opportunity and i look forward to hearing your comments. Guest thanks for the call. The consequences of world war ii , socially,dinary politically, militarily. Socially in this country argues on gender and racial equality are shaped by the experiences in world war ii. There were black americans, hundreds of thousands of them, mostly in in the war allblack units. It was a segregated military. Double vhem had a campaign. Victory against fascism overseas and the rate against racism at home. Victory against racism at home. Experience was a propulsion system for the Civil Rights Movement after the war. The same for gender equality. These 19 million american women working outside of the home during world war ii, many of them went back to the homemakers after the war. It showed women, that they had an opportunity to do whatever men could do, that they could do things that men could do as well, if not better. Whether it was working in a science lab, teaching in college, whatever. These very large social imprints that come out of the war are witness to this day and shape the culture and the society, the economy in extraordinarily profound ways that we still see 75 years later. Host we will put our viewers and listeners to Rick Atkinsons views on a piece in the wall street journal, ve day, a photo worth defending. Belgiumr wounded in standing near Grand Central station on may 7, 1945. Holly springs, North Carolina is next. Linda, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. Uncle fromunt and northern italy who told stories about resistance by many italians and how i rated they were on liberation day. Irate. Our current family reminds us on april 5 april 25, there liberation day and how sad they are that many of their elder survivors passed away due to covid19. They feel like they are in battle again. My question is what were the italian terms of liberation and where they are still germans in italy fighting at that time . Guest yes, there were germans in italy until may of 1945. Decidedians in 1943 had after making an alliance with of steelns, the impact that mussolini and hitlers put er. In 1943 hitl there were negotiations between the americans, reddish, and italians. In 1943 the italians switched sides. Not all of them switched sides. State that rough prevailed in northern italy supported by the germans. The fighting in italy which had began with our invasion would continue right to the very end of the war. It lasted almost until this day 75 years ago. The italians eventually surrendered after the germans had agreed to surrender. It was the germans occupying italy,fighting in propping up that state of the italian pseudogovernment who had to throw in the towel. That occurred may 2, 1945. The war was in italy until the very end also. Illinois, you are on. Caller good morning. I hope the fellow from new mexico is still listening. We had a navajo on our local Radio Station being interviewed hymn in fellow sang a navajo. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. Is ifestion i have Franklin Roosevelt still lived in august, would eleanor have andhim use the bombs . Semper fidelis or america. America. Guest roosevelt was not directing war policy before april. He was interested in the manhattan project. A way to shorten the war and save lives. , and tos and allies save japanese lives also. Had Franklin Roosevelt lived dont april 12, 1945, i have any doubt that he would have made the same decision that harry truman did was to go ahead and use this terrible weapon in hopes of bringing the total war to a complete and final end which happens with the japanese bayender in tokyo on tokyo on the uss missouri on september 2, 1945. Host we touched on this at the beginning. Who are the, germans signing for the german country . Theppose he is referring to allied signing and not the russians signing. Guest the operations chief for the german military, he had been designated and given the residual german government. He had an appointment after that signing with the hangmen. He was one of those executed for war crimes. You probably get this question a lot. You are working on another trilogy about the revolution with your first book coming out on that last year. Have you considered a book about the Pacific Theater in world war ii . Guest i thought about it. It was obvious to pivot to the pacific and try to do for that theater what i have done for the mediterranean and western europe. I decided not to. 2013 is when the final volume came out. I decided not to in part because i am a european nist. I lived in europe, i was born in europe. Ofe important, just out fascination and even fixation with that earlier war, the war of our independence that gave us the republic that we have to this day. Volume two ofn the American Revolution trilogy. It will take me a while. I do not anticipate being around to take up the pacific. Berlin, illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have a question for mr. Atkinson. I wonder what he thinks about mexican americans in american wars. More than 500 mexican americans were in the war. Guest thank you for the question. As with the other ethnic contributions that we talked about earlier, native americans, blacks, and others, the hispanic , take the Texas National guard after it was federalized or the 45th division which had been the oklahoma and new Mexico National guard. You have the roster of the names of the soldiers of those units and you see lots of hernandezs and gonzaless. There are many hispanic names and their contribution is significant. Unitsrole in making those into fine fighting units. The 36 and the 45th birth inh and 45th both fought italy. The hispanic americans have every reason to be proud of their role and their 16. 1ibution to that million men and women force that made the United States military in world war ii. Host there was a photograph in elizabethday, queen to lead the 75th Anniversary Event speaking to the nation on television there as an army driver, what was the role of the royal family back during the war . Guest their role was to keep the british in the fight and to ambitions of the entire british nation which was basically to prevail and withstand the pressures from thugs. And his fascist when ve day occurred, there were huge crowds in london and crowds that gathered outside the palace. They sang patriotic songs, people weeping. They chanted, we want the king. The king came out and. On the balcony of Buckingham Palace d. He times appeare princessesh him the including elizabeth who was still a young girl. She has been queen for a long time and there is no one better equipped to speak on behalf of written and what they accomplished during the war. Britain. Host Rick Atkinson, we appreciate you joining us and we always appreciate your appearances on book tv as well and good luck on the continuation of your series on the American Revolution. Guest thank you so much for having me this morning and remembering the day. Host and a reminder if you miss any of our conversation this morning on washington journal, American History tv, our interview with Rick Atkinson will air again on our companion network tonight as part of our primetime lineup on the allied victory in europe. It all starts at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. That will wrap it up for this morning on washington journal. A reminder that washington journal prime is here tonight at 8 00 eastern. One of our guests is the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi joining us tonight. We look forward to your participation as well. Washington journal back here tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern as we always are. We hope you enjoy the rest of the day and the weekend. We will take you live next to the u. S. House for a brief pro forma session