Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20200515

And these data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020. We will deliver by the end of this year a vaccine at scale to treat the American People and our partners abroad. We all certainly hope so. And yet at this event announcing the leaders of this vaccine effort, President Trump seemed to undermine the very importance of a vaccine in some ways. Vaccine or no vaccine, were back. But how are we back . The u. S. Death toll continues to rise. It remains likely that we could lose more than 60,000 more americans over the next two months. Not to mention of course the hundreds of thousands infected, some of whom may be scarred for life. Now, yes, the trend of new cases is generally going down. And thats great news. But there is no Health Expert who thinks the u. S. Is out of the woods. Quite the contrary. Under what metric is the u. S. , quote, back . Cnns Kaitlan Collins asked the president that very question. Reporter unveiling his vaccine effort in the rose garden today, President Trump said the country would return to normal with or without one. I just want to make something clear. Its very important. Vaccine or no vaccine, were back. And were starting the process. Reporter asked what he meant by that, the president offered this explanation. We think were going to have a vaccine in the pretty near future, and if we do, were going to really be a big step ahead. And if we dont, well be like so many other cases where you had a problem come in, it will go away, at some point it will go away. Reporter the president was formally announcing the leaders of operation warp speed, his administrations effort to develop and distribute a vaccine. It is going to be a herculean task. Reporter but at one point the president seemed to downplay how critical a vaccine would be. Though many Health Experts have viewed an effective vaccine as the only way life can truly return to normal, the president made clear he doesnt agree. Its not solely vaccinebased. Other things have never had a vaccine and they go away. Reporter he also repeated his hope that a vaccine can be ready by the end of the year. Some Health Experts have said thats unrealistic. And yesterday the administrations former vaccine chief, rick bright, who was pushed out of his job, thinks it will not happen that soon. 12 to 18 months is an aggressive schedule. Reporter the president said he hopes a full vaccine will be ready by the end of the year and available to the general public, not just for emergency use. Do you mean a fully approved vaccine for everyone, the full public, or a partial vaccine for emergency use . No, were looking for a full vaccine for everyone that wants to get it. Not Everyone Wants to get it. Were looking at a full vaccine. Reporter nearly all the guests in the rose garden today were Wearing Masks but onstage, some of the president s top officials were and some werent, including the president. I told them, i gave them the option, they could wear it or not, so you can blame it on me. Reporter sources say trump and his aides have questioned whether the coronavirus death toll is being overcounted. Today the president said he assumes the numbers are correct. Do you think its accurate or higher than that . Or lower than that. I dont know. I dont know. Those are the numbers that are being reported. I assume theyre correct. Reporter now, jake, you may have noticed the Vice President was not in the rose garden today. Were told by sources that out of an abundance of caution hes still been keeping his distance from the president for the last few days after one of his top aides contracted coronavirus. Jake, you may have heard that dull honking sound over all the president s comments. Those are truckers out on constitutional avenue. And today in the rose garden you really couldnt ignore them. The president said they were protesting in favor of him. Thats not true. Theyre protesting because they say theres such economic strain and they want fair pay. Kaitlan collins, thank you so much, appreciate it. Joining me to discuss, cnn chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta. So much to discuss. The president and the Vaccine Task Force are clearly optimistic about the development and rollout of a vaccine as early as december or january. Obviously we all hope that to be true. But does it seem plausible to you . Its tough to call it plausible. I mean, it would be unprecedented, jake. And i totally agree with your sentiment, everyone is hopeful about this solvrt of thing. We are talking about different types of vaccines, vaccines that have never been used before. Its really hard to give a context here. We talk about the fact that some of these vaccines can take a decade to make. Those are different types of vaccines. The type of vaccine theyre talking about that i think moncef is talking about, is a messenger rna vaccine. Basically its the genetic blueprint of a part of the virus. You stick that in the body and the body then makes more of that and then makes the antibodies to fight that. So your body turns into a vaccine factory. If it works, theyre already going into phase ii with this, if it works, eventually phase iii by the end of the year, the idea that it would be manufactured, distributed, available for everybody by the end of the year just seems hard to believe. Again, everybody wants that. But i dont know how that would work. We talked to one of the guys working on a vaccine and he said his biggest concern is the manufacturing capacity for whatever they come up with to make 330 million doses of it, it would be quite an order. The president said Something Else today that i want to get your views on. He said, vaccine or no vaccine, we are back. I dont exactly know how one could say that given the continued death toll, the continued increase in cases. What do you make of that . Well, jake, you and i have been talking about this for so many months now. I remember talking to you on the day the 15day pause went into effect, and some 75 people had died by that point, 4,000 infections in the country. At that point the decision was made to put the country in a pause because of what was happening. I dont know i mean, the virus is still there. The virus hasnt changed, its still contagious, its still spreading in the community. Why now when you look at the numbers on the screen do you think, okay, now as a good time to sort of be back, open things up . Presumably thats what he means. Again, we say this stuff and people say, youre pessimistic, you know, you dont want the country to reopen. Of course i want the country to reopen. Im in my basement like most of the people in the country right now. But i think that, how do you justify opening things back up when the numbers are so far worse than they were when you decided to close things down . We need testing, we need to see downward trends for 14 days, we follow these numbers day by day and people get excited when they go down or up for a couple of days. Thats why you look for trends. We dont see a positive trend reliably and we dont have enough testing. Ive been talking to health officials, as you have, about their concerns about reopening too quickly, acting as if this were over. President trump said were back. He said this amid images of packed bars in wisconsin. President trump went so for as to retweet this man in a florida bar. Take a listen. Im at a bar restaurant. Were all having a good time. Not a single face mask. Its not that bad, guys. I mean, he goes on to say, you know, wouldnt want the copies in tcopy commies in the blue states to see us. Theyre not Wearing Masks, theyre not doing social distancing. The president retweeted that. Does that concern you . Of course it concerns me. Its not that bad . What does the guy think it was going to look like . You cant see the virus. Its contagious. Its spreading out there. When youre wearing a mask, youre not doing it to protect yourself but because youre trying to protect others. The entire way we as a society have decided to look at risk, what we quantify as risk or how we quantify risk itself, is totally dinner nofferent now. The people at those bars, what i think, and what a lot of people who are in Public Health think, is that you are then moving back to your homes, youre moving back to your communities, youre potentially taking that virus with you. If one person in that crowded bar setting had the virus, it could have spread. Weve shown how one person can spread it to nine people within an hour in these various studies. Then they go home to their families. That is the beginning of a cluster. Its a very hard thing to control. And then you have to start going back into lockdown mode. You want to do this slowly so you can actually be on top of it and not go into cluster or exponential growth. These things can be avoided for the time being. I want that as well, i would love to be with that guy, wherever he was. Were not ready yet. We lived through this before in february and march when we were saying the president is not facing up to the risk here. And i dont know what kind of message people are getting. And now we have almost 87,000 people dead, not directly attributable to President Trump, but obviously we need to have our leaders taking this seriously. Sanjay, stand by, i want to ask you about our next story after we run it. After the Trump Administration promised a vaccine soon, there may be no way for all americans to get it. Thats the conclusion of a new cnn investigation. Thats next. Stay with us for that. Plus what if china develops a vaccine first . President trump responded to that, thats coming up. vo what does it mean to be americas most Reliable Network . It means helping those who serve stay connected to their families. And now verizon wants to give them something back. Our best pricing ever. 30 per line for all nurses, teachers, first responders, military, and their families. Not for a few months, but for as long as they need. Plus, up to 700 off the oneplus 8. Because the people we rely on deserve a network they can rely on. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 7 million dogs. Nice. And. 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When you buy one on the subway app. To get back to normal again. For hospitals and at ctca, we arent waiting either. Were still focused on providing worldclass cancer care. Because cancer isnt just what we do, its all we do. Call now. Were back with our health lead today. President trump this afternoon addressed how his administration is preparing for the moment a vaccine is ready for use. This includes ramping up production of supplies needed for distribution such as cold storage, glass vials, needles, syringes, ready to go. When a vaccine is ready, the u. S. Government will use every plane, truck, available to distribute it to the American People as quickly as possible. As cnns drew griffin reports for us now, Health Experts are hoping the federal government has learned its lesson after disastrous shortages of personal gear plagued the nations hospitals earlier this year. Reporter if the vaccine for covid19 were to come today, there would be no way for all of us to get it. There are just not enough needles and syringes. I dont want to be in a situation where we cant deliver those doses because we dont have syringes and we dont have needles and we dont have the basic supplies to deliver that many doses of the vaccine. Reporter Michigan Democratic senator gary peters first sounded the alarm last year. The pandemic only heightened his fears. And last week he sent a letter to Vice President mike pence and hhs secretary alex azar, urging the federal government to take immediate steps to ensure america is prepared. We need to do it as soon as possible. Reporter a similar complaint by rick bright, the demoted leader of a key federal agency that develops vaccines, saying his warnings about the need for needles and syringes had been ignored. Bright may have been pushed aside but in testimony before congress yesterday, bright suggested someone in the federal government may have been listening. I learned that they placed an order, the first order for needles and syringes on may 1. Were the amounts adequate . I believe it was for 320 million needles and sir innyrin. And could you describe the situation if every american doesnt have access to the vaccine due to a supply shortage . That situation would be catastrophic. The decisions have not been made yet, who to vaccinate first, how to identify those individuals and stretch those limited supplies appropriately. Reporter three contracts for Vaccine Supplies awarded in the past few weeks totaling nearly 250 million. The largest by the department of defense for the u. S. Based production of 100 million prefilled syringes by year end 2020 with the ultimate production goal of over 500 million prefilled syringes in 2021. Sean paul, in charge of Disaster Response for one of the countrys largest medical companies, says its enough. Unlike ppe, well be in a much better position. We learned a lot of valuable lessons, and were preparing for the worst in vaccination and being able to administer to the full population if necessary. Reporter that comes with one big caveat. The unknown. Until we have something that is approved by a particular supplier or manufacturer, it will be very challenging for us to prepare for potential shortages on vials, syringes or needles. Reporter if estimates are correct, if the contract is fulfilled, the u. S. Could have the supplies needed to inoculate the population when and if a covid19 vaccine is approved. Drew griffin, cnn, atlanta. Our thanks to drew griffin for that report. Cnns chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta is back with me. Sanjay, the white house is ramping up production of vials and equipment so the u. S. Is prepared if a vaccine is ready to be distributed. But is that goal too ambitious or will the achievement not be able to achieve it . I think were capable of achieving this goal. I think its a question of now recognizing that there might be this demand. There will be this demand for these supplies. And actually making sure were in the process of obtaining those things, which it sounds like from drews piece, a lot of that is happening, which is good. This idea that even before a vaccine is approved, even before its gone through all the phases of trial, that this process is starting, that theyre actually going to start manufacturing the vaccine even if they dont know it works yet because they just want to get ahead of the curve and take some gambles here and make sure the cold storage is available, all the syringes and needles. Some of these vaccines have to be stored at a specific temperature. Distributing them is going to be more challenging because of things like that. Thats the planning that needs to happen now even before a vaccine is ready. Its great that theyre on top of it. I hope it works out. If there are still shortages of the vaccine once its discovered, once its manufactured, how does it get decided who gets the vaccine and who doesnt . You remember the early days of the virus when all sorts of really wealthy people like nba stars and the like were getting tests, where doctors and nurses on the front lines werent able to. Yeah, right. And, you know, who is to say some of that wont happen again. You know, some of that happens when you have scarce resources. But there are entire textbooks about Vaccine Distribution and how you figure out the priorities. Some of it is per capita, by state, figuring out the populations of people. Some of it is figuring out where the virus are circulating, in areas where youve had recent outbreaks, things like that. In particular health care workers, people who are particularly vulnerable, people with preexisting conditions, that make people more likely to contract the infection or get sick from it, those are the people who will be at the front of the line. All right. Dr. Sanjay gupta, thanks again. Learn even more from sanjays podcast, coronavirus fact versus fiction available on cnn. Com or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks as always, sanjay. Coming up, a major spike in one state two weeks after the state reopened as new york citys reopening is extended into june. Well take a look across the country. Stay with us. Tempurpedics mission is to give you truly transformative sleep. So, no more tossing and turning. Because only tempurpedic adapts and responds to your body. So you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. During the tempurpedic summer of sleep, all tempurpedic mattresses are on sale motor . Nope. Not motor . Its pronounced motaur. For those who were born to ride, theres progressive. And ask your doctor about biktarvy. Biktarvy is a complete, onepill, onceaday treatment used for hiv in certain adults. Its not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights hiv to help you get to and stay undetectable. Thats when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. Research shows people who take hiv treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. Rare, lifethreatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. Do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. Tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. If you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. Common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. 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In the National Lead today, florida is one of the latest states with eased restrictions on gyms, retail stores, and restaurants. 48 states have partial reopen plans in the coming days while some, such as new york, are extending restrictions in hotspots where coronavirus cases have yet to trend down. Cnns nick watt now reports on whats become a piecemeal reopening plan nationwide. Reporter across louisiana, dinner and a movie is now an option once more. But it your server might be masked. Weve kind of crushed the curve and because its due to our residents, really, they stayed at home. Reporter 48 states now have an opening plan under way today. Half of new york state begins its long road back. All i can do is get back to work and hope that theyll come. Reporter new yorks order extended another 2 million in the state, including new york city, unless numbers improve. We need a massive citywide apparatus, testing, tracing. Reporter in michigan, resistance to regulations goes on. These are is not just citizens who are unhappy about having to stay home. This is a political rally, essentially. Reporter that might actually delay reopening. Its the congregating of big groups of people who arent Wearing Masks, who arent staying six feet apart, that will perpetuate community spread. Reporter in rural virginia, a nursing home outbreak. 76 cases, eight deaths. Doctors in 18 states now investigating those rare but severe reactions in kids that might be covidrelated. W. H. O. Just told doctors worldwide to be on alert. Were all putting our heads and cases together to really get an answer to what is driving this and the best treatments. Reporter and aprils retail numbers are out. Another historic low. Retail sales down 16. 4 . Clothing sales down nearly 90 . Most of the 50 states are going back to work in some form. I like to look forward. Reporter ford will start making cars again monday. Restaurants will reopen in hardhit miami as the county looks to hire up to 1,000 contact tracers. Texas just set a record, most reported covid deaths in 24 hours. Gyms and offices still scheduled to reopen monday. In vegas, you can now buy a mask from a vending machine at the airport as caesars gets ready to reopen. In the new world there will only be three chairs and nobody will be able to be within six feet. Reporter good news from l. A. The usns Mercy Hospital ship just left, after six weeks of supporting the covid19 flight. The curve here has flattened. And great news from new jersey. Sylvia, who lived through the 1918 spanish flu as a kid, just recovered from covid19. Shes 108. I survived everything because i was determined to stay alive. Reporter now, here is the potential problem with all this uneven opening. Lets say salons are open in georgia. You might get people coming across from tennessee to get a haircut. And thats why new york, new jersey, connecticut, and delaware are going to coordinate the reopening of their beaches so you dont get a crush in one state. And theyre saying theyre going to be open before memorial day. Here in l. A. County, this is going to be our first weekend with beaches open, so a test, can we social distance in the sand. Jake . All right, nick watt in california, thank you so much. Tomorrow night, join me and my cnn colleagues as we honor the graduates of the class of 2020 with a special twohour event. Former president S Barack Obama and bill clinton, gal gadot, lebron james, and so many more will join us for the celebration, 7 00 p. M. Eastern tomorrow night on cnn. Coming up, rising tensions. How china is responding to President Trumps latest threats. Stay with us. announcer in this world where people are staying at home, many of lifes moments are being put on hold. At carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just cant wait. 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White House Press Secretary Kayleigh Mcenany echoed that sentiment, saying that the president is frustrated. This of course just one day after the president alluded to cutting off the United States relationship with china altogether. Cnns kiley atwood joins me now. Kiley, how has the Chinese Government responded to what the president has been saying . Reporter in response to the specific comments that President Trump made yesterday, the foreign minister of china said essentially that it is in the best interests of both companies to develop the bilateral advertise between them. But that is noticeably mortem p more temperate language than we have seen from china when dealing with these comments from President Trump over how china handled the coronavirus. As these allegations have been thrown back and forth between the countries, there have been new policies here in the Trump Administration that have been announced. Just this morning the Commerce Department came out and said that now any American Company that wants to sell Semiconductor Chips to huawei, which is a massive tech giant in china, is going to have to get a special license to do so. That is going to create some tremendous hurdles for this chinese tech giant. And china came out pretty aggressively and threatened some retaliation, saying that they could, you know, activate unreliable entities list. This is really escalating the tensions between the two countries which could turn into something thats more than just rhetoric. The president said that despite the growing tensions hes not concerned if china were to make a vaccine that we would be denied access. Reporter yes, he was asked today, if china is the one that develops the vaccine, would the u. S. Have access. And he very bluntly said yes. But of course he has also said in recent days that he has not talked to president xi, he doesnt want to talk to president xi. Hes reiterated his frustrations with china. The backdrop with regard to the u. S. And china and conversations over a vaccine is that just this week, the fbi and dhs came out with a statement saying that china is likely trying to use Cyber Attacks to steal the Vaccine Research secrets here in the u. S. , the data that u. S. Researchers are providing. So not really creating an environment that is ripe for working together on Vaccine Research. Reporter all right, kylie atwood at the state department, thank you so much for that. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night. But could coronavirus be the one thing the post office cannot overcome . Thats next. Its powerful, fdaapproved to relieve moderate pain for up to 12 hours, yet nonaddictive and gentle on the body. Salonpas. Its good medicine. Hisamitsu. I came across sofi and it was the best decision of my life. Were getting a super competitive Interest Rate on our money. Were able to invest through the same exact platform. 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Were here for you during this challenging timeand always. Find support at anoro. Com. However, there is one thing you can be certain of. The men and women of the United States Postal Service. Were here to deliver cards and packages from loved ones and also deliver the peace of mind of knowing that essentials like prescriptions are on their way. Every day, all across america, we deliver for you. And we always will. In our National Lead, the fate of what polls say is the most popular federal agency hangs in the balance. The United States Postal Service has been in trouble for a long time, losing billions of dollars every year for the past decade. The combination of President Trumps ire and the Novel Coronavirus could theoretically put a final nail in the coffin. The Postal Service is a joke. Because theyre handing out packages for amazon and other Internet Companies and every time they bring a package, they lose money on it. The Postal Service has long been a target for the gop. And President Trump, in addition, does not like his coverage in the washington post, which is owned by amazons founder jeff bezos. Today the house votes for a massive covid relief bill that would provide the Postal Service with 25 billion, something President Trump blocked in marchs relief bill. Their goal has always been to privatize, to make a profit off the Postal Service. Were for having the Postal Service meet the public interest, not some special interest. President trump just appointed a wealthy republican donor and trump ally as the new po postmaster general. Joining me is the author of undelivered, which is out now. Thanks for joining us. More than a thousand postal workers have tested positive for coronavirus, over 50 have died. How has coronavirus impacted the agency . Its had a devastating effect on the Postal Service as it has on the u. S. Economy, because people arent using the mail as much, especially businesses. Thats been a dropoff in revenue because of a dropoff in volume by a third since the same period last year. Its estimated the Postal Service has lost 13 billion already and could lose another 22 billion over the next 18 months. Of course the Postal Service gets no taxpayerfunded funds, it just gets postage. There are private competitors like fedex and ups. What makes President Trumps attacks on the Postal Service different than those of previous president s . Its unique, weve never seen a sitting president attack the post office like this. But i think we can get distracted too much, because this has really been a growing trend among conservatives, to privatize Public Institutions like the Postal Service. Keep in mind that the post office is a 245yearold institution, and ironically, one of trumps president ial heroes, president nixon, presided over the change in format from a u. S. Post Office Department to a Government Agency slash corporation, the u. S. Postal service, after the 1970 nationwide postal wildcat strike forced the issue. We actually had a bipartisan compromise between nixon and Congressional Democrats and postal unions. So President Trump has called the Postal Service a mismanaged business, he said he would not support any additional Financial Support unless they raise package rates by 400 . Why do you think thats not a feasible option . Well, its not feasible because every time the post office has raised its package rates, predictably, ups and fedex raise theirs. They take some of the business. If they raise it too much, of course, theyll price themselves right out of business, so theyll lose volume, theyll lose revenue. And amazon will just be content to deliver more of its own. They deliver half of their own packages. The massive debt of the post office, im glad you brought up the billions of dollars in debt, almost all that have is as a result of the 2006 law that forced the Postal Service to pay 5. 5 billion per year for ten years into the Retiree Benefits fund. So theyve been carrying this massive debt even though for most years since 1995 they were in the black. Starting in 2009, they were in the red. They would have been in the black almost every year since that time even with the Great Recession except for this imposed, congressionallyimposed i call it a tax on them. So just for viewers at home, why does it matter if it gets privatized . Whats the worst thing that happens if the u. S. Postal service goes away and people use ups, fedex, et cetera . Why does it matter . Well, everybody uses ups, fedex, and the Postal Service at some point. What we have to remember is that fedex and ups only deliver to a fraction of what the u. S. Postal service delivers. The Postal Service is universal, it goes to all 160 million homes and businesses including the last mile delivery, so your ups package probably has a usps sticker on it as well. And when you think about what privatization means, it means profitdriven as opposed to the one institution that we have thats an essential infrastructure, network iing institution that provides has provided for American Innovation and development over the years. So every day, tens of millions of prescription drugs, invoices for small businesses, Large Businesses alike, bills, households pay bills still by mail, business letters, personal letters, go through the mail, parcels. This is especially a bad time. By the end of september, the Postal Service could run out of cash if its not given relief. All right, phil rubio, thank you so much, appreciate your time. Coming up, they put their lives on the line for the United States but one former official is raising the alarm, saying veterans are not being protected enough from coronavirus. Stay with us. Your mission stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On. With rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill. Can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for somerinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. Thats rinvoq relief. With ra, your overactive immune system. Attacks your joints. Rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred. As have certain cancers, including lymphoma, tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. Your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. Tell your doctor about any infections. And if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. 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It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. While most of the world is being asked to stay inside, there are people out there giving it their all. So, to everyone who is helping keep us safe against covid19 day in and day out, all of us at amgen say. Thank you. You should switch it to Tracfone Wireless to get more control over your wireless plan. They give you unlimited carryover data you pay for your data, you keep really . Yeah, you just swap your sim card you can also keep your phone, keep your number, keep your network, 20 a month, no contract. Oh, but that case temporary its my daughters old case well, ok, you know. You do you. Available 24 7 at tracfone. Com Tracfone Wireless. Now youre in control. Birthdays arent cancelled. Hope isnt quarantined. First words arent delayed. Caring isnt postponed. Courage isnt on hold. And love hasnt stopped. U. S. Bank thanks you for keeping all of our spirits strong. Weve donated millions to those in need and are always here for our customers and employees. 6 in our National Lead, veterans who put their lives on the lines to protect their country are facing a new and deadly battle with this pandemic. If the vas hospitals and staterun Nursing Homes were a state, that state would rank 16th for total coronavirus deaths. Some veterans advocates say the va could be doing more, much more, to protect this already vulnerable population. I felt like i had a target on my back. Reporter its a terrifying new reality many veterans are facing. Surviving in a pandemic world. Older male with preexisting conditions. Thats me and every vietnam veteran i know, practically. Reporter its a growing fear in the community. Especially after the department of Veterans Affairs released disturbing new numbers. At least 985 patients known to have died with covid19, receiving some form of care from the Va Health Care system. 985. Thats more than most states. Like everyone else, it was a little behind the curve. Reporter outside of the federal system, deaths at many staterun homes have skyrocketed. Once the disease got into these Nursing Homes, Veterans Homes, before anybody knew it, it was running rampant. Reporter veterans advocate groups have questioned the va but its use of hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus and whether it did sufficient outreach to veterans who were vulnerable. And the question of oversight of staterun facilities. More than 550 residents in Veterans Homes across the country have died from this virus, according to a report. And not all states are reporting. Families of those residents have been forced to face unfathomable and painful realities as those loved ones fight for their lives, sometimes remaining in the dark as they wait to hear if their Family Member is still ali alive. I wrote on my car, is my father alive, shame on you, soldiers home. Reporter and in new jersey, at paramus, where 72 residents of one Veterans Home passed away. They gave us 15 minutes at the cemetery. Reporter despite the va partially funding and overseeing these state homes, secretary Robert Wilkie is bucking the blame, pointing the finger instead at local governments. We take complaints when we hear complaints. We cannot impose our will on those state venue. Reporter the Va Press Secretary tells cnn that federal law states that the va, quote, shall have no authority over the management or control of any state Veterans Home and that individual states, not the federal government, quote, are solely responsible for the operation and management of staterun Veterans Homes and any problems that arise with them. But the law also states that secretary wilkie can inspect any Veterans Home wherever he wants. The former va secretary for policy and planning, linda schwartz, says wilkie can create and enforce guidelines hold the facilities available. She was the connecticut veterans commissioner for 11 years and managed all staterun homes there, directly dealing with federal va oversight. And she says urgent action needs to be taken. There is a real need to do an analysis of whats going on here and what are the needs of the population. And it cant be something that takes years. It has to be now. Taking care of veterans is a great honor and a great responsibility. Reporter and as we approach memorial day in the middle of this pandemic, it will also be a moment for the nation to pause, to reflect on the lives of veterans lost and what more might have been done to prevent it. Its sad to think how many we will be mourning this year who died because of a virus and not on the battlefield but in a way the battlefield is in the streets of america today. When we asked the va if they would do anything different, a spokesman said that the va grieves for all the veterans and loved ones affected by this heartbreaking situation. Before we go, we want to take a moment to remember another victim of coronavirus. An air force veteran who lost his life to the virus. Clifton dougherty lived at the minnesota Veterans Home in minneapolis. Employees held a funeral progression for him complete with flagdraped casket. He was 78 years old. His daughter says her dad loved everyone and when an incredible sense of humor. May his memory be a blessing. Tune in this sunday morning to cnns state of the union. My geflts incluuests include ax mike dewine, and ron johnson. Our coverage on cnn continues now. Have a strong and healthy weekend. Ill see you sunday morning. This is cnn breaking news. And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Were following breaking news. The coronavirus death toll in the United States has now surpassed 86,000 and confirmed cases are nearing 1. 5 million. Meanwhile President Trump is touting his administrations operation warp speed effort, raising hopes that a fullyapproved vaccine could be available to the public by end of the year. That would be much sooner than the 12 to 18month timeline