Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20200503

To open back up for business, were far from the end of this scourge, and the mid crisis lesson to learn is that our past failures do not need to dictate our future actions. As Global Health official and former head of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim wrote in the new yorker last week, its not too late to go on the offense against the coronavirus. And there are promising signs that our nascent offensive efforts are working but will only succeed if were guided by one thing, and that one thing is data. There is no other way to defeat coronavirus. All of our decisions must be based on the evidence available to us, not on the basis of political advantage nor on the basis of misdirected protests. We can only succeed if we follow the science, and that much is going to be our focus in the hour ahead. Tonight in a week with so many medical and science headlines to keep track of, i am once again grateful to be joined by dr. Zeke emanuel for the hour. Dr. Emanuel is an nbc news and msnbc senior medical contributor. Zekes going to give us a much of needed reality check on the news of treatment, breakthrou breakthroughs. Also labs that are sitting idle, Antibody Tests that are wildly inaccurate and unregulated. Were going to talk about whats broken and more importantly, how to fix it. Also, miami mayor francis suarez, himself a covid19 survivor, is going to be here in a few minutes. Mayor suarez is at the heart of the reopening debate in the country. While florida is opening some aspects, the Popular Center of Miamidade County is staying shut. It is a difficult state versus city dichotomy that is playing out across this nation, and that is so difficult because 30 million americans and thats most likely an undercount are out of work, desperate for their next paycheck. Tonight were going to examine the push to open up, to get back to work, versus the concerns of triggering a second wave of coronavirus if we open up before the science, before the data tells us it is safe to do so. So lets begin with the numbers. The United States now has 1. 1 million reported cases of coronavirus. The United States has 64,950 reported deaths from the coronavirus. The fda has issued an emergency use authorization for Gilead Sciences antiviral drug remdesivir for patients hospitalized with a severe case of covid19. The fdas nod came after dr. Anthony fauci, the nations top Infectious Disease expert showed that the trial data showed that the drug had a clear cut significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery. We should note this does not mean the drug should be used for all hospitalized patients. Previous research suggested the drug may have potentially dangerous side effects in some patients. But the maker of remdesivir, Gilead Sciences, is hoping that they can expand the drugs use for patients earlier in the course of their illness. Heres the ceo of Gilead Sciences on the today show. We were prepared and ready for this virus because of some of the work weve done with remdesivir for the past decade. At the same time that we put remdesivir in the Clinical Trials, we also made the decision before knowing it was going to be effective, to expand our capacity knowing the Global Crisis this was and knowing we would have to be ready in the event that this turned out to be effective for patients. So we have gone from around 5,000 treatment courses to today almost 100,000 treatment courses. And because of our development early, we think we will get to millions of treatment courses by the end of the year. Meanwhile america is starting to reopen. More than half the nations governors are relaxing pandemic restrictions in their states while hoping that the Novel Coronavirus doesnt spike, setting off another round of closures. But there is good reason for that caution. A new report from the university of minnesota suggests that the coronavirus pandemic could stretch on for two more years with recurring spikes until roughly twothirds or more of the population has developed immunity. And we have two pieces of news tonight from the white house. Nbc news is reporting that the white house has whittled the field of possible vablgs evccin its Operation Warp Speed Program from 93 to 14, which will undergo more testing in the next couple of weeks. And breaking tonight, the white house is blocking dr. Fauci from testifying before a house subcommittee thats investigating the coronavirus outbreak and response. The white house said it would be counterproductive to take him away from his work. But while hes been blocked from testifying before the house, nbc news has also learned late tonight that a spokesperson for the Senate Health Committee Says that dr. Fauci will testify before that committee on may 12th. Okay. Thats the catchup on where we are in the news. I want to bring in dr. Zeke emanuel. He is a physician who served as a Health Policy adviser in the obama administration. Hes now the vice provost for global initiatives at the university of pennsylvania. Zeke, great to see you as always. And as always, were loaded with questions for you. And the first one starts with remdesivir. Whats the situation with this drug . So lets first talk about how remdesivir works. The virus, remember, comes into the cell, into a lung cell, and then gets ingested and has to reproduce and make a lot more viruses. Remdesivir blocks that because it incorporates into the genetic code of the virus and basically breaks it up. And that stops it from reproducing. So what are these test results that dr. Fauci was talking about . Basically they started in the first of february, and theyve gone on for three months with over 1,000 patients involved in the United States, europe, and asia. The results were in relatively sick patients, those needing oxygenation or being on a ventilator. And they left the hospital sooner, after 11 days. Patients who got the placebo left after 15 days. When you look at the mortality, 8 of patients died who received remdesivir, and about 11. 6 died who received placebo, but that wasnt what we call statistically significant. It didnt mean that it was enough. It could have happened by chance, so that was the result. That led the fda to say theres enough folgs here. Probably the benefits are better than the risk, and were going to give this an emergency approval. Dr. Fauci among others said that this was an encouraging first step. Its clearly not a home run for anyone. Let me just say a couple of words in caution. This is good but not great. Were probably going to need multiple drugs to treat this virus again. We might have to move remdesivir up earl year. And the last thing i want to say is now that weve approved a drug, its going to be hard to do a placebocontrolled trial. So were going to have to test all new drugs against remdesivir, and that makes it harder and will require more patients in they trial. For this trial we needed three months. That gives you a sense for how long these next trials of new therapeutics are going to be. Right. And a statistic we talked about a little last week, that it is much harder than you think when were trying these new drugs, if you want to try to get a result out of it thats statistically significant, you actually need a whole lot of people in the trial. So theres complexity in developing therapeutics and vaccines. Thanks, zeke. Lets continue this discussion with miami mayor francis suarez. In march, mayor suarez was quarantined for 18 days after testing positive for coronavirus himself. Hes joining us now. Mayor, its good to see you. Hows your health first of all . Im doing well, thank you, ali. I had to quarantine, like you said, for 18 days. Ive been out of quarantine since then. Thankfully i have not had any sort of aftereffects or relapses of any kind, so ive been very fortunate. Mayor, we wanted to talk to you tonight because what you go through is reflective of a lot of the country. You are the mayor of a major center that has a lot of interchange with different people. You were you started restrictions in miami earlier. You are not ending them as early as other people are. But its porous, right . Boundaries between your city and neighboring cities are porous. Tell me about your concerns, about people who continued going to the beach, people who want to go back outside, enjoy the great weather, but the fact is youve got a city that is still under stayathome orders. Right. And its not only porous, but we also have a very Large International airport. And to give you a perspective, our International Airport receives 50 million passengers a year. That is twice the population of the state of florida. Even now when its operating at a diminished capacity, maybe 10 of its capacity, its still 5 Million People, which is twice the size of our county, which is a large county of about 3 Million People. So its almost twice the size. So were grappling with not only internal threats of, of course, maintaining social distancing, staying at home and making sure that our residents stay disciplined so that we can continue to reduce the number of new cases, but were also dealing with external threats. So, you know, its a very challenging, you know, dynamic, and were doing the very best that we can. And were trying to be as proactive and as careful as possible because of so many lives are at stake. Mayor, let me ask you about the idea that in many states, theres a tension between those residents who dont live in Major Centers like miami or like atlanta, where the mayors of these cities want to keep things a little more tightly controlled for a while. And there are people in other more spread out areas where theyre not seeing the same incidence of coronavirus, and they are putting pressure on their governors to open things up. How is that working for you in florida because youve got a governor who is ready to open things up. Yeah. Thankfully this week, although he did open up a large part of the state of florida, he gave the mayors in the southern part of florida, which is the densest part of florida, the ability to remain closed. And thats why weve done that. The data that were looking at is kind of all over the place. We had yesterday the ninth highest amount of new cases in the last basically two months, and then the two days that preceded that, we had some of the lowest number of new cases since the beginning as well. So part of the issue is were trying to interpret the data. The criteria that everybodys talked about is, of course, 14 consecutive days of diminishing covid19 new cases and also diminishing complaints of influenzalike, you know, symptoms. And were not quite there in terms of how we feel the data should be interpreted. Were looking at it every single day. We get two reports a day. We get two reports on the hospitalizations every single day, and were looking at all of that to make a prudent decision. Its a very, very fine balancing act that we as a major city have to make. Are you worried about a second wave, and how are you going to handle it if you do get a second wave that everyone seems to worry about . Of course we are, doctor. You have to understand that i was patient number two literally in all of Miamidade County. I was the second person at least that we knew of that tested positive. I was an asymptomatic person, and i was tested because i happened to be in the same room with one of the early, you know, people who had said publicly that they tested positive for covid19 from a delegation that came from brazil. So we are absolutely concerned that there could be a second wave, and we realize how quickly you can go from patient number two, which was me, to patient number 12,257, which is where were at right now. So, you know, were trying to be careful and do everything that we can to avoid that second wave from happening. 12,257, and more than 350 deaths. Mayor, thanks very much for joining us and for your leadership on this right from the beginning. Miami mayor francis suarez. Still to come, youve no doubt heard the news out of oxford about progress on a Coronavirus Vaccine. Its being hailed add a breakthrough but should we believe the hype . Also the squeeze on workers who just cant work from home. President trump orders meatpacking plants open, and some republican governors say if you dont return to work, you wont get unemployment either. But up next, importance questions about accuracy of testing and a new theory about how long you could spread the virus if you have it. And platelet donations and asks all healthy donors to schedule an appointment to give. Now, with the corona virus outbreak, it is important to maintain a sufficient blood supply. Your Blood Donation is critical and can help save lives. Please schedule an appointment today. Download the blood donor app. Visit redcrossblood. Org or call 1 800 red cross today. You can make a difference. Your cells. Trillions of them. Thats why centrum contains 24 key nutrients to feed your cells, supporting your energy so you can take care of what matters most. Centrum. Feed your cells. Fuel your life. 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Since the coronavirus pandemic began, there has been one constant among all experts, the need for more testing. On march 6th when the United States had only 217 confirmed cases of coronavirus, this is what President Trump said while visiting the centers for Disease Control in atlanta. Anybody that wants a test can get a test. Thats what the bottom line is. Tonight the United States has 1,102,937 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Now, the actual number of cases is likely much higher, but we dont really know because we still do not have enough tests. There have been shortages at times of everything necessary to conduct those tests, including personal protective equipment, specialized swabs, the reagent chemicals needed by labs, and machines to run those samples. Across the country there are thousands of academic labs that could test for the virus that are being unused. Thats according to an oped in the wall street journal written by two neuroscientists from Michigan State university. They write that, our Research Team used food and Drug Administration guidelines and a scientific report from wuhan, china, to develop a covid19 test in early march. It took one week. Our test doesnt use the reagents other labs are desperately seeking, and it can identify levels of virus so low that a typical test could miss them entirely. Yet our lab sits idle. The Sticking Point is something called Clinical Laboratory improvement amendment certification, also known as clea. Most academic labs currently do not have this certification, but with it these labs could help drastically increase testing in the United States. Jack lipton is chair of translational neuroscience at Michigan State University College of human medicine, and he coauthored that oped. He talked to zeke about his labs diagnostic test also known as a pcr test and what a prompt accreditation from federal government could mean in americas fight against coronavirus. I wanted to talk to you first to explain to people what a pcr test is and what the steps we have to go through are. First you get a nasal swab or you get a saliva swab, and then you in the lab isolate the rna, the genetic code in the virus. Then what do you do to get the test and determine if the persons been infected or not . So we take that rna, and we turn it into something stable, which is dna. Then we take that bit, and we amplify it. And we take it, and we run it through several cycles with some enzymes, and those allow it to double for each cycle. And the larger that we amplify it, the more we start to develop a lightbased signal. And through that signal, we end up seeing whether weve amplified the genetic code of the virus. And if we did, we will get a bright signal, and that produces a reading on our machine. That tells us if we are indeed have the presence of the virus in the individual. Now, youve been reported to be out there saying that, you know, if we harnessed a lot of the academic labs like your own that arent doing research because of covid19, you could generate 500,000 to 1 million copies i think you were quoted as saying, 500,000 to 1 million tests a day. Is that really plausible . I think its absolutely plausible. I think its basic math. Theres easily 10,000 labs out there in academia that can run this kind of test. The realtime pcr system is very common in molecular biology laboratories, and anyone from a plant biologist to a neuroscientist i happen to be a neuroscientist. We all use these tools. And youve seen a barrier. Youve reported a barrier in getting your type of lab and your type of test approved and have the government sanction it, allow it to be used for clinical determinations. What are those barriers in your experience . So the main problem is that in order to run any of these tests, you must be clea accredited. The clea Accreditation Process involves getting a boardcertified laboratory director. That is something that as an example, i cant do. But in the middle of a pandemic, i think we need to think about liberalizing our criteria while not sacrificing quality for the kind of work that were trying to do here, which is get everyone to stand up and do what they can for this crisis. And i think if we could develop a pandemic National Guard of biomedical scientists and precertify them for this kind of work, we could stand this up whenever we need to without developing huge amount of infrastructure like, you know, right now the test costs for reimbursing for coronavirus testing, its now at 100 a sample. So cms, which is the center for medicaid and Medicare Services is paying 100 per sample. Thats because they need to bhie more people and buy more equipment. If we were able to use the existing infrastructure that we have at universities, we would be much better equipped and we wouldnt be spending money on kwipt and labor that is going to be moth balled at the end of this. We can use people that are some of the most highly skilled researchers in the world. Whats the most interesting thick youve found since doing covid19 testing . Well or the most surprising thing to you. I think the most surprising thing to me was the length of time that individuals shed the virus. So when you hear people talk about if youre exposed to someone that has had covid19 or you think you have, to isolate for 14 days. People tend to think that that means this disease is a 14day course. Its not. People can be shedding this virus for four or five weeks and longer. I think that people really need to understand the length of this disease and how sneaky it is because people can feel better and, you know, we talk to our subjects and they feel better, but theyre still shedding virus. That means when you feel better, youre like, im going to go outside now. But you shouldnt do that. You should stay home. Thats jack lipton. The certification hes looking for is clia, not cleay like i said. Zeke, that was fascinating. The whole thing was fascinating. He said its possible you could be shedding this virus if you have it for four to five weeks. Well, again, we know that some people can shed for a long time. What we dont know are two important variables there, which is how many people shed for a long time. Whats that curve look like . Are most people stopping to shed after a few days, 14 days, or do we actually have a sizeable number that go out many days . And if theyre shedding, are they really infecktive . How contagious are they . That again is something we dont know. Those are two important questions. But we have known that some people can shed for a very long time. And as dr. Lipton said, even when theyre feeling good, and thats one of the problems of this illness. Thats why it can spread so easily and opening up can be so dangerous, because people feel good and theyre still shedding. Thanks, zeke, for clarifying that. While theres still some issues about accessibility when it comes to getting a test to see whether you have covid19, its getting much easier to find a different kind of test, the kind that can tell you whether youve had the virus and recovered. The second kind of test checks for antibodies in your blood, but many of those tests have not been federally approved and could be producing unreliable results. Nbcs Josh Lederman reports, quote, as of this week, 150 Antibody Tests, also known as serology tests, are on the u. S. Market without having faced government review according to data from the food and Drug Administration. Another 24 labs are conducting their own Antibody Testing without having obtained fda authorization, end quote. Several companies which produce these Antibody Tests are now the subject of an ongoing congressional investigation. Joining me now is congressman raja chris n krishnamoorthi. Congressman, tell me about this. We have this real excitement about getting these tests out there, and i think it may not even occur to people that even the test needs fda approval. Is it because of potential dangers in the test, or is it because they might not be that accurate . Well, youre right that these serological tests old great promise. However, what weve learned is the fda has allowed hundreds of unregulated, potentially fraudulent tests to flood the market. Heres the problem, ali. That is a large proportion of them have high false positives, meaning that if you were to take this Antibody Test and it yielded a false positive result, you could be fooled into thinking that you have antibodies to covid19 and potentially immunity when you actually do not. So you could relax your social distancing, go out and interact with a bunch of people, catch covid19, and then get other people sick as well. So you could make some really dangerous life decisions based on these unregulated, potentially very fraudulent tests. The other issue we have, i want to just show you a New York Times report that one in four new yorkers have contracted covid19. The preliminary data suggests that many more new yorkers may have been infected than was previously relieved. And there are reports like this from all around the country. What does that tell us because there are a lot of people anxious to know if they were exposed to it because it might allow them to either make decisions or know who to support in what feels sometimes like a political fight about whether we should be going back to work or continuing to stay at home. The short answer is that the science is still unsettled. We dont know exactly what the presence of these covid antibodies means in terms of how much immunity they confer if any on people, for what length of time, and what that really means in terms of what you can and cant do in your daily activities. This is where the fda has to step into the void and give us precise standards so that even if you get the results back from these covid19 tests, you know what to do with them. Besides that, we think that the fda should clear the market of all those junk tests and only allow authorized tests to be on the market. Today there are only eight authorized tests according to the fdas website, where theres more than 150 unauthorized tests, which as i said, could be very faulty in terms of their results. Congressman, given all this uncertainty, do you think its safe to open up based upon whether people have antibodies or not, or is that just way too premature given what we know about the faultiness of these serology tests . Doctor, i think its too premature. We just dont know yet. Its true that it holds great potential, but if youre rushing to reopen your economy based on these serological tests that are on the marketplace, i think you better think twice because right now in the absence of precise standards and science telling us what it means to have these antibodies in terms of what you can and cant do in engaging with other people, i dont think you could just reopen the economy and say, hey, you have covid19 antibodies. You can go out and relax social distancing and do whatever you want. Were not there yet. Congressman krishnamoorthi, thanks for joining us. Coming up, the extended Unemployment Crisis and what it means for americans. Which egg tastes more farmfresh and delicious . Only egglands best. With more vitamins d and e and 25 less saturated fat . Only egglands best. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. I wanted more from my copd medicine thats why ive got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved oncedaily 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy the power of 1,2,3 trelegy 1,2,3 trelegy man with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, im breathing better. Trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Trelegy is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. 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In georgia today most kinds of businesses were open again after the governor decided not to extend his order for staying at home. Already georgia had begun allowing restaurants to serve a limited number of dine yin customers, which led to scenes of waiters in masks greeting customers over custom order waffles and cups of coffee. In states that have begun reopening, people who cannot work from home are being given what feels like an impossible choice go back to work and risk their health or stay at home and continue to miss wages. The most pressing example are workers in Meat Processing plants. The centers for Disease Control said today that 115 meat and poultry plants in 19 states have reported outbreaks involving thousands of workers. At least 20 meatpacking workers have died of coronavirus. This week the president signed an order designed to keep the plants open. At a poultry plant in pennsylvania today, workers protested for more protective equipment. They also want the plant closed for cleaning after they say more than 20 workers tested positive. At a beef plant in colorado, which reopened a week ago, several workers have died of coronavirus. A worker there told nbc news hes happy to work, but hes pleading for every worker to get tested. Were supposed to be practicing social distance, and some of the areas you cant have social distance of the six feet. And so like today i was working next to a guy, and we kept bumping into each other. And like my first worry was what if he has the virus and he keeps bumping into me. You know, its going to come to me, and then im going to bring it home. And then like all my roommates, my son, everybodys going to get it. Stay at home and lose pay or go to work and risk spreading the virus. As more states reopen, thats becoming the inescapable dilemma for millions of americans. Joining me now is sylvia allegretto, cochair of the center on wages and employment dynamics at the university of california berkeley. Thank you for joining us. This is a tough one, and it is tougher yet for those people who have no choice in the matter. Often wageearning workers have less choice than most people do. But in this case the president has invoked the defense production act to keep some of these folks at work. And even though many of them are unionized, the union cant override that. So what do you make of this situation . This is people who they want to work, but they dont want to die. Well, i think the first half of your show really sums it up. Without adequate testing, tracing, isolating, ppe, were just sending a lot of these workers, their families, and spreading this into the community to their deaths. We know that there are correlations between all this. And, you know, even though trump signed the executive order to send them to work, he did so without any guidance. I mean theres some guidance from osha, but theres no real hard and fast regulation with any tooth to it. Its clear that its much too soon to be doing this. And as you said, we have hot spots all over the country where these meatpacking plants exist. This seems like a complicated problem, and it would seem like the communities in which the meatpacking plants are located would actually be against opening them prematurely without testing because as we saw in south dakota, you can spread it not just within a plant but outside the plant once someone gets infected or as that worker said, you know, i could bring it home. Why arent we seeing more of the communities rallying to the side of the workers and objecting to keeping to not cleaning these plants and not testing the workers . I think one of the issues is, again, coming from washington, d. C. , that we need relief. We needed relief for workers, families, and the communities. It has been far too slow. It hasnt reached a lot of workers yet, and this has not been anywhere near enough. And so people are getting desperate. Theyre going into debt. Here we are may 1st. Another month of rent and mortgages due. So i think people are becoming desperate. But really in the richest country in the world, we shouldnt be here. We should be able to do better. And if you look at these meatpacking plants, any reasonable response would be, we need to close them down because the way theyre running now is simply really exacerbating the situation and spreading the virus through the community as you mentioned. So we could do a lot more. We should do a lot more. And this is way too premature. Sylvia, one of the things that we have tried to do is these rebate checks that go to americans, the federal topup on Unemployment Insurance which is run by the states, the Paychecks Protection Program in which Companies Get grants if they keep their people on payroll. And the remarkably interesting effort that went through the airlines in which the airlines received grants to keep their people on payroll. This is a much more european concept than it is an american concept. But its actually not a bad one. If the government pays companies to keep people on payroll rather than have them, you know, get off their payroll, apply for unemployment. Thats an unweieldy process. What can we do once were out of this emergency period, this first period that weve thought about, the first three months, in terms of keeping workers going . Well, i mean what youre saying is exactly right. What a lot of the European Countries are doing, and theyre doing it much more efficiently than we were, is to directly take over payroll, nationalize payroll. That would have been the best thing to do right off the bat. Instead we have a lot of people unemployed. Some of them are on temporary layoff. Thats good because youre keeping the link between workers and their jobs. We had the ppe thats going to help small and mediumsized business its hopefully stay afloat and be viable when we can start to reasonably open up, and theyll have workers to go on the ready because what we do not want is to have everybody being delinked from their employer and their employment. And small businesses, medium businesses closing down in droves because that means were going to take a situation where i try to remind people dont forget we did this on purpose, you know. We have 30 Million People filing ui claims, Unemployment Insurance claims, and to my mind thats a good thing because we were trying to do this. Were simply moving too quickly into the next phase to opening up. But, you know, as much as we can keep workers tide to their jobs, the better off well be in the long run. Do you really think the government can keep people on the payroll for the length of this until we get a vaccine . Isnt that going to be a huge stretch on the government and the economy and for the long term . Well, its certainly a huge stretch, but dont forget were in the nascent stage here. Theres a lot of work being done, which was discussed quite a bit here at the top of your program. Were the richest country in the world. We could do a lot more. Countries with, you know, not as much as we have are doing a lot more. So i think, yes, we can do it. Can we do it until theres a vaccine . Im not so sure. But certainly we have to keep things in place as the medical community is all saying until we have some reasonable amount of testing, tracing and isolating so we can do a better job at keeping people safe and healthy and certainly to keep tampering down the rate of growth of the infection so we dont have such, you know, explosions in infections that we overwhelm the health care system. So i think were really early, in the early stages. I think theres a lot of room to move here. One of the biggest things we have to do here is make sure that d. C. Delivers to state and local governments so we dont start adding teachers and firemen and policemen to the unemployment ranks. Which is what happens when these states are unable to raise the money because they cant go into debt, and they cant print money. Sylvia, thanks very much. Sylvia allegretto from berkeley. Shes a labor economist and the cochair on the center of wage and employment dynamics at the university of californiaberkeley. Coming up next, how much optimism should we put in the news of a vaccine breakthrough from oxford. Im going to ask zeke about that. First, heres a look at the heroes on the front lines at the grocery store. How much i feel a sense of pride being an essential worker. How much im grateful for the opportunity to serve our community, to nourish them. The job has a little bit more responsibility now, and that makes me feel like somewhat of a hero. I know that im helping someone eat healthier by working in the produce department. Im shopping for people who literally cannot leave their homes because theyre in chemotherapy, because they have a newborn, because theyre elderly. Weve been working every single day to make over 100 box lunches for our employees as a way of thank you for coming in every day. The customers had no clue. They came in to do their regular shopping, and when they went to check out, it was a very heartfelt moment as they realized that all their groceries were paid for by winndixie. Im taking it off one of our head clerks who had trex costume. He went around the store, was waving at the customers. They were all taking pictures and they loved it. Our customers are like our family. Weve been getting the utmost support from them. Weve been putting signs outside in front of the store, appreciating what we do. They thank us every day for being here. Its such a tough time, but at least people are thanking you and theyre grateful for your hard work. Thank you for what you do and all us appreciate you. Thank you so much. Its just very touching to me because i feel like im not really anybody special. Im just doing my job. I dont think i realized how important we are to people, not just for getting groceries but for socializing and connecting with people, just simple things like giving them a smile and taking an interest in them, asking them how theyre doing and letting it be more than an experience of just getting groceries, i think is really important right now. Give me your hand i can save you. Lots of money with Liberty Mutual we customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You cant always stop for a fingerstick. Betes with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you dont have to. 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Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling numbness or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planed medical or dental procedures. Whats around the corner could be your moment. Ask your doctor about eliquis. Because were in a rush to get the vaccines done, we need to back up to Ten Companies because were not sure which one will work. Its a novel virus. Weve never done a vaccine like this before. Dr. Zeke emanuel and i spoke with bill gates last week about the unprecedented race to find and produce a Coronavirus Vaccine. With dozens of teams looking for a vaccine, its inevitable were going to get occasional news of possible breakthroughs. The New York Times this week reported that scientists at Oxford Universitys Jenner Institute are preparing for human trials of a Coronavirus Vaccine that was effective in earlier tests with monkeys. The vaccine even is a modification of a vaccine for the mers coronavirus. Zeke, i see these headlines through the course of the week, and my first thought is always, i need to ask zeke. What do we make of this . So lets begin with what this vaccine is. Theyve taken a chimp adenovirus, that is a virus that causes a common cold in the chimp, and theyve taken a piece of the genetic code that makes the spike protein for the coronavirus and put it in that virus. And then they infect it in a person, and that produces a lot of immune reaction. And yes, the test, they tried it on six monkeys and they seem to be immune to the coronavirus. The adenovirus is very common, but the effectiveness of this vaccine remains a big question in people. This platform is relatively new, and its no slam dunk. Yes, theyve tried it out on mers, but it was never approved. It could work. Largerscale Clinical Trials are obviously going to be important. Theyve started in human beings, but one of the big problems with the adenovirus platform for a vaccine is production. Its hard to produce millions and millions of doses of this. Indias already got a firm ramping up production before we know whether this vaccines even going to work, but thats, you know, its a big and its goinga big challenge if this turns out to be positive to produce enough for the whole world. So we can go and you and i were reading bill gates paper talking about it. Its hard to short circuit the process for a vaccine because it has to be tested on enough people to determine that its safe, right . We cant get and then manufacture and scale up a vaccine until we know that it doesnt have a detrimental effect or effect that might be more detrimental than not having people vaccinated in the first place right. One of the things we need to know is that its not going to cause serious problems. These Coronavirus Vaccines could cause a serious problem called antibody enhancement problem, that is, they could make the virus worse. The second problem is that we need to know that they actually produce enough antibody and then the third challenge is do those antibodies actually protect you from infection with coronavirus. Those are all biology and it takes time for the biological system to work and for people to actually see if they get infected. Cant rush that. Yeah. As much as one would like to in the most serious and Great Results of vaccines, it has been difficult to rush. The president has made almost a habit of telling the American Public that the death toll from the virus wouldnt be so bad. At a briefly april 20th, he said the toll could be as low as 50,000. Now, as nbc news reported this morning, the very next day after trump said that his administration placed an order for 100,000 body bags. Of course since then the death toll has passed 64,000 is it is still climbing. Zika, i have to ask you, as a doctor, where do you see this going . Well, i have to say these predictions are all hard. It was just about six weeks ago that two teams from Stanford University were saying, well, well get to 10,000 deaths, maybe its only 20,000 to 40,000 and six weeks later were well beyond those numbers. The white house likes to say by ihme, they have a model that shows plateauing in the number of deaths at 72,422 or Something Like that. That obviously isnt going to happen. Were just 8,000 deaths shy of that, and theres three months between now and august 4th. Were getting to the top of the curve, it appears, but remember the number of deaths on the way up is equal to the deaths on the way down around that curve, which means were on track to have clearly more than 100,000 deaths and unfortunately looks like 110,120,000 is more likely by august, and that is really painful, it seems to me. Let me ask you before we get to your final thoughts. Does the number of deaths on the downside have to be equal to the number of deaths on the upside . Or is there a way to make the curve drop fast . Probably not a way to make it drop fast because youre still circulating virus and its going to go down. So we know we know that. They look symmetric. All right. A lot of these deaths probably most of them are happening as you and i have discussed the sad et cetera way possible with the dying person separated from their family alone in a hospital room on a breathing machine. I know you have thoughts about this that are very personal, zeke. My 92yearold father died from brain cancer this past october after a short illness. I got to say that may be the most meaningful time i had with him. It was our last moments together. We were lying side by side on my parents bed. He just put his fingers on my hand and began caressing my hand. It brought back memories of my childhood when he used to run his first pages through my hair, his squeezing my hand at my college graduation, and when he gently put his hand on my back. As an oncologist, i urge families to grasp the hands of their loved ones and talk to them. Invariably they smooth the hair on their relatives head. The final touches and words made the passing feel much more meaningful. They made everyones pain more tolerable and helped bring them to closure. Im very heartbroken for the covid19 families who cant lie side by side with their loved ones the way i did or derived of those final caresses and hometowns of being together and who cant then grieve together because of physical distancing. I have to say i almost feel blessed that my father died before covid19. Not only could by at his side, but my family was able to come together to grieve with friends at his very impressive memorial service. More than 64,000 americans now have died from covid19, and thats a Massive National tragedy. But it hurts so much to think of those tens of thousands of families who grieve alone in this pandemic. Zeke, its remarkable. I do have to ask you this. There are milestones in our years. We are coming into a very warm weekend and the new York Police Department announced its going to have foot patrols out there to make sure people are social distancing. People want normalcy and something you brought um last week when we talked to bill gates was the idea gnat resumption of school feels like normalcy. Here in new york, Governor Cuomo has said there will be no more school till the end of the school year. Come september parents will have kids at home who cannot afford to be at home. Theyre going to have students wanting to go to cleanings. There may be colleges not in a position to graduate students that are necessary for the workforce. Whats your sense of how that milestone, education, book to school for College Students looks like . I will say to you that this week ive talked to a number of College President s all debating this question and trying to figure out how its going to be possible to open. I know that were looking actively at denmark and germany and other places that have opened schools in the hope that we can open it. It was Governor Cuomo who said opening schools, opening business and transportation are all interlinked and we have to do them con jointly, so thats really important. Zeke, thanks as always for spending the hour with me. Well do it again next week. A reminder, if you want more of zekes insights into the coronavirus, and you do, check out his podcast making the call with new episodes every wednesday on apple and wherever you get your podcasts. Im going to see you back here tomorrow morning for velshi at 8 00 a. M. No nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. Why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills . E else. Flonase sensimist. Nothing stronger. Nothing gentler. Nothing lasts longer. Flonase sensimist. 24 hour nondrowsy allergy relief wh. They fell head over heelsg gain lovea flings. With its irresistible scent. Looks like their dog michelangelo did too. Unfortunately for him, its more of a forbidden love. New gain ultra flings with two times oxi boost and febreze. Seriously good scent. And if you love gain flings, youve gotta try the dish soap. Swithout even on yoleaving your house. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 12 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Hi u im Joshua Johnson in new york. Good to be with you tonight. Lets begin with the facts at this hour. Coronavirus has now infected at least 1. 1 Million People in the United States. At last counted, 66,000 people have died with the most deaths in new york, new jersey, and michigan. Parts of the country have already started to rekindle their economies in hopes of easing their economic woes. More than half the nations governors are lifting restrictions. Public Health Experts warn this could contribute to another wave of covid19 cases. By all accounts, we are some ways off from finding a cure