Thanks for being with us. Well, the worldwide number of people infected with could he vied 19 is rapidly rising to 1 million. Johns Hopkins University has recorded more than 47,000 deaths so far, a figure expected to go far higher in coming weeks. The United States has some of the sharpest daily increases anywhere. Johns hopkins has counted 216,000 cases to date and over 5,000 fatalities. If government forecasts are correct, the death toll among americans could eventually hit a quarter million or more. It is astounding. Stayathome orders in dozens of states have not slowed the disease from spiking up over the past month. The u. S. Death toll has doubled in just a few days, and with more than 940 deaths recorded just on wednesday. Well, new york has far more cases of covid19 than any other place in the United States. More than 84,000. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are racing to keep up with the growing numbers of patients, and we get the latest now from cnns erica hill. Reporter on the front lines the need never seems to end. Everyone requires oxygen. Everyone is borderline critical. Reporter in new york as the numbers grow, so does the warning. 16,000 deaths in new york. That means youre going to have tens of thousands of deaths outside of new york. Its a new york problem today, tomorrow its a kansas problem and a texas problem and a new mexico problem. Reporter more than 30 states have statewide stayathome orders. The latest, florida. The governor reversing course amid mounting pressure. At this point even though there are a lot of places in florida that have very low infection rates, it makes sense to make this move now. Significant number of individuals that are infected actually remain asymptomatic. It may be as many as 25 . We have learned that, in fact, they do contribute to transmission. Reporter new hot spots adding to the strain. Holl yolk, massachusetts, is now on the radar. The governor ordering an investigation into why several veterans died of the virus. In albany, georgia, more than 1 4 have been recorded at one hospital of deaths. They could run out of ventilators this week. It feels like coronavirus is everywhere and it feels like we have very little to protect us from getting sick ourselves. Reporter experts and officials warning to keep the death toll down, its time for a nationwide plan. We need people to do their part. Social distancing as a part. We also need the federal government to do a lot more, too, because that rationing of ventilators, that rationing of supplies, that also is going to be what leads to unnecessary deaths. Reporter the numbers, the hot spots, the urgent need tell part of the story, but it is the personal struggles and loss that reveal the lasting impact. They took a walkietalkie and they placed the walkietalkie right by her bedside on the pillow. Reporter elijah ross rudder and his five siblings couldnt be next to their mother to say goodbye last month. Its a moment nobody wants to be in. I told her i loved her. I told her everything will be all right with the kids. She was 42. Reporter here in new york city the death toll has risen to 1491. Weve talked about the overcrowded conditions behind me, the elmhurst hospital in queen. Today in central park where a Field Hospital was being built, that Field Hospital has now received its first coronavirus patient. Back to you. Thanks so much for that. And critics have accused the Trump Administration for delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic that has turned the u. S. Upside down, but as Cnns Jim Acosta reports, Vice President mike pence appears to be casting part of the blame on the cdc and china. Reporter no longer downplaying the coronavirus as he had for weeks, President Trump is warning of difficult days ahead. I want every american to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. Were going to go through a very tough two weeks. Reporter in an interview with cnns wolf blitzer, Vice President mike pence compared the crisis to the dire situation in italy, which has been devastated by the virus. We think italy may be the most comparable area to the United States at this point. Reporter but the white house is shifting the blame pointing fingers at the centers for disease control. I will be very candid with you and say that in mid january the cdc was still assessing that the risk of the coronavirus to the American People was low. Reporter but hold on. Back in january a top cdc official said the u. S. Should be gearing u for a pandemic. We need to be preparing as if this is a pandemic but i continue to hope that it is not. Reporter pence also accused china of not being transparent enough. Didnt the United States as a whole get off to a late start . Well, the reality is that we could have been better off if china had been more forthcoming. I dont believe the president has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus. Reporter tell that to the president who praised chinas handling of the coronavirus back in february and claimed the u. S. Had it all under control. Ive spoken to president xi and theyre working very hard and if you know anything about him, i think hell be in pretty good shape. I think its going to be under control and i think i can speak for our country. For our country, its under control. Reporter now top officials are spreading the word that the social distancing guideline are an order to every american to stay home. My advice to america would be that these guidelines are a national stayathome order. Theyre guidelines that say, look, the more we social distance, the more we stay at home, the less spread of the disease there will be. Reporter the president has dismissed the notion that he gave americans a false sense of security. You were saying it is going to go away. It is. Its going to go away. Hopefully at the end of the month, if not, it will hopefully be soon after that. I thought it could be. I knew everything. I knew it could be horrible and i knew it could be maybe good. Reporter even as hes telling americans they may want to wear scarves like masks if they go outside. You can use a scarf. A scarf a lot of people have scarves. You can use a scarf. Reporter House Speaker nancy pelosi hopes the president finally gets it. I pray that he does. I do think that the testing is essential. Youre never going to be able to know what the challenge is unless you have the testing. Reporter pelosi rejected the excuse that the president was somehow distracted by the impeachment saga which ended nearly two months ago. Even as the president continued to hold rallies and play golf. Thats an admission that perhaps the president and the majority leader could not handle the job. Little reality check there from jim acosta. Stock markets in the u. S. Are hoping to bounce back from wednesdays massive decline. All indid i sees have fallen by more than 4 but right now futures are up across the board. In the coming hours the u. S. Labor department is expected to release its weekly jobless claims report. Some experts believe it will show a Record Number of people filing for Unemployment Benefits. So lets go live to new york with our chief business correspondent, christine romans. Always good to see you, christine. Good morning. In just a few hours we will get those weekly jobless claims. How bad will they likely be . Reporter theyll be devastating. Theyre going to show exactly what happens when you press the pause button on the Mighty American economy and the dynamic american job market. Millions of people lost their job in the last week. The range is everything from 3. 5 to more than 6 million layoffs or furloughs in the most recent week. I think youre going to get a number in the millions. Every one of those numbers is a person who lost a job or was furloughed who is now worried about health care, about rent, about paychecks. The snapshot is going to show you that you probably have an Unemployment Rate in the United States already higher than 8 , approaching 10 . Just horrifying, isnt it . As more people lose their jobs during this pandemic, the bills keep coming in, dont they . Yeah. What tools are available to help people cope with all of this . Theres this gap here between when the economy stopped for so many people and when the moneys going to come. You know, there is stimulus money that is coming. People who are on social security, youre going to get a 1200 check direct deposited. People who are taxpayers are going to get this 1200 direct deposit into their accounts. Youve got Unemployed People that when they can finally get through to the states and file for Unemployment Benefits, they will get enhanced Unemployment Benefits for four months approaching as close as possible the pay that they were making before. If you are one of those retail workers that has been furloughed and you had health care before you were furloughed, the stimulus package is designed, rosemary, so that you keep your health care. Your company pays your health care and the government pays your jobless benefits for four months here and the idea is that when you restart the economy, you have this ready Work Force Ready to deploy. So the important thing is that there are these tools in place to try to make people at least whole for the next few months as we get through this. Wow. Its going to be tough. Thats going to be quite a process getting those checks out to people, isnt be it . Christine romans, thank you so much. Reporter youre welcome. Take a short break here, but still to come, what happens when the nurses who are treating patients with coronavirus cant get tested themselves . That is the case for one nurse in new york who wound up working while infected. You have to put on something that already has virus on it. Her story in just a moment. Coronavirus testing in the United States remains a major issue, from a shortage of supplies to a back log of tests waiting to be processed. Its putting some Health Care Workers at risk. Cnns Elizabeth Cohen spoke to a nurse in new york who couldnt get tested and worked for nearly a week while infected. Reporter this nurse says she worked for about seven days at two new york City Hospitals while infected with the coronavirus. She went undetected because her hospital wasnt testing the staff. She doesnt want to reveal her name or where she works for fear shell be fired. Two weeks ago i was feeling back pain, a lot of back pain and then one night i had really bad chest pain. Reporter did you ask your hospital to test you . I was told the hospital was not testing staff, thats what i was told when i asked about getting tested. Reporter she continued to work. You wore the same mask the entire day from patient to patient to patient . Yes. Yes, we do. Im touching that mask. Its on my face. Im putting it back on. Virus flies in the air, it goes right up in my nose. Its so easy to get contaminated when you have to put something on that already has virus on it. Reporter you wore the same gown all day from patient to patient to patient . Yes, the same gown. Reporter she said the emergency room refused to test staff so she went there in the middle of the night when she knew a friend would be on duty. I said, please, just this one time do it. I want to make sure i dont have it. I dont want to spread anything. She said, okay, and tested me. Reporter it took five days for the test results to come back. She tested positive. Do you worry you might have infected patients . Definitely. Im worried i infected staff members, visitors, patients. Reporter we shared the story with the author of safe patients smart hospitals. That story is heart wrenching. As a clinician and human being thats horrible. Reporter he wishes the u. S. Could do whats being done in other hospitals. In israel utilizing tests that arent needed for patients, they test all Health Care Workers every five days. We feel this is extremely important in order to protect our entire work force and our patients. Reporter but this cant be done in the u. S. Sadly we just dont have enough test toss do that right now. Reporter which is how this nurse ended up working while infected. Fortunately shes feeling better now and is in isolation at home. Do you think right now there are doctors and nurses working in the hospitals where you work who are positive for coronavirus . Yes, i do. Reporter does that scare you . Yes, it does. Nobody wants to get this virus. Reporter Elizabeth Cohen, cnn, atlanta. We have to keep reminding ourselves, this is happening in the United States. New york city is getting some muchneeded help in the fight against the coronavirus. The hospital shipped the usns comfo comfort accepted the first patients on wednesday. They are taking people with other medical problems in a bid to relieve the massive strain being put on new yorks hospitals. Earlier the Commanding Officer of the ship spoke with cnns don lemon. Usns comfort is here to help relieve some of the comfort on the local Health Systems by taking noncarona 19 patients on board the ship. Basically ey will be tested and screened prior to arrival. Well take the full spectrum of medical patients aboard the ship. We have an 80 bed icu, we have multiple medical surgical beds on different wards. Full capability like you would find at any other hospital in hopes of making an impact and, again, helping new yorkers and helping the Health Care System by decompressing some of that well, what you guys have had to deal with, the numbers and overcrowding in your system. Your ship has 1,000 hospital beds. The mayor of new york city, mayor bill de blasio says having the comfort is like adding a whole other hospital to the city. What tools does your ship bring to this crisis . Absolutely. As i mentioned, we have icu beds, we have 80 of those. We have ventilator support for patients that may require it. We have four radiology suites. We have a c. T. Scanner. We have o. R. S. Full spectrum as far as lab, pharmacy in addition to radiology and medical surgical beds. This ship was designed for major combat operations. Some beds are bunk beds. We will be working with local authorities, fema to ensure that the Patient Population that comes aboard is suitable for our environment. So, listen, you know, given the surge of cases here, covid19 in new york, i want to know what kind of precautions you are taking with patients, staff, and equipment to make sure the virus is not spread to your ship and that you guys are safe. Thanks for the question. We are following cdc and dod guidelines. We consider ourselves in a bubble. Anybody that comes to the ship has to be screened, you know, accords to cdc guidelines, including a temperature. Theyll put a mask on. Well watch them wash their hands in front of us and, again, they have to have a very specific purpose to be on the ship. Other than that, unfortunately we are not going to be able to leave the ship while were here at sea, the beautiful city of new york. But that is a small price to pay to help new yorkers. How did you get ready so fast . Because you werent supposed to be ready. The ship wasnt supposed to be ready for a while. Absolutely. We were in our maintenance period. The call came out. We had a mission so our professional civilian mariners, the people that work in the Norfolk Naval base as well as our crew pitched in as a team and got the ship ready to go. Went to sea early and got here, as you mentioned, earlier than expected. We, the country that covid19 has hit the hardest is italy. It is extending the National Lockdown that began nearly a month ago until april 13th. The Prime Minister said the restrictive measures have produced positive results and if they dont continue, all their efforts, quote, would have been in vain. And our Barbie Nadeau joins us live. This will be tough, no doubt about it, but necessary. How are people coping with that . Reporter well, i mean, i think everyone was expecting this. You know, its going to be particularly difficult here in italy to have easter behind, you know under the lockdown. This is such an important poly day here and people wont be able to get together with their families. Were seeing the results. The cautious optimism that the curve is flattening, people are empowered to stay in a lockdown. We know that its working. Its the sacrifices that are tough, especially the economic sacrifices for so many people. Conti said last night hes hoping we can enter what we call a phase 2. That gives people optimism. Gives them hope to carry on in this difficult moment in their lives. So, barbie, the Prime Minister said europe and other states will have access to unused e. U. Funds. How does that work . Reporter people are looking towards the future. C conti said after this is over there will be a renaissance, a rebirth of this country. Having the friendship hes hoping from the European Union will help relaunch the country and lead the rest of europe out of this. If italy can get through this, get out of it, rebuild, relaunch, i think that gives hope to so many other countries that are just going through this and justtarting the process. Yeah, that may give some people some hope. Barbie nadeau, many thanks. Some countries are making the wearing of facemasks in public mandatory. The global shortage and possible way to avoid it after the break. Want to brain better . Unlike ordinary memory supplements neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. They have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com