April 2020. The death toll as of this morning has doubling in just the last three days. America was hurting. New unemployment filings. Record unemployment. Last week filed for unemployment. Ballooning debt, an economic recession. Hard reality is beyond painful. Not a good equation for a president running for reelection. Hes frustrated by what weve seen happen in the stock market. The numbers he knows of job losses and people who have filed for unemployment are through the roof and theyre going to be incredibly damaging to him in november. And thats his fear. So, the president wanted to push governors to restart the economy, at least in part to resuscitate his reelection campaign. And the only way to do both, reopen the country as soon as possible. But that seemed unrealistic when models were predicting 100,000 or 200,000 deaths. According to the Washington Post, an impatient President Trump sought different data which some white house economic advisers delivered. The Washington Post is reporting kevin haasic built a different coronavirus model which aides interpreted showing deaths would have already peaked and that would be far fewer fatalities than initially seen. Tthe Washington Post is reporting this affirmed skepticism with people in the west wing about what Health Experts were saying about the severity of the crisis. Is that true . As kevin himself said in that story, that is not true, jake. Absolutely not true. What he was doing was taking the gates model from the university of washington and basically smoothing it out to show what is actually happening. Theres a difference between a forecast trend and what is actually happened. So, we didnt change anything based on that. We want to have our country open. We want to return to normal life. Our countrys going to be open. On april 16th, the administration announced a plan. Our team of experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war. With no vaccine yet on the horizon, the country had to increase testing and Contact Tracing capability, decreases cases over 14 days. Test and then isolate the person who is infected, trace all the contacts, quarantine them. But we didnt do the first part of this well enough and thats affected Everything Else downstream. I think there doesnt seem to be kind of an effort to get out in front of that. Its always like the u. S. Has been a couple of steps behind. But the country has struggled with testing since the beginning of the covid19 pandemic. Testing was unusually limited to small groups, Health Care Workers, people who had known contact with a sick patient, or, this is crucial, people with symptoms. But now in order to reopen the country and prevent further outbreaks, the country needs lots of tests because, as scientists announced in midapril, people might be most contagious two to three days before they develop symptoms, when theyre asymptomatic. Whats really critical is this constant sentinel surveillance for asymptomatic individuals. Constant surveillance and widespread testing, so those with the virus can be quickly identified and immediately isolated from the rest of us to stop the spread. And according to one study by harvards center for ethics, the United States needs at least 500,000 tests to be conducted every day in order to safely reopen. Maybe even more than that. We probably in this country need to be testing 1 to 2 Million People a day ultimately. I think were going to have to have to 300 or 500 million tests before we get out of this. Sufficient quantity, good tests, with high quality, easily available to anyone who wants one. Were testing more than anybody. And listening to President Trump speak about testing in mi midapril, it sounded as though u. S. Had both quantity and quality. We have right now the best testing system in the world. But that claim does not square with the facts and what the experts were saying. Dr. Anthony fauci is raising questions about the nations readiness, telling the the Associated Press more coronavirus testing is needed saying, quote, we have to have something in place that is efficient and can rely on. And were not there yet. Excuse me. I know your question. The governors are supposed to do testing. Quiet. Quiet. The president also continued to clash with the governors, who the president felt should be in charge. The governors argued they dont have the power of the defense production act. Were going to need testing, more testing, faster testing than we now have. Only the president has that power, to force companies to get testing up to speed. Only he has the power to force companies to make tests, testing reagents, and swabs, to hire lab workers, and to manufacture lab equipment. More help is needed from the federal government on testing. This is probably the number one problem in america and has been from the beginning of this crisis. This tension between State Government and federal government that has always existed since the founding of our country, but this is now life and death. And this question of who should i rely on to keep me alive . We actually spoke with several of the president s political adviser who is say they believe the reason the president is pushing the responsibility for testing off on states is that then the president whont be the one to deal with the fall out if there is any. Thank you. This was a back and forth between the president and the governors that created gridlock and confusion. Its hard to argue that there hasnt been lost time in this fight over who should be responsible and who is to blame. Its frustrating. In some ways its disheartening because we can do this. Tens of thousands of protesters all promising to show up to the capitol here to protest the stayathome order. What happened on april 17th certainly didnt help. Those protests encouraged by the president himself. When President Trump took to twitter. Tweeting all in caps liberate minnesota, liberate michigan, liberate virginia. These are great people. Theyve got cabin fever. They want to get back. They want their life back. He sees some benefit in bolstering this antigovernment message. He is encouraging people to go against what their own governors have said. Even encouraging protesters to go against the white houses own guidelines. To encourage people to go protest the plan you just made recommendations on, it doesnt make sense. Were sending completely conflicting messages out. Thats one of the issues throughout the entire outbreak. Even though were called the United States of america, when it comes to all these strategies for putting a stop to this outbreak, we have not been very united. Working very hard with governors now on testing. Going to help them out. The president and the governors seemed to unite around testing a few days later. The president plans to use the dpa to force production of desperatelyneeded swabs for testing. Federal testing labs were offered for some states to use. And the latest Economic Relief bill allocated 25 billion for testing. So, by the end of april, diagnostic testing was progressing, though still nowhere near where it needed to be according to Health Experts. We are working with more than 400 test developers, 220 labs around the country. Ultimately were doing more testing i think than probably any of the governors even want. Four days later, the white house announced a blueprint for testing, putting responsibility back in the hands of the states. We have enough testing to begin reopening and the reopening process. We want to get our country open. A plan that had the administration taking a victory lap. I think that weve achieved all the different milestones that are needed. So, the government, federal government, rose to the challenge and this is a Great Success story. The federal government has done a spectacular job. But the plan had medical experts reacting differently. The white house plan called for 7 million a month. Were talking about a million a day. You can see the delta here. Its four times off in terms of the amount of testing we need to be doing here. It isnt perfect and were not there yet. And were not. But were going to get there. Were going to get there soon, i hope. And theyll need to. The only true end of this pandemic, the holy grail, a vaccine, is still on the horizon. I think theres no question that the speed at this these vaccine trials have been going is unprecedented. Vaccines can take decades. Hiv aids, 40 years and we still dont have a vaccine. That gives you an idea how challenging this can be. All of this is a race against time to reopen, to get back to some semblance of normal, and to most importantly, to save lives. It will be a marathon, the experts say, not a sprint. And with every step, serious communication failures that took and continue to take the country off track. The virus. Such as down playing the threat and severity of the pandemic. When it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. Hope thats true. Hydroxychloroquine. Or pushing a drug, hydroxychloroquine, for the treatment of covid19, a drug the fda just warned against using outside of a Clinical Trial or a hospital. What do you have to lose . Take it. Suppose we hit the body and then of course the recent disinfectant situation. Then i see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do Something Like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning. An unbelievable and perplexing moment that had people calling hotlines asking if they should be using disinfectant on themselves to combat the virus. This prompted statements from the Health Officials and even the makers of clorox warning do not try this, it could kill. Requiring doctors, public officials, and organizations to shift their focus from fighting covid19 to actually warn the public not to ingest disinfectant. I wouldnt recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant. We wanted to ask the white house about all of this, but they declined to participate in this documentary. For now, americans need to keep their eyes looking straight ahead t ahead, to the finish line, listening to the experts and not getting distracted by confusing and unfounded messages. I dont think theres only one path to defeat covid. We need our leaders to be focused, serious, honest, to be able to deal with new fastmoving scientific information. Thats the path to defeat covid. Why is the time now in the middle of this pandemic to start investigating the record . Well, while we were producing that documentary, the United States hit a grim milestone. 1 million americans diagnosed with covid19, a startling number. That reminds us how every day lives are literally at stake. This month we pass aid death toll, 65,000. Not long ago it was projected the u. S. Would not hit until august. And thats the reason that we do this now, not because we want to point fingers or blame the Chinese Government or governors or President Trump. The reason that we look back is so that the same mistakes are not repeated as these numbers continue to rise and just in case theres another outbreak in the year next year. We want to get the facts on the record, especially when the president is apparently weeding out and replacing truth tellers, government watchdogs such as the form erin Inspector General acting of the department of health and Human Services who was telling a truth that apparently President Trump did not want told. The time to get the facts on the record is when memories are fresh and when people remember what is done and what could have been done faster or better or at all. Welcome back to our viewers joining us also from the United States. Im anna coren in hong kong. The u. S. Government will begin shipping thousands of doses of remdesivir this week. The head of the company that makes the drug says the government will decide where the medicine goes. Early test results show remdesivir shortens the duration of severe covid19 cases. President trump said sunday the u. S. Death toll from the virus could reach as high as 100,000. Well, thats a substantial increase from his last estimate of 50 to 60,000 deaths. Dr. Deborah birx, the White House Task force coordinator, offered even higher estimates. Our projections have always been between 100,000 and 240,000 american lives lost and thats with full mitigation and us learning from each other of how to social distance. As more states begin to reopen, seven Eastern States are banning together to purchase medical protective gear to prepare for a possible second wave. Reporter new York Governor Andrew Cuomo appeared in a virtual show of force and unity with his fellow North Eastern governors to make an announcement. Were going to form a consortium with seven northeast power states to buy supplies. Seemingly pour cold water on President Trumps of therepeated boast of the china travel ban being critically Decisive Action his administration took early on. What we have seen in new york didnt come from china but actually is a different strain of the virus that came from europe. We were looking at china, and the travel ban on china may have been helpful. But the horse was already out of the barn in china. Reporter meanwhile as the u. S. Heads into another work week, more than half of the states are marching toward reopening. But it doesnt appear any of them have met the white houses guidelines of having a downward trajectory of cases within a 14 day period. Today once again urged the importance of the downward trend. As states reopen, we really want them to follow the gating criteria. On the medical front, remdesivir received emergency fda approval friday, but birx stopped short of calling it a silver bullet, instead calling it a first step forward. As far as operation warp speed, the Trump Administrations ambitious plan to make 100 million doses of the vaccine available by november its possible. Restlessness continues to mount. Defying stayathome orders, spectators took to the National Ball in washington, d. C. For the blue angels flyover and on a sunny day in new york city large crowds gathered in central park many without masks, earning the ire of governor cuomo. How people cannot wear masks. That to me is even disrespectful. He cautioned against a false sense of comfort, especially as more nice days lay ahead. My gut says the weather is going to warm. People are bored. People want this over. They see the numbers going down. They can take false comfort. Oh, its going down. That means its over. No, no, we never said it was over. You heard governor cuomos strong feelings about people wearing face masks in public. But requiring people to wear masks in other parts of the country has been met with backlash. In still water, oklahoma, the city amended its ordinance after store employees were threatened with violence. Also in ohio an order requiring customers to wear masks in stores was reversed. Governor dewine said that was a bridge too far though store employees will still be wearing face masks. Joining me now is dr. Raj cal see. The u. S. President donald trump admitted the virus proved more lethal. The death toll could reach 100,000. Do you think the president s figure is conservative considering this highly contagious virus is still spreading . I think the number is going to be far greater. I wish i was saying Something Different right now compared to what my thoughts were a few weeks ago, a month ago. But look at 1,000 people dying a day in the United States and this is with social distancing. Take that away, open the gates. This virus makes no discrimination to any human being on the planet. Perhaps not even animals. We dont know if it goes from animals to humans and back. I see the number soars past 100,000 and we still dont have any good cure or mitigation from a farm suitic that would help us in the hospital system. You mentioned that social distancing is still in place, yet many countries in at least half of america have eased restrictions or in the process of easing restrictions. Are you concerned . I am. Im also concerned about an economy thats crumbling. And as people starve, literally, theres other medical problems. And me as a doctor, i worry about people in starvation and succumbing to social chaos and injuries associated with that and neglect from the community because they cant afford to live. But also worried about this virus just completely continuing to infect the entire population without any real means of us having really dealt with it other than keeping people inside the home. Well, what should people consider when venturing outside into Public Places where businesses are reopening, where the economies are reopening . That is a great question. So, the way i look at it, i look at the data. Lets stick straight to the data. And the data says that the more medical problems you have and the older you are, in particular past the age of 55, youre particularly vulnerable. Look at the new york city data that came out with 4,000 patients, they found people with multiple medical problems and over the age of 55 were most likely to have a terrible course in the hospital and even die. Those people should be particularly careful about venturing out and if they do venture out they need to adhere to the masks, the protocols of hand hygiene and everything in terms of distancing. People that are younger may want to move forward a bit faster than them, and i think it might be a bit more reasonable because theyre the ones that are likely to survive covid or have a milder illness. And then of course if they come into contact with those people in that highrisk group, that is thats always the concern. With the easing of restrictions, doctor, do you anticipate another su