Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20200407 : v

This is cnn tonight im don lemon. 11 00 p. M. On the east coast the the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. There are more than 1. 3 million cases worldwide. And more than 74,000 deaths around the globe. Here at home there are now more than 368,000 confirmed cases in more than 10,000 deaths. In the u. S. In a Major International Development Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson in intensive care unit in London Hospital after contracting coronavirus. His condition worsened this afternoon. As hospitals across the u. S. Plead with the federal government to provide more medical supplies, President Trump announcing a deal with three m. The company will provide additional 55 million n 95 masks every month for healthcare workers on the front lines. Joins me now white house correspondent. And resident fact checker. Tonight President Trump combative, threatening reporters. Denying the legitimacy of questions about his performance during this crisis. Alarming to say the least. It was alarming. And what we saw from the president was behavior in which he questioned the legitimacy of reporters asking questions. Questioned the legitimacy of the Inspector General at the health and Human Services to survey hospitals and report that cast the administration in a negative light. This was the way authoritarian leaders behave. They say you cant question me. Im the head of the state. In a democracy we have checks ask balances, reporters hold the government to account. Others in the government, congress or Inspector General within the executive branch hold the government to account. And the president showed refusal to accept the limits last friday. We talked about when he fired the Inspector General of the intelligence community. And when he went after john karl for asking about the health and Human Services Inspector General report, he raised a question about where how long has this person been in the job. The person put in her immediate job by President Trump had served in the government long before that. And he was the president was saying that the fact she had served under president obama disqualified her from holding him to account. That is not the way the government works, thats not the way democracy works. Same with Michael Atkinson a career official. There is expertise. There is a such a thing at proper role of government to hold the leader the president feet to fire and hes not accepting it under the pressure of this terrible situation in which the facts are not his friend. Not only arent you supposed to question me but youre supposed to praise me as well. It seems to be the attitude. Daniel, the president was very set off by the questions about this Inspector General report that detailed severe and widespread shortages of medical supplies. He says its wrong. What are the facts . Theres no basis to dismiss as just wrong. This report involves interviews with more than 300 hospital administrators from 40 states. It was conducted in late march. It found a widespread short and of critical supplies from ventilators to masks to thermometers and cleaning supplies. Others in the administration said its outdated. Things have changed significantly over a week. They can make argument. Were not certain whats going on today. He dismissed it because hes adjusted the shes out to get him. She began her career in 1999. Serving under bush, obama, clinton. And trump. So theres no basis for this suggesting that all the reports all the interviews are the product of political bias. Theres no question this country needs medical supplies. And equipment. Why is the president so reluctant to use the powers as his disposal so address the issue . Well, i think there a couple of things. One is the president continues to make reference under pressure from business and under pressure from free market within the white house to his support for federalism. I dont have the power to do that. We have a constitution. States are in charge. Of course hes not asked to order the states to do something. Hes asked to recommend. Its clear republican officials listen to him. Theres a second aspect of the two. The more control the administration takes, the more responsibility it has for the situation. And it is a bad situation. It is very difficult in new york and difficult in michigan. Louisiana. We have other rolling developing hot spots in other places. And if you ased president especially one seeking reelection this year, is presiding over this effort. People are dying and getting sick. Theres a will the of pain and blow back associated with that. He doesnt want that. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it. I want to get the news out of london. Prime minister Boris Johnson hospitalized. Battling coronavirus. Johnson office saying the condition worsened this afternoon. Cnn is in london now. Thank you for joining us in this serious situation. Intensive care means putting on a ventilator. What can you tell us about the Prime Minister condition . Whats going on . Youre right. Two out of the three cases of people going into the icu with coronavirus end up with the person being put on a ventilator. Downing street let us know about six hours ago the Prime Minister was conscious when he went in. And he wasnt on a ventilator at that point. But needed to be in a location where if he needed that support, he would be able to get it. Whats really striking about this but not unusual in the context of the pandemic is how quickly the Prime Minister condition has deteriorated. Only on thursday evening he popped out in order to show support for the British National Health Service and clapped and was looking worse for wear and went back in. We had one or two messages from him on twitter. And then on sunday night he was taken into hospital for what was called routine tests be his doctors because he had symptoms that persisted for ten days. Fever and cough hasnt subsided. He remained in the hospital in Central London and was taken to intensive care late monday evening. It does seem to have come as quite a shock to the british government. Only at 5 00 p. M. Monday did the government say that johnson was still leading the country. And he was in good spirits and comfortable. With the update. Well continue to check in, thank you. I want to turn to dr. Michael the director of the center for Infectious Disease research and policy. Author of deadliest enemy, war against killer germs. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time and expertise. There are 367,000 cases of coronavirus in the u. S. And well over 10,000 deaths. Theres some glimmers of hope. Where are we in the fight against the virus . One of the things that has been really unfortunate is that we look at this as a sprint. This is a marathon. Remember in 1918 that pandemic lasted through the spring until spring of 1920. Same thing true with the flu pandemic. This is just the first inning. Its been unfortunate. We dont want to minimize how powerful and how deadly this first inning has been. Were in this for the long haul. We can have waves hit over the months ahead and we have to prepare. Thats what were not doing. The president keeps saying that were starting to see quote the light at the end of the tunnel. Is that optimism warranted . It is in a sense that if you understand Infectious Disease pandemics like this, they are not a one and out. People are approaching it like a hurricane. Once it makes land fall well get into trying to get all over it. If you look at these kind of events in the past they come and go. What happens is some areas will get hit now. Some will get hit later. More importantly many areas get hit multiple times. Some tried to make estimates. How many people have been infected in new york city. I would be surprised if it werent at least a million to 2 million people. Many milder illnesses are missed. That points out there are at least 80 of the residents in the new york city area that havent been infected yet. That will likely get infected over time. Look whats happening in china, singapore and korea. All the infections are coming back. Even with the very major efforts to suppress it. What we have to keep doing in the media needs to help with this, keep getting people to focus on yes, take steps now. To deal with this. You have to plan to be in this for months and months. Thats the reality. I want you to listen to dr. Fauci asked earlier about getting back to normal life. If back to normal means acting like there never was a coronavirus problem, i dont think thats going to happen until we have a situation where you can completely protect the population. If you want to get to precoronavirus, that might not ever happen in the sense of the fact the threat is there. I believe with the therapies that will be coming online and the fact i feel confident that over a period of time well get a good vaccine. We will never have to get back to where we are now. Is he right . Is the vaccine the only answer . It is. With one qualification. Theres two redeemers in the situation. One is good one is not. The vaccine is obviously the answer that will save many lives thats many months after. The other is getting infected and surviving and being immune. Or getting it and dying. We have to minimize the death and save them to get the vaccine. We cant shut down the world for 18 months. Over and over again you have heard me say this, we need a plan for how well thread that rope through the needle. So we dont let all the cases happen and flood our healthcare system. Bring them down and many people die. Or live in a world like the wuhan, china, event that isnt successful either. We have to craft the plan in between. Thats what we need now to get through the next 18 or how many months it is to get a vaccine. Youre right about staying at home. I went to the Grocery Store this weekend. I knew it was going to get worse the next two weeks. I leave to come to work and im seeing people out on the streets. The word needs to get out. The key is figure out when to put the pedal to the metal and when to take it off. Get through this without shutting down but not letting infections happen. Thank you. Appreciate your time. The number of confirmed cases of crisis in the United States soaring past 368,000. 10,000 deaths. Warning it will be a tough week for americans. Heres cnn reporter 250 beds at the meadowlands in new jersey. 2,500 each in chicago. And new york massive center. Covid19 patients began arriving over the weekend. Navy hospital ship comfort now accepting covid19 patients as well. The two facilities acting as relief valves for the states hospitals as new york death toll continues to rise. Though more slowly. None of this is good news, the flattening possible flattening of the curve is better than the increases that we have seen. The cdc warning the country death toll could be higher because data is lagging by as much as two weeks. As new york city counsel man tweets the city may need to bury victims in parks. Morgues and trailers are reaching capacity. Thats not happening at the moment. The staff says it is part of a contingency plan. When caught the governor by surprise. I have heard a lot of wild rumors. I have not heard anything about the city burying people in parks. Around the country, communities adapting and bracing for what the Surgeon General cautions will be the hardest and saddest week yet. This will be our pearl harbor moment. Our 9 11 moment. Its not going to be localized it will be happening all over the country. In new orleans morgues are at capacity. Louisiana governor says it they could run out of the ventilators and beds by the end of the week. Officials in new york warn they may have less time and resources. The numbers were watching is number of hospital admissions. The numbers into the icu and on ventilators. Were not seeing a decrease in those numbers yet. Those are the numbers that are going to strain our healthcare system. Meantime a new government watchdog report finds quote severe widespread shortages of critical supply across the country. Adding to the strain. The report says those short annals are making it hard for hospitals to test and protect their staff. The government adding travel restrictions for Cruise Ship Passengers and crew arriving in the u. S. No longer allowed on commercial flights and subject to a mandatory 14 day quantity. Quarantine. A third passenger has died. In new jersey a mother and icu doctor is recovering from the virus anxious to hold the children she wasnt sure shed see again. She even made them a goodbye video. I wanted to tell my kids that they are the most important thing in the world to me. I love you and i want to be there. But i cant. Be amazing, be nice. And i just thats the most important thing. When you cant breathe, i think of my children and how to say goodbye. We should point out it isnt just new york patients who can now be treated on board the comfort. Patients from new jersey could go there as well. Governor murphy received a call from the white house today letting him know his request to send some patients there has been granted. Thank you. Now i want to update you on my friend and colleague brook baldwin. She said she announced she had a coronavirus last week. So i have been speaking not to her because shes resting, to her husband. And james is keeping me updated. Shes doing just fine and resting at home. They are checking vital signs. Everything appears to be okay right now. As normal as it can be under the circumstances. There she is with her pooch. Who we love. If you want to check on her go to instagram. Shes doing fine. And cant wait to get back on television and be healthy and happy. Shell be back soon. We are checking on her and sending love. She feels love. Get better, brook. President touting unproven treatment for the coronavirus. Wait until you hear who is giving him medical advice. 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. I got this Mountain Bike for only 11. Dealdash. Com, the fair and honest bidding site. An ipad worth 505, was sold for less than 24; a playstation 4 for less than 16; and a schultz 4k television for less than 2. I won these bluetooth headphones for 20. I got these three suitcases for less than 40. And shipping is always free. Go to dealdash. Com right now and see how much you can save. We have new insight on the why the president is pushing an unproven treatment for coronavirus patients. Washington post is reporting fox host and two doctors regular guests on the show met with the president on friday. They pitched him on the benefits of the antimalaria drug. Experts say there isnt enough Clinical Data to show its effective for the coronavirus and has serious side effects. Joining me now cardiologist and director of the cardiac program at the George Washington university hospital. Thank you. So, brian, good evening. This drug is unproven as a treatment for coronavirus. It could show some promise. It could. If it works then that would be wonderful. Its a doctors who should decide this. This is not his media allies who should be deciding this. There are lots of antidotes. That might point the way forward. Theres not the kind of wealth of evidence that experts and doctors need to see. Dr. Fauci made that clear. The President Trump promoting this drug because hes hearing about it from his friend and allies on fox news. Tonight Washington Post report is quite disturbing because it shows that fox is a real pipeline for the president about medical advice. Ingram and two regulars on the show visited the white house last week to hype this drug. In the meantime, people like my wife who needs this drug. My wife has rheumatoid arthritis. She uses plaquenil a brand version of the drug to keep symptoms under control. People need this drug. They are worried about shortages because theres hype on fox about the drug. Let me ask you, im old enough to remember the aids epidemic. The start. The early part testing all kind of drugs and on and on. If this drug works, more power to it. But dont give people false hope. The information should be coming from the doctors. I dont think its a president s place to tout this drug. You dont want to poopoo a drug because its one among hundreds doesnt mean its the one. Or legitimate. What do you say to this . Yeah, i would say a resident during the early years of the aids crisis. It was a dark time. There were no therapeutics. And people were just dying every day. So i really understand on a very visceral level the yearning for a therapeutic. To help people. This drug has been around for a long time. And its been evaluated actually it was evaluated years ago for hiv. For something called dengue fever. And even though in high doses in test tubes for the viruss it did appear to have significant antiviral activity, when trialed in human beings, the drug was disappointing and in fact suggestion that in chicken fever it might be harmful. So we know that drugs where there are responses or even promising of bench top trials can fail when you study it actually in a human being. We need the data. Well get it. So, when the president says what do you have to lose . Whats your answer to that . We understand that among the effects is it can have an effect on the heart. Im a cardiologist and there is a specific lethal cardiac in a small number of people. In a definite proportion of people with a particular under lying cardiac ab normality. It can be fatal. Sudden. This is not a maybe it will help. It really cant hurt. This is a real drug with real toxicity. Its important whats important that people should, listen everyone what theyre saying what the people who are touting this drug its been around forever, and therefore they know its a good drug. Just because it works for one thing doesnt mean its not going to have a side eff