It is new day. It is wednesday, april 8th, 6 00 in new york. This morning, we try to see where the coronavirus hits next in the United States. As new york city grapples with its highest numbers of deaths yet, there are some signs that the worst projections of the death toll might be avoided. On tuesday, United States had its deadliest day so far. Coronavirus has now killed nearly 13,000 americans. But the cdc director believes that thanks to the stayathome orders and social distancing, we may, may see fewer fatalities than the Trump Administration projected. But still, this morning, many governors and mayors around the country are warning that they are still dangerously close to running out of medical supplies for whatever comes next. New statistics show the coronavirus is disproportionately killing black americans. Dr. Sanjay gupta investigates why and well bring you his findings in a moment. Also, developing overnight, the lockdown in wuhan, china, has been lifted. 11 Million People in the city where this pandemic started are now free to leave their homes for the first time in ten weeks. Well show you what that looks like and if were seeing a glimpse into our future, john. This morning, President Trump who on february 24th stayed the stock market looked good to him and on february 26th said the number of cases in the u. S. Was a couple of days away from being zero, hes threatening to withhold funds from the World Health Organization for its response. Also this norng, President Trump, who himself voted by mail in florida last month is dismissing mailin voting as corrupt. It comes after thousands of wisconsin voters stood in long lines on tuesday with little or no protective gear. State republicans cnn released new polling about what the public thinks about the pandemic and the federal governments response. Well bring you those numbers shortly. We wanted to get to with athena jones with the latest on the battle against coronavirus. The highest number of deaths yet in new york, athena. But continuing hope that it might be leveling off. Reporter good morning, john. Thats exactly right. New york and new jersey now account for more than half of all coronavirusrelated deaths in the u. S. Andrew cuomo said the curve could be flattening with the number of people being hospitalized and the number of people neilding breathing tubes dropping. Experts say the gains are dependent on people continuing to practice social distancing. Heres more of what the governor had to say. Right now, were projecting that we are reaching plateau in the total number of hospitalizations and you can see the growth and you see its starting to flatten. Again, this is a projection. It still depends on what we do. And what we do will affect those numbers. This is not an act of god that were looking at. Its an act of what society actually does. So the governor is saying it is up to us to make sure that these gains continue to go in the right direction. The governor state that the rate of increase for cases in new york appears to be flattening. Meanwhile, the epicenters of the outbreak, here in new york and in new jersey and in connecticut, i should mention, all saw their highest single day death toll. But on the good news front, the cdc director says the stunning model suggesting as many as 240,000 people could die of the coronavirus were based on only about 50 of americans following these social distancing guidelines. It shows you that this can work. New york is averaging about 200 deaths a day at home. That is roughly ten times the normal average. Not all of these are tested for coronavirus. But that is one issue theyre facing here. More than 200 members of the National Guard are now assigned to new york citys office of the chief medical examiner to help with the dignified recovery of these bodies. This Mission Began last week and the teams are working 24 7. Theyre also joined by 52 members of the army. These are mortuary, military specialists trained to process bodies. Theyre also helping the medical examiner. Really big operation going on here. John, alisyn . Athena, thank you very much for that reporting. Join us now, doctors from two of the hardest hit states. We have dr. Rob gore. Hes an emergency physician at suny, down state Medical Center in Brooklyn New York and dr. Say gar, the chief of Infectious Disease department at holy name Medical Center in nuchblgt great to have you both. Dr. Gore, i want to start with you. Youve been so helpful for us over these past weeks. That piece that our reporter, Miguel Marquez did in your hospital, i cant stop thinking about it. When he was there, there kept being the announcements overhead of code 99, just one after another. When you hear that things in new york may be, may be leveling off or plateauing, are you seeing that yet in your hospital . One can hope that the numbers continue to drop. Our Emergency Departments are still filled with new patients every shifty come in. Were still putting patients on ventilators. Were still seeing people die. Like the other day, there may be three or four code 99s within the span of 30 to 40 minutes. And so i dont work on the floors, but when i contact the internal medicine docs upstairs or talk to the icu docs, the floors are still saturated with patients and still overwhelmed. Doctor, when you look at this and i know people are at home and they want to know what does this mean for me . What does it mean if the number of deaths, while still high and tremendously upsetting, is leveling off . What does it mean if the number of hospitalizations is leveling off . What does it mean for me at home as we try to get through this pandemic . Sure. I echo the sentiments of my e. R. Colleague. I work on the floors and the e. R. We see a high acute and oftentimes requiring advance support, including intubation. I think whats important for the general public to understand is that these models are based on assumptions. Assumptions include social distancing. The early information is such that it shows that the social distancing, the mitigation is indeed working. Those at home should feel empowered that what theyre doing is just as important as what were doing on the front lines. Dr. Gore, President Trump is getting a different message somehow or different information. Last night he said something to the effect of everyone is doing great. Lets listen to this moment. I think were reaching a level where it will start coming down, sloping down. The good thing is that the number of beds needed, i think we were right about that. I was right. My group was right. Theyre not needing nearly as many bids as they thought or ventilators as they thought. In fact, i saw on your show and a couple of other people just reported back to me that everyone is in great shape from the standpoint of ventilators. That is not reflected in what were hearing from governors. In massachusetts, in terms of ppe, theyre in a dangerous place, kentucky, and oregon say the same thing, kansas says the same thing in terms of the masks, the gowns, everything youre grappling with. What are you seeing in terms of supplies and the need . Any time right now we still have a lot of patients were taking care of. Right now were seeing a plat u plateau. At least theyre saying theres a plateau. If those numbers decide remember, the incubation period is about in any disaster situation, were mindful of the supplies were using any time were working in our Emergency Department. Just in medicine in general, were cautious of what were using, how much were spending. Are we going to have enough medication and enough protective gear. Because if we dont and we get hit hard, were not prepared for t but im still very cautious. When the president says oh, everybody is great. Any time you have somebody who loses their life, then people are not doing great. Any time you have someone dying because of a disease thats spread via communication in close proximity, were not doing okay. If we let our guard down at least once, the number of new cases [ inaudible ] the crucial staff that are required to care for patients in the Emergency Departments, on the floors, the death toll will continue to increase. Dr. Saggar, one of the other interesting things when youre in a Public Health phenomenon alike we are now, hospital admissions, maybe theyre going down because the standards are getting higher, right . Another thing interesting and upsetting perhaps is that in new york city at least, the number of people dying at home has spiked. Its 20 times what it normally is. We dont know for sure if all these people are diving from covid19 or dying from covid19 or coronavirus. But theres a suspicion they are. What do you see when you look at the dying at home numbers . Thats a great point. As this pandemic continues, were learning more and more about the virus every day. Were learning that it doesnt just affect the respiratory system. It can affect the cardiac system. There may be people having heart attacks, blood clots, having strokes at home and dying that may not be readily evidenced from the virus which in fact it very well may be. As we go along, we unfortunately, find a lot of that, but not necessarily directly but indirectly. Either indirectly because patients werent coming in routinely. Theyre scared to come to the e. R. And dying of heart attacks and strokes. Or the effect of virus, as were learning, the virus can have a lot of systemic effects. It may be causing strokes and blood clots, causing people to die at home. Dr. Gore, on that note, we spoke to a young woman. I believe her husband was 31 years old. They were were hearing this from more people. I cant remember if they were turned away from the hospital. But i think anyway, he died at home is my point. When people are showing up, were hearing this story over and over. Unless theyre in acute distress, the hospitals cant take them and theyre told to go home and some of them are dying at home with their loved ones. What are your thoughts, dr. Gore . Some people are dying at home with their loved ones. There are a couple of things. One, if you have an opportunity to spend the end of this loved ones life here with them, you and the rest of the family in a more supportive setting, youd rather do that. If they come to the Emergency Department and they do die here, were not letting families in because were concerned that we may increase the risk of those family members being infected by other patients in the Emergency Department. So the question is, do we have the person come into the e. R. And die in a hospital with nobody that they know or do we have them die at home surrounding their loved ones . This is something i recommended yesterday with a close family friend whose mother is pretty sick. If we keep her in the hospital, even though she wasnt in super distress, we keep her there, shell wind up getting an infection and dying nat hospital. If we can keep them around their loved ones, im sure thats something people like and prefer. Thats a very great point snien. Thank you both very much. Were going to speak with the leaders of these two states. New york citys mayor, bill de blasio and new jersey governor, phil murphy, about what theyre seeing, are they hopeful and what are they seeing in terms of numbers and a plateau. One of the important developments in this fight against the coronavirus is the fact that its killing and infecting black americans at an alarmingly high rate. Why . Dr. Sanjay gupta investigates, next. Your mother in law. And i like to question your every move. Like this left turn. Its the next one. You always drive this slow . How did you make someone i love . That must be why youre always so late. I do not speed. And thats saving me cash with drivewise. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady . [tina] youre an old lady. We find a way through it. Y, its about taking care of each other. Its the small parts that make a big difference. At chevy, we promise to do ours. Were offering current chevy owners onstar crisis assist services and complimentary wifi data. 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A significant one. That is race. Just how big a risk factor is it . Turns out pretty big. Why is that . I i decided to find out myself. In the beginning, covid19 was far away and it didnt have a name. It was coming over from shores from people who traveled. Once it got a foothold in the United States, its true self was revealed. Once people got infected, because of their diabetes and Heart Disease and the like, they would get it more severely and be at higher risk of dying. Dr. Kamara jones is i was struck, dr. Jones, were both doctors and as i was hearing the story, it sounded just all of a tragically familiar. Is this a familiar story . What we see is familiar because the condition of our lives hasnt changed. Whats happening is that we are carrying the burden of these limited opportunities in our body, the diabetes, the Heart Disease, the hypertension, even in terms of immune compromised and all of that. Already, were hearing from some officials that blacks have been disproportionately hit. In michigan, where you grew up, 14 of the population is black, though they make up 41 of coronavirus deaths. In illinois, 15 identify as African American, but they make up 42 of deaths. Louisianas population is 32 black, which accounts for about 70 of coronavirus deaths. But heres the problem according to dr. Jones. As inadequate as testing had been for the country, the problem is even worse for African Americans. Our whole National Testing strategy has started out as a clinical strategy, not a Public Health strategy. That, of course, has disadvantaged the whole nation in terms of knowing who has contracted. Im told also that it has been harder for many people of color to get the test just because of where testing stations have been located. While blacks are less likely to be tested, less likely to be treated, they are more likely to be on the front lines. Essential workers. Upon whom we all depend. Were out here as Public Workers doing our jobs trying to make an honest living to take care of our families. Detroit bus driver, Jason Hargrove posted this online on march 21st. It is not as easy for them to shelter in place. And its not as easy because they might have front facing jobs like Home Health Aides or bus drivers or working at amazon and the like. For you to get on the bus and staying on the bus, and cough several times without covering up your mouth and you know that were in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks dont care. Four days later, hargrove, who is 50 years old, became ill. He died last wednesday. Its still unclear how he got covid19. John and alisyn, i think theres a couple of important things that are sort of more immediate. First of all, we need to collect the data. Data is actually hard to come by. First of all, theres been inadequate testing as everybody knows. Some of the results, the data was not broken down by demographics. Something we should continue to insist on. Also, there may be a tragic sort of story of the rationing of care because theres not enough of some of these resources weve been talking about. I think its really important to be sure that the structural inequalities dont manifest, arent affected by that rationing of care as well. John, alisyn . All right. Thanks to sanjay gupta for that. Dr. Rob gore is back with us. Dr. Gore, your hospital serves a largely Minority Community and as upsetting as these statistics are, i have a feeling that theyre not one bit surprising to you. No. These statistics arent surprising at all. Ive always worked in black neighborhoods. The one im in right now happens to be where i grew up which is predominantly African American and afro caribbean. Our death rates are higher in central brooklyn. Our rates of homicide are higher. Hypertension and diabetesrelated deaths are higher. Rates of spread of hiv infections are higher. Hospi