Incomprehensible numbers were starting to see signs the lock down as cross huge parts of the country is working. But the way the virus works is fatalities are a lagging indicator so everyone is starring down this week knows it is going to be really bad. This is how the Surgeon General describe what did is ahead of us. The next week is going to be our pearl harbor moment, our 9 11 moment, its going to be the hardest moment for Many Americans in their entire lives. Our pearl harbor and 9 11, the hardest moment for americans in their entire lives is what the Surgeon General said. Hes probably right. Its not crazy to say given where things are. But just weeks ago, the president , members of the administration were all down playing this. The same Surgeon General tweeted this this and so this is part of this broader whiplash induced by the administration when talked about cases going to zero weeks ago and everything was under control. When you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple days going to be down to close to zero. We have contained this. We have contained this pretty close to airtight. Its going to be viewed like the flu. It will disappear one day like a miracle. It will disappear. I will argue this is contained. It cant be airtight. It is being contained. Do you think it is being contained. The risk of contacting the coronavirus to the American Public is low. It will go away. Here we are, President Trump is trying to sell youless on the idea uls on the idea ls on a if fewer than 100,000 americans die the administration has beaten the odds. In reality millions are in a nightmare right now. New york city is preparing for an onslaught of bodies it cannot carry. Well talk about more on that in a bit. Theres little hopeful flimers in the data. Glimmers in the data. Were hopeful in new york that we may be nearing the peak of new cases. The model many are working off has substantial down predictions, now predicting fewer deaths than last week, thats in thanks in part to the lock down to social distancing policies that states across the country have put into place. But things are still really bad and a lot of that is because there has been literally no coherence response from the president. States have had to deal with a patch work to deal with this. Over the weekend the Washington Post took an indepth look at the wartimes president lack of action, after being notified about the outbreak in china in is no question President Trump inaction cost americans lives. Adding this his it is actually kind of a joke. Thats a joke. Said one Administration Official about the libberations about the belated purpose. The lack of action, and denial and dysfunction outlined in this Washington Post piece explains why the president is over matched an incapable of responding to the virus so states will have to go at it alone. The governor of nevada told me on friday they set up a go fund had he account, not literally, but a fundraising effort for the state to buy personal protective equipment for those working in the state and trying to get money for p the equipment. This is not a big sale. This is stuff the federal government should be doing. Weve lost people because of this inaction and were going to lose many more. If were really turn the corner and the data says theres reason for hope and i think theres a little bit of glimmer it is despite what this president in this white house has done. Here to talk about where we are and what we need to do to prepare. Beth cameron, Vice President fors programs. Wrote a piece last month for the wash post quote i ran the pandemic office, trump closed it. Beth, lets start with where you are taking stock with where you are, after some of the data over the weekend which could sometimes represent reporting lags but there feels like a little tiny bit of hope in the air today even as we face whats going to be a very grim week. I think it is going to be a very grim week and i definitely do think there is some hope and certainly we have to be looking at hope to come out of this situation were currently in. Chris, im worried not only about the places where there are hot spots now and looking at new york and some of the hopeful data there. Im really worried about Rural America, the places that havent yet or just recently started social distancing measures and im really worried about hospital supply in places low resources in this country. I think we have a lot of work to do before i am ready to commit to a super hopeful picture and want to take one second to say thank you to all of the people working in really low Resource Environments to help patients across the country. Weve had a few areas of Rural America throughout the country that have had intense localized outbreaks. Albany, georgia, one that comes to mind, when you were working on this issue in the white house and thought about the response and modeling, how did you think about the virus going through rural areas differently than through large metropolis. I think its important it think about the country as a whole so one air yahoo area could aggregate demands across all of america. One thing about a pandemic that makes it different from the rest of the response capacity to Natural Disasters like hurricanes, is that pandemic can affect the whole country, they can move from place to place, people are moving. Until recently we had people moving all across the country who were infected but didnt know because we didnt have a testing strategy in place. What what that means is we have to understand what the demand actually is in places that have far, far fewer resources to deal with the pandemic. And right now at this moment we really dont have a supply commander in place. We dont know exactly what the aggregated demand is from governors around the country and i think thats one of the most critical steps to be taken immediately so we can get a handle what this virus means in Rural America. I wonder if that is an idea of a supply commander and getting your arms around what the total demand for the country is and where its needed is something youve been part about that have been part of the planning and monthlieling when you were thinking in the white house about pandemic preparation. To be honest we were definitely thinking how pandemics would be different from other types of Natural Disasters. And when we looked at Natural Disaster after response around the world and after zyka when we looked at how we respond we were thinking how fema and cdc worked closely in concert in defense as a team. To say we had it all knitted together wouldnt be entirely correct but we absolutely were looking to fill the gaps and monitor events around the world and be moura more prepared and have strong set of standard operating systems in place so our fema could plug in with logistics and supply Chain Network at the department of defense. I think we have a lot of work to do to make that seamless connection for covid19 but we dont have a lot of time. We dont have anine years, we really have just days to get it right. Beth cameron who worked at the white house thanks for your expert ease tonight. Thanks for having me. Now to senator, first i want to check in how your husband is doing and what the experience has been like. Hes doing so much better. When i hear the cases now, the one thing i can relate to because he got out of the hospital still with pneumonia but was able to recover. I think of all of the families, some we all know that cant be at the bedside, cant hold their loved ones, and thats one of the hardest parts of this disease. This is about the major urban area but is coming to rural. Our highest per capita death rate is in a rural dmount minnesota so its very important for people to understand all across the country that it could happen to anyone and you got to follow the rules, despite what the white house was saying as you well pointed out, just a few weeks ago. Do you have confidence, weve seen a transformation in Rural Health Care in last 12 to 15 years, particularly to states that didnt expand medicaid, theres been a decline in the amount of beds in Rural America, closing down of medical facilities, are you confident that minnesota is prepared in those areas outside of metropolis to deal with this . Well im on the phone twice a week with our Hospital Association so i know theyre coordinating and they have a little more lux your yi of time because the wave is coming later. We know those rural areas, sometimes theres only one or t two ventilators in the county and if people start getting sick its very difficult to deal with. People are spread out. For theres more seniors in the area. A lot of people were listening to the president when he said everyone will be in church for easter. That sent a message to them and im thankful that that message has changed but for some people it is too late and i appreciate what did you said at the beginning of your show, chris, because you know what i was thinking, i was thinking back to the republic convention, when donald trump stood up in front of america and said i alone can fix this. He said he understood government and he said i alone can fix this. Here we are in the middle of what they have rightly characterized as a war and hes saying im back up to the states governors. Thats not fixing it. When honspitals are getting mass for kids for adults, thats not fixing it. Whether he didnt use the powers he was given by the United States government to invoke the production act and didnt to it, thats not fixing it. When he didnt get the tests under way when we have the worlds best scientists in this country, that is not fixing it. There are a bunch of things happening right now for folks not directly effected by the illness but feeling the economic effects which are larger in terms of scope and breath at this point than folk whos contracted coronavirus theres two big things i want to ask about, one the payroll protection program. Ive been fielding a lot of complaints people saying it has been a disaster. Today they were off line, the bank interface, have you been hearing the same from Small Business owners in your state try to get that loan. Yes this is a complete botched roll out. We know that. There is computer issues but theres also issues because you have a lot of Small Businesses particularly in the minority community. Africanamerican businesses. Hispanic businesses who maybe dont have a relationship with an existing big bank but a smaller bank. The head of the Community Banks in my state called me because theyre not yet able to access this program. They were coming online later. You can imagine how terrified they are, they believed this would be rolled out as promised so this is something that calls for constant over sight, immediate oversight and potentially immediate changes to this program if its not going to work. Do you think youll be back . Will the senate be in session, it seems otherwise would be hard to provide oversight if youre not in session. Were coming back april 20th. I think theres ample reason to look at the bill from hospital issues to state and local governments to what has been happening in the gig economy, to the elections, which we saw in raw fashion today in wisconsin, where multiple Court Hearings have resulted and the courts basically saying sorry youre out, were not giving you the additional weeks at the u. S. Supreme court and shows why we Must Immediately lead the bail for mail in ballots but also to make sure that we are allowing polls to be open 20 days in advance across the country. This has got to be part of this legislation as well. We cant allow this legislation to stop our democracy. Thats going to be a very, very big fight. Well cover that in a bit. Thank you so much for taking time and best wishes to your husband. Okay. Thank you i appreciate that. Disturbing new reporting from the epicenter of the pandemic as Funeral Homes are running out of supplies. The contingency plan for new york city after this. Or new york city after this its kind of my quiet, alone time. Audible is a routine for me. Its like a fun night school for adults. I could easily be seduced into locking myself into a place where i do nothing but listen to books. I never was interested in historical fiction before, but im obsessed with it now. There are a lot of like, classic and big titles that i feel like i missed out since i dont have time to read, mean i might as well listen. If i want to catch up on the news or history or learn whats going on in the world, i can download a book and listen to it. Because i listened to her story over and over again, i made the decision to go ahead and follow my own dream, which was to help other veterans. I think theres like 180 books in my, in my library now. It changes your perspective; it makes you a different person. Its true, its so true. laugh to start your free 30day trial, just text listen17 to 500500. They use stamps. Com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Get a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale there are times when our need to connect really matters. To keep customers and employees in the know. To keep business moving. Comcast business is prepared for times like these. Powered by the nations largest gigspeed network. To help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. Tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. And a team of experts here for you 24 7. Weve always believed in the power of working together. Thats why, when every connection counts. You can count on us. New york has lost more people to the coronavirus than any other state, almost half would have succumbs to the virus came from new york, more than 5,000 cases. Now the city is running out of capacity to deal with the deceas deceased. With many hospitals reverting to portable morgues, long refrigerator trucks. Now very disturbing reporting, funeral home director whos are running out of crucial supplies, things like p ed p e things like stretchers and body bags. Reporter inside this funeral home in brooklyn, the shocking reality. Bodies are piling up so fast, hes running out of space. Marmo is scrambling to get a refrigerated truck to serve as a temporary morgue. Were overwhelmed. Never seen this ever and it scares me. There is a point now as the death rate rises, i dont believe that us funeral direct tors alone could handle this. They cant. This morning the head of the new york city counsels Health Committee mark lavine talked about the citys contingency plan if the death rate continues to rise. Tweeting soon we will start temporary internment by using a new york city park for burials, trenches will be dug for ten caskets in a line. That obviously got a whole of attention and here to explain where things stand is new York City Council member mark lavine who chairs the committee. Talk to us about what the planning now and where the city is in terms of the capacity to deal with so many people that have sacome to this illness. If we do that, it will be done in heart island, off the sblap coast of the bronx which is home to the existing public burial ground. It will not be done in a park. The challenge, as said is that the normal channels of Funeral Homes and cemeteries are not able to handle the volume anymore and so our citys chief medical examiner is excellent is taking over that function and we hope it doesnt come to the need to use heart island and in fact, as you reported tonight, there are signs that the deaths may becoming down. Thats great news. Im really proud of our city and our states for the work that has gone into getting us into what appears to be a flattening of the curve. Were certainly hoping to avert the worst but prudently making plans if necessary for temporary internment. On heart island. In terms of what this has been like for new york city in the last week, record calls to 911. Multiple hospitals over capacity trying to treat people in rooms that are designed for two or three people with ten people sometimes. How would you describe it to someone who is not there, who is in a part of the country where it seems like this is distant or theres a long fuse until it gets to that point . You know, almost every single e. R. Doc and nurse and technician ive talked to has used almost exactly the same language to explain how it feels in emergency departments. They call it a war zone. In fact, some who have served in war zones say this is as bad or worse. Now there is good news and that it appears the number of people entering hospitals in new york city is no longer increasing. And that perhaps the apex is three, seven, ten days away but on the ground in hospitals, theres still more people coming in every day than are being discharged. So the system is under enormous strain and we still face a desperate need for ventilators, for personal protective equipment, for more staff to relief people who are just exhausted working long shifts day after day. These heroes have gone through so much in the past month and even if we are hitting the apex, this is still a really tough fight and so its not time to let up on our calls for assistance and our calls to the public to continue social distance. Part of what i think is particularly brutal about this for people that have and senator klobuchar talked about have loved ones that have to be hospitalized or put in the icu for obvious reasons there is no visitors being allowed. People cant be there in the last days for people they love. They cant mourn and grieve. What are the protocols for folks that do lose a Family Member in he terms of things like burial. Everyone wants to be around each other in the midst of a loss and its absolutely brutal people cant do that. Yes. Look, these restrictions are driven by a medical necessity. We have to stop the spread of the disease by keeping people that are not sick out of hospitals, out of longterm care facilities, which perhaps we