Pandemic pretty much right from the start. Ive seen the devastation firsthand. Ive also seen how some countries and some leaders have risen to the challenge. While others fail. In the United States, this virus exposed old divisions. The covid19 cases and deaths will disproportionately affect africanamericans. We went to a very dark place. Police officers have been fired after a man was pinned to the ground and died. Are you on the right side of history . It didnt have to be this way. Newly identified deadly virus from china. A variation of the coronavirus. Fear it could spread further. When this virus was just starting up, i was watching it from afar and thought, this is going to be a problem. I couldnt get into mainland china. So i went to one of the first places i could get to. Hong kong, which has reported its first death from the coronavirus. The Hong Kong Government has heightened the monitoring of the coronavirus. Hong kong was taking this immensely seriously. When i landed at the airport in february, i had to fill out a form, where i was coming from, where i was going, my phone number. So at the hong kong airport, theyre making an announcement to maintain personal hygiene, and not to travel through wuhan, china. This is one of the busiest transport hubs in the world, there is nobody here. They were setting up quarantine areas. They were segregating doctors into covid doctors and noncovid doctors. People immediately put masks on. They were already accustomed to it. You didnt have this idea that putting on a mask was somehow a violation of their freedom. Hong kong had a lot of advantages. Theyve dealt with and contained pandemics before. Sars, h1n1. Theyve had success to build on. Everyone i spoke to in hong kong told me this was coming to the rest of the world. There are people in the western world saying that there is nothing to be worried about. So you dont think theyre sounding the alarm loud enough . No. In retrospect, it all sounds obvious. But in february, doctors in hong kong were telling me how this virus spreads. Weve seen many cases of clustered infections within families and groups of friends, who pass on the virus to one another just within a mealtime. They have lunch or dinner together. One meal . Yes. Then they transmit the virus to one another. Thats what i remember most about hong kong, they were acting early, they knew what it was, and it wasnt a big secret. They were telling everyone exactly what they were facing and what they were doing. Unlike President Trump, who said time and time again that no one could have seen this pandemic coming. The first confirmed u. S. Case of the contagious coronavirus. A Public Health emergency. Well, some of his own experts saw it coming. I went to the states and at his headquarters, i met dr. Anthony fauci, he was not nearly the household name in america that he was about to become. There are people who are shrugging this off, saying its just like the flu. Right. You certainly shouldnt be panicking. But to deny there is a threat is being unrealistic. Its clear there is a threat, because its brandnew, and there isnt any baseline immunity. Are you getting the Political Support from this administratioadministratio administration . President trump has repeatedly downplayed this. Is there pressure on you from the administration to downplay it . No, theres absolutely no pressure. I tell it like it is, ive been doing it for 36 years, and i will continue to tell it like it is. And for a little while, dr. Fauci did get to speak his mind. President trump put together this Coronavirus Task force that gave daily briefings. For a moment, it seemed like President Trump was waking up to the coronavirus threat, which he had often compared to the seasonal flu. We have a few clips were going to put up. But the press conferences were quickly dismissed by many as disinformation and propaganda. I want to thank the president and vice president. I want to thank the president for a quick turnaround. The president has been outstanding. It was becoming clear that President Trumps political agenda was overriding the science, particularly when it came to something that would hurt the economy. My concern is, we would start to see little spikes that would turn into outbreaks. Anthony is a very good person. I have disagreed with him. We have to open our country. We have no choice. People heard the president s message, and started protesting against the lockdowns. And they started targeting dr. Fauci, because he was giving President Trump advice he didnt want to hear. And this man regarded by his colleagues as one of the best virologists alive became an enemy of the people. It was becoming clearer that americas approach to the pandemic was very different than the rest of the worlds. I went to sweden. They also took a very different approach. But there, the scientists were running the show. Its the politicians who make the decisions, but here its scientists. The whole approach was based on trust. Sweden is taking a relaxed approach to the coronavirus outbreak. Leaving restaurants, schools, and malls open. Its the governments decision to allow freedom of movement. Following social distance guidelines, and recommending the elderly stay at home. The basic approach was to focus protection on the most vulnerable, on the elderly, and care homes, and pretty much leave everybody else alone. Stores are still open. And people are out with their sandwiches and their beer and having a nice time. And if you go all the way around, its not just this one part of the street where we are. Its like this across the downtown area. I have not seen a reporter stand in a street with that many people behind them since this coronavirus pandemic started. I spoke with dr. Enders tegno, hes like swedens version of dr. Fauci. He was like a cult figure, people knew his name, they were getting his face tattooed on their bodies. I was amazed at his candor. What do you say to critics who say the policy is too risky, youre just rolling the dice and hoping its going to work . I think everybody is rolling the dice and wondering if it is going to work. And thats lockdown or any kind of measures, because nobody has tried it before. The strategy was risky. They had a higher death toll than their immediate neighbors, significantly higher than norway, finland, and denmark. But the key point was the government trusted its citizens enough to follow the advice and the people trusted their government enough to buy in to the national plan. And they werent the only ones. Tada did you know Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need . I should get a quote. Do it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 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Within the past couple of hours, the italian Prime Minister has announced restrictions on Movement Across the entire country. Bergamo was the epicenter. They were scrambling from the getgo. Italian hospitals are at their absolute limit, with hundreds more deaths reported daily. They went from a few cases to a true outbreak with exponential growth almost immediately. Italy has reached another grim milestone. The death toll has risen by nearly the death toll is now higher than anywhere else in the world. I went to italy because i wanted to see how the hardest hit country in europe was able to emerge. The bergamo hospital is a huge facili facility. In the covid ward, we met this doctor. Every unit has been divided with the red line. This is the socalled dirty area. So we shouldnt step inside there. This is the danger zone, when youre close to the patient . Absolutely. Is that enough . We hear its so contagious. Is a line drawn on the ground going to do anything . Yes, its the concept of knowing if you work here, you need to take all the precautions so if you work here, youre not exposed. This covid ward had almost been overwhelmed. At the peak, they were coming in every three minutes. And in bad shape. People were coming in near death. We were up to close to 600 patients out of 750. So basically all of the activity of the hospital. The hospital reacted very well. We had up to 75 of the personnel of the hospital dedicated to the Covid Patients. When they were being overwhelmed, you said most of the patients had on these helmets. Its a pressurized air helmet. Its almost like some sort of ancient scuba suit that you put over your head, that pushes air through your nose and mouth at a universal pressure. We dropped the number of covid positive patients. Now were moving back to sort of normal. Right next to bergamo in another town, we met this doctor. He took us on to the covid ward. Before you go on to the covid ward, you suit up. Follow me. This is where we have all the devices to protect the physician. Its like youre going between two pressurized doors before going out on some spacewalk. Beyond that line, you have to be perfect. You have to put on the face mask, and the blouse. And two layers of gloves. And coverings over your shoes and the face shield. Everything to be covered. The very beginning it was very tough, because you have to learn the sequence, how to dress you up and how to take your gloves out. Theres a sequence, you cannot you cant just do it. You need to do it like this. Its hard to concentrate on exactly what youre doing, because it feels a little uncomfortable. Most of all, its timeconsuming. It takes forever. And you dont want to get it wrong, because you, yourself, are contaminated. Like bergamo, they were also hit very hard, very early on. It spread quickly. We were completely submerged by a sort of tsunami coming up. The doctor was showing me what he had done on his ward to cope with the pandemic. He said they had to improvise. We said, this is like a worst scenario. We need to be flexible, use different tools. Treat it like a war zone. Yes. Flexible, fast, take the old rule book and put it aside. Assess, treat, move. This is the sternum and the spine. This is a supine position. He pulled up the chest xrays of a covid patient. Its primarily a respiratory disease. Until he did that, i hadnt really understood what this does to the lungs. You can see here, you have a white portion. These empty spots, thats air. This is the left portion of the lung, which is still working. Which is not much. Its swollen, and there is liquid where it should not be found. Its a disaster for the lung. Lungs are like sacs of air. They fill up with water, and start to collapse under their own weight. So this is not good. But if you pump in air here, what happens . It goes to the spot where it wants to go, and then you can kill the patient or rip their lung. They tried these other things. They flip you over, its gravity. Theyre trying to take the air that is on top and force it down into the compacted areas. The strategy is when you put the patient into prone position, the pressure is now trying to reopen. In a healthy lung, this would all be air. Yes. Did this person survive . No. No. I met a covid survivor. A lot of them cant speak at all. But this man, roberto, a former police officer, was on the road to recovery, and he was happy to talk. How are you feeling, sir . I feel good. Because i passed, i think, 40 days intensive care. It was terrible. He said he remembers vaguely in this dreamlike sleep, people around him saying, this guy is not going to make it. Other people were dying. And he was now getting better. He said he was so weak, he couldnt raise one hand, let alone feed himself and dress himself. I said, what are you looking forward to when you get out . He said, good food. My mother makes the best rabbit and polenta. I said, okay, i want to come and have it with you when youre out. Is that a deal . He said, done. Italy got a positive result. Within a couple of months, they were able to slowly open up again. And it felt like a renaissance. They were celebrating. They had won and they had won together as a nation. All over italy, people have been hanging encouraging signs on homes and shop windows. This one says, the coronavirus one day will be finished. And then the national slogan, it will all be okay. Sometimes it hasnt felt like that. But at least people are trying to stay positive about it. Even though most of their shops and businesses were closed, i got the sense that they were nervous but hopeful. They were getting a taste back of what their life was like. Italy could end up emerging from this crisis stronger and more united. The exact opposite of what happened to the United States. I thought i had my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. Under control. Turns out, it was controlling me. 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They wanted to have the economy open, to deal with it, and to move on. The death toll has risen by a record 980 people. The real number could be mutual higher. The highest number of deaths linked to the coronavirus. There is a strong resolve to defeat this together. So after being incredibly slow off the mark here, the uk did finally start taking things seriously. And its Health Care System was facing a real strain. Numbers were going up and up, and they started to pay a price for their slow action. I was able to see that for myself. I went to a hospital in coventry. Coventry is part of the industrial heartland of the uk. Its about an hour and a half drive from london, to the north. What struck me the most was when the ambulances arrived, there was a nurse who was trying to figure out where to send people. I could be putting a patient into the main area who i feel may have covid. But then they come back with their covid screen as negative. So actually, i put that patient in an area, and they might have caught covid because they didnt have it previously. Its hard work. Weve seen a lot of death. Why do you think it gets so deadly . Weve never seen a disease quite this bad. Theres an awful lot about the virus we dont understand, why it kills so many people is really a mystery. This doctor was responsible for the e. R. , the most severely sick patients. He said they, too, were at a breaking point, and patients were coming in and were profoundly sick. But he was a little bit encouraged when i saw him, because the numbers were starting to go down. And he thought they were getting a better handle on it. Our covid Critical Care is getting quieter. We had a big peak of admissions, but now that the country has been in lockdown for five, six weeks, weve seen a downturn in cases. What was the main focus today . Once they get into the recovery phase, the doctors role becomes less key, if you like. Its the nurses, particularly, that spend the most time with the patients. Giving a bit of an emotional boost, because its hard for the patients. Nurses are there, they deal with the patient, and deal with the best and usually the worst of the patients. Lisa said one of the hardest things she deals with is having to help people say goodbye. The father came in, he was very sick and died. The son doidnt know his father had died. We had to tell him that, and it was quite heartbreaking, because he couldnt get in touch with his family. So we had to tell him, and he was very upset. We put him to sleep, put him on a ventilator, and he died as well. At that point, we were able to get an ipad so his family actually watched him die from home on the ipad. Its so impersonal. Its no way to go, its no way to say goodbye. Its no way to say its its terrible. Ive worked in intensive care for a long time. So, you know, there are certain things that will stay with you your whole life. And that will be one of them. Are you hopeful for a vaccine . Do you think about that, as medical professionals, that we had better get this done . Yeah, yeah. I hope so. The race for a Coronavirus Vaccine is on. Scientists hoping to start production even before its approved. The president raising hopes of a vaccine by the end of the year. Can it be done . Yeah, well get a vaccine. Its uncertain how long that will take. But vaccination is the way this will be controlled. One thing this country does have is brilliant scientis