Closed captions transcript:

00:00:07
Feeling. Italy is the new
epicenter of the virus.

00:00:15
Which will say 627 more people have died
in the 24 hours since Italy surpassed

00:00:21
China Thursday as

00:00:23
a nation with the most covert in 1000
related deaths that is the highest data day

00:00:28
rise in covert 1000 deaths the World Health
Organization noted Friday the dramatic

00:00:33
speed of the virus spreading saying it
took over 3 months to reach the 1st 10000

00:00:39
confirmed cases only 12 days to
reach the next 100000 they have

00:00:44
a message for young people you are not
invincible this virus could put you in

00:00:50
hospital for weeks or even kill you
even if you don't get seek the

00:00:57
choices you make about where you go could
be the difference between life and death

00:01:02
for someone else. Britain is
asking 65000 retired nurses

00:01:09
and doctors to return to work to help
fight the virus he correspondent Charles

00:01:14
Taylor does much the government descending
That is the thousands of former nurses

00:01:18
and retired doctors on the legal health
secretary much Hancock says he hopes many

00:01:22
many thousands will respond to the appeal
volunteers will be given training over

00:01:27
the next few weeks devoting allocated
to various hospitals as well final year

00:01:32
nursing and medical students could also
be drafted to bolster health care staff

00:01:37
wouldn't screw on

00:01:37
a virus outbreak is not expected to peak
for several weeks already some hospitals

00:01:41
have complained about overlooked staff and
shortages of ventilators and protective

00:01:45
equipment such as face
masks Charles London u.s.

00:01:49
Vice president Mike Pence his press secretary
said Friday someone in his office has

00:01:54
tested positive for the corona virus he
says neither President Trump nor Mr Pence

00:01:59
have had close contact with that individual
Mr Penton is leading the White House

00:02:03
task force one to combat the
outbreak this is v.o.a.

00:02:06
News. Negotiations on possible one trillion
dollar coronavirus economic stimulus

00:02:12
bill in the United States seems as if it

00:02:14
a stumbling block Senate Democratic leader
Chuck Schumer said the agreement by the

00:02:19
Friday night midnight deadline has gone
and come and gone and they will resume on

00:02:26
Saturday it was allusive with several
major issues dividing congressional

00:02:31
Republicans and Democrats as

00:02:33
a coronavirus death toll grows at home
and worldwide President Trump is angrily

00:02:37
defending his administration's response
to the pandemic saying it's done

00:02:42
a great job we haven't been given the credit
that we deserve he started the week on

00:02:46
a somber note and ended it come bad going
after reporters whom he says are too

00:02:51
critical and asking about medical supply
and testing shortfalls as to what he'd say

00:02:56
to scared Americans the
president told one t.v.

00:02:59
Correspondent he's a
terrible reporter it's

00:03:01
a very bad signal that you're putting out
to the American people who he says are

00:03:05
looking for answers and hope we're winning
and we're going to win this war breaking

00:03:10
with his own health officials on the
outbreak science Saager Magen in Washington

00:03:15
United States Capitol Washington d.c.

00:03:17
Suffered 1st death from the virus the
person is a 59 year old man with

00:03:22
a complicated medical history who
was admitted to the hospital

00:03:25
a week ago people from around the world
would normally descend on Washington this

00:03:30
time of year for the cherry blossoms d.c.

00:03:33
Mayor Marion Barry says everyone must
heed the call to stay home to prevent the

00:03:37
spread we meet anyone who was not performing
an essential service or activity to

00:03:43
stay home don't treat this like

00:03:46
a normal weekend there will be more weekends
more nice days and right now we're all

00:03:51
focused on flattening the current. U.s.

00:03:56
National sports organization would like
to see Elin pick organizers reconsider

00:04:01
holding the summer games this year as
scheduled we get more from correspondent

00:04:06
Dinny. The head of USA Swimming is calling
for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to

00:04:11
be postponed until next
year USA Swimming c.e.o.

00:04:14
Tim Hinchey sent a letter to the u.s.

00:04:16
Olympic and Paralympic Committee on Friday
describing the challenges USA swimmers

00:04:20
face and urging the u.s. O.p.c.

00:04:21
To use its voice as

00:04:23
a leader within the Olympic movement to
speak up for its athletes earlier Friday

00:04:26
u.s. O.p.c.

00:04:27
Board chair Suzanne Whang and said that
the decision live with the World Health

00:04:31
Organization the Japanese government and
the international Olympic committee

00:04:34
promising that her committee would never
send athletes into harm's way if they

00:04:38
didn't think it was safe I'm
Danny cop you can find more add

00:04:43
a News dot com m Tommy make Neil v.o.a.

00:04:46
News.

00:05:07
From Washington v.o.a.

00:05:09
The sands issues in the news. Welcome to

00:05:15
a special edition of issues in the news
I'm Kim Lewis your host for this week's

00:05:19
show if you're wondering why I am hosting
the show as everyone is now aware the

00:05:24
covert 19 pandemic has affected all aspects
of our lives including our programming

00:05:30
here at the Voice of America we are working
very hard using creative ways to help

00:05:34
keep you up to date on the latest news
developments Well joining me via phone is

00:05:39
one of issues in the news distinguished
journalist and that is j.j.

00:05:43
Grey national security correspondent for
w. And host of Target USA welcome j.j.

00:05:49
And thank you for your flexibility and
being able to join me via phone thank you

00:05:54
Kim It's my pleasure and being

00:05:56
a veteran of your way I certainly understand
your talent is your face and applaud

00:06:03
you for taking the steps to make sure
that the show. Thank you so much will of

00:06:08
course the biggest story of around the
globe right now is the corona virus which

00:06:12
continues to spread in various parts of the
world cases are now being reported even

00:06:16
in Africa here in the u.s.

00:06:18
The state of California has been shut down
by the government and hopes of stopping

00:06:23
the spread of the virus while the u.s.

00:06:25
Centers for Disease Control at MIT's
that much of covert 19 remains

00:06:29
a mystery the corona virus has been around
for decades and recently from June 24th

00:06:35
teen through July 2017
there were 39558 cases of

00:06:41
a positive strain of Corona
just here in the u.s.

00:06:44
Which is an average of 13196 cases during
that time frame. Presently have some

00:06:51
parts of the world experiencing

00:06:53
a surge of the virus Well so far 86000
people have recovered from covert 19 well

00:06:59
Jay-Jay we have dealt with various
viruses in the past h one

00:07:03
n one SARS Mers Ebola the Hong Kong flu
the swine flu and back in the early

00:07:09
1900 a flu epidemic that actually
initiated here in the u.s.

00:07:14
But was known worldwide as the Spanish flu
which killed hundreds of thousands of

00:07:19
people worldwide So what are your thoughts
on why this virus has caused panic and

00:07:24
fear here and the year 2020 there in
my opinion care are 3 key elements the

00:07:31
pernicious great fear of this because it
and also there is the way in which it was

00:07:36
responded to early on and then the fact
that we are so globally connected are

00:07:43
all contributing factors to why this is
blown up into what it is when you're

00:07:47
looking at what took place and people
started figuring out that something was

00:07:52
happening in late December that was on the
19th or 20th the December that people

00:07:58
started to figure out something was going
on there but people were slow to realize

00:08:04
just what could happen flights were
still coming out on and out of China

00:08:09
internationally for several weeks after
that and it was very clear that probably by

00:08:15
the early part of January that that was
blowing up into something that the world

00:08:19
had never seen before I don't believe the
world was prepared for anything like this

00:08:24
and I think the key thank you again is
the global connectivity here that has

00:08:30
triggered this worldwide pandemic so quickly
because when you think about it this

00:08:34
all started in late December as I mentioned
that look where we are down in that

00:08:39
barge and you know there are 246000 cases
of this and it shows no signs of abating

00:08:45
at least in this part of the world China
is kind of standing right now it's. Not

00:08:51
according to what they say and it's not
clear that we can believe everything we

00:08:55
hear from them is saying that there were
no new cases if that's the case and Greg

00:09:00
but many people are worried about whether
or not we can believe what they're saying

00:09:03
about this also Jay-Jay not everyone seems
to be panicking over this virus we're

00:09:08
being shown videos and photographs of
people and socialize settings still such as

00:09:13
the hundreds of beachgoers in Florida
who are undergoing a spring break also

00:09:18
a family in the u.s.

00:09:19
State of New Jersey they lost 3
family members to cope at 19 after

00:09:23
a family gathering so why do you think
people still are not heeding the warnings

00:09:28
and complying with the government regarding
social distancing pm I think that the

00:09:33
time we live that I've spoken with people
who are experts in communications aside

00:09:39
from the media I'm talking about corporate
and private sector communications and

00:09:44
many different types of communications
even social media communications and what

00:09:49
they have said to me is there is plain and
simple people have gotten used to being

00:09:55
able to access what they want to hear when
they want to hear things that they are

00:10:01
not necessarily interested
in page nor that this is

00:10:04
a different situation and here's why yesterday
there are about 9000 plus cases it's

00:10:10
7 30 in the morning here in the u.s.

00:10:12
Today there are 14000 yesterday there
were about 13000 in Germany at 7

00:10:20
in the morning today there are 16000
so what this means is that the u.s.

00:10:25
And French in rate is growing faster than
that in Germany and it's probably going

00:10:30
to move past given

00:10:32
a pass then even past the wrong side of the
early part of next week and only Italy

00:10:37
and China will have more
inspections than the u.s.

00:10:40
And

00:10:40
a part of that has to do with the fact that
people either don't know don't care or

00:10:45
are not taking appropriate action
because they're not sure what to do and

00:10:49
a lot of this. Simply as I mentioned
before ignoring what they've been told the

00:10:56
case of not knowing exactly what to do Yes
this takes me back to our coverage here

00:11:01
at the Voice of America of the bowl of
virus in West Africa back in 2014 where

00:11:06
a lot of the spread was due to people
basically not following direction people also

00:11:12
getting mixed communication they're getting
communication from health agencies from

00:11:18
humanitarian agencies the show the c.d.c.

00:11:21
And yet they are also getting information
from their local you know village chiefs

00:11:26
who are telling them sometimes giving them
the opposite of what they would being

00:11:30
told by the c.d.c.

00:11:32
So I don't think that would be the case
here of people but I think it's mostly of

00:11:36
what you're saying people can say I'm
going to live my life the way I want to I

00:11:39
don't need the government to tell me what
to do so I think it's more of that than

00:11:44
getting mixed signals Yeah that is true
and this is the here's the problem with

00:11:49
people decide to take that approach that
they may live birth order because like

00:11:55
your government or the government in the
world the leaders of the government are.

00:12:01
The people who are the least in populations
around the world and here's why this is

00:12:08
an airborne transmitted type of virus and
it can happen to anyone and we've noted

00:12:15
we think it's the way things where people
who either been on an airplane people who

00:12:21
are in buildings people who. Are out in
public places forward think your government

00:12:27
figures every day. That the
grandparents. Are there people

00:12:34
to getting sick by being sick and by
the buyer one thing that struck me as

00:12:39
important is that. From the York Governor
Andrew Cuomo on Thursday and he said.

00:12:48
People have the virus and we. Don't know
who they are because we can't have them

00:12:52
but the most telling thing that to me was
found the people had the buyer before

00:12:59
we knew about it and that many of them
have recovered on their own for good

00:13:05
condition one of our what the problem
well before it became publicly known and

00:13:11
there may be people struggling right now
so this is the key to being to be looking

00:13:17
I think for those people
who are reluctant to pay

00:13:20
a person is that it may already be in your
neighborhood may already be in your home

00:13:25
but you need to paying attention because
of the result could be problematic exactly

00:13:29
Now Jay-Jay we do have Paul brand us on the
line with us now we had some technical

00:13:34
difficulty earlier and we're now able to
bring him and this is Paul Brandis White

00:13:38
House reporter for West Wing reports and
columnist for USA Today thank you Paul I'm

00:13:43
so glad you could join us are you thinking
good now fall for you here in the u.s.

00:13:48
The Trump administration is taking measures
to not only combat the spread of the

00:13:53
virus but to help people economically so
that the economy does not collapse from

00:13:58
this some of these measures include

00:13:59
a coronavirus stimulus plan to provide
people with cash to help small businesses

00:14:05
stay in business and to prevent home
foreclosures he's also deploying to hospital

00:14:10
ships one on the East Coast and one on the
West Coast and also he may enable the

00:14:16
Defense Production at so how so far how
do you think President Trump is handling

00:14:21
the pandemic Well according to doing

00:14:24
a great job but critics of course point
to the fact that we are well behind in

00:14:31
testing here is kind of an interesting story
the 1st confirmed case of coronavirus

00:14:37
was confirmed in both South Korea and
the United States on the ferry same day

00:14:44
South Korea or raise their
head with massive fasting

00:14:48
a bit people they have lowered the curve
by. But for Ben the current best sort of

00:14:52
the phrase that's being

00:14:54
a use chair but the United States in that
regard is way behind there are shortages

00:15:01
testing kits there are shortages of maps
there are shortages of all kinds of

00:15:06
medical gear all sorts of things this isn't
me saying that this is governors around

00:15:12
the nation who say that this is Hospital
officials around the country who are

00:15:17
saying that so that's sort of the situation
on the ground then as this virus spread

00:15:23
the number of cases is growing quite
rapidly I think is going to come

00:15:27
a time when the shortages become quite
apparent judge of your thoughts on this I

00:15:32
know you previously mentioned the lack of
testing in the beginning yeah exactly and

00:15:37
you know we were seeing the results of
that one of the things that took place as

00:15:42
this started was we were seeing in some
places like romantic rise in the number of

00:15:47
cases in other places there were minimal
there was minimal reporting even yesterday

00:15:52
you look at Russia Russia was reporting
something like 160 some cases of the

00:15:58
coronavirus and that was only 10 more than
the day before one of us exploding on

00:16:03
the western border in
Europe that of course was

00:16:06
a gigantic in China from the very beginning
Russia with system between them has not

00:16:12
had more than

00:16:13
a relatively few cases so I started to
dig into that and competent people that

00:16:18
egressed and outside London say they
believe the government is lying about it

00:16:22
because it's

00:16:23
a governmental lading to Lattimer Putin
into the getting to war terms to sort of

00:16:30
and then if this is about the inability
to get they can't get the kids so

00:16:36
a part of what I'm hearing as well from
some of the folks up at the speaking with

00:16:39
is doctors and running have been told to
find the cases coronavirus that they get

00:16:47
pneumonia in order to
know the. They call it

00:16:51
a cold curtain and old girl who I need
to say that on earth not being able to

00:16:58
tap kids but kids are

00:16:59
a problem not just here in the us but in
other places as well and on that note

00:17:03
we're going to take

00:17:04
a short break issues in the news is coming
to you from the Voice of America in

00:17:09
Washington if you would like to download
the program it's free on i Tunes Just

00:17:13
click on the i Tunes tab
on our website at v.o.a.

00:17:16
News dot com While you're there check out
our other programs Press Conference USA

00:17:21
and encounter also visit
us on Facebook and leave

00:17:24
a comment or 2 then like us at current
affairs with Carol Castiel Now back to our

00:17:29
panel j.j. Grey national
security correspondent for w t

00:17:33
o p and host of Target USA and Paul Brandis
White House reporter for West Wing

00:17:38
reports and

00:17:39
a columnist for USA Today I'm going to throw
this question out to both of you what

00:17:44
would it mean for people
if the government declares

00:17:46
a coronavirus national emergency j.j.

00:17:50
Well what it would mean and we should take
this very seriously I would stare into

00:17:55
v.o.a.

00:17:55
Building on September 11th 2001 and for
those who remember or to look at history

00:18:02
of that day they know that the plane that
crashed in some kinds of pain it was

00:18:07
supposedly destined for the u.s.

00:18:09
Capitol and for those who know
anything about the v.o.a.

00:18:12
Building headquarters building literally
right across the street from the u.s.

00:18:16
Capitol I can recall walking out the door
and seeing this street swarmed with black

00:18:23
a few of the blue lights in a panic
I can also remember probably maybe

00:18:28
a half an hour 40 minutes later walking
up to the roof of that building and seen

00:18:33
the Pentagon on fire and of course knowing
that since I was in New York your whole

00:18:38
country was in a bit of

00:18:40
a planet so what did the testing right now
is that authorities will what they need

00:18:46
to do in order to deal with this on

00:18:49
a small scale. But what has to be done is
the same thing that was done later that

00:18:54
very same day I remember walking down the
street independent There was one car

00:19:00
inside there are only military vehicles on
the road and people were told me in the

00:19:05
center of the street and you got down
near away from that this won't come it's

00:19:09
better than what I'm getting out here and
they're going to be some very strict

00:19:12
circumstances in London they're going
to lock down shortly at least on

00:19:16
a partial basis for this weekend it's not
clear how long that kind of activity they

00:19:21
come to the u.s.

00:19:22
That kind of activity may need people
needing permission slips if you will to be

00:19:27
out on the streets it also may mean people
being cracked by the government that

00:19:32
know that several governments overseas are
already doing that using location data

00:19:36
from smartphones and other devices those
kinds of things could come to the u.s.

00:19:41
If it gets to the point and based on where
we are right now then again mentioned

00:19:46
earlier can people not eating the advise
going in and some stimulant to prison more

00:19:51
than sanctions that may be a
done deal here in the u.s.

00:19:55
Or let them serve and also Paul your thoughts
on that that I mentioned earlier that

00:20:00
the governor of California shut the state
of California down meaning that people

00:20:04
can only go out for essentials such as
food items or medicine they can go out to

00:20:10
exercise I understand your thoughts on
this well we're already seeing some of the

00:20:15
curfews in place for example in the state
of New Jersey which is on the u.s.

00:20:21
East coast quite a list State of
the governor there has ordered

00:20:25
a statewide therapy or you
could only be out in in

00:20:29
a barge and see or be going to the grocery
store or something and I think those are

00:20:34
beginning to pop up in other places but I
want to comment on something that j.j.

00:20:40
Said very interesting point about 2001
that was now nearly 20 years ago hard

00:20:47
to believe that so much time has passed but
what. I think it's interesting between

00:20:52
then and now is that then there was

00:20:55
a lot more confidence
and trust in the u.s.

00:20:59
Government to do the right things people
had trust and faith in the government to

00:21:05
do what was right I think that is
not so much the case now we had

00:21:10
a big economic crisis here in
2007 through 2009 and polls

00:21:17
showed that ever since then the trust that
Americans have in government to do the

00:21:23
right things has

00:21:24
a road ahead and I think that has
remained so we enter this crisis with

00:21:29
a lot less trust and faith in government
to do the right thing frankly and also it

00:21:35
has not helped that doesn't trump has said
things in the White House briefing room

00:21:41
but frankly aren't true about how there's
testing kits available for every one of

00:21:48
the numbers are going down and so forth
so in terms of 1st thing the government

00:21:52
there are all kinds of reasons to support

00:21:55
a theory that people simply don't have
faith in the government to do the right

00:21:59
thing here in a crisis like this
that is only getting bigger that is

00:22:04
a problem so I think that's something that
we have to keep in mind as well and I

00:22:08
also don't want to go back
and look at China just for

00:22:12
a 2nd where it has been reported and Mohan
China that this virus originated and

00:22:19
there have been reports that China
is saying and blaming even the u.s.

00:22:23
For manufacturing this virus What do you
all thoughts on that yeah you know the

00:22:28
discussions about this being

00:22:30
a book bioengineered virus from the very
beginning and you know there been even

00:22:35
some prominent people including the u.s.

00:22:38
Senator who has been theory
only in public that this was

00:22:42
a bioengineered this virus but he said
that it was sort of the good it now is

00:22:49
saying among other. Is that it's something
for us but you know you have to think

00:22:53
about the in

00:22:54
a logical way if you look at what business
done to China of the continent it's

00:22:59
basically delivered a blow
to it but it's going to take

00:23:02
a while to recover from Henry
to talk about what the u.s.

00:23:07
Is facing and this
president is saying things

00:23:10
a real lesson here then the way this is
going this isn't going well for him or for

00:23:16
the the u.s.

00:23:17
For protecting them and I don't think
that anybody that says anything or create

00:23:22
anything like this the current leases this
is going to do it without some kind of

00:23:26
consultation or front to how it's going to
impact them personally at home unless of

00:23:32
course this with them that scientist
that nobody knows about I don't buy that

00:23:37
conspiracy theory piece what about you
Paul I mean if you look at all the damage

00:23:41
that has been done in China an awful lot
of people killed their economy taking just

00:23:47
a major hit over the past
couple months these kind of

00:23:51
a virus is in pandemics have been

00:23:53
a part of human history going back
to the very beginning it was only

00:23:58
a century ago in fact that we had to
influenza that killed millions of people

00:24:04
around the world and I've been talking to
various experts on these kind of saints

00:24:10
who say look even when we get

00:24:12
a grip on this front of Iris and
it's important to note that

00:24:16
a vaccine they say is probably at least a
year away or perhaps even the wall girl

00:24:21
a year and

00:24:22
a half because one date that they're talking
about are going to be other viruses

00:24:27
and other 10 Democrats that's up pop up
from time to time as well and some people

00:24:32
fear in fact it could be even worse than
this one if you can believe but so there's

00:24:37
a theory that you know
some mad scientist in

00:24:40
a lab did something and it got out of
hand if I could be blunt kind of crackpot

00:24:46
theories that pop up and they read around
the Internet and I'm sure there. People

00:24:51
who believe those kind of things but I
just don't think it's true but it's

00:24:55
estimated that the virus outbreak could
go on for as long as 18 months so if so

00:25:01
what what The New Normal be like and what
lessons have we learned so far from this

00:25:06
virus for instance I'm just looking at

00:25:09
a lot of the small businesses for
example do they really have back

00:25:13
a business plan to keep going in

00:25:14
a case like this or even families do they
have preparations at home family go bags

00:25:19
extra supplies at home so what lessons have
we learned or think back to the time in

00:25:25
the 19 fifties and 1960 s.

00:25:28
When there were fears of nuclear war and
schoolchildren practiced ducking beneath

00:25:34
their desks that as if
that would be helpful in

00:25:37
a nuclear war but people bought on shelters
and put them in their backyard and they

00:25:43
stocked up on food and that kind of thing
I've sense we're kind of going back to an

00:25:49
era where I think some sort of

00:25:51
a fear will hang over us rather like it
did back then I think this says kind of

00:25:58
shaken at least Americans out of whatever

00:26:01
a sense of complacency we may have had the
attacks of September 11th 2001 that j.j.

00:26:08
Was talking about also shook this out of

00:26:10
a complacency but that was 20 years ago
and I think this will kind of do the same

00:26:16
thing I think

00:26:17
a lot of things that we've taken for granted
in the United States I'm sure this is

00:26:21
true in Europe as well I'm not
sure we can take the kind of

00:26:26
a carefree lifestyle that we've always had
sumed we would have I don't think we can

00:26:30
take that for granted
anymore and in terms of

00:26:33
a lot of small businesses know most of
them don't have a fall back plan for

00:26:38
a lot of businesses literally
survive a hand to mouth

00:26:42
a lot of them I think they're going
to go under it's going to change

00:26:46
a lot of things about way we live and
play I think it's going to result. More

00:26:51
people telecommuting more people having
long distance education all sorts of things

00:26:57
that are going to change well that have
been changing and I think this crisis will

00:27:01
simply accelerate seventies
preexisting changes get

00:27:05
a how do you see the new normal Yeah Kim
what you said earlier about this perhaps

00:27:10
stretching out over maybe 18 months I think
spot on and what Paul said as well is

00:27:16
right down the middle on that
people not just here in the u.s.

00:27:19
But around the world probably
ought to look at the as

00:27:23
a long term scenario this based on what
I've heard from medical professionals from

00:27:28
intelligence officials and from corporate
experts as well and the interesting part

00:27:34
about this is that it comes most likely in
waves across this country at least it'll

00:27:40
probably happen in ways you know it's not
going to be approved week scenario is not

00:27:45
going to be a 2 month scenario
it's probably going to happen in

00:27:48
a way that is essential many people may
have had this and didn't even know it you

00:27:52
know the symptoms are said to be mild to
moderate among some people but there are

00:27:56
205 that in the us and we can think of
this similar to what we thought that

00:28:03
during the 911 crisis everything changed
after that we were warned about terrorism

00:28:09
and some people ignored it a lot of
people acted on we've been warned about

00:28:13
a pandemic there's been movies made about
them people have sat there and enjoyed

00:28:17
the movie people have to ignore the warnings
of scientists and other people talking

00:28:22
about preparations etc Here we are we're
awake now and this is what we're going to

00:28:27
have to deal with some days weeks
months and you know perhaps even

00:28:31
a year or more past is that we're not
going to be able to do the things that we

00:28:35
create before for

00:28:37
a good while so people should have those
plans in place they should also prepare

00:28:42
for what we don't know and how could you
give that we do that by keeping your ears

00:28:46
open your eyes open and remembering
that. Whole business about hygiene.

00:28:54
You know washing your hands and things
like that. He right now expect. People.

00:29:02
To not just what they see what all but what
they do out in public and realize that

00:29:06
this is going to be a
situation that may take quite

00:29:09
a while as well we're going to end our
program on that note I want to thank my 2

00:29:13
guests distinguished Washington journalist
Paul Brandis White House reporter for

00:29:17
West Wing reports and columnist for USA
Today and Jay Jay Grainer national security

00:29:23
correspondent for w t

00:29:24
o p and host of Target USA Thanks again for
your flexibility and for your thoughts

00:29:30
as we live through the Kovac
1000 pandemic this was

00:29:33
a special edition of issues in the news
and we will continue to work to bring you

00:29:37
up to date information weekly on this
program for as long as we technically are

00:29:43
able to do that thanks to our
engineer Joe Gill. For another

00:29:50
edition of issues in the
news right here on the.

00:30:06
V.o.a.

00:30:07
The science edition of Press Conference
USA Here is your host family. Welcome

00:30:14
to the science edition of Press Conference
USA I'm Rick Panther Layo on today's

00:30:19
program we're going to talk about what's
on everyone's mind these days the

00:30:24
coronavirus pandemic that sweeping the
world but before we get into our topic

00:30:29
because of the coronavirus and the need for
social distancing in the United States

00:30:34
our current affairs team of v.o.a.

00:30:36
Has been asked to telework that work from
home more frequently this may prevent us

00:30:41
from providing you with fresh programs
like Press Conference USA encounter and

00:30:46
issues in the news on

00:30:47
a weekly basis we will be doing more
interviews by phone and that may reduce the

00:30:53
audio quality of our programs we may also
have to run encore programs from time to

00:30:58
time however we want you to know that
despite the difficult days ahead and

00:31:03
technical shortcomings my colleagues Carol
Castiel Kim Lewis and I will work hard

00:31:08
every day to bring you our 3 news analysis
programs to the best of our ability and

00:31:14
we do thank you for your understanding with
19 or corona virus 2019 is the name of

00:31:20
the disease that is caused by

00:31:22
a novel or new corona virus that has never
before been detected in humans according

00:31:27
to the National Institutes
of Health coronaviruses are

00:31:30
a large family of viruses that usually
cause mild to moderate upper respiratory

00:31:36
tract illnesses like the common cold those
who have tested positive for covert 19

00:31:42
have ranged from having very mild symptoms
with some reporting no symptoms to those

00:31:47
severe with illnesses that result in death
concern over the spread of covert 19

00:31:52
continues to touch virtually every aspect
of daily life national regional and local

00:31:57
government leaders have put unprecedented
policies into effect to help mitigate the

00:32:02
spread of covert 19 the pan. Demick is
affecting the global economy throwing the

00:32:07
world's financial markets into

00:32:09
a period of extreme volatility and
uncertainty governments and international

00:32:13
organizations are planning to implement
significant measures to help offset the

00:32:18
potential economic impact of the pandemic
people are encouraged to practice

00:32:22
something called social distancing which
Johns Hopkins University defines as

00:32:27
a public health practice that prevents
sick people from coming into close contact

00:32:31
with healthy people to reduce opportunities
for disease transmission This means

00:32:36
that schools are closing with some offering
online education instead of classroom

00:32:41
education in many parts of the world scores
of restaurants and theaters have closed

00:32:45
their doors with New York's Broadway dimming
its lights until at least April 12th

00:32:51
major sporting events have been canceled
or postponed the world's religions have

00:32:55
been affected by the pandemic with many
closing their churches mosques synagogues

00:33:00
and temples to the public and offering
online or televised additions of their

00:33:05
religious services today will talk about
covert 19 the corona virus that causes it

00:33:10
what medical science is learning about it
efforts being made to mitigate the spread

00:33:15
of the disease and what we may expect in
the future my co-host for today's program

00:33:20
is v.o.a.

00:33:21
Health reporter Carole Pearson and our
featured guest for today's program is Dr

00:33:26
Thomas Frieden m.d.

00:33:27
Dr Frieden is an infectious disease and
public health physician he is currently

00:33:32
President and c.e.o.

00:33:33
Of resolve to save lives and initiative
that has been established to prevent

00:33:38
epidemics and cardiovascular disease
from 2009 to 2017 Dr Frieden served

00:33:45
as director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta Georgia

00:33:50
and before that it was commissioner of
the New York City Health Department Dr

00:33:54
Frieden Can you please take us back to the
start of this cove in 1000 crisis how

00:33:59
did the virus develop and then initially
spread. Out. Is that emerged in

00:34:06
China around November of last year and
then spread ultimately from Bath host

00:34:13
to some intermediate animal supposed
possibly were probably to what's called

00:34:19
a wet market or an market where exotic
animals are sold for through that this is

00:34:24
the same way the stars virus spread 17
years earlier from China no one's certain

00:34:30
what is certain is that this is
unprecedented never before has there been

00:34:35
a brand new virus including Does this but
other than influenza and brand new virus

00:34:41
that has emerged in one part
of the world and become

00:34:43
a pandemic all over the world and yet there
are people who say that this virus was

00:34:49
manufactured in

00:34:50
a lab and then let loose and it's one of
the rumors how do we know that that's not

00:34:55
true there are many rumors about viruses
and I feel that as with many different

00:35:00
microbes sunlight is the best disinfectant
getting information and making it

00:35:05
clearly and openly available will allow
that kind of rumor to be accessed there are

00:35:10
genetic fingerprint of the virus that
according to the viral exists who know this

00:35:15
best suggests that this is not
an engineered virus this is

00:35:19
a naturally occurring virus it's very much
like some that occur in nature and this

00:35:25
is how SARS spread in 2003 so the weight
of evidence now certainly suggests that

00:35:31
something like a wet market from

00:35:32
a natural source in the way that this is
most likely to have spread if there are

00:35:37
other theories or concerns or have pocket
his Those should be looked at openly and

00:35:42
transparently so that sunlight can disinfect
that women I know no vaccines have

00:35:47
been developed at this point to prevent the
confection Dr Anthony Fauci says it may

00:35:51
be 18 months or so before one is available
for general distribution What are your

00:35:56
thoughts on that there are things that we
can do right now every one of us needs to

00:36:01
wash our hands more cover our cough. Not
in fact others if we get ticked and stop

00:36:08
shaking hands for

00:36:09
a while people who are medically vulnerable
older people what's underlying health

00:36:14
conditions where this is spreading in
the community really need to isolate

00:36:18
themselves from others to protect themselves
health care facilities need to learn

00:36:23
to surge safely that means improving Infection
Prevention and Control getting ready

00:36:29
to treat large numbers of people with just
mild illness and also getting ready to

00:36:35
veer situation to have to treat people
who need support for breathing with

00:36:40
ventilators or oxygen in society as

00:36:43
a whole we need to think about social
distancing and include the thing that

00:36:47
distance between people canceling unnecessary
meetings and other large gatherings

00:36:53
and making sure that we continue to learn
more about this virus so we can do more

00:36:59
about it one thing is that we may have

00:37:02
a treatment in the market weeks or months
and that could occur and then it will be

00:37:06
a question of getting it to people back
seen development is very challenging and

00:37:12
though there are promising candidate that
means we have no guarantee that about 15

00:37:17
will become available and if
it does it will be at least

00:37:21
a year or 2 from now so we absolutely have
to do everything in our power to try to

00:37:26
get

00:37:26
a vaccine but we can't depend on it and
there's no certainty that we'll have it we

00:37:30
don't know that there will be

00:37:32
a safe and effective vaccine available
but we certainly hope that will be Dr

00:37:36
Frieden you mentioned the social
distancing and I understand

00:37:39
a number of people or undergoing South
Korean team when you're talking about both

00:37:44
what kind of period of time are we talking
about how long does it Yeah great

00:37:49
question we have no idea how long it will
continue in China they had hundreds of

00:37:54
millions of people stay home and they just
gradually would be opening the economy

00:38:00
and society right now and they're doing
such extensive work. It doesn't look like

00:38:06
outside of the province of the bay where
this started it doesn't look like there's

00:38:10
command

00:38:10
a virus so there people can go about
their business carefully and it's an arc

00:38:15
sponsored try to convene them but we don't
know what will happen in the future and

00:38:19
you want to do with confidence they know
what's going to happen with his fighters

00:38:23
doesn't know enough about transponders
there is one doctor at the University of

00:38:27
Maryland who looked out where the
corona virus was breaking out and the

00:38:32
temperatures of the regions where it
was breaking out and he just published

00:38:38
a study saying that in his opinion according
to the numbers he saw this should

00:38:45
mitigate it should kind of disappear as it
gets warmer in these regions do we know

00:38:50
a little bit more but I would look we'd
look at that study and we don't find it

00:38:55
convincing hypotheses it could be
better when it gets warmer but that's

00:39:01
a guess there's no evidence to support that
gas this virus is new to the world and

00:39:06
when you look at influenza it behaves very
differently in tropical climates from

00:39:12
temperate climates in tropical climate it
spreads all year round so there's no flu

00:39:17
season but there's

00:39:18
a lot of new all your around and if we
look at other Karuna viruses other similar

00:39:24
viruses one of them at least has

00:39:26
a peak both in the winter and in the summer
so only kind we can hope for the best

00:39:32
but more importantly we have to work to the
best and we have to plan for the worst

00:39:37
of it are suggestions that Africa is in
some way immune to this disease which we've

00:39:42
seen on social media is very dangerous
because there's no evidence that that's the

00:39:47
case and in fact we're beginning to see
that in Africa where they're looking for it

00:39:51
which is the case is that this disease
is more severe among older people and so

00:39:56
societies that have

00:39:57
a smaller proportion of people who are
elderly many have more difficulty

00:40:03
identifying it on less. They can test them
why do some countries seem to have fewer

00:40:08
reported cases than others and how was
this possible there are several things

00:40:12
happening 1st this is spreading very
rapidly around the world but it's not

00:40:17
spreading even though it's more in some
places and then in others partly because

00:40:22
travel patterns and partly because of
events that may allow it to spread very

00:40:28
widely as happened in South Korea in one
community also in different parts of the

00:40:34
country there has been

00:40:36
a lot of different parts of the world so
when we look around the United States and

00:40:40
around the world we see
places that don't have

00:40:43
a lot of diagnosed cases some of the places
are looking and want finding and don't

00:40:48
have it yet others of them simply aren't
looking so we don't know yet but certainly

00:40:53
became in the United States today is that
anyone with severe pneumonia should be

00:40:59
tested for this so we can understand
what's happening we also need to really

00:41:03
protect congregate facilities places
like nursing homes where this can spread

00:41:08
explosively hospitals prisons homeless
shelters these are all locations where I

00:41:14
didn't mean like this can really reach
havoc Dr Frieden you said that if you have

00:41:20
severe pneumonia you should be tested but
I had drifted to that by the time you

00:41:25
have severe pneumonia this virus has
damaged your lungs is that too late and

00:41:32
there's been a lot of confusion
about the casting. If

00:41:36
a community is trying to contain the virus
that is find every single infection and

00:41:41
stop them then testing
is very important if

00:41:44
a community doesn't know that kind of virus
is there and testing very important to

00:41:50
find out when it comes and if some and
dealing with container there is it's very

00:41:54
ill it's important to test them so that
they can be cared for safely and rolled in

00:41:59
clinical trials that we can understand
more about the nature of this disease and

00:42:04
there are. Very important busy detective
after the mere launched investigations

00:42:09
that need to be done in order for us to
learn more about the virus so we can do

00:42:14
more about it but in contrast in

00:42:18
a community where the virus is spreading
widely and it has become difficult or

00:42:23
impossible to find all of the chain the
transmission and texting has much more

00:42:28
limited role. Unfortunately I think the
situation in several communities in the

00:42:35
United States now early on when it's getting
you try to find every case but where

00:42:40
it starts they can widely in the community
you have to devote your resources to

00:42:44
doing as much good as you can protecting
people as much as you can I had read that

00:42:50
some Taiwanese experts said if you
do this in the morning but take

00:42:54
a deep breath hold your breath for more
than 10 seconds and if you can do that

00:42:59
without coughing without discomfort without
stiffness or tightness in your chest

00:43:04
then there's no fibrosis in your
lungs and they also recommend taking

00:43:08
a few sips of water say your mouth and
throat stay more iced and because if you

00:43:13
don't drink enough water the virus can
enter your windpipe and then get into your

00:43:17
lungs What do you recommend
this is well you know there's

00:43:21
a lot of rumor going on on the Internet I
think it's important that we focus on the

00:43:26
things that we have reasonable evidence
maids are going to help wash your hands

00:43:32
regularly carve your mouth and nose when
you cough or sneeze and cover it with

00:43:37
crook of your elbow or with

00:43:38
a tissue that you to throw out don't go out
if you're sick or if you do go out and

00:43:43
you're sick where math stop shaking and
don't go to mass gatherings these are

00:43:49
things that we know are likely to be kept
you on to protect others if they're older

00:43:56
my mother was 90 on my advice you know
taking long walks outside and walking

00:44:02
a lot of movies and reading books a lot
of. With others because in reading of

00:44:07
a community where she lives
Dr I'm curious how long does

00:44:11
a corona virus infection last how long could
we if someone is infected and this is

00:44:15
displaying symptoms of the corona virus
how long can they expect to be under the

00:44:20
weather from the Corona virus it may happen
elsewhere suggests that you are not an

00:44:25
adult and people who get action will have
either no symptoms or moderate symptoms

00:44:31
and may feel better. Rhythm if
you are grabbed for as long as

00:44:35
a few weeks with people with severe illness
we're seeing relatively long courses

00:44:41
where we're seeing people
get sick aggressively over

00:44:45
a daughter and 7 to 10 days and you know
basic who were 3 weeks and then recovered

00:44:52
very groggy so who are
people for whom. It's

00:44:56
a long struggle to deal with it sounds
like a recovery time of pneumonia

00:45:01
a little more bottle. X.

00:45:05
Ray was one of the long term that while
one year quite prominently on the

00:45:13
climb to a quarter from let's take

00:45:15
a break now you're listening to the science
edition of Press Conference USA on The

00:45:19
Voice of America I'm
Rick Pantoliano Here's

00:45:23
a reminder that press conference USA is
available for free download from our

00:45:28
website video a new start com slash p.c.

00:45:31
USA and from many streaming services such
as Apple podcasts if you have access to

00:45:37
the internet please check out our Facebook
and Twitter pages at Carol Castiel

00:45:42
v.o.a.

00:45:43
For alerts send program updates we will
increasingly be using social media to communicate

00:45:49
with you and to supplement our broadcasts
which will be more difficult to sustain

00:45:54
But make no mistake we will go out of our
way to serve you and bring you as many

00:45:59
fresh programs whether Press Conference
USA encounter or issues in the news so.

00:46:04
Please bear with us during these difficult
days now back to the science edition of

00:46:10
Press Conference USA Today
we're talking about covert 19

00:46:14
a corona virus that causes it what medical
science is learning about it efforts

00:46:19
being made to mitigate the spread of the
disease and what we may expect in the

00:46:23
future my co-host today is the away health
reporter Carol Pearson and our featured

00:46:29
guest is Dr Thomas Frieden m.d.
He is president and c.e.o.

00:46:34
Of resolve to save lives and initiative
that has been established to prevent

00:46:38
epidemics and cardiovascular disease Dr
Frieden previously served as director of

00:46:44
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta Georgia and as the

00:46:49
commissioner of the New York City Health
Department Dr Frieden I'm curious to know

00:46:53
how couvade 19 especially the more serious
cases is being treated in hospitals and

00:46:59
other medical facilities Well 1st and
foremost they need to be treated safely every

00:47:05
patient coming in with cough
or. Mediately isolated and

00:47:12
we need to ensure that health care workers
are protected from getting infections

00:47:17
2nd we need to make sure that the care is
as effective as possible and right now

00:47:23
with what's called supportive care encouraging
people to do whatever possible to

00:47:30
support the breathing patients who have
severe pneumonia and that may mean

00:47:35
supplemental oxygen that
maybe meaning which is

00:47:39
a way of actually meeting the
blood or putting someone on

00:47:42
a ventilator this is something which in
many low and middle income countries isn't

00:47:47
widely available and even in the
most advanced cities in the world

00:47:52
a bad outbreak of coronavirus could overwhelm
capacity health care facilities to

00:47:59
provide ventilator support to
people who action the u.s.

00:48:04
Is. About 2 weeks behind Europe which is
the current area where it's spreading

00:48:10
rapidly does the closeness of where people
live in Europe in Atlanta thinking of

00:48:17
Italy we've seen pictures of people singing
from their balconies does that have any

00:48:23
impact on how easily the virus can spread
what we've seen is manifest gatherings

00:48:30
being potential places where a lot of
people can spread and we still don't know

00:48:35
a lot about patterns and spread but certainly
when people are placed together and

00:48:41
mixing closely and there's

00:48:43
a particular blockage that's why it's so
important that people who have of course

00:48:48
either don't go out and they go out there
or hospital do so safely covering their

00:48:55
mouth and know Dr Frieden
we've been talking

00:48:58
a little bit about the least Carol when
you have been cheated the nightmarish

00:49:02
condition in Italy how did things get so
out of hand so quickly one of the really

00:49:07
striking features about
coronavirus is how rapidly. With

00:49:14
colleagues we've recently reviewed the
evidence and will be publishing it this week

00:49:19
on what are called super spreading. And in
those events large numbers of people get

00:49:25
infected in

00:49:27
a short period of time and what we find is
that to prevent those events you really

00:49:33
need to act very vigorously within about
one week in order to limit that than that

00:49:40
and does it help like in the United States
schools are closing people the federal

00:49:47
government for the most part is now teleworking
Are these the sorts of things that

00:49:52
will buy you some time there are certain
things that certainly makes sense kind of

00:49:57
working reducing mass gatherings
going to tell me things schools are

00:50:03
a much more complex. Good issue although
there are reasons investable cash for the

00:50:08
clues to schools it's not necessarily going
to have the thing and impact this is

00:50:15
because all the children get infected
but it's virus it's not millions with

00:50:20
a credit to add that this is different
in that we can clue in the kids are an

00:50:26
important source and spread at the time
it's into song and if you close schools for

00:50:32
a couple of months you may be able to knock
down the number of cases they've been

00:50:36
farmed by as much as 40 percent
but we don't know whether

00:50:41
a doubt the case here with coronavirus
and all of these steps what's key

00:50:48
is to balance the projected cost not
just economic but also societal

00:50:55
against the potential health benefits of
taking that action so while there are

00:51:00
schools closing that may not always be
indicated for maximally effective to

00:51:07
protect society and of course schools
have many. Important social functions in

00:51:14
addition to education and when kids are
out often their. Parents can't work so

00:51:19
there are

00:51:20
a lot of things to consider with it's and
it's really an explanation of cost that's

00:51:25
the makes that benefit Dr Friedman going
to ask you your personal opinion here what

00:51:30
is your reaction to the public health
response to this pandemic Mrs unimpressive

00:51:35
the. Other then we flew on that which
spreads each year we've never seen

00:51:42
a new virus emerge and then spread around
the world it has already been more

00:51:48
destructive than and the infectious disease
event since the 19181919 influenza

00:51:55
pandemic so the most destructive
infectious need event in more than

00:52:01
a 100 years. One of the things that I wish
we would do more and I hope that we do

00:52:07
your very quickly is to learn
more about how the virus spreads

00:52:14
whether it's spreads from children and
asymptomatic people what works best to

00:52:20
protect health care workers so that we
can target our interventions and be as

00:52:26
effective as possible in the span that means
that public health departments need to

00:52:31
be in the lead on the response figuring
out what works communicating that

00:52:37
effectively with the public and doing
investigations so that we can learn more

00:52:44
more to protect people Dr Frieden you've
mentioned the 1918 flu epidemic have we

00:52:49
learned any lessons from that that we're
applying to this current pandemic there

00:52:53
has been

00:52:54
a lot of planning around and then mix
how to address them how to mitigate the

00:53:00
impact and that's the playbook that many
groups and countries are now using to

00:53:06
respond to that coded 19 pandemic so that
planning has been very helpful but every

00:53:12
infectious disease is going
to be different and requires

00:53:15
a different approach and that's why getting
information as quickly as possible and

00:53:20
using that information to track people is
so critically important this occur around

00:53:25
a virus the novel one is very similar
I understand to the SARS coronavirus

00:53:32
that broke out again in China some
years ago could this possibly be just

00:53:38
a mutation of that. This has some
relation to starting fires but it's not

00:53:45
closely related in the
sense than it is not

00:53:47
a descendent that there is what we know
is that coded is both more infectious

00:53:54
and less deadly than the SARS virus we don't
know how much more infectious and how

00:54:00
much less deadly it can the same animal
unlike SARS it doesn't look like we're

00:54:06
going to be able to stop this and make it.
So we need to figure out how to manage

00:54:11
it how to mitigate and reduce the harm
that causes house societal problems Dr

00:54:18
Frieden like Kovac 19 the 1st reported
case of SARS was reported in November

00:54:24
2002 the w.h.o.

00:54:26
Have announced that it had been contained
by chill live 2003 do you think world

00:54:31
health officials will be able to contain
coded 19 within the same period. You know

00:54:37
so when do you think it will peak. Well I
think no one can predict when with that.

00:54:44
But it doesn't look like
containment that is getting it

00:54:50
completely out of society
may not be possible it has

00:54:57
spread so widely with so many chains of
transmission that unlike SARS coded looks

00:55:03
like it may not be able to be mean at this
point so we're going to have to do with

00:55:09
everything we can to reduce the impact on
societies particularly societies which

00:55:15
have limited health services need to protect
it's not services that we can reduce

00:55:22
the societal harms and also reduce the risk
that other poor thinking hands will get

00:55:27
distracted children need to get vaccinated
women need to get reproductive health

00:55:32
care people with chronic You really need
to get them treated people who have

00:55:37
crashed with another injury need to have
been attended to all of these things need

00:55:41
to continue while cold it is with us I
was talking to a doctor at the u.s.

00:55:47
Food and Drug Administration and she was
saying that she would like to see you know

00:55:53
. Testing for like 10000
people on a random basis in

00:55:58
a particular community just to see because
we don't know how widespread this virus

00:56:04
is we don't know who has it but doesn't
show symptoms who has it but the symptoms

00:56:11
are so mild they don't even notice do you
think that that would be helpful at all.

00:56:16
There are

00:56:17
a few epidemiologic investigations that are
very much one of them is to test people

00:56:23
with what is known as flu and like
illness. Surveillance Network

00:56:30
sport you can learn to like illness in.
More than $100.00 countries around the

00:56:36
world and those networks need to be in our
being repurposed to track the cause of

00:56:41
that 2nd. People who are severely
ill with hospitalization

00:56:48
need to be tested for coded to see if
they've got it and 3rd we need to do

00:56:55
special studies studies
that. Will. Determine.

00:57:02
How widely it's betting whether getting
symptomatic cases I live in we don't yet

00:57:07
have

00:57:07
a blood test only test we have for
it. Through the merits of the go

00:57:14
fooling Joe swab on that test is not
100 percent accurate false negatives

00:57:21
so we need to look very carefully to see
what happens here Dr Frieden we're almost

00:57:27
out of time is there anything specific that
you want to tell our audience about the

00:57:31
couple to make this is

00:57:33
a severe damage and it's frightening but
it's important to remember that most

00:57:39
people who get will do well each 90 percent
of those infected have mild moderate no

00:57:45
symptoms. There will be far too many people
who have severe illness and tragically

00:57:51
too many who die from it and although the
commune of buyers and Democrats certainly

00:57:57
get worse before it gets better it will get
better and even in the worst of the 10

00:58:03
Demick many people and no one knows what
portion will get infected and those who do

00:58:08
get infected $99.00 out of $100.00 get
recovered so it's responsible to make Porton

00:58:13
to be proactive now and limit the parking's
of could one team but it's also good to

00:58:18
keep in mind too well Paul Dr Frieden I
want to thank you so very much for taking

00:58:24
time out of your busy schedule to talk
with us and share your wonderful insights

00:58:28
into this pandemic. Thank you very much.
And I'm afraid that's all the time we

00:58:35
have for this science addition of Press
Conference USA My guest was Dr Thomas

00:58:41
Frieden m.d. President and c.e.o.

00:58:44
Of resolve to save lives and initiative
that has been established to prevent

00:58:48
epidemics and cardiovascular disease he
was also the director of the Centers for

00:58:53
Disease Control and Prevention and
commissioner of the New York City Health

00:58:57
Department I'd like to thank my colleague
and co-host for this program v.o.a.

00:59:02
Health reporter Carole Pearson the science
edition of Press Conference USA was

00:59:07
produced in Washington our studio technician
today was eminent I'm recompence Alayo

00:59:13
thanking you once again for listening
and for understanding our programming

00:59:17
limitations due to the coronavirus time to
you our dear listeners please take care

00:59:24
stay safe and stay healthy and please
join Carol Castillo again next week for

00:59:29
another press conference USA
on The Voice of America.

01:00:08
This is be a way. To run

01:00:12
a virus and Italy alone has. Balanced
the world's worst hit nation and

01:00:19
suffered its worst single day death toll
with more than 600 as worldwide fatalities

01:00:25
swept past 11000 and

01:00:27
a number of infected topped 258000. Despite
the fast growing numbers there was

01:00:33
positive news out of Rouhani China with
no new cases reported that was where the

01:00:38
pandemic began in December groups trying
to public labs saying they are seeing

01:00:43
serious shortages of supplies needed to
process coronavirus test kits corresponded

01:00:49
to McGuire hopes and for the Association
of Public Health Labs says they are seeing

01:00:53
dwindling supplies of chemical components
and swabs needed to collect patients

01:00:58
samples the group and to others it represent
other public health organizations are

01:01:03
recommending scaling back testing until
the shortages are resolved Harvard global

01:01:08
health professor Dr Ashish Jha says
there should be up to 150000 tests

01:01:14
a day currently and stands at about 20000
he expects that number to increase is

01:01:19
large commercial labs wrap up their
testing to McGuire Washington.

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