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U.S. Cases Surpass 23,000 With Nearly Half in New York State; FDA Authorizes Rapid Coronavirus Test with Results in 45 Minutes; Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) Discusses Jump In Coronavirus Cases, Statewide Closings, Postponing Ohio Primary; Dr. Larry Brilliant Answers Viewers' Questions On Coronavirus; Emergency Relief Package Could Top $2 Trillion. Aired on 4-5p ET

Aired March 21, 2020 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:11]

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doing good these days is downright contagious.

Martin Savidge, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And a rare glimmer of a positive development today in a world weighed down right now by the rising number of sick people, a rising death toll, and major American cities being essentially shut down.

But today, a test able to (AUDIO GAP) 45 minutes has been authorized for use by the federal government. (AUDIO GAP) the test says they are ready to start shipping them, probably in the next week.

Now, this weekend, more than a fifth of the American population told to stay inside their homes unless absolutely necessary. The latest state to impose this stay at home order is New Jersey. That state starts the order at 9:00 tonight. A CNN security analyst expects eventually every state will follow suit.

Nationwide right now, more than 23,000 people are confirmed to be infected with coronavirus. Nearly half of them are in the state of New York.

So, now, New York appears to be Ground Zero here in the United States. More than 10,000 people in this state are confirmed to have the virus, most of them in New York City.

Let's go to CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro.

And, Evan, that number today confirmed by Governor Andrew Cuomo who also broke down that infection rate by age group which was very interesting. Tell us what he said.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) one of his press conferences that 54 percent of the cases are between the ages of 18 and 49. There's another indication that this crisis here in New York City is affecting a large part of the population, and you know, everything in New York is very big -- big buildings, with small apartments in them like mine, big population, and behind me, the Javits Center, a huge convention center building that is going to become a big part of the solution to dealing with this city's cramped healthcare system.

The governor said today that four 250-bed FEMA pop-up hospitals will be placed inside this giant open convention center, making it effectively into a thousand-bed hospital to alleviate the problems at other hospitals. The sheer size of everything really affects how the numbers are coming in as the governor said in his press conference today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): The more tests you take, the more positives you will find. The more in tests in New York than any place else (AUDIO GAP). We're taking more tests per capita than China or South Korea. We're also taking more tests than any state in the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: This is a very important fact that the governor is talking about, because as you do more testing, you're going to see more cases that are reported. It doesn't mean that there are more people being infected. It means that those who are being infected are being identified. So part of that thing in New York with everything being so big, those numbers are going to get big because the solution is also starting and that solution's also going to be big -- Ana.

CABRERA: Sure, Evan. So, the good news is obviously testing is ramping up so they can identify who has it and take action. On the other hand, where are we at in the state of New York, for example, when it comes to the medical supplies needed by these health (AUDIO GAP)?

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's correct. That shortage is affecting hospitals all over the city. I actually interviewed a doctor yesterday who mentioned that they're done to sort of like one mask per shift. (AUDIO GAP) his press conference today that he's bringing a million N95 masks here (AUDIO GAP) to alleviate that problem too.

So, again, big numbers to solve a big shortage.

CABRERA: And I'm just looking over my notes. 6,000 ventilators is what New York has right now. The governor says they need about 30,000, five times the number they have right now. He's even talking about having two people share one ventilator if they have to get creative.

Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you for your reporting.

Now, the White House Coronavirus Task Force held its latest briefing just this afternoon and the administration faced a lot of questions about the critical effort under way to restock the hospitals with much-needed supplies. This as medical workers across the country are warning they are running dangerously low.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond was there and he pressed the president about the lack of equipment.

Jeremy, how did the president respond to your question?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, listen, the president and his administration today were touting the fact that they are increasing production of these critical N95 masks and other masks that healthcare providers across (AUDIO GAP) question, though, is whether this is perhaps too little too late in some regards, at least in the short-term.

[16:05:08]

That is because we are seeing from doctors, E.R. physicians across the country that they are already experiencing shortages of some of those critical medical supplies, and so that's what I asked the president about. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: I know you're talking now about increasing production at so many of these facilities to get the masks out, but given that this is one of the wealthiest, most powerful countries in the world, should this even be happening? Shouldn't this have been resolved weeks ago?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'll tell you the way I look at it. So, many administrations preceded me. For the most part, they did very little in terms of what you're talking about.

This is unprecedented. You can speak to Tony. You can speak to anybody. This is unprecedented or just about unprecedented.

As time goes by, we're seeing it's really at a level that nobody would have believed, nobody would have thought possible.

The fact is that we are doing a tremendous amount. We have some but nothing for an event like this. And now (AUDIO GAP) and other things, and I think it's unprecedented, what we've done and what we're doing, and many doctors, and I have read many, many doctors, they can't believe the great job that we've done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And, Ana, what you see there is the president really focusing on what his administration is doing now but he is refusing to acknowledge any of the shortcomings that may have happened in the previous weeks, weeks that were critical, of course, to increase the supply of these critical personal protective equipments that these doctors around the country absolutely need.

And what was also interesting is that Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading public health experts in President Trump's administration, he jumped forward to say that he knows that the stories that I was talking about from doctors across the country who are experiencing these shortages, that they are real, that he is also fielding those same kinds of calls, but when we pressed, whether it was Dr. Fauci or (AUDIO GAP) administrator, they really couldn't give us a clear time line of how long it will take for that increased production of millions of more masks to actually get out to doctors around the country.

So really it's likely that we are going to continue to see these reports of doctors experiencing these critical shortages -- Ana.

CABRERA: And we are going to keep asking the tough questions. Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

Joining us now is CNN Medical Analyst, Dr. Larry Brilliant. He's also the chairman for the advisory board of Ending Pandemics. And, David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst and advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton.

Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time with us.

Doctor, the FDA, some good news, has approved this new test that we mentioned. It promises to get results in 45 minutes. Is this a game changer?

DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CHAIRMAN, ENDING PANDEMICS: Oh, it can be. If we can get test kits free in the hands of everybody who wants them or needs them without any bureaucracy, without doctors prescription, we will have one way of looking at the outbreak. Better would be if we had a serological test and we can do an epidemic survey looking to see where there are people who have, we say, seroconverted, it means it had the virus.

If we could have that like a political poll in every state every week from now until we end this pandemic, then there won't be any controversy about how many cases there are, are we getting better or worse, are we over or under-reacting. I think that's really important.

CABRERA: On one hand, we have this new development, more tests going out that get results much, much faster than the current testing that's being done. However, on the other hand, we're now learning that two of the largest cities impacted by the coronavirus are announcing a shift in strategy when it comes to testing, recommending that doctors actually avoid testing patients except in cases where a test result would significantly change the course of treatment.

So they're telling a lot of patients, if you have symptoms, but you can weather this out, just stay home. Don't even get tested.

What is, I guess, the risk there of not testing everyone who might have coronavirus, doctor?

BRILLIANT: I think that comes out of a feeling of scarcity. When we had so few tests, when we were so late getting tests, of course you want to reserve the precious tests that you have for people whose life will be changed by having it.

But if -- it's like dealing with a famine, Ana. The only way to stop a famine is to make food cheaper than storage. Once we have test kits that we can make them so inexpensive, then we'll have an insight into where the virus is in a much better way all the time.

CABRERA: Right, because how can we test our progress of adequately handling the crisis?

BRILLIANT: I think that's one of the reasons there's so much divisiveness. Have we overreacted or underreacted? We don't have a standard that we can watch every week in every state.

We should be able to do that now and the FDA's announcement and innovation that's coming forward all the wonderful reactions that people have had, kind of pulling up their socks to work on innovative new ideas for testing.

[16:10:03]

I'm really pleased to see that degree of forthcomingness.

CABRERA: David, reacting (AUDIO GAP), right? The president has signed the Defense Production Act, but he hasn't (AUDIO GAP) governors and hospital workers practically begging for supplies to protect healthcare workers and to make sure that they can treat patients with ventilators, they have enough hospital beds.

Does it make sense to you that he is holding off really ramping up and putting this order into action?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, it doesn't make sense to me at all but let me first of all say that I'm honored to be on the same show with Dr. Brilliant. He's been a -- he's been a wonderful scientist in this country and many great breakthroughs for us. And to be with you again, Ana.

Listen, the president has declared that we're in a war. What have we done in the past when we've had great national emergencies?

Franklin Roosevelt coming in during the depression, he mobilized the government very quickly. He worked with the business community. He didn't solve the depression but he got a lot of people back to work very, very quickly in his first term, first couple of years (AUDIO GAP) the Second World War and as the world was just over the horizon, along comes George Marshall, who mobilized this country. We were the 17th -- down we were 17th greatest power, below Bulgaria in terms of our power, and within a year, he had this army up and running.

That's what we look to from our leaders when we have a national crisis, and given the fact that the president has this power, I simply don't understand why he doesn't have someone who mobilizes it for him. He doesn't need to do all this. He needs Dr. Fauci on the research front, but he needs someone else to really run the thing, manage the thing full-time who really understands how to mobilize the (AUDIO GAP) terrific to have him engaged in this, but we need somebody who can (AUDIO GAP) doing that yet.

CABRERA: And, Doctor, the president has been asked about whether there should be a national stay at home order to stop the spread. He says that's not necessary because some states are hit much harder than others. Do you agree with that?

BRILLIANT: In a way, I do. There's a struggle right now as to the -- whether we should be doing disease suppression or mitigation, containment, or putting speed bumps in the path of the virus. I think there's a very big difference right now between New York and states that don't have the virus, but I want to put an asterisk on that. That states that we don't know that they do or do not have the virus because we're not able to do epidemiological, serological testing of them, or even have a lot of tests out there.

But if there's a difference in the epidemiological pattern, then yes, there should be a difference in the response, of course.

CABRERA: And, David, maybe this explains in part the president's response, and why we are where we are right now. "The Washington Post" reporting that intelligence officials warned the president about the dangerous of this coronavirus back in January and February.

Here's what one official told "The Post." Donald Trump may not have been expecting this but a lot of other people in the government were. They just couldn't get him to do anything about it. The system was blinking red.

And they go on to write and use this as an example that Azar, the HHS secretary, couldn't get through to Trump to speak with him about the virus until January 18th, according to two senior administration officials. When he reached Trump by phone, the president interjected to ask about vaping and when flavored vaping products would be back on the market, the senior administration official said.

And when asked about this article earlier today, the president just called it inaccurate.

David, what was your reaction when you read this reporting?

GERGEN: It was very distressing. We don't want to look back entirely because today is so much more important to look forward and how we get out of this. But having said that, the president frequently blames the Obama administration for leaving us in a position and the Obama administration held simulated tests with the incoming members and top leaders of the Obama -- of the Trump administration way back in the first months of presidency. So they were warned then.

But (AUDIO GAP) community having known full well in January and February things were breaking and they couldn't get through. I -- you know, it's one of the great ironies that the president has been so -- he's railed again and again and again against what he calls the deep state. That is, civil servants who are in the middle levels of leadership, some in the higher ranks, many in the middle level.

It turns out if he had simply listened to the deep state, we could have avoided a lot of this, and I think he himself would be a lot better off. CABRERA: And, David, you've obviously served so many administrations

as we discuss every time you're on with us. You have a wealth of experience and perspective on this. You've obviously watched a number of presidents weather some pretty heavy storms.

Have you ever seen them experience a crisis on this level, do you think?

[16:15:04]

GERGEN: No, I don't think we've had a crisis on this level since you really have to go back to the FDR days. I mean, we have had crises but they haven't been at this sort of national level and have been as ominous as this.

Look, I think we all want the president to succeed. We want the administration to succeed. It's really, really important for the country, and I do think he deserves some credit, at least appreciation for the fact that he's done a U-turn, he was, you know, so skeptical, so dismissive for so long and he finally is showing signs of taking it more seriously.

But I tell you what he could do that would really help. The polarization we have in politics has washed over into how people look at the coronavirus and so you find Republicans and conservatives, the Trump base is much more skeptical than Democrats are and are taking fewer measures.

If the President would go on FOX and talk to his base, this is serious. You need to -- you need to take it seriously. You need to shelter. You need to, you know, get out of the -- get into a safe place because otherwise you're going to -- either you're going to get sick or you're going to make somebody sick.

So I think he needs to bring his base around and he uniquely can fix that. He used to say, I can uniquely fix something. This is one he should fix.

CABRERA: All right. David Gergen, thank you. And Dr. Larry Brilliant, thank you as well.

GERGEN: Thank you.

CABRERA: But stay there because I want you back in just a few minutes to help answer some viewer questions.

Amid all of this, we do not want to forget our healthcare workers who are risking their lives on the front lines to protect all of us. And all of them are asking us to, you know, stay at home for the time being. To our doctors, to our nurses, we are so thankful for you, and we are with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:51] CABRERA: This afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, will be tested for coronavirus. This after a staff member in the vice president's office tested positive for the virus earlier this week.

Now, I want to bring in CNN National Security Analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She's also a former assistant secretary at the department of homeland security.

And, Juliette, are you surprised that this virus has gotten so close to the White House, not once, not twice, but multiple times now?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Not at all. I mean, I'm assuming now, you know, complete community spread, which would include the White House. It's not like this is, you know, a bullet that you can keep people with guns away. This is a -- this is a virus that is spreading in ways that we can't see and I think one of the reasons why we're all home, like I am, is because we just have to assume community spread.

When I am surprised about is that the fact that Mike Pence has now had two close encounters with this, one from the Brazilian president and now a staff member, that he's not isolating himself because the recommendations are, if you do -- if you are around someone who has had it, you need to self-isolate because we won't know for a while if you have it. He's not practicing those procedures and, you know, everything is modeling now. Whatever Donald Trump does, whatever Mike Pence does, whatever any of us do has to model for the community around us.

CABRERA: But just to clarify, he's saying that he didn't have direct contact at least with this particular staffer as part of his office --

KAYYEM: Right.

CABRERA: -- although to your point earlier, we know he did have some contact with the Brazilian officials. There is still grave concern about having enough medical supplies out there. The CDC even seems to acknowledge the situation is desperate, issuing guidance for healthcare professionals to reuse masks, for example.

One New York surgeon posted this on Twitter: NYC, mother of two, double frontline MD couple, don't make us orphan our two toddlers. Running out of masks, eye protection, and gloves at work.

And here's what we are hearing from state and local officials.

KAYYEM: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: We are literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies. We have identified 2 million N95 masks, which are the high protection masks. We have apparel companies that are converting to mask manufacturing companies in the state of New York. And also it's a creative configurations and I want to thank them. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYYEM: Scouring the globe, Juliette, and as far as we know, the president has not fully wielded the powers of the Defense Production Act. As of last night, the administration has yet to conduct even a full account of inventory across the nation, nor had they identified which countries they would need to make or which companies, I should say, they would need to make which products.

What is your reaction to that?

KAYYEM: So, this -- this is shocking in all respects. One, because we know we had plenty of time to prepare for this, so you know, when you know it's coming, which is -- we've known for a while -- you begin to get a sense of your inventory, what's in the strategic stockpile, who do states and locals have, and then where's the gap, right? In other words, you're filling that gap of needs.

The other reason why it's just frustrating is because now that it's hit, the president has not invoked or has not sort of -- he's authorized the Defense Production Act but let me make clear to viewers, he has not implemented it, so he's sort of playing funky with the words. Of course, he's authorized it. He said, I'm going to use it. But it doesn't really matter because he has not tasked any company to say, look, we need X,Y, and Z and start moving it.

The Defense Production Act exists so that companies have a market to manufacture for, so in other words, a company is not going to start making respirators on its own. It is going to make respirators because the government has said, we need 200, let's buy -- we'll buy them from you. So, we need the federal government to authorize a change in manufacturing so that you can -- so that it's bought by the government and then dispersed to 50 states that are in competition with each other now.

[16:25:07]

I mean, this is -- you know, Cuomo's way ahead, scouring the world. Look, there's going to be 49 other governors right behind him, and this is -- I know this sounds complicated to people and, like -- this is like basic supply chain logistics for someone like me and maybe I sound a little animated.

This is literally just moving stuff or making stuff at point A and getting it to point B. This is not the hard stuff. This is not making a vaccine. This is not saving a life that's on a respirator.

This is -- this is the stuff we know how to do. This is the stuff companies know how to do. They just need direction from a president who refuses or still hasn't given it to them.

CABRERA: All right. Juliette Kayyem, always good to have your insights. Thanks.

KAYYEM: Thank you. CABRERA: Coming up, the governor of Ohio will join us live as his

state reports a jump in cases. Eighty more overnight. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:24]

CABRERA: Ohio is reporting a big jump in coronavirus infections. There are now at least 247 confirmed cases in that state. Of nearly 80 cases from just yesterday, three people have died.

Today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued an order closing adult day services across the state with the exception of those with 10 people or less. And just last week, DeWine made the controversial decision to postpone the Ohio primary until June.

Governor DeWine is joining us now.

Governor, thank you. I know it's a busy time for you. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and our viewers.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: So far, five states, New Jersey, New York, California, Illinois, and Connecticut have enacted a stay-at-home or a shelter-in- place mandate, if you will. Do you plan on doing the same in Ohio?

DEWINE: Well, we've made strong recommendations to people to do that, and so I know many Ohioans are already doing that. So, we're looking at all possibilities.

But my message today to the people of Ohio is that we all control in our own hands kind of our destiny. This is a really crucial time to focus on doing what's right and this virus can only repopulate, only move if we help it.

And so keeping that distance between people is so very important, not going -- when you get in your car, make sure it's very a for a very, very important reason. If you're out, keep that distance.

So, that's what I think is really important for Ohio citizens. That's the message that I gave them today.

But look, we've issued some orders, some very tough orders in the past. We'll continue to do that. And this is a -- it's a very important time.

CABRERA: Do you worry, though --

(CROSSTALK)

DEWINE: Crucial time, really, for us.

CABRERA: For sure. DEWINE: And so because of that, do you worry at all that if the orders

in different states are different that there's no consistency across the board that it would lessen the efficacy?

DEWINE: Well, I think we've seen some good you know. I think some orders that have come out, for example, California was a good order, Illinois. You know, these states have really thought about it.

We're working with the business community. We're working with others. And we'll have, you know, we'll have more on this tomorrow.

CABRERA: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

DEWINE: We'll have a press conference tomorrow. We do it every day at 2:00 and we'll -- you know, we'll continue to do the orders that we think are necessary.

But again, we can have all the orders in the world. What you really have to have is people who are committed to making sure that we don't have this social contact and we pull apart. We got to do it.

CABRERA: Yes. We have to think about more than ourselves.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Let me ask you about the director of Ohio's Department of Health saying Ohio is conserving all of its testing for high-risk and hospitalized frontline workers. How has testing been going on in your state? How many people have been tested in Ohio?

DEWINE: Look, I don't have the total number. We have the same problem every state has. We do not have enough ability to test. I don't think any state does.

And so, every state is prioritizing it. You're trying to make sure it's reserved, you know, for the hospitals, for people when you really need to find out whether they are, you know, have this COVID-19 or whether they do not.

As my health director has pointed out, for most people, for most people, they're going to stay at home, they're not going to go to a hospital. If they have problems breathing, they're obviously going to go to the hospital. But if they're staying at home, the treatment that doctors are telling them is going to be pretty much the same whether they know they have it or do not have it.

So, look, we wish we had more ability to test. We certainly do. We have people actually who are working on this. I know some of our hospitals are working on this. We may have more information in the future to share with the public.

But we're in the same boat that, I think, every other state is in.

CABRERA: Governor, you have been praised for being particularly proactive in this time of crisis, and for your leadership, staying calm and compassionate while also being clear about the dangers. What do you say to people in Ohio or really across America who are fearful of what's happening and what might happen?

DEWINE: My experience in life is that people are fearful for about the unknown. And we try to, you know, spell out to people exactly what the situation is. We said that we had widespread community spread of this.

The numbers that you saw that came out today, I said at my press conference a few minutes ago, should not have been a surprise to any of us. We knew this was coming as the testing was really kind of catching up with where the spread is.

[16:35:15]

But you know, the majority of people who get this are going to be OK. They're going to have a tough spot to go through going it I'm told. But most of them will be able to - again, we can slow this down. We can dramatically slow this down by staying away from each other, keeping that distance.

But what I try to do is tell people what I know every single day. Ad I think people appreciate knowing what we know. We're sharing that with people every single day, so no surprises.

You know, we don't know exactly where the virus -- how it's going to proceed. I don't mean that we can predict everything.

CABRERA: Right.

DEWINE: But we want to inform people of what we know every single day, and that's why we do a press conference at 2:00 every single day just to share that with them.

CABRERA: Governor, it's such a challenging time for everyone. If you don't mind me getting personal for just a moment, do you ever have a moment of feeling like, wow, it's hard to keep it together right now? I imagine it's so overwhelming.

DEWINE: Well, I think, from a personal point of view, what I worry about, I have seven children and their families. I have 24 grandchildren. So worry about them just as I worry about every Ohio family. And you know, what we're trying to do is to protect every Ohio family.

But, yes, look, I think about that. I think about that a lot. And frankly, when I go to bed at night and when I get up in the morning, I'm thinking, am I doing enough, is my team doing enough, is there more that we could do. And that's, you know, that's what I think about every day.

CABRERA: Wow.

Governor Mike DeWine, thank you for taking the time. Best of luck as you continue to lead Ohio during this really difficult moment.

DEWINE: Ana, thank you. Thank you very much.

CABRERA: How long does coronavirus stay in the air? Is it safe to walk your dog or go for a run? And how do you actually die from the infection? Your questions answered, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:26]

CABRERA: Today and through the weeks ahead, we here at CNN are committed to answering your questions about living through the coronavirus pandemic. So, please continue to tweet me @anacabrera.

And I want to bring back Dr. Larry Brilliant.

Larry, we've been getting so many viewer questions. But first, I'm really curious about this new data out of Italy that indicates that from age 50 on, almost twice as many men are dying as women. Why might that be?

BRILLIANT: I don't know. There shouldn't be anything biological of gender that indicates susceptibility to getting the virus.

We talk about whether you have a poorer outcome or not, then there's a lot of reasons that are gender specific, but I can't think of any reason why men would get more or less cases of the virus.

In other words, perhaps it's culture. Perhaps there's something sociological. I don't believe it's biological.

CABRERA: OK. Let's get to our viewer questions, then. How does one actually die from the virus? What happens?

BRILLIANT: So, the most common cause is pneumonia and it's a particularly a kind of pneumonia called bilateral interstitial new pneumonia. And I think you have seen, I think it was Don Lemon show, where they brought in radiologists who showed CAT scans, x-rays showing big, fuzzy-looking circles in the lung and they called them -- that they looked a little glassy. This is something we haven't seen before.

So, the pneumonia, which is caused by the coronavirus, is a new kind of pneumonia. It looks almost like late-stage tuberculosis or something more than an pneumonia. And that is usually the cause of death. It's not the only cause of death.

But let me say that all of these things are going to be going to be different in communities that have great medical care.

If you recall, Ana, when we first started following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, we were told the death rate was 100 percent, then, 90 percent. But when we were able to get those patients into a great American hospital with great technology, we found that the death rate would go down as low as 20 percent.

And that's why doing social distancing is to be able to pace the virus so that great medical care that is available for some can be available for all.

CABRERA: I think there's this idea that because it's a respiratory virus that impacts the respiratory system that it is something you breathe in. One viewer asks: How long does the virus remain airborne? Then, does it die or is it still contagious?

BRILLIANT: Well, it is a virus that you breathe in or you touch your face, touch your eye, you can transmit it if you put virus on your finger by chance and put it on your eye.

But it is mostly considered to be droplet spread, not an aerosol spread. This is controversial. We have some new data from Wuhan that suggests that there's a lot of aerosol spread.

A droplet is something that's greater than five microns which is too small for us to conceive. But that means it will be -- a barrier, like a mask, will prevent you from getting it or giving it if it's really that big.

If it hangs in the air like something like measles, which can stay in the air for hours or even a couple of days, we have a bigger problem, because that would mean that we have ways in which people can get the disease that we can't see and we don't fully understand, scientifically, about this coronavirus.

[16:44:58]

CABRERA: The U.S. surgeon general and other health professionals have been putting out a call for people to donate blood. And so many of us feel powerless right now and that is one way we can help. In fact, I made an appointment to do so this coming week.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: But somebody asks, you know: Are there risks there? Should I donate blood, and will I be tested for the coronavirus if I do?

BRILLIANT: Well, first of all, thank you for donating blood.

There's two different ways in which you can be helpful and everyone else can be helpful. If you don't have and have not had the coronavirus, then, of course, the regular donation of blood is needed.

And it's so welcome because, remember, we have to match your particular blood type to the blood type that people need. So, we need to have an abundance of blood for lots of other reasons as well.

But here's something really interesting. Convalescent serum, the serum that's in the blood, from someone that has had the coronavirus and has recovered, is being shown to be effective as a treatment.

I don't know how well this will scale. It takes a lot of people willing to give blood. The blood has got to be spun down to get the plasma to get the serum.

But the data that we're seeing out of Italy and out of China is very encouraging that there's at least, let's say, a treatment of last resort that has proven effective since we don't yet have an antiviral that we know yet works.

CABRERA: Right. That is encouraging information.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, as always, thank you for being here.

BRILLIANT: Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: I know the statistics are not good, especially for the elderly, right, and those with preexisting conditions. And if you are not one of those groups, if you are not part of the elderly or people who may be more vulnerable, you might think you don't have to worry as much or follow the guidelines to stay home.

But just a reminder, these are some of the people you are staying home for. These are residents at the Westbury Medical Care home in Georgia. They have been, for weeks, unable to have visits from friends or family. They are counting on you to slow the spread of this virus.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:42]

CABRERA: Congress is working on a bipartisan stimulus package to help Americans weather the coronavirus storm. The Senate is now adjourned today until tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. But majority leader, Mitch McConnell, saying today there has been good progress and a vote could come as soon as Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNEL (R-KY): Let me just report that we are continuing to make good progress. As you know, we're going to have the vote on the motion to proceed tomorrow. And I think we're getting closer and closer to an agreement. And all the discussions have been in good faith.

And so that's all I can tell you at the moment, but I think we're clearly going to get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: But getting there's going to be expensive. Sources tell CNN the price tag could top $2 trillion, $2 trillion. Money for direct assistance, unemployment insurance, and aid for distressed industries. And as unemployment is likely to soar, can the federal government keep up?

CNN's Cristina Alesci joins us now.

Cristina, any idea how many people could lose their jobs?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN POLITICS & BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, just before I dive into the numbers here, Ana, to give you a sense, I've heard from so many Americans who are worried about what happens to them economically.

And for many of those people, who are living paycheck to paycheck, this is a vital issue.

Now, Goldman Sachs, as we've heard, one of the biggest banks here in America, projecting that 2.25 million Americans will be filing for unemployment insurance this week. Just to give you some context, that is an eightfold increase versus last week.

So we're already seeing -- we're already going to see the numbers go up and we know where the hardest-hit industries are in hospitality, restaurants. Those are the people who are really feeling it.

Now to your point, the good news is that Congress is working throughout the weekend to get checks in the hands of consumers and loans to businesses so they don't have to lay off people.

And again, to give you context, when you're talking about $2 trillion, that is bigger than the stimulus that we saw during the financial crisis.

So that gives you a sense that Congress knows the severity and the dire circumstances that we are talking about if that assistance does not come through for average Americans.

CABRERA: No one has a crystal ball but everyone wants to know the answer about whether the economy will bounce back quickly, as Trump likes to say.

ALESCI: This is something that President Trump has been putting out there. And listen, I have been on the phone with sources all week, smart people, economists, investment managers, average business owners, small business owners, large business owners, CEO. And they're all telling me no one knows what is going to happen.

Because this is the first time in modern history that we are seeing essentially a forced shutdown of the U.S. economy, certain parts of it at least, in order to save lives. So, you don't know what's going to happen.

What I can tell you for sure is that, the longer this lasts, the harder it's going to be to come back from it. And that's why Congress is trying to move so quickly -- Ana?

CABRERA: Cristina Alesci, thank you.

[16:54:58]

Up next, "going into battle without a helmet" -- that's how one emergency room doctor in Georgia is describing how it feels to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Medical workers are running out of masks, gloves, ventilators, as the number of confirmed cases continues to surge.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Thanks so much for being here. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York.

[17:00:58]

Hour-to-hour, the numbers you see there on the right side of your screen keep going up -- the number of people in the United States and around the world sick with the coronavirus and dying from it.