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U.S. Asking Other Nations For Everything From Sanitizer To Ventilators; American Author, Margie Warrell, Discusses Husband In Hospital With Coronavirus In Singapore & How Virus Is Handled Abroad; Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) Discusses Jump In Michigan's Coronavirus Cases And Deaths, Concerns Over Treatment, Hospitals Nearing Their Limit. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 25, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:32:28]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Tomorrow, President Trump is planning to join a video conference with G-20 leaders about the coronavirus response and the United States is asking other world leaders for help.

CNN has obtained a list from the State Department of 25 items that it's seeking as soon as today and this includes supplies as basic as hand sanitizer and is complex as respirators.

Let's bring in Kylie Atwood, our CNN national security correspondent.

Kylie, tell us what else you know.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The State Department, Brianna, laying out a list of the 25 medical supplies that it is telling its diplomats around the world to ask their host countries for, indicating that the U.S. needs some help in fighting this coronavirus pandemic.

And as you said, these supplies include things as basic as hand sanitizer and as complex as ventilators, also, things like gloves that are needed here in the U.S.

Now, the folks that we talk to said there was a sense of urgency with this ask coming from the State Department.

A senior State Department spokesperson confirmed our reporting, telling CNN, quote, "The State Department reached out to missions and have asked missions to determine whether certain countries may have excess capacity of the ability to manufacture supplies, whether there are companies in that country that may consider exporting supplies to the U.S."

Also, they're hoping to context these external suppliers with states and entities in the U.S. This is a very important push on behalf of the State Department as these states are facing shortages as they try to fight off the coronavirus pandemic. And obviously, the demands are expected to rise in the immediate future. KEILAR: All right, Kylie, thank you so much, live from the Stated

Department for us.

Is there any realistic scenario that the U.S. will reopen in a couple of weeks? By the president's goal of Easter? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us to answer that question.

[14:34:29]

Plus, an American living in Singapore shares her family's experience with coronavirus after her husband tested positive. He is still in the hospital under quarantine. And they have an interesting story to tell about how the virus is handled differently abroad.

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KEILAR: With so much hanging in the balance right now, hard not to worry about our health, our loved ones and economic uncertainty, home and all around the world.

My next guest, Margie Warrell, is up against it all. She's an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker and best-selling author. And she and her son, Ben, are under mandatory quarantine in Singapore after her husband tested positive for coronavirus.

And, Margie, you wrote the book on how to handle tough stuff, including this article, "When Fear Runs High, The Need for Courage Runs Higher."

I want to talk about that and sort of your very interesting, and I think informative perspective.

But first, tell us about your husband, how's he doing and how did it unfold for your family?

MARGIE WARRELL, AUTHOR LIVING IN SINGAPORE: Yes, well, he's actually in the United States last week. Three children over there and a junior in high school. Taking him around on a college trip and he arrived back in Singapore Wednesday morning where we've been living for two years and by Thursday morning, I was like, let's just check that.

[14:40:54]

And I wouldn't usually be so conscientious of him feeling a bit off, but on Friday, when it was gone up, went to the hospital, the public hospital to get tested and they admitted him straight away because, in Singapore, they admit everybody who has tests for coronavirus, 100 percent, even if you are not even showing symptoMs.

So he's been in there since last Friday. He's been really laid flat, actually. For a fit guy, he had been really knocked down by this. But I'm hoping, yesterday, his fever seemed to abate a little bit. I'm really hoping that today, we can say he's turned the corner.

KEILAR: So you hope he's turned the corner. I know you're crossing your fingers there as you wait for the next few days there. But talk about the kind of care your husband has been getting, the

type of awareness that you've been getting, living there in Singapore, and even tell us how medical costs there are being handled.

WARRELL: Yes, so in Singapore, back in January when obviously the outbreak took root in Wuhan, China. Singapore acted swiftly. All the events, everything was cancelled. They kind of gradually ramped up some of the different measures so that, you know, they tried to contain the outbreak and big in contact tracing.

Before my husband even knew he had tested positive, we had a call to say, don't leave your house, you know, because we've been with him, so obviously, under this strict 14-day quarantine. They call us three times a day to check our temperature and if our temperature goes above 99.5, we have to call them and they send an ambulance. That's how they manage it.

In Singapore, generally, they're covering all costs for testing the coronavirus and all costs as well for actually any treatment of coronavirus.

My husband, unfortunately, his company, Exxon, they're moving back to Australia recently, so he's actually not been covered because he was here spending time with me, our son, Ben, in the final part of high school with the Singapore American school.

So unfortunately, we have to cover it. But generally for any Singapore resident, it's fully covered.

KEILAR: That's amazing, and just the sort of machinery that's in place that you describe.

Let's talk about the mental aspect of this. You've written the book, "You've Got This," right?

WARRELL: Yes.

KEILAR: You talk about how people can weather these things and you know a thing or two about it. You were evacuated from Australia in January because of the bush fires and now you're dealing with this.

You have kids living all over in the U.S., including in New York as you watch this all go down. Tell us about how you stay positive in this really kind of confusing scary time.

WARRELL: You know, I'm a strong believer that we have to really focus on ourselves first right now. So much outside of our country. Obviously, there's so much outside my control, and it is easy to go into overwhelmed, easy to feel anxious but the more we dwell on what makes us anxious, the more anxious we become.

Really intentional, walking the talk and advice in my book, "You've Got This," doubling down what strengthens me, body, mind and spirit. I do a lot of things, whether journaling, listening to music, praying, meditating, just keeping in the right head space and the right heart space so I can be as calm and brave. But also optimistic, too. I really believe if we stay optimistic and hopeful, this storm will pass. This situation will pass. The world may feel like it's been tilted off the axis right now but I know that we're going to get through this.

And I believe that when we stay focused on the good times that are to come and will return, it does really help us thrive through the stormy times that much better.

KEILAR: We will get through this.

Margie Warrell, thank you so much.

WARRELL: My pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

KEILAR: The president has criticized China for not telling the world sooner about the outbreak there but also praised China for its response in the early days of the crisis.

[14:45:22]

Plus, the state of Michigan seen an alarming jump in coronavirus cases and deaths and now hospitals there are warning they're near their limit.

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KEILAR: The number of coronavirus cases in Michigan spiked by more than 460 in just 24 hours, which is prompting new concerns over how to treat those infected.

Right now, the total number of cases in the state sits at 1,791. And 24 people have died and those are the numbers as they've been reported so far.

But keep in mind, in addition to the state running low on critical medical supplies, like ventilators, PPE, they don't have nearly enough tests. And add hospital beds to the list, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association warning, quote, "They're getting close to capacity for available beds."

I want to bring in Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us.

And you represent the 8th district of southeast Michigan. This includes counties that are near metro Detroit. And I wonder, do you know, what is the plan for hospitals that are running out of room and that are running out of supplies? What

[14:49:59]

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Sure. Well we just have the second big hospital say they're at capacity today. Obviously the big bill in the next couple of days will push a ton of money into our hospitals. It is really like a Marshal Plan. It puts a ton of money into personal protective equipment to make sure our frontline folks have what they need to protect us.

But they're all looking at secondary locations and schools and dorms, hotels. The Army Corps of Engineers is here helping us transition facilities so we have extra bed space. They're not waiting. They're just moving out. A lot of them at their own expense.

But we're just trying to keep a handle on this because the big goal that we're trying to avoid is the overrunning of our hospital system and triage medicine which is something I've only seen in my tours in Iraq.

KEILAR: Yes, OK. Right. So you've seen this upswing there in your state. You're having this spike. And you're still very much on the climb. So what is your biggest concern about where this is headed there in Michigan?

SLOTKIN: Yes, my biggest concern is that we just have a gap right now in the personal protective equipment for our frontline doctors and nurses and first responders. We're working hard. The states are duking it out amongst themselves.

Now FEMA is getting involved and we're hearing reports of FEMA bumping the states out of line so there's a clamoring going on for the equipment. We'll get some in but there's a delay.

So our governor, myself, lots of others in the state have made a public call for people to donate things. We've gone to our research universities, our dentists, our dermatologists, our tattoo parlors and nail parlors and asked for anyone with gloves, gowns, masks, to please bring it forward.

It is sad that we are here. But that is where we are. And that is what we have to do in order to protect the people who are protecting us.

KEILAR: You know, to that point, we talked about this in the commercial break and you referenced your time in Iraq, looking at folks who are there on the frontlines, medical and other essential workers, they're being called to serve and their answering this call to serve in a way that we haven't seen before. I think it is challenging our idea of just how essential and brave they are.

What needs to be done to take care of folks, some of whom look inevitably at this point with not having enough gear, some of them are going to die. What needs to be done?

SLOTKIN: Yes. I really think of them, right now, the way I thought of the first responders, the firefighters on 9/11. Everyone was running away from the buildings and they were running toward it. And that is what our health care workers and nurses and our hospital administration, what they're doing right now is running towards the problem and they're the front line of defense.

I think we need to think about what it means to be putting these people at risk. It is literally like sending our troops into battle without everything that they need. I think we need to understand the emergency supplies that we need to go in. But we need to think about what our obligations are if people expose

themselves and come down with the virus and end up very, very sick from the disease or from the virus.

I think we need to think about it in a different way. It is much more in line of think being how we support our troops on the front lines. And I think that is a mentality we'll have to shift a bit.

KEILAR: And, look, you're familiar with how controversial it was when proper armor was not provided to troops in these post-9/11 conflicts. It was maddening and got a lot of attention.

So there's a stay-at-home order in effect and health officials hoping it would help the curve but it didn't go into effect this week. What do you say to people that say this should have been faster?

SLOTKIN: Sure. Listen, we could spend a lot of time looking at lessons learned when this is done. And we will. This will not be the only pandemic that we'll deal with in our lives so we'll go through the lessons learned.

The truth is I don't see much value in doing that now. I'm trying to get supplies today for our folks in our hospitals. I'm trying to figure out how we bridge to the seven days, 10 days when our equipment starts to come in.

And then think about what the heck we'll do with our economy. Our appropriation that we're about to vote on here in the next 48 hours is a good first step. But it is not the only step.

So we'll have plenty of time to sort of quarterback it later but for right now I'm focused on what we can do now to help.

KEILAR: Yes. Very important focus.

Congresswoman Slotkin, thank you so much for joining us.

SLOTKIN: Thanks for having me.

New York governor said they are seeing evidence that social distancing is working. But he warns it is not time to let your guard down.

[14:54:43]

Plus, Prince Charles tested positive for coronavirus. What we know about his contact with the queen?

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KEILAR: We have all been told to vigorously wash our hands to protect from coronavirus. But this is a real challenge for the homeless. So one Atlanta-based nonprofit is stepping in. It is called Love Beyond Walls. And they send out volunteers to set up portable outdoor sinks in places where the homeless population congregates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We kept hearing, I'm scared, I'm going to catch this virus because I don't have anywhere to wash my hands.

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[15:00:00]

KEILAR: Now these volunteers clean and refill the sinks daily. And the group is hoping to ship some to other states as well.

And if you would like to donate and find other ways to help, go to CNN.com/impact.