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Cuomo Prime Time

U.S. Breaks the Record of COVID Cases; Hospitals Cry for More Supplies; No Magic Drug for the Virus. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired March 26, 2020 - 22:00   ET

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


[22:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You please stay safe, be careful. Thanks also to Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill gates who joined us, and also to all of you who wrote in with your questions and to everyone who joined us tonight. Be careful. Be safe. We are all in this together.

And remember that tomorrow night we have another town hall. This one will be with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden who joins us to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. That's tomorrow night, 8 p.m. Eastern with Joe Biden.

The news continues right now with Chris Cuomo. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Chris Cuomo. And welcome to Prime Time.

The United States now has the most coronavirus cases on earth, more than Italy, now even more than China where all this started.

This is the fact. We can debate why this fact exists, how we got here. But what matters more is that we make changes immediately. We are not ahead of this. It is not getting better. Like Dr. Fauci told us last night, the virus is making the timetable. Back to normalcy is not happening any time soon.

I don't want to say that. But false hope of a return to normal any time soon is only proof of abnormal messaging. We're not going to do that here. The need is real, and so must be our determination.

Our focus is on the front lines and it reveals that one nurse just lost his battle, his battle against this virus. We have his sister here tonight to tell you the story of who he was and how it happened along with the doctor who is going to tell you about the unbelievable choices she is now forced to make in an emergency room.

This problem is not going away, so neither can our resolve. Together as ever as one. Let's get after it.

Eighty-two thousand cases. And more important than that number is the rate. It is climbing. It is accelerating still. How do you reconcile that with looking at where it's spreading and moving to other places at the same time?

And then the president saying tonight we need to start easing restrictions that are in place. You cannot reconcile the facts and his feelings.

Again, I apologize, but not for telling you the truth, only for bursting any bubble of false hope. You can't dream in false hope when we have real problems.

We have more breaking developments. I want to give you the facts from our national correspondent Nick Watt.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 1,000 now dead, and as of tonight, the United States has more reported cases of coronavirus than any other country on earth according to Johns Hopkins University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's attribute to the testing. We're testing tremendous numbers of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Despite the rising numbers, the president now considering easing social distancing guidelines in some parts of the country to get some people back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've got to start the process pretty soon, so we'll be talking to you a little bit more about that next week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: And today a glimpse of the staggering economic impact. Last week nearly 3.3 million more Americans signed up for unemployment, a record since such records began more than 50 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's nobody's false, certainly not in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: A $2.2 trillion stimulus package to help industry, individuals and the healthcare system passed the Senate, still waiting on a House vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hopefully it will get approved equally, easily in the House. Really, I think it'll go through pretty well from what I hear. Virtually everybody -- there could be one vote, one vote, one grand stander maybe. You might have one grand stander.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Meanwhile on the front line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the people that you see, they all have COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: And 13 died at this one New York hospital in one day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLEEN SMITH, EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR, ELMHURST HOSPITAL: We had to get a refrigerated truck to store the bodies of patients who are dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: An E.R. doctor sharing a rare look inside her hospital with the New York Times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: I don't have the support that I need and even just the materials that I need physically to take care of my patients. And it's -- it's America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: CNN has reached out to Elmhurst Hospital for official comments on the statements of this doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: Various offices from the president to the head of health and hospitals saying things like we're going to be fine. Everything's fine. And from our perspective, everything is not fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: New York's governor says there is enough protective equipment for now but distribution might be stopped in the start.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[22:04:59]

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): You cannot get the curve down low enough so that you don't overwhelm the hospital capacity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: New York State has by far the most confirmed cases right now, but they've also done by far the most testing. Twenty-five percent of the national total says the governor. So, everywhere else --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it could be as much as one in three walking around asymptomatic right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: The first confirmed case in the U.S. was January 21st, Washington State. About a month later, the president said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going down, not up. We're going very substantially down, not up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: That day 56 cases. Today more than 80,000 cases across every single state, hence, more than half the country ordered to stay home to slow spread for now.

So, we just heard from Mayor Garcetti here in Los Angeles, he says he expects California will be the next New York and they are getting ready. Cedars-Sinai they say they've got the capacity. They've cancelled all elective surgeries.

But tomorrow morning the Mercy, that 1,000-bed U.S. Navy hospital ship will pull into the port Los Angeles. And the plan is to take people from other hospitals around L.A., put them on that ship, clearing space, Chris, waiting for this COVID-19 surge. Back to you.

CUOMO: Right. Thank you very much for putting this together for us, Nick. I know it's a very fluid situation. That hospital ship will not have COVID patients on it. It will be clearing space for COVID patients. You don't want to mix the two.

Nick Watt, thank you so much, brother. I appreciate it.

Make no mistake, this is no longer about contact tracing and doing investigative work to stop the spread. Not here, not in New York, not in the big population areas where it's hit.

Now, that is a story to be told. That is the rest of the country's story and it's not happening there. The testing levels around this country are no why near where they need to be. That will be emerging. But right now, you have to focus on the hospitals in the big population centers.

There is no containing the inevitable here. It will hit hard. We are told the worst is yet to come but that doesn't mean that the fighting isn't already fierce especially in New York City.

And that's why a doctor like Sylvie de Souza did something that she didn't want to have to do. She doesn't want to have to talk about what's happening in the hospital and make herself controversial. But she is the chair of emergency medicine at Brooklyn Hospital Center. And we read about that harrowing story in the New York Times. And it's important to get her stake on what's happening here. Doctor, thank you for joining us.

SYLVIE DE SOUZA, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER: Thank you for having me. CUOMO: So, everybody says it will get worse. There will be more cases.

But what are you already dealing with?

DE SOUZA: We're already dealing with a huge influx of patients coming into the emergency department, both symptomatic, some asymptomatic, some with severe symptoms. And we have to sort of make the decision on how to best cater to all their concerns and attend to all of their needs.

CUOMO: So, you're already dealing with the more extreme cases, right? Because there were people who couldn't deal with it at home, needed to come in, obviously symptomatic, into the hospital. Let me ask you, how quickly is the rate of case growth among your own workers?

DE SOUZA: We've had a few of our employees who converted. We've been very fortunate that they all recovered and were able to return to work. Most of them are back at work now. A few of them are still in isolation at home, self-monitoring their symptoms.

CUOMO: All right. Now hopefully it'll stay that way. It sounds like you're getting lucky so far in terms of keeping them out of harm's way when they're dealing with this virus so closely and intensely over time.

Now, when you have multiple patients that need the most extreme protocols and you do not have the beds and/or the equipment, what kind of choices are you having to make?

DE SOUZA: Well, at this point, we're still fortunate to have the equipment we need. But we don't know what tomorrow holds. The decisions we are faced with right now are basically who gets an ICU bed, who gets it first. Many of those patients end up boarding in the emergency department for hours, sometimes days, until they either get well or they get an ICU bed.

So, we have not reached that point yet, but certainly we see an increase of severely ill patients coming into the emergency department.

[22:10:01]

We've also put together a tent outside of our hospital, outside of the emergency department to provide screening for those in the community who are concerned about having the illness. And once we screen them, we're able to determine who needs to get tested, who needs further investigation inside the emergency department. This has really helped us in decompressing the volume of patients coming into the emergency department.

CUOMO: You are being asked to increase capacity by 50 percent. Easy to say, hard to do. How is that process going, and what do you need that you do not have in order to do that?

DE SOUZA: I think our biggest need right now is staff. We're going to have to review our staffing models, and that's what we're in the process of doing. We're increasing capacity. Our biggest issue is being able to staff those extra beds that we are implementing in the hospital.

CUOMO: Now, your hospital is a little different than many others. You don't have a parent company. You're depending on yourself for supplies. There's been generosity. And it's an interesting community, your hospital, the stories that I've heard. That there are actually traditions and culture within your hospital. Tell us a little bit about that.

DE SOUZA: Well, we've been incredibly fortunate of the support of the entire community. We are -- we serve a very diverse population and very diverse both culturally and socioeconomically.

But I must say that the support has been pouring in. We've been receiving donations on a daily basis. They're increasing every day. We've been fortunate to be able to vet this equipment as being safe for use in the hospital.

So, so far, we're able to protect all the staff. We've also been able to divide the emergency department into a safe zone to still care for the other patients who are coming in with other emergencies, heart attacks, strokes, et cetera, just already the patients. And then have a zone dedicated to the care of these patients who are suspected to have COVID-19.

CUOMO: I mean, this is very difficult. The Elmhurst Queens, you know, it's always a busy area. It's a busy catchment area. You see a lot of cases ordinarily. Now you have this entire new wave of need.

And I've heard that you've started a tradition of you don't touch. You're at safe distances. But you pray together, that you will be protected along with your patients. Know this, you, Dr. De Souza and your staff, you are our, our angels. And you are in our prayers. But more than in our prayers, you are going to be on our mind.

If there's anything that we can do to get information out about your needs and about what's going on, we are a call away for the duration, OK?

DE SOUZA: I thank you. I thank you, Mr. Cuomo for this opportunity to have our voice heard. There is actually something that we -- I've started with a colleague of mine to encourage the health care workers at the front lines.

And it's hash tag, HCW -- healthcareworkershoutout. We want to start the movement that is happening in Europe and many countries where at 8 p.m. folks get at their windows and their balconies and either clap or flash their phones to encourage the people at the front lines.

Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.

CUOMO: The hash tag is -- tell me the hash tag again.

DE SOUZA: Hash tag hcwshoutout.

CUOMO: Done. hash tag HCW for health care worker shoutout. Thank you very much, Dr. de Souza. It is the least that we can do for you for all that you are doing and will do for us. God bless, stay well, stay strong.

DE SOUZA: Thank you.

CUOMO: Now I know you're going to reply to that call. It's not like you don't have time on your hands right now. Hash tag hcwstaystrong. You can put it out there. You'll see the hash tag online. There are going to be a lot of different efforts. Stay involved.

Now, the president -- I know he is saying something different than what you're hearing. I understand that. But we can only deal in the facts. That's why I will bring you another doctor, Dr. Jha. He is going to give you what he sees in the modeling and on the front lines that suggests where are we in terms of timing, OK? And what does it mean for the next wave? What does it mean for us and our country? Next.

[22:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: I'm getting old and tired. I can't even remember a hash tag. Hash tag hcwshoutout. HCW is for health care worker, OK? And if you're here in the New York metropolitan area or really wherever you are, but certainly here at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, they want to kind of like in the movie network, they're doing it all over Europe to show support for the front line workers and the hospitals.

Go to your windows, shout out that you support, flash your phones outside if now near the hospitals. And they'll be looking for it. They need our support. They are doing so much for us. Online hash tag hcwshoutout. OK. I want to get that out there.

There could be a lot of reasons by the way that we have the highest number of reported coronavirus cases worldwide. Most of those reasons are not good, OK?

Perhaps more importantly, we do have a doctor who's trying to drill into people the reality that the fact that we have the most cases should tell you what you need to know most.

[22:20:02]

This is not going to end any time soon. That doctor is Ashish Jha, director of the Global Health Institute at Harvard University joins us now. It's good to see you again, doctor.

Look, nobody wants to hear what you have to say right now. We would all rather believe the president that in a few weeks we'll be OK. And we're hearing from his staff that was an aspirational statement. But there's a danger in giving false hope. What do you want people to know?

ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Yes, look, I think we could all use some hope. And I'll get to hope because there are areas where I have hope. But hope that's not based in fact is empty and doesn't get us moving forward. What Americans need to know tonight is we are number one for all the

wrong reasons. We have more cases here than anywhere else in the world. We had a 30,000 more cases in just the last two days, a lot of folks. And then we cross a thousand people who have died. I think sadly in the days and weeks ahead we're going to see more deaths and we're still early in this. We have a lot away -- we have a long way to run on this.

So, Chris, you know, I think the next couple of days, next couple of weeks are going to be hard. And what we need to do is start thinking about how we're going to bend this curve. And we can do that but not by peddling false hope.

CUOMO: So, let's take one step backwards. Why? Why do we have the most cases?

JHA: Well, look, everybody knows we were super late to the game on testing. We went months. The infection was spreading around the country. We were in denial. We didn't have a testing scheme where we could test people.

And only in the last couple of weeks have we started heading in the right direction. And I would say only in the past week has testing gotten halfway decent. It's still not where it needs to be and we're finally identifying all the infections that are in the community. As I said, we still have a ways to go because our testing needs to ramp up further.

CUOMO: Ad I'll tell you, I just saw a map. One of my producers, Patrick showed me today that you're testing a lot more in New York than in other places and a couple of other harder hit states are getting big. But, you know, that's where the testing is going to be the least indicative of getting ahead or contact tracing.

The states where it's just starting to happen, they're testing at much lower rates and it's almost like we're setting ourselves up to go through this cycle again and again and again. So, what do you see as a time horizon for how long we're dealing with this and then define for us what dealing with it means?

JHA: Yes. Look, right now the way I'm looking at the American map, I'm seeing 50 different maps, right? One for each state. Every state is on a different trajectory. There are still states where getting acting, getting aggressive can actually stave off the worst.

But those states aren't taking it seriously because they're not seeing a lot of cases yet. But right now, what's happening in New York, what's happening in California, in Washington State, we're going to see that in Louisiana, we're going to see that in Florida, we're going to see that in Arizona.

There are lots of places coming that I'm very, very worried about. Dallas, some of the data from there I think are concerning. So, look, we're going to see this spread. But there are still parts of the country where jumping ahead doing aggressive testing, isolating people, they can make sure that they don't have the explosive growth that we're seeing in other areas. In terms of timeline -- go ahead, Chris.

CUOMO: No, no, go ahead. That's what I wanted you to talk about, go ahead, please.

JHA: Yes. So, in terms of timeline, the president has said that he would love to see the country open up by Easter. I mean, wouldn't we all? That would be great. I would love to see the country open up tomorrow.

But the question is what's the prudent thing to do, what is it that we can do to make sure that when we open up, we don't have to close right back down again because --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Like Hong Kong.

JHA: And that, we're not -- I'm just not at all convinced that we're going to be able to do that by Easter not for large chuck of the country.

CUOMO: And you're saying you have to look at more of a 12 to 18 month time horizon about how long this takes to work itself through to where you're seeing the types of herd community and they have a vaccine and an inactionable way of dealing with this in the next seasonal cycle.

JHA: Exactly. Look, so the big thing that I think your viewers need to know is that this virus is not going away. We are in for a bumpy ride over the next 12, 18 months. It doesn't mean we have to be shut down for 12 to 18 months. We can't tolerate that. People have to get back to their lives.

We can do that, but if we are aggressive now about stopping things, shutting down, building up a test regime, we can then open up again. And not everywhere all the time, but most places can go back to work but only when we're ready. And we are not anywhere near ready right now.

CUOMO: And the idea of a quick exit out of this based on a drug therapy -- I know another Harvard related study today said that the president says he's a big fan of the hydroxy whatever it's called is something to see. That they don't believe in China, a study they did shows that it will help. Are you familiar with that study?

[22:24:58]

JHA: I'm not familiar with the specific study you're talking about. But I will tell you this. Drug therapy, there's a lot of drugs out in the market place that are being studied. I'm hopeful one of them or maybe more than one of them will help.

It will not end the transmissions. It will not end this virus. The only thing will be either herd immunity when large numbers of people have been infected or we get an effective vaccine. I think we're 12 to 18 months away if everything goes smoothly.

Look, I've haven't seen any data that hydroxychloroquine is going to be the savior here.

CUOMO: That's the drug.

JHA: We're all -- we're all keeping our fingers crossed. It'd be great. But that's not -- that's not what the data is telling us so far.

CUOMO: Right. Hydroxychloroquine, that's the drug. I guess I don't really have to learn the name of it because it doesn't seem like it works in a big way anyway. Although there was this one scare story out there that somebody took it and it killed them.

It turns out that one particular story the man took something else, like fish tank cleaner or something like that and that's why he died. But the drug has been studied in China. They don't see it in terms of being a big fan as our president is.

Dr. Jha, I'm a big fan of yours. Because you're giving us the facts. And even if it doesn't feel good, we need to deal in fact. Be well, stay healthy, I'll talk to you soon.

JHA: (Inaudible).

CUOMO: All right. So, look, and that's why we're dealing with all these different fronts on this war. I have no problem with the metaphor. We started talking about it as a war weeks ago. And it's the right outlook but you have to treat it that way. Right?

And that's why PPE is so important, personal protective equipment. You can't have your warriors on the front lines being exposed to the same thing they're fighting and being vulnerable.

So, the idea of not having what you need, that workers are now faced with having to make decisions that they shouldn't have to make. And that decision may have just cost one of our best here in New York City their life.

A nurse just died on the front lines. His sister is here seeking answers and seeking to explain to you exactly who was lost and why he was so beloved with all who came into contact with him, next.

[22:30:00]

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CUOMO: We all feel so powerless. #hcwshoutout, tweet that and recognize the front line fighters in our hospitals. They need the energy. They need to know we care because they're doing for us what we can't do for ourselves. And many of them are doing things that they may not even be able to withstand.

That takes us to the story of Kious Kelly, 48 years old, just a beautiful guy inside and out. Everybody says it. A nurse manager at a hospital here in New York City. He may be the first nurse in this city to die at least in part from the virus. He tested positive just a couple of weeks ago and died on Tuesday from complications from the virus. His sister Marya Sherron joins us now. I'm very, very sorry to meet you under these circumstances. I really am, Mariah. My sympathy to you and your family.

MARYA SHERRON, SISTER OF NEW YORK NURSE WHO DIED OF CORONAVIRUS: Thank you. Thank you for having me on.

CUOMO: You'd been in kind of uneven contact with your brother because obviously he was working around the clock against this contagion that we're dealing with here. Did he give you any indication of how hard it was for him especially once he got the diagnosis?

SHERRON: He did not. Unfortunately everything happened so quickly. He told my parents that he was positive and had corona, and three days later he sent me a text message and shared that he was in the ICU and on a ventilator and he couldn't talk or he would choke. So, he was having trouble breathing. And six days later, he -- he died.

CUOMO: I'm so sorry.

SHERRON: Thank you.

CUOMO: I mean, it's just so hard. Now, look, we know he had asthma, but it just shows how such a simple thing that I'm sure it didn't even limit him. He was known as being energetic and you know, such a source of life among his team and staff, it just shows what this virus can do. What do you want people to know about this beautiful soul?

SHERRON: Thank you for that question. You know, that he was a leader and a champion in life, but he was a champion for his units. He would be fighting for them right now. And that's part of why I'm talking with you today. He would be fighting for their protection. And he advocated for them. And his legacy is so amazing. So, I've been overwhelmed in the last 48 hours with messages, text messages, stories about him.

And no one can take that from him. But he would want his team protected. He would want the medical health care workers protected. And he would want the janitors protected. It's not -- it's everyone there that's being exposed. And he would be doing something about it in his way at his hospital for his unit.

He was the best brother in the world and an amazing uncle to my sons. And my parents are broken. It's a huge part -- we all are a huge part of our live. And too soon, too quick, and not necessary.

CUOMO: Well, your concern that he would be fighting for his team. He still is, isn't he?

SHERRON: He is, he is, he is.

CUOMO: Because, even in death, his story is reverberating the need that we take care of our front line health care workers, because that's the only way they will be able to take care of us. As a sister, what's the hardest part for you in accepting this emotionally so far?

[22:35:10] SHERRON: You know, our parents are older and calling them and telling

them and knowing that none of us could get to him, knowing that he died alone. That's just gut wrenching to think about. You know, and I know that there are thousands of people -- the number is in the thousands. But there are a thousand other families going through this right now. I think not being able to be there. Not being able -- even now, I don't know where he is. I don't know where his body is. I don't know. We don't know what's happening entirely. And we don't know that this is going to be addressed.

So, there's -- you know, you can move on from a situation and there are absolute tragedies. But there are also situations that can be addressed. We can do something about this. And that we didn't in time to save his life is challenging but that I don't get the sense that we are -- in fact I know we're not to be honest. I know we're not dealing with it now.

So, that makes it hard because it's in vein if we're not going to get our every -- all of our health care workers everything that they need. And, you know, Chris, it's disturbing what is happening. I don't think America knows. The news is not sharing with us what our health care workers are seeing and being asked to do. And it's shameful. It is shameful.

CUOMO: I promise you we will do everything that we can to focus on the people who are doing the job for us on the front lines. I promise you that their protection is something we will cover religiously. And I also promise you that anything that I can do to help your family get closure with locating your brother and figuring out how you bring him home and whatever your family wants to do, I will do whatever I can. You know how to get me. Our producer will remind you of how to get me. And we are here for you and we are here for the other Kious' that are out there fighting on the front lines which is what your brother would want. I promise you that.

SHERRON: Thank you. Thank you Chris. Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Tell your family they're in our prayers, but more importantly you're in my head. So, we'll be in touch. I'll help anyway we can and we will not let this lie, I promise you that.

SHERRON: Thank you very much. Thank you. I heard your previous guest, and please just the personal protective equipment, drop it off on the roofs. We have helicopters. We have a way. We're not getting it to them. We have got to get them what they need.

CUOMO: Understood and appreciated. Marya Sherron, again, my condolences to the family. We'll make sure that your brother passing does not mean that we'll forget the message of what his life has to means, about good service and taking care of his brothers and sisters who are still in the fight. We will do that.

SHERRON: Thank you. Thank you, guys.

CUOMO: All right. We'll be in touch. Kious Jordan Kelly. We can say may he be blessed with resting in peace, but if we don't take care of his brothers and sisters, how can that be possible. Think about his family, not even be able to get closure right now, because of the nature of this fight that we are in. Beautiful man lost but not forgotten.

Ahead the race for a treatment. The results of a new study that are referred to. The president said he's a fan. He's a fan. Do we have a scientific reason to be a fan of a possible lifesaver? Next.

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[22:40:00]

CUOMO: We're already on it. We're going to get answers for that family. We're going to make sure that Kious didn't pass in vain and that PPE is obviously a priority for our health care workers because they can't do their job if they're not protected from the virus. They're going to go down just like any of us would.

All right now. From who we need the most to what is kind of like this far out there dream which would be what, a wonder drug, right? The president said he was a fan of something called hydroxychloroquine which the president has said could be a game changer. Well, again, that's a feeling.

Now we have some facts. A new study that was conducted in China where they looked to see with a controlled group in science and how you do it, science being the quest for knowledge, about whether it made a difference. We're joined now by Dr. William Haseltine. He is a former Harvard medical professor. Professor, thank you for joining us.

DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIR AND PRESIDENT ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: It's a pleasure to be here, Chris.

CUOMO: So, look, we all want things to work. We all want to be a pill away from getting past this. We're all a fan of that idea. What is the reality about whether this drug shows that kind of promise?

HASELTINE: Well, Chris, let me just begin by saying that the last story shows you how unprepared we were for this epidemic. And it didn't have to be. I was warning and many people like me were warning that this would happen.

[22:45:07]

Now we all hope there's going to be a drug. Unfortunately it's very unlikely that chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine or (inaudible) will be that drug. At best it will be weekly effective, at worse, no effect. And it has side effects. There was a clinical study done in China, rather small, about 30 people, 15 were given the drug. They were ill, 15 were not. There is no statistical difference, but whatever difference there were, those on chloroquine did worse than those who were not treated with chloroquine.

CUOMO: How about empirical push back. It's too small a survey. We don't know if the Chinese did the test the right way. We should do it ourselves. Maybe it's about the dosage. Is there any way that maybe there's still avenues of access with this drug that we haven't pursued?

HASELTINE: We have a lot of information already about that drug. People have been using it for quite a while. We know at best, as I said, its weekly effective if it's effective at all. And there is no real evidence that it's effective. And even on a theoretical basis, it's unlikely to work. So, I think that the chance that is going to be our magic pill is not there.

That doesn't mean we won't have one. We should do everything we can to get a drug, and there will be drugs that work against this virus. I am absolutely convinced of that, having developed drugs for HIV/aids, for anthrax, for other diseases. This is a relatively easy problem. And it's a shame we don't already have those drugs. We could (inaudible).

CUOMO: Well, if it's a relatively easy problem -- help understand, you know, help the lay people understand that if it's a relatively simple problem, how come we don't seem to be anywhere in terms of getting a solution?

HASELTINE: Well, when there was a SARS epidemic in 2003, a lot of labs all over the world went to work and they found drugs that stopped not only the SARS virus but the whole family of coronaviruses from growing. Why weren't they developed into drugs? Because there was no economic model for that. No company was willing to put the money and not see any money come back because it was unpredictable. That's an ideal situation for the government to step in, but the government never did step in. Not our government, not the Singapore government, not the Chinese government.

I hope we do not make that mistake again. At this point they are racing to try to resurrect those chemicals which were known to stop coronaviruses and not just one, many. And there are about 20 drugs that were shown -- or drug candidates that were shown to do that. And also we had the drugs and saved all the lives that we're talking about today including the live of Marya's brother.

CUOMO: So, that's the past. We have to figure out how to get better in the future. You're saying what worries you most is that how we set ourselves up for testing here and what we're still doing for testing proves to you that we still don't get what we're up against. Is that true?

HASELTINE: That's partly true, but we're not even halfway prepared for what's coming. It isn't only about testing. In fact, if you really look closely at what was done where people control the virus, they didn't depend only on tests. If some were sick and they were known to have the coronavirus, everybody in contact with that person regardless of their testing results was put in mandatory quarantine in an isolated hotel room and not allowed to open the door themselves. Without a test. Just the fact that they were in the control room. By that measure, anybody in contact with Rand Paul would be locked into a hotel room at this point.

CUOMO: That's the only way to do it.

HASELTINE: We don't take the virus as seriously as we should. CUOMO: And that's why we've got bigger numbers. That's the answer,

right?

HASELTINE: That's why we have bigger numbers still because we're still not doing it. Even in the -- I live in New York. And we're under the most rigorous control. And compared to what I've seen and talked to people in my association, in my foundation in China, we're not even beginning to do what we need to do.

CUOMO: Well, Doctor, listen, I take all your suggestions. I want to the stay in touch. You let me know what we're doing and what we're not doing and what works and we'll get the message out. Dr. William Hazeltine -- am I saying your last name the right way?

HASELTINE: It's Hazeltine, but my dad say you can say it how you want.

CUOMO: No, no. Dr. William Haseltine, you deserve the deference of the right pronunciation. We are going to need you going forward and I am happy to have you on the show tonight. Thank you. It's hard to hear, but thank you for giving to us straight.

[22:50:05]

HASELTINE: You're welcome, thank you.

CUOMO: I mean, look, I hate the story. You hate it. There is no good news. I totally get it. But what do you want? I am not going to make it up. We already have someone doing that already. We have to be straight, because that is the only way we'll start responding to it with the kind of urgency that will get us to the place that we all want to be. And in that process, we are going to start calling out people who are helping us get to that place and people who are keeping us from getting to that place. All right? Ameri-cans and Ameri-can'ts next.

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[22:55:00]

CUOMO: First, the Ameri-can'ts, licking deodorant sticks at a Missouri Walmart. Can you believe this? This punk looking at a camera and asking who is scared of coronavirus? Now, I'm hiding his face out of mercy, because I don't think he was trying to scare people. He is just stupid. Be better.

But this guy, George Falcone, in New Jersey charged with making terroristic threats, why? He is asked by supermarket worker, move back, you're too close to me and to the prepared food display. He is accused of moving closer to her and then coughing on her at purpose, laughing and says, I got coronavirus. Who's laughing now? For every one of these Falcones. We see lots of Ameri-cans as well.

Starbucks, free tall cup of coffee to all health care workers and other first responders, hot or ice. Now remember you can't sit inside their locations right now, but you can get those free to go coffees until at least the beginning of May. Beautiful. And TikTok, the app that makes those short funny videos that are

dominating my household, they gave the WHO $10 million this week. The money will help medical workers around the globe get more masks and gloves and other protective gear. Now, that's not an American company. People had talk about TikTok, of, it's Chines, they are doing all these things. I don't care. If you want to help what is going on you are an Ameri-can. We need help from everywhere. Just as every place else needs us to rise to this moment.

Another Ameri-can ahead, this one with a national call to action. And how you can help protect those on the frontlines of this war. You say you care, listen to this and act. Next.

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