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Dozens Exposed to Coronavirus at House Party; Answers to your Coronavirus Questions; Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC, NY) is Interviewed about the Coronavirus Response. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 30, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Was there anything unusual or anything that should have been done differently about that party?

HEATHER BAUER, INFECTED BY CORONAVIRUS AT CT HOUSE PARTY: No, it was just a simple party, you know. So there wasn't that many people there. It was nothing out of the ordinary. And there was multiple parties after that, by the way, with hundreds and hundreds of people on Thursday and then -- I mean on Friday and Saturday. Nobody was social distancing. Any (INAUDIBLE) party that I went to, by the way, people were not hugging and were already thinking about this a little bit, but, you know, there were maybe 50 people at the party that I was at.

And, you know --

CAMEROTA: You know, it's such a -- I mean it's such a cautionary tale for everybody because if it could happen there, it could happen everywhere.

So let's talk about what your symptoms were. So after that, you are, as we've said, a very healthy woman. You're a long distance runner, a marathon runner. So a few days later, just describe what your symptoms were over the course of the next week.

BAUER: Right. So it started with a fever. And I thought, you know, maybe I'm getting the flu, even though I had the flu -- a flu shot. And, you know, I -- and I didn't know that anybody else of the people that I had been with were -- were not feeling well. So I thought maybe I had the flu. I took, you know, some Advil and the fever went away, because for the first few days when you get sick, it seems to come -- the fever seems to come at night and in the morning it goes away. And then in the morning it was gone and the fever came back. But then it was this relentless fever that just continued.

And I did have a (INAUDIBLE) my chest bone, but I didn't realize it was shortness of breath because it just seemed that I was breathing differently. I kept my breath -- very short breath just to not get that pain in my chest bone. And then the symptoms just --

CAMEROTA: You mean very shallow. So you were -- so you were having like a shallowness of breath.

BAUER: Yes. CAMEROTA: And then it got progressively worse.

BAUER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So your fever didn't go away. You had all of these aches. You started having the intestinal symptoms.

BAUER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And what was the point -- and we're seeing a picture of you looking desperate in the hospital right now and looking so sick.

BAUER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: What was the point at which you realized you had to go to the hospital?

BAUER: I mean, I was very fortunate because I was given the number to Yale Covid. They had a hotline. And they had nurse practitioners that were calling and checking in on me. And every day, actually. So they had actually they were the ones that recommended that I got tested because of the exposure and because of my fever. The test results took five days, which is just unbelievable. And every day they checked in. And when one of the nurse practitioners called me, she didn't like the way I sounded and then she had a doctor come on the phone. And they asked me to take a breath. And when I did, I coughed very quickly. And so they recommended that I come to the hospital right away.

CAMEROTA: So --

BAUER: And, you know, I had other -- like I, you know, but they had (INAUDIBLE). They were like, do you have a sore throat? Are you -- do you have a runny nose? I didn't have those symptoms. So, sorry, what was it?

CAMEROTA: And so you spent nine days in the hospital.

BAUER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And those pictures of you look horrible. I mean, frankly, you look so sick.

BAUER: It was horrible.

CAMEROTA: And were those moments where -- where you wondered if you would survive this?

BAUER: Yes, because it just kept getting worse. You know, I was vomiting. I mean to be vomiting in your bed in a pan is -- it's a horrible feeling. I had migraines. You lose your taste. You lose your smell. I ended up developing hepatitis. There was a day where they told me they may have to do a spinal tap. They were concerned about me developing meningitis. Actually, that was one week ago today. It was terrifying.

And you just don't know if you're going to be that person. And I'm 42. I'm a nutritionist. I've dedicated my entire life to being healthy. I've run 15 marathons. And so for -- I was thinking, I'm going to be that one. I'm going to be that one that this is taking down. And I just felt like I was completely out of -- my body was -- it was taking over my body. I had a rash all over my body, like every area of my body, this disease had taken over. And I wasn't getting better.

And I was fortunate enough to be, you know, because I was at Yale, and I was part of their trial at Yale, I was placed on the Hydroxychloroquine and, you know, I -- I --

CAMEROTA: That's interesting. So you were able to get that -- you were able to get that sort of experimental drug.

BAUER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And do you think that that changed the course of your recovery?

BAUER: I do because when I -- I had a five-day treatment and I believe that was when it started to turn for me. You know, that was when, you know, it's possible the fever stopped and it's interesting when the fever stopped, the migraines started and I'm not someone who gets migraines.

[08:35:01]

And they can only give you a certain amount of (INAUDIBLE). They're not giving Advil because Advil can aggravate it. So --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BAUER: It's hard.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Well, Heather, I mean, I know that -- we only have ten seconds left and I know that you want to thank your doctors. And one interesting thing for people to know is that you were alone for most of the time in the hospital room because they would appear via screen. You know, they're trying to protect themselves. And so sometimes you would only deal with people in this kind of futuristic way. But in the final ten seconds, what do you want us to know about your care there?

BAUER: My care was amazing. My nurses, I had the most amazing, amazing nurses and I'm so grateful to the care from my nurses and my doctors. They put themselves on the line. And thank you so much to Yale for your amazing care and for saving my life, truly. I'm forever grateful. Also that (INAUDIBLE) we'll get through this as the country so (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: Well, Heather, thank you. Yes, that's a good message and thank you for sharing your story. That picture of you with your kids where it says "coronavirus survivor" is just incredible.

BAUER: And take it seriously. Take this (INAUDIBLE) seriously. Stay home. Isolate. Listen. CAMEROTA: Thank you. Got it. That's a great message.

BAUER: So that's a tip.

CAMEROTA: Heather, we're so happy that you're doing better. Thank you.

BAUER: Thank you for having me today.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for talking.

OK, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to answer your medical questions about coronavirus, next.

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[08:40:18]

BERMAN: So we've been asking you to send us your questions about coronavirus. You have been sending some great ones. And CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he has been providing answers.

So, Sanjay, let's jump right in.

What's the timeframe for the potential 100,000 deaths in the United States? Is that within the next 12 months or could it be even less?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, sadly, I mean, you know, I think all of the projections show that timeframe to be -- to be less. Sometime between April and August, which is still a wide timeframe, John, but these are all models. And, you know, you heard Dr. Fauci talk about this morning with your interview with him some 100,000 to 200,000 deaths. So it's also a range of deaths and a range of timeframe.

Keep in mind, John, that that's also with all these mechanisms staying in place, at least until the end of April, staying home from work, schools, no non-essential travel, all that sort of stuff.

BERMAN: Is it just us? Is Alisyn with us right now? I don't see Alisyn, so I'll jump into the next question.

Can we truly say -- this is from Michael, Sanjay. Can we truly say that the United States is in a flattened curve state right now?"

GUPTA: No. No, we can't say that, Michael. We are not in the flattened curve state right now. There will be some indication when we get to that point.

Two things to look out for. You're going to continue to see numbers, again sadly, going up in terms of numbers of people who are infected and numbers of people who have died. What you're really looking for is how are those numbers changing day to day, the trend, the doubling time. There's all these different things that people will apply to it to try and figure that out. The flattening of the curve is -- the numbers may still be going up at

that point, but the pace at which they're going up starts to slow down and eventually you get to that -- that apex, that peak and hopefully start to come down after that.

BERMAN: All right, this one is from Rob in Kentucky who writes, are any antibody tests being researched in order to determine if someone has had coronavirus in the past?

GUPTA: Yes, this is a -- this is a big deal. And the answer is yes, and in some countries around the world they've already started doing what are called antibody tests or serology tests. They're also called -- you'll hear both terms. Very important for two reasons. One is something again that you guys have been talking about on NEW DAY quite a bit with Peter Hotez, and that's the idea of convalescent serum.

Just simply put, someone has had the infection, they recover. Their body now has these antibodies, which can fight off the infection. If you take their plasma, their blood, and give it to somebody else who's dealing with the infection, you might be able to help that person. Very simple idea. It's been used for other infections. That's called convalescent serum.

But the other reason that you'd want to do this type of testing is to sort of get a better idea of just how many people out there have been impacted by this -- by this infection and how many people are likely to already be immunized against this infection as a result.

CAMEROTA: Here comes one from Kerri in Rochester, New York, but I know that so many people are asking this. How many patients who end up on a ventilator end up dying? And what is the typical length of time on a ventilator for those that recover and those that don't?"

GUPTA: Yes. Well, Kerri, I mean, this is a -- obviously it will be a tough situation if someone ends up on a ventilator. But, still, statistically, their chances of surviving and recovering are still higher than not.

The time course is really interesting. I mean typically for most things on average, if you end up on a ventilator for something other than coronavirus, it's typically three to four days. Here, you know, some of the data that they're seeing out of New York, it could be 11 to 20 days. So much longer on the ventilator. People who are critically ill obviously ending up on the ventilator.

Overall mortality rates, overall fatality rates still 1 percent to 2 percent. Obviously much higher if you end up on the ventilator, but still then, you know, in the -- in the 20 percent to 30 percent range. It's -- you know, you're still more likely to survive. It will be a tough road, no question, but still more likely to survive than not.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, thank you very much for all of the great information, as always, and everybody keep your questions coming.

GUPTA: You got it. BERMAN: So a U.S. Navy hospital ship is getting ready to dock in New York City right now. New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio joins us live, next.

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[08:49:06]

CAMEROTA: New York just reached a new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic. The state now reports more than 1,000 deaths. This comes as a U.S. Navy hospital ship will dock off of the coast of New York, very shortly, to help overwhelmed hospitals.

Joining us now is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Mayor, we're so happy to have you here this morning.

And we can see, in a live shot, the U.S. Naval ship Comfort coming in. It's this sort of gray day and here comes this ship, you know, charging towards the shore. There's something really poignant about this picture that we're looking at.

Can you see it from your vantage point, and what will this help?

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NYC, NY): Alisyn, I can't see it but I can picture it in my mind and I'm really happy that the Comfort is here. I mean the fact that the Navy is here, the military is here to help New York City in our hour of need, that is amazingly important to this city.

[08:50:01]

This is like an additional hospital just, you know, floated right up to our shores, and now it's going to help to save lives.

And, Alisyn, also for the people of this city have gone through so much the last few weeks, what a morale boost. You know, what -- what a shot in the arm to be able to see our military here to help us in such a powerful way. It's very poignant. It's very moving for all of us. We -- we need the help, let me tell you that.

CAMEROTA: No, I agree. I mean it sort of chokes you up watching this -- this ship, you know, slowly make its way here to New York.

Meanwhile, Mayor, I wanted to ask you about something that you said this weekend that got so much attention. It was a warning. And you said basically that New York only has supplies through this coming Sunday. What does that mean? Then -- then what happens?

DE BLASIO: Alisyn, right now we have to help the people of this country understand what's happening in New York is eventually, unfortunately, going to happen some other places as well. It's literally, we get supplies in, they go out to the hospitals, they get used with a huge increase in cases just daily that our health care workers, our doctors, our nurses are dealing with more and more every day. So we send out those ventilators immediately. People need them. We

sent out those masks, all that equipment and they get used and they need another one and another one because of all the work they're doing.

So what I was trying to say is, we've set a deadline that we know if we don't get reinforced, particularly with ventilators, and more medical personnel, after this coming Sunday, we're really going to have a problem ensuring that everyone who needs care gets it.

Now, I'll update you every day on where we stand, but I'm trying to put down a marker that if we don't get more consistent federal help in a growing crisis, there's a danger we start to lose lives that could have been saved.

CAMEROTA: President Trump basically said this weekend that he didn't understand why hospitals needed so much equipment, why they were asking for so many tens of thousands of masks, why they needed so many ventilators. He suggested maybe there was some sort of hoarding or worse going on, and he said that you, Mayor de Blasio, should look into it, you should check that out. What's your response to that?

DE BLASIO: Look, I'm really troubled by that, Alisyn. I find that insulting to our health care workers. I found it just incredibly insensitive.

You know, these stories of our doctors, our nurses, all our frontline healthcare workers are going through hell right now. They are seeing people die around them all the time, no matter their best efforts. They're saving lives, but they're also losing lives that they -- they did everything they possibly could and they couldn't save. And what they're asking for is to have -- you know, I've been saying, this is a war and the ventilators are ammunition. They're just asking for the ammunition to fight with. And I've explained this directly to the president, that when someone needs a ventilator, it's literally a life and death moment. A doctor cannot wait. You can't say, hey, doctor, could you hold on an hour until that person gets a ventilator? No, they need it right then. If the person -- if a patient doesn't get a ventilator right then, they literally can suffocate.

So I've tried to explain this to the president. This is an entirely different reality than this country has faced before. This is battlefield medicine. A huge number of cases. Life and death decisions all the time. We need what we need to keep going.

And what the president should be doing is praising our health care workers, not suggesting somehow they're doing something wrong with the supplies that have been sent. That's just insensitive and it's unhelpful. What he should focus on as commander in chief is, get us the support we need right now. That should be the only thing he's thinking about.

CAMEROTA: And so will you be getting more ventilators this week?

DE BLASIO: I have asked the president, I've asked the federal government to get us 400 right away so we can even get through to Sunday and then we're going to need more after that. I'm going to constantly update the public about exactly where we stand, but I need everyone in Washington, starting with the president, to understand, we've given them fair warning about the situation in the nation's largest city. We are the epicenter of this crisis. One in every four cases in America, right here. And they've had warning and they've had time, now they have to get it. They have to make sure every company that can produce one is producing them. They have to make sure the military is getting them here. It is within the president's power to do that. And I'm trying to work with him. But I'm being very clear, we need a lot of help by Sunday just to get through next week.

CAMEROTA: And has he promised you, or has anyone in the federal government promised you that you will get those 400 this week?

DE BLASIO: I've gotten no new promises, Alisyn. What I have seen in the last week, they did deliver what they said, and that was crucial. And I give them credit. I've talked to the military about the need for more military personnel, the doctors and nurses that the military have to immediately provide relief for our health care workers who are just extremely overwhelmed and stressed right now with everything they're dealing with.

[08:55:07]

And I believe the military is sincere in the fact that the Comfort is arriving gives us real hope. But this is going to be day-to-day, week- to-week. I need results constantly to be able to make sure we can save the lives that can be saved in this city. I've gotten no new assurances. I'm going to keep demanding them and I've put down a marker, Sunday is D-day. We need help by Sunday.

CAMEROTA: Mayor Bill de Blasio, we really appreciate you taking the time to come in and give us a status report this morning. And we're very happy to see the Comfort off the coast there, headed in your direction. So thank you very much. We'll talk to you soon.

DE BLASIO: Amen. Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, CNN has an exclusive look for you inside a New York City hospital. This is on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis. CNN's coverage continues, next.

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[09:00:00]