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U.S. Bracing For Rapid Rise In Deaths And Infections; U.S. Hospitals Face Critical Shortage Of Ventilators; Medical Workers On Front Lines Of COVID-19; Lockdown Leaves Paris Silent; Spain Overtakes Italy In Reported Virus Cases; Pregnant Partner Of U.K. Prime Minister Tests Positive; U.K. Ramps Up Testing Health Care Workers; Recovered Patient Donates Plasma To Help Others. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired April 05, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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


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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They walk into those hospitals, you see them putting on their gear and they're putting it on as they're walking through the front doors. Some of those people are going to die. They're going to die.

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The U.S. president says things will get a whole lot worse for health care workers as well as ordinary Americans. Also this hour --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stress level is definitely high, 100 percent difficulty sleeping at night.

ALLEN (voice-over): Courage under pressure. Doctors and nurses on the front lines risking their own lives to save others.

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ALLEN (voice-over): And bonding with a newborn takes on new meaning during this crisis. A mother reunited with her baby days after giving birth.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM live from our studios in Atlanta.

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ALLEN: Thank you for joining us. It is 4:00 am here on the East Coast and we are now coming up on four months since the coronavirus first began engulfing the world like an invisible tsunami. After watching Asia and Europe be ravaged by this disease, it is now

the United States where it is spinning out of control. More than 312,000 Americans have tested positive in the past month, eclipsing anywhere else. That's more than 34,000 new cases in one day.

On Saturday alone, more than 1,300 people died. It was the worst day yet. The U.S. president, Donald Trump, is now admitting what the experts have been warning about for months.

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TRUMP: This will be probably the toughest week between this week and next week. There will be a lot of death, unfortunately but a lot less death and than if this wasn't do but there will be death.

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ALLEN: Nowhere is the crisis more acute than New York City. It has more than a third of all cases in the country. Convention centers are being turned into emergency hospitals; even Central Park has a field hospital.

The mayor predicts the city will need 60,000 more beds, truckloads of ventilators and tens of thousands of extra doctors and nurses. The U.S. military is sending 1,000 medical specialists to help. The mayor spoke earlier with our Wolf Blitzer.

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MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: There's not enough medical personnel to save thousands of American lives who could have been saved. Well, then if it has to be something stronger than that, it should be.

This is a war. If it was any other situation, Wolf, where thousands of American lives were at stake and I told you these thousands of Americans can be saved if our national government acted and, if we don't, we'll lose them, you would say bring in the military, bring in everything we have, even to save one American life, let alone thousands.

So why don't we mobilize this nation as if the lives of so many Americans depended on it because they actually do. And it will be in state after state after state. The country is not prepared. But if we act quickly, this nation could actually get ahead of this crisis in time.

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ALLEN: Take that thought from the mayor there.

The White House strategy to deal with this crisis has been evolving in fits and starts over the past several weeks. Bold public claims by President Trump often clashed with the grim reality on the ground. We get the latest from CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's at the White House.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as the United States marked a record on Saturday for the single most coronavirus deaths reported in a single day, President Trump warned of the grim reality, that things are about to get a lot worse.

The president warning that this will be a horrendous time for the country, saying that there is going to be a lot of deaths in the coming weeks, specifically this next week to come.

But the president, even as he said that, in the next breath, we heard him also talking about the extent to which he would like to see the country begin to reopen. This has been a singular focus for the president, particularly as he looks at the economy in a re-election year.

So the president once again sending some mixed messaging. I did get a chance to ask the president on Saturday, though, about this issue of ventilator shortages. Ventilator manufacturers have been ramping up production, sometimes in cooperation with auto manufacturers.

But even as they do that there is still likely to be a shortage of ventilators. That at least according to the models. So I asked the president about that.

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DIAMOND: Ventilator manufacturers are doubling, tripling, quadrupling production in some cases.

TRUMP: That's true.

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DIAMOND: Yet medical experts and some of these manufacturers are predicting there will still be shortages of tens of thousands of ventilators.

Is it time for you to level with the American public that there likely will be shortages of ventilators in some cases?

TRUMP: Could be. I mean, you could have shortages. It could also be that you have some that way overestimated the number of ventilators they need. We think that we have a good amount ready to move.

I mean literally like an army. They are ready to move to any hotspot. But some of the ones that you are talking about, always a nasty question from CNN, but some of the ones --

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TRUMP: -- because I think that, frankly, you know -- you know what?

You have asked that question 10 times over the course of about a month. Look, we are mobilized and ready to go. We have a lot of ventilators ready to go. And if we had given them all out, we wouldn't. And you would be overstocked in many areas.

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DIAMOND: You see the president conceding indeed there could be a shortage of ventilators in parts of the country. That as the Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Dr. Debbie Birx said the apex of this coronavirus pandemic in several hotspots in the United States is expected to hit in six to seven days.

As you see ventilator manufacturers ramping up production, that is a question of weeks and months, not a matter of days. But the president also faced questions on another front and that is why he is not urging governors, these eight Republican governors in the United States, who so far have refused to issue stay-at-home orders.

The president saying it's not his role to direct governors but, at the same time, suggesting he might change his tune if indeed there is a significant outbreak in one of those states.

Of course, what we do know is that, because of that asymptomatic spread, once you see an outbreak, in many cases, it's already too late -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

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ALLEN: Yes, it is the health care workers that are on the front lines of this unprecedented crisis in hospitals. They're caring for a deluge of patients and they've had to push fears for their own safety aside. Here's Ryan Young with a look inside one hospital in Chicago.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just amazing to me how quickly people turn. They come in and suddenly, they looked OK and then they don't.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At Chicago's Rush University Medical Center, doctors and nurses come to work to fight COVID-19.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm seeing all of the beds lined up in the hallway waiting to be used. That's not anxiety provoking at all.

YOUNG (voice-over): The work starts right as they walk in the door.

DR. MEETA SHAH, RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: The patient was hypoxic. So they were trying to get her oxygen saturation improved and get her stabilized quickly. This is kind of what happens when a patient comes in. You try to minimize the number of people in the room. There is probably three or four people in there.

Only the key people and they will try to get her stabilized so she doesn't need to get intubated and put on a ventilator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The stress level is definitely high. (INAUDIBLE) difficulty sleeping at night. I think it's important to note that this affects the young and the old. No one is immune to this at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our decon area. See, don't enter unless. We are taking care of our PUIs, our persons under investigation.

YOUNG (voice-over): The sick many times show up in denial of their symptoms. Not wanting to be sick, unsure, afraid of what could be next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people turn around and leave, actually. Or it can be an anxiety-inducing experience, I think, when people come in and they are -- maybe they haven't been in the medical system for a while or they don't know the state of things now.

And they see us in full personal protective equipment and our masks and the tents set up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see we have a patient who has come in who is known COVID-19 positive and is feeling very short of breath.

YOUNG (voice-over): Despite the risk to themselves, those here believe in an oath to help save lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think something that's going to stick with me through all of this is just kind of the initiative people are taking and the ingenuity people are exhibiting, just like figuring this out as we go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think every health care professional gets into this field because they want to help people. So being able to be somebody who can make a difference in this time is also something that I think is empowering.

YOUNG (voice-over): Ryan Young, CNN, Chicago.

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ALLEN: Their dedication, their courage, truly inspiring. Let's talk about this current situation with Dr. Richard Dawood, he's the medical director of the Fleet Street Clinic in London.

Thank you for joining us and good morning to you. That story that we just saw illustrates the war that these medical teams are fighting.

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ALLEN: And I guess no one can really understand it unless you're there in the trenches. It's nearly impossible to describe what they're dealing with.

What can you add to that?

DR. RICHARD DAWOOD, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, FLEET STREET CLINIC: I think, as you say, this has really brought out the best in our health care teams globally, with people bringing in maximum efforts and volunteering on a massive scale to do everything they can to help with this crisis. I think that's something that every health care professional shares.

The worry, of course, is that so many of them feel vulnerable and exposed to this infection. And the work they're doing is really in the face of -- in some cases, very great personal risk.

I think we really need to ramp up the ability to test people who have had the infection and who are able to return to work safely and at less risk to themselves and others.

ALLEN: Right. You're joining us from London. We know the U.K. has had challenges with testing, the United States as well. President Trump said just hours ago, the next week or two we will see a lot of death. We know the queen is going to address the public in the coming hours, something she only does during historic moments. This is one.

What do people need to hear right now, Doctor, people that are afraid, people who are wondering if they're doing the right things to stay safe in these next two critical weeks?

DAWOOD: I think that the -- I think a lot of politics needs to come out of this and, you know, the usual sort of political banter that we hear between our leaders, sometimes worrying about their own situation and how they're going to be perceived.

In retrospect, everybody is going to be an expert on this and it's going to be very easy to be wise after the event. We really need them to take the best possible decisions and for it to be informed by the best available scientific advice and consideration and collaboration.

And I think we need technocratic leadership at the moment rather than anything else. We really need to mobilize the best minds to help us get through this.

ALLEN: And also the people who arrive at these hospitals that are already overrun, so many of them are critically ill.

We've heard doctors and nurses say, when everyone who arrives at one E.R. in the United States said, everyone needs to be intubated and put on a ventilator, it shows just how really dangerous that this confounding virus is and how quickly it can take a toll.

DAWOOD: Well, it is overwhelming. And I think the other thing that we really mustn't lose sight of is, while all of this is going on, we thought people who were getting sick for other reasons and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

Yesterday I had a patient, and unless we were -- had been able to test him successfully, he would have been treated as a COVID patient. He had a bacterial infection. So we had negative COVID test and we had other supporting tests showing what it was.

And in the rush to mobilize every medical aid and lots of people working outside of their own specialties, we really mustn't lose sight of the fact that people are still getting sick with other things that need just as much skill, assessment and attention. This is a huge medical challenge and it will draw on all of our resources.

ALLEN: It's been interesting to see, when you say the assessments taking place, there are teams of doctors coming together from all different fields of medicine to try to figure this out. And the other mystifying thing is, when someone comes in, whether

they're old, whether they're young, whether they have any other thing going on, nothing -- there's no straight line here to figuring it out, as you say.

DAWOOD: No. Absolutely. While the majority of people who have a fever and who are sick and coming in now are COVID patients, there are still people who are going to be suffering from those other things that need really full assessments.

There's still people getting new diagnoses of all kinds -- every kind of medical condition -- and we need must retain our ability to care for those people also.

ALLEN: We thank you so much for answering our questions. We know these are challenging times for you and your team. Thank you so much, Doctor. We wish you all the best, sir.

DAWOOD: Thank you.

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ALLEN: Next here, how the rest of Europe is handling this crisis. Spain is extending its state of alarm and now reporting the most cases in the world after the U.S. But we'll have a live report on this because there does seem to be some good news coming from there.

That might also be the case in Italy, now that the number of ICU patients is going down. We'll have a live report on what that means.

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ALLEN (voice-over): This is the City of Light like you probably have never seen it before. Paris with hardly anyone out and about in the streets. A strict lockdown was put in place for all of France a few weeks ago, leaving the Eiffel Tower and all the other landmarks you might recognize empty and eerily silent. But safely silent, I guess we should say.

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ALLEN: For now, neighboring Italy and Spain have been hit much harder in this pandemic. Authorities in Italy's coronavirus hot spot are ordering everyone to wear masks in public. Italy is reporting the most deaths from the virus in the world. Johns Hopkins University here in the U.S. says it has more than 15,000 fatalities.

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ALLEN: But it also says that Spain has surpassed Italy when looking at the total number of confirmed cases, even then the Spanish prime minister announced that some restrictions could be relaxed in about one week. We're joined now live from Rome by Delia Gallagher with the story there, along with Al Goodman, who is in Madrid.

Good to see you both.

Al, I want to start with you.

What is behind the message from the Spanish prime minister about easing restrictions?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Spanish prime minister, Natalie, and health officials are encouraged that the numbers of new cases and the numbers of deaths, while going up by percentages, has been going down in terms of their rising slower, the race of increase is slowing down, which is what they wanted in terms of trying to reach the peak so they can start the downward curve.

And one indication of that is that there's a little less pressure on some of the intensive care wards, including here at the hospital where I'm standing. There's been a field hospital that was built last week to take additional patients.

But regional government officials confirming to CNN that that field hospital behind me is currently -- doesn't have any patients because they don't have that pressure at this particular hospital, which is one of the largest and most important in the capital.

These field hospitals have been built and are taking patients at some of the other locations around Spain. The prime minister announcing on Saturday that the lockdown order would be continued another two weeks; that would take us to the end of April. That would make it a total of six weeks.

But he says that after Easter, the number of nonessential workers, like construction workers, may be able to go back to work. They've been ordered off work for these two weeks, including this coming week. But they may be able to go back to work.

The officials trying to get this right day by day. Clearly with this being Palm Sunday and this traditionally Roman Catholic Spain, not being able to do so church this day, not being able to go to mass on Easter, in a week, that is a huge, huge impact on the people, in addition to their health concerns and their economic concerns, their very fabric of life is affected by this -- Natalie.

ALLEN: One can certainly understand. These traditions are very important to people's lives. Al Goodman, we appreciate that report. Let's go to Delia Gallagher in Rome, where yet another country that will see a much different Easter season and Palm Sunday.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Absolutely. This is really the heart of the time for Rome when people are here. You'll remember the pictures from last year, today, Palm Sunday, there normally are thousands for the pope's mass and that's not going to happen. And here, like in many places around the world, people are going to be

watching their Easter celebrations livestreamed and they'll be in their homes.

Natalie, on Italy's numbers, we want to share a little bit of good news because, for the first time yesterday, Italy reported a decrease in their patients in ICU, only by about 74 patients. But that is a significant number, according to Italy's civil protection authorities, because it eases up the pressure on those hospitals.

As we know, that has really been a main problem for Italy, trying to deal with the numbers of patients in ICU. There are still about 4,000 patients there. But at least this first sign of a decrease in the number of patients is a sign of hope for Italy.

Italy has just over 88,000 total positive cases, Natalie, but, in the last week, we have seen the daily numbers slow down. So that also suggests that there is a trend that is starting of a decrease in these numbers. So a few signs of hope but still Italy very much in the heart of this crisis.

The Doctors Federation just yesterday announced 80 doctors have now died from the virus and they are mostly, they say, general practitioners, not the doctors in the hospitals but the doctors who are on the front line of patients that are not feeling well that go to see them.

According to the president of the Doctors Federation, they say these general practitioners still do not have sufficient protective gear to help protect them against the virus -- Natalie.

ALLEN: That is just a tragedy. So much of this is a tragedy when it comes to our health care workers on the front lines, general practitioners, all right, Delia Gallagher, thank you as always. We'll see you again.

Much more to come here. The U.K. is hurrying to test thousands of health care workers for the virus. We look at why the options are limited.

Plus, a mother comes down with COVID-19. We'll show you the touching way she and her newborn cured their separation.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from our Atlanta studios. I'm Natalie Allen with our top stories.

(HEADLINES) ALLEN: The U.K. is ramping up efforts to limit the spread of the virus there.

[04:30:00]

ALLEN: The British prime minister says the social distancing guidelines will stay in place for several more weeks. Boris Johnson's pregnant partner revealed she is on the mend after spending a week in bed with COVID-19 symptoms, although she has not been tested.

The U.K. is testing an increasing number of health care workers for the virus, nearly 11,000 people in recent days. The U.K. recording more than 700 new deaths from the coronavirus Saturday, the largest one-day rise since the outbreak began. For more about this, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me now live from London.

Nick, hello to you. We've seen empty streets in Paris, Madrid, Rome.

What's it like there where you are?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It's a city which has been troublingly busy, frankly. Initially after the lockdown was announced, the streets were empty. It was eerie, frankly.

We're on Hampstead Heath, a key public park and there's been criticism from London officials about how many people are coming to these public spaces. There's conflicting government advice because they say you should try to get exercise once a day but not in public gatherings of more than two people.

People were pointed to Hampstead Heath yesterday as a place when there were larger numbers of people gathering together. In fact, they said if that continued, they would potentially close public spaces. The broader question for the U.K. is the next two weeks ahead.

That is when the surge or peak of infection rates should hit the United Kingdom. There have been other mixed messages, though. Months ago, the U.K. was less interested in testing everybody and now they say that's their focus.

They've made a promise that 100,000 by the end of this month every day. But the key issue is for frontline health care workers, helping the sick, whether they may have picked up the virus and have to isolate or can go back to work the next day, making testing vital in the U.K.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is no longer needed for us to identify every case.

WALSH (voice-over): For the U.K., testing was not a priority a month ago, yet now it is.

BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Because it is so important.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why now?

WALSH: The U.K.'s sudden rush to testing perhaps explained by a rapid health care testing center. Behind me here, nearly a tenth of health care workers aren't turning up to work because they are not sure if they have the disease. That's a question increasingly difficult for Britons to answer.

Here in Cambridge is a gold standard, Samba 2 and yes, it is named after the dance, results in 90 minutes and it's easy to test and process.

HELEN LEE, CEO, DIAGNOSTICS FOR THE REAL WORLD: I can teach it to you if you know how to cook, you know how to do Samba, which leaves half of the men out.

WALSH (voice-over): One line means negative. Two, a slight infection. Three, a bad one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you are negative.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kickstarted by $3 million from a wealthy donor. The company says it costs $24,000 a machine and $38 a test. But they can't make enough of them to ensure its 99 percent accuracy fast enough. The U.K. health service wants a lot, now, they say. Health workers, officials everyone all want a test but that's just not possible.

LEE: It's really, I said, like a worldwide tsunami and you don't have the life jacket for the whole world.

WALSH (voice-over): And here in a cramped, airless office in Old Street, London a life jacket for sale. Right Angled used to do health DNA testing and is now repurposing kits to test the coronavirus for about $250 less if you are a health care worker. You receive it at home and express mail it to their lab. The results come about three days later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are talking thousands in the period of time of one week since we launched.

WALSH: So something in the region of 200,000 pounds at least worth of inventory coming to you at the moment?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's not all coming from individuals. We're talking about bulk orders coming from private clinics.

WALSH: So you open this straightforward, sterile there, put it in your mouth, back of your throat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the back of your throat and gag. And keep doing this for a minute.

WALSH (voice-over): It's cramped here, not ideal. They declined to name the lab they use, yet say it has government approval. But no home testing method does yet, U.K. officials told CNN, we don't have confidence in their reliability. WALSH: What would you say to anyone looking at what you are doing here

and was torn between deciding whether you are a good Samaritan offering a service in whole or whether you are making money out of a crisis?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We say we are simply offering a service at a very reduced price from what other providers are doing.

WALSH (voice-over): The U.K. behind in a global race to test with still no mass solution at hand.

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[04:35:00]

WALSH: So as the warm weather gets people out into public spaces again, we're in a moment of painful truth in the U.K. The queen will address the U.K. and the Commonwealth, asking people to continue with social distancing measures, praising them for their resolve so far.

But all of these different promises from U.K. politicians was reeled back this morning by a health secretary who himself has tested positive for the disease and was asked whether people should be sunbathing or not.

That's how politicians are having to make up policy on the hoof. All of this will be irrelevant in a fortnight because that is when the peak of infections and deaths -- I have to point out here, we had over 700 people reported dead yesterday, that number staggering, horrifying, unless the rest of the world by comparison is experiencing similar tragedies. The U.K. in for some difficult times ahead certainly.

ALLEN: Yes and as you speak, there are people strolling and running behind you in that park, as you said, Nick. That is part of the problem. Nick Paton Walsh for us in London. We appreciate your reporting. Thank you.

Patients who have recovered from coronavirus might be able to help those who are stricken with the disease. This is a bit of hope that we want to tell you about. What health authorities call a promising option. That's ahead here.

Also --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In just one week, we had over 700 adoptions and foster homes for our animals.

ALLEN (voice-over): We need our pets. The coronavirus hasn't just impacted those who are sick. It's affected the everyday life of many other people. Some of these stories coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: The British National Health Service warns the coronavirus death toll is likely to remain high over the next two weeks.

[04:40:00]

ALLEN: The number of people needing to be hospitalized is still going up as we just heard from our reporter there in London. That's putting a tremendous burden on the doctors, nurses and other health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic.

Joining me now to talk about this is Jenny Vaughan with the Doctors Association U.K.

We appreciate you joining us.

JENNY VAUGHAN, LEADING MEMBER, DOCTORS' ASSOCIATION U.K.: (INAUDIBLE).

ALLEN: Good morning to you. We just had a story about health care workers that can't show up for work because they don't know if they have the virus. They have not been tested.

What is your assessment of the U.K.'s lack of testing and how this is burdening the emergency care?

VAUGHAN: It has been -- it's been difficult up until now, Natalie, it really has. But there are green shoots of improvement. We've had about one in four doctors and one of five nurses not in the workforce because they have flulike symptoms or they're in a family where another member is affected and they cannot show up for work.

And what that does is not only mean that they can't go back to work because previously they haven't been able to access a test; it also means that all the staff who are looking after a patient back at the hospital are under much greater pressure and having to do longer, intense shifts.

Now the government has got more widespread drive-through testing of -- and given much more of a priority to the staff, which hasn't happened in the last few weeks. It's happening more now. Recent figures were over 9,000 NHS patients were tested.

The priority has been on sick patients, knowing whether they are COVID positive or negative. But not having equal priority for health care workers has just meant it's been harder for us to make sure that we've got the right numbers of staff.

ALLEN: Right, we're seeing in the U.K. the same thing we're seeing in the U.S. on a somewhat different scale. But -- and that is the lack of a coordinated federal response. The testing, of course, that was the thing that both got countries off to a bad start.

What do you say about the lack of federal response and how that has happened and why?

VAUGHAN: Well, I mean, here in the U.K. we have the NHS and it has ramped up and been able to respond in a unified way. We've heard some amazing stories of what your governor has been doing in New York, trying to get the various supplies in.

In the U.K. we have the NHS and in a centralized way it has tried to increase the numbers of beds, increase the testing with government help. These tests are hazardous and difficult to do because the rest of the world all wants the same reagents for the test. So we have been competing with other countries.

But the improvements that we've seen is new, innovative ways of testing. Cambridge University have recently invented a test which doesn't need the reagents and they're getting results within 90 minutes.

It's innovations like that that we hope will be coming through. But we still see that it's a bit slow at the moment because everyone is competing and the science is trying to catch up with this deadly virus, which the world has not known before. So it's a very challenging situation that you're facing as well.

ALLEN: Right. It is a confounding virus and still has so much mystery about it for researchers. I've also read that there are reports of doctors, who are speaking out about it, being bullied for trying to draw attention to PPE shortages.

What do you know about that and what do you make of it?

VAUGHAN: That's a story that we've been running from the Doctors Association. We've been working very hard on that. We think it's unacceptable that health care staff should be bullied or told not to speak out.

There are ways of speaking out. We support speaking out being done in a very constructive way. But we've heard stories of people's careers being threatened, people being sent home from work when they're coming to see patients and also people being told in no uncertain terms that their social media is being monitored.

This is not the way to proceed. What you have to do is you have to ensure that all health care workers can speak out because that's the only way that you can get supplies to the front line. So it's about making sure that your culture is right.

These are the people putting their lives on the line. Giving them that respect, giving them that support and listening to them, not threatening them so, Natalie, very much has been happening. A hotline has been set up with the government.

We've introduced and launched an app that puts the power in the doctors' and nurses' hands where they can report shortages.

[04:45:00] VAUGHAN: And we've partnered up with Let's Beat COVID-19, who are fund-raising and trying to fill the gaps where government PPE suppliers, which have improved but there are still gaps, that's what people are taking into their own hands and trying to help the front line.

ALLEN: We appreciate your organization's efforts. It matters. It really matters. Thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate your time.

VAUGHAN: Thank you for having me on the show.

ALLEN: Take care.

From coast to coast, Americans are feeling the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Thousands of people have died. Millions have lost their jobs. And nearly the entire country is being urged to stay home. CNN's Martin Savidge takes a look at our new normal.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dispatches from the front lines of coronavirus.

JOSH WILSON, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE WORKER: It has become progressively more busy working in the E.R.

SAVIDGE: Thirty-four-year-old Josh Wilson is not a doctor or a nurse. He's part of an often overlooked and unsung group of healthcare workers.

WILSON: I am a housekeeper and what we do is we work in infection control.

SAVIDGE: He cleans the rooms of coronavirus patients at a hospital in Plattsburgh, New York. It's hand to hand combat, a mop, cloths, disinfectant and ultraviolet light. Critical work, not just for patients.

WILSON: We're also looking out for the staff members that are going home to their families, too.

SAVIDGE: But Wilson worries he can take the virus home to his own.

OPAL FOSTER, GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Hi. My name is Opal Foster. This is my son, uh-hmm, Jeremiah Foster.

SAVIDGE: In Rockville, Maryland, coronavirus has already come home to Opal Foster, not the disease but its fallout.

O. FOSTER: I lost my job about --

JEREMIAH FOSTER, OPAL'S SON: Two minutes.

O. FOSTER: -- about two weeks ago due to work slowdown because of the coronavirus. SAVIDGE: Foster is among millions of Americans suddenly unemployed. She's also single-handedly raising a son with Downs Syndrome and worries when normal life will return.

FOSTER: Part of our normal is, you know, being able to get speech therapy and things like that through school.

SAVIDGE: To get by, they rely on freelance work, food pantries and each other.

FOSTER: What keeps me going --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up?

FOSTER: Is this little person right here. He's pretty phenomenal and pretty funny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me?

FOSTER: Yes. And he definitely keeps me going. He's definitely my sunshine.

SAVIDGE: There was no sunshine in Roger Hoover's life as coronavirus closed business after business in his small town, including his marketing firm. Then, he got an idea.

ROGER HOOVER, PORCH PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHER: As an advertiser, I photograph and tell my client stories. With no stories to share for them, I took to the sidewalks of Kent, Ohio, photographing residents and business owners.

SAVIDGE: Porch Portraits were born. The combination of social distancing and storytelling, where each porch and those on it have something to say about the times in which we live.

Like the Finley (ph) family, who have anguished over attending funerals out of state for loved one, or Charlie, the 77-year-old teaching himself guitar in quarantine.

HOOVER: Sharing our stories, it brings us together. But it's also a snapshot in time for future generations to look back on.

SAVIDGE: And we have one last story. As coronavirus closed in on Atlanta, the operators at the county animal shelters feared if staff got sick, they couldn't properly care for all the cats and dogs they housed.

KAREN HIRSCH, LIFELINE ANIMAL PROJECT: We asked Atlanta for their help and in just one week we had over 700 adoptions and foster homes for our animals.

SAVIDGE: Now, almost every kennel and cage is empty, as hundreds of families have found the cure for coronavirus quarantine -- Martin Savidge, CNN, Atlanta.

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[04:50:00]

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ALLEN: We've got some promising stories for you now on this pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing people who have recovered from coronavirus to donate their plasma as part of two trials. They say it has promise as a possible treatment for patients battling the infection.

CNN's Paul Vercammen talked with one survivor, hoping his donation will help others.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The antibody-rich plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients is valuable to hospitals because they can use it to treat current patients who are in dire straits.

Here at St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange, one of the only in the West, they found their man, Jason Garcia, 36 years old, recovered from COVID-19.

Garcia was going through some tough times of his own. He had been isolated from his family inside his house. He couldn't even pick up his 11-month-old daughter. He was getting served food underneath the door.

But once Garcia recovered, they found that they could use him here. He donated his A-positive blood to one person at this hospital, who is undergoing some very tough times. They say that patient turned around. Then blood went to a second patient; it will go to a third and Garcia is ecstatic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON GARCIA, COVID-19 PLASMA DONOR: It felt amazing. It felt good. I am glad that the nightmare of testing positive and the fear, the dread to, you know, know that I recovered and now that this bad thing can now, potentially, my antibodies are there to give to other people and potentially help them fight the fight that they are having problems with, you know, and pretty much help them fight the fight of their lives and survive. So I'm glad that this turned out to be a positive thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: So using the blood from somebody who has survived the disease is a long-time strategy. Now the FDA has approved two trials of treatments from COVID-19 survivors like Jason.

[04:55:00] VERCAMMEN: And this is going to be developed in other areas around the country no doubt -- reporting from Orange, California, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

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ALLEN: From California, we have this heartwarming story from Madrid, Spain. A mother finally able to cradle her newborn in her arms again. They were separated when the COVID-19 crisis came too close for comfort. Here is the touching reunion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): An embrace between a mother and child 10 days after the baby's birth. Little Oliver was born by cesarean in Madrid to a mom who tested positive for the coronavirus.

Fearing for his health, doctors separated the newborn from mother, Vanesa, soon after birth and he was kept in quarantine for a long 1.5 weeks with nurses snapping photos of the baby to keep his mother's spirits up.

She was sent home to husband, Oscar, who was forced to miss the birth after also testing positive. Eventually, Oliver was reunited with his family and allowed to go home after testing negative for the virus. His parents say they're grateful to finally be together.

VANESA MURO, OLIVER'S MOTHER (through translator): It's true it's difficult. But it will pass. Look, Oliver will be one month in a short time. And then we'll go outside, meet his grandparents, his uncles and then it'll all just be a nightmare that we've been through.

KINKADE (voice-over): At home, the family remains under quarantine and both mom and dad are taking extra precautions with Oliver, wearing gloves and masks when caring for him. His father says he dreams of the day when he can hold his son without protective gear and fear.

OSCAR CARNILO, OLIVER'S FATHER (through translator): I still haven't been able to touch my son without gloves and with the sensitivity he would have had with his mother or with me. We're impatient for it to end so we can hold him or give him a kiss.

KINKADE (voice-over): A late start for a family yearning to get closer after the coronavirus kept them apart -- Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: What a sweet little boy.

Thanks so much for watching. Another hour is just ahead. We'll have the latest developments and new words from President Trump. I'll be right back.