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"The New York Times": Trump Saw What Was Coming; Public Health Versus Economy; Japan To Declare State Of Emergency; U.S. Government Blocked Private Lab Testing; Woman Misses Husband's Funeral While In Coronavirus Quarantine; British Prime Minister On The Mend; Moscow Introduces Pass System To Stop Coronavirus; Greece's Early Efforts To Combat COVID-19 Pay Off; There's No Church But Christians Are Still Celebrating Easter; Essential Workers Face Special Challenges. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 12, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio 7 here at CNN Center in Atlanta. I am Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company.
The United States is now reporting the most coronavirus deaths of any country on Earth according to Johns Hopkins. Of the nearly 109,000 deaths reported globally, nearly 20,000 have been in the U.S. and of the 1.8 million cases reported worldwide, more than 500,000 of those are in the U.S.
And in the pandemic's American epicenter of New York, the governor says the curve is continuing to flatten but the number of deaths remains staggering, New York City officials reporting more than 4,000 new cases on Saturday, more than 300 deaths.
President Donald Trump was asked about a timetable, meanwhile, for easing back on restrictions and reopening the country. Here was his response.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to bring our country back. I will be making a decision reasonably soon. We are setting up a council now of some of the most distinguished leaders, virtually every field, including politics, business and medical. We will be making that decision fairly soon.
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HOLMES: But, would Mr. Trump listen to any of the advice given him?
A report in "The New York Times" reveals how the president down-played or even ignored warnings about the virus very early on. CNN's Jeremy Diamond explains.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: According to "The New York Times," it was the third week of February when the government's top public health experts concluded that aggressive social distancing measures would need to be implemented in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
But when that decision was made by those public health experts, the president was traveling in India. So the experts decided that they should brief him in person when he returned.
But that flight, from India back to Washington, was a momentous one. During that flight, the president grew furious at watching the stock market crash after Dr. Nancy Meissonier, one of the government's top public health experts, warned that there would be severe disruptions to daily life.
So instead of that briefing that the president was set to receive upon his return from India to implement those social distancing guidelines, the president held a news conference, putting vice president Mike Pence in charge of the coronavirus efforts.
From there, we know that the White House response began to shift, focusing especially on public messaging, trying to assure the American people that they had the response under control.
Now we also know that, beyond that briefing and beyond those conclusions by those public health experts, there were warnings inside the Trump administration in January as well as in February.
We reported on the memo by Peter Navarro, the president's trade adviser, in late January, warning of trillions of dollars in economic losses and that millions of Americans could be infected with this virus.
We also know that the deputy national security adviser, Matt Pottinger, he was also sounding the alarm back in January about the potential for a global pandemic.
The president, meanwhile, though we know exactly what he was thinking at that time because he was telling the public. The president, in January and in February, repeatedly downplaying the threat of this coronavirus pandemic, insisting that he had under control -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
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HOLMES: Now staying with this story, "The New York Times" reporting that, on January 28th, a senior medical adviser sent an email about the virus, which read in part, we'll read some of it for you, "Any way you cut it, this is going to be bad. The projected size of the outbreak already seems hard to believe."
Again, January 28th. Yet the president, the administration kept playing it down, saying it would go away. Cases would soon be down to zero and so on. Just how early did the administration know it should be acting
decisively but did not?
A short time ago I spoke with David Sanger, one of the authors of that "New York Times" report and asked him about that warning.
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DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That quote came from an email we obtained that had been written by Carter Mecher, who was the -- is the chief medical officer of the Veterans Affairs Administration, our agency.
And he, of course, has long experience in dealing with these kinds of pandemics. But by the third week of February, just three weeks later, this was pretty much the widely held view inside the White House, the full medical community and so forth.
Yet, it took them three weeks until the middle of March to convince the president.
And the president said three contradictory things here. First he said no one could imagine this happening. Well, of course, they did, they even ran exercises in the Situation Room of what this would look like.
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SANGER: The second thing he said was, I knew it would be a pandemic all along.
Well then, why didn't he act on it?
And then the third thing he said is, you know I wanted to be a cheerleader for the country.
Well, It's fine to be a cheerleader for the country but if you think something is coming that's going to kill a good part of your populace, before you are a cheerleader, you have to get up there and do some warning about the preparations that need to be made.
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HOLMES: David Sanger speaking with me a short time ago.
Let's turn now to some of the many questions about how this deadly virus works and what more we need to do to keep ourselves safe.
Anthony Costello is director of the University College London Institute for Global Health.
You've raised some pretty crucial questions, among them, whether COVID-19 reinfects people whose antibody response is weak or not there.
How important is it to know the answers to those? ANTHONY COSTELLO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH: Oh, it's very important. I think all countries are struggling with how to suppress this virus, how to save lives of those infected and also how to get your economy going again.
My country, the U.K., the Netherlands and Sweden have initially started with this herd immunity idea, that you could build up immunity across the population and that would gradually solve your problem.
But because of the rising death rates and the threat of overwhelming our health services, they've moved into a national lockdown, like most other countries.
The challenge is how to lift those lockdowns and how to build some kind of community protective shield that enables you to lock down the people you really want to lock down, which are the cases of contact, while getting the rest of us back to work in some way.
HOLMES: And that leads me to this. I mean, speak to the importance of mass testing, which is not happening, to suppress that chain of transmission, you know, mass immunity testing, tracing and so on. That's not happening in the U.S., anywhere near what it needs to be.
And from what I understand, it's not in the U.K. either.
How important is that before there's any unlocking?
COSTELLO: No, I think it's really important. I think there are three potential strategies. One is mass digital monitoring of movements, contacts and whether you abide by quarantine on mobile phone.
To some extent, the Koreans did that, who, of course, suppressed their epidemic at a very low death rate and, really, because they got in very quickly.
The problem is, I think the Americans and Brits consider this intrusive into people's lives. It may be difficult to set up.
The second idea is mass testing, like the Nobel Prize-winning recipient suggested.
The third, I think the most likely is some expansion of testing like Korea did, with multiple sites around the country and a public health approach, whereby you go out in teams and contact trace and have a personalized service to people in different communities.
This is not one epidemic but a series of epidemics in each country. In rural areas, they're much less affected.
HOLMES: And it's not just going to go away when this wave is over. If you go back to work too soon there will be another wave.
I know you take global view; I'm curious about your concerns for Africa, for camps with refugees or displaced people, Myanmar, Bangladesh, what are your concerns about that? COSTELLO: Well, it's a huge concern, because they will find it very difficult to do social distancing. They don't have the personal protective equipment that we would have. They don't have ventilators. So unless they can come up with their own strategies -- and I'm sure they will try that.
In India, they've had a three-week lockdown and are trying to do an extension. But many, many poor people will suffer hugely from this because of lack of employment and lack of social security.
At the moment, they're in the Southern Hemisphere, where the rates seem to be lower, most of these countries. But that will change as the seasons progress. So I hope there's not going to be a catastrophe there. We have to be prepared for that.
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COSTELLO: In the meantime, we should learn from China, because a recent paper from Hong Kong shows that they can monitor, they look to how, from the catastrophe of Wuhan, they shut down spread into their major cities. And they showed that they could monitor that and that it only took about two weeks to shut it down.
But then you have to be very careful about letting it up again, because, as your economy restarts, you get social mixing, local transmission and you may get imported cases from people who are coming in as the economy gets going.
And this is happening in Asia right now, in Singapore, Japan and the like. And they have to be vigilant all the time. So we'll be going to it, not back to normal; we'll be going to a new normal, where we use different strategies in different countries to try to quiet this epidemic down.
HOLMES: And it will be interesting to see how this evolves in the southern winter. We're right out of time, Professor Anthony Costello, fascinating, thank you so much for your time, appreciate it.
All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, as Japan battles a spike in coronavirus cases, the prime minister touts a drug he says could hold promise as a treatment.
Sound familiar?
We'll discuss when we come back.
And, in the crucial early days of the spread of coronavirus, a CNN investigation found the U.S. government actually blocked private labs from using tests. We'll have that story, too, ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. We turn our attention to Japan, where, for five straight days now, more people have died of the coronavirus than the day before. CNN's Will Ripley is joining us live from Tokyo.
Good to see you, Will. Let's start with those new figures. They really do show quite a spike.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know every day, Michael, we're seeing a new record daily increase of the number of cases here in Japan.
But when you look at the overall numbers they are actually smaller than a hot of other countries and some are saying that has to do with extremely limited testing here in Japan.
Only about 7,000 people have been tested here in Tokyo; 69,000 people tested nationwide, raising the question, why is the Japanese government focusing so little on testing while they are focusing on expanding the production of an unproven drug that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thinks could help patients with coronavirus?
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RIPLEY (voice-over): As the world battles the novel coronavirus pandemic, U.S. president Donald Trump and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe are peddling possible treatments. Trump is touting malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, despite slim evidence it's actually effective against the virus.
TRUMP: What you have to lose?
I will say it again, what you have to lose?
RIPLEY (voice-over): For Abe, it's antiflu drug Avigan, the Japanese brand name for favipiravir, made by Fujifilm.
"We will triple the current stockpile of Avigan and expand the use for 2 million people," he says.
Researchers point out key differences between the pills promoted by President Trump and prime minister Abe.
RIPLEY: Is what Shinzo Abe doing any different from what President Trump is doing?
STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: Marginally different; favipiravir has been around for quite a while and, unlike hydroxychloroquine, it has been used to test its efficacy on other viruses.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Reports in China do show favipiravir has been effective in treating coronavirus. But research is limited. Clinical trials are underway in Japan and set to begin in the U.S.
Japan plans to provide the drug for free to 20 countries. There are potentially dangerous side effects, including birth defects.
RIPLEY: If someone has coronavirus, would you recommend that they take this drug?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This COVID-19 doesn't cure people.
So right, what then? What do you choose?
RIPLEY (voice-over): Hydroxychloroquine can also have serious side effects like heart trouble and eye damage.
Researchers around the world are testing all kinds of drugs. They may be the only hope until a vaccine is developed, if a vaccine is developed. Patients, under quarantine, isolated in their homes, can battle loneliness and desperation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You feel really depressed.
Chika Miyatake's Tokyo apartment is full of supplies. She has to wait up to 10 days for her coronavirus test results. Miyatake is frustrated.
CHIKA MIYATAKE, QUARANTINED PATIENT: Japan hasn't set up any kind of a computer system, you know. Even the test results will come in post, in letter. So no emails, that makes me really get anxious. And getting test result as soon as possible is more important than stressing on using Avigan at this stage.
RIPLEY (voice-over): She wonders why her government is focusing on an unproven drug instead of speeding up the testing process for patients in limbo.
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RIPLEY: There are a limited number of tests available here in Japan. An epidemiologist warned that if people don't get instant results, they have to wait more than a week for a letter to come in the mail, which is what is happening to patients that we're speaking with here, well, that risks the possibility of them continuing to walk around and leave their homes, potentially infect other people with the virus, even if they're instructed to self-isolate.
We have seen that the state of emergency has reduced the number of people out. One of the seven prefectures affected by the state of emergency but a lot of people are taking public transportation, still going to the office.
And restaurants and whatnot have still remained open. That's why the government has ramped up these warnings that businesses need to do more to encourage their employees to work from home.
The problem is a lot of employees feel they don't have a choice because 80 percent of Japanese companies aren't set up to allow telework. That could be a really big problem.
[03:20:00] RIPLEY: People are saying if Japan doesn't do more to shut down human to human contact right now, these infection numbers we are seeing increase avenue day are every day will continue to skyrocket.
HOLMES: Testing, testing, testing. It's extraordinary, 80 percent of companies not set up for telework in a tech savvy country. Will, good to have you, thank you. Will Ripley in Tokyo.
Shocking new details on the rollout of coronavirus testing in the U.S. CNN has learned some private labs were eager to develop testing as early as January, anticipating the inevitable outbreak. But the tests were blocked by the federal government from being produced and made available to the public.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As coronavirus was racing around the world in late January and February, the federal government failed to use the massive arsenal of hundreds of laboratories across the United States for emergency testing, it actually left road blocks in place to prevent non-government labs from assisting.
That is according to documents obtained by CNN and interviews with more than a dozen scientists and physicians involved in coronavirus testing.
DR. AMESH ADALJA, JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: At the very beginning of this pandemic, it was the federal government that had the sole ability to do the testing. It made it very difficult for private labs and university labs to make their own tests based on several regulatory hurdles.
GRIFFIN: Several hospital and university-based labs have told CNN they saw the pandemic approaching, were developing their own tests as early as January to detect the virus. But the red tape with the FDA's regulatory process prevented them from moving forward -- meaning labs sat idle.
DR. GLENN MORRIS, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: Rather than entrants listing the tremendous strength and power of the U.S. laboratory capacity, getting everybody working on this and creating tests and having widespread test availability, we had CDC trying to keep running everything by itself.
GRIFFIN: The federal government was prepared to enforce the rules, sending this memo on February 6th telling state health departments to actively police against labs using their own coronavirus tests. The reasoning behind the tight regulations were good to ensure the safety and efficacy of tests. But Dr. Glenn Morris of the University of Florida says the FDA rules were written for normal situations, not a crisis.
MORRIS: When we suddenly hit the point where we were looking at China and seeing what was going on there, what we needed was extremely aggressive leadership. We got to move fast, because, otherwise, we're going to run into a problem. GRIFFIN: The problem developed as soon as the CDC rolled out its own
tests for verification. It didn't work and weeks were lost as the CDC scrambled to make a new test.
SCOTT BECKER, CEO OF THE ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORIES: So we really were in a basically on a pause for a few weeks within the public health system. And meanwhile, the academic laboratories who had developed their own tests also were not able to test because the regulations didn't allow it at that time.
GRIFFIN: What's even worse in 2018, after the Zika outbreak, the CDC came up with a plan to avoid the very testing disaster that's happening. CNN obtained a copy of this memorandum of understanding between the commercial and public labs and the CDC that was supposed to increase national laboratory testing in an emergency by engaging commercial labs early in the response.
It didn't work. Dr. Karen Kaul, who runs the laboratory services for NorthShore Research Institute in Evanston, Illinois, was one of the labs pushing to start its own tests and was stopped by overbearing red tape.
(on camera): It seems like this is a bit of a failure.
DR. KAREN KAUL, NORTHSHORE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: I think there is a definite room for improvement. What's happened is we've had a number of laboratories and a number of manufacturers and groups that are not all working together in a coordinated fashion.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): In a statement to CNN, the FDA insists there was nothing wrong in its process and instead blames individual lab delays where labs did not understand the FDA process and mistakenly believed there was more work involved.
Despite that, the FDA did publish new guidelines on February 29th allowing labs to begin testing. Experts tell CNN, it was just too late.
GRIFFIN: In a written response to questions, the CDC says it did keep laboratories up to date and informed on what was hang but the CDC did not answer questions on why the agency didn't pursue those laboratories getting involved in this massive testing program sooner -- Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOLMES: Well, we've heard plenty of sad stories these past few months, the need for people to quarantine themselves when they contract the virus, people not being able to be near loved ones. But sometimes, sometimes the unimaginable is all too real. Here's CNN's Ryan Young.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't want to go away like this and he did. But just know this. We done the best that we could.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These short cell phone videos of her husband Ray Sean's funeral were the only way Marini Smith could see it from quarantine.
MARINI SMITH, COVID-19 PATIENT: His name is Ray Sean Smith.
YOUNG: She hasn't left her house since testing positive for the same virus that killed him.
SMITH: I didn't want him to be here alone. I just feel like, he was there for everybody and I feel like he was alone. Like nobody was able to be there for him.
I had to make an executive decision to keep myself and my daughter home. We don't want to go to another funeral.
YOUNG: In the last three weeks Marini says she, her father and her brother have all tested positive for COVID-19.
SMITH: People in the family started displaying flu-like symptoms. No idea it was corona, nothing like that. Just hey, I don't feel so good. My husband, his symptom was a high fever.
YOUNG: With strict social distancing rules in place, their trip to the hospital March 16th would be the last time she saw him.
SMITH: They was like you can't be here. You can't be here. And they sent my daughter and I out. You know, we were sitting in the car asleep, waiting to hear from him. He said Baby, get down there and meet (ph) me.
YOUNG: Their next conversation -- a last minute gesture from a worried nurse.
SMITH: Well, the nurse felt so bad for my daughter and I, she used her personal phone and FaceTimed us, which I thought was really, really nice.
So she let us speak with him. And I just told, you know, I asked was he scared. He said yes. My husband -- everybody that know my husband know he's not afraid of anything. But he was very, very scared.
YOUNG: Just seven days after arriving at the hospital he was gone.
SMITH: He went in the hospital on a Monday and he passed away on a Monday.
YOUNG: The speed of the deadly and contagious coronavirus is leaving families like the Smiths holding unexpected and under-attended funerals at a frightening pace.
MAJOR CLORA, FUNERAL DIRECTOR: It's very, very challenging.
YOUNG: At Major Clora's Funeral home in Detroit, no more than 10 immediate family members can pay their respect in person. CLORA: Just receiving so many death calls at once. You know, this week has been one of the, you know, most overwhelming weeks that I've ever had in my career.
SMITH: I'm doing everything I can to safeguard myself and my family.
YOUNG: And as for those still waiting to say their last good-byes.
SMITH: I promised her, when this is all over we're going somewhere, we're going to scream and cry and hold each other and we're going to go visit her dad.
YOUNG: Ryan Young, CNN, Detroit.
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HOLMES: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes.
The British government says Boris Johnson is making very good progress one week after he was hospitalized for coronavirus. The prime minister, one of nearly 79,000 confirmed cases in the U.K. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is joining us from London.
When you think back, it was such a shock around the world, really, to see a country's prime minister catch the virus and end up in the ICU and the prime minister speaking for the first time. Fill us in.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, a remarkably brief statement that possibly captures in it the gravity of what Boris Johnson has been through, as he appears to be on a continual road to recovery, reports suggesting he's been able to take short walks.
But still in the ward of St. Thomas Hospital not far from Downing Street, he says, I can't thank them enough, referring to the National Health Service workers who provide free health care across the U.K., also to him as well.
Quote, "I owe them my life."
That last phrase capturing the gravity of what seems to have unfolded. Initially, messaged by his office at Downing Street as routine tests, precautionary move into a hospital and suddenly it deteriorated into intensive care unit and requiring oxygen treatment.
But a few nights later improved and now appears to be on a slow road to recovery. I should point out, though, he is still inside hospital. It does not appear he is involved in the day to day business of government, according to the last time we were briefed on this matter. And, certainly, the gravity of his illness conveyed by the brevity of that statement. The NHS, a free health service in London, run by the government who are experiencing the same problems as health services are facing the same as others in the world.
But in this specific case Boris Johnson in a very brief statement clear that he owes them his life.
HOLMES: What has been the impact on the virus on the NHS in terms of infected health care workers and the supplies of what they need?
WALSH: Yes, there has been an enduring issue with personal protective equipment, PPE as it's known in the United Kingdom. But acutely here, front line workers complain they haven't been given enough protective equipment.
A lot of the time we see NHS workers in a surgical mask and a light plastic bin-liner-type apron. We spoke with a doctor about two weeks ago, who went to a hardware store and bought his own visor to go over the hazmat suit. He was told to take them off or go home.
Since then, the government's guidelines have changed and people are wearing better stuff. Throughout this, the government has said they are doing all they can to get hold of the PPE.
But I have to say, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, was asked 48 hours ago how many people in the NHS had died during the pandemic. He wasn't able to give an answer himself until the following morning, where he said 19 had lost their lives.
And that contributed to the sense possibly of some government officials, press themselves working in very difficult conditions, some testing, like Mr. Hancock himself, positive for COVID-19 and then getting back on the job.
This, really a terrifying moment for Britain. We are seeing death tolls on a daily basis of over 900. When Italy and Spain was going through that a few weeks ago, that captured global attention, really bringing home the sheer enormity of the problem of this disease.
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WALSH: Now sadly, death tolls of that size are commonplace in European countries. In fact, small, compared to that which we're seeing in the United States, half. And while these death tolls themselves possibly don't capture the full picture in the United Kingdom, because other deaths are not counted -- you have to test positive in hospital and subsequently die to be part of that daily reported figure.
It's still now we've nearly hit 10,000 deaths as we begin possibly to see the plateau of the peak. Very disturbing times here in the United Kingdom. Normally, 900 deaths a day would normally cause the world to stop.
And there is a sad feeling that we are pushing through this particular moment, trying to get through to the other side. But these numbers hard to comprehend.
HOLMES: You make a really good point, too. A lot of countries are admitting that they're probably grossly underestimating the death toll because people are just now being counted.
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much, in London there.
All right, stay inside is the message, of course, we're hearing throughout much of the world. But not everyone is listening. Now Moscow has a strict new system designed to keep people off the street. But critics worry it could go too far. Matthew Chance explains.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the new system of mobile passes comes into force in Moscow on Monday morning. It will require residents to download a pass before they travel anywhere, an attempt by the city authorities to tighten up an already strict lockdown in Moscow.
Moscow's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, says the rollout of the pass system will be gradual. It will be started with passes for people who need to travel for work, people of essential jobs, medical workers. They will probably get those passes first while workers who are not regarded as essential may be denied them.
Later, the mayor says, the passes will be given to people who travel for reasons other than work, perhaps for medical appointments. And in a final stage, even short journeys around a single district in the city could be limited to people getting passes. So it could be a very restrictive set of rules.
It will be policed with fines for those who violate them. The Moscow mayor, the public face of the tough anti-coronavirus measures in Moscow, says that the rapid spread across the city is why the measures are being put in place. Take a listen.
SERGEY SOBYANIN, MOSCOW MAYOR (through translator): From Monday, the situation continued to deteriorate. The number of seriously ill patients with pneumonia is growing fast. If earlier we had some 50 people admitted to hospitals daily, now it is 1,300. The majority of patients are admitted before the coronavirus diagnosis is confirmed in a lab.
CHANCE: Earlier, Russian authorities floated the idea of a cell phone app. It would use facial recognition, technology and geolocation technology to monitor the whereabouts of citizens meant to be under lockdown, obviously meant to be a way of keeping tabs on infected people, stopping them spreading the virus even further.
But the whole issue is raising concerns around the world about how far governments should suspend privacy and freedom of movement in the name of public health. And for the countries like Russia, with a strong authoritarian streak, will ever surrender that control once the pandemic has passed? -- Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: As the coronavirus began to spread across Europe, Greece was one country that acted early, putting stringent measures in place to control the spread. Now that may have paid off, as the rate of infection in that country is now far lower than its northern neighbor, Italy. CNN's Lynda Kinkade with more on that.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first case of coronavirus in Greece was reported late February. Authorities there wasting no time going into action immediately.
VASSILIS KIKILIAS, GREEK HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): We saw the impending danger of this crisis to national health early.
KINKADE (voice-over): It was the height of Carnival season, 40 days of celebration and festivities leading up to Lent. Authorities immediately canceled all Carnival events. By the second week of March, schools were also shut down. Closures of restaurants and other businesses soon followed.
KIKILIAS (through translator): We quickly set up committees of specialists, infectious disease experts, epidemiologists to advise us.
KINKADE (voice-over): By March 22nd, the country was under a stay-at- home order. The measures are strict. Police on the streets.
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KINKADE (voice-over): And people who venture outside have to show papers, granting them permission to be out. Authorities say the country is reaping the result of those early measures. While its northern neighbor, Italy, has reported more than 100,000 cases of the virus, Greece has about 2,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Both the level of mortality and the rate of its increase in our country seem favorable compared to other countries at the moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are waiting for the result of their tests for coronavirus.
KINKADE (voice-over): Nowhere is the success felt more than on the front lines of the battle against this disease, in hospitals like this one in Athens.
This doctor says the pressure on staff is eased because the number of confirmed cases is low. But Greek authorities are not letting their guard down. Restrictions remain in place and they're urging everyone to remain vigilant in the coming days -- Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
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HOLMES: Well, it is now Easter Sunday, of course the most important day of the year for Christians. But celebrations at the Vatican so far have had to adapt. How Christians are celebrating Easter and Jews Passover in the time of coronavirus. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
It is Easter, of course, for many Christians when believers celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. It is the entire focus of their faith in many ways, the pope sharing a message of hope during his Easter vigil and his Easter Sunday mass will be starting soon. CNN's Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher joins me live.
Yes, far from the usual Vatican Easter.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is an Easter like really we have never experienced before. The silence is noticeable. Normally, we would be in St. Peter's Square with the thousands of tourists.
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GALLAGHER: Of course, that's not possible today. And it is going to be an experience for the millions of people who are celebrating Easter Sunday on lockdown as well as those who have been commemorating Passover this past week. Take a look at how some people are adjusting to the changes.
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GALLAGHER (voice-over): It is a strange time to be celebrating. But perhaps now more than ever, the ancient rituals of Easter and Passover bring us together.
The Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, the street said to have been walked by Christ before his crucifixion, normally crowded with pilgrims, on Easter Friday, is empty like never before. But a few representing the many carried the memory.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Today, Lord, during holy week, the whole world is ravaged by a pandemic that is wreaking death and immobilizing us.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): In a small sign of rebirth from Notre-Dame Cathedral, itself victim of a devastating fire last year, prayers are raised for the COVID-19 victims and their families.
And the creativity of community: a priest in Ireland offering blessings from an old Popemobile used by John Paul II.
In Germany, drive-in services. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For weeks we have been at a
distance. We stay at home, churches are closed. Right now, for Easter, it doesn't need to come together this week.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Passover commemorating the Jewish exodus from ancient Egypt during a time of plagues takes on new meeting today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're celebrating Passover because we hope the coronavirus will pass us over.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Seders are virtual across the world as Jews celebrate love social distancing.
While governments continue to battle the global pandemic, urging all to stay home this Easter...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After all the sacrifices, so many people have made, let's not ruin it now.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): -- it may be song which can unite us. Opera legend Andrea Bocelli will sing alone in Milan's Duomo cathedral on Sunday evening.
ANDREA BOCELLI, OPERA SINGER: It will be a prayer and, as a consequence, it will not be important who is present physically but rather who wants to be with me spiritually in that moment.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): A celebration of human spirit and transcendence, a prayer of harmony in a time of hardship.
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GALLAGHER: And Michael, that will be a treat for those who want to tune in to Andrea Bocelli. You can find it livestreamed on his YouTube account at 1:00 pm Eastern time -- Michael.
A beautiful story, Delia, thank you so much for sharing it. Delia Gallagher there in Rome.
With most of the country under stay at home orders, what about those who have to go to work?
We will talk with people who are keeping essential shops open and deliveries arriving on our doorsteps. We do need to be thanking them. Their story, when we come back.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Who says social distancing can't be fun?
A dance teacher in Los Angeles helping people across the world tango their way into a good time. She hosted a tango dance night. More than 360 people took part. And since social distancing is the order of the day, dance partners included pillows and stuffed animals and stuff. Some people just danced by themselves.
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HOLMES: Good for them.
Many people earning their living from home during the pandemic of course, the work from homers. But some can't do that. They simply have to go to work. And they obviously include health care workers but also store clerks, drivers, delivery people and it means putting themselves at risk.
And we should be grateful. Jason Carroll spoke with some about the special challenges they now face on the job.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Businesses closed, streets are empty, as New Yorkers, like many people across the country, continue to live under a stay-at-home order. But for those who are deemed essential --
CARROLL (on camera): A lot of stress?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of stress.
CARROLL (voice-over): -- staying home is not an option.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just pray to God that I make it through the day.
CARROLL (voice-over): A number of so-called essential workers we found shared a common worry, thankful to have jobs when so many now do not, but also, grave concerns about working during a pandemic.
KHAJA KHATEEB, PHARMACIST, THOMAS DRUGS: It's not easy. It's scary, I'm telling you. Every day we come in, we pray to God, you know, to keep us safe, you know. But it's our responsibility at this time to take care of the customers and the patients.
CARROLL (voice-over): The focus here at Thomas Drugs on Manhattan's Upper West Side, ensuring the staff's safety while keeping up with customer needs for items such as thermometers, gloves and masks.
KHATEEB: It's hard for us to get from the distributors, so we -- we are just trying to get it, but it's still -- no, it's not easy.
CARROLL (voice-over): But for some essential workers, they have to deal with scenes like this before they can even get to work. Myriam works in an emergency room and shot this video in a Bronx subway station last Friday.
MYRIAM VARELA, HOSPITAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATE, MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL: So, what do us essential workers do?
How do we stay safe, where we're not even safe at work, where we're supposed to be safe because we have to deal with this pandemic and we're not safe getting to work?
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CARROLL (voice-over): Varela says she has no choice but to take the subway. She said she doesn't have the luxury of a car, so she has to commute by train an hour and a half each way every day from her home in Harlem to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. She says the CDC recommendation of six feet of social distancing is challenging, at best.
VARELA: To be honest with you, that really doesn't exist on the train. That's, like --
CARROLL (on camera): It doesn't exist?
VALERA: It's, like, nonexistent. It's to the point that you're lucky if you get on when there's a little bit of people. Usually it's very crowded in the morning.
CARROLL (voice-over): The city's transportation authority says ridership is down more than 90 percent and they do watch for hot spots. But they say it is difficult operating even a reduced schedule, because there are fewer healthy people to run the trains.
Jazzmen Cloye works at Trader Joe's and commutes by train as well. Cloye says she does what she can to keep her distance on her way to work, where her job is to help customers keep their distance.
JAZZMEN CLOYE, GROCERY STORE WORKER, TRADER JOE'S: It is risky to come to work. It's a little bit scary, but I'm trying to keep the safe precautions. I'm trying to keep six feet away, constantly wear my mask, change my gloves, wash my hands frequently. So, I mean, it is a scare, but you've got to stay safe.
CARROLL (voice-over): And it's not just grocery store workers. Keeping spirits in supply is deemed essential as well. At 67 Street Wine and Spirits, customers wait outside for their orders. Here, they've hired some furloughed restaurant workers to keep up with demand.
DAVID WEISER, MANAGER, 67 WINE AND SPIRITS: At the end of the day, ultimately, it's about the people. So, if we can keep people employed, we feel happy.
CARROLL (voice over): Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. This has been CNN NEWSROOM. The news continues with the one and only Natalie Allen after the short break. You'll enjoy that.
