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The Lead with Jake Tapper

China Announces No New Local Cases, 39 New Imported Coronavirus Cases; Italy Announces 627 Deaths in 24 Hours; Nurses & Doctors Describe Several U.S. Hospitals Overwhelmed with Staff Shortages, Lack of Supplies. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired March 20, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Their national health commission here releases those numbers and their most recent report suggests that in the past two days, there have been no new locally transmitted cases.

[16:30:08]

However, they're still seeing an increase in cases. Those are imported cases. Their concern now, an external threat -- as they portray it -- travelers coming in from other countries.

And we should say that the World Health Organization, they rely heavily on Chinese data and they have not questioned it, while others certainly have, and the Chinese data suggesting that there's a rise in imported cases is consistent with what we're seeing in other parts of this region, in Hong Kong, in Taiwan, in Thailand and Singapore as well. They're seeing a surge in these imported cases.

However, we are also seeing the Chinese continuing to keep forward with these quarantine efforts, especially now for international travelers, where they're putting them directly in most cases into government facilities, no matter which country you're coming from, if you're outside of China, that's how they're handling it. And we're also seeing that they're not necessarily easing up on some extreme lockdown restrictions, certainly within the epicenter of all of this, Jake, Wuhan, where people for five-plus weeks have been sealed in their homes.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And I appreciate the skepticism for anything the Chinese government is telling the world at this point.

CNN's Barbie Nadeau is in Rome.

The number of deaths in Italy is just heartbreaking -- 627 in just one day.

And, Barbie, the epicenter of this virus has moved from China to Italy. How -- how are the Italians combating this?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, it is devastating. It's devastating for everyone here under the lockdown. You may wonder why there are so many deaths. Part of that is we have a large elderly population. The lifestyle here is healthy people live longer.

And you may wonder why we have so many new cases. That's because people aren't adhering to the lockdown. People are still out on the streets. We had a Chinese official from the Red Cross who came through Italy yesterday and said, you're not doing this right. There are too many people out. The public transportation is still working.

We're expecting the government to give us even stricter models to follow and we're expecting -- you know, they can't do the same kind of lockdown they did in Wuhan but we're expecting something a lot more serious, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Barbie. Thank you so much, and continue to stay safe, please.

Coming up, quote, we don't have what we need. The urgent pleas coming from health care workers in the United States. One telling us she's feeling scared for the first time in had her career.

Stay with us.

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[16:36:45]

TAPPER: As coronavirus cases continue to rise, New York today is one of many states literally counting hospital beds to gauge capacity, cutting off elective surgeries and procedures to make room for severe coronavirus cases. And that has some doctors and nurses raising red flags about a lack of preparedness and supplies.

And as CNN's Sara Sidner reports for us now, some of these medical professionals saying what's happening at their hospitals is putting patient care at serious risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nurses and doctors from coast to coast are afraid and concerned.

CONSUELO VARGAS, ILLINOIS NURSE AND UNION MEMBER: I have been a register nurse for over a decade. My hospital is in complete chaos and confusion in regards to COVID-19.

SIDNER (on camera): Do you feel like they were ready for this when it came to the United States?

CATHERINE KENNEDY, NURSE V.P. NATIONAL NURSES UNITED: No, absolutely not. They're still scrambling. We just don't have what we need.

SIDNER: Are you afraid for yourself and your patients?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's the first time in my entire career that I've ever been afraid, and I've heard other physicians say the same. SIDNER (voice-over): They are worried about how the hospitals and

governments are falling short as the coronavirus sweeps the nation. Experts warn, we're not even experiencing the worst of the pandemic yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of hospitals are asking us to keep your mouths quiet.

SIDNER: This physician asked us to not use her face and alter her voice because she says she believes she'll be fired for speaking out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't have enough staff, we don't have enough protective equipment and we have too many patients.

SIDNER: She works in Georgia. U.S. health officials are now asking doctors and nurses to do things they haven't had to do before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're asked to use things, you know -- things that are one-time use only to be used for a day and saved for the next day.

SIDNER (on camera): If you are being asked to reuse something over and over going to different patients, aren't you putting patients and yourself at risk?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

SIDNER (voice-over): In Roseville, California, Catherine Kennedy has been a registered nurse for 41 years.

KENNEDY: We are the front line. If we go down, who's going to take care of these patients?

SIDNER: They've never talked but both agree the hospitals and governments didn't properly prepare for a pandemic.

(on camera): Some of the hospitals will say, look, we didn't know what this was either. This is new to us. How do you expect us to know what to do, how to prepare? What do you say to that?

KENNEDY: Well, we were here before with Ebola. We had a protocol. And, you know, various hospitals were ready to utilize that same protocol that they did for Ebola. But the hospitals said no, they didn't want to do that, and so then, at the last minute, they started scrambling.

SIDNER (voice-over): The Kaiser Permanente, the hospital system Kennedy works for, said the procedure it's using to screen, test and care for healthcare workers and patients suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 are aligned with the latest science and guidance from public health authorities. These protocols and personal health equipment have been reviewed and approved by their infectious experts and are in use by the major hospital systems. They said they're committed to ensuring health care workers have to right level of protective equipment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think these guidelines are irresponsible, and I think that they're playing with human lives knowingly.

[16:40:03]

SIDNER (on camera): You don't believe that it's now okay to use different masks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I mean, a bandanna is not made for particles of a virus. It's just a decorative item, maybe to keep pollution out a little bit, but it's not meant to protect from potentially lethal disease.

SIDNER: And then there are the fights over testing at some hospitals. Consuelo Vargas is a registered nurse in a Chicago emergency room. She says she and other nurses were exposed to a potential COVID-19 patient at work, but days later, they have not been tested and they have not been told if the patient has tested positive.

VARGAS: So I'm supposed to return to work tomorrow. I don't know if I need to go get swabbed. I don't know if I need to be off until we get the patient's test result back. I'm left wondering what to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Wondering what to do and they're on the front lining taking care of patients. The hospital where she works in Cook County did not return our questions. No answers to our questions.

Now, to underscore the need for personal protection equipment I'm standing outside the nursing center that's had the most number of cluster, of deaths from COVID-19 here in Washington. They told us today that their supplier for PPE, personal protection equipment, is running out. They may not be able to give them any in the next couple of weeks -- Jake.

TAPPER: Powerful reporting from Sara Sidner in Kirkland, Washington. Thank you so much for doing that. We appreciate it.

I want to bring in Debbie Hatmaker. She's the chief nursing officer for the American Nurses Association.

Thank you so much for joining us. You heard in that report nurses and others describing their hospitals in chaos and confusion, testing shortages, staffing shortages, lack of protective equipment. Your organization represents nurses in all 50 states. What are you hearing from them?

DEBBIE HATMAKER, CHIEF NURSING OFFICER, AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION: Thank you, Jake. I'm glad to be here. We're hearing from nurses from all over the country, and it is clear that while some hospitals are certainly not well-prepared and not communicating as well to their nurses in direct care, there are other hospitals who relied on a very strong preparedness plan and are communicating well. But it's very disperse and very different all over the country.

What is consistent in what we're hearing all over the country is the lack of personal protective equipment. The shortage there in PPE is obvious everywhere, and, of course, certain parts of the country need it in large quantities, based on their numbers of patients.

We just heard today in the office from a hospital system in Virginia in which the nurse leader said they had several COVID-19 patients and by the end of the weekend, they expected to be completely out of PPE.

So, while preparedness may be variable across the country and some have done better than others as far as being prepared or communicating their preparation to their nurses, the lack of equipment is consistent. We do not have what we need and even though we're hearing that supplies are being released, that they're being ramped up, and those supplies, we really need more specifics on that. We need to know the exact amount. We need to know exactly when they're going to be released and how the distribution is going to be.

And having the federal government help with distribution from a fairness perspective is very important.

TAPPER: And, Debbie, let me ask you, the CDC issued these startling guidelines saying that in a pinch, if hospitals -- if health care providers run out of the special masks that protect people from respiratory infection, they could even use scarves or bandanas.

My -- as I told you during the break, my mom is a retired nurse. My dad is a retired doctor. I would not want them using a bandana or a scarf as a substitute more a mask during a pandemic.

HATMAKER: Well, and I can tell you nurses don't want to be using bandanas or scarves either. Those CDC guidelines are only related to a severe crisis situation, and it's really important that we don't get -- we don't find that going on, and I'm afraid that if we don't really ramp up our protective equipment, we may find in certain parts of the country that severe a crisis.

We don't want to be using -- we don't want to be reusing masks, telling people to clean masks, use them the entire shift, use them between patients. That is not good infection control.

[16:45:02]

And we certainly don't want to be -- have to go to any crisis situation, where we're using homemade masks. We certainly saw stories on communities asking for homemade masks...

TAPPER: Yes.

HATMAKER: ... and even people making masks from surgical sheets.

We don't want to get there. And yet we're very close to that point right now.

TAPPER: So, President Trump says he's invoking the Defense Protection Act to help deal with this lack of supply of masks, of ventilators.

Do you think this act will help quickly enough to help those on the front lines dealing with more coronavirus cases every day? Are you getting the information you need? You met with the Trump task force on coronavirus this past Wednesday.

Do you have any idea when the needed ventilators will arrive, when the needed testing equipment will arrive? You already said you haven't heard any specific dates about PPE.

HATMAKER: We have not been given specific dates on when things will be shipped, when they will arrive.

I think we're hearing similar to what we have heard and the media is hearing as far as, we're ramping up manufacturing, we're ramping up and looking for opportunities to convert industries into making respirators or PPE.

But we don't have the specifics around, how quickly can we do that? Should we expect large amounts of equipment coming to us in a few days, a few weeks? And we really need to know that in order to know what kind of measures we have to take.

TAPPER: Debbie Hatmaker, thank you so much. Thank you for all the work you and the nurses do.

HATMAKER: Thank you. Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Senators under scrutiny after some well-timed stock sell-offs spark questions of insider trading. What did they know, and when?

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[16:51:17]

TAPPER: Breaking news: The Pentagon's chief spokesman tweeted moments ago that the U.S. military has airlifted a group of U.S. women's football players from Honduras. They were stuck there after the country closed its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here in Washington, D.C., Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Republican from North Carolina, is now calling for an ethics review of himself, after concerns were raised about his sale of up to $1.7 million in stocks last month.

Senator Burr sold those stocks just days before the stock market began a downturn over the coronavirus outbreak. Burr claims he only used public news reports to make those sales and not any of the privileged information he routinely gets as the chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

But, at the end of the day, Burr and at least one other senator who had millions and stocks sold those stocks before the market took a major hit, while simultaneously reassuring their constituents and the public that everything was fine.

And, as CNN's Tom Foreman reports, this all raises legitimate questions about their actions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Up to $1.7 million in stock, that's how much Republican Senator Richard Burr and his wife pulled out of the market on February 13, just before it started crashing, losing 31 percent in 10 days.

At the time of Burr's sell-off, the public did not know the seriousness of the virus.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle. It will disappear.

FOREMAN: But Burr, as the powerful chairman of the Intelligence Committee of Russia probe fame, was getting detailed updates.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BURR (R-NC): It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Just after Burr sold those stocks, he even told a gathering at the Capitol Hill Club in D.C. the virus could be very bad, according to a recording obtained by NPR.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BURR: It's probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Burr says the NPR report is a "tabloid-style hit piece" that knowingly and irresponsibly misrepresented his comments.

He wants an ethics investigation to prove he did not use inside information to protect his bank account.

But conservative pundits who have long thought Burr not loyal enough to the president are pouncing.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading.

FOREMAN: Former Democratic presidential contender Andrew Yang tweeted: "If you hear about a pandemic, and your first move is to adjust your stock portfolio, you should probably not be in a job that serves the public interest."

Other senators are being scrutinized for big stock dumps, Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican James Inhofe, but both say they're true were initiated by others, and they were not as privy to virus updates.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): I do want to set the record straight.

FOREMAN: Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler did attend a big virus briefing and tweeted afterward about the work being done to -- quote -- "keep our country safe and healthy."

Then she and her husband, who is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, sold hundreds of thousands in stock. She says it was all handled by a third party, above-board.

LOEFFLER: That I'm only informed of my transactions after they occur, several weeks. So, certainly, those transactions, at least on my behalf, were a mix of buys and sells, very routine.

FOREMAN: And the president's assessment of them all?

TRUMP: And they said they did nothing wrong. I find them, the whole group, very honorable people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: To be clear, there is no proof that anyone acted on inside information or broke any laws.

But with the whole country facing economic calamity, with normal folks watching their 401(k)s crumble, the idea that some people who knew a lot more had these well-timed economic decisions, they benefited immensely, and are now just basically saying, that's a coincidence, is raising a lot of eyebrows -- Jake.

[16:55:09]

TAPPER: Sure is.

Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

Be sure to tune in this Sunday morning to CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." We will have all the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. That's at 9:00 and noon Eastern Sunday.

Coming up next, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Deborah Birx, will join CNN live.

Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.