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Don Lemon Tonight

No Sign For Curve To Flatten; Every State Wants More Medical Supplies; President Trump Says Spread Of Coronavirus Not The Fault Of The Asian-American Community; Some Americans Downplaying Coronavirus And Ignoring Social Distancing Guidelines; Restaurant Gives Free Meals To Industry Workers Impacted By Coronavirus Crisis. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 23, 2020 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

The coronavirus pandemic intensifying in the United States. Now more than 42,000 confirmed cases and more than 540 deaths. More than 100 people died in the U.S. in just the last 24 hours. The World Health Organization warning today that the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating globally.

At a White House press briefing tonight the president saying he wants to get the country back open for business. And he'd like to see social distancing guidelines reduced over the next few weeks rather than keeping them in place for a few months.

And tonight, the Senate still unable to pass a massive stimulus bill to keep the economy moving during the outbreak. But leaders say they'll keep working into the night.

So, let's discuss now. Let's bring in our Chief White House Correspondent.

Jim, good evening to you. Thank you so much. I see you're social distancing tonight at home. Doing the responsible thing.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We're doing good (Ph).

LEMON: We appreciate that. So, listen, the World health Organization says the pandemic is accelerating and yet the president is itching to scale back on social distancing. What are you hearing?

ACOSTA: Yes. I think that's where we are heading at this point. I did talked to a senior White House official earlier this evening and asked, you know, are they just going to turn all of this on with a switch and this person no, this is going to happen gradually. It's not going to happen coast to coast overnight.

But they are moving in the direction of easing these social distancing guidelines. You heard the president talking about that in the briefing room earlier this evening. Where he was essentially saying he wants to get this economy moving again.

The problem though, Don, as you know, is that flies in the face of what top public health officials are saying including those medical experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci who had been advising him against doing just that. People like Dr. Fauci don't want this done right away because the risk in their view is just too high.

LEMON: Let's talk about that stimulus bill. Held up on Capitol Hill, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes.

LEMON: What's the White House position on that?

ACOSTA: Well, right now I think that they just want to see a deal get done. One of the things that the White House was saying during the day they were laying this at the feet of Democrats. You saw the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the floor of the Senate saying it's the Democrats you were tanking the markets today it's their side of the aisle.

But the truth is that the markets have been tanking as the president has been speaking from time to time over these last several weeks. We all have seen that happen in real-time. The question at this hour is whether or not the Democrats who have been raising questions about, for example, what they refer to as a slush fund that is part of the stimulus bill. Could be, you know, given more transparency. And Republicans are accusing Democrats of trying to use this as an opportunity to get some of the things that they would like to see.

At this point, Don, it looks like an impasse. And I think one of the key questions that was asked at that White House briefing earlier this evening is, you know, does this country need a $2 trillion stimulus bill if the president is about to get the economy started again.

[23:05:04]

They were just so many questions raised. This is one of the days, Don, where we just had more questions than answers. For example, the president is going to get the economy started again, you know, does that mean people can go to the airport? People can go to the restaurant and have dinner? Does that mean children are going back to school?

The White House at this point despite the president's sort of rosy optimism that he was expressing in the briefing room and Republicans will defend that, they were just not providing us with any answers. The president is supposed to have a town hall tomorrow on Fox. We're not supposed to have a briefing because he's going to be having this town hall, according to a White House official I spoke with earlier this evening.

And so, I suppose we may get some of the answers to those questions. But we're going to have to watch and wait and see. At this point there's just a real debate going on inside the administration as to the wisdom of getting this economy restarted the way it was a few weeks ago.

Because of these very big concerns about what the impact will be on millions and millions of Americans. The economy is obviously in dire straits right now. There's a lot of urgency on Capitol Hill to get something done.

But at this point, Don, we have just not seen this economy fall flat on its face to a point where, you know, both sides feel that, you know, it's in their best interest to race to the finish line and get something passed. We're just not at that point yet. And we may have to go through a few of these incarnations where, you know, there are fits and starts before they get really serious and hammer something out.

LEMON: Jim Acosta reporting from Washington. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate that. Now to Athena Jones with the story of how New York is racing to prepare for it's growing number of coronavirus patients.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D) NEW YORK CITY: It's shocking to say this. Even just a few days ago I thought we could get, you know, safely into April.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One week that's how long New York's mayor says the city has before many of its hospitals could run out of life saving ventilators, masks and other personal protective gear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE BLASIO: Eleven public hospitals right now we can get through this week with the equipment and supplies we have. If we don't get ventilators this week, we are going to start losing lives we could have saved. I can't be blunter than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Now the epicenter of America's coronavirus crisis. New York has more than 20,000 cases of the disease account for about half the cases in the United States and about 5 percent of known cases worldwide.

The virus so widespread, the governor estimates 40 to 80 percent of residents will be infected. And while New York maybe hardest hit the crisis is touching every corner of the country. And the U.S. surgeon general warns it is only getting worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: I want America to understand this week it's going to get bad. And we really need to come together as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Part of the problem when it comes to getting supplies, competition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): This is ad hoc. I'm competing with other states I'm bidding up other states on the prices. It's not the way to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: New York is working to increase the number of available hospital beds. With Governor Cuomo who estimates the state may need double the 50,000 hospital beds it has today issuing an emergency order to all hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: You must mandatory direct from the state, find more beds, use more rooms, you must increase your capacity 50 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Two U.S. Navy hospital ships are headed to Los Angeles and New York City. In addition to New York, the federal government is sending medical stations with thousands of hospital beds to California and Washington.

The president promising Sunday night that supplies will arrive in New York and California within 48 hours. But with millions of masks and thousands of ventilators needed, federal officials have been hard to pin down when it comes, to how many of them they will deliver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: How many masks does the federal government have now and when can they get to local hospitals?

PETER GAYNOR, DIRECTOR, FEMA: Well, when it comes to supply, we have been shipping from the national stockpile or for weeks.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: So, you even have a rough number?

GAYNOR: I can't give you a rough number --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

LEMON: Let's discuss now with Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security officials, former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent, and Dr. Esther Choo, and associate professor at Oregon Health and Science University.

So good to have you all on this evening. Thank you so much. Dr. Choo, you first. Listen, we all want our lives to go back to normal. I mean, that is obvious. But we also want to make sure that we are safe and that we're protecting our communities. So, from a medical standpoint can life go back to normal in matter of weeks?

ESTHER CHOO, FOUNDER, EQUITY QUOTIENT: I mean, it simply can't. Look, we are working in a setting where we don't have adequate supplies or equipment to provide good care, you know. And so, the two -- the two parts of addressing this crisis are containment, prevent the disease from spreading and adequate care. And that starts with tests and vaccines and treatments.

[23:10:07]

We -- and equipment and hospital beds and all the things that we just heard about. We are both lacking in care facilities and equipment. And then we're being told that we may just also give up containment measures. I'm wondering what's left?

I mean, what are we supposed to do except to sort of sit back and let the -- let the disease take over and really kill all the vulnerable members of our society. So, it is -- I mean, we are -- we are, you know, in our spare time making all kinds of analogies. Taking a noodle into the sword fight was my favorite one from today.

But basically, we're feeling completely ill equipped to address this on a public health level, on a patient care level and hospitals there's no adequate response to this right now.

LEMON: Juliette, the president has compared himself to a wartime president. But so far, he hasn't invoked the Defense Production Act. Why not?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It is -- he gives a hint of it yesterday when he said we're not Venezuela. I think he was trying to signal to the private sector that he wasn't going to take over their economy.

This is a ridiculous reading of the Defense Production Act. It's actually quite a genius bill coming out of the Korean War which would just allow a president to not only invoke it but to stir priorities of manufacturing and get them into the supply chain to help doctors who need them.

So, all the president needs to do is say I need 8,000, 10,000 respirators. You 20 companies do it. They get paid fair market value. There's no price gouging. None of the competition that Governor Cuomo was talking about occurs. It's simple and its genius and for reasons that are incomprehensible.

Just, as a we heard just earlier with the doctor. You know, we're now going to open up and let people walk around and we're not going to surge resources for hospitals that are going to be overwhelmed. So, what, what kind of strategy is that? The hospital system goes down and the economy goes down.

I mean, they think that they're saving the economy, the economy will die with a plague of rampant and uncontained in American society. It's -- it's -- I'm telling you, I don't use the word crazy. It's crazy talk. And you know, governors and mayors and first responders and doctors are going to save us, you know, from the president.

LEMON: You heard, Charlie, the president, you know, thought that he wants the country to open in weeks and not months. But the virus is not under control. Should we be focusing on getting a stimulus passed to help people until this is contained somewhat?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely, Don. At this moment the first priority has to be for Congress and the president to come to an agreement quickly. I served in Congress during the 2008 financial crisis. And the American public expects leadership and action. You know, inaction could just exacerbate this problem. So, they really have no choice but to get this done.

And by the way, this is a time when members of both parties have to be ruthlessly pragmatic. I mean, you have to take the ideological dogma and throw it out the window. Because they have to take steps now to protect the health, safety and economy of the United States. And people are going to do things that they would ordinarily never do. But they have to do it in order to save -- in order to save the country at this moment.

LEMON: Yes. Dr. Choo, how about the Defense Production Act? Is the government doing enough to get healthcare workers and patient's medical equipment that they need to stay alive and stay safe? I know this is something that you're very passionate about.

CHOO: Yes. We're simply not seeing it yet on the ground in hospitals around the country. I talked to colleagues every single day. We're collecting stories about people's equipment on the ground, their access to equipment using this hash tag get me PPE.

There have been thousands of stories of people really using their last pieces of equipment. We need centralized supply and distribution. We need good roots of communication so that we can figure out who needs the equipment and who has it.

We started a web site called get us ppe.org just to fill the gap for the moment while we're kind of waiting for our government to kick in with both organizational capacity and the supplies themselves.

I never thought as a private citizen I would be doing something like this but that is how desperate we are right now.

LEMON: Yes. Juliette, I get -- let me get this question into you. The New York Times is reporting that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the heads of major corporations have lobbied the administration against using the act. We have seen some companies volunteer to help. I want you to listen to Governor Andrew Cuomo explaining why he thinks that that doesn't work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): You can't manage an operation on this ad hoc basis of people saying yes, I'm really going to give it a go. [23:15:02]

Order the ventilators. Pay for the ventilators. Say this is how much I, how many I need.

(CROSSTALK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Why wouldn't they do it?

A. CUOMO: This is where they need to go. Because their -- their theory of operation is public/private sector partnership. You've seen them at press conferences. Peter Navarro companies are coming forward and saying they'll do it anyway. We don't have to order them because they are doing it. It's -- it's a totally different theory of operation.

C. CUOMO: All right, so let's do --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Companies want to help. But do you think that's going to be enough?

KAYYEM: No. It's a fighting a war with charity. This is what -- this is what anyone who's ever done this before knows you cannot -- you cannot surge resources without figuring out what the states need and what the private sector has and matching them.

Only the federal government can do that. So, it is nice the 3M and Elon Musk and all of them to volunteer stuff. We have no idea how much stuff, you know, a state need. We don't know where those resources should go.

This is the thing. I mean, I agree with Governor Cuomo that, you know, this is an ideology beating out rationality and life saving measures. I mean, this is exactly what's happening. And you cannot do this on charity. It is too disorganized.

Grateful for the help of the private sector. It just cannot fight what is a 50- state disaster. We've never encountered this before in the United States. You surge, you pay the private sector and so what, you have left over respirators at the end of this. We'll use them eventually. This is the crazy thing.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you all. I appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

New York and Seattle are getting ready for army field hospitals to set up within the next 72 hours. But they are warning that help -- that help might not be enough.

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Four emergency hospitals are being set up inside the gigantic Javits Center here in hard hit New York City. Creating an additional 1,000 hospital beds that desperately needed medical equipment is finally starting to arrive.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has that part of the story for us.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: We're inside the Jacob Javits Convention Center Here in Manhattan. Where the -- where FEMA and the governor have been talking about it, the National Guard talking about setting up a hospital. One thousand beds that are being set up inside here and this entire area will be taken over by hospital beds, nursing staff and doctors.

You can see these are the boxes they contain some the beds as you can see there. Bed 24 of 37. And when we walk over here, you see the respirators. These are some of the respirators that have been delivered to this location.

We've heard the governor talk a lot about how the city needs respirators. How the state needs respirators. And FEMA has delivered some of them here. Where some of the critically ill some of the people who are going to be suffering from this virus will be treated.

You have several respirators here now. There's a hospital bed. There's other equipment here. There's gloves and there are high blood pressure monitors. There's blankets. More stretchers and beds. They are preparing. They are preparing for what the governor says is about to come.

And then also what they're going to be doing is they're going to setting up rooms like this, where patients will be brought people who are sick and in need of critical care. There's a respirator. And all of that happening here in Manhattan. We have seen the National Guard here. Workers inside here now setting up moving some of the equipment around. And hopefully within just a couple of days this is going to be up and running.

LEMON: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much for that. Now I want to bring in retired general Stanley McChrystal. He is the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan. General, thank you so much.

I mean, watching that I can hardly believe it looks like a drill. Something you see in movies. But I mean, this is -- this is real. And less than 72 hours New York and Seattle are expecting army field hospitals to arrive. But that's still not enough to handle this huge increase in patients that they expect. What needs to be done now, General?

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, FORMER U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: Well, one of the acts of the military is that amateurs talks (Technical problem) professionals talk with (Technical problem) and so before (Technical problem) throughout the logistic how much ammunition and (Technical problem) how much transportation. And you have to (Technical problem) assess what you (Technical problem).

So, I would say is that we need now is really tough (Technical problem) counting what we're likely to need in every local state level. Prioritize that at the national level to ensure that we allocated efficiently (Technical problem) certain places where (Technical problem) and then get it to the (Technical problem).

LEMON: General, if you can get a little bit closer to your microphone. We're having some trouble hearing you. We're hearing every other word sometimes. I'd rather hear you than get a pretty shot.

MCCHRYSTAL: Sure.

LEMON: I think that maybe better. So, I want you to take a listen to what Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said earlier and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ESPER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I have spoken with seven, eight, nine, ten governors so far. Each one of them has had requests for field hospitals, those who have been along the coastline have talked about the need for ships. So, we clearly can't meet everybody's needs of what we have in our inventory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, I mean, can't meet everyone's needs. Is that a fair assessment? Should the military be doing more?

MCCHRYSTAL: Well, I think the U.S. military should be doing everything it can. We're not at war. Everything is not being used. I can't judge (Technical problem) exactly what the inventory is would be. But I think we are below (Technical problem) as we can.

[23:25:04]

LEMON: And you sound -- and you sound better. Thank you very much. Thank you for doing that.

MCCHRYSTAL: Great.

LEMON: So, general, just one more question. The U.S. military employs about 1,000 trained medical professionals worldwide. Should some of those people do you think be helping out?

MCCHRYSTAL: Absolutely. The purpose of the United States military is to defend the American people. The American (Technical problem) different threat this time. I think American military professionals would like to be a part of it.

LEMON: General, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Thank you.

MCCHRYSTAL: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: As coronavirus spreads so is racism. We'll look into the slurs and the attacks being hurled at Asian-Americans next.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: President Trump is coming to the defense of Asian Americans after reports of multiple racist attacks throughout the coronavirus outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States and all around the world. They are amazing people and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape or form. They are working closely with us to get rid of it. We will prevail together. It's very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So joining me now are two CNN correspondents, Kyung Lah and Natasha Chen. Thank you both for joining us. I really appreciate it. Natasha, I want to talk to you. You were in Asia with your family during the Lunar New Year. When the virus is first hitting the mainland China, you witnessed the first wave of the panic. Tell me what that was like, talk to me about that, and then then we'll talk about the implications of what the president has been talking about.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, so, my family was in Taiwan and Japan, so not in mainland China, where a lot of the cases were popping up around mid-January. So, luckily on the islands of Taiwan and where we were in Japan, there were only at the time maybe single digit handfuls of cases.

But still, people were very much aware of the possible spread and there were immediate moves to try and cut off travel between mainland China and Taiwan. And everywhere we went, into restaurants and businesses, there would be a person there waiting there to spritz my hand with sanitizer and then putting -- holding a little device up to my forehead to take my temperature to make sure that there were at least no visible symptoms before I walked in.

LEMON: Yeah. So, now, let's move on to talk about what's happening. Your mom lives in San Francisco bay, in the bay area where you grew up and you always feel comfortable, but your mom has been sharing shocking incidents with you. What has been going on there?

CHEN: Yeah. So, these are acquaintances that are posting on social media about even just this past weekend being yelled at in a grocery store by a cashier, you know, accusing the person of having brought the virus here from China.

And I'm also seeing posts from my friends and reporters within the Asian American Journalists Association anything ranging from being yelled out while walking the dog to social media comments telling them they should be deported. And by the way, these are people who were born and raised in the U.S.

And I will say that those of us who were born and raised here, like myself, we do have it easier than others who potentially are newer to the U.S. or maybe have an accent or are older. They have been easy targets partially because of a language barrier. And this has been going on for a listening time. I think the coronavirus has given people a platform to become louder in that racism, Don.

LEMON: Kyung, I want to bring you in because you talked about this on air and I saw you reporting. You know, we saw what the president said in his press conference earlier, right? He is the one that labelled this the "Chinese virus" early on. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D. TRUMP: And we continue our relentless effort to defeat the Chinese virus as we continue to marshal every resource at America's disposal in the fight against the Chinese virus. We also reached agreements with Canada and Mexico on new travel rules at our northern and southern borders to halt the entry of the Chinese virus while continuing trade and commerce.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) racist.

D. TRUMP: It's not racist at all. No. Not at all. It comes from China. That's why. It comes from China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Yeah. And listen, you said that you had some run-ins with people using racist ethnic slurs since this virus began. Tell us.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, I think if you are a person of color in this country and certainly, Don, you can relate to this, you are used to seeing this in social media. If you are a reporter, you're reporting on controversial things, it's something you are -- you expect to see on your Facebook page or Twitter. That's just something that comes along with your job.

But I do not recall a time except perhaps when I was very young on the playground where someone said anything to my face. So I was preparing to do a live shot. I had my mike in my hand and my photographer had gone to the car to get something. My producer was standing next to the camera.

[23:34:56]

LAH: And the man came up -- nicely dressed middle age man came up and said something, and it didn't register. So, I said, excuse me, sir, can I help you? He said it again. That is when it sunk in. Oh, I get what he says, and he said it to my face, which is definitely a difference.

When you heard the president, that clip that you played of the president over a number of days calling it the China virus, I immediately noticed an uptick on my Twitter page, on my Twitter mentions where people were saying hashtag Chinese virus -- China virus.

The comments started at that time when the president started using that term. But again, when that was said to my face, I was certainly a different thing that I had not experienced in this country in a really long time.

LEMON: Yeah. Things have been different over the last couple years and you experience it as a person of color. Other people may see it as partisan. We know it is not. It's racist. We just see things with clarity, I think, sometimes more so than the larger culture because they don't really have to deal with it. And we do. So, thank you both. I appreciate it. Sorry that you have to deal with this. I am really sorry about that.

It's not just spring breakers ignoring the threat of the coronavirus. We are going to look at the schools, the churches, and politicians who aren't taking it seriously. Why they should.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The coronavirus is disrupting nearly all aspects of American life as it spreads across the country. But for some, the severity of the pandemic didn't register until it arrived where they live. And others are living as if there's no outbreak at all. Here is CNN's Stephanie Elam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN FERGUSON, RESIDENT OF BATON ROUGE, LOS ANGELES: Really, I believe it was media hype.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That resident, John Ferguson, used to think the threat of the coronavirus was overblown. In his mind, it was like other outbreaks that didn't impact his life.

FERGUSON: I thought it was similar to that. It just wasn't going to get here. It was media hype due to the election coming up. Now, I'm actually seeing it. My mind has been changed.

ELAM (voice-over): His mind changed after the virus emerged in Louisiana.

(On camera): What was the breaking point that made you really feel like this was something to be worried about?

FERGUSON: People that I know that are working at local hospitals here are relaying to me first-hand what they were seeing. That could be my mom and dad in the hospital.

ELAM (voice-over): Or his grandfather, who he was supposed to visit in Pennsylvania last week for his 90th birthday.

FERGUSON: He tells you to stay home, you stay home.

ELAM (voice-over): Well, Ferguson now sees COVID-19 as a true threat. Many others, some right there in his backyard, are still going about life as usual. Holding hands and hugging. Hundreds of parishioners in Louisiana are displaying anything but social distancing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

ELAM (voice-over): Pastor Tony Spell is refusing to close the doors to Life Tabernacle Church despite the pandemic.

TONY SPELL, PASTOR, LIFE TABERNACLE CHURCH: I'm going to address that by laying hands on them and praying for them and believe in God to heal their body.

ELAM (voice-over): This even though there are at least 34 coronavirus- related deaths in Louisiana, according to a CNN tally, a statewide stay-at-home order, and this admonition from Governor John Bel Edwards.

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): I happen to believe very much in the awesome power of prayer. I also believe in science.

ELAM (voice-over): In Illinois, Kane County sheriff's deputies are enforcing the state stay-at-home order at Northwest Baptist Academy, which continue to operate as if there was no health emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all about public health. This is not about religion.

ELAM (voice-over): The school eventually agreeing to move its lessons online. At Liberty University in Virginia, the dorms remain open, but most classes are now online.

JERRY FALWELL, JR., PRESIDENT, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: I just want to take this opportunity --

ELAM (voice-over): The school's president is Jerry Falwell, Jr., speaking with conservative host Todd Starnes. Falwell acknowledged that the coronavirus is serious, but also referred to the news coverage of the pandemic as "just politics."

FALWELL (voice-over): Shame on the media for trying to fan it up and destroy the American economy. If they succeed, how many more people will be hurt then, then the few that die from this virus?

ELAM (voice-over): And just days before Senator Rand Paul confirmed he contracted the virus, his father, former Texas Congressman Rand Paul, suggesting the virus was just a vector for fearmongering, writing "People should ask themselves whether this coronavirus 'pandemic' could be a big hoax, with the actual danger of the disease massively exaggerated by those who seek to profit."

In fact, across the country, many people are clearly not taking the call to self-quarantine seriously, from crowds surging to see the cherry blossoms in D.C. to people packed into parks in Colorado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the most packed I have seen. ELAM (voice-over): And busy beaches in California. For Ferguson, seeing churches and people not practicing social distancing is alarming.

FERGUSON: Makes me feel like they're being irresponsible. I mean, it is one thing to have freedom of religion but freedom of religion and putting another people at risk is two different things.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And Don, John Ferguson is telling me that just today, he found out that the relative of a very good friend of his is presumed positive with the coronavirus. He hopes more people will talk about contracting the virus that they have because he believes that will help knock down the nay sayers that are out there. Don?

[23:45:00]

LEMON: Stephanie Elam, thank you. Joining me now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Celine Gounder.

Wow, Doctor, it is unbelievable. So you worked a 13-hour shift at Bellevue Hospital here in New York yesterday. You talked about it a little bit in the break. Coronavirus and the toll, it is taking very real to you and to the people who are suffering in the hospital.

CELINE GOUNDER, CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT NYU, HOST OF EPIDEMIC PODCAST: I have to say, Don, it's a little eerie to be there right now because we basically cleared out all the patients who don't have coronavirus. We tried to send them elsewhere. We're not really letting family or other visitors in. It's really oddly a ghost town but it is a hospital that is still chuck full of patients. Almost all of them at this point have coronavirus or we think may have coronavirus.

And, you know, I have to say a hospital doesn't take measures like this because of the hoax, because of political (INAUDIBLE). We do this because we have no choice.

LEMON: So you didn't go into a meeting saying -- figuring out how to take down the president?

(LAUGHTER)

GOUNDER: No, I mean, that's really not how -- that's not the normal order of business in the hospital, right?

LEMON: You say that the fallout from this is going to be a lot worse if people don't adhere to the guidelines and practice social distancing.

GOUNDER: Let the -- the Chinese were actually pretty successful. They were very rigorous and very strict in implementing social distancing measures for about a month's time. They were very successful in bringing down their cases. As a result, they now have the luxury to lift some of those restrictions and we'll learn from that process. But the longer we waited, the longer we're waiting to do this properly, the more painful this is actually going to be for the economy long term.

LEMON: Yeah. Dr. Gounder, great information. Thank you for all the hard work you're doing and we appreciate you appearing on the show. Thanks so much.

GOUNDER: My pleasure.

LEMON: The restaurant industry hit especially hard by the coronavirus crisis. But my next guest is trying to help by setting up a relief center for laid off workers. How she is taking care of her community, next.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: We are hearing more stories of Americans taking care to help their country during the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurant industry has been hit particularly hard and my next guest wanted to do something about it. So she converted her restaurant into a relief center for restaurant workers who have been laid off or had their hours cut. Restaurant workers can get a hot meal and even diapers and medicine.

Nancy Silverton is a chef and the owner of Mozza Restaurant Group in Los Angeles. Did I say it right? It's Mozza, right?

NANCY SILVERTON, CHEF AND OWNER, MOZZA RESTAURANT GROUP: You said it right.

LEMON: Thank you, Nancy, for joining us. I appreciate it. You are doing good stuff. So, the restaurant industry, as I said, has been really hit hard by this crisis. Service workers have been laid off from their jobs. So, what has been going on at your restaurant? Your restaurant is Chi Spacca?

SILVERTON: That is wrong. It's Chi Spacca.

LEMON: Chi Spacca.

SILVERTON: Chi Spacca and then there is also Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. Those two restaurants are closed. Chi Spacca, which used to be a bustling 40-seat restaurant, has now been turned into sort of a pop-up grocery store to give out really kind of necessities or luxury to some people items, people in the restaurant business.

But I have to say that this is not 100 percent my generosity because I got a phone call five days ago from Maker's Mark or Edward Lee from Kentucky, who was sort of speaking on behalf of Maker's Mark, that they were willing to give me $50,000 to run sort of a three-week or few-week restaurant workers relief fund, providing hot meals and again some sort of grocery store items.

LEMON: Oh, wow! Well, that's great. So, I imagine that has helped out a lot. You know, food always brings people together. Everyone needs a hot meal. What -- give me the reaction from folks who have been coming in.

SILVERTON: Well, I can tell you about one of my fellow restaurant workers who was just brought to tears, the idea that people cared. You know, sometimes, just the reassurance that people care is, you know, it makes all the difference.

You know, the restaurant industry got hit so hard because every single person in the restaurant industry, unless they were able to operate a delivery or pick-up/to-go restaurant, had to shut down. And with that, they needed to lay off their employees, which meant that they didn't get a salary and lost or are about to lose their health care.

LEMON: Yeah. So there are some restaurants where I live who are doing similar things to you. They're feeding their employees, the wait staff, kitchen workers and on and on, because they feel that, you know, that's what they should do as an employer.

And listen, I applaud them and you for doing this. But you are also helping out with the community with more than just food. You are giving things like diapers and wipes and baby food. What do people need most now, Nancy?

[23:54:56]

SILVERTON: You know, if I had to say what the most popular items that we're giving away, paper towels, obviously toilet paper, cereal, toothpaste, you know, some of those necessities are really -- people are just really -- really, you know, happy to be able to pack in their bag.

LEMON: Well, Nancy, you are the best and it is Chi Spacca. And we appreciate what you're doing. And you continue to do it. We wish you the very best. I also have to tell folks, help out local food pantries. Local food pantries are really hurting as well. So go online and figure out how you can help. Thank you, Nancy. And thank you, everyone, for watching. Our coverage continues.

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