democracynow--2020-03-20--Doctor: As Coronavirus Cases Spike Worldwide, We Need Global Cooperation to Halt Spread

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 10,000 , with nearly a quarter of a million confirmed cases of COVID-19 .
Italy ’ s death toll has now surpassed China ’ s , where the outbreak was first reported , with over 3,400 deaths and more than 41,000 confirmed cases .
In Iran , the Middle Eastern nation worst hit by coronavirus , the Health Ministry said the death toll has approached 1,300 , with one person dying from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infected every hour .
In Latin America , El Salvador , Nicaragua reported their first confirmed cases of coronavirus .
South America has nearly a thousand confirmed infections , as Brazil , Chile and Peru all report hundreds of confirmed cases .
Venezuela has announced a nationwide quarantine .
In Africa , the number of confirmed cases has risen to 700 , and the head of the World Health Organization had said Africa must , quote , “ wake up to the coronavirus threat and prepare for the worst.
” In the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the past two days .
New York has become the epicenter of the pandemic with more than 5,200 confirmed cases , the highest in the nation .
In California , Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all 40 million residents to remain at home , to shelter in place , effective immediately .
AMY GOODMAN : With over 22 million people facing infection in California over the next eight weeks , Governor Newsom estimated the state ’ s hospital capacity has 20,000 fewer beds than will be needed at the peak of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go to California , where we ’ re joined by Dr. Michele Barry , director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University , incoming chair for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health .
Dr. Barry is also the past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine .
She ’ s joining us from her home , as California is under a shelter-in-place order .
Dr. Barry , thank you so much for joining us .
Before we start on the global picture , if you could just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” people say ” COVID-19.
” Explain where that term ” COVID-19 ” came from , what it means , and then the class of coronaviruses , what that means , as well .
DR. MICHELE BARRY : Well , good morning , and thank you .
The name “ coronavirus ” comes from a series of viruses that are found in bats .
There are about 1,300 species of bats .
And at any one time , there are about six to eight coronaviruses that are circulating in bats .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bats .
There are only seven species that have been known to infect man so far , four of which we all know very well .
They cause the common cold , and there are three that are more deadly : SARS1 , SARS2 and MERS .
The term “ corona ” comes from the halo that is seen around the virus , with the spikes that come out of the coronavirus when you look at it under electron microscopy .
DR. MICHELE BARRY : It ’ s a term that actually most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus disease , and it happened in the year '19 .
Some people use the word “ novel ” in front of it , but it is synonymous for what is called SARS2 , severe acute respiratory syndrome .
And it 's the second such coronavirus that we ’ ve seen that causes severe acute respiratory disease .
AMY GOODMAN : So , let ’ s talk about where this pandemic is hitting hardest .
In our headlines , we just talked about Italy surpassing China .
Why don ’ t you take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the world .
How has this happened ?
Why is Italy the epicenter , Europe itself the epicenter , and also Iran so hard hit at this point ?
How did this all unfold ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : Well , it ’ s an interesting story .
And I ’ m going to step back and take a larger picture about it , because I ’ m very interested in one health and climate and planetary health .
And I know we ’ re all obsessed about this virus , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what some of the activities that have happened in this Anthropocene , where men have impacted the planet .
We have changed the ecology of how we live with animals , so that if you look at most of the emerging viruses and the emerging diseases that have happened over the last hundred years , they ’ ve been what we call zoonoses .
And zoonoses are spillover from animals .
This particular coronavirus was noted first in a seafood market in Hunan , and it has to do with the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bat coronavirus , we do not know whether there ’ s an amplifier animal in SARS1 , which also started in a seafood market in an area in China .
It ’ s the intimate living with humans and animals and spillover .
In SARS 1 , it was probably a civet cat that was being sold .
For a while , SARS2 , this particular virus , was thought to be an amplifier with a pangolin , a highly trafficked animal .
We know now that that ’ s probably not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know exactly how it actually began in the seafood market .
But I want to bring us back to this idea that we need to be doing better surveillance in our animals and doing a better job with our planet .
The large Nipah virus epidemic had a lot to do with deforestation and movement of bats closer to other animals , and another novel virus emerged .
So I want to bring people back to some of the larger issues , when we think about these emerging viruses that happen in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connection to climate change , to the climate crisis ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : Yeah .
Well , that is important .
Climate change , deforestation and changing ecology is crucial for how we have animal and human ecology change .
For instance , we saw the Zika outbreak happen several years ago in northeast Brazil .
There ’ s been a lot of interesting discussion how deforestation may have played a role in that , and higher temperatures may have played a role in changing vectors , mosquito vectors in that role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , don ’ t worry .
But it ’ s a very important question that I think , when this all quiets down — we ’ re sort of in the thick of this epidemic — I think we need to pay more attention to this concept of what I ’ m calling human and planetary health .
We ’ re actually trying to build a new center for human and planetary health at Stanford .
We ’ re working on a new postdoctoral fellowship for scientists to actually study this human ecology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to break , and then we want you to take us from Italy to China to Iran .
We want to look at Africa , which you ’ ve called a “ ticking time bomb , ” and Latin America , Asia .
Dr. Michele Barry , director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University , she ’ s an infectious disease doctor .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : That ’ s quarantined Italian tenor Maurizio Marchini , passionately singing “ Nessun dorma , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from his balcony in Florence , Italy , while the country is under lockdown from the coronavirus .
This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The War and Peace Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 10,000 , with nearly a quarter of a million confirmed cases of COVID-19 .
Our guest is Dr. Michele Barry , Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University .
She ’ s an infectious disease doctor herself .
So , take us on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we just played this magnificent music of a quarantined opera singer singing out to his community .
“ Quarantine , ” what does that word mean , Dr. Barry ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : So , that ’ s an interesting — I think there ’ s a lot of different understanding of what isolation and quarantine is .
The word “ quarantine ” actually is an Italian word that comes from the word ” quaranta , ” or “ 40 ” days .
And those were the amount of days that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before being released into Venice when the Black Plague was occurring .
So it actually comes from that word during the Black Death .
When we think about quarantine and the difference between quarantine and isolation , isolation is when one has a sick person , and you isolate them , whereas quarantine is if you ’ ve had contact with a person , you need to stay at home and minimize contact , with family — well , with other people , other than your family , for 14 days .
AMY @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talk about Italy .
Why is it the epicenter right now ?
Why has Italy become the epicenter ?
It surpassed China , and it has a link to China .
AMY GOODMAN : It surpassed China , and it has a link to China .
What is the connection ?
Why has it been hit so hard ?
And then , compare it to South Korea .
DR. MICHELE BARRY : Yeah .
I think what South Korea — I can ’ t comment upon why Italy has been hit so hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t want to say anything , because I have a lot of Italian colleagues that are working incredibly hard to stave this epidemic .
Most of us feel that they got behind the curve .
And behind the curve is of — we really have no vaccine or effective treatment yet for this virus .
What we do have is what we call nonpharmaceutical interventions .
And that is basically quarantine and isolation and good transparent communication and testing , testing and surveillance .
And I think what South Korea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that have made such a huge difference is that they did early testing , early surveillance .
They quarantined people who had contacts , and isolated those that were sick .
It ’ s clear , when you look at the Chinese numbers , and what Wuhan did was pretty amazing .
They did very aggressive isolation and quarantine , whereas the Italians — and one can say it has to do with measures that are taken in not only a governmental — and you can argue about whether the Chinese were draconian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You can talk about different kinds of cultures , how accepted it is to isolate yourself and wear masks .
But whatever it was , Italy started behind the curve .
I think we , in California , we ’ re trying to be as aggressive as we can .
We ’ re very early , particularly in my county , which was an early epicenter , Santa Clara County .
And I have to give kudos to Sara Cody , who is our public health commissioner .
She did early shelter in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interventions are really important .
And then — and this is more up your show — I think we need very strong central coordination .
If you read a paper written by Jason Wang in JAMA , where he describes the early Taiwan approach , it was because there was strong central coordination .
They had the ministers of labor , the ministers of education , the ministers of transportation all working together to give daily communication , and not misinformation , out there .
AMY GOODMAN : And is there a connection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population movements , I mean , also , the whole supply chain , companies that are in China but serving populations in Italy , the United States , etc.
?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : The amount of manpower that went into stopping the transmission in China was amazing .
They sent 40,000 doctors to the Wuhan area .
They had thousands of epidemiologists , so that teams of epidemiologists , with five to a team , would actually do contract tracing for one person .
I don ’ t think Italy has that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they don ’ t have the manpower now with their doctors or nurses .
And many of us in the U.S. are very worried about overwhelming our hospital systems .
I think you ’ ve heard a lot of discussion recently about flattening the curve .
And what does that mean , flattening the curve ?
It doesn ’ t mean necessarily curing the disease .
What it does is help not overwhelm our hospital system , which is what we ’ re all worried about .
Already we ’ re worried about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing .
I mean , we are way behind in our testing .
If you look at South Korea , they did 5,000 tests per million people .
We ’ re not even up to a hundred testing per million people .
AMY GOODMAN : How did that happen , Dr. Barry ?
How did this happen ?
The U.S. is supposed to be the leader in the world .
Was this a combination of President Trump ’ s anti-science approach and his nationalist approach , xenophobic approach ?
I mean , didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a test that all of these countries have used , that the U.S. rejected , the CDC then put out its own , and it was flawed ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : I can ’ t comment on that , because I wasn ’ t involved in that decision .
But certainly , it is really a travesty that we don ’ t have enough tests and that we ’ re not testing aggressively .
It did not help to have a president that doesn ’ t believe in science — actually , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hoax .
It really helps when a president believes in science and evidence-based science .
So , yes , that is disturbing .
But I can ’ t comment on what the machinations were .
Our CDC is working very hard .
Many of my colleagues are working around the clock trying to stave this off .
But one of the things about epidemics is it ’ s really important to have what I call shared global governance .
And I don ’ t think in this world it ’ s great that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ central governance of our world health .
We have a World Health Organization that has a budget that is less than many of our hospitals in the United States .
Even in the United States here , our par excellence group , the CDC , the Center for Disease Control , is not allowed to come into a state unless it ’ s invited by the state .
We have a legacy of federalism , where the states are really the forefront of public health .
And even within the state of California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the next county over .
So each of our counties are making decisions .
I think what is so amazingly powerful by some of the countries that have been able to contain this , like Singapore , Taiwan and China , has been central coordination .
You may argue that some have been very draconian , but then , when you have a small little country like Taiwan , that abuts China and was able to do it with central command — and I actually visited the central command station in Taiwan about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very impressive .
They set that up .
Now , admittedly , those countries that have done very well , Amy — and people haven ’ t talked about this — they have had the experience of SARS1 , so they were set up .
For instance , there were fever clinics set up , where if people had fever , they were immediately transferred to these clinics .
They had ability to build hospitals rapidly , which we have not had that ability .
They were able to isolate sick people and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ units .
If you look at the China data , most of the transmission drive was in family clusters , wasn ’ t necessarily in nursing homes or schools , which is where we usually think the drive for these clusters are .
Actually , the majority of the clustering of illnesses were in the family .
So isolating sick people becomes very key .
And we have a problem in this country with our homeless .
I was talking to our county official , our public health official , and she is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up hotels , buy RVs , try to figure out how to isolate our homeless population .
AMY GOODMAN : To not get COVID-19 .
AMY GOODMAN : So , what happened in Iran ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : Oh , Iran .
Iran was the perfect storm of — and let ’ s talk a little bit about that also , but it was the perfect storm of religion and politics and public health .
And this had to do with the fact — because it ’ s kind of an interesting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and I don ’ t know — I have a slide with the curves , if that could come up , of how fast that curve went up .
And you might wonder why it is that Iran sort of exploded .
Well , it had to do with the fact that they have a very holy shrine in the town of Qom .
And what happened , according to my Iranian colleagues that I ’ ve been talking to , is that there was a group of 700 Chinese pilgrims that were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of how one gives homage to this shrine is by kissing it or licking it .
So you can imagine how that was a very easy way to immediately disseminate it .
My understanding from my Iranian colleagues also , it ’ s been very hard to actually even barricade this shrine off currently , even in the midst of this epidemic .
And we ’ ve seen how religion has also played a role in South Korea .
The earliest cluster was in a church , where you have large gatherings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York City — and please correct me , but I ’ ve been following your epidemic , as well — that there ’ s been a real problem in the early Orthodox Jewish population , where that outbreak in the Hasidic population has occurred .
AMY GOODMAN : Right now it ’ s just exploding in Iran .
And then I want you to talk about Africa , which you ’ ve called a “ ticking time bomb.
” DR. MICHELE BARRY : Yeah .
I think there are two ticking time bombs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only Africa , but India , because we haven ’ t heard a lot about India , and that ’ s , you know , over a billion people that are a very closely geographic space .
But the time bomb in Africa is really about healthcare capacity .
I spent a lot of time working in sub-Saharan Africa , and we ’ re all extremely worried about it .
We ’ re starting to see it take off in South Africa .
The issue about why it ’ s a ticking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do with surveillance and the lack of ability to test .
The last numbers — and I may be a little outdated , because [ inaudible ] — we ’ re all — it ’ s like a firehose .
We ’ re all watching these numbers .
But the last numbers I looked at were that there were only 40 out of 54 countries that were able to do testing for COVID-19 or SARS — DR. MICHELE BARRY : Amy , this is not the only coronavirus we ’ re going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — I ’ m really going to come down hard on this — on this concept of one health , keeping an eye on the intersection of our animals , our environment and our human health , are we going to get ahead of the ball for epidemics .
Because this is not the big one .
I mean , we think we ’ re living in the big one .
The big one is really a pandemic flu , which is airborne and not droplet-borne .
AMY GOODMAN : And that — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — what does that mean ?
And is the coronavirus not only an issue of someone coughing or sneezing or getting droplets on another person , but this whole question of what does it mean to be aerosolized ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : So , yes , SARS2 can be aerosolized , if you are doing a procedure which vigorously causes massive aerosolization , like when you intubate somebody .
This is why healthcare workers — and there were 4,000 healthcare workers in China that actually got infected .
The lovely thing about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a much smaller — even though it ’ s really important to think about the young people , the mortality rate in young people is much lower .
But let ’ s go back to this question of aerosolizing .
So , this has to do with the size of the droplets and how they ’ re actually suspended in air .
The size of the droplets for SARS2 , or COVID-19 , are larger droplets , and they fall , and they fall way within six feet , which is why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re asking people to stay away from , although healthcare workers are at much higher risk when they do aerosolizing procedures .
And so we need to be careful about that .
In SARS1 , actually , one of the earliest disseminations was through fecal dissemination in the early residential building in Hong Kong , where there was a problem in the toilet .
And we all know that SARS1 and 2 are — AMY GOODMAN : And you ’ re talking about SARS2 is COVID-19 ?
DR. MICHELE BARRY : Yeah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using SARS1 and SARS2 .
But for this purpose , I ’ ll use COVID-19 .
COVID-19 is fecally excreted .
But there have not been — first of all , diarrhea is not a major manifestation in that .
But what I was talking about in the first of epidemic with SARS1 , not COVID-19 , there was fecal dissemination when there was a toilet that malfunctioned and aerosolized feces .
So , yes , there is the potential of aerosolization , but it ’ s only with unique , unique procedures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So , we have to break , but we ’ re asking to talk to you at the top of the hour , and then we ’ re going to post Part 2 online , an incredible tutorial , as we look at what ’ s happening in the world and also how coronavirus is transmitted , with Dr. Michele Barry , director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University , incoming chair for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health .
Dr. Barry is also the past president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Go to democracynow.org for Part 2 .
When we come back , solidarity not charity .
We look at the network of mutual aid groups emerging across the country to protect each other in the face of the coronavirus .
Stay with us .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 10,000, with nearly a quarter of a million confirmed cases of COVID-19. Italy’s death toll has now surpassed China’s, where the outbreak was first reported, with over 3,400 deaths and more than 41,000 confirmed cases. In Iran, the Middle Eastern nation worst hit by coronavirus, the Health Ministry said the death toll has approached 1,300, with one person dying from it every 10 minutes and 50 becoming infected every hour. In Latin America, El Salvador, Nicaragua reported their first confirmed cases of coronavirus. South America has nearly a thousand confirmed infections, as Brazil, Chile and Peru all report hundreds of confirmed cases. Venezuela has announced a nationwide quarantine. In Africa, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 700, and the head of the World Health Organization had said Africa must, quote, “wake up to the coronavirus threat and prepare for the worst.”
In the United States, confirmed coronavirus cases have doubled over the past two days. New York has become the epicenter of the pandemic with more than 5,200 confirmed cases, the highest in the nation. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all 40 million residents to remain at home, to shelter in place, effective immediately.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: The virus will impact about 56% of us. You do the math in the state of California, that’s a particularly large number. That number, in and of itself, shouldn’t be overly alarming. The vast majority of us, the overwhelming majority of us, won’t have symptoms, will be perfectly fine.
AMY GOODMAN: With over 22 million people facing infection in California over the next eight weeks, Governor Newsom estimated the state’s hospital capacity has 20,000 fewer beds than will be needed at the peak of the pandemic.
For more, we go to California, where we’re joined by Dr. Michele Barry, director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University, incoming chair for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. Dr. Barry is also the past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine. She’s joining us from her home, as California is under a shelter-in-place order.
Dr. Barry, thank you so much for joining us. Before we start on the global picture, if you could just simply explain — people say “coronavirus,” people say ”COVID-19.” Explain where that term ”COVID-19” came from, what it means, and then the class of coronaviruses, what that means, as well.
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Well, good morning, and thank you. The name “coronavirus” comes from a series of viruses that are found in bats. There are about 1,300 species of bats. And at any one time, there are about six to eight coronaviruses that are circulating in bats. So, there are many different species of bats. There are only seven species that have been known to infect man so far, four of which we all know very well. They cause the common cold, and there are three that are more deadly: SARS1, SARS2 and MERS. The term “corona” comes from the halo that is seen around the virus, with the spikes that come out of the coronavirus when you look at it under electron microscopy.
AMY GOODMAN: And ”COVID-19” means?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: It’s a term that actually most people are — it’s a coronavirus disease, and it happened in the year '19. Some people use the word “novel” in front of it, but it is synonymous for what is called SARS2, severe acute respiratory syndrome. And it's the second such coronavirus that we’ve seen that causes severe acute respiratory disease.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about where this pandemic is hitting hardest. In our headlines, we just talked about Italy surpassing China. Why don’t you take us, really, on a tour of the world. How has this happened? Why is Italy the epicenter, Europe itself the epicenter, and also Iran so hard hit at this point? How did this all unfold?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Well, it’s an interesting story. And I’m going to step back and take a larger picture about it, because I’m very interested in one health and climate and planetary health. And I know we’re all obsessed about this virus, but I think we have to think about what some of the activities that have happened in this Anthropocene, where men have impacted the planet. We have changed the ecology of how we live with animals, so that if you look at most of the emerging viruses and the emerging diseases that have happened over the last hundred years, they’ve been what we call zoonoses. And zoonoses are spillover from animals.
This particular coronavirus was noted first in a seafood market in Hunan, and it has to do with the fact that there probably — even though this is a bat coronavirus, we do not know whether there’s an amplifier animal in SARS1, which also started in a seafood market in an area in China. It’s the intimate living with humans and animals and spillover. In SARS 1, it was probably a civet cat that was being sold. For a while, SARS2, this particular virus, was thought to be an amplifier with a pangolin, a highly trafficked animal. We know now that that’s probably not true, and we don’t know exactly how it actually began in the seafood market.
But I want to bring us back to this idea that we need to be doing better surveillance in our animals and doing a better job with our planet. The large Nipah virus epidemic had a lot to do with deforestation and movement of bats closer to other animals, and another novel virus emerged. So I want to bring people back to some of the larger issues, when we think about these emerging viruses that happen in the world.
AMY GOODMAN: And a connection to climate change, to the climate crisis?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Yeah. Well, that is important. Climate change, deforestation and changing ecology is crucial for how we have animal and human ecology change. For instance, we saw the Zika outbreak happen several years ago in northeast Brazil. There’s been a lot of interesting discussion how deforestation may have played a role in that, and higher temperatures may have played a role in changing vectors, mosquito vectors in that role. Mosquitoes play no role in SARS, don’t worry. But it’s a very important question that I think, when this all quiets down — we’re sort of in the thick of this epidemic — I think we need to pay more attention to this concept of what I’m calling human and planetary health. We’re actually trying to build a new center for human and planetary health at Stanford. We’re working on a new postdoctoral fellowship for scientists to actually study this human ecology change.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to break, and then we want you to take us from Italy to China to Iran. We want to look at Africa, which you’ve called a “ticking time bomb,” and Latin America, Asia. Dr. Michele Barry, director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University, she’s an infectious disease doctor. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: That’s quarantined Italian tenor Maurizio Marchini, passionately singing “Nessun dorma,” or “None Shall Sleep,” from his balcony in Florence, Italy, while the country is under lockdown from the coronavirus. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 10,000, with nearly a quarter of a million confirmed cases of COVID-19. Our guest is Dr. Michele Barry, Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University. She’s an infectious disease doctor herself.
So, take us on a tour, but begin with — we just played this magnificent music of a quarantined opera singer singing out to his community. “Quarantine,” what does that word mean, Dr. Barry?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: So, that’s an interesting — I think there’s a lot of different understanding of what isolation and quarantine is. The word “quarantine” actually is an Italian word that comes from the word ”quaranta,” or “40” days. And those were the amount of days that a ship actually had to stay in port before being released into Venice when the Black Plague was occurring. So it actually comes from that word during the Black Death. When we think about quarantine and the difference between quarantine and isolation, isolation is when one has a sick person, and you isolate them, whereas quarantine is if you’ve had contact with a person, you need to stay at home and minimize contact, with family — well, with other people, other than your family, for 14 days.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about Italy. Why is it the epicenter right now? Why has Italy become the epicenter? It surpassed China, and it has a link to China.
DR. MICHELE BARRY: I’m sorry? I didn’t —
AMY GOODMAN: It surpassed China, and it has a link to China. What is the connection? Why has it been hit so hard? And then, compare it to South Korea.
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Yeah. I think what South Korea — I can’t comment upon why Italy has been hit so hard. We can only speculate. And I don’t want to say anything, because I have a lot of Italian colleagues that are working incredibly hard to stave this epidemic. Most of us feel that they got behind the curve. And behind the curve is of — we really have no vaccine or effective treatment yet for this virus. What we do have is what we call nonpharmaceutical interventions. And that is basically quarantine and isolation and good transparent communication and testing, testing and surveillance.
And I think what South Korea and what Taiwan and what Singapore did that have made such a huge difference is that they did early testing, early surveillance. They quarantined people who had contacts, and isolated those that were sick. It’s clear, when you look at the Chinese numbers, and what Wuhan did was pretty amazing. They did very aggressive isolation and quarantine, whereas the Italians — and one can say it has to do with measures that are taken in not only a governmental — and you can argue about whether the Chinese were draconian, but they were very effective. You can talk about different kinds of cultures, how accepted it is to isolate yourself and wear masks. But whatever it was, Italy started behind the curve.
I think we, in California, we’re trying to be as aggressive as we can. We’re very early, particularly in my county, which was an early epicenter, Santa Clara County. And I have to give kudos to Sara Cody, who is our public health commissioner. She did early shelter in home. So I think these nonpharmaceutical interventions are really important.
And then — and this is more up your show — I think we need very strong central coordination. If you read a paper written by Jason Wang in JAMA, where he describes the early Taiwan approach, it was because there was strong central coordination. They had the ministers of labor, the ministers of education, the ministers of transportation all working together to give daily communication, and not misinformation, out there.
AMY GOODMAN: And is there a connection between particularly northern Italy and China, population movements, I mean, also, the whole supply chain, companies that are in China but serving populations in Italy, the United States, etc.?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: The amount of manpower that went into stopping the transmission in China was amazing. They sent 40,000 doctors to the Wuhan area. They had thousands of epidemiologists, so that teams of epidemiologists, with five to a team, would actually do contract tracing for one person. I don’t think Italy has that manpower. And we certainly know that they don’t have the manpower now with their doctors or nurses.
And many of us in the U.S. are very worried about overwhelming our hospital systems. I think you’ve heard a lot of discussion recently about flattening the curve. And what does that mean, flattening the curve? It doesn’t mean necessarily curing the disease. What it does is help not overwhelm our hospital system, which is what we’re all worried about. Already we’re worried about having enough nasopharyngeal swabs to do testing. I mean, we are way behind in our testing. If you look at South Korea, they did 5,000 tests per million people. We’re not even up to a hundred testing per million people.
AMY GOODMAN: How did that happen, Dr. Barry? How did this happen? The U.S. is supposed to be the leader in the world. Was this a combination of President Trump’s anti-science approach and his nationalist approach, xenophobic approach? I mean, didn’t the World Health Organization have a test that all of these countries have used, that the U.S. rejected, the CDC then put out its own, and it was flawed?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: I can’t comment on that, because I wasn’t involved in that decision. But certainly, it is really a travesty that we don’t have enough tests and that we’re not testing aggressively. It did not help to have a president that doesn’t believe in science — actually, early on, called this all a hoax. It really helps when a president believes in science and evidence-based science. So, yes, that is disturbing. But I can’t comment on what the machinations were. Our CDC is working very hard. Many of my colleagues are working around the clock trying to stave this off.
But one of the things about epidemics is it’s really important to have what I call shared global governance. And I don’t think in this world it’s great that we don’t have a stronger central governance of our world health. We have a World Health Organization that has a budget that is less than many of our hospitals in the United States. Even in the United States here, our par excellence group, the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, is not allowed to come into a state unless it’s invited by the state. We have a legacy of federalism, where the states are really the forefront of public health. And even within the state of California, our county has different recommendations than the next county over. So each of our counties are making decisions.
I think what is so amazingly powerful by some of the countries that have been able to contain this, like Singapore, Taiwan and China, has been central coordination. You may argue that some have been very draconian, but then, when you have a small little country like Taiwan, that abuts China and was able to do it with central command — and I actually visited the central command station in Taiwan about two years ago. It’s very impressive. They set that up.
Now, admittedly, those countries that have done very well, Amy — and people haven’t talked about this — they have had the experience of SARS1, so they were set up. For instance, there were fever clinics set up, where if people had fever, they were immediately transferred to these clinics. They had ability to build hospitals rapidly, which we have not had that ability. They were able to isolate sick people and not put them necessarily back into family units. If you look at the China data, most of the transmission drive was in family clusters, wasn’t necessarily in nursing homes or schools, which is where we usually think the drive for these clusters are. Actually, the majority of the clustering of illnesses were in the family. So isolating sick people becomes very key.
And we have a problem in this country with our homeless. I was talking to our county official, our public health official, and she is really working endlessly to try to buy up hotels, buy RVs, try to figure out how to isolate our homeless population.
AMY GOODMAN: To not get COVID-19.
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Yes, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what happened in Iran?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Oh, Iran. Iran was the perfect storm of — and let’s talk a little bit about that also, but it was the perfect storm of religion and politics and public health. And this had to do with the fact — because it’s kind of an interesting — why would you think Iran — and I don’t know — I have a slide with the curves, if that could come up, of how fast that curve went up. And you might wonder why it is that Iran sort of exploded. Well, it had to do with the fact that they have a very holy shrine in the town of Qom. And what happened, according to my Iranian colleagues that I’ve been talking to, is that there was a group of 700 Chinese pilgrims that were there from the Hubei province. And part of how one gives homage to this shrine is by kissing it or licking it. So you can imagine how that was a very easy way to immediately disseminate it. My understanding from my Iranian colleagues also, it’s been very hard to actually even barricade this shrine off currently, even in the midst of this epidemic. And we’ve seen how religion has also played a role in South Korea. The earliest cluster was in a church, where you have large gatherings of people. And even in New York City — and please correct me, but I’ve been following your epidemic, as well — that there’s been a real problem in the early Orthodox Jewish population, where that outbreak in the Hasidic population has occurred.
AMY GOODMAN: So —
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Right now it’s just exploding in Iran. And then I want you to talk about Africa, which you’ve called a “ticking time bomb.”
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Yeah. I think there are two ticking time bombs that I’m worried about — not only Africa, but India, because we haven’t heard a lot about India, and that’s, you know, over a billion people that are a very closely geographic space.
But the time bomb in Africa is really about healthcare capacity. I spent a lot of time working in sub-Saharan Africa, and we’re all extremely worried about it. We’re starting to see it take off in South Africa. The issue about why it’s a ticking bomb is, again, it has to do with surveillance and the lack of ability to test. The last numbers — and I may be a little outdated, because [inaudible] — we’re all — it’s like a firehose. We’re all watching these numbers. But the last numbers I looked at were that there were only 40 out of 54 countries that were able to do testing for COVID-19 or SARS —
AMY GOODMAN: And in —
DR. MICHELE BARRY: — SARS2. And —
AMY GOODMAN: Go ahead.
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Amy, this is not the only coronavirus we’re going to see. Unless we pay attention — I’m really going to come down hard on this — on this concept of one health, keeping an eye on the intersection of our animals, our environment and our human health, are we going to get ahead of the ball for epidemics. Because this is not the big one. I mean, we think we’re living in the big one. The big one is really a pandemic flu, which is airborne and not droplet-borne.
AMY GOODMAN: And that — you talk about airborne, not droplet-borne — what does that mean? And is the coronavirus not only an issue of someone coughing or sneezing or getting droplets on another person, but this whole question of what does it mean to be aerosolized?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: So, yes, SARS2 can be aerosolized, if you are doing a procedure which vigorously causes massive aerosolization, like when you intubate somebody. This is why healthcare workers — and there were 4,000 healthcare workers in China that actually got infected. The lovely thing about infecting young people is that there’s a much smaller — even though it’s really important to think about the young people, the mortality rate in young people is much lower. But let’s go back to this question of aerosolizing. So, this has to do with the size of the droplets and how they’re actually suspended in air. The size of the droplets for SARS2, or COVID-19, are larger droplets, and they fall, and they fall way within six feet, which is why we have these six-foot distance that we’re asking people to stay away from, although healthcare workers are at much higher risk when they do aerosolizing procedures. And so we need to be careful about that. In SARS1, actually, one of the earliest disseminations was through fecal dissemination in the early residential building in Hong Kong, where there was a problem in the toilet. And we all know that SARS1 and 2 are —
AMY GOODMAN: And you’re talking about SARS2 is COVID-19?
DR. MICHELE BARRY: COVID-19 is SARS2, I’m sorry.
AMY GOODMAN: Is coronavirus.
DR. MICHELE BARRY: Yeah. See, most of us are using SARS1 and SARS2. But for this purpose, I’ll use COVID-19. COVID-19 is fecally excreted. But there have not been — first of all, diarrhea is not a major manifestation in that. But what I was talking about in the first of epidemic with SARS1, not COVID-19, there was fecal dissemination when there was a toilet that malfunctioned and aerosolized feces. So, yes, there is the potential of aerosolization, but it’s only with unique, unique procedures that that happens.
AMY GOODMAN: So, we have to break, but we’re asking to talk to you at the top of the hour, and then we’re going to post Part 2 online, an incredible tutorial, as we look at what’s happening in the world and also how coronavirus is transmitted, with Dr. Michele Barry, director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Stanford University, incoming chair for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. Dr. Barry is also the past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine. Go to democracynow.org for Part 2.
When we come back, solidarity not charity. We look at the network of mutual aid groups emerging across the country to protect each other in the face of the coronavirus. Stay with us.


democracynow--2020-03-20--Headlines for March 20, 2020

Headlines for March 20, 2020

In Australia , officials are tracking down thousands of passengers who left a Princess Cruise ship in Sydney after four people tested positive with COVID-19 .
Prince Albert II of Monaco has become the first head of state to announce a positive test .
In Latin America , El Salvador and Nicaragua have reported their first confirmed cases , while South America has nearly 1,000 confirmed infections ; Brazil , Chile and Peru all report hundreds of infections .
Venezuela has also announced a nationwide quarantine .
In South Africa , government officials plan to install a 25-mile fence on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to undocumented immigrants as part of an “ emergency measure ” to contain the spread of coronavirus .
There are now more than 700 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa .
In the Middle East , Saudi Arabia has suspended all prayers in overflow arenas outside holy sites in Mecca and Medina .
Meanwhile , Netflix and YouTube say they ’ ll reduce the quality of their streaming video services in Europe , as millions of people on lockdown in Italy , Spain and other countries have dramatically increased their internet use .

In Australia, officials are tracking down thousands of passengers who left a Princess Cruise ship in Sydney after four people tested positive with COVID-19.
Prince Albert II of Monaco has become the first head of state to announce a positive test.
In Latin America, El Salvador and Nicaragua have reported their first confirmed cases, while South America has nearly 1,000 confirmed infections; Brazil, Chile and Peru all report hundreds of infections. Venezuela has also announced a nationwide quarantine.
In South Africa, government officials plan to install a 25-mile fence on the border with Zimbabwe to block entry to undocumented immigrants as part of an “emergency measure” to contain the spread of coronavirus. There are now more than 700 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has suspended all prayers in overflow arenas outside holy sites in Mecca and Medina.
Meanwhile, Netflix and YouTube say they’ll reduce the quality of their streaming video services in Europe, as millions of people on lockdown in Italy, Spain and other countries have dramatically increased their internet use.


democracynow--2020-03-23--"Hope Is Not a Strategy": Emergency Doctor Asks, Where Are COVID-19 Tests? Where Is Protective Gear?

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
We ’ re broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States .
We ’ re in New York City .
As the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. tops 35,000 — and , of course , we don ’ t know how many people are positive at this point — with at least 465 fatalities , tests continue to lag , with medical workers facing a desperate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nearly half the U.S. cases are here in New York state , where there were nearly 17,000 cases , at least 150 deaths , as of last night .
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned the city is just 10 days away from massive shortages of critical supplies , as he blasted Trump for his response to the pandemic .
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged Washington to take over the production and acquisition of much-needed medical supplies , as states have been forced to compete with each other to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fast-dwindling resources .
Illinois Governor Pritzker blasted the federal government for forcing states to compete on Sunday , telling CNN , “ We need millions of masks and hundreds of thousands of gowns and gloves and the rest .
And , unfortunately , we ’ re getting still just a fraction of that .
So , we ’ re out on the open market competing for these items that we so badly need .
… It ’ s a Wild West out there , ” Pritzker said .
Well , for more , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re joined by Dr. Leana Wen , emergency room physician , public health professor at George Washington University , previously served as Baltimore ’ s health commissioner .
Welcome back to Democracy Now !
, Dr. Wen .
If you can talk about what this both lack of testing means , of the whole population , and what the lack of the PPEs , the personal protective equipment , for frontline healthcare workers means ?
DR. LEANA WEN : Absolutely , Amy , and thank you for covering this important topic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ huge issue in the U.S. and really was a major misstep , because we do not have a handle at all on the true number of cases here , and we lost valuable time .
Look , China imposed some really strict restrictions on their population to buy the rest of the world time .
We had weeks to figure out who has coronavirus here in the U.S. and to apply tried-and-true public health strategies , which is containment , to figure out who has coronavirus and how can we contain this new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were not able to do that .
And we still don ’ t know .
And , in fact , the true number of cases probably far exceeds what we know , because we still don ’ t have the capacity to do testing in the U.S. , by any means .
I mean , even people who are symptomatic , who are ill , are not able to get the test that they need .
But you mentioned this other issue , which is the lack of personal protective equipment , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of all , because just two months ago we were looking at the images coming from China , and we were seeing nurses who had to make their own goggles and doctors who were getting garbage bags and trying to make gowns out of garbage bags and rain ponchos .
And we were saying , “ Wow !
I can ’ t believe that ’ s happening.
” We never thought that that could happen in the U.S .
But my colleagues are pleading over social media .
They ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their off hours to see if they can get just one mask .
And that just can not happen .
I mean , our healthcare workers are putting their lives on the line every day .
And now they ’ re terrified to come home .
First , we ’ re going to run out of masks , and then we ’ re going to run out of doctors and nurses , because they ’ ll become sick and not be able to work .
And it ’ s just unconscionable that at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we are not mobilizing our national resources to help those most in need .
And it ’ s not a secret as to what we need .
It ’ s right there out in the open .
And we no longer — it ’ s not OK to have our political leaders say that everything is fine , when it ’ s not .
And there are tangible things that they can do in order to mobilize , so that we don ’ t have this crisis turn into a catastrophe , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ die because of our political inaction .
AMY GOODMAN : So , can you explain what can be done , the powers that President Trump has to have factories make , for example , these masks ?
He keeps saying that they are simply out there , they ’ re available , everyone has them .
When the head of FEMA was asked , “ How many masks do you have ?
” pinned down when Jake Tapper of CNN tried to ask him yesterday , he said something like , “ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just called into this five days ago .
I don ’ t have a number.
” Why was FEMA just called in five days ago ?
As President Trump keeps saying that he was a visionary and understood there was a pandemic , that ’ s why he closed the border so early , if that ’ s the case at the end of January , the beginning of February , why didn ’ t he mobilize both the testing and also the making of these life-saving masks ?
And how could it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governors , who are desperately now competing with each other on the open market to buy masks for their healthcare workers ?
DR. LEANA WEN : I mean , I think you said exactly — what you said is exactly right , that at this point we have to look forward .
Look , we could look back and say all these things should have been done differently .
And frankly , they should have been , because we had time .
We had weeks , months to prepare for this , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that time .
But now we need to move forward , and we need to move forward by taking direct action , because let me tell you what my colleagues are seeing on the frontlines .
My colleagues are being told that , yes , they ’ re supposed to have these N95 respiratory masks , but they ’ re out , and , by the way , we may be out of surgical masks , and so let ’ s figure out how to spray down these very flimsy masks with alcohol @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not evidence-based and will disintegrate these masks , but that ’ s still better than nothing .
I mean , that ’ s just not appropriate .
Or having people scrounge around — I mean , my Facebook feed is filled with my colleagues , who I trained with — nurses , physician assistants , doctors — asking family members if they can somehow look in their communities and ask their neighbors to be donating masks .
That just can not be happening in our country .
The president has the ability , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order manufacturers on a federal basis to produce these life-saving equipment .
Now , that ’ s what should be done .
I mean , I understand that there are individuals who are being good citizens and volunteering to sew masks and using their 3D printers , and companies are making donations .
I mean , all that ’ s very nice and good to see , but we need a national coordinated effort .
This is a national emergency .
If this were a war , and hundreds of thousands of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ die , you wouldn ’ t be asking everyday citizens to be making armor and machinery .
You wouldn ’ t be asking soldiers to buy their own ammunition and look for it in their local stores .
But that ’ s what ’ s happening right now , and it ’ s simply unacceptable .
And we ’ re going to have the blood of tens of thousands , hundreds of thousands or more people on our hands if we don ’ t take that prompt action right now .
AMY GOODMAN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daily briefings , to put the scientists and the doctors forward first ?
Yesterday , President Trump and Vice President Pence , they spoke for about an hour and a half at the White House , deeply political , you know , attacking immigrants , reporters , etc .
What would it mean to have a science-led response to this ?
DR. LEANA WEN : Well , this is a public health crisis , and a public health crisis deserves and requires a public health response , which is based in evidence , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s what the American people want , too .
The American people want to know the truth .
I mean , I think about this as I would be talking to my patients .
If I ’ m giving my patients news about a disease that they might have , my job is not to sugarcoat the truth .
My job is to talk about what we know , what we don ’ t know , and how we ’ re going to find out what we don ’ t know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we can take together .
I mean , frankly , with this virus , we are not powerless .
But it is very serious .
And so there are things that we can do right now .
Those things would include really good hand and face hygiene , social distancing and physically separating ourselves from others so as to reduce the rate of transmission .
These are actions that each of us can take right now to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and to save each other , because our fates are tied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are things that we need to hear directly from the scientists and public health experts , because our responses should be based on science and data .
AMY GOODMAN : Dr. Leana Wen , you are what , 38 , 39 weeks pregnant ?
DR. LEANA WEN : That ’ s right .
I am more than 38 weeks pregnant at the moment .
AMY GOODMAN : You ’ re about to give birth .
Can you talk about the effects of coronavirus for pregnant women ?
DR. LEANA WEN : I can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what I know and what I don ’ t know , because this is a new disease , and there is a lot that we don ’ t know .
Based on the studies done so far , it does not appear that pregnant people have more severe illness than those who are not pregnant , from coronavirus .
But that said , individuals who are pregnant do have a compromised immune system and are considered to be medically vulnerable and should take additional precautions .
In addition , we also , because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really don ’ t know the impact of coronavirus on the first and second trimesters of pregnancy , just because those data are not available .
Now , there are additional issues that have arisen now as a result of hospital overcrowding .
I know that this is something that I ’ ve been thinking a lot about .
You know , I have a two-and-a-half-year-old .
And when I was first — when I delivered my two-and-a-half-year-old , it was a very different world .
And my husband was able to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worried about following my birth plan and worried about what it would be like to have to do breast-feeding afterwards .
They ’ re very different worries than now , when hospitals are changing their policies , and some hospitals are not even allowing another visitor , for fear of spreading infections .
AMY GOODMAN : And it ’ s not even a visitor , as you said .
New York-Presbyterian , the health complex in the United States , is now saying — they announced it would no longer allow any visitors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , even though the World Health Organization has said that all pregnant people , including those with confirmed suspected COVID-19 , should have the right to have a chosen companion present during labor .
DR. LEANA WEN : I think this is the challenge that we all face right now , that you have to weigh the individual liberty versus public health .
And right now we just have a runaway situation in the U.S. , and extraordinary measures have to be taken .
And it ’ s certainly something that I feel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as I know that I ’ m about to go through this journey myself in a matter of — who knows ?
— hours to days .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , all the very best to you .
Your final words in 20 seconds , the message you have for President Trump right now for what has to happen in this country ?
DR. LEANA WEN : We need prompt action .
We can not hear that we hope to have more soon , because hope is not a strategy , more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not a timeline .
AMY GOODMAN : And let me ask you one last question .
Almost every news conference , he begins by talking about the “ Chinese virus.
” You yourself are Chinese-American , came here as a child from China .
We have 10 seconds .
DR. LEANA WEN : We need to follow the science of the evidence .
The World Health Organization has a name for this disease .
Let ’ s use that .
It ’ s called COVID-19 .
AMY GOODMAN : Dr. Leana Wen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , emergency physician , public health professor at George Washington University , previously served as Baltimore ’ s health commissioner .
That does it for our show .
An enormous thank you to the whole team , my beloved community of Democracy Now !
, many of whom are staying at home to protect the community but working ever so hard .
Democracy Now !
produced by Mike Burke , Deena Guzder , Nermeen Shaikh , Carla Wills , Tami Woronoff , Libby Rainey , Sam Alcoff , John Hamilton , Robby Karran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Thank you so much .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. We’re broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. We’re in New York City. As the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. tops 35,000 — and, of course, we don’t know how many people are positive at this point — with at least 465 fatalities, tests continue to lag, with medical workers facing a desperate lack of supplies and protective gear. Nearly half the U.S. cases are here in New York state, where there were nearly 17,000 cases, at least 150 deaths, as of last night. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned the city is just 10 days away from massive shortages of critical supplies, as he blasted Trump for his response to the pandemic. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged Washington to take over the production and acquisition of much-needed medical supplies, as states have been forced to compete with each other to buy, somewhere in the world, fast-dwindling resources. Illinois Governor Pritzker blasted the federal government for forcing states to compete on Sunday, telling CNN, “We need millions of masks and hundreds of thousands of gowns and gloves and the rest. And, unfortunately, we’re getting still just a fraction of that. So, we’re out on the open market competing for these items that we so badly need. … It’s a Wild West out there,” Pritzker said.
Well, for more, we go to Baltimore, where we’re joined by Dr. Leana Wen, emergency room physician, public health professor at George Washington University, previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Dr. Wen. If you can talk about what this both lack of testing means, of the whole population, and what the lack of the PPEs, the personal protective equipment, for frontline healthcare workers means?
DR. LEANA WEN: Absolutely, Amy, and thank you for covering this important topic. The lack of testing has been a huge issue in the U.S. and really was a major misstep, because we do not have a handle at all on the true number of cases here, and we lost valuable time. Look, China imposed some really strict restrictions on their population to buy the rest of the world time. We had weeks to figure out who has coronavirus here in the U.S. and to apply tried-and-true public health strategies, which is containment, to figure out who has coronavirus and how can we contain this new pathogen within our borders. But we were not able to do that. And we still don’t know. And, in fact, the true number of cases probably far exceeds what we know, because we still don’t have the capacity to do testing in the U.S., by any means. I mean, even people who are symptomatic, who are ill, are not able to get the test that they need.
But you mentioned this other issue, which is the lack of personal protective equipment, which I find to be the most shocking of all, because just two months ago we were looking at the images coming from China, and we were seeing nurses who had to make their own goggles and doctors who were getting garbage bags and trying to make gowns out of garbage bags and rain ponchos. And we were saying, “Wow! I can’t believe that’s happening.” We never thought that that could happen in the U.S. But my colleagues are pleading over social media. They’re going to Home Depot and Lowe’s during their off hours to see if they can get just one mask. And that just cannot happen. I mean, our healthcare workers are putting their lives on the line every day. And now they’re terrified to come home. First, we’re going to run out of masks, and then we’re going to run out of doctors and nurses, because they’ll become sick and not be able to work. And it’s just unconscionable that at this time of a national emergency, that we are not mobilizing our national resources to help those most in need.
And it’s not a secret as to what we need. It’s right there out in the open. And we no longer — it’s not OK to have our political leaders say that everything is fine, when it’s not. And there are tangible things that they can do in order to mobilize, so that we don’t have this crisis turn into a catastrophe, where hundreds of thousands of people will die because of our political inaction.
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you explain what can be done, the powers that President Trump has to have factories make, for example, these masks? He keeps saying that they are simply out there, they’re available, everyone has them. When the head of FEMA was asked, “How many masks do you have?” pinned down when Jake Tapper of CNN tried to ask him yesterday, he said something like, “I don’t know. I was just called into this five days ago. I don’t have a number.” Why was FEMA just called in five days ago? As President Trump keeps saying that he was a visionary and understood there was a pandemic, that’s why he closed the border so early, if that’s the case at the end of January, the beginning of February, why didn’t he mobilize both the testing and also the making of these life-saving masks? And how could it be done now? How can these governors, who are desperately now competing with each other on the open market to buy masks for their healthcare workers?
DR. LEANA WEN: I mean, I think you said exactly — what you said is exactly right, that at this point we have to look forward. Look, we could look back and say all these things should have been done differently. And frankly, they should have been, because we had time. We had weeks, months to prepare for this, and we didn’t make use of that time. But now we need to move forward, and we need to move forward by taking direct action, because let me tell you what my colleagues are seeing on the frontlines. My colleagues are being told that, yes, they’re supposed to have these N95 respiratory masks, but they’re out, and, by the way, we may be out of surgical masks, and so let’s figure out how to spray down these very flimsy masks with alcohol, in a way that’s not evidence-based and will disintegrate these masks, but that’s still better than nothing. I mean, that’s just not appropriate. Or having people scrounge around — I mean, my Facebook feed is filled with my colleagues, who I trained with — nurses, physician assistants, doctors — asking family members if they can somehow look in their communities and ask their neighbors to be donating masks. That just cannot be happening in our country.
The president has the ability, through the Defense Production Act, to order manufacturers on a federal basis to produce these life-saving equipment. Now, that’s what should be done. I mean, I understand that there are individuals who are being good citizens and volunteering to sew masks and using their 3D printers, and companies are making donations. I mean, all that’s very nice and good to see, but we need a national coordinated effort. This is a national emergency. If this were a war, and hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, are going to die, you wouldn’t be asking everyday citizens to be making armor and machinery. You wouldn’t be asking soldiers to buy their own ammunition and look for it in their local stores. But that’s what’s happening right now, and it’s simply unacceptable. And we’re going to have the blood of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or more people on our hands if we don’t take that prompt action right now.
AMY GOODMAN: And what about, with these daily briefings, to put the scientists and the doctors forward first? Yesterday, President Trump and Vice President Pence, they spoke for about an hour and a half at the White House, deeply political, you know, attacking immigrants, reporters, etc. What would it mean to have a science-led response to this?
DR. LEANA WEN: Well, this is a public health crisis, and a public health crisis deserves and requires a public health response, which is based in evidence, science and data. And frankly, that’s what the American people want, too. The American people want to know the truth. I mean, I think about this as I would be talking to my patients. If I’m giving my patients news about a disease that they might have, my job is not to sugarcoat the truth. My job is to talk about what we know, what we don’t know, and how we’re going to find out what we don’t know, and what are the actions that we can take together.
I mean, frankly, with this virus, we are not powerless. But it is very serious. And so there are things that we can do right now. Those things would include really good hand and face hygiene, social distancing and physically separating ourselves from others so as to reduce the rate of transmission. These are actions that each of us can take right now to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and to save each other, because our fates are tied closely together. I mean, these are things that we need to hear directly from the scientists and public health experts, because our responses should be based on science and data.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Leana Wen, you are what, 38, 39 weeks pregnant?
DR. LEANA WEN: That’s right. I am more than 38 weeks pregnant at the moment.
AMY GOODMAN: You’re about to give birth. Can you talk about the effects of coronavirus for pregnant women?
DR. LEANA WEN: I can. Again, I can tell you what I know and what I don’t know, because this is a new disease, and there is a lot that we don’t know. Based on the studies done so far, it does not appear that pregnant people have more severe illness than those who are not pregnant, from coronavirus. But that said, individuals who are pregnant do have a compromised immune system and are considered to be medically vulnerable and should take additional precautions. In addition, we also, because of how new this disease is, really don’t know the impact of coronavirus on the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, just because those data are not available.
Now, there are additional issues that have arisen now as a result of hospital overcrowding. I know that this is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about. You know, I have a two-and-a-half-year-old. And when I was first — when I delivered my two-and-a-half-year-old, it was a very different world. And my husband was able to come into the delivery room. I was worried about following my birth plan and worried about what it would be like to have to do breast-feeding afterwards. They’re very different worries than now, when hospitals are changing their policies, and some hospitals are not even allowing another visitor, for fear of spreading infections.
AMY GOODMAN: And it’s not even a visitor, as you said. New York-Presbyterian, the health complex in the United States, is now saying — they announced it would no longer allow any visitors for patients giving birth, including partners, even though the World Health Organization has said that all pregnant people, including those with confirmed suspected COVID-19, should have the right to have a chosen companion present during labor.
DR. LEANA WEN: I think this is the challenge that we all face right now, that you have to weigh the individual liberty versus public health. And right now we just have a runaway situation in the U.S., and extraordinary measures have to be taken. And it’s certainly something that I feel very deeply and very personally now, as I know that I’m about to go through this journey myself in a matter of — who knows? — hours to days.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, all the very best to you. Your final words in 20 seconds, the message you have for President Trump right now for what has to happen in this country?
DR. LEANA WEN: We need prompt action. We cannot hear that we hope to have more soon, because hope is not a strategy, more is not a quantity, and soon is not a timeline.
AMY GOODMAN: And let me ask you one last question. Almost every news conference, he begins by talking about the “Chinese virus.” You yourself are Chinese-American, came here as a child from China. We have 10 seconds.
DR. LEANA WEN: We need to follow the science of the evidence. The World Health Organization has a name for this disease. Let’s use that. It’s called COVID-19.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Leana Wen, all the very best to you, emergency physician, public health professor at George Washington University, previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
That does it for our show. An enormous thank you to the whole team, my beloved community of Democracy Now!, many of whom are staying at home to protect the community but working ever so hard. Democracy Now! produced by Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Nermeen Shaikh, Carla Wills, Tami Woronoff, Libby Rainey, Sam Alcoff, John Hamilton, Robby Karran. Special thanks to Julie Crosby. I’m Amy Goodman. Thank you so much.