U.S. Surgeon General says Expect More Deaths and Cases But Do Not Panic; Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is Questioned About the Coronavirus and the Economy; Nursing Home in Washington State has Three Employees Positive for Coronavirus
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." And the top medical officer in the United States today says the outbreak of the potentially deadly coronavirus has not yet peaked. He warns there will be more cases, more deaths, but that does not mean people should panic. Those words from the U.S. surgeon general today, the same day the number of infected people in this country tops 500. People are testing positive for the virus in 33 states, mostly in Washington State, around Seattle, and in New York. The northeastern suburbs of New York City, more than 20 people have died after being infected and in the coming days, about 4 million testing kits are expected to be available at centers across the country. That's the hope, anyway, of White House officials who blame what they call a glitch for the comparatively small number of test kits that have already shipped. And now, about those crowded cruise ships with infected people onboard. One that has been held off the coast of California might be able to dock tomorrow. And now there's another one off the coast of Florida, waiting to be told what to do. We'll have details on the status of those ships in just a moment. CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is with us, also CNN's Lucy Kafanov is in Oakland, California. Elizabeth, first, take a listen to this. This is the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams on CNN this morning making a key distinction in how the government is now approaching this coronavirus crisis.</s>JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Initially, we had a posture of containment so that we could give people time to prepare for where we are right now. Now, we're shifting into a mitigation phase, which means that we're helping communities understand you're going to see more cases. Unfortunately, you're going to see more deaths, but that doesn't mean that we should panic.</s>CABRERA: Elizabeth, moving from containment to now mitigation. What is the difference and how does that affect people who most need to be tested?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Ana. So we're going to be hearing these terms more often, so let's go over them. Containment means literally you're trying to contain the virus that is often done in several ways, but to a large extent through something called contact tracing. You get your first case. You track down that person's wife, their co-- worker, their -- people they have had close contact with. You put those people in quarantine and you watch them to see if they get sick and you go from there. You know, the sort of what underscores what Dr. Adams is saying is that we now have many more cases. Experts tell me it is harder and harder to do that kind of one by one by one contact tracing as this number of cases gets higher. It is taxing on the public health system and it becomes less and less useful the more numbers that you get. Now, you ask, Ana, about testing. This doesn't really affect who gets tested. You know, the rules are different in different states because right now it is pretty much state health labs who are doing this, but you know, you can -- not everyone who wants to get tested will get tested. Your doctor has to want to test you and then your doctor will have to get a hospital to test you, because this testing based on the conversation that I've been having, that testing is happening in hospitals. It is not happening in doctor's offices because doctor's offices don't have the infection control procedures to do that kind of tests. You want to go to a hospital for it. And hospitals can't test absolutely everyone. They have to have some limits.</s>CABRERA: Elizabeth, stand by. I want to bring in Lucy Kafanov because we just heard from the governor of California about the status of the cruise passengers off the coast there. For people just joining us, what were the main takeaways?</s>LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the governor confirmed that the ship is expected to come in to the port of Oakland, that's where we are right now, tomorrow. It's not clear what time yet. That's because they're going to be looking at the currents, at the weather situation to figure out a good window of time. We have a little bit more of an update on the sequence of events. In the next hour, they are expecting to send medical staff onboard to begin the process of screening passengers, conducting interviews, getting their medical history and all of that in order to speed up the process tomorrow. Once the boat is in port, the seriously ill passengers will be evacuated and taken to hospitals in the region. They will then proceed with evacuating the American passengers off board. There are 2,241 passengers; about a thousand of those are California residents. All of the California residents will be quarantined in the state, either at the Travis Air Base up north or at Miramar down near San Diego. Remember, both of those bases have been hosting Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China so they are very experienced on this. The other U.S. citizens will get taken either to Texas or to Georgia. They will then be quarantined for 14 days there. The big question, what happens with the foreigners onboard? There are 54 countries represented. The State Department, as we speak, is working out negotiations with different countries to repatriate those citizens home. They will likely be flown out on charter flights out of the Oakland airport. But again, the governor stressing, these are private charter flights. They will not be mixed in with the general population. They are taking every step in order to make sure that these passengers are isolated from the communities here. Now, the crew members, there's over 1,100 members of crew onboard. They will not be getting disembarked. They will be getting off the ship, pardon me. The governor saying, confirming what Vice President Mike Pence said, which is the crew will be quarantined for 14 days onboard that ship. As soon as all the passengers are off, they are going to pull away from the port of Oakland and get that ship back out to sea, again, in order to minimize the exposure to the community here, Ana.</s>CABRERA: All right, Lucy Kafanov, thank you -- our thanks to Elizabeth Cohen as well. Meanwhile, we are getting really mixed messages from the Trump administration as to just how many coronavirus test kits are available right now. Each clip you are about to see is from this morning.</s>ADAMS: We have 75,000 tests available right now for folks. By early next week, tomorrow, we should have over 2 million tests available. By the end of the week, through partnerships with private industry, over 4 million test available.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: Right now, I believe 1.1 million tests have already been sent out. By Monday, there'll be an additional 400,000, and by the end of next week, probably around 4 million.</s>BEN CARSON, MEMBER, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: Over a million tests were shipped out already this past week. Tomorrow, another 640,000 will be available.</s>CABRERA: All kinds of different numbers there. Joining us now, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. His state is dealing with at least four cases right now. And Senator, do you feel like the U.S. is prepared to do widespread testing and really get a sense of how broad this outbreak is?</s>SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Ana, I'm not sure that we're prepared in terms of having enough test kits available so I'm very concerned about the different numbers we keep hearing from the administration. The most important thing they have to do right now is not to get caught up in the numbers, but to get the test kits out to the states so that we can do the testing, so you know the scope of the problem, and these conflicting numbers are very confusing. The president's commentaries have added a lot more in terms of the problem. I would hope that folks out there would listen to their medical provider and would listen to the Centers for Disease Control and others who have authority to speak. But the president's comments so far have been very damaging.</s>CABRERA: Does Pennsylvania have what it needs right now?</s>CASEY: Ana, I spoke to Governor Wolf today and I think at least right now in Pennsylvania, they feel like they have enough test kits or tests available and they're testing every day. But as you just noted, we have four cases and that just happened since Friday. And we expect or I should say, I expect, based upon the information that I have, that that number will go up.</s>CABRERA: You're on the Finance Committee and we have seen a tremendous drop, of course, in the stock market. And it's not just the stock market where we're having issues financially, of course. As this crisis goes on, big businesses are going to take a hit. Jobs are on the line. Savings are on the online. This administration has talked about waving fees and taxes for the travel industry. Do you believe it's time for Congress to take some kind of measure, some kind of stimulus in order to prevent a major financial crisis?</s>CASEY: Well, Ana, I think we should have hearings to consider that. But I think it's premature at this time to be able to have a remedy, based upon what we know so far. It's still early in terms of those economic assessments. The most important thing that Congress did was in the last couple of days, appropriating more than $8 billion. The president signed into it law. Now, the administration has to get that -- those dollars out the door to state and local governments and health departments, as well as to make sure that the dollars are in the pipeline for a vaccine, which we know will take probably on the order of 18 months to provide. But we have to make sure that all of the personal protective equipment that health care professionals need is there. We've got to make sure, of course, that the test kits get out. But the administration has to be very clear about numbers and about the basic information because when you have this kind of confusion, I think that just adds to the anxiety that people feel.</s>CABRERA: The CDC is advising older Americans to stay at home, as much as possible, to avoid crowds. Today, Dr. Fauci said those older Americans should think twice before flying long distances. And yet it is campaign season and right now you have Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and President Trump, all in their 70s, they're crisscrossing the country, shaking hands, they're hugging people, holding these huge rallies. Do you think it's worth the risk?</s>CASEY: Ana, I think that everyone has to make their own decision about how to proceed, but I think the best thing to do, especially if someone is a senior citizen or has a complex medical condition or is in some way compromised, they should be very careful. But again, they should rely upon the advice of their medical provider as well as CDC and other authorities, not on the admonitions necessarily of elected officials. But so far -- so far I think folks have taken this very seriously. And I will say, as well, despite what the president has said and done, a lot of members of his administration I know are very concerned about this take it very seriously and are trying to get it right. But we've got to make sure that those resources get out the door so that states and communities have help, whether it's a hospital or a state health department or a county health department as well as communities throughout the country.</s>CABRERA: Senator Sanders made the round on the Sunday shows today and he explained the current state of the race this way.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The establishment put a great deal of pressure on Pete Buttigieg, on Amy Klobuchar, who ran really aggressive campaigns. I know both of them. They work really, really hard, but suddenly right before Super Tuesday, they announced their withdrawal. If they had not withdrawn from the race before Super Tuesday, which is kind of a surprise to a lot of people, I suspect we would have won in Minnesota, we would have won in Maine, we would have won in Massachusetts. The turnout may have been a little bit different.</s>CABRERA: On top of that, senator, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that six in 10 Sanders supporters are uncomfortable with Biden. You've thrown your support behind Joe Biden and so my question is not necessarily whether you agree with Sanders about whether there's an establishment working against him and pushing even other competitors out of the race. I have to ask you, in your home state of Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump by less than 50,000 votes. So, you know, every vote counts. Should Biden become the nominee? How do you ensure that Sanders' supporters come out to vote in November?</s>CASEY: Well, Ana, I think no matter where your support lies right now, whether it's with Vice President Biden as mine has been since the day he announced or with Senator Sanders, I do think that there's a great unanimity, if I can use that word, in our party to be prepared to defeat Donald Trump. So, I don't think there's going to be any problem with unity in our party when it comes to defeating Donald Trump because I think most Democrats or every Democrat I know knows that there's a lot at stake for our national security, for our economy, and especially on the overriding issue of health care, which will be the number one issue in Pennsylvania. If you vote for Donald Trump in the fall, you're voting for someone who will take away protections for pre-existing conditions, for example. As demonstrated over and over again that he wants to cut Medicare and Medicaid. That's not going to work in Pennsylvania. I think both supporters of both candidates in the Democratic primary will be together united to defeat Donald Trump.</s>CABRERA: But didn't not voting for Trump not necessarily worked for Hillary Clinton?</s>CASEY: No. Look, I think that the circumstances are different now. I think there are a lot of voters, who in 2016 might have thought, well, let's try an outsider who's not part of the political system. And now we know the damage that that has wrought. The number of uninsured is going up for the first time in years. The number of children who are uninsured has gone way up by hundreds and hundreds of thousands. And I think most people know that even as the president will talk about the stock market and some other indicators, which are really a false reading for working men and women. They also note the same time the cost of child care is up, the cost of basic daily living expenses for middle class families are way up. So I think people know what's at stake and I think 2016 is a distant memory for a lot of voters.</s>CABRERA: Senator Bob Casey, thank you for your time this evening.</s>CASEY: Thanks, Ana.</s>CABRERA: Up next, a doctor who specializes in pathogens joins us to answer your questions about how well prepared the country is to handle this crisis and what you should be doing. Plus, former Vice President Joe Biden picks up the endorsement of Senator Kamala Harris. Hear what she said about whether she wants to be on the ticket if he gets the nomination.