New Jersey Investigating Nursing Home Deaths; No Current Specific Treatment for COVID-19
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The race to reopen the United States, critical questions are being asked, are there enough tests? And is it simply too soon? Also ahead --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who have I seen in the last two weeks, where was I in the last two weeks, who was I in contact with, where do I work?</s>ALLEN (voice-over): It is called contact tracing or really trying to remember everything from the past two weeks, the new normal to avoid a resurgence of coronavirus cases.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): Also, the hug seen around the world. You'll hear from the husband and wife team risking everything to help save the lives of strangers. Love that photograph. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.</s>ALLEN: Thank you for joining us. The U.S. fight against the coronavirus is getting increasingly political as much of the focus for the world's virus epicenter shifts to talk of reopening the country. This despite a week that has seen a surge in cases and deaths. Johns Hopkins University reports that the U.S. has more than 706,000 cases and more than 37,000 deaths. Meantime, as a battle is brewing over plans to reopen the country, testing is seen as the key to do it safely. The White House insists that the capacity is already there to begin the process. But President Trump is not giving a timeline.</s>QUESTION: Which states are ready to reopen in your mind and how soon?</s>TRUMP: I want to let the governors make that decision. We're watching very closely. If we see something happening bad this we think is wrong, we'll come down very strong on that.</s>ALLEN: But he went on Twitter Friday and singled out several states led by Democrats, highlighting how many governors find themselves at odds with the president. CNN's Erica Hill has the latest.</s>GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): This is mayhem. We need a coordinated approach between the federal government and the states.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York Governor Cuomo repeating his plea for help with testing supplies and funding as the president tweets, states have to step up their testing.</s>CUOMO: Don't pass the buck without passing the bucks.</s>GOV. RAY COOPER (D-NC): When governors are faced with global supply chain breakdowns, when it comes to supplies and equipment, the federal government must help more.</s>HILL (voice-over): A handful of states may soon be ready for phase one of the president's guidelines but there is no one size fits all solution.</s>GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Ohio's plan is going to be by Ohioans for Ohioans.</s>HILL (voice-over): Hospitalizations are down in New York City but all events there now cancelled for the month of May. Texas schools will remain closed but not state parks. In Jacksonville, beaches reopened Friday with limited hours.</s>MAYOR LENNY CURRY (R-FL): Folks, this can be the beginning of the pathway back to normal life but please respect and follow these limitations.</s>HILL (voice-over): Mississippi's shelter in place orders extended to April 27th.</s>GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): I know we cannot stay in this position for much longer but we are still in the eye of the storm.</s>HILL (voice-over): As New Jersey's governor warns face coverings may be here through the fall.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would bet the answer's yes, we will be masked when kids go back to school.</s>HILL (voice-over): The president encouraging protesters in Minnesota, Virginia...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't keep healthy people locked in their houses and watch the economy just go down.</s>HILL (voice-over): -- and Michigan, as that state's governor doubles down.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's better to be 6 feet apart right now than 6 feet under. And that is the whole point of this.</s>HILL (voice-over): In San Antonio, seemingly endless lines for food. And across the country, outrage and concern for some of the most vulnerable Americans.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When they lock down, we have no connection with our mom.</s>HILL (voice-over): A New Jersey facility now under investigation after more than a dozen bodies were found in its morgue, 36 deaths there now linked to COVID-19.</s>HILL (voice-over): Those on the front lines also sounding an alarm.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Underpaid, understaffed nursing homes has been a problem in our country for a long time and this crisis has only made it worse.</s>HILL: And it is not just nursing homes that are a concern. In New Jersey, 50 residents at veterans' homes have now died of COVID related illnesses. In fact, 75 combat medics with the National Guard were dispatched to assist in those veterans' homes. And in Massachusetts, the Holyoke Soldier Home, 47 veteran residents have died there. In fact, a federal investigation has been opened into the care at that facility. Back to you.</s>ALLEN: There are fears that the United Kingdom will be the hardest hit country in Europe because of the government's strategy at the beginning of the pandemic. National Health Service providers say there is a critical shortage of clinical gowns. They tried to get emergency deliveries from other country but it was too late. Those countries had also run out of personal protective equipment. We know that's abbreviated as PPE. The U.K. is one of the most affected countries when it comes to this deadly virus. We do not have a vaccine for COVID-19 or officially approved specific treatments and there are also many questions about testing. Let's get perspective from an expert. Gary McLean is a professor at London Metropolitan University. Good morning, thank you for coming on. Can you hear me?</s>GARY MCLEAN, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY: Yes.</s>ALLEN: Good morning, thank you so much for coming on.</s>MCLEAN: Good morning. Sorry about that.</s>ALLEN: That is all right. We're all trying to figure it out, live reporting in this era. I want to talk with you about -- just mentioned that the United Kingdom is still seeing shortages in PPE and is still behind in testing. What do you see as issues facing the United Kingdom right now?</s>MCLEAN: Yes, obviously case numbers are still increasing. Europe is the epicenter of the outbreak right now. Many countries in Europe are really suffering. I think that we have to continue the way we are with the lockdowns. The PPE issue is really an ongoing problem. We're seeing the frontline NHS staff really lacking for the essential equipment that they need. The government is, however, ramping up the testing for those people that are on the front lines, so we're seeing more people getting tested and hopefully that will continue. And we'll consequently see case numbers dropping soon.</s>ALLEN: That hasn't been the case yet but that is a positive note. We'll take it. We also know that there are many, many agencies around the world working on a vaccine. One is headlined (sic) in Oxford. Are you encouraged over the search for a vaccine?</s>MCLEAN: Yes, it seems like this is an unprecedented effort. At least 115 different candidates underway. And these candidates have the full spectrum of platforms from killed or inactivated viruses to subunits, small pieces of the virus or even much more experimental approaches with the vectors put into other viruses and then used or even just RNA or DNA vaccines. And we have to assume that these platforms worked in the past and that one will work in this case. But it will take time. The safety issues, regulation takes at least a year, in my opinion.</s>ALLEN: So meantime, until there is a vaccine, there is diagnostic tests, there will hopefully be an antibody test. We're hearing more about contact tracing, the need for that. How do you get ahead of this disease other than social distancing right now?</s>MCLEAN: It is extreme testing. We have to test as many people as possible, really understand the dynamics of the virus and the outbreak and how many people do get infected. It is always the old simple question, when there is a new infection, the population is not immune. We have to understand what proportion of the population do get immune and what proportion of the population do get infected. We have to assume, once you are infected, you do become immune and that will protect all the other people. Until we have that, the only exit strategy is effective immunity, which is a vaccine. And it is just going to take time, more research, more understanding.</s>ALLEN: And you talk about the belief that, once someone has had coronavirus, they are immune. But we're hearing about a case in South Korea.</s>ALLEN: A mystery where 163 people who recovered have now retested positive.</s>MCLEAN: Yes, there is a lot of debate about that. It is an intriguing story. I'm not sure on the exact specifics of those cases and whether or not they had very high levels of antibodies initially or not. A lot of this also depends on how effectively the test was done, what they are looking for in these situations is the virus. They need to swab inside the airways or through the nose, back of the throats, to find the virus. And if that is not effectively done, you could get a false negative presumably. People with antibodies that get reinfected? We know there are at least three different stratifications of antibody responses, the high, medium and those who may carry very few or no antibodies. So maybe some of these people did not have a strong antibody response in the initial stages of the infection.</s>ALLEN: Let's talk about the United States for a moment. We're in the middle of this battle. So many deaths, so many people have this. And the president is encouraging some states to reopen. Without widespread testing, is now the time for the U.S. to ease up on distancing? Everyone wants their economy back. But is this the time?</s>MCLEAN: Well, it is really a fine balance. I think you've got to balance out the effects on the economy, which are going to be huge worldwide. It is not just the United States. Everywhere will suffer from this. And you have to balance that with the health aspects. I do understand that it is very difficult and the authorities and President Trump have not got an easy job on this one. But I think that it is too soon to relax these measures of lockdown and quarantine. These are the only effective measures in a pandemic such as this, where we don't have immunity or a protective vaccine, the only way of stopping the virus. And I think that it would being more dramatically worse to release things too early and see the virus come back. At the epicenter in Wuhan, they had an 11 week lockdown. And I think the United States should look at what is happening in Europe first, because they are a little ahead in terms of case numbers. And we're not going to relief measures here in Europe just yet.</s>ALLEN: Agreed. Yes, Wuhan had many more deaths than we knew about, we just learned about that as well. Professor Gary McLean, thank you so much for your time.</s>MCLEAN: You're welcome. Thank you.</s>ALLEN: Just ahead here, the U.S. state of Texas, though, is ready to get back to normal, whatever that is. And the governor has a plan to make it happen sooner rather than later. We'll have a report from Dallas. Plus, can you remember everyone you were in contact with weeks before the lockdown started? People who were infected might have to answer that question before their lives get back to normal.