jeanne moos, cnn, new york. ♪ don't touch me >> and thanks so much for joining us. a. c-360 with anderson begins right now. >> and good evening. the president today signalled that he is looking for a way to, quote, get our country open again. he said he was talking in terms of weeks, not months. and he said it at the end of the biggest single-day rise in coronavirus deaths up more than 100 since this morning. now stands at 541 people. he asked as he did in the tweet last night if the cure, which involves shutting down large chunks of the economy, is worse than the disease. we'll play you some of his remarks in a moment ask debate that question tonight. some context to it, the number of deaths and cases has more than doubled, nearly 43,000 cases of the disease, about half of them in one state, new york. here in new york city, more than 12,000 people are infected and the mayor today said hospital supplies could run out in a

week. the army corps of engineers today began converting a giant convention center just two blocks from here into a thousand-bed hospital. on a related note we're awaiting test results from our colleague here at 360. i personally have no symptoms and had no close contact with the person. we broadcast from my home on friday. my staff is all still working from home. tonight i'm in a remote studio with a robotic camera so no contact and no symptoms. the u.k. under the title shutdown since the world war. the surgeon general, american surgeon general said this. >> i want america to understand, this week it's going to get bad. and we really need to come together as a nation, and so we really, really -- >> you don't think people are taking it seriously? >> that was this morning. now here's the president this evening. cnn's kaitlan collins asking him whether his desire to loosen restrictions was medically

sound. >> you said it's likely going to be weeks not months before you ease the guidelines put out. have any of the doctors on your team told you that's the right path to pursue? >> we spoke to them today. i said we have two things to look forward to. the doctors, if it were up to the doctors, they'd say let's shutdown the entire world because, again, you're up to almost 150 countries. so let's shutdown the entire world. and when we shut it down, that would be wonderful. let's keep it shut a couple of years. can't do that, and you can't do that with a country. especially the number one economy anywhere in the world by far. number one economy in the world. can't do that. >> cnn's jim accosta was listening in the press conference as well and has his own reporting on what led up to it. he joins us now. the president seems to be suggesting somehow the measures being taken to counter the virus are becoming worse than the virus itself. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. you heard the president say a number of times during the briefing at the white house he doesn't want the cure to be worse than the problem, and so

he is announcing he was announcing just a few moments ago that he plans on getting the country moving again, getting the economy going again. there are not a lot of specifics at this point as to how that's going to take place, but you could hear where the president's mind is going in all of this. at one point he was talking about how the coronavirus so far has not been as deadly as the seasonal flu, it's not as deadly as car accidents as the comparisons he made during the briefing. but, abd but, anderson, huge implications. if the country reopens again, gets the economy revved up again, does that mean people can go to the airports, can they go to restaurants, can they go back to the beach, can kids go back to school? and so on. a lot of questions haven't been answered at this point, but the president indicated very clearly that this era of social distancing he would like to cecum to an end. >> do any of the president's top medical officials actually support that?

>> i think that is a big question at this point. and one thing we should point out in just the last several minutes, the president announced that the first lady melania trump has tested negative for the coronavirus. the president, the first lady, the vice-president, mrs. pence have all tested negative for the coronavirus. but getting to your question, anderson, the president has been getting some push back. top officials have been getting some push back behind the scenes by dr. anthony fauci, the top infectious disease expert for the administration according to sources i'm talking to. dr. fauci has been urging some of these social distancing guidelines continue. he wants to see appropriate public health measures to continue. but you heard the president say during this briefing that you can't let these things go on forever. he doesn't want to see this last for months. he indicated during this press briefing that within the next week or so when the original 15-day period comes to an end, he's going to be making a decision. he was talking at one point, anderson, about certain parts of

the country that are dealing with very big outbreak like new york city and new york state, that those areas may remain somewhat shutdown versus other states like nebraska and idaho like he mentioned where they don't have as big of a problem where things could reopen to basically back to where they were. but, anderson, the president was pressed specifically whether or not dr. fauci agrees with the direction he's heading and the president -- and i think this will probably go down in some infamy in the days to come. said dr. fauci doesn't not agree with me. that was not a clear answer. and even dr. debbie burkes who was in the meeting, do fauci was not in the briefing, said at one point she wants to look at the data. she did not directly answer the question as to whether or not she agrees with the president's recommendations. it seems the top doctors in the administration and the economists inside the administration, people like larry kudlow pushing the president to get the economy going, are on opposing sides of

all this and this is going to get hashed out behind the scenes in coming days. in short order we're going to find where this country stands in the not too distant future, anderson. i expect days not weeks. >> we didn't hear about the bill negotiated in congress. what is the status of that? >> reporter: democrats seem to be saying that there could be a deal tonight or tomorrow to get $2 trillion stimulus deal passed by the congress and to the president's desk within the coming days. they were almost at each other's throats today, anderson, where senate majority leader mitch mcconnell were accusing democrats of tanking the markets, tanking the economy to get provisions they would like to see. democrats were saying, no, the republicans, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, that he was putting unnecessary voting guidelines in a way to make the democrats look bad. so they've been going at each other all day long, anderson. our sources are telling us that it sounds as though they're

moving towards passing a stimulus bill within the next day or so. the question is, is it even needed at this point at the size that they're talking about, the president is talking about reopening this economy again. >> jim accosta, appreciate it very much. atds the debate at the white house goes on over relaxing restrictions, states across the country were bracing for the wave that could be coming their way. today infectious disease physicians in atlanta implore the governor to declare a two-week order. they are cited a model tomorrow is a point of no return the delay of which any chances of completely overwhelming the hospital system. and late today florida's governor ordered 14 days of self-isolation if anyone arriving there from new york or new jersey. in all, at least 13 states now have some form of stay at home measures in effect or about to be. that includes california. joining us for a look at the big picture, where do preparations and supplies stand at this hour? >> reporter: well, anderson, like many other places in the

country here in los angeles, officials are really taking the initiative. l.a. county and city just cut a deal with a south korean company to buy tens of thousands of coronavirus test kits. they hope to be performing around 5,000 tests a day by the end of this week. in terms of the bigger picture, i mean, we heard from the american hospitals association. they say every hospital in every community will experience shortages -- will experience shortages, particularly of those protective equipment for the health workers. so it is not just going to be the current hot spots like new york. >> this massive manhattan convention center about to be converted into four field hospitals, a thousand beds between them. >> we have not even begun to see the influx of patients. this is still the relative quiet before the storm. >> reporter: the governor has ordered every hospital in new

york to increase bed capacity by 50%. new york state now home to around half the confirmed cases in this country, with more than 20,000 -- that's tripled in three days. and with more than 150 deaths. sea >> if we don't get the ventilators in particular, we will actually start to lose lives that could have been saved. >> reporter: the state says many cases are ages 18 to 49. they suggest vaping might be a factor. >> you can get it, the numbers show you can get it if you're a young person. >> reporter: the economy cratering the restaurant food service industry alone estimate 7 million could lose their jobs. restaurant manager jay boken already has. >> people are not going to be able to support their families. >> reporter: and stay at home orders still spreading. ohio, louisiana, connecticut, indiana, west virginia and michigan among the recent additions. but not everyone is taking social distancing seriously

enough. >> we can't have the kind of social distancing that parts of italy had or we will turn into italy with those case counts and those death rates. >> reporter: more than 6000 have now died in italy. among them, more than 20 doctors. here thousands of retired health care workers are now heeding the call to come back to work. >> i feel i have a moral obligation to share my skills. we can't imagine what it's going to be like a week or two from now. >> reporter: so many places now struggling for supplies. >> we just received our allotment from the federal government's national strategic stockpile. the allotment of personal protection equipment for one of our hospitals, that allotment is barely enough to cover one shift at that hospital. >> reporter: and mercy, the navy hospital ship with 800 personnel aboard, today set sale for los angeles.

>> is there a sense of how effective the shelter-in-place order has been there in california? >> reporter: well, i mean, anderson, in terms of whether it has slowed the spread, it might be a little while before that data is really readable. but i can tell you officials here do not think that we have been social distancing enough. frankly they're right. i took my kids for a hike yesterday, pulled into the parking lot, it was parkcked. there were 40 people waiting to touch that parking ticket machine. so i drove straight out. today the county closed all the trails and closed the beach parking lots. anderson? >> nick wyatt, thank you very much. because there are fast movements, controversy over expanding the narrowing restrictions on day to day life, we're glad to have two medical professions on the program, cnn chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta, and from the city

of baltimore. they'll be open soon weeks, not months. the idea of scaling back the social distancing guidelines which really just got started and in many places clearly aren't being followed. does this make sense? >> you know, look. i think any doctor or public health official who looks at this if they're being completely honest, it doesn't make sense. first of all, the numbers are going to get worse. i think everyone has conceded that point, over the next week. we know that there is a lag time that's going on right now so the numbers that we're seeing actually reflect people who may have been exposed up to a couple weeks ago. i don't know how you could justify as the numbers are getting worse and the pace at which the numbers are getting worse. it's like building inertia. you say at that point let's pull back on the social distancing measures. it really would not have given it a chance at all. so i think if anyone is being honest within the medical public

health community, they would say no, now is not the time. it's going to be greater, sort of impact now. it's obviously a lot to ask people to do. but unless you do it, this is going to spread out a lot longer and cause a lot more pain later on. so, you know, it doesn't make sense. i get the balance here, but it doesn't make sense, anderson. >> doctor, when you hear the president say the treatment is worse than -- i'm getting it wrong. the cure is worse than -- i'm totally blowing it. when he says essentially that it's worse to continue these social distancing, the isolation because it's destroying the economy, that's going to cause more harm, more deaths. >> i mean, there is a big disconnect between what the president is saying and the reality on the ground. sanjay mentioned the rising numbers. we are also seeing doctors and nurses plead for medical equipment, plead for ventilators, plead for

protective equipment. we are seeing things getting out of control with no sense of how we're going to get it under control. and then to hear the president talk about how we're going to be scaling back restrictions at a time when we have exponential spread of this disease that's killing -- it killed 100 people in the last 24 hours. it doesn't make any sense. it actually sends a confusing message because there are people -- a lot of people are taking the social distancing seriously. a lot of people are not. for them to hear the president say that maybe we should pull back these restrictions. it's really not emphasizing the gravity of the situation that we have, and i really fear that if we do pull back the restrictions, we'll have many tens of thousands, if not more deaths, and it's all going to be because we didn't listen to the public health experts. >> sanjay, the number of cases the u.s. -- in the u.s. has more than doublinged since friday. is that because more people are

being tested? >> it's in part because people are getting tested. also the virus is spreading. i can't emphasize this enough. it's kind of like looking at the light coming from a star, anderson. we know that light actually originated many years ago. we're just now seeing it. the same can be said for testing. so what we're seeing right now is something that's reflective of up to a couple weeks ago, and we know that there's been greater spread since then. so the numbers -- it's not just the fact that the numbers tick up. it's the pace at which these numbers are going up. as you just mentioned, doubled since friday, 100 now sadly deaths in a single day. these numbers are going in the wrong direction. how do you then justify the strategy that was designed to try and mitigate these numbers, how do you justify pulling back on it at a time when the numbers are not only going up, but the pace at which they're going up is increasing as well. it is testing, but i think the evidence of spread is clear as well. >> and, sanjay, what is the

break down of cases, older people, those with underlying health conditions? >> yeah, it's interesting because everyone i think often looks at it as a binary thing. people who survived, people who died, which is a fair way to look at this. i think the fact people are getting sick requiring hospitalization at a younger age is a point that's worth emphasizing. a study came out that looked at 500 patients in the united states and found that about 12% of them required hospitalization. 50 to 60 patients. so over 10% are requiring hospitalization. the biggest group of people requiring hospitalization was those 65 to 84, about a third of those hospitalized fell into that age group. but, anderson, people age 20 to 44, about -- they made up about 20% of the hospitalizations as well. so, yes, they are much more likely to survive, they are much more likely to recover if you're younger. but, you know, it can be a significant illness. and i think that shouldn't be minimized either, anderson. >> and, dr. wien, you have the

surgeon general saying it's going to get bad. any sense how bad? >> it's definitely going to get bad and i would say that it's already gotten bad. it's just going to get worse this week and worse next week. how bad it gets depends on the actions that we each can take today. and this is why -- i know we've talked about this so much, anderson, but the idea of taking matters into your own hands, doing what you can. and i like what sanjay often says about this, which is we should act as if we each have coronavirus and that other people around us have it as well. if we each behaved that way and think about how can i protect myself, how can i protect those around me, and how can i reduce the rate of transmission in the community, we actually have a chance of slowing this down. we have a chance of saving people's lives. but that takes each of us. and i would say it takes the federal government, too. it is hard to ask people to take matters into our own harnnds ife

don't see the federal government stepping up and doing everything in their power to assist state and local officials to assist people on the ground. >> sanjay, you heard from the michigan governor, nick watts. he's -- the allotment they got of personal protective equipment they got for their state was, she said would cover one shift in one hospital. >> that is the issue here, you know. these front line workers, they have to assume that every patient they're dealing with has the virus. even if they're coming in for a non-infection related thing, they have to put on the personal protective equipment and act as if the patients have the virus. that's why they're running out so quickly. i don't want to harp on this point, anderson. we've known this for sometime. we've known that up to 3 billion masks were going to be necessary. that's what the buying time was all about since the beginning of this year. it's sad we're finding ourselves behind now in this particular regard because they can't, they

can't protect themselves. >> dr. wen, sanjay, stick around. coming up next -- dr. wen, thank you. we'll be joined by say doctor who asked the similar question to the president. is our fight against the coronavirus worse than the disease? we'll talk to him ahead. later a report from the original front lines. what nurses at the life care center in kirkland, washington, say about what they have experienced. life isn't a straight line. and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. i'm gonna grow big and strong. yes, you are. i'm gonna get this place all clean. i'll give you a hand. and i'm gonna put lisa on crutches!

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approach. quoting from the article, i believe we may be ineffectively fighting the contagion even as we are causing economic collapse, unquote. joining me now is the author of that editorial dr. david katz, director of the yale research center. back with us is dr. sanjay gupta who will ask questions as well. doctor, your article is fascinating. you write about needing more of a surgical approach. if this is a war, president and other politicians have used that analogy, rather than an all-out campaign, you're proposing a more surgical strike or raising the idea of a surgical strike. can you explain what that would look like? >> yeah, well, anderson, great to be with you. really good to be with my friend sanjay. the first thing i want so say is that i'm completely in support of what we're doing right now, social distancing, sheltering in place. doing everything possible to mitigate spread of the virus, which if all the infection spread at once to the most vulnerable people, really can cause a huge surge in severe

infection death overwhelming the medical system. totally in support of the measures. if i may, anderson, at the beginning of this, i want to put a human face to it. i'm thinking about people like my parents. my parents are both 80 and generally in pretty good health. and they are sheltering in place and separated from the rest of the family because, you know, they really can't associate with young people who could potentially inadvertently transmit the virus. and i've spoken to them both about, you know, what are you most concerned about right now? and my father, his biggest concern -- he obviously doesn't want to get coronavirus and die certainly, but right now the recommendations seem to be an indefinite period of shutting everything down. his biggest worry is his life's legacy, losing his life savings, everything -- he's a cardiologist. up until recently was still seeing patients. really deeply concerned that his entire life is -- everything

he's worked for may slip through his fingers in this twilight period. and my mother's biggest worry is that she may be required to stay in social isolation so long that she dies of something else before she can ever hug her grandchildren again. what i'm suggesting is we use this period where we do everything possible to mitigate spread, gather data to see who is subject to severe severe ris death, and i've seen south korea has done the best gathering data. south korea reports 99% of all cases are mild and the high risk is concentrated in the elderly and people with chronic illness. we can use this initial period to tell people, look, we're going to carefully gather data. i think it's probably to say a week or two. it's some amount of time to reach a critical mass of data to say we can now very clearly risk strategy identify. there is a large section of the

population maybe very prone to get the infection, but it's extremely likely it will be mild. and then a kristaps porzingis of the population we have to very diligently protect because they can't afford to get it. they're prone to infection -- >> how would that work? you're saying focus on the most vulnerable, gather data now, keep things in place currently. but ultimately use that data to see if it aligns with south korea, you mentioned the diamond princess data and -- >> right. >> and sort of mobilize forces to protect -- protect the elderly. how would you do that, though? would they be socially isolated, then? they would be in some sort of quarantine, i assume. >> see, they're doing it now. again, i'm not proposing anything for the high-risk population that we aren't doing now, except maybe more. for example, we sent college students home. we laid off young people from businesses that shuttered a lot of those came back to live with their older parents including in

my house. three of our kids came back home. two college students from boston, one who is working in new york city. the potentially infect their 60 something parents. i'm not feeling it. thankfully my wife and i are very healthy and i suspect if we get this, it will be very mild. but, yeah, i would say we double down to make sure we identify the people most at risk of severe infection and death. it appears to be a relatively small segment of the population. i don't think anybody should be too sure of that too soon. >> sorry. sanjay, i want you to be able to ask a question here. >> yeah, so, dr. katz, it's good to see you. so you're basically saying that the current plan you agree with. but as time goes on and more data is collected that we may be be able to better identify how the strategy changes. most people said it should focus on the vulnerable populations. the one thing i do want to ask

you about, though, is everyone sort of uses this, did they live or did they die sort of scenario. if you look at the data here, and granted it's early data here in the united states, about 20% of the hospitalizations are in people between the ages of 20 and 44. so they're recovering, but they do need to be hospitalized and some of them have longer-term problems. lung function problems, stuff like that. how would you address that? >> yeah, i think it's a crucial point, sanjay. and just to reiterate, i don't think we have enough data in the united states to make well-informed decisions and we shouldn't make next decisions until we do. what i'm talking about is to very carefully do case ascertainment, find out where it is, find out if there are low-risk populations and do that here in the united states so we don't just assume what happened in south korea will happen here. but i think what we could do is tell the public, now, look, this is not an indefinite hunker with your anxiety and dread and hope there is a vaccine so you eventually get to see your

grandchildren again. no, we have a specific plan. it's in phases. this phase is we mitigate spread. you stay socially distanced from one another while we gather data to see if we can do a risk-stratified approach. the idea there is that the data will tell us we can or we can't. i think they'll say we can. what i'll say about young people, sanjay, again, early in an outbreak, you don't miss people who need hospital beds. you don't need somebody -- you don't miss somebody in your icu, those are obvious events. young people with extremely mild symptoms who don't report them to anybody and just go about their business are easily overlooked unless you go out and look for them. south korea did that and their data shows, i think they still have the best in the world, population-level data. 99% of cases are reported. we have no reason to think that's going to be very different here. what's very different here so far is the degree to which we're finding cases. governor cuomo reported in the last 24 hours, for example, in new york, they ramped up from

doing a thousand tests a day to doing 16,000 tests a day and they intend to ramp up further. i think we're going to have much more detailed understanding of what our data show very soon and we need to wait for that. i think we could plan -- if the data allow us to pivot from what i call horizontal interdiction, shut everything down, keep everybody away from everybody else, vertical interdiction is risk based. we're going to hurt people other ways than with the virus. people's life savings are being lost. they're despairing. they're anxious. they may be hesitating to seek medical attention for other problems. they may be experiencing hunger. resource interruptions, service interruptions that threaten their health. the social determinants of health are hugely important issue. >> right. >> health, those are going to be affected, too. what i'm proposing really, what is the best sequence, phase sequence of strategies to

minimize all of the harm, the direct harm of the virus absolutely crucial, but also the indirect harm. we are at risk of hurting people, seriously hurting them and causing deaths by our responses to the virus if we don't optimize them. >> dr. david katz, i urge people to read your piece and i appreciate it. i hope to talk to you again, no doubt in the coming days. david katz, thank you. dr. sanjay gupta is going to stay with us. >> thank you. >> we're going to fact check president trump on the drugs he repeatedly says could be a game changer. what does the evidence say when we return. we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style.

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the president again today touted several drugs he believes will help against coronavirus. he again useed the word game changer. a malaria drug chloroquin used to treat lupus in short supply for those who need it for lupus and other things. he told i story of a man who took the drug and recovered. he did not tell about the man and woman who used chloroquin phosphate who died and the woman is critically ill because of something they read about chloroquin. a study out today identifying 69 drugs that might be effective against the viergs. what's lacking is a solid body of evidence that any of them work and are safe. more now on the subject from dr. sanjay gupta. >> why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half when we have thousands of people that are very sick? they're very, very sick. and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better. and in some cases save their lives. >> president trump says he's

optimistic about some potential treatments for the novel coronavirus. in particular, a malaria drug called chloroquin. >> you know, this has been something that's been around for many years. it's been phenomenal, strong, powerful drug for malaria, but we think it might work on this based on evidence, based on very strong evidence. >> it's true, the medication has been around for more than 80 years and has a few side effects, including nausea and mood changes as well as possible interactions with other drugs. now enthusiasm for the possibility of treating the novel coronavirus largely centers on one study out of france which used a derivative of chloroquin used with an antibiotic commonly known as z pack. the study was small and the patients were followed for only six days. >> the study that looked at that drug and showed activity was a study that involved about 20 patients and only six that showed the benefit. the benefit they showed was that they decreased the amount of virus in their noses when you

did nasal swabs on those patients. it could be reducing viral shedding. the data on that is very preliminary. >> we took a closer look at the study and here's what we found. there were originally 26 patients in the study who were treated. 20 completed the trial. one left the hospital before the trial ended. one couldn't tolerate the medication. three went to the intensive care unit. that's an 11% critical care rate. and one died. a 4% mortality rate. now, those numbers are higher, critical care and mortality rates, than the general population of infected. keep in mind again it's a small study. there was another study from 2011 which found that while chloroquin was effective in the lab against the flu, it ultimately wasn't effective in humans. look, that's why trials are needed and they can be done quickly. many labs in the world health organization had already started

studying these drugs in dozens of others to help us find an answer for a disease that currently has no known cure. >> using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise false hope, and even do more harm than good. and cause a shortage of essential medicines that are needed to treat other diseases. >> at the end of last week, chloroquin was added to the american society of health system pharmacists drug shortage list. >> sanjay, is there a time line of when more of these trials might be completed by? >> well, you know, it's probably going to be a few months. it's hard to say. there's two trials that are going on with chloroquin. one is for treatment and one more of a prophylaxis to keep people from getting as bad an infection. it's going to take awhile, anderson. the fact it's an existing drug

helps, but you still have to go through trials. it's not entirely clear at all it works. there was a promising trial that ended last week, anderson, probably the most promising trial started just a week after the first patient was diagnosed and after they went through the trial they found that it didn't work, this particular drug therapy. so they move on. you've got to do these trials to make sure you're dealing with what you think you're dealing with. >> it is interesting to have the president of the united states kind of touting these and the medical folks, dr. fauci and others standing behind him, sort of not wanting to contradict him directly and say essentially, you know, there's a reason studies are done. things might look good on paper or might look good in the test tube. but unless it's actually been legitimately studied, you can't say. but this president does say. >> yeah, i mean, look, that was wild frankly to watch, this back and forth between president trump and dr. anthony fauci.

you know, dr. fauci was sort of just having to sort of fact-check on the fly. but, look, there's a lot of hunches out there. there's dozens of drugs that are being looked at right now. there's lots of hunches out there. the reality of them most don't get beyond phase two trials. that's why you have to do the studies, anderson. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thanks very much. just ahead the nurses at the life care center in seattle saw the virus infect staff and residents before they knew its full effect. their story when we return. opent and it was the first time that i realized i could be earning interest back on my money. i just discovered sofi, and i'm an investor with a diversified portfolio. who am i?! i refinanced with sofi and i was able to cut my interest rate by forty percent. thank you sofi.

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some break news in just the last few minutes. washington state governor jay inslee issued an order to stay at home for two weeks immediately. distancing ourselves is the only weapon we have against the virus. he knew about the nurses and residents at the facility who knew it was a pandemic when it affected their staff and residents. more from sarah sidner. >> it was like a war zone. everybody needed medications, everybody needed treatment. >> we had 70 staff within a week that were out. >> reporter: these health care workers were among the first to battle a covid-19 outbreak in america. few in the united states have more experience with the deadly toll it took.

how quickly do you see the demise of someone with covid-19? >> less than 24 hours. >> reporter: they work at life care center at kirkland, the nursing home with the first known cluster of covid-19 deaths and infections occurred. for a month they have been treating and continue to treat coronavirus-infected patients. have any of you had symptoms of the novel coronavirus? >> no. >> no. >> reporter: have any of you tested positive for covid-19? >> no. >> reporter: for weeks, this was the location of the most deaths from the novel coronavirus in the united states. this is the first time their story of what happened inside has been told. >> if you google signs and symptoms of coronavirus, runny nose, fever and cough, i haven't seen a runny nose yet. what i see is much different than that. i saw what i describe as red eyes. >> i never heard of red eyes before. why is that? is that information just not gotten out to the public? >> it's something that i

witnessed in all of them. they have like -- you can describe it like allergy eyes. the white part of your eye is not red. it's more like they have red eye shadow on on the outside of their eyes. but we've had patients that just had the red eyes. it's the only symptom that we stau, a saw and go to the hospital and pass away at the hospital. >> reporter: as of now the cdc does not list red eyes as a symptom of covid-19. chelsea ernest is a registered nurse and the nursing director at another life care center facility in washington state, and that is what she saw. when an urgent call for help came from the kirkland facility, she volunteered. she arrived one day after the staff learned a patient tested positive for coronavirus. why did you answer the call? you didn't have to be there. this was voluntary. >> well, i'm a nurse and --

they're not my patients, but -- hold on, i'm sorry. >> reporter: it's okay, take a breath. ernest and her fellow staff members saw the death toll rise like a rocket. the terrifyingly fast deterioration of the patients always seemed to happen on the night shift. her shift. >> that's how i describe it, is you're going off to war and you're in a battle field where supplies are limited. the help is slow to get to you. and there's lots of casualties. >> reporter: and you can't see the enemy. >> and you can't see the enemy. >> reporter: suddenly a third of the staff had symptoms and was out sick. before they all knew it, the virus was sweeping through the entire building. it was the oldest patients who were dying fast. >> the average age was 80 years old. >> reporter: nancy buttener is the vice-president of life care centers of america northwest division. >> just the patients, losing them.

because we support them for so long and it's hard. >> reporter: after two days of madness, things seemed to calm, but not and so i started following the coughs. >> according to the cdc and life care center, at the height of infections 129 people linked to this nursing home tested positive. three quarters of the patients about a third of the staff and 14 visitors. 29 people associated with this facility have died due to coronavirus. in the weeks that followed, the cdc came out with a report on the facility. it found in part the facilities limitations and staff members working in multiple facilities contributed to the spread of the virus both inside the facility and out. >> many nursing staff work in one or more facilities. >> do you think that that will change? the idea of having people work

at different facilities after covid-19? >> i don't know that it would. and again, in health care you work in different settings. >> if everyone was trained on infection control, how is it that so many patients got covid-19 and so many members of the staff also got covid-19. >> there's usually two patients to a room, some of the rooms are bigger and they have three patients. you have care giving staff that are very close to their residents. we hug them, we kiss them, we love them. and i couldn't have been perfect on my ppe process. >> you couldn't have been perfect because things were happening so fast, you were trying to save lives? >> yes. >> she arrived after the first person tested positive, it took five days to get the results.

>> who is they so we can follow up with it? >> they couldn't get information on their loved ones for days. >> we just could not answer the phone quick enough. we had a significant drop in staff. we had significant care needs that were a priority over stalking to families on the phone p. phone. >> they made a cry for help. >> did you get what you need when you needed it? >> no. no. >> no one was doing just one job. stephanie booth is in charge of payroll. >> i worked in the kitchen. i don't know, i've done a little bit of everything. i've done some housekeeping. >> everyone was doing everything until doctors and nurses arrived from the cdc and health and human services. the number of patients in the facility has dropped from 120 to

42. of those 42 patients 31 have tested positive for novel coronavirus. >> what advice would you give other facilities, other doctors and nurses. other staff members about dealing with covid-19. >> i didn't expect it to be so lethal. and i have no shame in saying that i was wrong. >> anderson, chelsea says she was wrong about thinking that the coronavirus was kind of like the flu. she does not think that any more, and they do admit as a staff they made mistakes, but they were the first in america to battle this new virus. anderson in. >> just a reminder of all those nurses and doctors out there risking their lives. up next, remembering some of the lives lost to coronavirus.

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more than 500 people have died in the u.s. from the coronavirus. we wanted to take a moment to remember some of those whose lives have been stolen from them. they're not statistics or numbers, they're people who are loved by family and friends and missed greatly. dr. steven schwartz was a well known pathologist, he was renowned for his research into vascular biology. he was larger than life and leaves a lasting imprint not only on the university but the broader scientific community. bill pike thought he had a case of pneumonia when he went into a connecticut hospital. that's before they were aware of the threat of the virus. in the end his loved ones couldn't be by his bed holding his hand.

those who knew him describe him as a person of incredible character. they're taking some comfort in knowing he had a long life that was filled with joy and love. bill pike was 91 years old. patricia friesen worked as a nurse before she retired. she felt she needed to help people, she went to the hospital because she thought her asthma was acting up, she became the first person in illinois to die from the virus. patricia was 61 years old. cindy rutter survived stage 4 breast cancer but not the virus. she's a single mom with six beautiful kids and she loved them fiercely. she was always careful about germs because of her compromised immune system from her cancer treatments. she died about a week after being admitted to the hospital. she was 42 years old. larry edge worth was a long time

employee of nbc news. he worked in the equipment room at 30 rock in new york city. he travelled around the world for the network. he had seen a lot of things. he was the type of guy you wanted to be by your side according to his colleague. they called him a gentle bear of a man who always had your back. he was 61 years old. our coverage of the coronavirus continues right now, i want to hand it over to chris for cuomo prime time. >> thank you very much. i am chris cuomo, welcome to prime time. we're still at the studio in new york city. i don't know how long that will be the case. people at cnn and at all the companies that are broadcasting to you are so committed. but the realities are more cases by the hour. more importantly, hospitalizations in a place like new york are only increasing and rapidly. our ability to treat the worst cases is not growing as quickly. if those are the facts. why is the president talki