tv Erin Burnett Out Front CNN April 2, 2020 4:00pm-5:01pm PDT
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roosevelt. after he raised red flags about the coronavirus out break on his ship. it appears he's punished for trying to save the lives of sailors. >> i understand there's a news conference by the secretary of defense about that. i don't agree with that at all. not even a little bit. >> this morning you said that new york got off to a late start and should have pushed harder. governors and other leaders say they rely on the federal government to assess the situation and how risky it is. they want to know how would they have known to start sooner without your guidance? >> they have experts and frankly long after we came out and talked about it. how would i have known to candidacut
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off china? how would i know to cut off europe. i did that earl wiy. you have to make a decision. people knew bad things were going on. and got off to a late start. and some others got off to late start also. we cut off china if we didn't cut off china, we would have been in some big trouble. we cut it off. way early. >> the follow up on the insurance point in the separate question. that came from a colleague who can't be in the room. on the insurance point is -- >> who are you with? >> role call. is there an opportunity for insurance companies if in fact hospitals are compensated for uncompensated care are the insurance companies going to also get compensated for extraordinary expenses that they may have? or assuming that cost.
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>> we have haven't discussed it. we're talking to them. getting them not to pay copay in the case of the big ones is a tremendous thing. that's a lot of money they gave up. we're discussing that with the insurance company. >> i have a question on japan. they are expanding their entry ban to inclupd the united states. are you planning to take any similar action to ban japanese nationals from coming to the u.s. as a result of this crisis? >> well, we're looking at a lot of things and a will the of different bans. we have more bans than anybody. we have bans which bans weren't fashionable. if you remember. at the beginning of the administration for different reasons. we have had bans long before people thought of bans. when i did china, it had never been done before. i was the first to do that. remember that. according to what i read in the papers this had never been done. it was a terrible thing to do.
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four weeks later lucky we did it. we're looking at it. we heard that. and i think it's fine they do that. they're trying to protect the country. we have to protect ours. >> i asked you yesterday about stay at home order and if the decision should be left in the hand of governors or considering telling the entire nation stay at home. just today the georgia governor issued a state at home order. individuals could have been infected but didn't know that until the last 24 hours. is that ignorance? >> he's a good governor. and he has to make his own decision on that. i let the states. we're about 85% positive on that if you look it's about 85% of the states have got the stay at home. brian is a great governor. it's his decision. he decided to go along with it. and they're doing well.
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the state is doing well in many respects. >> this is a question for a colleague. question regards to the russian plane that landed with medical supplies. was it asked for or just accepting it? >> we're accepting it. it was a nice offer from president putin. they had excess medical equipment. things. and i'll take it. i'll take it. it's very nice. we have had some from china. we help other countries. we like doing it. if we have excess stuff we let it go out. they had orders for it. it was a very nice gesture on behalf of president putin. and i could have said no thank you or thank you. and it was a large plane of very high quality medical supplies and i said i'll take it.
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>> further aide? >> if we were to ask for it. he was very nice. it was part of call. he suggested we have it. it's additional. they have big difficulties with this virus also. it was a very nice gesture on behalf of the putin. i could have said i don't want it or i'll take it. i'll take it. >> i think so. if they send things we need, i'll take. nice gesture. i'm not concerned about russian propaganda. he offered a will the of medical high quality stuff that i accepted. that may save a lot of lives. i i'll take it every day. >> beginning of your presidency and continue to stand with the people of iran. given the fact they are so hard hit with the coronavirus. >> very hard hit. >> would you consider -- >> in a lot of ways. with the economy and military.
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and obviously the virus. >> would you consider easing sanctions to allow medical supplies to get in? >> they haven't asked us to do that. >> sanctions hit people not government. >> they haven't even asked us to do that. if they want to meet, we'd love to meet and settle the whole thing. i doubt they will be. >> realistically. how does a person pick up the phone and call. >> iranians love america. they would love to be free and love to have the things we have. i remember iran many years ago friends of mine were in iran. doing real estate deals. building beautiful buildings. there were successful and one day it ended. people remember that. it was a listening time ago. not so long ago. >> you are listening to the coronavirus task force briefing.
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answering a question about iran. along with vice president and kushner. and they are giving the latest update talking about testing and people are still waiting for tests. this comes on a day where of course you have more nincrease n number of cases. 5,800 deaths in the united states. 52,000 worldwide. known deaths and more than 1 million cases worldwide. john king, daniel dale all here. we'll be joined by dr. san jay gupta. the president taking questions there. the majority going to the president. testing did just come up. you heard the doctor admitting a lolt of people are waiting and you get the results in 15 minutes like the president did. that's not the reality on the ground for many americans.
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>> it is not. she is answering she said we have to change that slope. from the doctor saying france, italy, germany. showing effort that social distancing and others are curving in the right direction. united states is in the wrong direction. the point about testing part of the briefing we begin to see proof the administration gets they still have big problems. jared kushner in the briefing the president's fireman. the troubleshooter. the president calls him when he's taking incoming. he's been taking incoming about governors about the performance of fema. kushner says i'm trying to clear up the supply issues. and admiral streamline logistics and deliveries. testing is getting better but people are waiting. one month ago the president said anybody that wants a test they
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can get a test. we're nowhere close. just for the test that the states need to try to get a better sample of how bad is our problem. that's a big issue. the other thing is the defense production act. the president rezisisted for weeks. he essentially let federal government take over the supply chain. parts for ventilators and understand they are behind the curve. the message is we get it, we'll do this. the question is can they do fast enough. state by state and look at the crunch on the hospital. can they do it fast enough. as with e speak there are not enough ventilators in the united states of america to meet what is coming in a week or three. >> it seemed obvious you needed a central person when you had states competing for the same supplies. not knowing who to call.
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the issue is peter running that. the admiral from fema. and you have jared kushner who says he is running that. and he's the president's troubleshooter and does lack a background with procurement or logistics or supply chain management. three people who are in charge on the platform. >> of course the question it raises is whether they are in fact fixing it. let's step back and remember four years ago when trump was running for president. bush ran the republican primary against him said you're a chaos candidate and you will be a chaos president. we have seen chaos during the first three years of the trump administration and what you have to wonder is that efb now when the stakes are high, economically for life and death. 100,000 americans now projected in a best case to lose their
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lives. are we seeing chaos here? we have had hhs in charge of the effort. then vice president pence. then fema injected now jared kushner saying the president talked to one of his friend on the phone about the new york and said they are short of n 95 masks so i called the head of a hospital and now i'm shipping him masks. hospitals around the country hundreds of them are begging for this equipment. they have been for weeks. the idea it takes a phone call from a president friend to make this happen that under scores the problem not the solution. >> certainly there was that jared kushner i ges intended to show once you get the president's attention he'll make it happen. that's micro management that is ineffective. and peter goes on a long story
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essentially the same thing. the president was able to make a couple phone calls and get supplies where they need to get. >> it almost seems to be a requirement if you're going to speak at a trump press conference appear alongside the president you have to lavish him with praise that many previous presidents might have seen as over the top. we know this president like many of us probably more so enjoys being complimented in public. just a few fact checks. one very important. the president continues to give people a medical advice that is dubious. talking about masks. he said that in many katss using a scarf can be better than an actual mask. because it's thicker. there's more studying to be done about effectiveness about the virus. the atd vice is not what the cdc says. that are last resort options for healthcare workers. they are not proven effective.
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if you're considering wearing a scarf over a mask because the president said so. please don't. >> where that claim would come from. the president said that they are looking at different bans. japan barring people from the united states americans coming in. whether he would reply. he said we have done more bans than anybody. back to the original muslim ban. does that more bans coming in terms of transit and travel? >> the issue of the ban is if you see some place around the world that has a growing problem you want to limit in incoming from the citizens. when the president says we're looking at that. he would often say we have something in two weeks, pushing it aside. he at the scene it all the time. we'll look at it.
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back to the point made. he did after being urged by congress who saw the problem he did and deserves credit for the travel ban on china earlier. hfs criticized for it. he was called a racist. the issue -- and the european ban later. and again the public health experts say look what was happening in italy and spain. there were holes in it. it was a wise move. the issue is everything else. the issue is not his reflexes. ban travel from a foreign nation i will do that. the request question is if thatn we have a problem coming, let's ramp up testing. how many ventilators do we have. is it enough? let's put states on alert. pick who is in charge. put somebody in charge and start it in january. or february. we would be having a different
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conversation. they didn't. he minimized this for months even though he implemented the china ban. >> thank you very much. i want to bring in sanjay gupta. daniel dale brought up the point of what president trump said about masks. a normal telling americans to wear masks and the response is you could use a scarf. in many cases a scarf is better. it's thicker. that's the quote. is that true? >> i don't know it's any better because it's thicker. there's a fundamental point that is different here versus mafrks for example in hospitals or healthcare settings. what changed here, the reason you hear the l.a. mayor recommending masks. and de blasio for the public
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6789 it's because of the idea people who are asymptomatic not having symptoms or having the virus. could be spreading. these are not hospital grade masks we're talking about. but some sort of cloth mask to wear in public because you're trying to protect other people from you. opposed to in the hospitals where healthcare workers wear it protecting themselves from the patient. who maybe putting virus into the air of the it's a different thing. if you wear a mask and have virus in your nose or throat you maybe reducing at least the amount of virus you put into the environment. that's what is driving this thinking. it's a little bit opposite in the way people thought about masks. it's not to protect yourself. it to protect others from you. that's what i think that's what the president trump was talking about. >> it's really well said. i think because america is not a culturely a mask society.
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asia is a mask society. there is a here people say what are you saying about me. you would be wearing it protect others from yourself. people think about it they might feel differently. part of this we have known it can spread asymptomatically. what seems to be new is that perktss are telling the white house it can be spread by talking or breathing. which is not what we had heard. is that really a new thing here? and why would we just be discovering that? >> this came from a letter given to the white house based on some research. i have spoken to many of my contacts and doctor fauci about this. here's another way to think about it. we have been saying this all along. if you don't have symptoms, and you're still spreading it, how are you spreading it?
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through your breath. and you're not coughing or sneezing the viral particles out. they are in the back of your throat. nose and just through daily activity ov life. talking and breathing. you are are e leasing virus into the air. i will say this, it is the science is clear that had happen. that can happen. how much is that driving the spread of this? probably a lot less. than someone who is clearly symptomatic. they are really driving lt majority of the spread. it's something to be aware of and we're doing everything we can chl people want to do everything we can to mitigate the spread of the virus. so this is another step. and be aware of. >> certainly. one that will cause some concern among people. in a sense when you think about it when we hear -- we'll talk to someone later. the numb of peep getting this from parties or casual group settings. choir. it's clear that what you're
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saying is true. hearing it is quite sobering. it comes as one of the death toll models the white house has been given. revised upward. they originally projected 82,000 deaths by august. they are projecting 93,000. these are projections. that is a curable caveat. crucial caveat. everything is assumption. what changed? >> it's interesting. we spent time looking at models and spoke to the developer. it's interesting you are putting in new inputs every day. one of the things as i think we have talked about that is fundamental to the models is by the end of the week by friday, tomorrow. you have to have every state stay at home orders. that was -- these numbers would only be around what they are.
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90,000. if you had stay at home order in every state. every day that goes by -- several states haven't implemented it. it drives up the number. in addition when you dug into the numbers as we did today you found that the critical shortage of hospital beds what they predict the shortfalls will be also went up. in part if you're saying look we don't have enough icu beds for the patients who need them. there are patients who won't get the care that could save lives and sadly that drives up the mortality numbers as well. the two things are hand in hand. they may bounce around a bit as we hear some of the hospitals are developing surge capacity. and field hospitals. but right now they're not going not right direction. >> all right. thank you very much. don't miss san jay he'll be here
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at the top of the hour for the global coronavirus town hall along with governor cuomo and dr. fauci. two people at the party have died. she wants to speak to you because there's something she wants everyone to know about the virus. breaking news the cruise ship with passengers who have coronavirus docked in florida. the lengths fort lauderdale is going to to keep people safe. update to a story we brought you yesterday. >> how are you going to pay the $1,100 rent? >> i don't know. when you are scared you don't see nothing but fear. feel the clarity of non-drowsy
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doing everything possible to keep you connected. through the resilience of our network and people... we can keep learning, keep sharing, keep watching, and most of all, keep together. it's the job we've always done... it is the job we will always do. tonight the numb of reported coronavirus deaths in new jersey only second to new york. at least two of the at the times and six other cases linked to a 90 year-old birthday party. a radio reporter covering the out break in new york. remember when that was where the out break was outside of new york. she through party for her mother and didn't know she had the virus. she tested positive. hr mother and father tested positive approximate her mother's best friend among the two people who died after the
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party. "outfront" now. alice, look. this is a tragic story and a really upsetting story. i want to give you a chance to tell it. you had a party march 8. for your mom at a church. 25 of her friends were there. things seemed okay. you were not sick. what happened in the next few days? >> the day after the party my mother got really sick. and she didn't have symptoms that were like any other symptoms we had heard about. there was congestion. but she was throwing up. she had a really high fever. she was sick for several days and finally when the fever sparked to 102 we took her to the hospital. she stayed in the hospital for it seemed like forever. four days. and she tested positive for the coronavirus. she was the first to test positive at southern ocean county hospital. and it was at that point the health department reached out
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and dawned on me that there was a good chance that having been in west chester several times since the lawyer tested positive in march. the first case in manhattan. there was a good chance i had brought it home. and brought it to the congregation. all i can say is at that point we didn't know how quickly this virus spread. even reporters like myself were saying more people die of the flu, it's not goipg going to be much worse. don't make a big deal out of the nothing. we quickly found out it's a big deal. it spread quickly. social distancing has proven to be the way to control it. within a week seven people in the church tested positive. >> as you said six cases. your parents and two of those people who were at the party
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died. did it ever occurred to you during the party -- obviously. i want to give you a sense. people are out there who think things like this are okay. or can't have it. did it occur to you that the virus could be present and being transmitted? you had no symptoms. you had been covering it. did it cross your mind? >> not at that point. not even. it was the first sunday that the pastor suggested instead of sharing the peace that we do a fist bump. we were like just to be safe. no, no. social gatherings were not banned. i had no idea how quickly this virus was spread. no idea at all. it is frightening. and it is sobering. it's not fun to have to live with the fact that you could make someone extremely sick. you don't realize -- it's obvious there are older people in the church.
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any next door neighbor wasn't that old. she a compromised immune system. you don't want to social distance, think about the people you don't realize might have compromised immune system. my brother-in-law was not there. he since contracted the virus. he's on a ventilator in the hospital in new york city. he's 56. who knew that he was so compromised he was going to get so sick? the other thing is you think the symptoms are sore throat and it's a cough. it's congestion. no one in my family and every member of my family tested positive except my son. that's five members of my family tested positive. not all of us have the stadiame symptoms. they have to test people with variety of symptoms. not just the big three. fever, cough and lethargy. >> i appreciate your talking out. i know it's hard.
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i don't know how to describe how you feel about what happened. i hope that people listen to you. and change if they are still making mistakes kp change what they're doing. i know that that is what you hope and why you're speaking out. i want to advised the white house medical team for eight years under bush. the director of the lab at george washington university hospital. obviously we have talked about people who present themselves with unexpected symptoms as heart attack symptoms. when you hear her story, what stands out to you? i think one of the things here is that we have heard multiple stories. and people on the show go to a party, nobody had symptoms. 40% of the people have it. or 40 people have it. a choir. and everybody gets it. now we're seeing it again. it's clearly spreads easily in some settings than people expect.
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doesn't it? >> oh yeah. there's an interesting study that just came out of iceland. iceland is a small and very contained country. they can do testing in a quick period of time. they tested an enormous proportion of the population. about 5% of the population. what they found is that half of the people who tested positive for covid-19 were iowa symptomatic. 50%. those results have been replicated in other places. a large proportion of patients who are positive for the virus have either mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. or odd symptoms. those folks can transmit the virus. the reason why social distancing and self-isolation is so crucial. >> i think what she said it brings it home. she was covering the story.
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at the time not doing anything that you weren't supposed to be doing in her personal life. for people just to try to comprehend what came out of that. her parents will be okay. two people died. i think people don't understand how serious this can be. i want to ask about something on the point. she said the malaria drug helped her parents recover. i know another family they believe that turned it around for their three brothers and family. you are cautious. tell us why? >> first of all, about 98% of people who contract the virus are going to recover. because such a huge proportion will survive it's hard to know from individual experience what the effect of the drug is.
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most people are going to survive. if you're given a drug which you are told is a miracle drug and you sur survive it's attributed to the drug. only about 62 patients which seem to suggest an advantage small advantage to treating folks. we need to rep will kate this in a large number of patients and because the virus is just rampant now. we have people contracting the disease. we have the ability to acquire this data. in a very short period of time. and the centers are actively doing that. the issue with the drug it has toxicity. you can hurt something taking the drug. there are specific cardiac toxicities that can result in death. this is not something it's not like a bowl of chicken soup.
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it couldn't hurt. this can hurt. we really need the studies to prove it is both safe and effective before we roll it out on a national basis as a standard treatment for covid-19. >> all right. thank you very much. thank you for raising the cardiac issues. it's important people do hear. obviously the president talks about this as a possible game changer. we need to know the risks. florida governor issued a state stay at home order. over riding tougher guidelines that some communities had in place. the numb of cases in the state of florida spikes. a business owner forced to lay off 600 penal. she's still paying health benefits. how much longer can she afford to do it. she's "outfront." life isn't a straight line.
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midnight tonight. what's interesting about this, governor desantis it seems to be in doing the stay at home order over riding some way more stringent policies that were already in place in communities across the state. what's going on? >> you're right. this isn't about face by governor desant. early on it said it was up to localities. cities and counties to make the decisions to meet restrictions to stop the coronavirus. which created a patch work. he's coming in big footing all of the localities, overriding local order. and at least one of the orders got national attention. because a pastor was arrested for holding church services in spite of social distancing orders. this order created confusion. one thing is clear, the district attorney office tells me the pending charges the
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investigation against the pastor is going to move forward. the governors order is not retro active. because it happened before the pending charges -- can he go back and hold services again? i haven't heard back. >> it is incredible to see bhapbhaps what happens. florida is such a huge and critical state. the race for a vaccine. you have heard it. that nothing is going to be available for a year. at this point, ten to 16 months if you count every day since they started talking about it. one says the wait time maybe much less than that. it's possible. how so? he's "outfront" now. professor harvard university. it's good to have you with me. you have been studying this and you're saying there could be a way to safely get a vaccine out
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in way less time than what anybody is putting out there. it could be months. explain how it could happen. >> to be clear we are not placing an exact number on it. there are so many uncertainties. and the idea we have doesn't make the vaccine work. it's only if it's a good vaccine and can be shown that way with the approach we're suggesting. what we're suggesting is that as a way of testing how well the vaccine protects people, we invite individuals to volunteer if those people are people who are at high risk of getting the disease anyway. getting infected anyway. have not gotten it yet. and are low risk for severe complications. young healthy people. we invite them to participate in a study where they would be either gien the vaccine or a
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substance and challenged with a live virus. with the live virus. to figure out whether the vaccine is protective. such trials are known as controlled human challenge trials and quicker and more efficient as ways to get an answer. >> if you got an answer. the if is what the vaccine is. let's say you have one red did to go. how quickly can you do a test on the group? and if it works how quickly would you know? >> again, there are so many uncertainties yet. we are not specifying exactly how many months it would shave off. the duration of such a trial might be a couple of months instead of the usual year or so. that it takes to test whether a vaccine works or not. by the typical usual method. it could shave off several months. >> that would be, who knows, it depends on the input.
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if some of the reports are out there and you have something this summer. that would be a dramatically different time line. i want to ask you another question. you point out how it would be done. it's an unusual way. you'll have a group that doesn't get the vaccine and a group that does. young and healthy. they'll be exposed to the live virus. people in the age range 20 to 45 with no health conditions have ended up with significant long term health impacts or died. that is a risk that some people would be taking, correct? >> that is a risk. and this is why it would be done with volunteers and with volunteers fully informed of the risk. and done in conditions where in fact the extra risk they're taking on would be relatively small. because we would guarantee them under such a proposal that they have access to very good care.
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which not garn tiered for everyone. at this stage. and we would do everything possible to minimize the disease once they showed signs of infection. they did if they did. we think broadly we ask people and invite people to take on risk on behalf of others all the time. i heard a interview with a young medical student decided to go onto the wards early in ha special program to help boost the medical capacity. she's volunteering to take a risk. on behalf of others. this is another way to do that. >> it's a fascinating concept. and what that will have people thinking. logistically and morally as well. thank you. next a small business owner forced to lei awe 600 people. she's trying to hold onto as many as she can and pay healthcare for her employees.
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right now -- how long. that's the big question. update you do not want to miss on a story brought yesterday. this woman lost her job because of coronavirus and unable to pay her rent. we have an update. you know, new customers save over $1,000 on average when they bundle home and auto with progressive. wow, that's... and now the progressive commercial halftime show, featuring smash mouth. ♪ hey now, you're an all star ♪ get your game on, go play thank you! goodnight! [ cheers and applause ] now enjoy the second half of the commercial! even renters can bundle and save! where did that come from? the kitchen. it was halftime.
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tonight shattering a record 6.6 million americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. double the previous record of 3.3 million. which of course was set the week before. this means that nearly 10 million americans have lost their jobs over the past twoo weeks because of the coronavirus. a lot from small businesses forced to close doors due to the shut down. one of the people who had to lay off staff as her business shut down.
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president of the culinary entertainment. you had to lay awe 600 employees. still providing them with health insurance. tell me about this. this has been your life. building and when your entire business essentially ended for the time being, you ended up having to layoff nearly 600 people a couple weeks ago. how hard was it to have to do that, to realize this is what it had come to? >> well, to make it worse, it was my father who founded the company. he's 72 years old. he built a legacy, he built an empire. my brothers and i are in the business and we've been in the business for the past 20 years. but watching my father cry three weeks ago when we laid off 600 people and say this was the sad est saddest day in his career, that was the most emotional for me. he never had family growing up.
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his family were restaurant people. that's why we provided health care from the very beginning because he always said, i'm going to take care of my restaurant employees as if they're team. and so watching him right now -- and he should be in his golden years and he's still actively involved in the company, extremely involved -- watching moo father say at a time he should really be in retirement say this is the saddest day of his career, that's heart breaking. >> and you mentioned how important health benefits are. an amazing personal story because of your father not having, you know, a family, how important that was for him. i know, brittany, you're paying health benefits for your employees through the end of june, which was important for you to do that. how are you paying for it and how long can you do it? i mean, that's not going to be something you're able to do for an extended period of time >> yeah, you know, nobody has a crystal ball when this thing is going to lift, when we're going to allow guests back into our
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restaurants. and so for us, you know, we've been very, very financially smart over the past, you know, however many years you want to say. but our cash flow was pretty good in the sense of -- this is affecting everybody. but for us to be able to forecast, we had to make some decisions so we forecasted through june 30th. god willing we're going to be able to open our doors by then. and so the decision really was quite simple. when you look at your cash flow and you have to make some serious decisions, that's one that was a non-negotiable for us. >> and does the federal government bail, does that help you at all as a small business? is that going to help you in a specific tangible way? >> thank you for asking. i think, i think the pairs act is a good start. i think it's critical we sit down at the table.
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i think the national restaurant association -- we're under the ohio restaurant association, but it's not a cure-all. people need to understand how critical the restaurant industry is, not only to our communities, but to the work force. we provide a service. we are 51% of the food supply chain in america. we supply -- i'm sorry. we employ 20%, so 10% of the work force are restaurant folks, but the ancillary businesses and the suppliers that support that take it up to about 20%. and, no, it's not -- it's not as robust as we would like it. and so i think as long as we've got a laundry list of things that we believe should be included in regards to -- there's a number of different issues. whether it's the length of the forgiveness, the percentage of how much is going towards payroll versus other very critical costs for restaurants that were not considered, i think that really on behalf of restaurants we would ask, please
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sit back down at the table with the national restaurant association and get inside the heads of restaurant folks because when you consider how important the airline industry is and the bill that was passed for them, restaurants should be at the top of the list. and i'm not saying that airlines are not important. i'm saying restaurants are as important. >> i think all americans would agree with you on that. thank you so very much. brittany, i appreciate your time, and we are rooting for you and wishing you the best as well as your employees. and i know they're grateful for that. >> erin can i mention one thing real quick? i think it's really important for people to support -- because that is an immediate capital that goes to restaurants. and so where this package is debt still, even though some is getting forgiven, if you can support -- if others can support gift card sales, that's critical and that really helps. >> thank you for sharing that because that is a specific thing i think a lot of people didn't know.
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thank you very much, brittany. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> i want to give our viewers now an update on a story that we brought you last night. you may have been watching, she reported on millions of people who were struggling to pay their rent. obviously rent was due, due to coronavirus, she spoke with one woman in los angeles and here's her story. >> reporter: did you lose your job? >> yes. all of us lost our job. >> reporter: because of coronavirus, she says. she used to make enough to cover her los angeles apartment rent. >> check out my little 500 square feet. $1100 a month. >> reporter: how are you going to pay this $1100 rent? >> i don't know. when you're scared, you don't see nothing but fear. >> shawana joins me now. that was an emotional moment. here we are, the day has passed. how hard was it for you not to be able to pay your rent when it
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was due? >> um, to be honest, it wasn't that hard. it would be very self-centered of me to think that i could pay my rent knowing that i lost my job with probably 30% of people in america. so i was able to call them and they didn't respond. so that gave me confidence. maybe they understood that no one could pay their rent at that time. at this time. >> and so you didn't get a response from them. you know, we did get a response, shawana. you know our team called you today and said we wanted to follow-up on some things. we do really have an update. one of our viewers, her name is tammy vaughan, she saw you last night on the show. she was moved, she reached out to us and called us. she said she's going to pay your rent this month. >> shut up. i'm very grateful. thank you, miss vaughan. i really appreciate it. i'm a little shocked right now.
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and overwhelmed, but super grateful. >> i know, look, i'm putting you on the spot. you didn't know this was going to happen. >> i had no idea. can you tell? >> no, i know, i know. look, i know people around the country are going through this, the same horrific thing. but tammy did not want to be on television, so as i said, she called us and she did have something specific, though, to say about your story so i just wanted to tell you what it was and give you a chance to respond, shawana. tammy said and i quote her. i was just moved by what she's going through, talking about you, and i know so many people are going through the most at this time. i just wanted to be able to help, even if it's just a little bit. and maybe she can pay it forward even if it's years from now and to whomever she wants. just spread kindness. i hope it helps her in any way. that's what she had to say to you. >> well, tammy, thank you, because in the interview i did
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have, that's what i said, was the goal to build something for people who work in the restaurant industry who have been doing it all their life, because i'm one of those people and i love it. and it's unfair what we're going through, so i'm very grateful for her. thank you. >> it's a pretty incredible thing. i know when you say you love what you do, i think it's a moment right now for people to realize there are so many people who love what they do who can't do what they do because of what this has taken from them. >> yes, yes. >> tell us about that. tell us about how you love what you do. >> well, i started at 6 years old. i was at augusta masters national at a food truck called wings and things. i used to give out samples as a kid. from there i grew into labor, which is what i like, working at home folks, which is a cv place in augusta, georgia, consistently working in a restaurant. my first job was in hughey's in savannah, georgia. i was grateful for that.
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it was a time i made money by what i did, not by the hours i work. i love the concept of being in college, being able to work and make the income that you need and be able to survive. and i needed that. so i utilized that even after college to make a career in l.a. so i came to a restaurant here that unfortunately was closed. like i said, it's heart breaking because it makes you think, now i have to do something bigger. i can't sit. somebody that's not as strong as me that works in the restaurant and loves it she doesn't know what to do. so i need to take this opportunity to think what can i build for those who don't know what else to do because we are serving. so i'm very appreciative of miss vaughan. >> well, she's made it possible for you and i think it just goes -- you know, it's a wonderful moment and the generosity we're seeing. >> thank you. >> shawana, thank you for coming on and, of course, thanks very much to tammy for reaching out to us and making this possible.
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thank you so much, shawana. >> thank you for having me. i really appreciate that. >> and thanks very much to all of you for joining us. cnn's global town hall coronavirus: facts and fears begins now. ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome. i'm anderson cooper in new york. >> i'm sanjay gupta. this is the cnn coronavirus town hall facts and fears. tonight dr. anthony fauci, the white house task force, is going to be here to answer your questions about the pandemic. also new york governor andrew cuomo will join us to talk about his state which is the current epicenter of this fight. >> this is our fifth global town hall. if you've seen our previous ones, you know the production has evolved to say the least, along with the guidance from health professionals. there's no studio audience as we would normally have. sanjay and i are in different studios as will be all of our guests. >> at the bottom of the screen
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