let's party people! ♪ one more time good evening. new york state today saw its biggest jump in covid-related deaths. and new evidence that the virus is disproportionately killing black americans. the president expressed his concern today over that fact and we'll talk more about why this is happening to black americans. there was potentially some good news. the director of the cdc is saying because of ongoing social distancing efforts, we may see fewer fatalities than recent modeling projected. here's what he said. >> even those models that were

done, they assume that only 50% of the american public would pay attention to the recommendations. in fact, it would seem a large majority of the american public are taking the social distancing recommendations to heart. i think that's a direct consequence why you're seeing the numbers are going to be much, much, much lower than would have been predicted by the models. >> the president continued to use what's supposed to be a factual briefing by the coronavirus task force to rewrite the history of his administration's response. today he focused on a new target, the world health organization. perhaps out of legitimate concerns or perhaps as a way to provide cover for his own actions. the president is now saying that the w.h.o. missed the pandemic. >> world health organization because they really are -- they called it wrong. they call it wrong. they really -- they missed the call. they could have called it months earlier. they would have known. and they should have known, and

they probably did know, so we'll be looking into that very carefully. >> not surprisingly, that is the exact opposite of what the president tweeted back in late february when he told americans the coronavirus was under control. quoting from the president's tweet, "the coronavirus is very much under control in the usa. we are in contact with everyone at all relevant countries. cdc and world health have been working hard and very smart. stock markets starting to look very good to me. the world health organization is certainly an easy target. they have repeatedly defended china's numbers and the regime's transparency despite obvious concerns we've been reporting on. the president, by focusing on the w.h.o., is following the lead of a number of other republican politicians and media outlets. >> the w.h.o. needs to stop covering for them. i think dr. tedros needs to step down. we need to take some action to address this issue. it's just -- it's irresponsible. it's unconscionable what they've done here. >> not only do i not want to fund the w.h.o., let's get the information. i can't imagine it's going to

get any better than what we already know. but why are we funding organizations that are lying to us? they just work for china, communist china. >> also today, the president suggested that he would withhold any american funding of the w.h.o. he then moments later claimed that he never said that. take a look. >> we're going to put a hold on money spent to the w.h.o. we're going to put a very powerful hold on it and we're going to see. it's a great thing if it works, but when they call every shot wrong, that's no good. >> i'm not saying i'm going to do it, but we're going to look at it. >> the president also today continued to spread falsehood about voter fraud as a reason not to have wider vote by mail efforts in the general election. many wisconsin voters are having to stand in line to vote today because the two separate court decisions by both its state and u.s. supreme courts prevented wisconsin from moving its election day. also from extending its deadline

to receive mail-in ballots. never mind the hypocrisy pointing to the president he himself voted by mail-in ballot. this is what he said. >> you are highly critical of mail-in voting, mail-in ballots for voting -- >> i think mail-in voting is horrible. it's corrupt. i think that mail-in voting is a terrible thing. i think if you vote, you should go. even the concept of early voting is not the greatest because a lot of things happen. but it's okay. but you should go and you should vote. i think you should go and you should vote. you look at what they do where they grab thousands of mail-in ballots and they dump it. i'll tell you what. and i don't have to tell you. you can look at the statistics. there's a lot of dishonesty going along with mail-in voting, mail-in ballots. >> he voted by mail in florida. this is not a new talking point for the president. he, of course, has repeatedly from the earliest days of his administration pushed false conspiracy theories about voter fraud. they're not backed up by any reputable data.

>> they even want to try to rig the election at the polling booths. and believe me, there's a lot going on. people that have died ten years ago are still voting. illegal immigrants are voting. so many cities are corrupt and voter fraud is very, very common. >> all you have to do is go around, take a look what's happened over the years and you'll see. there are a lot of people, a lot of people, my opinion and based on proof, that try and get in illegally and actually vote illegally. >> i know maybe nobody cares that he continues to lie, but we're pointing it out. he's continuing to lie. this all comes on what may be the deadliest week in the pandemic so far. today we hit the highest number number of deaths in a single day in the u.s., 1,736. for more on the pandemic let's go to nick watt in los angeles. nick, let's talk about the latest just from hot spots around the u.s. >> reporter: well, anderson, today we heard from the mayor of

boston. they are suffering a spike right now. you know, fully one-third of their confirmed cases have come just within the past three days. there's now an overnight curfew in the city. down in new jersey, about a month ago they had 11 confirmed cases. tonight that is nearly 45,000. the governor thinks the people have been getting too close in the state parks, so he just closed them all. but the epicenter, anderson, is still neighboring new york. today in new york city, more than 800 deaths reported. that's triple yesterday's total. but here on the front line, the new case count in the state appears to be flattening. >> for the past couple of days, discharging more patients than we are admitting. this is actually the time when you should redouble our efforts. >> reporter: the battle is not over. the war goes on. the nypd just announced a 13th member has now died from the virus. and more than 500 new york fire

department personnel have it. >> i'm still getting emts and medics call because they're upset they got sick. because they're not out here. that's -- i mean, i don't know what to say. that's who is taking care of you. >> reporter: nationwide numbers still rising. >> a lot of the other parts of the country are not anywhere near flattening the curve. they're still rising exponentially. >> reporter: michigan one of few states keeping racial data. the black population there is around 14%. yet 40% of coronavirus deaths are in that black population. >> there is still a huge gap between races when it comes to health care. and this is magnifying it. >> reporter: in chicago black people makeup 30% of the population, but 72% of covid deaths. in louisiana similar numbers. >> they're dying more because their bodies, our bodies have

borne the burden of chronic disinvestment, active neglect in our communities. all of those insults on our bodies have given us more of these so-called preexisting conditions. so once we're infected, we have more severe outcomes. >> reporter: the administration is now looking to a light at the end of this tunnel. >> normal is going to be a different normal whenever we do reopen. we know that once we get a vaccine, we can get more back to the way we treat flu season. >> reporter: they're watching how other countries gradually reopen. just hours ago, severe lockdown restrictions were lifted in wuhan. people are now allowed to leave. and four months after the first case in that city, china now claiming a whole day without a single covid-19 death nationwide. our latest daily death toll monday, 1,332 americans reported dead.

>> how about california, what's been going on? >> reporter: well, some encouraging signs out here, anderson. the governor says that the curve is bending but stretching, so our peak is probably going to be in may sometime. here in l.a. county, they've designated this stay-at-home week. we're being told not to even go to the grocery store if we can avoid it because we're a few weeks out from that peak. the hope is to keep that peak as low as possible. meantime, california is now shipping ventilators to other states. new york, nevada, maryland, d.c., places that need them now. but the governor is making it clear these ventilators, it's a loan. it's not a gift, it's a loan because at some point he says -- we hope not, but california might need them back. anderson? >> nick watt, appreciate it. nick, thanks very much. stay safe. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us now. new york's governor saying the

number of hospitalizations has plateaued though the city has just seen its largest one-day increase in deaths. i wonder what you make of those two developments. >> well, i think both those things could be happening simultaneously. it can make sense. obviously it's tragic that the deaths continue to go up. what you're looking for i think in that regard is the pace at which these numbers are increasing. and keep in mind that whatever we're seeing right now in some ways, as a doctor described to me today, a polaroid picture. at the time you take the picture, it takes awhile to develop it. we're seeing a lagged picture from two or three weeks behind. at first someone has a confirmed infection and a small percentage of those people will need to go to the hospital. and then a smaller percentage may end up succumbing to the illness. so if hospitalizations are going down now, that could suggest that we should see a decrease in deaths thankfully later on, within a couple weeks or so. >> we're going to get more into the models or projections of the virus in a few minutes. there does seem to be some indication at the head of the

cdc the number of deaths could ultimately be lower than what the white house had said just recently of anywhere from 100,000 to 240,000. and we know, even when they said that they said the models, as more data comes in, are liable to change. >> you know, i heard dr. redfield's comments about this. there are lots of different models out there as you know, anderson. i wasn't sure which one he was referring to specifically because he said the models that he was looking at were predicated on 50% of the country sort of being on stay-at-home orders. and if it was more than that the models should come down. i think all the models you and i have looked at have really been based on much more strict stay-at-home orders. in fact, the whole country, and that's how they got to this 100,000 number. so i'm not exactly sure which numbers he was referring to but, you know, the models, anderson, really have been -- there's all sorts of different models. as they say, the saying goes, all models are wrong. but some are useful. and i think that's what we're sort of looking at here trying to draw the best information now

out of these models. i think the models out of the university of washington -- we're going to talk to chris murray later on -- basically suggest you have to keep the stay-at-home orders until the end of may in order to be able to get to the -- to this number, which is still jarring. but close to 100,000 people dying versus a higher number than that. >> yeah, i mean all the models back up the scientific advice, which is staying at home is critically important. social distancing is critically important. we have to talk about the disproportionate impact this virus is having among black americans, people of color. obviously there are long-standing inequalities, the way the medical establishment, you know, what happens to a black american when they go into a hospital. they are treated differently statistically than others. we've seen this for a very long period of time. access to medical care, you know, preexisting conditions like diabetes, heart disease. there are a lot of inequalities

in the system that an event like this bring to the fore. >> yeah, and i think taking it even a step earlier than that, the reason that blacks have so many more preexisting conditions is because of structural inequalities as well. you know, access to health care is one thing, but living in areas where there may be socioeconomic disadvantages, you live in food deserts, you can't get healthy foods, you know, basic things like that make it very challenging to not develop some of these preexisting conditions. and then, you know, in the midst of all this, there's been inadequate testing. the testing has been even more disproportionate when it comes to blacks. and i think that the -- you know, when you really look at the types of jobs, you know, blacks are much more likely to have these front line essential sort of jobs. you know, jobs frankly that are keeping the country running. you know, trarngnsportation, fo delivery and logistics and all

these types of things. but those are also jobs that are higher risk right now. so there's all these different factors that play into this. but i was -- despite that, knowing that, you and i have covered these types of stories, i was still sort of stunned by the numbers. cities that have a african-american population of 30%, and yet 72% of the deaths from covid are among blacks. i mean, this is a really significant manifestation of these long-standing structural inequalities. something has to be done about it because, anderson, we may run into a situation -- hopefully not, but maybe we will -- where, you know, some of these precious resources may be rationed. and i hope these structural inequalities don't persist into that rationing as well, anderson. >> yeah, sanjay, stay with us. want to bring in jim acosta at the white house and cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger. gloria, the president continues to say things that are untrue, saying things that are untrue at the podium day after day. he clearly is now focusing on the world health organization, and that's something he's sort of taken the lead from a lot of media folks in conservative media and other politicians.

>> he is, and from republican politicians as you pointed out earlier. this is a president, as we all know by now, and we should be used to it, who likes to distract. and what he is doing now is trying to rewrite history as we are living it. and in finding a new enemy in the w.h.o., it's quite convenient for him. and let me point out the w.h.o. has not been perfect here, but he can say a-ha, they are the tools of the chinese, which is of course another convenient and popular enemy, and they are in cahoots, as he put it, and therefore he was not getting great information. and that's a way of also saying, well, you know, while i was giving you bad information, it really -- it really wasn't my fault. i mean today, anderson, he called himself a cheerleader, and he keeps saying that. and i couldn't help but think, you know, real leaders aren't cheerleaders. real leaders tell the country

the truth. and that is not what the president was doing. and now he has a way to blame it on the world health organization. >> cheerleaders aren't calling plays. coaches do that. that's sort of what you want somebody doing. >> exactly. >> in a situation like that. there is a role for cheerleaders and it's great to have them in the game and making people feel good. but when you want to actually have stuff done, you need coaches and you need players. you need people fighting this which we have plenty of that. >> players. >> jim, these memos from peter navarro, one in late january warning the white house about coronavirus could evolve into a, quote, full-blown pandemic. i just want to play what the president said today when he was asked if he saw those memos. let's listen. >> sure. >> i didn't see them, but i heard he wrote some memos talking about pandemic. i didn't see them, i didn't look for them either, but that was about the same time as i felt that we should do it. that was about the same time that i closed it down. >> he keeps referring to closing down flights from, you know, from wuhan.

this has been looked at. many thousands of people came in on flights for weeks after he allegedly shut everything down. >> right. well, the president was saying he didn't know about this peter navarro memo, but that he was essentially following some of the advice i guess baked into that memo, when he said he was shutting down these flights coming in from china. but anderson, beyond that, there was another peter navarro memo that came on february 23rd. and it says there is an increasing probability of a full-blown covid-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million americans with a loss of life, as many as 1.2 million souls. it was at that time, anderson, that the president was downplaying the potential for loss of life in this country, and we can play a montage of that right here. here's what he had to say. >> we have it very much under control in this country. very interestingly, we've had no deaths.

we have a -- i mean, we've had a great practice. we had -- we had 12 at one point, and now they've gotten very much better. many of them are fully recovered. >> the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country, we have very few people with is it. the people are getting better. they're all getting better. there's a very good chance you're not going to die. >> of the 15 people, the original 15 as i call them, eight of them have returned to their homes to stay in their homes until fully recovered. >> it's going to disappear. >> i mean, those are all toward the end of february. scientists are already referring to, you know, february as the lost month for this administration when essentially, you know, he had this happy talk while the virus was already here. >> that's right, anderson. and we catalogued this for many weeks now as the president was

making these kinds of comments, downplaying the pandemic, putting out these rosy scenarios that it would be over by april. but anderson, it is worth noting that as the president has been demonizing the world health organization, today the white house was relying on the world health organization from time to time, you know, saying that the world health organization was putting out reliable information. the president cited the world health organization in his address to the nation on march 11th. and so the president was asked about this during the briefing and he said as gloria was just saying a few moments ago when he was pressed on some of these comments that he's made, he said he just wanted to be a cheerleader for the country. the problem, anderson, is that cheerleaders sit on the sidelines. he was not being a cheerleader throughout most of this. he was being a misleader. and i think this navarro memo question has not been put to rest. the president said he didn't see the memos, he wasn't looking for the memos. but we haven't gotten to the

answer as to whether or not he was briefed on the memos. whether senior white house officials knew about the memos, people like mick mulvaney and so on. these memos raise lots of questions and the president didn't put them to rest. >> and look, the w.h.o. has long-standing problems, huge bureaucracy, a lot of reasons, and certainly their attitude toward china. they pretend taiwan doesn't exist and ignore taiwan's response to the coronavirus which seems to have been very effective. there are a lot of reasons to criticize them. but it's just interesting the president has really jumped on top of this. sanjay, stay with us. jim, gloria, thank you very much. still to come, more on the adjusted model that suggests fewer deaths than predicted just days ago. the director of an institute whose model was cited by the white house officials will join sanjay and me to discuss what this means for the weeks and months ahead. and later, remembering the victims. i'll speak to the widow, the wife of a man who passed away after he struggled to get both testing and care for the disease.

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we've been talking about the deadly week ahead for the nation and how the administration and cdc believe fatalities are lower than estimated. on monday models cited by the white house lowered predictions for fatalities and number of hospital beds used. the institute for health metrics and evaluation university of washington now projects 81,766 people will be killed over the

next four months, will die over the next four months. that's a drop of 12,000 in their prediction. it also expects 121,000 fewer hospital beds being used in that time. joining us now is the director of the institute, dr. chris murray. back with us is also dr. sanjay gupta. dr. murray, can you explain the new changes to your model? we had you on before. you pointed out as more information comes in, as more data comes in, the numbers will change. why the lowering now? >> so, two key things. we've been able to incorporate with all the influx of new data in the united states. first, we found out a lot more about hospital practice, and so what we're seeing is that hospitals, particularly new york but elsewhere in the country, are admitting fewer people compared to what the original data suggested. you know, compared to every death that we see. they are putting fewer people

into the icu and there is lower ventilator requirements. that's brought down the sort of shortage estimates quite a bit because of that new data influx. and the other big news is that we're seeing peaks in the epidemic in other places other than china. in italy, in spain -- in fact, seven different regions have seen the epidemic peak and come down, and that really informs our models about the impact and the effectiveness of social distancing. >> dr. murray, two questions. do you know why the white house's numbers had been higher than yours when your model was saying 80,000 a while ago, that's when they came out with the 100,000 to 240,000 figure. do you know why their numbers have been higher? and also, what are yours dependent on in terms of people abiding by stay-at-home orders and social distancing, how do you bake -- how long in your models is that expected to last for? >> in our models we're building in the assumption that social

distancing is going to stay in place till we hit the sort of threshold when we think the first wave is essentially over. we use a number, which is .3 deaths per million people in the u.s. so basically 60 deaths in the united states in a day would be that threshold. and that should come first week of june, and so we're building in the assumption that social distancing is in place until then. we will start to release hopefully later this week or by the weekend what might happen if we take social distancing off before then. and we're pretty confident we'll just see a rebound of the epidemic if that's what was to happen. >> sanjay, do you have a question for dr. murray? >> yeah, i'm curious, you know. so you talk about these earlier peaks -- and thank you, dr. murray, for all the work you're doing not this. but you see the earlier peaks, people have become accustomed to the term flattening of the curve. if you see the peak earlier,

does that also suggest the curve wasn't flattened? because when it's flattened, it extends out over a longer period of time, right? >> yeah, i don't like the expression flattening the curve. that expression comes from models that suggested you really couldn't stop a wave. it really was sort of a worst case scenario of trying to decrease the burden on the health services. but the ultimate burden would really be about the same. most people would get infected and there would be huge fatalities in the country. what we're actually seeing now in eight communities, we think it's also happened here in king county and snohomish county, we're seeing true peaks. the expectation, what happened in wuhan, which is that you can bring the epidemic down to a very low level, almost no transmission is possible and we're pretty sure that's what's going to happen as long as we stick to social distancing for the appropriate time.

>> dr. murray, we heard from the head of the cdc and we played at the top of the program. he was saying the numbers are going to be lower than what the, you know, 200,000 figure that the white house talked about as being on the high end of possible. what might possibly happen. he seemed to indicate that that modeling or some modeling was based on only 50% of americans really taking part in social distancing. is that why the white house's numbers were 100,000 to 240,000 while yours were in the 80,000 range? >> you know, i don't know. we haven't seen their model. >> so they haven't shown you how they made their predictions? >> no, we haven't seen that at all. and, quite honestly, 50% social distancing, we don't think that that would lead to curtailing the epidemic. what really needs to be -- unless i don't understand that metric, but it really needs to be every state because it's going to be very easy once -- if

some states have an epidemic that's still ongoing, other states have controlled it, to have reintroduction of the virus back into the states that have already gone through all the pain to get the epidemic under control. so it's not going to work for the nation if we do it in some places and not others. >> sanjay, do you know why the white house doesn't share their, like the data behind their modeling? >> no, i don't know. i mean, what we've heard them say is they're looking at lots of different models, which dr. murray's is one of them. but his is the one that they've cited obviously a few times. but we don't know which models they're looking at. frankly, i also don't know -- all these models are built on assumptions, certain assumptions. even more than the model sometimes, i'm not sure which assumptions they're making to sort of feed the model as well. it's a big gray area when you look at these models in terms of the number of possible hospitalizations, the number of possible deaths. it's pretty wide ranging as a result.

but again, i think it's dr. murray's model which is the one that's been most cited by them. >> yeah. dr. murray, i echo sanjay, we really appreciate all your efforts and being with us tonight. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> sanjay, thanks as well. a day after president trump lashed out when asked about an inspector general's report on problems at u.s. hospitals dealing with the pandemic, he effectively fired another inspector general. we'll have details of that when we continue. this is our home. we've never seen it look quite like this. but there's no mistaking it. and it's our job to protect it. because the best people to fight for our communities are those within them. so if you've just bought a volkswagen, or were thinking of buying sometime soon, we're here to help with the community-driven promise.

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the man the president removed is glen fine, who'd been the acting i.g. at the pentagon for four years and before that was inspector general at the justice department for 11 years. he'd served republican administrations and democratic administrations. asked today why the president removed him the president failed to give a clear reason and said as he usually does he has a right to do it. which he certainly does. but he suddenly announced the inspector general for the epa will now have the pentagon job in addition to being the inspector general for the epa and thereby removed mr. fine from the coronavirus oversight position. it was only a few days after the president fired the intelligence community inspector general michael atkinson whose report -- who listened fought whistle-blower and forwarded the whistle-blower's report to congress. and it was only yesterday the president railed at a new report by the inspector general for the health and human services department that portrayed widespread problems in u.s. hospitals dealing with the pandemic. among the report's findings which was based on hundreds of interviews with doctors and hospital administrators around the country, "hospitals reported that they were unable to keep up with covid-19 testing demands

because they lack complete kits and/or the individual components and supplies needed to complete tests." and then there was this from the report. "hospitals reported that changing and sometimes inconsistent guidance from federal, state, and local authorities pose challenges and confused hospitals and the public." i want to bring in now florida congresswoman donna shalala who was head of hhs under president clinton. congresswoman, you ran hhs for eight years. i wonder what you make now of the president attacking the inspector general report which -- when he attacked it he hadn't really read it and didn't know anything about the official behind it. but it was based just on interviews with doctors and hospitals around the country. >> well, he clearly didn't read it. i read the report. it's a very good report. it's consistent with what the media has been reporting around the country, about the lack of supplies for hospitals. and it has some very interesting parts of it, of how creative the hospitals have been around the country in trying to get supplies. he should have read it.

it wasn't such a negative report as a guidance, it was a snapshot. they captured the information between march 23rd and 27th, if i remember correctly, and it's just a solid piece of work. it's only thirty -- everybody should read it because it's a solid piece of work that tells us where we were at that point. some things have improved since then, but let me explain why he's railing against inspector generals. it is the one appointment he does not control. it's not that he can't nominate them or fire them, but they get to report to the congress directly. the i.g. legislation insists that the inspector generals are independent from the executive in the sense that they can report directly to the congress without going through their cabinet secretaries and without going through the president.

so i'm not surprised that this president, who is a control freak, doesn't like i.g.s because of that legislation. they can go testify. they can report to committees. they can pick up the phone and call a member of congress. and they don't have to clear it through their cabinet officer or through the president. >> yeah, i mean the president was suggesting the report was politically motivated. there's no -- excuse me. there is no evidence to suggest that the report had anything to do with politics. back when the report starts, it says this is a snapshot and it's really just kind of looking for ways to improve things in the future. it doesn't seem like it's an attack on this administration. >> no. in fact, it's written specifically not to be a critique but rather to give guidance to the department of health and human services about where we were at that time and where we needed to go. so -- and the language is very specific about that.

so i'm very disappointed because it's a solid report, well written, well researched. and it's the kind of thing that you need periodically to tell you -- to give you some guidance on policy. >> when the president was asked about firing the acting inspector general for the pentagon, glen fine, who was put in charge of overseeing coronavirus funding, he didn't answer the question. were you as a member of congress given any reason for the removal? >> no. and i don't think the oversight committees were given a reason. but they will ask. the senate has to approve i.g.s. they're nominated by the president. but they were asked. and because of this independence of the i.g., this is a particularly grievous step by the president because they are the oversight in the departments. and it's extremely important

that we protect their independence. i had a world-class i.g. who i worked very well with. some cabinet officers had more trouble with their i.g.s, but i enjoyed the working relationship. and they gave us very good guidance. hhs has a wonderful experience and a wonderful depth in professional -- in a professional office. i don't know the current i.g. she was very junior when i was secretary, but i'm sure she continues that tradition. and you could tell it from the report. there wasn't a political bone in anyone's body that worked on that report. >> congresswoman shalala, i appreciate your time. thanks very much. also in case you're wondering about -- i coughed. i have no symptoms. i have no reason to be concerned. i sometimes cough late at night with some asthma. also i coughed into my hand. i have purell right here, and i am cleaning my hand right now. i should have coughed into my sleeve. i apologize. secretary, thank you -- congresswoman, thank you very much. coming up i'm going to talk to an intensive care nurse at one

of new york city's hospitals who says going to work is like going to war.

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as we reported at the top of the broadcast, new york city is reporting more than 800 new deaths, but statewide, the case count does appear to be flattening. at intensive care units across the city, nurses are on the front lines. one of them is simone hannah

clark at mount sinai hospital. she wrote in a recent "new york times" op-ed, going to work is like going to war. here's an excerpt. quote, my first task is to help with postmortem care on a covid patient we just lost. we'd watched her slowly die over the past few days. we did everything we could. just me and a nursing colleague in the room. it's a grim affair. we wrap the patient's body securely, stroking her brow and wishing her well on her next journey." simone joins us now. i was so stunned when i read that. i mean, it was just sort of so tender and intimate and i know there is so much of it going on that it must be hard at times to take moments like that. can you just talk a little bit about what you're seeing? >> yeah, hi, anderson. we're used to a certain level of chaos in the icu, high acuity in patients. but this is different.

you know, more patients coming. they just keep coming. there's no family around. it's just us. we're the only people in the hospital, no family. people are dying alone. you know, they're dying and dying multiple times a day, without ppe. there is a high level of anxiety, there really is. >> it must be so scary not just for doctors and nurses, you know, x-ray technicians and all the people who work in the hospital, the people who clean the floors, but also for the patients themselves. as you say, to not have a family member or loved one by their bedside kind of talking to doctors, helping them through it, it's got to be -- it's just got to be so terrifying. >> yeah. i mean, look, i see the sickest of the sick in the icu. so a lot of times they are not

even conscious, most of the time. but, you know, they can probably still hear us, so i talk to my patients. we all do. to reassure them that, yeah, it must be terrifying. no one should die alone. we're with them. >> you talk to the patients in the icu even though they're unconscious? >> yes. we talk to them -- hearing is the last thing to go, so we treat them like they can hear us. i've had patients tell me who have woken up from drug-induced comas that they heard my voice. that they heard me. >> it's also a comfort for families to know that, to know that, you know, that you take the time to talk to them and speak to them. i'm sure that's comforting for a

lot of families. >> i hope so, yeah. there is not a lot of comfort we can offer them right now. you know, we're being good about updating families every day because that's the only way we can communicate. we sometimes do facetime but, you know, it's difficult without the ppe, converted rooms, negative pressure rooms are very loud. they have exhaust fans in them. it's difficult to hear. we do our best. >> you describe it as a war zone. and one of the things that so many service members talk about is the disparity between those who serve and their families and the rest of society. there is also often a disconnect that people who don't have a loved one serving overseas or someone who is serving overseas, you know, regular life seems so incongruous. to what they're experiencing. it must be the same for you. given what you're seeing on every shift, to then leave the

hospital and not that regular life has continued for everybody else but just, you know, to walk down a street where it's -- the sun is shining today and yet there's no indication of what's happening behind those hospital doors. >> yeah, it's surreal, like this. yeah, it's surreal. the only way to describe it is surreal. we walk through those doors and we don't know what today will bring, you know what the day will bring, but, you know, every day it's more patients, it's more intense and we are just knuckling down and doing our best and just doing what we need to do. >> well, thank you seems like a very small phrase, but i -- thank you. and thank you for not only you, but for the efforts of everybody you work with, and i extend that to, you know, ups delivery people and the fedex people and

the folks working at amazon and everybody who's making -- who is in this fight and i really appreciate it. stay strong. thank you. >> thank you. up next, one of those who tried for weeks to get tested, get help when he fell sick. we remember a loving husband and a father of five when we continue. there will be parties again soon,

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each night, we take time to remember some of those who died during this pandemic. tonight, we want to remember 44-year-old sonny, to his friends and family. he was a loving husband and attentive father of five children in new windsor, new york. he leaves behind his oldest child amberly, jaden, ethan, and twins lola and amira. he died on the twips birthday. joining me now is his wife

melody. one of her daughters and her mom are also fighting coronavirus. melody, thank you for being with us. you are with your children. i'm so sorry for your loss. tell me about your husband. how did you two meet? >> my husband loves to tell the story, he tells everyone that i stalked him. >> you stalked him? >> yes. i attended a wedding and he was there, actually, at that wedding and i saw him at that wedding, but we -- >> and what was it about him that made you want to follow up? i won't say stalk, but to follow up? >> you could tell he's a good guy and he was very attentive. he was very good looking, very

well dressed. you know, those were the things that attracted me to him. so, you know, so, when i saw him a year later -- >> and i understand he was doing some work at a hospital in new york city and that's when he started showing some symptoms? >> no, he started showing symptoms a week after. on march 19th, that seen when he started showing symptoms. >> that's when he started showing symptoms. was he admitted to the hospital then? was he able to get tested? >> no, he actually called the covid hotline and he was on hold for like five hours and i was on hold for four hours before we get through to anyone and then --

>> and how is -- it is lola -- amberly is by your side, is it lola in the back there with the mask on? >> yeah, that's lola. >> hey, lola. how is she feeling? >> she's actually feeling well -- >> she gave a thumb's up. what else do you want people to know about sonny? >> i want everyone to know that my husband was a selfless man and that -- that he loved everyone and he cared for everyone and he would give anything for his family and his kids. to strangers. he volunteered at the boys and girls club to mentor boys, he coached for the aau team. i want everybody to know he was a great cook.

he was the cook in the house, he was amazing. and he was the best husband, my soul mate. and the best father. >> melody, i'm so sorry for your loss, and i know it seems overwhelming now. and you've got your beautiful kids with you and you're in our thoughts, in our prayers. and if there's anything we can do for you, please, please let us know. and i just -- i wish you the best. i'm glad lola's feeling better. i hope that continues. and i hope your mom getting better. and we'll keep in touch. and i just -- i wish you continued strength and peace in the days ahead. >> thank you so much and thank you for sharing the story of my husband. >> yeah, i'm sad i didn't get to meet him, but i appreciate you taking the time to tell us about him.

he sounds like an amazing guy, and he was very blessed to have you and have all your kids. it's quite a legacy. thank you so much. i want to go over to chris who is standing by for "cuomo prime time." chris, it's -- it's a tough day. how are you doing? >> you know, we have to find a way to steel ourself for this new reality. the shadow only grows. i know today that we're being told that this spike in the death toll is potentially a sign that we're reaching an apex. is that true? should we really be investing in it that way? we're going to take a look at that. and we're also going to look at what we now know for sure which is how this is impacting us around the country and what that should be reflecting the in our leadership. this is not a political story. i don't even understand it as a le