can. so many questions out there. all right, diane, thank you very much. and thanks to all of you for joining us. ac 360 with anderson starts right now. >> erin, thanks very much. good evening, everybody. some cautiously optimistic news to report this evening. the white house coronavirus task force is talking about glimmers of hope. social distancing, they say, is working and lowering the projections for the number of dead and hospitalized. even as new york announced its highest death count for a single day. we are going to talk about the new projections in a moment. we'll also talk about how a reopening of the country, when it occurs, might occur. the president who is far more measured in his comments during the press briefing today said this evening he wants to reopen the country as quickly as possible, but would rely a lot on his medical experts in terms of how and when to do it. we have a new report on how the reopening of wuhan in china, the source of the virus, how that has been going. abc news is out with a new report that quotes a source who says u.s. intelligence was warning as far back as november

that the virus posed a danger. analysts reportedly compiled a report that included it could be a, quote, cataclysmic event. the same source tells abc the top members of the defense department as well as the white house were briefed and it was included as well in the president's daily brief in early january. the president's first comment on the disease that was in an interview with cnbc on january 22nd. this is what he said. >> the worries about a pandemic at this point? >> no, not at all. we have it totally under control. it's one person coming in from china, and we have it under control. it's going to be just fine. >> some days later we now know his trade advisor peter navarro wrote the first of two memos that warned in the first memo of as many as half a million dead potentially. yesterday the president said he never saw the memo. today our jim accosta asked a slightly different question. was he briefed 0 not that memo? here's the exchange. >> just a follow-up on something from yesterday and a quick yes or no question.

yesterday you said you had not seen peter navarro's memo on coronavirus back in january, february. were you ever briefed on those memos? did you ever discuss those memos with anybody? >> i don't remember that. i've now seen the memo. it was -- peter sends a lot of memos. i didn't see the memo. as you know, world health was saying that was not correct because at the time they called it wrong. but i didn't see the memo, but i acted as quickly as people were shocked i acted so quickly and everybody thought i was wrong because i did act so quickly, as you know, with respect to closing the borders, with respect not only to china, but with europe i closed the borders. and i think that was very important. but, no, i didn't see the memo at the time, but i have seen it since. >> well, for the latest on what's supposed to be the most deadly week so far for this virus, i want to start with erica hill. erica, you're in front of the makeshift hospital at the javits

center. how many patients are there? >> reporter: we are told there are 104 covid patients being treated here. there are 2,500 available beds. governor cuomo said hospitalizations for the state are down. and in terms of all these extra beds, remember, the javits convention center and the comfort ship which is in the hudson river just a few blocks from here, those are what the governor is referring to as relief valves. he was saying today the fact there are still so many beds available is a sign of good preparation. >> increase in new cases -- >> reporter: a blunt assessment from the top. >> it's going to be a bad week for deaths. >> reporter: for the second day in it a row, new york state announcing a new high for single-day deaths. 779 on tuesday. with morgues overloaded, hard hit communities are bringing in refrigerated trailers and more help. in new york city, hundreds of national guard members and more than 50 active duty mortuary military specialists are now assisting the medical examiner's office. as states and cities report a rising death toll, there is some

hope. projected deaths nationwide now expected to be closer to 60,000 by august. revised down significantly thanks to social distancing. the message from officials, this is no time to let up. >> we're all looking to finally get out from under this, but it's not that time yet. the progress confirms the strategy is working. >> reporter: the white house task force also zeroing in on several additional cities as potential hot spots, including washington, d.c., baltimore, philadelphia and houston. new cnn polling reveals a majority of americans feel the federal government has done a poor job preventing the spread. 80% feel the worst is yet to come. >> more rural areas are starting to get hit, and i'm really worried because hospitals in those areas don't have as many icu beds, don't have the same capacity. >> reporter: with each day there is also mounting evidence that the virus is impacting african-americans at a much higher rate. under served communities also hit hard.

>> whatever the situation is, natural disaster, hurricane katrina, the people standing on those rooftops were not rich white people. why? why is it that the poorest people always pay the highest price? let's learn from this moment and let's learn these lessons and let's do it now. >> reporter: new york govern andrew cuomo said the state will increase testing and research in minority communities starting today to better understand the disparity. meantime, supply needs continue to be a concern across the country. gm announced it will produce 30,000 ventilators for the national stockpile, costing nearly half a billion dollars. but those won't be delivered until the end of august. another concern, how and when to reopen the country. that conversation is starting with a focus on antibody testing. to learn who was infected, but

asymptomatic. >> this makes a big difference in understanding who can go back to work and how they can go back to work. >> reporter: dr. birx says those tests could be available in the next ten to 14 days. though in reality there is no clear end date for this pandemic. pennsylvania and new york following new jersey's lead, flags lowered to half-staff in honor of the thousands lost to this virus. >> erica, what's the latest from governor cuomo? is he cautiously optimistic? >> reporter: i would describe it as cautiously optimistic with a healthy dose of realism. one of the things he said today is it may look like we're flattening the curve in terms of what we've seen, but this is no time to be complacent. this is further proofer you need to be doubling down on all these measures of social distancing and staying at home. he was also talking about whether there was a new normal to come on the other side of this, could we get back to normal. his point was there is no going back. there is only looking ahead to the future and that future will

not look like what life was yesterday. it will, in fact, be a new normal, and that's something people are going to have to start wrapping their heads around, anderson. >> also, erica, this newest projection is correct in the 60,000 range, that still means between now and august, 45,000 people in this country may die if that projection is correct. i mean, it's still early in that sense. erica hill, thank you. joining me now is cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta, and drew griffin. sanjay, the new model shows a lower number of deaths going to august than originally predicted. talk a little what that's attributed to. >> well, i think when they were looking at the previous models, i mean, they were working on the data they had and a couple of assumptions that was really focused on china. i mean, that was a place, a location where they had gone through this curve of the infection and they were trying

to like plug in those assumptions from china into this. but now as you look at those new numbers, you'll see they've gone down. when you dig into it, anderson, it really reflects the fact that there's other countries now that they're looking at that may not have had as much stringent stay-at-home, lockdown policies as china. but still did have some success, significant success with regard to decreasing hospitalizations and decreasing deaths. i think that's really what's informing. in addition to some new data that's coming in from the states. i should point out that it's still -- there's a lot of variability still in these models. we've been following several of them, anderson. for example, new york city. i was looking at the range, at the peak. they say it could be anywhere from 300 people to 1800 people possibly dying on the peak days in new york city. it's a wide range, is my point. and you have several other cities around the country now that are cities of significant concern.

so the models are, you know, only as good as the assumptions you're putting into theme f them. there's a lot of assumptions still. >> jim, in the briefing you asked about the new model. what was the response? >> yeah, i asked dr. deborah birx because last week you'll recall we were in the dramatic briefing where the white house essentially said we could see 100,000 to 240,000 deaths. yesterday we were starting to get an inkling they were backing away from those figures, and then dr. deborah birx essentially said that, yes, they're starting to see the models coming down. they're anticipating fewer deaths. here's what she had to say when i asked her that question. >> i know many of you are watching the act now model and the ihme model and they have consistently decreased the number, the mortality from over almost 90,000 or 86,000 down to 81,000 now down to 61,000. that is modelled on what america is doing. >> and so she credits the social

distancing for doing this. but, anderson, one of the things they're concerned about -- we know this from talking to people inside the task force. they repeated this today. is that as people see these models come down, they don't want people to dial down the social distancing. that could cause these guidelines to snap back because obviously outbreaks could reoccur if people start going back to the way life was before we started doing all of this. >> drew, the president made the claim today that the u.s. has what he said was the best testing systems. obviously we know about all the problems that have existed with testing. what is the status of testing right now? because governor cuomo talked about this today and every scientist i talk to points this out, that testing is going to be, governor cuomo called it the bridge that's going to get you to opening up the economy again, people going back to work. without testing in every state and contact tracing, it's not going to happen. >> exactly. and the testing is getting better. the capacity is getting better.

like you said, anderson, keep in mind, we are playing catch up to what was an abysmal roll out of the testing that we needed, the testing you needed to identify, isolate, mitigate what is now this huge virus spread. i will tell you we're talking with labs every single day. they are still running out of these nose swabs. there is a constant problem with getting the re-agent supply, the chemicals they need to run the test. and the big, big companies -- quest diagnostic, lab corps telling us just this week their backlog is still four to five days to turn around a test. that's four or five days that you, your doctor, your health care workers are waiting to see whether or not you have covid or not. so we're still far behind, but it is improving in capacity. >> sanjay, just on testing, first of all, talk about that idea of testing being the bridge because it's not just the antibody test which would tell you who was exposed already and,

therefore, has some immunity, we believe as far as i know. but also it's the other testing just to see, you know he, who may still be infected, who is not, and to give people information and confidence. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, testing was, is and will be i think the cornerstone of all of this. you know, right now when you test, you not only want to find out, excuse me, if someone is positive, but be able to isolate that person, trace their contacts so that you can really try and slow down the spread. that's challenging as you know, anderson, because of so much community spread right now. at the beginning of the curve and then again at the end of the curve, testing will be shaobvioy very important. at that time as we sort of come to the end of the curve, the tail of the curve, you will see an increased focus on testing and the ability to isolate folks and contact trace them. that will be part of sort of getting the infection to stay

low, you know, to really reduce that community spread. that in addition to making sure hospitals have capacity and all of that sort of stuff. but, yeah, this is the antigen test, the virus testing, not the antibody testing. that will be important as well, but the testing for the virus will remain important. >> and this could be up to states and state health departments. from all the people i talk to they say the states are not red foyer th ready for that and contact tracing. critical workers, put it up on the screen, seems like a lot of what they're saying is already happening. it says take your temperature before work, wear a face mask at all times. practice social distancing in the workplace. >> and if you look at the top, this is for people who have a known exposure to someone who is diagnosed with covid-19. one could argue it should be everybody because anybody may have been exposed to covid-19. but you're right, some of these things have been in place for essential workers, particularly health care workers. for health care workers, there's

even been recommendations that if you have mild symptoms, you can continue to work with a mask. but you're getting a glimpse, i think, anderson, of what the return to work might look like more generally. take your temperature first thing in the morning. your temperature will be taken again when you get to work. you may wear a mask at work. you won't be allowed to congregate in break rooms, things like that. employers will have to create better air flow within buildings, make sure there is deep cleaning of all the surfaces on a regular basis. you're starting to get an idea of what this might look like for all workers. again, this is essential workers now and it's for people who have had known exposure. i think as we start to extrapolate and expand, people going back to work, these are the glimpses of what it might look like. >> jim, the president told you he didn't see the memo from peter navarro, didn't remember getting briefed by intelligence officials on it. it is interesting given the president said peter navarro

sends a lot of memos. i'm not sure what the likelihood is that he would have seen it. do you know? >> reporter: yeah, it was interesting, anderson, because yesterday he said he didn't see the memo, he wasn't looking for the memo. i asked the president this evening were you briefed on the memo, was it discussed in your presence? he said, i don't remember that. that was the answer that he gave to that question. so it's very possible that this memo did come up in conversations inside the white house. we are still digging on that. but the president said he began to take seriously what was going on with the coronavirus when he shutdown travel organ travel restrictions on flights coming in from china. that is around the time that the peter navarro memo came out. the memo came out on the 27th. those restrictions went into place a couple of days after that. and so the president seems to be saying he was listening to the memo without acknowledging that he saw the memo or read the memo or was briefed on the memo. the other thing we should point out is he did not indicate one way or the other how much he knew about this intelligence

information that was coming into the pentagon back in november of last year, which backs up the time line, of course, anderson, as to when it intelligence officials were aware there could be a very serious pandemic developing over in china. >> sanjay, stay with us. jim, thank you. drew griffin, thank you. tonight we'll have a report from china on the reopening of wuhan, the source of the coronavirus. the number of people allowed to leave plus whether the danger there has truly subsided. also tonight remembering john prine who died of complications of the coronavirus on tuesday. a legendary singer, song writer and guitarist bonny ray is going to join us to remember the life of her friend, one of the most storied song writers in american history. his melodies caught you and his lyrics kept you. ouch, okay. huh, boring, boring, you don't need to see that. oh, here we go. can you believe my client steig had never heard of a home and auto bundle or that renters could bundle?

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- [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. and they're counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. grubhub. together we can help save the restaurants we love. before the break we were discussing the possibility of reopening this country and how long that would take and what the risk of doing it too soon might be. china has already taken steps in that direction. this morning tens of thousands who could prove they were healthy were allowed to leave the city of wuhan which is the source of the virus. after 76-day lockdown. for more on how that has been going, i want to go to david culver in shanghai. the lockdown has ended. is everything open in wuhan? >> reporter: far from it, anderson. the media portrays through the images they put out there a very dramatic reopening, and the reality is people for the first time in the 76 days since the lockdown started can leave wuhan freely. as you point out, they have to show they have a clean bill of health.

talking to residents on the ground there, life is far from normal. many of them are still subject to the local neighborhood committee. like in the u.s. your hoa or condo association that stipulates you can go out two hours per day, one person per family, and you have to be back inside. those are still in place. schools are still closed. businesses in many places, specifically within wuhan, are certainly shutdown. some of them, anderson, are simply not going to reopen. they were crushed financially because of the 76 days of having to be closed. >> it's a pretty extreme condo association rules there. how did the folks prove that they are healthy to authorities so that they can leave? >> reporter: it has to do with big data. i'm going to show you. i've referenced the qr codes before. we do everything on apps here, including payment. there's no touching, handing credit cards, there's no cash. so they use this big data, this ali pay app. you have to push a button every single time you're going to show

it. you can't just screen shot it. you wait for what we consider to be our golden ticket. in this case a green one, green qr code. if it turns yellow or red, you've been flagged for some reason. it's a big brother surveillance type, but that's become a source of pride for many people when you know you can get into a hotel or restaurant or shopping mall. people have gone to the extent of having those in hospitality industry and service industry print them out on stickers and put them on their lapel so you know you're dealing with somebody who likely has not been exposed to a confirmed case. here's how specific this data gets. it's kind of frighteningly so. they can tell where you have been on a plane. for example, if you were on an aircraft that had a confirmed case, if you were at the front of the cabin, chances are you'd still have a green qr code. if you were eight rows ahead a yellow one. four rows, might be red. that's the kind of detail they get into. >> wow. i mean, we have nothing -- we're not even close to anything like that here in the u.s. just in terms of contact tracing.

i'm not sure -- obviously there are all sorts of civil liberties issues as well. david, appreciate it, all your reporting as always. back with dr. sanjay gupta. also joining us an infectious disease physician, and health education site osmosis.org. sanjay, we're seeing in china, is that something that actually would be built here, a testing system, a disease surveillance system effective enough that, i mean, that seems -- there's a whole bunch ofish u issues with. what would it be in the united states that would decide society could reopen? >> as we get to the tail of the curve when the numbers start to come down, the idea of just basic public health strategies where you -- people are getting tested, that's still a cornerstone of this. they can be isolated if they're found to be positive because the test results come back quickly.

and their contacts can be traced. i agree with you, anderson. i think it would be tough to do something as has often been the case with some of the strategies in china, as effective as they may be, they may be difficult to implement things like that here in the united states. but that's really not to take away from strategies that have worked in this country. the reason, again, without be laboring this point, it didn't really work in this country initially because we didn't have adequate testing initially. by the time we caught up, i think it was pretty clear the virus was circulating. >> doctor, what concerns me about the system in the u.s., it's state by state. it just seems like every epidemiologist i've talked to, the states really are not -- the public health systems are not robust enough in order to have the widespread testing needed and also to do the contact tracing that's going to be needed to ensure people have confidence that they can be safe. >> yeah, that's exactly right. i mean, for multiple presidencies now, just to be

very clear, this has gone on for a long time. public health systems have been quietly -- they have been chipped away at. there are amazing individuals working in those roles, but they need to be supported with resources. a lot of that contact tracing work is now put on the individual that is sick and their family to say, you know, you need to contact all the people you've been around and let them know that this is something we're worried about for you. and so right now that's how we're doing it. and unfortunately, that's the situation we've been in because of this long-standing de-investment in our public health system. >> dr. desai, the good news is scientists and medical professionals know what works. the question is funding it and getting people to do it. how possible is it to upscale is not a word, or to scale up such a system very quickly, state by state? >> you know, there is one thing that i've noticed in the past couple of weeks that i don't

think i realize as much as now, which is the innovation and the creativity that comes from a desperate situation. so, a simple example is the idea of block or batch testing. right now, imagine you're trying to screen 100 people. one way to do it is to screen them individually. it's 100 tests. one clever idea that's being rolled out in germany is what if you took ten swabs and ran them as one test, and then if any one of them was positive, then you go back and figure out which one. but if they're all negative, you can rest assured all ten were negative and you essentially did 10% of the work. so there are ways to scale up testing that are available today that we could tryout and other countries have shown can work. >> sanjay, dr. fauci said that going forward he thinks as a society we should forget about shaking hands, break that custom. the president has talked about that. he wasn't a fan of handshaking in his civilian life. that would certainly be a big

shift for the world, certainly the united states, some countries it wouldn't be a censorship because that's not their tradition. >> yeah, i mean culturally in places around the world, handshaking is not common. you know, i don't know. i think it actually would be a good idea. even aside from coronavirus, i mean there's lots of other viruses including flu, which can be transmitted that way. you know, i don't know. it will be interesting to see. i do think, as you and i have talked about anderson, sometimes we have very short memory with regard to things. even something as significant as this. but i think it would be a good thing to start and to encourage people to adopt in addition to really thorough hand washing, which people are much better at now, maybe better than they've ever been all their lives because of what's going on. those things outside of a pandemic make a huge difference with regard to pathogens. so i would like to see it. i don't know if it will happen or not. >> yeah, dr. desai, thank you very much for all you're doing and i appreciate the time you spent with us tonight.

thank you. sanjay, i want to ask you one more question. one of the things that bill gates had said to you and i when we were talking to him, you know, it's a tens of billions of dollar proposition to prepare for the next pandemic. but that there are things scientists can do that will quicken the amount of time that a vaccine takes to come to fruition. there's a whole bunch of stuff we can do to prepare for the next one. it's a question of political will to actually spend the money to do that. to your point about, you know, people forget very quickly and move on to other things, that would certainly be a shame if given all that we have been through thus far, if on the other side of this, we don't adequately prepare for the next time. >> we can't let that happen, anderson. you know, i think it's probably a little bit on us, frankly a little bit in the media to keep beating the drum on this because people will forget, i think, and move on. but this is so important. i mean, we were not prepared.

in 2017 dr. fauci also gave a talk that basically predicted a surprise pandemic. people have been talking about the idea of pandemic for sometime. but even aside from the preparation on testing and making sure we have surge capacity, that we have some redundancy in our health care system so we're not red lining when it comes to ventilators and ppe like we are now. just the surveillance, really looking around the world, anderson, like you and i travel to places around the world where zoonotic diseases, pathogens jumping from animals to humans is happening. that sort of surveillance is important. it's laborious work and most of it doesn't amount to anything that is going to turn into a pandemic. but when you do find it and you can start to smelch it at the beginning, think about the number of lives you can save, the amount of money that could be saved in all of this. we can't let people -- this can't be a lessons learned that sits in a drawer somewhere. >> i want to quickly ask you again, the president again today

was praising hydroxychloroquine as a drug to treat the virus. it's certainly controversial. cardiology group sent out a warning about the drug saying some covid-19 patients may at risk of heart arrhythmias if treated with it. i wonder what you make of that. >> it's significant. there are three cardiac organizations, american heart association, american cardiology association, and one that was specifically association that focuses on heart rhythm abnormalities. this has been a concern with this particular medication, that it could cause a heart rhythm abnormality, or worsen a heart rhythm problem in somebody who already has one. it's a small study. all these studies are small studies. just as difficult as it is to read into the benefits of these medications, it's difficult to read studies into the side effects. but in this one they found i think around 83, 84 patients that 11% of them developed this particular type of heart rhythm abnormality. wasn't necessarily something that caused significant problems or death, but it's an issue.

so what they're recommending is that everyone be screened with ekgs before they try these medications, that they be monitored with ekgs, if you have an existing problem you not get this drug. that could be a significant percentage of people, anderson. but again, this is why you do studies. this is what you have to figure out so you don't inadvertently harm somebody by giving them a medication like this. >> sanjay, thank you very much. i'll see you tomorrow night for the cnn global town hall, coronavirus facts and fears. our special guest will include basketball hall of famer magic johnson who will discuss why the pandemic is hitting the african-american community so hard. also joining us pastor rick warren. two hours of guests, live answers to your questions about coronavirus. tomorrow night starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. up next tonight, i'll talk to a doctor who has one of the toughest jobs in the hospital during the pandemic, intubating patients. you're right next to the nuclear reactor. what it's like, when we continue. back in-store and online. or anything i want to buy is going to be on rakuten. rakuten is easy to use,

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you've worked so hard to achieve so much. perhaps it's time to partner with someone who knows you and your business well enough to understand what your wealth is really for. we're now in the new cdc guidelines released for essential workers exposed by a person. they are told to wear a face mask at all times and check their temperatures. this includes health care workers, workers at grocery stores and food delivery as well. they are putting themselves at risk as they keep our you country running. >> reporter: businesses close, streets empty as new yorkers, like many people across the country, continue to live under a stay-at-home order. but for those who are deemed essential -- >> a lot of stress. frustration.

>> reporter: -- staying home is not an option. >> just pray to god that i make it through the day. >> reporter: a number of so-called essential workers we found shared a common worry, thankful to have jobs when so many now do not. but also grave concerns about working during a pandemic. >> it's not easy. it's scary, i'm telling you. every day we come in, we pray to god, you know, to keep us safe, you know. but it's our responsibility at this time to take care of the customers and the patients. >> reporter: the focus here at thomas drugs on manhattan's upper west side ensuring the staff safety while keeping up with customer needs for items such as thermometers, gloves and masks. >> it's hard for us to get from the distributors, so we are just trying to get it, but still it's not easy. >> reporter: but for some essential workers, they have to deal with scenes like this before they can even get to work. merriam works in an emergency room and shot this video in a

bronx subway station last friday. >> what does an essential worker do, how do we stay safe when we're not safe at work where we're supposed to be safe because we have to deal with this pandemic and we're not safe getting to work. >> reporter: she says she has no choice but to take the subway. she said she doesn't have the luxury of a car, so she has to commute by train an hour and a half each way every day from her home in harlem to montefiore hospital in the bronx. she says the cdc recommendation of 6 feet of social distancing is challenging, at best. >> to be honest with you, that rile doesn't exist on the train. >> reporter: doesn't exist? >> it's like nonexistent. to the point that you're lucky if you get on when there's a little bit of people. usually it's very crowded in the morning. >> reporter: the city's transportation authority says ridership is down more than 90%, and they do watch for hot spots. but they say it is difficult

operating even a reduced schedule because there are fewer healthy people to run the trains. jasmin works at trader joe's and commutes by train as well. she said she does what she can to keep her distance on her way to work, where her job is to help customers keep their distance. >> it is risky to come to work. it's a little bit scary, but i'm trying to keep the safe precautions. i'm trying to keep 6 feet away, constantly wear my mask, change my gloves, wash my hands frequently. so it is a scare, but got to stay safe. >> reporter: and it's not just grocery store workers keeping spirits in supply is deemed essential as well. at 67th street wine and spirits, customers wait outside for their orders. here they've hired some furloughed restaurant workers to keep up with demand. >> at the end of the day, ultimately it's about the people. so if we can keep people employed, we feel happy. >> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, new york. >> up next, firsthand account from an essential worker and icu

doctor who has one of the most dangerous jobs in the hospital, intubating patients who need to go on ventilators. be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ no no no no no, there's no space there! maybe over here? hot! hot! oven mitts! oven mitts! everything's stuck in the drawers! i'm sorry! oh, jeez. hi. kelly clarkson. try wayfair! oh, ok. it's going to help you, with all of... this! yeah, here you go. thank you! oh, i like that one! [ laugh ] that's a lot of storage! perfect. you're welcome!

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in hospitals across this country, it's the brave and dedicated nurses and doctors who are on the front lines to fight against the pandemic. they're risking their own lives to save their patients. doctor at the university of illinois chicago, weeks ago he

was the anesthesiologist for those about to have a baby. now he has one of the most dangerous jobs. he's inches from a patient's face as he intubates them so they can be put on a ventilator. recently told "the washington post," quote, you're right next to the nuclear reactor. they go in confident and fafrts. if you miss on the first try you have to do it again and you're bringing out a ton more virus. the doctor joins me now. thank you so much for being with us and for what you're doing. can you just talk about the -- what it's like doing this every single day? there's an intimacy to it. you're so close. you see the patient. you look them in the eye. what is this like? >> yeah, thanks, anderson, for having me on. you know, it's a very challenging to describe what it feels like because you have this, what looks like a space suit separating me and the patient. i'm normally used to interacting face to face on eye level. and now i have this big barrier between me and the patient. they don't have any family or

visitors around them. so you're kind of taking on the roles of a lot of different people. it's very scary. it's scary for myself. i know i'm at risk. it's scary for my loved ones. if i do get sick, infect, it's scary for the patient. it's what i have to do and i'm happy to do it. >> you wrote about this you could be the last person that that person sees. >> yeah. you know, i take that very seriously. normally as an anesthesiologist, people having surgery, it's not maybe the happiest day, but they know what to expect and we do our best to make them happy and comfortable and set the expectations. but everyone expects to wake up. when you're intubating a patient with coronavirus, you know, i take it very seriously, but i may be the last face they see or voice they hear. i try to take time to show compassion and show we're going to take good care of them and i'm going to see to it they get good care at the hospital.

>> and you write about, you know, you try to do this quickly and it can be done in 10 to 15 seconds, you said. but the people cough and oftentimes your mask is covered with what they bring up. one of the things you wrote, you said, i have to find a way to hold it together in order to do this job. i tear up sometimes. if i do, it can fog up my face shield. how do you keep doing this? i mean, you have an underlying condition, which is asthma. obviously that 's a concern as well. >> it's sort of a multi facetted -- there are lots of different components to it. first and foremost it starts by having a good team, starting with the leadership in the department of anesthesia. my coworkers share a lot of responsibility, check in on each other day to day. then, of course, there are loved ones, friends, some of my posts on facebook and instagram have gotten people from all over the world reaching out to me giving me support, offering to send me food. i mean honestly, it's blowing me away how supportive people are being. so that really does help.

and then, you know, you realize you're trained for this and you go where the data leads you and you do the best you can. >> i read also you said in between when you go back to the break room or where ever you go, you exercise for your lungs to try to keep your lungs healthy. that's something that chris cuomo was talking about, too, fighting this. how important is that to you? is that something you recommend other people do? >> well, yeah. i think it can't hurt. we know that exercise and a good diet are really helpful for a strong immune system. that's, of course, you need the best immune system you can to fight this virus. i don't only do that to keep my lungs strong, but it also kind of keeps me balanced and kind of keeps me focused. if i just take a few minutes for myself and can do that between patients, you know, it's not always super busy every night. so between patients i try to go back to my call room and have a moment where i'm kind of exercising, you know.

>> you volunteered to be the person who does this. i mean, who does the intubations. >> yeah. so, initially when the pandemic was first starting to arise in chicago, you know, we discussed kind of different plans. we came up with a few different kind of clever ways of staffing ideas. one of the things i said is i don't take care of older relatives. i don't have young kids. i'm relatively healthy, i'm young. i'm happy to do whatever i can and, you know, now that it's becoming a little bit busier or quite a bit busier, we're sharing the roles and responsibilities. but i'm happy to do it. i felt like i was raised and born to be a physician and to take care of patients. >> well, thank you for what you're doing. it's -- i appreciate it. i know a lot of people do. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> be careful. coming up we remember singer song writer john prine who died of complications from

coronavirus. we'll talk to bonnie raitt, her friend john prine, his music and legacy. (soft music) - [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. and they're counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. grubhub. together we can help save the restaurants we love.

today's one-day death toll to coronavirus is now at least 1,800. we've been trying each night to honor those who died and tonight that means honoring a legend. john prine died yesterday, he was 73 years old. he had a musical style that was all his own. he counted legendary musicians among his fans. one of them, bonnie rate, who appeared with prine just last november at a concert. the song is one prine wrote and raitt made her own. "angel from montgomery." take a listen. ♪ i'm an old woman ♪ named after my mother

♪ another child that's grew old ♪ ♪ if dreams were thunder ♪ lightning was desire ♪ this old house would have burnt down ♪ ♪ a long time ago ♪ make me an angel ♪ that flies from montgomery ♪ make me a poster ♪ of an old rodeo ♪ just give me one thing ♪ i can hold onto ♪ to believe in this living ♪ is just a hard way to go >> bonnie raitt joins me now.

thank you for being with us. i'm so sorry it's under these circumstances. but wow, to watch you two on that stage. you knew him since the 1970s. you stayed close to him throughout your career. what was he like? what are some of the things that you remember most? >> well, we started out in 1971 together, both of us had our first albums and we were playing greenwich village, clubs around the corner and the word had spread about this incredible guy from chicago and we just hit it off right away and ever since i heard that first record with angel on it, i knew i wanted to sing it. and it was, you know, we were young and everybody was -- it was a great time to be starting out. really great. and always been one of my talal talismen and great friends. >> up said something about john, you said, quote, he's the combination of being that tender and that wise and that astute mixed with his homespun sense of

humor. probably the closest thing to seeing mark twain in person. he had a really uncanny way of capturing every day life, happy or sad, funny or thought-provoking. >> absolutely. and, you know, he was, like a lot of the people that i love the most, he was, you know, as humorous as he was deep and he was the same guy offstage as he was on and immediately adorable and people fell in love with him the minute you see him and then he would hit you with those songs. his ability to dig deep, as well as to be humorous, is a great combination. >> i just want to read a quick lyric from "angel from montgomery" that we just heard. make me an angel that flies from montgomery. make me a poster of an old ro o rodeo. just give me one thing that i can hold onto. to believe in this living is just a hard way to go. his way to capture the human condition, there's incredible power in so much of what he did.

>> yeah, and to be that succinct. and it seemed effortless. it was just an incredible gift he had. to think of how many decades of music that he's given us, it was just heartbreaking to all of us that this virus took one of our most belove and treasured, you know, all the world around, there will never be another john prine. >> roger ebert, the famous film critic, he was working for "the chicago sun times" and wrote a music review back in the '70s, john's first review, i read. and the headline was, singing mailman who delivers a powerful message in a few words. and it amazes me, some of the aspects of john's life, that he was a mailman and ablequickly d while on his route. >> i know, incredible story. and, you know, all of the -- growing up in arkansas, just in that county and his family being from the roots that he was, he really represents so much of a

cross section of america, and for me, you know, as a west coast person, growing up, i mean, chicago and the midwest and arkansas were, like, foreign countries for me and john brought it all home to the rest of us. he brought such truth and such universal truth. but so precisely american, you know? >> what do you think his -- sitting here with all that we're going through, he had a wry sense of humor, i wonder what his message would be to everybody? >> well, his last record, i mean, it's not that many people that can have five decades and have the greatest time of his career be the last year, you know. the "tree of forgiveness" album brought him such acclaim. and there's a song on there, "when i get to heaven," he lived a very fulfilled life, with a beautiful wife and kids. his career, his peers and his fans celebrating him, i mean, he was at the pinnacle of his life and he'd come through so many

health challenges already, i really felt that he really knew how lucky he was to have made it this far and was just -- that song, "when i get to heaven" is the one that i'm going to be listening to when i want to smile and think of him. >> well, what an incredible life, just extraordinary. bonnie raitt, thank you so much for talking with us. >> thank you, anderson. >> you take care. i want to take a minute to update you on a story we brought you a couple weeks ago. colorado man named zach branson was facing liver transpant surgery, threatening with cancellation because of the pandemic. initially, hospital authorities said the surgery was onhold. good news tonight. and we all need it. surgery took place a couple days ago and was successful. zach nor his uncle have the virus. the doctor who performed that operation with zach right there. some fwoold news to end on. the news continues right now, want to hand it over to chris

for "cuomo prime time." chris, how are you feeling? >> better than i deserve. i wish you out there a very sweet passover. going to have special meaning for all of us now. we got to count our blessings and, yes, we know what it's like to hope that a very evil spirit passes us by, because that's what we're dealing with right now. i am still better than i deserve. my brother, be well. always great to see you. i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." new york has once again reported its deadliest day. that's two days in a row of deadliest days and yet again, this context of potential good news in that, not in death, but in what it suggests about flattening of the curve, as reported by the governor of new york. so, tonight, we have that man, the governor of new york will join us. we'll talk to him about the realities with coronavirus in his own state and while we have him, let's get a take on this new information about our president's planning. and what does it