events at any time at c-span.org/coronavirus. here is a look at our live coverage friday. on c-span at 11:00 a.m. eastern, the head of the national association of county and city officials talks about the steps local health officials are taking to prepare for the coronavirus. at 1:30 p.m. eastern, johns hopkins university provides an update on the coronavirus added a briefing ont capitol hill. and on c-span2, a discussion on the coronavirus response with two former obama administration officials. that is live from the center for american progress at 11:30 a.m. eastern. >>eastern coming up on washington journal, a look at the u.s. to the coronavirus

crisis, with dr. christopher mores, a global health professor at george washington university, and adriane casalotti from the national association of county and city health officials. ♪ this is "the washington journal" for march 6. president trump expected to sign -- $8illion-dollar billion emergency funding bill, this has mike pence said yesterday there were not enough testing kits to meet demands going forward. it's will be disturbing to by the end of this week. maryland has announced three new cases and the governor there reporting a state of emergency. cdc highlighting cases when it at 100, coronavirus with 10 total deaths and state reporting cases out of 13 of , 13 cases reported by the

cdc. over the next 30 hours, medical professionals -- three hours, medical professionals will join us later to answer your questions about the virus and the public health response. gethe first hour, we will your response. the level of concern you have about the virus in the united states. here is how you can let us know level ofr concern. if you are concerned, call us at [cheers and applause] .- at (202) 748-8000 if you are not, call us at (202) 748-8001. if you are unsure, call us at (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) , and003, tweet us @cspanwj post on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. this is the cdc information on their page, cdc.gov. that was updated yesterday. looking at the updated cases in the u.s. of covid-19, total

deaths at 10, they are reporting, and at the time this was compiled, states reporting cases, the number of states, 13 of them. and it comes to the cases that are reported to the cdc for 30 ofwith coronavirus, those cases are related to travel, the person-to-person spread, 20 cases, 49 cases currently under investigation, which brings the total number of cases at 99. , those states reporting coronavirus highlighted by a map -- those states reporting coronavirus, highlighted by a cdc, five to 10 cases, one to five cases, and the rest of the country. when it comes to the united states, 233 confirmed cases by johns hopkins, 12 deaths reported, 10 in king county, state, one in

california, one in snohomish county, washington state, bringing up the total number to 12. it was the vice president yesterday that while traveling as during a visit to washington state talked about the u.s. response. we will show you that in a bit, but it was also dr. anthony fauci that was part of the task worth it was kumbaya by the president to deal with the coronavirus in the united states, talking about how the virus will affect those generationally. [video clip] address one issue we continually get asked about, and i would like to clarify it a bit. that is the question we always get asked about -- what is the risk to the american public? divide it into two general areas. when you look at the country as a whole, what is the risk of actually getting infected with the coronavirus? the risk in the united states as a whole is still low. when you look at what we are seeing, and we are following it literally on a daily basis, this issue of community spread as we

are seeing right now in the seattle area, which they are addressing by a variety of ways, the risk of getting infected when you have community spread in a certain area is a bit higher. quantitatively, i am not sure, but still when you look at the ofntry as a whole, the risk getting infected is low. however, if a person is infected , like taking those unfortunate situations that we are seeing in seattle, where several people have gotten infected, the risk of getting into trouble widely varies. young, otherwise healthy individual, the risk of your requiring any other kind of medical intervention is low. we know that from data from china and recent data from korea , and data from italy. is about 80% or more of individuals who get infected will do well without needing any medical intervention. however, if you are elderly and have underlying conditions, the

common ones that were used were flu, heart disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, obesity, or being immunosuppressed for reasons such as cancer, chemotherapy -- if you get infected, the risk of those individuals getting into trouble is significantly higher. it is not a uniform risk across the board, which tells us that the vulnerable among us, those with those conditions, need to be particularly paid attention to, to protect them not only from getting infected, but to give them the care they need when they get infected. that's dr. anthony fauci. you can see that full press conference, by the way, on our website at c-span.org. holdeam compiled will another press conference around 5:00 this afternoon. they concentrate their efforts on the west coast. the baltimore sun this morning reporting about three new cases on the east coast. in maryland, larry hogan, the

governor, declaring a state of emergency in that state. that is from the baltimore sun. and the rollcall saying that the president is expected to sign $8.3 billion emergency funding package that was passed yesterday by the senate 96-1, the vote total, with rand paul, who wanted cost offsets with cuts to foreign assistance --grams, with the chambers was the chamber's lone "no" vote. new orleans, louisiana starts us off with angelo, who says he is concerned. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i'm very concerned, because i have a little grandniece and grandnephew, excuse me, coming from italy with his mother, father, and other parents to visit my brother, which is his grandfather, ok?

i am 73 years old, his grandfather is four years younger than me, who is 69. i'm not so much concerned about him, because evidence i have seen is that children up to 10 years old are fine. middle-aged people are fine. the problem is with the elderly and people who need care, which i'm worried about him being a carrier or someone in his family being a carrier of the disease and bringing it over and killing of the disease and bringing it over and killing me and his father, ok? i'm very, very concerned about that because we are getting absolutely no information out of the white house. they are more worried about the -- rsona, [sighs] host: how about your state and locality? what information are they getting you? caller: louisiana has absolutely no cases, ok? i am not getting anything out of

the state because we do not have to deal with it because we have no cases. this is an isolated thing with them coming from italy. you may that point, angelo, and i wanted to alert you that the nbc affiliate in new orleans is reporting this morning that two new orleans catholic school teachers have put themselves under self quarantine among travel to concern where coronavirus was present. that is the nbc news affiliate website there. this is ray in missouri, says he is not concerned. you're next. caller: hello, good morning. i'm not concerned. i think the budget has already been put aside for it. i think the vaccine is not going to come out for another 18 months at the best estimate, but we have the public health sector telling us to stay clean, don't go to work if you are sick, and it is like any other

disease. i don't worry about the flu coming every year, and i don't worry when it comes and killed hundreds and hundreds of people, so they clean and take care of yourselves, ok? host: are you concerned about what we don't know about coronavirus yet? caller: in some ways, but we have been on this since day one and i am confident that we will find a solution is best we can as fast as possible. host: the npr affiliate in kansas city reporting on their to see, if you want that, for about a half million residents. npr reporting there that only kitscoronavirus test are available. bob in rockville, who is concerned. hello. i am concerned. there are only three cases that have been confirmed, however, those three individuals have been in montgomery county since february 20, so who knows how

many people that come into contact with? to rebut what the gentleman said who spoke before me, the average flu kills .1% of the people that are tested for it. this thing has been killing 3% of the people that have been tested for it worldwide. the people that have been tested for it worldwide. in america, it is much higher. in maryland, we have only had 20 -- as of last night -- we only had 20 confirmed tests, three of which were positive, so that is 15% of people tested that were positive, and we will see how many of those, hopefully everybody survives, but it does not look good. my reading of the evidence is this is tense, many factors more deadly than the flu. -- tens, many factors more deadly than the flu. host: and he mentioned the headline from the washington

times this morning, as he was traveling with the team assembled by the president, talked about leaders in washington state about the coronavirus and also what is going on when comes to the testing kits. [video clip] >> we have been making steady progress, and i was encouraged to hear, governor, that cdc has been able to provide kids to washington -- kits to washington state to meet your demands, but we know that a while -- that while we are meeting your demand of cases we know about today, we still have a ways to go to make sure the tests are available for any future cases and also for people across your state and across the country. that may be concerned that they contracted the coronavirus and wanted to attain a test. i'm happy to report and have you confirmed that the cdc has prioritized the delivery of coronavirus test kits to washington state and to california, and i can assure

you, governor, that we will continue to do so. week, the end of next cdc's test supplier, company known as ibt, will distribute kits across the country that will enable roughly 1.2 million americans to be tested for the coronavirus. those kits will be delivered in a matter of a few days. by the end of next week, another 4 million tests will be available. it is still just the beginning as our nation continues to hear of new cases every day. we want to make sure the testing is available broadly. to that end, president trump brought together the leaders of the top commercial labs in the country. as we speak, at the president's urging, they have formed a consortium. we will be working with leading commercial labs in america, who tell us within a matter of weeks through validation efforts that we will do through the fda, they

could well be in a position future, the not distant your doctor, your local pharmacy, your local med check will have access to a coronavirus. another snapshot of the federal response in washington state. writing that state authorities sent an urgent request for 23,000 respirators and surgical masks to be released from the government's strategic national stockpile. it is a repository of drugs and supplies for to plummet in major public health emergencies, such as infectious disease outbreaks. within 24 hours, the state's liaison to the federal government was told his state would get assistance, but it would be less than half of the 93,600required -- 100,200ors and

surgical masks. the u.s. has 12 million respirators and 30 million surgical masks, according to health and human services secretary alex azar. in springfield, massachusetts, philip, who says he is not concerned. good morning. caller: good morning. basically, i'm 80 years old. basically also, every year i get the flu shot and every other year i get the pneumonia shots. mornings i gothe to basically the stores, i go there at 8:30 in the morning, there are 10 people there. you buy your stuff. massachusettsin

here, in springfield, basically , when you go in, they have little cloths where you can disinfect your carriage when you go in and buy stuff. and then when you leave, a before you go -- leave, before you go, you go to the little thing and get another sleeve, hands, so you disinfect yourself from going back into the store. the thing -- massachusetts, we are pretty good on this. first of all, we don't panic, we are all easterners, in other words, and we know we get the flu every year. this is just a new strain, and basically, what you do is you take it easy.

that's all i got to say for it. in other words, don't panic. springfield,in massachusetts. we will go to new york. carol, who says she is concerned. caller: i'm concerned. unfortunately, i take chemotherapy. my brother just found out he has bladder cancer and my sister has lung cancer. i lost my daughter last year from lung cancer, and we are all on chemotherapy. we are allowing students from atna coming back to study university. we are allowing students from to come backrever to this country. we are allowing planes to come back to this country, where there are major epidemics. this makes no sense. billion that $8.3 congress has allotted for it, it

is put into a general fund, which will allow buildings to be uilt, not just the situation with the epidemic. host: those funds also, there -- select for sins portions of those funds that go to public health. we had a segment on it yesterday. if you missed it on our program, you can catch it on our website, c-span.org. it kind of breakdown where the money is going to when it comes to the $8.3 billion. caller: what the president was asking for was a little over $2.5 million, which was going to be 100% for the epidemic. but everybody thinks this $8.3 thaton -- everyone thinks this is just going to go to the epidemic. it is not. unfortunately, no one wants to really come out of the news

what is really going on. we should not be allowing countries like italy to come over to this country. we should not be allowing iran, china, or any of these countries to come to this country. host: would you call for a target blanket on those countries and the united states or overall? how far does echo? -- does that go? like iti would have a right now. this is not a minor -- when we did sars and when we did ebola, we did a small amount in comparison to what is going on here. we do not even know what is going on here and how many people truthfully have this disease, because we have not been able to test. not only that, i will bring one other thing -- people are going to the stores to get pu rell, hand sanitizer, and my sister who has hand sanitizer

bought 316 ounce bottles -- 100 3 16t -- bought ounce bottles. $100. you cannot even do that with gasoline. host: we saw where some stores are when they come to hand sanitizer and the like. let's go over to dublin, ohio and wendell, who is concerned. caller: i want to share some facts, listening to some of your other guests. and thead the flu shots pneumonia shots for the past 27 years. recently last month, i found myself becoming very sick. i had to go to the emergency room, and i told him, i said, if it wasn't for the fact i have been getting the shots and had no symptoms are no cold, flu, anything, i told them -- i said,

i swear some thing is different but i feel like i have the flu. they only gave me a shot for an upset stomach and said go home. i found myself the next day so conducted that i could not breathe. i passed out. i had to go to the emergency at osu hospital. they tested me for influenza a. they got me in about 15 minutes, and said, we need to separate you from the rest of the waiting area. you tested positive for influenza a. the other hospital, while all of this is going on, never even took that simple step of testing me for the flu at least. thereeople were in coughing all over the place, they were not even supplying masks in the first hospital. we have a question about where these countries are reporting or

not reporting all of the facts, but why have we not heard about anything going on in russia with virus?irus -- this i watch the news and everything i can, i'm sure everyone else does, but i do not hear anything about, is russia being affected? can they handle this situation? i also sometimes shake my head when people -- and i do not mean to be political about this, saying with the current president and the white house staff, the vice president, who i just listened to when you showed it a while ago, it is a lot of hand movement, which makes me feel like he is very uncomfortable. "we'ref "um's" and gonna's," and these kids coming out to test, i would hope they would be made in the united states. in dublin,is wendell ohio. the johns hopkins website

highlights coronavirus cases across the world. when it comes to russia, four confirmed cases total according to johns hopkins. to thatant to go website, it tracks throughout the united states and the world, even, when it comes to these cases. ,o concern is where michael is in brooklyn, iowa. caller: this is michael in brooklyn, iowa. host: that's what i said, go ahead. all, i reallyof appreciate the ability to watch c-span. have watched it for years and i really appreciate it, because i feel like the media has been very unfair to the trump administration in handling this situation. ,f it was a democrat president there would be support and give him kudos. unfortunately in this age, he can do nothing right.

he can do nothing right. this coronavirus -- i live in iowa, so we don't have anything yet. , weard work doesn't kill us get up at sunrise, like i am right now, we go out in the field and we work, we feed our livestock. thingsaround a lot of every day. these people also who do not have their children immunized -- you shouldor all is get immunized. i did, i am sure you did. we should keep it on political. this is -- unpolitical. this is where the united states needs to band together. host: you saw the stock market react yesterday, because of that. the new york times highlighting the airline industry, concerns they are having, saying hundred

-- $115 billion out of revenue could be affected. -- the more fundamental issue posed by coronavirus is that -- is a far of the greater threat, but is still in its early stages. a prolonged disruption could be doing lasting economic damage. commercial aviation, like the internet, is part of the connective tissue of the global economy. more of that analysis in the new york times. peter, he said on the line that you are unsure that she is unsure -- you set on the line that you are unsure. line that you the are unsure. caller: what i was going to say, this may be germ warfare.

what i understand from a theree professor is that is a gentleman who opposes xi jinping, his name is mr. wong, and mr. wong was in control of a germ warfare lab in wuhan, and he released, he released the coronavirus to destabilize xi jinping. host: and where did you pick up that story at? caller: a friend of ours who is a professor who just came from china recently. host: if i may ask, do you believe it? if that's the case, why? caller: well, he a very knowledgeable person. teacher, and as far

as rumors go, i want to get that out there. in the media, there is very little talk about how, the origins of the coronavirus. hampton,t's peter in new jersey. when it comes to social media interactions, axios has a story you want to look at for how this pickup on social media, saying many of the novel coronavirus stories being shared on most social media are packaged to drive fear rather than build understanding about the illness, according to news data provided to axios. they say the english story coronavirusmost is " declared global health bc.rgency" by the b

one of the biggest dangers during this outbreak is the misinformation that has been about the virus, saying the number of interactions on social media stories about this have increased seven times since february 20. google searches have increased eight times, according to google trends data, and the number of cable news mentions has increased three times. more of that if you want to go to axios and see that story there. michigan. next up is greg, who says he is concerned. caller: good morning, pedro. thank you for c-span and your reporting. wouldt believe anybody claim, like your other caller, that somebody would take this worldand dispel it to the , to have somebody look at the chinese government or the leader bad enough that things would change there.

i don't think that happened. i live in the was and i enjoy it i am concerned because we are finding out that we have a lot more of the viruses here that people have brought here as far as the coronavirus, because we have a lot more people in the country that have it. i find it hard to believe that we are the richest country in japan, south that korea, and china can test 10,000 people a day for it and we have a hard time getting past 500. me to believe that, in the sense that we should be taking care of our people too. when that virus got here, it didn't go far and all of a sudden it exploded. we have six or seven people that had it. the first was a fellow in washington, and now we have 160 cases. host: there is a website, it's

headline says that 400 people are being monitored in your state alone with eight negative tests. caller: i understand that, but we should be testing thousands of people. i don't know why we are not doing that. -- do not knoww why they want to shield that, someone said we do not have enough of the virus -- not vaccine, that is not it, but we do not have enough control over -- lower to lower the rate the rate of spread. host: we'll get your concern about the level of coronavirus spread in the u.s.. if you are concerned about it, (202) 748-8000. if you are not concerned, (202) 748-8001. if you are unsure, call us at (202) 748-8002. one of the debates leading up to

the passage of that bill in the house and the senate was affordability issues for vaccines that will eventually be offered. one of the questions yesterday offered to the team compiled by the president include questions for the center of medicare and medicaid services, talking about insurance coverage for coronavirus tests. >> it is covered for medicaid and medicare and people in those programs can get tests in individual exchanges. it is a common type of tests, like you get a swab for strep throat or the flu test. these are things that are typically covered. for insurance companies, it does depend on coverage, but this is something that is a commonly covered service. >> but you cannot mandate that this be a health benefit for private insurers? >> the essential health benefits are defined in law, and in that particular section of the law does not identify laboratory tests. that being said come in the

individual exchanges and products that are being offered this is a covered service that is provided. >> but for private insurance, 100 60 million americans are covered there, they cannot discern that this test will be covered by their insurance. >> they should check with their insurance company, but like i said, this is a common type of test, laboratory test. most plans will cover this, like they would cover a flu test or strep throat. it is a commonly covered service. >> but you will not move by executive action to mandate this as an essential health benefit for private insurance companies? >> at this time for medicare and medicaid and the individual exchanges, we know that is being covered. in the insurance companies, we have not heard. we will continue to look at that. if it becomes an issue, we want to that. that being said, the test was provided for free by the state health department. people can always get a test. if there is an issue there, the

test would be sent to public labs and be covered there. >> do you have any information about testing costs? >> we are going to put out a information on cost-sharing. the test is available for free at the public health department, so that is always an option for people. there are a lot of questions during that for him yesterday. if you want to watch it yourself, i would invite you to go to the website, at c-span.org you can listen to the responses by the federal government there. theyis shane, saying that are raising these heights is so high that average citizens will not be able to procure these items. from ken in pittsburgh, saying in 2002, west nile will kill us in 2014, ebola, in 2016,

zika, 20, corunna. same fear campaign, different year and. and jen, saying if we were prepared with a population like --th korea, of 151 51 million, they have been testing over 10,000 people daily. if you want to text us, it is (202) 748-8003. frank says he is concerned. good morning. caller: quick question. questionnt to ask a about this. i'm not sure if anyone can answer this question, but it is somewhat concerning, there is so little concern in the black , people say we could be immune, and i want to let that rest. ,here is not too much concern

and we are not getting many specifics on races that are being affected through this. second, i also want to know, is it also true that children are also immune to this and are possibly carriers of this coronavirus? host: why those two perspectives specifically? tell us why you are concerned about them. concerned, people are not taking the necessary steps that could be taken, that mentality, [inaudible] there is no real reason to stock up on supplies or whatever. they may be needed to protect ourselves. it seems like -- i am searching everywhere for if there is any kind of race, a list of what is

going on, because i know there are countries that are listed -- for example, africa, people that have been contracting the virus in africa, a lot of them were travelers from european countries. what's going on? we need to know, as an african-american, i just want everybody to take this serious. frank come your second question, or when it comes to the children, let me point you to online. usa today has a story looking at what the world health organization is saying about young people and the risk that they pose or the risk that can be posed if they catch it, saying that scientists found the virus to be relatively mild among individuals under 19 years point 5% ofly two the reported cases developing into a severe disease, 0.2% developing into a critical disease. the centers for disease control said in a february 24 report that no children in china under the age of nine have died from

the infection. you can read that, frank, if you want to. it is on the usa today website. a story published today, it answers the second part of your concern. from new york state in philip sport, michael, who says he is concerned. caller: yeah. the virus right now recently and [inaudible] some kind of problem with breathing or something like that. when the virus gets inside your system, [inaudible] but there is another at risk population. the chinese have not given any evidence of how many spoke her's died,ied -- smokers have how many people have been smoking. we have not had anybody mention the young people who have been doing vaping. these people are tremendously at

risk for this virus to affect them. host: waldorf, maryland. john in waldorf says he is unsure. hi, john. caller: thank you for taking the time to take my call. so i have a sister who lives out in italy, i'm getting information from italy that this thing is not the scary event that people are talking about .ere i think it is important that the public remain, you know, courageous about it, and they also remain concerned about their neighbor. it is not something you want to be cavalier with, but it is important for us to not be fearful about it and to do what we can. deadly as people say, in the sense that the flu killed more people every year and they do not talk about that. host: three cases reported in

maryland as of this morning. how does that affect your view? caller: i think the work environment demands prudence about it. teleworkl looking at and things like that, but i think this is a good preparation for a more serious event that perhaps might come in the future , and this is the time that we as citizens should be conscious of our behavior, you know? if we are sick, we do ourselves a favor and our office in favor, stay home. if we are remotely fearful about having this virus, we should communicate that and try to limit the exposure. host: that is john in maryland. er, kathy,ryland says she is concerned. caller: hi, pedro. i am a first time caller, so i am a little nervous. i feel like i am very, very

concerned that they want to fast-track a vaccine for the coronavirus. i've done some research on vaccines and it's my understanding that in 1986, when the vaccine act was enacted, the cdc ortwo years the fda, whoever controls the vaccines, was a force to report back to congress every two years about vaccine safety. right now as we speak, it is my understanding that there is a court case in the southern district of new york, and i believe it has been there since entity -- i'm not sure exactly -- but a group of people are trying to sue the government over this position, fdause in over 30 years the

or the cdc has never reported back to congress about vaccine safety. so this was supposed to be done since 1983 and it never has been done, and now they want to fast-track a vaccine for this virus. a caller that called earlier said that children need to get their vaccines -- well, maybe when he got a vaccine and when i got a vaccine back in the late 1950's, we got maybe two or three vaccines. now kids are getting 60 vaccines. host: kathy, if you are concerned about the fast tracking of this, wouldn't there be a concern if there was a slower approach to developing a vaccine as well? my point is, there have never been any safety studies done and reported back to congress. i have also watched congress hearings on people that have tried to come before congress and bring this point up, and they have literally squelched these people from speaking out.

i want people to notice. they really need to pay attention. host: that's kathy in maryland, giving us her concerns when it comes to the development of vaccines. let's go to south carolina, saint stevens. hi. caller: i was watching tv last night, and they were talking about a nurse that worked who cannot even get tested for it. she has the symptoms but cannot get tested for it. our concern, we do not know how many people that are affected, we are not testing people. i wonder if they are not testing people so we do not know the actual count of who is infected. host: well, there are tests going on for the number of tests available versus the demand, those were some concerns expressed by the vice president

and others, which we showed you earlier. go ahead. caller: another thing that really bothers me, we heard about this months ago. months ago. what they are doing now and trying to put in place should have been done months ago for the safety of the public. she was talking about the vaccine -- i have a daughter who has a phd, her major with a -- major with epidemiology and biostatistics. they can get infected. that is what is concerning me. people are saying it is political, it is this and is that -- it is not. it is not as serious as the flu. we do not know how serious it is, because if you do not get treatment it can become deadly. we will be joined by a medical professional in our following our to answer your questions, questions just like these about the coronavirus.

and later on in the program, someone who studies and knows very well the public health aspect and how public health localities are dealing with coronavirus response, you will have a chance to ask questions about that too. it was the president last night at a town hall hosted in scranton, pennsylvania by fox edws that answer questions about the coronavirus response. [video clip] >> it started in china, thousands and thousands of cases in china, and -- i don't mean to interrupt, but in terms of things you can't control -- the impact on the economy and potentially, that people if you like the economy is turning around, that could be an election issue as you go into it. we were set to hit 30,000 on the dow. this is a number that nobody ever even came close to. already we have that number, and although it is down 10% or 11%, it is the highest it has ever been by far. say,e same time, i have to

people are staying in the united states, spending their money in the u.s., and i like that. i have been after that for a long time. stay in the u.s., spend your money here, and they are sort of forced to do that. we met with the airline companies yesterday. they are doing a fantastic job, and are not flying to areas that have a big problem. so it is going to all work out. everybody has to be calm. -- it is going to all work out. >> but there is a long-term plan? doesn't happen, but we have plans for every single possibility. i think that is what we have to do. host: the president was expected to go to the cdc. that event has been canceled. he is traveling to tennessee to visit those affected by the tornado there, and the vice president will hold another forum later on this afternoon at 5:00 to update on where the u.s. is as far as coronavirus response.

ever laments on c-span to point you to today if you are interested in learning more about this. you will hear from george roberts, who has the national association of county and city health officials. that will be from the national press club. watch that on c-span at 11:00 this morning, also c-span.org an hour radio app to -- and our radio app too. also, another discussion on the coronavirus and u.s. to -- u.s. response at the center for american progress. c-span is where you can see that, i do love and: 30 this 11:30 thisat morning, and there will be a briefing held on capitol hill today. at can watch that on c-span 1:30 this afternoon. round up of everything we are taking and when it comes to coronavirus response, the best place to find that information is our website, at c-span.org.

paris is up next in lancaster, pennsylvania, says she is not concerned. hi. caller: good morning. i'm not concerned, because from the time i was a little girl, my father always said, america is the greatest country. until we realize that we are all , thisans, period practice of separating people between this one and that one -- the united one states constitution says all, creed, which encompasses any believe people have with respect. host: how does that relate directly to coronavirus response? caller: we are splitting it between chinese, americans, british and all this type of things. treesase does not fall on

, like my grandmother used to say. it falls on people that have a brain to understand that if you are walking out with a coat and you are coughing, you need to take precautions. is next in edmond, oklahoma. caller: hi, how are you? host: i'm fine, how are you? caller: i'm 85 years old, i'm fat and i have a heart problem and i am not worried at all. i have come through many different illnesses in my lifetime and have seen a lot of epidemics, and i'm not concerned at all. of our family, a. oklahoma, we are not concerned about it. here in oklahoma, we are not concerned about it. we know the authorities are doing everything that they can .o keep us safe

ell,subject of the pur washing your hands, and the runningthat they are low on supplies of it, people can just go to the grocery store a one drugstore and buy dollar bottle of isopropyl alcohol and just keep it and wash your hands with that, at home wash your hands with hot soap and water. that is what they suggested. it is common sense, and to just take care of yourself. i'm not concerned or worried whatsoever. affiliate out of oklahoma, keio seo, reporting that two people are being tested in oklahoma for possible coronavirus there -- koco, reporting that two people are being tested in oklahoma for

possible coronavirus. our next caller, good morning. caller: i heard about this morning a registered nurse that is caring for infected individuals, wearing the appropriate garb for such workers -- she is sick. tested.ot get she is not allowed to be tested by county officials, perhaps federal officials. she wrote a letter that i imagine is going to the cdc here that concernst me. to me, it reeks of a level of trying to hide things. if you are not testing the people that are stepping up and taking care of the people who are sick, there is something wrong with that. host: legislators on capitol hill have submitted draft

legislation, regulations that directly applied to health care workers, those who are treating those with coronavirus or related to it. ins is by kimberly candi the washington post this morning, this would of require infection control plans, which could include building isolation rooms. the obama administration was to adopt the regulation, but the trump administration in 2017 moved it to a less urgent, long-term agenda and worked on it -- work on it stopped. now, members of congress unions ,et -- members of congress unions representing health care workers, and the former head of the are calling for proposal to be expedited. they are petitioning the labor osha,ment, which oversees to turn a little used federal law that allows the agency to issue an emergency standard when grave danger to hazards of

-- or hazards emergency workplace. caller: thank you, c-span. i work in an airport. i notice people are taking more precautions, more concern. i was watching vice news this morning -- i believe in iranian official-- an iranian just came down with the virus. considering it -- considering iran, china, i cannot help that this might be some a little suspicious -- cannot help but be a little suspicious that this might be a targeted attack. but from what i hear, this is not affect young people with good immune systems. personally i am not afraid, but i am a little suspicious, so -- thank you for taking my call. wrecks, you are -- rex,

you are concerned. good morning. caller: i am concerned, but a lot of these people are going to mass where there are whole gangs that are not being checked. we are going to have an acc tournament coming up. i wonder if they are going to be checking people coming in and out of those. thank you. host: do you think events like those should be canceled? caller: i do. i think the acc tournament should be canceled in north carolina, in wilkes. you have travelers from all over the country. host: the world health organization being reported on hill as far as where the coronavirus is worldwide. in tennessee, the numbers of infection have dropped, saying they had made a startling pronouncement this week when he estimated the global mortality rate of the coronavirus to be 3.4%, much higher than the seasonal flu. the figure from the director

comes full of caveats and is likely to change as more people get tested and undergo treatment for the virus. i think it is lower because we are missing mild cases, says a senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security. we should be preparing for the worse cases, it's true, but we should also be going out to see what the real number is. health officials have tried to race ahead to get ahead of the spreadsrus as a rapidly around the world. according to the organization, more than 95,000 reported cases of the virus globally, with nearly 3300 deaths. and on this program recently, our guest to talk about these concerns. if you want to see the information she offered, you can go to c-span.org for that. if you go to the website stat the name might imply, deals with medical news, who is getting the coronavirus and how they are reacting to it. to give you a sample of the category of old and young, the vast majority of cases in china

were people ages 30 to 79, something reflecting biology more than lifestyle, such as frequent contact with other people. teens that people in their 20's encountered many others at school and work on public not seem to be contracting the disease at significant rates. only 8.1% of cases were twentysomethings, 1.2% were and .9% or nine or younger. the world health organization mission to china reported as a february 20 that 78% of the cases were in ages 30 to 69. erin is not concerned. hello. hello. i actually am concerned, and that is with the preparedness of and notp administration having -- in every major city across our country.

these guys knew back in december that when someone blew the whistle in wuhan that this was an issue. we are not testing in every major city. that is my concern. host: tyrone in michigan says he is concerned. hi. caller: good morning. i am concerned. i work in the transportation industry. i am 72 years old and i have pre-existing conditions. i am diabetic and i have heart disease. we mayconcerned that come in contact with someone who has this virus, and from the , peopleion i have heard my age and with pre-existing conditions, we don't survive this. i went to the drugstore a week ago and talked to the pharmacist and asked advice on buying a mask, and they were all out. i'm externally concerned. host: how has it changed your

, if you are that concerned? caller: i'm sorry, i did not get your question? host: how has it changed your daily life? caller: it has not changed my daily living too much, but it does not mitigate the fact that i do think about it and i am pray concerned and i that i don't get it. host: and you are in the transportation industry? caller: yes. host: what kind of transportation industry do you do, if i may ask? caller: we transport students and people from different locations, especially college students going home, back and forth on spring break. stuff like that. host: do you think you will notice any impact on your business due to concerns over coronavirus? caller: it has. because we do not wantas many customers that

to go places, and especially want to be cooped up in a bus with someone, if someone coughs or sneezes, we all get concerned. ist: maggie saying she slightly concerned, saying she would not go on a cruise or fly right now, but locally, she feels safe. i feel more concerned about the conflicting information from the president. sean from massachusetts texting us, saying if i miss two weeks of paychecks, everything i have worked for for the past 20 years will quickly start to fall apart. texting us is something you can do at (202) 748-8003. twitter and facebook is something you can do as well, your level of concern on those platforms. when it comes to the briefing of ingress, one person involved that process is health and human services secretary alex azar, who talked about the coronavirus briefings with members of congress. [video clip] >> a major focus in the senate

and house discussions today was around the issue of the patient experience and the provider, the doctor experience. able to point to an ,andout from cdc's website there is a shooter that directs the patients that says, i am an individual. i'm concerned i might have covid-19. what do i do? i do not think many of them have been aware of that. we want to make sure that senators and members of the house are armed to talk to their constituents to provide that kind of information. that is available on cdc's website. we also have fact sheets that we gave out that are also available on cdc's website that have q&a's, basic background talkedtion, and what we about, we want to keep getting these questions from them because it is helpful for us to know where the information gaps are, what people might need to understand better, and how we can give the best guidance. we also reminded them that the

state and local public health departments are the leaders in this country on any type of response like this. we get our information from them , they are experts. we provide background support, we move in to help them, we provide infrastructure -- we provide funding for their work, but they are a trusted local source of authority in this state. we count on them, members of the house, senate, and the public should count on our local and state public health leaders also. gary ine more call, dolomite, alabama. caller: it is decatur, alabama. host: sorry for that, go ahead. caller: my biggest concern is the health workers. i've noticed -- i've got a guy who lives next door to me. he works in surgery, and he is always wearing his hospital garb home and stuff.

these people -- a lot of people who live with animals in their house, dogs, cats, you name it, whatever they god, they go straight into these hospitals and work -- they got, they go straight into these hospitals and that is scary finishing off the first hour. here is the plan for the next two hours. next, we will hear from dr. christopher mores, a global health professional professor at george washington university, invited to answer your questions directly about coronavirus and the federal response. later on we will see how public health officials on the county and state level are responding and what they are depending on the federal government on from adriane casalotti. we will hear from both of those people as we continue on. we invite you to keep calling with your questions, and "washington journal" will

continue after this. ♪ >> c-span, your unfiltered view of government, created by cable in 1979 and brought to you today by your television provider. hear this week's supreme court oral argument on a louisiana abortion case tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. to see a schedule of upcoming oral arguments and to watch others we have covered, as well as speeches by the justices, go to c-span.org/supremecourt. senator sanders: it comes down to being a campaign in which we

have one candidate standing up for the working class and the middle class, we are going to win that election. vice president biden: for those that have been knocked down, left behind, this is your campaign. >> the presidential caucuses continue tuesday for six states including idaho, mississippi, missouri, north dakota, and washington. watch 2020 candidate coverage of c-span, and results on c-span.org, or listen wherever you are on the free c-span radio app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: this is dr. christopher mores of george washington university to talk about the u.s. coronavirus response and everything related to that. good morning to you. what is the perception of what is going on with coronavirus and

what is the reality? guest: i guess there are a lot of different perceptions out there because there is a fog around this, what is true, and what is just rumors? cleart getting really messaging from top leaders, it is tough for us to understand what is the right calibration for preparedness versus fear, versus confidence. this is something surely that is a brand-new virus -- an emerging outbreak. will take time to get our hands around it and our heads around it, but we need to see better leadership at this point. -- what terms of what is the administration not providing in terms of that leadership? guest: i don't know if it is just the administration, but the entirety of the public health response into be more robust, more direct talking about what is there role, the officials role, and what can we expect from them going forward? it seems there is a lot of room

here for better leadership and messaging in terms of, like, what are we doing about diagnostics, travel bans and restrictions -- what is the future portend for this outbreak in terms of the u.s. response, and what can people do in their everyday lives? we hear a lot of rogue messaging about isolating yourself, taking washing, and not touching your face, and those are completely true, but at some point people need more than that. host: when it comes to the virus itself, is part of that the information that needs to be provided -- what it is exactly, the rate of spread, and the things we do not know about on those fronts? guest: some of those things -- it is not be delivered because we do not know how to package that up and we do not know how far ahead of the data we can go confidently to develop that message. we look at experiences in other country. china was the main experience we had to work with and now we can

look at data coming out of south iran, and that tells us about how transmissible it is, what we can expect in terms of more ability and mortality. every day we get new numbers -- new ideas about which way this thing is pointing, and i think we need to make sure we are moving along with our messaging, advancing that, so people have confidence we are advancing the plans we need to protect for the american public. host: when it comes to those numbers, what you take from that in terms of where we are heading particularly in the u.s.? guest: the numbers are certainly troubling. look at the china experience, and their numbers are coming down, and a lot of folks i talked to, especially in the marketplace, they are taking that as a positive. it looks like the china response hasbrouck -- has broken some of the transmission chaining. we look at the rest of the world and it is growing rapidly.

it is spreading geographically and the numbers are going up and up. this is a balance. can we make a response robust enough to do something like what china did, or is that not in our toolkit because they have a much different approach that is available to them than we have been most of the rest of the world -- then we have in most of the rest of the world? we need to get around numbers the best that we can. lot morelves a diagnostic testing going on so we can really calibrate what is going on in our committees, whether we have an opportunity to contain, or if we have to draw back and look at this thing in a much broader way. host: dr. mores will be with us until 9:00 a.m. if you want to ask him questions about the coronavirus exposure in the united states and the federal response it is --

kitsit comes to the themselves, can you describe what is involved in them, the amount produced by the federal government, and what do you think about that amount? kitt: i have not seen the hands-on myself, but i have used these in the past and it is a direct attention of virus genome in the sample they take from people. some of the problems were clearly that it was complicated to some degree in terms of how individual labs would validate the results. they have tried to make repairs to those from the cdc's point of view and now we are waiting to receive those in a much broader scale so we can get the testing rolling. the delays there -- i am not sure what is causing the. there is a lot of -- that. . there is a lot of consternation

in the public health community about what is taking so long, and there is concern about -- is it all the way correct at this point? are we going to receive something that will be available on the diskette through the testing slog that we have -- the backlog we have at this point? there have been emergency authorized products by fda that will allow program -- let some producers provide alternative kits. those have not been validated either necessarily to the point that we prefer, but at this point we need more or less everything we get our hands on it we will have to do the validations, kind of, in flight, to see if some are better than others. kits have been developed all along the world -- around the world for this response, either counting on what the who has provided or relying on their own. hopefully we will find the best solution. one of the most critical things is trying to get the test time

down to as short as possible and out to as close to patients as possible. the quicker we can do those two things, the better we will understand the outbreak, the trajectory and the scope. host: what is the turnaround time for getting the test administered and the results? guest: the results we are hearing about coming out of --te laboratories and cdc that still seems like we are looking at 24, 48, even 72 hours. i am sure that could be cut down as things became more efficient, but the fact is that it probably hours --ut three four to four hours. guest: you talk -- host: you talk about taking those test on the fly -- are you worried about the degree to

which it is accurate? guest: we want the best test possible, but it will not make a real difference at this point in terms of how a patient with severe disease is being treated. this is about understanding the scope of the outbreak. at some level we can forgive a little bit of test performance if we at least get some results that help us understand just how widespread this thing might be. comes to the coronavirus itself, we have had several people call into the program over the last several weeks as we have been talking alreadyis and saying we have influenza, it kills a number of people every year -- why are we so concerned about already haveen we influenza? guest: it does a disservice to compare it to influenza. the comparison stops of the fact that it is a respiratory born, highly transmissible infection. thekey difference is here

totality of the world's population is susceptible -- there is no pre-existing immunity. no one has gotten a vexing. everyone is able to be infected with this thing. that provides a lack of back pressure on transmission. then when we look at all the different data streams we have to try to calibrate fatality rates, we see a number of different scenarios play out. just a couple of days ago, the who came out with a dramatic statement of something north of 3%. that would be devastating on a global scale. seasonal flu is on average to have a fatality rate of .1%, so that would be many, many times higher. when i look at the south korean data, they are holding steady at about .6%, and they are doing a robust diagnostic push that is not just looking at sick people.

it is across the community. that might be a good estimate if we take into consideration the mild cases or asymptomatic cases occurring inside this outbreak. at that rate we're still talking about six times seasonal flu. on average, it is 30 seven half and-a-half 37000 dying every year. six times that is a big number. randy is texting us. the expectation is you would be immune, but we do not virus and the immune response. this was one of the many things we have to understand and be on the watch for. this he got outbreak, the ebola outbreak, they taught us to be careful of our dogma and understanding what we think we know. everything is on the table until we can take it off. host: another text this morning

from bakersfield, california, asking the question hadt: south korea also delays built into their response. they were right next door to the outbreak and they probably should have been on top of it sooner, but they changed their posture quickly and now i think their response is a bellwether for what the rest of the world should be trying to do. host: let's go to calls. this is from dubuque, iowa. you're up first for our guest dr. christopher mores from george washington university, a global health professor. tom, go ahead. guest: yes. i have a question and a concern -- caller: yes, i have a question and a concern -- we have pre-booked flight tickets from chicago to san francisco on may 20. i am very concerned. i know we will take -- where surgical gloves and masks on the

flight and try to avoid groups of tourists, but we are really concerned about that and would like your opinion. guest: it is a common question and a common concern. everyone needs to be thinking about -- is it the best time to be traveling. can i push this fall? certainly i would recommend training yourself before you go on any travel, keep your hands away from your face, keeping good hand hygiene up, washing, using hand sanitizers -- it is not something you can do right right, iat -- that is should not be touching my face. it takes a long time to change the behavior. it is something should be trying to do -- how often do i reach up ?nd rub my nose or my eyes those are moments you can contaminate yourself. host: we have the crew ship off

the coast of california not been able to dock. is that a proper response from the state in your opinion? there is aou notice lot of transmission going on in a particular community or a ship like that not letting them just disembark is a good idea, but holding them on a ship without appropriate supplies, quarantines, infection prevention control support -- that is where some of those ships have run into significant trouble. there is a good way to do that and a bad way to do that and i think it is all in how it is executed. host: keith is up next. keith in fargo, north dakota. caller: i was just wondering -- where did coronavirus get started from? guest: it is a brand-new virus. a has been implicated in market in wuhan, china, that did sell wildlife products -- wild

animals. the idea is it is an animal disease that has found an ability to be spread in man, so sometime in recent history that virus made the jump into us, and it reminds us that we have to be careful about our intersection with wildlife, how we treat it, and this is one of the consequences of not paying attention to those warnings. host: a viewer off of twitter this morning -- how determined on something cases, and do we test the entire population? guest: to get an ace of the medic fraction, you have to do a broad diagnostic push and you're not just looking for sick people, just doing this in clinics. you are trying to understand what is the totality of this transmission iceberg, as people say. that is important because we need to understand how much is going on in the community, because that will then let us know where there are maybe risk

groups we need to protect before it gets there. it will also tell us more about calibrating expectations for how many people get sick and how many people will die of this thing. viewer asks a question off of twitter saying is or any evidence the coronavirus leaves permanent damage? guest: i have not seen any data in terms of long-term follow-up survivors. survivors. that is certainly something that has to be watched for carefully, but there is nothing to suggest that is going on at this point. host: b in texas. the morning. caller: i have a two-part question. we are not hearing anything about mexico, and i live near the border, and i am really old. i have this question about why are we not hearing what is

happening in mexico with all the people coming -- waiting to come into the united states, and the other question i have -- don't you think it is strange that all of a sudden china immediately jumped on started loving --pitals, putting people building hospitals, putting people in quarantined, we are sitting here watching, and all of a sudden it is all over the world? on.an, ome come is it airborne? guest: the response has been the same problem we have in this country -- do the avid technology, do they believe it is a threat, do they need to take it as seriously as countries that are near to the outbreak zone -- it is a patchwork of responses. in terms of the chinese response to the outbreak, they really

didn't amazing job mobilizing national resources to respond to , andutbreak in wuhan certainly a lot of the world responded with travel restrictions and limitations in an effort to isolate china and that area of china from being able to contaminate the rest of the world, but since that time importantassed, it is that the rest of us get on with our preparations. host: this is bob, bethlehem, pennsylvania. caller: good morning, doctor. host: you are on. go ahead, bob. caller: good morning, dr. p i have a question pertaining to ebola. when they took patience that recuperated, they had their anti-bottom -- anti-bodies in their serum, and used that as a way of fighting previous people that could come down with ebola.

is there any -- anybody looking of thee effectiveness serum inside of the people that have recuperated question mark looking forward to your -- recuperated? looking for to your answer. of andi am not aware about a second be used for people that have already survived the covid infection being used to protect people going through it now. we have used that over the years. it was not terribly effective for ebola virus, and there are reasons to believe it might not be the most effective therapy here for respiratory virus where a lot of the infection is happening in lung space, which is difficult to get the entire body to that you would otherwise delivered intravenously. texas asked the question -- there are reported

to be two strains. guest: this is brand-new, and i must say i have not looked at the data on the definition of these two types. it is something we need to be aware of in terms of this is a brand-new virus. it is going through its initial rounds of infection in the human population and it will be mutating as it goes. we need to be aware of the possibility of different types to arrive. asked is from seattle it more likely that people recover than die? since this is mainly a mild disease, most people will recover if they have symptoms at all. it is really we are worried about the top fraction of people that have pre-existing conditions or advancing in years . those are the ones we are more concerned about the recovery status from the virus. host: again, our guest is from

george washington university -- a global health professor here to answer your questions. this is deborah, west chester, ohio. you are on. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. anda retired microbiologist i am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you because my question is focused more on the future. you know, in china they have a different culture in the united states regarding food safety. you can have it take 10 in the back of a restaurant -- you can have a pigpen in the back of a restaurant. in the united states you cannot store raw meat above frozen vegetables. in china they have been affinity for taking live animals and they have live market -- live animal markets. when you combine that in a city

like in wuhan, and you look at their culture, and you look at favoriteone of their animal protein sources, which is a mixing vessel, as you all know, you really have to ask yourself, is that a practical -- good fit.ure is not a it is an ideal fit for an emerging virus, especially from animals to people. i am wondering, since this is your field, i'm wondering if the world health organization in combination with the wto should forstablishing standards our supply chains. is it really smart? caller: thank you, deborah -- host: thank you, deborah. guest: it is certainly something

we don't really do or allow here in the states or number of other western countries. really, here, i think the issue is the demand exists, so will this outbreak change that demand within the cultures that use wild animals, bushmeat, or slaughter to table practices. that is something i have seen a lot of your coverage on, and it might be changing because of this outbreak alone. host: you might have seen media coverage of a picture going on lysol, the coronavirus is listed on that. gauge when you see that kind of thing and what should you be telling people about lysol? guest: these products all have some ability to serve as a disinfectant, and this is an envelope virus that is readily disinfectable by a lot of these products. it is not incorrect. what we have to be aware of is

how important is the surface versus the respiratory protection versus social distancing -- all of these things come together to create a complex scenario of how people get infected. until we know what is the most ways wer most important are transmitting to each other, we need to cover all the bases. certainly washing your hands and disinfecting services -- we have to do that until we know for certain that is something we need to continue doing. guest: what kind of international and what kind -- host: what kind of information have you seen on social media? guest: i try to stay off of that stuff as much as possible. host: from new jersey. jerry is next up. caller: one of the questions i get is i am really getting upset about all the idiot, including c-span -- all of them media, including c-span, 24/7

discussing this virus with different opinions instead of just giving facts. letting the press conferences give the facts that they know today, tell the people the best way to protect themselves. by the way, you're not given any answers about nothing. it is just a matter of conversation. my thing is this is set to panic people and i am really upset about that because to do this 24/7 -- the sky is falling, it is horrible for people. there are elderly people that have really -- real health issues that can get affected by the stress. i believe stress will be more harmful to more people. a bit, notit back abc, nbc, cnn, fox

-- get the facts, tell people how to protect themselves, don't touch your face, wash her hands, and the disinfectant they are -- charging $50 a bottle -- could you let people know is not necessary to do those things. tell people to wash their hands with soap and water. guest: i think the fear is palpable there. i appreciate the fact that we have not yet help people take the next step. what is it they need to do beyond in aware of this? right now we are putting out a pretty hackneyed message about something else is coming -- we don't know what that is, you need to keep yourself as clean and distant as possible. this is like the first thing i was saying to you -- we need to , as forward now as a nation

a response, to try and find ways to protect people, specifically like the caller is talking about , people that are all higher risk. how will we protect the elderly, the indian-compromise -- the immune-compromise. hour, an elderly man with pre-existing conditions working in the transportation industry, that guy is spot on in being concerned about his health. how are we going to protect him? the answers are difficult because we are not china -- we do not have complete control over all population like they do. andave to find ways to try create spaces for people to isolate themselves without taking themselves out of their ability to take care of themselves in an economic way. people cannot necessarily stay home and not work because it is good for the outbreak, but it does not help them put food on the table, pay their rent.

we have to really be looking at waysy with his -- policy and implementation to protect vulnerable populations will we get through this outbreak. host: i will address your concern -- ours is not a means of fear mongering. it is information. have pressuests, conferences without comments from us or anyone else, and we've been members of congress talking about this particularly as $8 billion was approved by congress and to be signed by the president. all of that is available on c-span.org for you to consume for yourself and you can make decisions for yourself about coronavirus. to the $8 billion figure past this week by congress, as a dollar figure, how does that work, and particularly the sectors it will work? guest: that is not entirely clear to me how it will be deployed to greatest effect. it does not seem like a long term -- long-term, like the

right number, given the challenges -- if this is truly community-driven transmission at this point, and it is going to go quite broadly through the u.s., that will be just a first stop. much to the point i was just talking about, however are we going to enable people to be part of this response because it is going to be all hands -- every american will have a role in this. the role can be to stay home. however we going to make that happen? i think some of the future funds will have to come to terms with helping those people protect themselves and take themselves out of transmission chains. host: we will go to st. petersburg. this is michael calling. .aller: high, dr. mores i have a point i would like to bring up that i don't believe anyone has covered yet in the media and then ask you a

question about that. the point is thus far, officials, in response to the coronavirus, continue to tell us the risk is low. additionally, they are instructing us that simple preventative cold and measures --h as washing your hands and the flu measures such as washing your hands and specific types of hygiene will prevent the transmission, yet we are seeing governments worldwide shut down portions of society at large when infections occur. in contrast, every year in theds die every year u.s. and the blood from the flu, yet we don't see no same closures of portions of society at large. is are you to you concerned there is underlying seriousness and underlying points with this that the local and foreign governments are not leading us to believe yet? guest: i think without getting

too conspiracy theorist about it, there probably are overreactions happening out of ignorance because we just don't know what we are facing. one we are told numbers like 3% fatality rate -- that is so dramatically different than any influenza outbreak say for the flu thate for the 1918 it would requires taccone and isolate individuals and hope populations. when we start to talk about the more nuanced rates we talked -- we discussed on this show earlier -- maybe 1% or less, it is still dramatically more fatal than seasonal flu would be, and again, like i said, since the whole world is susceptible to this, we have many more people that are going to potentially become infected with this virus. ultimately, that kind of calculus lends itself to come at this point, an overreaction,

probably, in what is the best response. it is not necessarily an overreach if we thought we could still contain it. until nations get a handle on where their pockets of infection are -- if there are pockets, and it is not totally widespread -- then the first pass would be let's see if we can isolate this thing, and crush it out of the population, but if we find that it is really spread too far, that changes how we do this. rely on isolating whole communities from each other because that is not likely going to be very successful in freedom-loving societies. host: dr., we have heard the president take on the world health organization of 3.4%, saying it is a false number. what do you guess what does that do -- what does that do when he says statements like that and how do you react to the? shocked reacted with a

response because it is not a nuanced number -- i do not know anybody that believes that that is the total number of cases china has had, so a lot of what we have done is trying to calculate what is under the hood in terms of total case numbers, and when you open that up, the case fatality rate will drop. that is why we should not be relying on the chinese data to inform that kind of policy decision and that sort of posture. we have much better examples in the global community, such as south korea to help us calibrate more accurately. text -- iewer off of guest: that is a great question. coronavirus in general can persist in hours, even days given certain amounts of humidity, but how frequently

that results in a retransmit should from that inanimate object to someone else that touches it, it is probably only very efficient in very short periods of time would be my expert opinion. someone has just touch to that thing, not used good hand hygiene, you come in touch the hand railing next and you inadvertently touch your face, that is probably one of the most efficient moments for inanimate transmission like that. host: what is the value of a mask and wearing a mask at this time? masks are great for health-care care workers seeing patients all the time. they have so much contact with potential cases that it makes sense for them to be wearing them. if they'll are working with people and taking swabs from them, they have to wear face , because justl the act of taking a swab will

cause people to cough and sneeze, essentially your face. they need that level of protection. for the general public it is best for people that are coughing and sneezing to wear masks so they do not spread droplets to the rest of us. if you felt so inclined, i would appreciate for people that are sick that are still wondering out and about instead of staying home if they should be, too put on a mask of the can find one, but it is not indicated and it is difficult to recommend masks when we do not have enough for the health-care workers that need them right now. at this point i agree with the guidance that says every day people to 90 to be wearing masks. save the stocks for health care workers. is deborah from columbia, missouri. caller: you talked about south -- --being on top of the on top of it.

what are they doing that we are not doing, and if you were in charge how would you do things differently with regard to protocol? guest: one of the more dramatic things that south korea has done is really just a massive diagnostic campaign to understand the scope of the outbreak in their country. they have made the bar to entry for diagnosis very low. they have drive-through clinics where you don't even get out of your car. you, getup, they swab your information and text you the information when they are done, maybe a day or two later. that gives them a fantastic view of the community in terms of who is in active, who is concerned .bout who is infected through that lens, they are able to get a much more accurate view of what the status is of transmission in their country. most other countries are not

doing that -- most other countries are still relying on people not feeling well to present for symptom evaluation and potentially testing, and some of that is driven by the lack of available diagnostics, but really that should not be a long-term impediment to the rest of the world rolling out more community-based diagnosis. host: daniel. daniel up next from minnesota. i was wondering if there is a concern with the outbreak -- on a lot of things at once -- the census being positive on the communication, the use of cell phone, the phone itself carrying a virus, or the outbreak getting to be more airborne. i see they are spraying stuff in be in-- how would that

terms of letting whatever it is get excessively worse than creating something as far as having it in our and the structure or how -- hospitals being aware of how to remodel, redo health care, and even if you don't have health care how would that circumference of having it or not? it is a circumstance of where you are at, what is going on, and how to look at it at all. guest: there is a lot in there. let me take a couple of them. we have seen a number of countries teams of people in full spacesuits going around spring chemicals and disinfectants out in the open and in the community. shocking imagery and it does cause a lot of concerns, and probably some fear among a lot of people and even policymakers. there is not a great indication that that is the most

significant way we can react to this outbreak. i think that is why we have not seen that much of that here in the west. then, too. to concerns about -- then to give it to concerns about health care, who gets to be tested and treated -- this is another significant issue that is not being clearly articulated by leadership -- what the expectations should be by the general public. are these tests going to be provided free? or it really reduce costs? who is responsible for ancillary costs that might be associated with taking the samples? there are many concerns here in this country about who can andrd to actually be tested become counted in this outbreak? that is and that should be able to be resolved and made a part of this public of response and not put the burden on the public. host: what you think about vice president mike pence being at

the head of the white house task force on this, and how do you think he has performed so far? he is as long as surrounded himself with the right people and they are taking in all the expertise that they can in a transparent, unified way across all the sectors, then they will have to arrive at the best decisions. i don't think there will be any reason to expect there will be a political reason for that cannot be transmitted all the way through the response. host: this is our guest, georgepher mores of washington university, a global health professor, here to answer your questions about the coronavirus. gwen is next. gwen from silver spring, maryland. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a question about getting tested. ipersonally thought that possibly had coronavirus and i and i to get tested,

called my local clinic, and they did not know where i could get tested. now, i think i am pretty much tested -- should i get at this point? if so, i still don't know where. i guess that is my starter question. not get theu could test before and you have recovered now, at this point there is still a significant limit in the number of tests available and the capacity to run those test, so it would not be recommended you would continue to try to seek that out at this point. in the future, i would expect and i would certainly hope that people like yourself that have -- that feel like they might have it or feel like they might have been exposed to it by association with other people in the community would be able to quickly get a test done to put themselves at ease, but also more importantly inform the response so we know where it is,

how big it is, and where to deploy resources we do have. city, nevada.n john is next. caller: i'm a first time caller. thank you for taking my call. i am more concerned about the paranoia in this country and across the world. see if there is something that can be done about that. guest: i think the paranoia is ispable, and i think there so much media coverage of this right now. there is so much uncertainty that it turns from paranoia to fear. that is something we need to be confronting. i hope we're doing our part here to take care of some of the questions people have about it, but ultimately it does take leadership to show us a way through this thing, and that will come in terms of a response

from state, local, and national leaders in terms of how do we get our hands around this outbreak, how do we help transmit to the public what their role is in helping us shut it down, and how will we take care of people that need to be protected? host: how long do you think before we get a floor of where we are at in united states with coronavirus? guest: it depends on all the things we have talked about, but i think i would certainly hope that within two weeks we can see how far -- how long it is going to take, and i would hope that we have much better footing within four to six weeks of where it is, what the speeds are involved in terms of transmission, and whether or not we are ready to start to deploy additional countermeasures to transmission to protect vulnerable populations. host: in your opinion, what is a reasonable time for a vaccine to be developed? guest: that kind of

countermeasure will be quite a bit longer. i was talking but isolation of counter populations, but counter measures in terms of therapeutics in vaccines will be further out. they are pushing, as fast as possible, candidates into the pipeline into safety testing -- and it is not just us, the chinese are certainly doing it as well. hopefully someone will find something in the near term that can be rolled out in aggressive and emergency way in the next, let's say, six months, and that is not for public consumption, but that is for showing real promise. host: the previous caller talked about paranoia -- you see what is happening in the stock market, people canceling events. you think that continues on, or will that subside they said what we have seen from other outbreaks in the united states? suzanne fairly recent

example from recent memory in hell of bricks might affect markets. as you can see in the marketplace, there is a lot of volatility and downside risk in this thing that people are protecting. that will most likely be mitigated by more solid response planning when people can see here is the latest the end of the tunnel, how we will get there, and now i will feel comfortable and we do have to keep hitting the sell button. host: from wisconsin, tim joins us. go ahead. caller: i have a quick question and then a quick comment. first i was wondering -- i believe i am right on this, but in comparison to how may people will die from the flu this year isn't that just astronomically higher? i am not trying to downplay the people getting sick with coronavirus, and the question leads into my comment.

i think this is being used by some politicians to kill the market to make trump look bad and take his poll numbers down. that is how sickening i think this is gotten, but that is just an opinion. i was wondering if you could answer my first question -- isn't the flu going to kill considerably more people than this is going to come close to doing? rates,the case fatality this is a far more concerning a potentially deadly or virus. it has not killed as many people as of yet, but with transmission continuing fairly well unabated globally, we do expect the flu -- perhapsed substantially exceeding flu deaths this year. i don't feel i can comment on the other portion host:. host:we'll move on to -- portion. host: we will move on to

pennsylvania. ryan. is scheduledughter to go on a school trip to manhattan, new york city tomorrow, and see a broadway show with her high school. is that safe right now? i see people on "the today show" walking around in large groups -- is it safe to travel to new york city or other cities right now? what should we be doing in the situation right now with our kids? guest: it is a complicated situation. tohink in general, we need be thinking about our behaviors -- our health behaviors, social distancing behaviors, but it is not necessarily to the point where we need to stay home and hunker down. it is not going to be a quick storm we can wait out for a hurricane like -- like a hurricane or a storm we can wait out for a couple of days. there are normal things we need

to keep doing and think about how we direct our environment and each other when we do them. there are ways we can continue to operate and function as a society and economy in a time of contagion. it is just a matter of adopting the right behaviors, hand hygiene, distancing, and whether or not gatherings like broadway shows or sporting events become implicated in substantial transmission events -- that is something we have yet to see. it makes sense those could be more transmissive environments, but it might not be anymore transmissive than watching -- than riding the bus to work, the metro, taking a plane, or aiding in the cafeteria. we cannot calibrate those differences. -- eating in the cafeteria. we cannot calibrate those differences. i think it is dangerous to stop all activities in our lifestyle because of the other consequences. host: what information would you

have to see to change that opinion, as far as limiting exposure, not going places, etc.? guest: some of it will be experiential. it is what drives all of this -- the data before. if we see evidence of highly transmissive environments or scenarios that we did not expect, that exceed our expectations, perhaps -- those are things that might change how we decide to provide messaging on mass gatherings and things like that. it has to be confronted. there ino get out terms of messaging is best we can, even though it is murky, because right now everyone is comparing this on an individual basis and they are having to make their own coin flip decisions about whether or not this is the right call or do i need to stay home. some of the news to come back to whether or not they are in a population that has already been identified as being additionally vulnerable or at risk, and so far right now we can say that it

suggests that children are more protected, or have less severe disease, let's say, then elderly and immunocompromised. what your vulnerabilities are, that will help you in your own risk assessments and how far do i need to go into this right now. host: connecticut. tom. caller: how are you doing? this is a comment for the doctors. what i'm hoping to convey is that because the virus appears in cluster form within the respiratory wall or long, what is the potential they can continue -- consider utilizing ultrasound similar to the way they would image a baby, but localizing, targeting the on the mass, the congestion of the cells, so they treated in place and potentially insinuate without doing damage based on the frequency of the

ultrasound, treat locally the infection? guest: that is not my area of folksise, but i am sure with ultrasound and other technologies are thinking about do they have a role in helping people recover from this virus as well. hopefully they will all be working out the best way. host: we will hear next from howard in vienna, maryland. go ahead, please. yes, i watch the news and i see we're stopping people from coming from how many foreign countries, but are we going to close of these docs where they bring stuff over from these foreign countries? host: what is your question? guest: if we can close the docks ?

cdc has a few travel rescissions out there that are protecting -- preventing foreign nationals from a couple of key countries from entering. i don't necessarily think that is the answer going forward. there is widespread transmission and emerging transmission in a number of countries around the world, and to continue to try and think we can isolate ourselves from any potential introduction, it, kind of, ignores the fact that we have a lot of transmission already .appening inside of the u.s. i would expect over the coming days and weeks we will change our posture into one of collaboration with the rest of the world in terms of how do we actually fight this outbreak and stop isolationist ideas of how we can protect ourselves best by closing our borders. host: specifically, what are you looking at over the next days and weeks? guest: in terms of how we respond -- not --

i think it is just a realization of -- we get the diagnostics out there. do we have a chance at actually containing the outbreak as it currently exists in the u.s.. if it does, that changes the response and says maybe we can keep ourselves from having a growing outbreak and that we go help neighboring countries respond to theirs. if we find there is too much virus transmitting around in the u.s. for us to legitimately attempt to contain at this point, further doing economic damage to us through isolation and restriction of travel might not really be anything that helps us in any way in terms of the how -- of the outbreak response and could do additional damage to our economy. host: one more phone call. violet in massachusetts. caller: my name is violet hall, and i am a retail business owner

, and i am having concerns over if the virus continues to be done, and we have to isolate our staff, we are renting facilities. if we cannot financially pay our , can these people come in and take our products and our stuff from our stores? i'm sorry. that is outside of my area of expertise. i do not know if you have any assistance for her there. that doesn't seem -- host: i know part of the legislation being signed by the president today does have some loan money available to small businesses. you might want to check out what congress is doing on that front. warren commission on that bill which -- more information on that bill was expected to be signed by the president -- you can find that on c-span.org. we have been talking to dr.

christopher mores of george washington university, a global health professor. final thoughts on this issue before we let you go? guest: is it we're covered a lot of territory, but we do need to keep pressure on our leadership to say do the things we know you need to do to get us information we need to understand where this outbreak is, whether or not we have a chance to contain it right now, or we have to adopt a different posture so people can set the expectations up in the populations of people can do the right things to protect their livelihood and their health. host: thanks for joining us today. we will get another -- we will get a public health perspective with adriane casalotti of the national association of county and health officials. she will talk about the public health perception on the state and local level. that conversation is coming up next, but first we will be joined by phone by someone directly involved. this is george latimer, westchester county, new york, the county executive there, to talk about the community's

response to coronavirus. guest: a pleasure to be here today. host: tell us about the situation in your county and how it relates to the rest of the state. guest: we are certainly a microcosm of where the outbreaks have happened. there was an individual who contracted the disease -- we're going to say approximately two weeks ago. we don't know how he can -- contracted it. he was not traveling from china or one of the restricted countries he had an underlying respiratory issue. he is in the hospital now. he is getting better. he was the first case. his immediate family, the people interacted with -- his next-door neighbor who took him to the hospital, and his interactions before he went to the hospital, he has generated 18 cases in westchester county. as an absolute number, we have 18 cases in our county of almost one million people, but they're

all concentrated around the degrees of separation of this individual. now, new york state has taken over the responsibility for testing. we are testing all kinds of people. the county health department, which i'm working -- responsible for, is working with the state. governor cuomo as a statewide strategy that all of the counties are linking into, but the bottom line is this is one incident that is generated 18 positive tests. we will hear new numbers from the governor. we expect those numbers are going to rise. that is one case. if you multiply that out in a county of one million people, and multiply that out in a state 19 million people, and the dead states 330 million people, the contagion will grow before it stops. news, of the 18 cases, only one is hospitalized, and he is getting better, from a we heard overnight. the hope is even other will be a high number of cases, the

individuals, their antibodies will fight it off, and they will be a on the front end of providing medical services to the people. host: i know you are depending on your state, but how much interaction and help to you need from the federal government at this point? guest: certainly the need is for its much testing as possible so we can get a complete handle on all the people affected by this. i would suspect that whatever the feds could do along those lines are critical. i was encouraged by the $8 million that passed through the congress the other day. i do not know the president signed it yet. i hope can presume he will. those resources are important. our county budget did not get government did not budget the overtime hours we have to throw at this. financiallynt beans when we have a public health crisis. we just put the resources needed. that is generating additional

expense venture we will not be -- expenditure we will not be able to cover in our taxes and revenues. you need the feds and the states to understand will have costs that will be offset, and if they can help us do that at is an the president is expected to sign that bill today. phone is raining constantly on this issue. what are you hearing from residence there? thet: it is the fear of unknown, and is a logical fear. about their kids. they let their kids go to school. they want to know if there is infection in their schools, the teachers. any connection with where the outbreak has happened already and where they live. right now it seems to have been localized. that which we know has been localized by geography and demography, the people are concerned and afraid. of course, if you have a person that has a respiratory illness, severe asthma, copd, that is what this disease affects aggressively.

those folks who call, we have an using the 211 system, and of a person is under quarantine, separate hotline we give out to them. the county is on the ground trying to provide these services and a bunch of the overall strategies at the state, but people call with all kinds of concerns. have not yet reached a point where we feel the need to cancel general public events, things that might bring people together through different parts of the county. if individuals feel sick, don't go. don't go to work or school, certainly to a public event, but we are monitoring. if things get worse, we will take more stringent action. we want to try to keep this rational without panicking, but at the same time, without underestimating what this represents. that is a difficult balance in the middle to get to. host: and if people in your county want or need more information, where do they turn to? guest: we will ask them in westchester county to dial 211,

that will get them to the general information hotline and if their questions are more specific, we will transfer them from there. any individual, if they feel they have symptoms and they are not sure, they think they might have it, call their medical professional. the doctor that knows them. do not go to the hospital emergency room, you run the risk of infection. go to your doctor, let your doctor give you advice and set up a discrete appointment so you can be checked out. that is just common, normal sense. george latimer is the county executive for westchester county, new york. about the to talk coronavirus. thank you for your information this morning, sir. guest: thank you, and thank you for your reporting of this. this is very helpful. host: joining us now onset, public casalotti, the affairs chief of the national association of county and city health officials. guest: the national association of county and city health

almostls represents the 3000 local health departments across the country. those are the folks on the front lines of the coronavirus response and so many of the other public health emergencies and crises that take place in communities across the country. guest: you heard the county executive talk about what is experienced. -- what arelarge the lessons that we could use in the united states at this time? guest: you get a great example of what it looks like in the ground on his community, and even those places that do not have confirmed cases are doing a lot of the same work. from the basic answering questions, there is a time of concern in the community -- ton of concern in the community, working with schools and others who are doing large gatherings. what should they be doing and what shouldn't they be doing. health care providers, what they are looking for and how to get people in line for testing.

they are also monitoring folks who may have symptoms while they are waiting for their test to there are cases, they are tracking them at people they are in contact with, making sure they are ok and if they need to be tested so they can get a good picture of what is going on in the community. host: what does the public health structure look like at this time and how prepared are they? guest: folks are prepared. public health professionals are incredibly dedicated to this work and they do spend time not just one -- waiting for crises to occur, but making sure they have the systems in place, they practice those exercises so that when something does happen and they are able to activate, they do that pretty quickly. at the same time, health departments are not well-funded and have really been hit hard in the 2008 recession and have not necessarily recovered from where they were at that time. there are fewer people and health departments that are able to be working on a broad range of issues they are facing, but

can be shifted to this response. they have smaller budgets, so there is not really, as the executive was saying, there is not a bunch of money sitting there, waiting for these types of crises. they are working with less, so we are really trying to support them. host: you heard the executive reference the $8 billion passed by congress, expected to be signed by the president. how do you expect that to be out? -- doled guest: we appreciate that both sides of the aisle came together and wanted to put an investment in this response. a lot of different numbers were thrown out there, so we not only appreciate that they did it though quickly, but that it was so robust. this is really important to go through state and local localities for this response.

when you do the schoolhouse rock thing, the money has to get out the door and that can take some time. we are hoping that specific money targeted to state and localities can get the door quicker. there is language that says, this have to go out in 30 days, which is an amazing things for folks that are waiting for these dollars. the way that funds trickle, they get to the state level and they need to get to the local health departments. we hope that people can move with all the speed to get these dollars out to the front lines, where people really need them. guest: are those -- host: are those dollars automatically spent, or does the state have to spend them and get reimbursed by the government? not clear about that. it looks like they are going to go out. there is also a law that says anything taken place from january 20 from today could be reimbursed. those are for current and future activities, the large part of money, but if you have been spending money until this point, we can reimburse you for that. host: you are here's visit way

to talk about the public response on a state and local level to coronavirus. if you want to ask our guest questions about it, you can do so on the phone lines. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zone. if you are a medical professional, call us at (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. when it comes to those medical professionals, what does the staffing look like and are more staff brought in at this time? guest: it depends on your location. one of the issues, health departments have lost about a quarter of their workforce over the past -- since the 2008 recession. that is fewer bodies in the building that you can pull from, even if you are not working on infectious disease or preparedness projects. we know they have already tried to start hiring new people to work on this in some areas, and some places are calling in medical temps, for the lack of a better term, to work on the response. they are activating their

medical reserve corps, which is a group of lay people who sometimes have clinical backgrounds, sometimes don't, but can help in a public health response. even things like making sure your phone list is up-to-date, so you can make sure you are reaching out to the right people and liaison with the educational department and stuff like that. host: what does day-to-day activity look like with coronavirus? what is going on in these localities? day the story changes, and the story on the ground changes. early in the response, a lot of it was getting lists from the state or federal government, saying these were the people who came in from abroad that might need to be monitored, tracking those people down, making sure they are monitored and have a place to stay, food so they don't go out to the general public, and they are monitoring their symptoms and sending them into a nurse or public health professional checking in on them. in some areas, that is definitely still going on. in some areas where they

have cases, they are doing contact tracing. a lot of people were linked to testing as well as types of workingnformation and with other local departments like education, transportation, housing, etc. host: you said at the conference that secretary alex agar spoke about state and local health officials at this time. i want to what he said. [video clip] the state and local public health departments are the leaders in this country on any type of response like this. we get our information from them. they are experts. we provide background support, surge in to help them, provide a lot of infrastructure -- we provide about 50% of the funding for their work. they really are a trusted local source of authority in this space. we count on them, members of the house, the senate, and the public should count on our local and state public health leaders also.

i think he's right. these are folks on the front lines. these are also trusted members of your community. you might see your local health official at the grocery store or the school play. they know not only health and public health, but they know what is unique to where you live and what it means to be part of your community. they have this important lens to the work. you also mentioned the importance of federal support for local and state health departments, and that really is critical. andl budgets are tight health departments are just a order tohat, so in really -- we have so many tools in public health, but to deploy them in communities across the country on coronavirus or any public health issue, we really need the resources and support to do that. host: do you get a sense of the communication going on between the federal government and your state localities? where is that

information being exchanged? guest: it is important that everyone is speaking with the same voice. there are numerous calls a day with different sectors of public health, obviously there is a lot going on for knitting at the federal level, the federal response, and that is mirrored at the state and local level as they are working with parts of their organizations as well. there are always times when people want more communication or when people say oh, i have so many emails, just let me do my job, so it is hard to strike the right balance, but there is a role to play for the whole spectrum of local, state, and federal public health. host: we have some calls for you. we will start with south carolina. this is for our guest adriene casalotti. you are up first. caller: good morning, can you hear me all right. host: you're on. go ahead, we can hear you. caller: ok. i'm listening to this lady talk,

and it appears to me that she does not know what she is talking about. your local people are going to help you, whatever, when they don't even have testing kits. the federal government is telling you, if you get sick or think you are sick, call your doctor. what is your doctor going to do? he is going to refer you to somebody else and tell you to stay home. this is ridiculous. from what i understand, china is the only one that got any kind of antidote, and they are not giving it up. host: we will leave it there. the idea of testing kits. let's start on that track. guest: there has been a lot of tension around testing right now because you do not know what you do not know, and that is key for testing. the federal government has sent out testing kits, not to my knowledge -- this could have changed since yesterday -- not every state, six states are still in progress, but every

other state is able to test. there are some public health labs that can also test, and right now is really about volume. getting the kids out there, all she places getting the labs up and running, and private labs are developing their own tests, which are online soon. testing is critical. e we test, the more cases we will find, and we will get a better picture of where the outbreaks are. you have a locality and you do not have a doctor, you are sick and suspicious, where do you go? guest: i would think a phone call. how do you keep your social distancing, a term we use in public health, it has been used for many, many decades around hundreds of years around things like tuberculosis, keep yourself away from folks who are sick, you have less of the chance of getting sick. if you are sick, try not to make

other people sick. all your local health department and tell them your symptoms. they will tell you how you can get tested. , i have al and say bad stomach ache, they will say, that is not a symptom of the coronavirus. here is a place you can go. it is a great way to screen for what you need to do, depending on what your symptoms are. host: if finances are a problem for those in those localities, does the state or local level have something to offer? guest: local health department level, folks are doing the work, whether or not they have the money in the bank at this point because in public health, that is what you do. you respond. for testing, state and local public health lab testing is covered, that is free. different states have been putting in different orders to their insurance companies as well as just yesterday, the insurance company lobby said that their members are going to make testing free as well if you have private insurance.

those are all in progress, but i think there is a recognition, we need to make sure we do not put up any barriers to people getting tested if they may have coronavirus. host: let's hear from charles in illinois. caller: hello. my question is, i get a flu shot every year as recommended. i'm over 65. finally coronavirus is in a vaccine, will i be required to take two shots every year? a comment for c-span, there is an official name for coronavirus and i keep hearing it verbally, and it is published by the world health organization. would c-span please put that on the screen so we know how it is spelled? thank you. host: i will let you take that part. guest: so the first 1 -- i will take a second part first. i think it is covid-19 is what

he might be referring to. there are lots of different ways. the reason we have special names for them is that coronaviruses are a type of virus. this is a novel one, but there are others. going back to vaccines and shots -- so the flu and coronavirus, they are different. so important. they are critical -- not only can it prevent you from getting the flu, but it makes your symptoms a lot more mild. that is one of the problems we are having, with coronavirus hitting during flu season, we have similar symptoms. which do i have, if any, and just because they have similar symptoms does not mean they have similar vaccines. i do not know what the vaccine protocol is going to look like. if dr. fauci from nih, who is leading network, has said it could take a year to 18 months before it is publicly available,

they will hopefully learn as we are not only looking at the vaccine, but at the virus, that we are not only required, but recommended to get that vaccine to make it feel safe. host: from dallas, texas, chris. hello. caller: yes, the question i have are the local health departments , perhaps, ald do better job of communicating the ofal resources in the event a big covid-19 breakout? what left an indelible mark on me was the fact that in china, they build a hospital in 10 days because of all the patients. i say local resources, i'm talking about, how many beds are available in metropolitan areas? how many ventilators do they have? how many airborne isolation rooms do they have?

and what provisions can be set up quickly in order to accommodate patients in need? host: thanks, caller. guest: he makes some really great points. departments are always trying to communicate around these issues, and i think it is really important that they do so and do so in a way that gets into communities, so it is not just, you send out one notice. they are spending a lot of time and resources not only trying to do the public communication, but also translating it into different languages, making sure it was getting into different sectors. when it comes to public health communication, there is always more we can be doing.

that is an important point. you are at home, just stay home. resourceserve those for folks who really need that and need that more intensive care. host: how much of the work is calling a people -- c alming the people in the localities? guest: a lot. allulances and that stuff, and be like, what is going to happen? i --

keepa mom, this is how we the kids safe, she is coming home singing happy birthday when and ishes her hands now, think she used to do it about four times, but being able to use those messages that are coming in through school. it is so important to help people understand what are your risks, how do you protect yourself, and in the grand scheme of things, a lot of what you can do are the same public health messages we are trying to get out there. people are more heightened in their attention right now, and we are not even seeing this in places where there are outbreaks. there are different messages being sent out there/. following what your local health officials are recommending is super important. host: our caller in huntington beach, good morning. caller: i have a question, because i have a grandmother and alsocopd stage four cancer. i had to take her to get a cat

scan yesterday. i went into the building and got her a mask, because i even took her in, but just to get chemotherapy. i'm concerned that she could get it, because she potentially is at high risk. i understand sometimes panic is than what is actually going to happen, but i do believe this will get way worse before it ever gets any better, so i'm just trying to help her as much as i can. when i leave the house, even i wear a mask because i believe it will get worse. is that the right way to take it, or what is the best way to help her get treated and not get the illness? guest: first of all, i think she is lucky to have you.

it is important that we take care of our family and our neighbors, and clearly this is really scary, especially when you are caring for someone that has so many underlying conditions that put them at risk. a couple of things in response to what you said. first of all, talking to her health care providers. i am not a physician, and so understanding what her risks are in the general public, when you are in chemo, that changes your immune system and what you are able to fight off at large, coronavirus or not, so really talking to them about what is helpful and necessary there. i will say, the cdc does not recommend masks for people who are healthy. nott of all, they are necessarily effective and they have a lot of information about that for people who are healthy saying an anything, arms length away from somebody,

no more hand shaking -- i do not know if you have seen this in basketball games, they are doing elbows -- granted, when they are doing elbows and hugs it is probably not helpful, but they are trying to make some changes. for your risks, they are not recommending masks for any person in the general populace who is not sick. marylandee cases in this morning, the governor declaring a state of emergency. do something happen on the public health level in the state of emergency is declared? guest: we hear about it from time to time, like a hurricane is coming in four days but we will call emergency services now. what it does for different services in states and localities, even when the federal government decides to call a state of emergency, that means, certain resources can be mobilized. other processes are stood up and put in place, so a lot of times it can kind of heightened panic because you are in a state of emergency, but what that is doing is allowing you to be more nimble in your response host:. host:this is -- response.

host: this is from north carolina, goldsboro. thank you for holding on. caller: i'm 80 years old. i lived through diphtheria. when i was 14 i had diphtheria, and there was an outbreak of diphtheria. i have not had a single person talk about fumigation. i have seen them fumigate homes where someone has this. understand that when this came around, you had to fumigate. host: thanks, mary. guest: thank you for your question, mary, and your comment. i have not heard anything in particular about fumigation. as we learn more about the disease, what people are saying is keep your distance, and that is the best way to keep yourself safe. thatere is any guidance

comes out of the cdc on that, they will certainly share it. host: this is from los angeles, california. david, hi there. caller: good morning. this is really a fascinating information and education opportunity as it relates to how we deal to pandemics -- with pandemics are national medical emergencies -- or national medical emergencies. if this does not support medicare for all or a national health care i do not know what does. as we have this patchwork solution to something isentially quite tragic, it only evidence that we need to start doing something on a national medicare for all basis. that is my comment. i think whatever your solutions are, our health-care care system is messy. as we move from a public health

response to more of a health care oriented response with more people having cases and having to deal with the private systems in that way, i think that messiness will manifest itself in this respect to. i do think it is important as we think about the health care to remember that public health can really help keep people out of that system. whatever changes we want to make on the health care side, when you look at health-care spending in the united states of every dollar, only three cents goes to public health. and peoplelth care when they are sick, but only 3% goes to keeping people from being sick in the first place. the balanceue that does not quite give us the opportunities to really protect people and communities the way that we could. president just signed that legislation, the $8.3

billion. made some comments about coronavirus. we will watch a little bit of it and get response. [video clip] $8.3 billion. i asked for 2.5 and they gave me a $.3 billion. i will take it. -- $8.3 billion. i will take it. ok? here we are, $8.3 billion. it is an unforeseen problem, what a problem. it came out of nowhere. but we are taking care of it. a lot of things are happening on this ship, people are being tested right now, and i just spoke to the governor of california, gavin newsom. we had a good conversation. we are working on the ship together. close to 5000 people on the ship.

we are doing testing on those people. away asything to take far as the federal government's response to this? guest: one thing that to take away is important, it coronavirus will spread across ie country, across the world, think we are approaching 100,000 cases globally. at the same time, in public health we know that these are possibilities. people have been preparing for whether it is pandemic flu or coronavirus or whatever that broad epidemic, pandemic might be for many years. yes, it is unforeseen what it is here. that is why we need the extra dollars for activation. at the same time, the planning has always been there, we just do not really talk about it that much. he also highlighted the difficulties in a response like this, whether it is the cruise ship or people coming in through air travel, we live in a global

and health issues and public health issues. infectious diseases do not care what your passport says. they are just going to spread. the more we can think of protects, how do we ourselves in a global context, is important for keeping people safe locally. host: from connecticut, hartford. diana, hello. caller: hello. i want to thank you for this. i do have a comment and a question also. connecticut and the gentleman that called in before that was really very upset, i just want to make a suggestion. perhaps if people listened to their local stations and get information about their state, it would tend to have the confusion lessened rather than

watching cable news. i do live in connecticut. our governor has come out, i am not a big fan of the governor but i commend him for bringing on an expert. about you are talking local areas -- i want to highlight a station that i listen to. connecticut foxnews, and they come on -- i started watching them when we had blizzards, because their idea, if we have facts not fear, and they had done this with the coronavirus, they would have experts come on. every day, they would have a section called facts, not fear. basic facts. views or whatever. today on the news, i noticed that they had an outline of the facts. no cases so far in connecticut. 18 people have been tested, 15 have been negative. we do have colleges that have brought back students, that told their kids to stay home until after march, so i like watching that. what ishey tell us

going on around the rest of new england, how many cases are in the rest of new england, where they came from. host: did you have something specific for our guests to address? the obama eran it was sixine flu, months before the president ever came on and talked about it, and 1000 deaths -- i do not even a member any discussion about the swine flu. withher comment had to do medicare for all, because i watched on this station a gentleman come on, and i think people with medicare for all have to realize that there will not be doctors available and hospitals will not have the resources -- ok, we will leave it there, only because that is diving into another part of the conversation. is there anything you want to take away? guest: you were talking about our local media stations. when think the -- one thing we talk about, oh, your

budgets are tight, but everyone's budgets are tight. we think about the individuals doing the day-to-day work, but one thing that is so important our public information officers. the communications people of health departments and why are they important. it does not matter if you are doing this good work over here, if the public does not know or understand what it means for them and public health issues can become located -- be complicated, so to think about the resources and public health apartments to get you the information you need, it is a plug for public information officers. host: at these times, states and localities have certain budgets for these things, but where do they pull money from within the state if they need it? general funds is where they pull it from. coupleton state passed a

hundred million dollars to push out into response. other times they are trying to figure out, are there dollars that we can reprogram to work on this? sets arewhere skill really overlapping is disease investigation specialists, who ti's with things like s or tuberculosis or things they have for contact tracing. can we take you off of this to do this now instead? saidhe county executive the whole point is, we need to make sure that we do not have these pots of money that sit there waiting. we need to well resource our systems so they are not starting from a deficit when crisis strikes. our caller from ohio, a medical professional. pat, good morning. caller: good morning. my question to your expert this morning is, do we know at this point whether or not the person

that has the virus or the flu, so to speak, does have natural immunity after they have been through the process of the flu? guest: thank you for your question. the flu and coronavirus being separate strains, i do not know if i have seen anything about that in particular yet. i think we are learning a lot ,bout the coronavirus, covid-19 every single day. as we learn more, we have more information we can base our decisions on. i have not seen anything on that. the: you talk about spreading of information. how does social media help or hinder in these patterns? both. social media is great. you are able to get information out quickly without a lot of filters to whoever has signed up and if you are an individual in

connecticut or huntington beach or wherever, you can sign up for the twitter or facebook of your local health department. that is one way to get information very, very quickly. at the same time, we have seen public health misinformation spread very quickly on social media. things that cause people fear and panic spread very quickly on social media. it is so important to figure out what the sources are of your material. if you find a source and have never heard of that source before, look up the cdc website, for example, or the health department website. can you find it in five different reputable sources that you know of? the messages are going out quickly and going out far. ofng a good steward information is important, especially when this information is incentivized for what will make you can -- you panic. [video clip] >> i want to make it clear in terms of tests, we have provided

those to the state of washington and california that they asked for. the shipping of tests that we have talked about all week is completely on schedule. availablests that are are for up to 75,000 people. cdc has shifted to america's public health lab. to get toe contractor the private sector and hospitals has already shift enough tests -- shift enough tests -- shipped in of tests, and they are arriving at cdc for quality control it should get out this weekend. next week, we will keep ramping up production. willny as 4 million tests be driving forward. everything is on schedule for the testing. , [inaudible]ent >> [inaudible] >> we may go.

we thought there was a problem at cdc with somebody who had the virus. it turned up negative, so we are seeing if we can do it. afternoon, we were informed that there might have been a person with the virus. they now found out it was a negative test. they tested the person fully and it was a negative test. i may be going. we will see if they can turn it around. we may be going. host: that was the president from earlier today. ms. casalotti? guest: what we hear from the secretary and others, testing is critical. when we started getting testing online and public health labs, that is when you started to see these case numbers going up. it is not that the case numbers were not there before, we just know about them now. if you cannot measure it, you do not really know what the scope of the problem is. it is also important to recognize that a lot of these -- sending out a kit is one thing.

then the lab has to be able to validate the kids, get it up -- up and running. it is important to have those in states and communities because those cut down the time of how long until you get your results. public critical in health, we want our numbers and we want them now, but it is so important to an individual. you are asking someone to take off work for 14 days and they don't have paid sick leave or they might lose their job or do not have child care, whatever that is, you are putting them in a really tough position where you are asking them to prioritize our public health as opposed to their financial well-being. the more testing we can do and the shorter we can make those wait times, the better we are able to target that difficulty to people who need to be home to taken care of, as opposed other folks who are getting lost in the shuffle. host: let's hear from gabriel in north carolina. hi, pedro.

i want to preface this -- i am d/jd student at duke, so i have been around academic medicine for a long time, and i am a policy guy, so i am really into it. one thing i'd concerned about, seeing on the horizon, when an emergency takes place, whether there are restraints on the private sector walking away with the resources in a substantial way. what will traditionally end up happening, they will all fall underneath the guys of -- guise of, we need the testing, we need to have people approach their doctors outside of the emergency room setting, but it will get breezed over as opposed to what the cost is. what protects the united states government from further intrusion into that revolving door of making the

public-private just a blank check. ,uestion two is whether people in terms of the public health there is a major, major lack of public health. i could not agree with you more. there is not a lot of sound data to give to folks about where the [inaudible] , because the coronavirus it is in anin the tree area that is a little more alarming about where it sits. host: got you, gabriel. we will leave it there. thank you. guest: thank you for the shot out of the importance of public health. i am super passionate about it, our members are passionate about it, and all people should be passionate about it. been a lot of talk in congress around the cost of vaccines, the cost of treatment, the cost of diagnostics in relation to an emergency like this.

what you will see in the $8.3 billion package, there is a thatomise in there reiterates that the cost needs to be reasonable for the federal government in ensuring there is funding to help pay for these things for individuals. it is definitely a debate that continues to rage of you -- rage up here. is withriene casalotti the national association of county and city health. she is there government and public affairs chief. naccho. thank you for your time today. guest: thank you. host: another perspective on public health, this is ryan blessed joining us on the phone blessing joining us on the phone. guest: good morning. host: give us an update on what is going on in washington state, particularly with affairs with the cruise ship? well i am not quite

up to speed on the cruise ship yet. host: will tell us what is going on in the state then. guest: yeah, that i am more than prepared to do. weyou all might have heard, have 70 confirmed cases throughout the state with 11 deaths, most of them are centered in, all of the debts are centered in king and sweet amish county -- and the county to the north of king. washingtonso one in and grant county, a rural area. most of the deaths have been from residents of life care homer, which is a nursing in kirkland, washington, a suburb of seattle. response,ar as the

where is the governor as far as providing funds for this response and what is going on on that front? the county just requested $27 million additional funds to help combat this for king county. the state, the governor is also asking for money. i do not know what the number is off the top of my head, but yesterday, vice president pence was here. it was kind of a nonpartisan affair, which has not always been the case with our governor, when he is dealing with the trump administration. the vice president also highlighting the state of testing kits as far as that information is concerned. what does that mean for washington state? guest: yeah, that is the thing that many people around here have been hoping for and pushing for.

really patty murray has been agitating about the lack of testing kits here in washington state, with where we are the hotspot for this outbreak. yesterday i was up in some swomishounty -- in county, and the university of washington has developed a test -- instead of waiting for the test gets to show up, and the goal of testing were people, right now it is pretty hard to get tested. you need to meet a pretty narrow criteria, which is tough if we want to get ahead of this thing. we need to know how it is spreading, who is getting it, even people who are not necessarily sick, we need to know who is transmitting and who is not, and that cannot happen

without testing. that has been a big frustration and one that hopefully will be alleviated here soon. the seattle times is where our guest rights. what are the other steps for the governor when it comes to coronavirus response? you know, this really falls to the department of for the state. for them, the priorities seem to be testing, testing, testing and getting more of that out there. i think in terms of the governor, county executive, what things peoplee are looking to them for is leadership to try to reach andle, to keep people calm know that life goes on. we are not going to shut down seattle like china locked down wuhan. that is just not going to

happen. i think a big role for them is thatassure and make sure the departments, report to them on the front lines for this are getting the resources they need. host: that is ryan blethen of the seattle times, their health care reporter. thank you for your time, sir. the remainder of our program, we will turn to you as far as talking to us about your top public policy issues. several bits of news other than coronavirus happening in washington, d.c. .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 you can give us a call. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to call and talk to us about your top public policy issue, we will take those calls for the remainder of the show. this coming out with the federal government when it comes to jobs showing growth

in february beat expectations. 274,000 workers were added to the payroll according to statistics, and forecasters initially had expected about 175,000 jobs to be created. the job growth numbers for december and january also revised up by a combined 85,000. that is from the bureau of labor statistics, on the labor side. on the floor of the senate, it was senate minority leader chuck schumer, on the senate floor talking about the comments he made outside of the supreme court about justices paying the price and awful decisions when it comes to matters of abortion. here is senator schumer on the floor of the senate yesterday. [video clip] >> so yes, i am angry. the women of america are angry, and yet we will continue to fight for a woman's right to choose. i will continue to fight for the women of america.

now, i should not have used the words i used yesterday. they did not come out the way i intended to. i point was that there would be political consequences, political consequences for president trump and senate republicans if the supreme court with the newly confirmed justices stripped away a woman's right to choose. of course, i did not intend to suggest anything other than political and public opinion consequences for the supreme court, and it is a gross distortion to imply otherwise. i'm from brooklyn. we speak and strong language. i should not have used the words i did, but in no words was i making a threat. i never, ever would do such a thing. ander mcconnell knows that republicans who were busy manufacturing outrage over these comments know that too.

now, what will remain long after the clamor after my comments die down are the issues at hand -- a woman's constitutional right to choose and republican attempts to invalidate it. that was chuck schumer from the floor of the senate yesterday. website reporting that senator josh hawley of missouri, a republican, saying he is announcing a plan to leader,the minority calling it disgusting, shameful, and frankly week. he goes on to say, i would call and schumer to apologize, but we all know that he has no shame. tomorrow, i will introduce a motion to censure schumer for his pathetic attempt at intimidation of the supreme court. nikki, california, democrat line. you are up first. good morning. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. in regards to the coronavirus, the president did not take this seriously from the beginning and misinformed the american public. as such, people were leaving their homes, not taking precautions, and even right now when you showed the clip where as standingzar w behind him and speaking, the president was in a boring way bobbing his head. people are leaving their homes when they are sick and spreading this throughout the community, the government was not prepared, and he kept saying this was a hoax by the democrats. it is all hype. it is real.hoax, johns hopkins university has done a study of what will happen if a worldwide virus spreads out and comes to the united states. the united states government is not ready. we are not ready, we could not handle it, and we passed the

buck to vice president pence. this all boils down to a lack of management and a lack of weeks areas -- lack of experience from president trump. host: going to our next caller, hi. caller: good morning. town and workall i amy family doctor, and nervous for myself, my family and my children. i hope trump really knocks this out. thank you. host: the torilla from new york, democrat line. -- victoria from new york, democrat line. good morning, c-span. i'm about teamwork, and i am sorry i missed the young lady who was speaking earlier. [inaudible] i do not want to get into him. perhaps we as a team, as a nation, can get together. way as weake a long

move about our day, but we need to help the medical establishment out, because we do not have the workers to be 24 hours a day. grab some alcohol and all those whites that we use, help things those wipes that we use, help white things down -- wipe things down. host: our next caller, republican line fury good morning. would showish you the full clip of what senator schumer said in front of the supreme court, because it was very terrifying and intimidating. host: what did you think about his response on the senate floor? caller: i think it was very, not -- not what he was saying when he did the actual statement.

i just wish you would show that. i know the day after, you read his comments. by reading his comments and seeing him making those statements, it is a very different thing. that.thank you for it has been up there already as far as senator schumer's initial statements -- caller: but you have not shown -- >> host: but we read part of the transcript yesterday, and the video of senator schumer is already well out there. the response from the senate floor, though, you will get from us. michael in orange veil, california, democrat line. hi. michael in california, hello? i wanted to find out if anyone is talking about why tulsi gabbard is not in the next debate when she qualified, and i'm really kind of angry about that, because it seems like there has been a blackout of her , and they never mention her in,

on any of the news channels, it just seems like total blackout coverage. she is a good candidate and it does not seem very american. that is michael in california. one of the responses coming yesterday was that of senator elizabeth warren after announcing that she was dropping out of her bid for the presidency, speaking to reporters in massachusetts yesterday. [video clip] >> i wonder what your message to women and girls would be that feel like they were left with two white men? girls whothose little are going to have to wait four more years, that is going to be hard. will you be making an endorsement today? we know you spoke with both joe biden and bernie sanders yesterday. >> not today. i want to take a little time to think a little more.

i have been spending a lot of time right now on the question of suspending and also making sure that this works as best we can for our staff, for our team, for our volunteer. -- volunteers. >> it could be coming, just not right now? >> not right now. host: and a question about tulsi from online, is the threshold for participating in the debate would be released. this was around the same time that the american samoa caucus awarded tulsi gabbard with a delicate after she earned 23.9% of the votes. since then, gabbard has been confirmed to have two delegates. the dnc's debate threshold has allowed anyone to qualify to be in the debate if they gain one delegate in a primary or caucus, but a tweet from the dnc official claims that might change. we have two more debates, the threshold will go up. at the time of the march debate,

will be000 delegates allocated. that is from the dnc official. from new york, republican line. frank, hi. caller: hi, how are you doing. your show, iatch have been watching your show for and even from the democrat side it is a sham. if you watch trump, trump has got this country running on all, you know, and all cnn does is put down trump. if you watch fox, you will hear the truth. you will see it and you hear, trump did not do this, trump -- if cnn closed and started watching one channel and seeing what is going on, i think this whole country would be like trump trump -- like wow,

is the only one who has turned this country into a real good country. it is not trump country, it is ours. everyone on cnn, everyone should be together and finally see that we are americans. we are c-span and not cnn, and we present all sides, as the point you were making. maryland,aller in independent line. caller: yes, how are you doing. this is my first time calling, and my first comment is on chuck schumer. i feel like he was really taking themr the women, and for to make comments about him, they need to look at trump, because trump is the one that always be calling people names, threatening people and everything. no one says anything like that. when someone like chuck schumer is out there trying to protect the women's rights, i think that is very wrong for them to make those comments.

deborah in upper marlboro, maryland. we have run an analysis on the tax proposals of joe biden fury they come out in short, saying the top 1% of households under a biden administration with a 74% of the additional tax, they would see their after income tax 17% in by 70% in 2021 -- 2021. increase ofe an nearly 300 thousand dollars. middle income households would see tax increases averaging in 2021. our next caller, good morning. caller: i have a question about the covid-19, the coronavirus we are facing. this whole thing basically makes the case for nationalized health care, because we are scrambling

to get it figured out, we are test gets to get made, to get a second test get made if you already have the made if yout kit already have the virus. i think if we had a national healthcare system as opposed to what we have, we would be in far better shape to handle what is going on. i think the chinese did a lot of drastic things that may be on the human rights side was not the best thing to do, but in terms of being able to like, trying to contain it as best they could, that works. that will not work in the united states because we just move around too much. moving forward, i think there should be some discussion at some point about the type of health-care system we have that would basically be best suited to deal with these kinds of crises, which are going to happen again. host: with much of the show being devoted to coronavirus today, a couple

other events to show you. at 11:00, you will hear from george roberts, a national county and city health officials. they will talk about the public health response at 11:00, which you can see on c-span, c-span.org, and c-span radio. you all see her from the former ebola response coordinator under president obama -- you will also lookfrom the former oboe response -- former ebola response coordinator under president obama. johns hopkins will also be holding a briefing. you can see that at 1:30 this afternoon. that's it for our program today. we will come to you tomorrow at 7:00. see you then. ♪