>> we will take you live to the white house, where president

trump is making remarks.

only this morning, how are you responding to the coronavirus pandemic? the select committee on aging held a hearing on the impact of this pandemic on seniors. ofe is tim scott, republican south carolina, talking about the impact this is having on seniors in his state. >> one third of all covid-19 deaths in south carolina happened in a nursing home or another senior care facility. this is an incredibly important issue and an incredibly timely hearing.

in other states, the numbers are even worse. there have been some encouraging numbers recently. our governor and governors around the nation governore to highlight the santos, who decided to focus the attention on the nursing homes. it is exactly where we should , byt this challenge focusing on the most vulnerable populations. thought about how important it is for us to recognize that nursing homes are the epicenter of activity. also, the folks that take care of the patients are disproportionately minorities,

african-americans, who have the second most vulnerable population in our nation. look at states like louisiana, where 70% of the deaths are african-americans, only 27% of the population. so you have -- look at states like louisiana, where 70% of the deaths are african-americans, only 33% of the population. in my home state, 53% of the deaths are african-americans. you have one vulnerable community being served by another vulnerable community, and that only highlights the importance of testing, testing, testing in our nursing home facilities. host: that is tim scott, a republican senator from south carolina, at that aging hearing yesterday. we'll show you more of it this morning as we have a conversation with seniors only, but if you missed it, you can find it on our website, c-span.org. let's go to george in highlands, michigan. george, good morning to you. how old are you, if you don't mind me asking, and how are you responding to the coronavirus pandemic? caller: how old am i? i'm 67, but i look like i'm 22. [laughter] caller: [inaudible] highland, michigan.

i saw you had an emergency. steve took your place. with his pocket handkerchief, so i hope [inaudible] i'm doing well. i don't have to go out, i'm retired, money is coming in automatically, into the checking accounts with pension and social security. ofust go out every couple weeks to buy groceries, and last night we paid $310 at kroger. that should last me two or three weeks. i'm doing well. host: when you go, do you go during special hours? what sort of precautions do you take when you go to the store?

caller: i go later in the evening, around 6:00, and i wear a scarf and a winter hat that over my face and everybody stares at me and looks at me, but i always joke about it with everybody until you get a big laugh about it, you know? most everybody there has got a mask on except for the young kids, you know, you're too -- you think you're too strong, and you'll never get it, a couple high school girls walking around on their phones, laughing. no mask. host: what goes through your mind when you see that, george? caller: the question that people are asking, i'm protecting

myself, but you're not protecting me from you, how you could spread things. i guess we are all stupid when we are younger. by the way, [inaudible] never came through. host: [laughter] yeah. george, 78, looking 22. rally, north carolina. -- raleigh, north carolina. how is it going for you? caller: hi, greta. i am in a retirement home right now. it is kind of lonely. i miss seeing my grandkids. we liked to go fishing every weekend, but you know, everybody is wearing their mask, all this, and it feels so surreal when you go to grocery stores and you see all this glass on the counters,

on the tv, you see the case numbers, and i was watching fox news the other night looking at all the case numbers, and i had rica -- eureka moment there. host: essie in tyler, texas. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i am 67 years old and an african-american female. whenever i go out, i wear my mask, because i have a husband that is a disabled vet. -- who is a disabled vet. we both have underlying issues. i have to protect myself as well as try to protect my husband who is home, sick in bed. i wear my mask, i stay six feet from people. the stores in my hometown have a station where we can sanitize before we go in, before we come out.

i just try to be preconscious -- be cautious of what i am doing and cautious about where i am and who is around me. like the caller was saying, most folks not still wearing masks are the younger people. and i have grandchildren that are in their 20's and early 30's. they do not want to mask up. like i tell people, this covid-19 doesn't care about race, gender, any kind of equality. what kind of money you got, it doesn't care. we all have to because she is around one another and tried to protect one another -- be cautious around one another and try to protect one another during this covid-19 era. host: how are you meeting people? caller: by telephone. i do not have many people coming over. my husband is a disabled vet. the only people that come over

are the providers and they wear a mask at the house. have precautions when they come in. we just try to protect one another. that's the thing, everyone should try to protect each other out here, because this virus is not going anywhere soon. host: when things have started to open up in texas, have you even considered going to a restaurant? will you consider going out to eat? caller: no. no. i will not do that. host: when will you feel safe to do so? caller: in my hometown -- because texas is a big state -- i go by what is going in my county. cases are still rising. deaths are still rising. not high, high, we only had about five deaths, but the cases are almost at 200. so i tried to be precautious. it is not essential for me to go

out to eat. i stay put at home. host: is your community and elderly community? is most of your population older? caller: there are quite a few people that have moved into this city. we are like 100 miles east of dallas. a lot of people have moved into the city have retired. and we have a big lake here, so they come here to retire. retirees. so we are the older population -- it is quite a few of us around. i see my age range, going up into the 70's and 80's. i just feel for the people who are in nursing homes. i feel for them. host: that is the front page of the new york times this morning, an in-depth look done by the new york times into our nation's nursing homes. a racial divide of nursing home outbreaks, and this is what they report. that the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the nation's

nursing homes, sickening stuff members, ravaging residents, and members,ing -- staff ravaging residents, and contributing to 20% of the nation's covid-19 death toll. the impact has been felt in large facilities and small, in poorly rated homes and those in -- with stellar marks. covid-19 has been particularly virulent toward african-americans and hispanics. more than 60% of nursing homes where residents who are black or latino have reported at least one case of the coronavirus. that is twice as many as homes where black and latino people make up less than 5% of the population. this was brought up at

yesterday's aging hearing. here is the chair of the committee, susan collins, republican of maine, talking about that issue. [video clip] ms. collins: one issue that we have is that people who are older are being increasingly isolated, and that too can have a very detrimental impact on their underlying health and thus makes them more vulnerable to the coronavirus. could you comment on how home health visits can help keep a senior more connected and less isolated? >> chairman collins, absolutely. home health is a way to show people that they are known and worth something, that they are about you. -- that they are valued. it is an act of humility, really, and in this crisis it has been even more important.

sometimes, our nurses are the only people that are even checking in on a frail elder, and i have heard them tell stories of having to go out and make sure the person had a food supply, undergarments or other things that are essential, so the isolation is critical. i think the focus on telehealth also adds -- although it is not perfect -- making sure the people that are homebound that need home health also have access in between the visit to some interaction via telehealth, but also improve the amount of attention that our older patients are getting. it is a real crisis in loneliness and isolation, so we are trying to do all we can. host: from yesterday's aging committee, the hearing on the impact of this coronavirus pandemic on seniors. we're talking with seniors only

this morning. they are talking about seniors that are at home. we will show you what they had to say about seniors in nursing homes coming up, but let's talk to another caller in washington, d.c. good morning. go ahead. caller: i am 76 years old. i own a small business, a barbershop in d.c. i live in maryland. i take the bus and the metro every morning back and forth. i'm not scared. i am ready to go to work. have recorded equipment like face shields and masks, and we have a barbicide spray. we are going to get rid of the waiting chairs. there are not going to be people waiting in chairs. it is a small shop. we are going to take a customer every hour at the beginning so we are given enough time to

sterilize the place after every customer, going to check the temperature of the people who come into the shop, and i hope and i wish that something like that will help us with equipment, because that is going to cost a lot of money. and i'm ready. i don't have grandchildren. my grandchildren are my customers. my advice -- there are not a lot of barbers that are still working. -- my age that are still working. we love our business. is artistic, and we fully love what we do. there are american females that are still working, cutting hair, and we're not going to stop. who comeding everyone

to the shop, that is how i feel, please, my children and grandchildren who come to the shop, please don't come to any barbershop without a mask. protect yourself and protect your barber, please. host: james in hinesville, maryland. you're next. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i'm a male, recently retired from government, i'm 66 years old. i'm doing well. i've been doing a lot of shopping online. i've been avoiding crowds. i think my government officials have been doing a good job. i formerly worked for the d.c. government, and i like the leadership of governor hogan in maryland. my zip code happens to be the most infected zip code in the state of maryland.

it is heavily minority. because a lot of the communications in this pandemic have been technological, we have a digital divide and we need to expand broadband and things like that. and my main problem during this epidemic has been the behavior of the president. plant inhe ford michigan yesterday without it is justask, infantile attitude in his refusal to wear a mask. i'm really troubled by that. i think it eggs on these protesters. host: james, when will you feel comfortable going to a restaurant, going out into gatherings? caller: i've been -- the last

time i really did business with a restaurant was carry out, and that was probably sometime late in march. i'm retired, so i am at home during the day anyway, but i have been doing my grocery shopping online and having it delivered to my home. i would not -- as long as people are kind of backing off, wearing a mask, taking proper precautions, i just fear that americans have a very short memory. i really do not see anytime in the near future me going out to any public event. host: james in hinesville, maryland. bob in beatrice, nebraska. bob, how old are you and what is it like where you live? caller: hi, greta. i am 81 years old, and i am a retired civil engineer.

i live alone. i am a bachelor. it is not bad here, a small town of about 13,000. the first i heard about it, there is a nursing home east of here, in this county, maybe 30 miles away where they had six or seven deaths, and that was about a month ago. but we do not really have that many here. i have no fear of going out, although i don't go out anymore than i have to, because that's what we are supposed to do and that is what i normally do anyway. i don't go up. but i do go to the grocery store once a week and go to walmart about every three weeks, and i always wear a mask when i go, and i try to do the spacing.

it has not affected me from a personal standpoint other than, you know, it would be nice, if i needed something, i could go down and get it when i wanted to. rather than have to figure out how to get it. but i am doing fine. host: what about socializing with your peers? caller: i really did not have that many friends. i did have my brother, i have a brother that lives here in this small town, and i did see him yesterday. but his family -- because i am a bachelor -- his family, we used to get together, and my sister lives in another town not too far, we would get together every few months, but we have not been doing that. so i have missed that, but like you said, living alone anyway, it really has not been affecting me that much. i would say that i think it is

going to be prolonged, because people are just not following the rules. they want to get together in groups of more than 10, and so forth, and i am afraid it is going to keep carrying on, because people are not -- if they would just listen to what, you know, the experts say to do and do it, i think it would eventually go away. i did get a haircut the other day finally, and i had to wear a mask, and the barbers wore a mask, but as for the grocery store, i go a week at a time without talking to anybody. living alone. host: bob, i am glad you called in and talked to us today.

thank you for the call. bob mentioned nursing homes where he lives and the rate of death in nursing homes across the united states is high. look at this headline from the canadian newspaper, the star. 82% of canada's covid-19 deaths have been in long-term care, according to new data. yesterday, the select committee -- at the select committee on aging discussion, they spoke about nursing homes. here is part of that discussion. [video clip] >> i think that we are learning a lot as we go about how best to fight this virus in nursing homes. unfortunately, we don't have great data yet on exactly what testing strategies have been used and how successful they have been. so a lot of what we are going on is anecdotal evidence. but what i can see is that there have been a few key lessons learned. and one is that it is very important to test all residents and not wait until residents are asymptomatic -- excuse me, until

residents are symptomatic, because then it is too late. there is a symptomatic spread, and given the close proximity and the fact that staff go to resident to resident every day, until people get symptomatic, the virus can spread throughout the facility. we have learned that lesson, that all residents really should be tested and not only tested, but tested regularly. what i have heard from geriatricians is that weekly would be good, at least biweekly so that residents can then be separated and transmission can be stopped. it might be very hard, especially as we relax some of the restrictions on visitors, which is essential to prevent the sense of social isolation among our seniors. as we lessen those restrictions, it will be very hard to prevent all cases in the nursing homes.

the key is a rapid response to prevent transmission to the rest of residents and staff. host: yesterday's aging hearing up on capitol hill, talking about nursing homes. the new york times front page this morning, delving into the deaths that nursing homes and the racial divide that they are seeing in statistics across the country. they note that 1.3 million people live in the nation's nursing homes, and about 80% of those residents are identified as white by nursing home administrators. but as we noted earlier, more than 60% of nursing homes were a quarter of the residents are black or latino have reported more cases, and those populations are getting hit the hardest in nursing homes. they also note in this story that nationally, at least 106,000 people have been sickened by the virus and more than 4000 skilled nursing

-- in more than 4000 skilled nursing facilities, which do not include stand-alone assisted living centers. you can go to the website, newyorktimes.com, and see this interactive map they put together on nursing home deaths across the country. let's hear from dave in fairfax, virginia. how are you doing? caller: good morning, greta, and thank you having me on this morning. i'm doing fairly well this morning. i live in my own home, and fortunately, i have a son that is living with me. he is considered an essential worker and has been working through the entire coronavirus outbreak. host: dave, what does he do and how do you take precautions, since he is coming in and out of your home? caller: two great questions. number one, he is an electrician, and he has been exposed three times. what we do is practice social distancing as best we can within the home, so we are trying to

keep a six-foot parameter, however, we don't wear masks inside the house. he washes up as soon as he walks in the door, and we have tons of hand sanitizer around. fortunately, for me, he does my grocery shopping and any other items i might need to pick up that i can't get online, but the point that i wanted to make this morning, greta, is that because he has been exposed, he went to get tested. he asked if he could be tested, and he was asymptomatic and could not get a test. because i am not symptomatic, therefore i cannot get a test. and i think that the key, or one of the keys to overcoming this problem is that we need to do frequent testing, and i don't think that the testing is available -- you know, we've heard the line that if you want

a test, you can get a test. i don't think in my particular case that is the case. host: how did your son know he had been exposed? did officials call him to say, "you have been in contact with somebody who has tested positive?" how did he know? caller: they reported it to their supervisor, and the supervisor disseminated that information to the crews. host: i see. dave, thank you for calling in this morning. we will go to ed in raleigh, north carolina. you are next. good morning to you. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. good morning. i just recently relocated to raleigh, north carolina. i'm 69 years old. i'm essentially doing everything they say to do. i don't wear a mask, i bought face shields so i can cover my

entire face, eyes, everything. i am on oxygen. i have oxygen that i carry with me everywhere i go. i still go out. i go out to the grocery store. i try to do everything i do normally, but i avoid crowds. i won't eat in any restaurant anywhere now where i can't see what is being prepared and who is preparing it. i have been to a couple of drive-thru's to observe the workers inside, mask pulled down around their chin, no gloves on, handling food, and i decided that even though we are being told, "this is what we need to do to protect each other," not all people are following that. and i think that if you are going to open a business that serves the public, you better make sure the people you are employing are following the standards that are set, and not

pulling their masks down like our president because they are -- because it does not make them look good. he is afraid the media might see him covering his face. i do what i can to stay safe. i miss the heck out of my grandchildren. i see them now through various ways of communicating, with skype, and things like that. but for the most part, just take it easy. host: and ed, will you go out when and if there is a vaccine? caller: oh, well, yeah. if there is a vaccine. i am not holding my breath for this year. i am probably thinking sometime in 2022 is when we will see vaccines that will be available for the public.

of course, the vaccines, when they first come out, are going to go to the front-line workers, the nurses, doctors, people who are fighting the war against covid-19. i hope the president of the united states is the last person to get the vaccine, because his behavior says he thinks he's safe. he doesn't need to do anything that anybody else has to do. so he should not need a vaccine. host: ok. and ed, you mentioned economies opening up. the human health secretary for the administration, alex azar, writing today in the washington post, we have to reopen for our health, he writes. the economic rice is brought on by the virus is a silent killer. one percentage point increase in the rate leads to a 1% increase in suicide deaths and a more than 3% increase in opiod debts, -- deaths, which means this

virus will likely cause tens of thousands of excess deaths. one study of the 1982 recession found that americans who face higher unemployment suffered approximately 40,000 excess deaths. he goes on to write that the covid-19 has also restricted access to health care data. hospitals are seeing as much as 60% revenue decline from the cancellation of elective procedures. hospitals in rural america operate on a 2% to 3% profit margin, and urban hospitals have about a 5% to 6% margin. this may permanently close some institutions. the health secretary is arguing that the administration has a strategy on how to move forward, and he says this -- a combination of surveillance, widespread and easily available testing, containment of isolated outbreaks and rapid development of vaccines and therapeutics

means we will continue making progress against the virus in the months to come. george, pittsburgh, pennsylvania. seniors only this morning. hi, george. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: i'm doing fine. how are you and how are you coping? caller: it has been kind of hard. let me give you a little background. i am a dialysis patient, and when all of this started, my pcp told me it doesn't cover it, so don't be playing around with it. i live in a county where 50% of people are african-american, and last time i looked, 40% of the people are dying over this. so i'm having a whole lot of anxiety. am i supposed to go out?

they are trying to open up the thing, and then we've got a president under pressure about getting everybody back to work. it's insane. i asked my doctor, "give me some drugs." not giving you no drugs." "everybody else gets drugs. give me some." [laughter] maybe talk to a psychologist and sociologist about what is happening to me, no doubt. my governor seems to be doing a good job on opening up the state very slowly, and i commend him for that. governor wolf. because right now, my population is dying.

i know personal friends who are not around anymore because of this stuff. social distancing seems to be right on point for me. i don't even know how to handle this. they say, why are you standing around in the coronary? -- in the corner? what am i supposed to do? the virus will get me and kill me. appreciate, you know, the [indiscernible] foundation. if it wasn't for all of that, we would be in the grave. we would be walking single file. host: ok, george. you mentioned the demographics, the breakdown of the statistics of the pandemic. if you are curious about that, if you go to johns hopkins' website, you can see how this is impacting different populations in our country.

specifically, your county in pittsburgh is on our screen, so you can do it by county as well on the johns hopkins website. brenda in los angeles. hi, brenda. caller: good morning. i am a senior citizen. i'm 71. my life has changed in that i am not going to doctors appointments like i was, i am not going crazy going there, i go grocery shopping by bus once a month. i get meals on wheels delivered once a week, which i have been doing for years. i am in my room more. frustrated when i go out and i see the young people not wearing masks, not staying six feet away, and i will speak up. and some people call me paranoid. and i go, "that's fine. you can have your opinion but

go by the rules." i just get frustrated that people do not go by the rules whether they believe it or not, but as far as these people speaking up, surprised that people are dying in these homes, it is obvious they have never visited one on a normal day, because then it would be very obvious to them why. they are horrible places. they are horrible. yes. the ones -- i have been in three since 2014, only for two weeks for physical therapy. the last one was horrible, and i went online, giving my opinion of it, and i have written to my mayor, and i'm going to write to different senators to check out, google the place where i gave my opinion, and i am getting my -- giving my phone number and

saying "if you have any questions, give me a call. -- "if you have any questions, give me a call." i did not write down all the horrible things that happened to me, and i was not as sick as the other people. host: ok, brenda in los angeles. more from yesterday's hearing on capitol hill with the aging committee. here is one of the witnesses you heard from before, talking about the importance of nursing homes and sharing covid information in their facilities. [video clip] >> i think data and transparency are critically important in this crisis. i think often during a crisis, we are tempted to downplay the need for collection of data and prioritize other actions, but it is essential in this case were three main reasons. -- for three main reasons. one, we do need to know where resources need to be directed. if we know there are outbreaks in nursing homes, we can direct resources to them and also identify the communities in which the virus is probably spreading.

second, as we look back on this crisis, we need data to do the hard research to figure out what works and what didn't work so we can make better policies in the future. and third, consumers and their families really need to have this information. anybody looking for a nursing home placement right now or worried about their loved one in a nursing home right now really needs to be able to know what is going on in a very timely way so they can make their best decisions. in terms of the exact resources, a lot of it is about staffing. we have had a problem with chronic understaffing in nursing homes, and the kind of resources that could help most on an emergency basis for a facility that has an outbreak is to strategize to ensure enough staff. this means providing paid sick leave, this means providing adequate ppe, basically putting nursing home staff on par with

what we naturally want to provide for hospital staff. it is the same situation. host: the importance of sharing information in yesterday's hearing, according to the wall street journal this morning. we won't know the full toll of nursing homes because of a new rule passed by the trump administration, and they report that a recently lost federal effort to collect data on the impact of the coronavirus in nursing homes will leave the old total unclear, because the new rule does not require facilities to report death and infections that occurred before early may. at my direction, the centers for disease control and prevention is issuing guidance for communities of faith. andnt to thank dr. redfield the cdc for their work on this matter and all the other work they have been doing over the