>> thank you, mr. president. of course, you know harvard joke and tell a harvard man, you can't tell them much. so, anyway, on a serious note, let me give you a little idea of the defense production act and why it is so important. we're engaged in the most significant industrial mobilization since world war ii. we have a war time president, fighting an invisible enemy and will the full force of government, cofuer of private e president trump's order with respect to general motors, i want to give you a little background on that. we need industrial mobilization to make adequate to help the people of new york, detroit, new orleans, chicago, denver, seattle, all around this country as this virus bears f patients who become most

seriously ill. they're literally the lifeline for people. and i personally have been working with fema, and i've been working with hhs and over ten ventilator companies, making sure we can get what we need as quickly as possible. and virtually every one of those companies has been cooperative, patriotic, moving in trump time, which is to say as soon as possible, sir, but we did have a problem with gm and inventech. we had ge and ford moving forward, moving as fast as possible. over the last several days we ran into roadblocks with gm. we can't afford to lose a single day over the next 30 to 60 days. so president trump invoked the defense production act as a way of enhancing and accelerating this mobilization. i salute him for doing so. it is going to make my job so much easier. for the most part we had

tremendous cooperation from the private sector. today was the right day to do it, thank you, sir. >> thank you very much. thank you, peter. good luck. my administration is marshaling the full power of the american government and we will do that and that's what we have done and we will continue to do it until our war is won. >> we are working to sign contracts immediately with the major ventilator companies in the country including ge, ge, phillips, medtronic, hilrom and viaire. these are all companies that do this, great companies. the fda will be reducing and waiving unnecessary regulations in order to get this done. we're going to be getting rid of certain, let's say,

speed. hopefully general motors will join the fray. under the normal condition that you would be regulate times 29,000 ventilators are distributed in the united states each year. in the next 100 days, first of all, we already delivered thousands of them. >> we want to welcome our new audience on vbson abc 7. you've been watching the briefing on the coronavirus. we want to let you know major news that president trump announced. he vinylly invoked the defense production act which he had been not wanting to do the past few due to responses from industry. but what this means is that gm, for example, will now be required to manufacturer respirators for coronavirus outbreaks. so under that act, the president can order companies to make certain things, things that are needed to get us through the

pandemic. you can watch the rest of this news conference if you like by president trump on abc7news.com. our show always starts at 3:00 on all of our live streams so you won't have to miss a moment. all right. so today we want to start with getting to your medical questions. let's get to ourim w. he our coronavirus team of experts and part of the new show many day this is week with his doctor's note. joining us, dr. alok patel. hey, welcome to our show today. how you doing? >> good afternoon. how are you? i'm good. reporting live from my studio. >> your home studio is looking better and better, i have to say. we had a lot of questions from our viewers from facebook, instagram and twitter. so let's jump right into it. people have a lot of questions. all right. so you ready? >> let's do it. >> okay. start with gina. she's asking how likely can this

happen again? meaning, you know, so we have the flu happening every year, right? so can this coronavirus situation happen again year after year? >> i think we predicted that if we get community transmission, meaning the virus finds its way into the community and starts spreading around that we will see it again. now the good news is that we're going to slow that spread long enough to when we're going to better understand it and we're going to have treatments and a vaccine against it. so it is possible it's going to be here for a long time. but we'll be better prepared for any future occurrences. >> well, since you bring it up, i just ask you quickly. vaccine is how far away, do you think? >> there's different estimates you'll hear from people in the scientific community. it sounds like people are thinking about 12 to 18 months. now remember, the trial started in washington a few weeks ago. and people heard last night that the global town hall on cnn bill gates talking about putting forward more funding to get it

out in about a year. so a little bit of time away. but the fact that it's already in trial is great news. >> all right. hey, betty asks, i'm an 83-year-old that stayeded home for 14 days. does that mean i'm now safe as long as i stay in? that's a good question. >> that's a great question. and betty, you have all my well wishes and you're doing the right thing by staying in. now as far as people sheltering in place, that is the number one thing they can do to protect themselves. but it also depends on everybody else staying in place as well. so it really is twofold here. we need to make sure we're doing everything we can to protect people that are at higher risk such as people over 65 and other health conditions. so staying in place, phenomenal work. make sure everyone around you is doing that as well. >> good advice. becky asks,o we explain cases amonge wit no unrlng health a bigger percentage here in the

u.s. >> we are seeing a large amount of hospitalized people between the age of about 20 and 54. and recently we've seen some heartbreaking cases of people under the age of 18 getting critically ul or even dying in louisiana. now we saw that data from china showing that even though children tend to do really well against this virus, 6% are still getting critically ill. what that tells us is that just because they tend to get a better illness course, it doesn't mean we can take our guard down. even kids, even young babies who have other medical conditios are taking certain medications can still be higher risk and they can still spread the virus. so we're learning more and more. we have to take the same type of gardless of medical history. >> i'm really hoping that all spring breakers on the beach heard what you said just now, dr. patel. right? >> me too. >> okay. julie, she asks how come some

people lungs? is there a way to stop that if you've been exposed? >> i think it's a reallyvirus, code two is going to try to get into your upper airway and make its way down into qulurngs. some people, their immune response can block it when it's up here. they'll get a dry cough, maybe some congestion and a fever. they'll never develop that pneumonia. for whatever reason, other people will actually get it all the way down and then get that overreaction to their immune system and get pneumonia. some people are better at fighting it. hopefully as we get more anti-viral treatments, we'll be able to protect more people from getting the lower respiratory symptoms. >> got it. we have a comment coming on facebook live right now. marcus asking what is the varilaty of this bug? how long does it survive outside of a host?

>> great question. if you look at different surfac can actually survive on hard surfaces such as steel and, you know, plastic and things like that for up to several days:it is only going to survive for a day on a cardboard. so that's why it's really important to clean all surfaces, cell phone, door knob. the reason why the concept is important this virus wants to live in a host, inside of a human being, not on the surfaces. so if you are cleaning your surfaces and washing your hands and you're following all the basic protective measures, we'll stop the virus from doing what it wants to do. >> all right. roxanne on facebook asks does it really help to wear a mask and disposable gloves when shopping? i see a lot of that happening at costco. i have to say of all the raging debates this one is probably the most heated. >> this one is heated. it's because we're sending mixed messaging. here's the thing. if you do not have symptoms and

you're not around anyone else or taking care of somebody who is exhibiting symptoms also, you don't need to wear a mask. now people always say, well, you know, we're hearing different signals about this. if you are coughing, wearing a mask may prevent from you could having elsewhere. pen on the front line, doctors, nurses, caretakers, they also need to wear a mask because they're going to prevent themselves from getting sick or getting somebody else sick. now gloves is going to come down to what an individual preference is. but remember, one positive benefit to wearing gloves or even like a cotton mass is being you might remind yourself not to touch your face or remind yourself that, hey, i need to watch out for my hands. guess what? six to ten feet, wash your hands a lot and you should be fine. >> you know what? if somebody gets fairly close to you and they're not observing social distancing and within two feet now and they sneeze if, you have that facemask, couldn't it help some?

>> so you're right. and in that situation, he can. but here's the thing much it's up to all of us to actually follow the social distancing measures. because we have a shortage of gloves and masks and everything we call ppe, personal protective equipment, for health care workers. and so people really need to all work together to follow the social distancing rules and stay at home if they can so we can protect the supplies. >> i got you. the front line workers need it most. okay. kelly asking, will summer killf think it's fair to be optimistic. here's the reality. we don't know that. you know, that comment came from the fact that other viruses, they don't tend to replicate or grow as well in warmer temperatures which is why we see them pop-up during the cold winter months. we don't know if that's the case for this coronavirus. this is a novel coronavirus. it is brand new. even though we have four other coronaviruses circling this country every year this one we're just going to have to see

what it does. we can all cross our fingers. but still prepare for it to be around during summer. >> okay. irwin asks are they developing a blood test for covid-19 in unity? if so, when do you think it will be available? >> i believe irwin is asking about con voluntary less ent plasma. this is basically saying the idea is that people who have gotten covid-19 and recovered from it should develop antibodies. cells from the immune system to fight against it. the idea is we can take the antibodies from them, the people that recovered and give it to other people that are sufferi anhem fr the illness. th're tryin approved to do. this not only get the antibodies but give them to other people and the trial is under way. so it's hard to say when this is going to completely rollout. we know in the past it's worked for other diseases. and the science does say it we havto t itme benefit there. >>rs and toes, indeed.s and we

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vo: geico. saving people money for over seventy-five years. gecko: don't look at me. don't look at me. >> welcome back. live on tv. during the break on our live streams, dr. patel has been continuing to answer your questions. so let's get back to doing just that. dr. patel, lori wants to where appearing? it seems this is thing enviro we are multipl things all in one virus. >> i think it's just becausekno cough and those body aches. but we're starting to see more and more reports from all over the world. that's actually the beauty of this kind of open communication that health care workers and scientists have. one new symptom we may not be referring to is that loss of smell and taste. and that's been reported by people saying early on they were

losing sense of smell. remember, that's a very general symptom. there are a lot of diseases that can present that way. but this is just an example about how we're learning day by day we're learning more. of as a journalist, i'm seeing more and more reports come out every week. p that's what we need to do to stay on top of this. >> all right. someone is asking, is there any homemade cures question do ourselves? can we fight this like a cold or fever where you starve a cold. i hear this virus hates lot liquids. if you gargle with salt and hot water it can help. what do you think? >> well, as of right now, we have no treatments or cures for this. now i understand why people are asking this question. we all want to find ways to feel more protected. right now there is nothing we n rlly do or buy or make off th. if you have certain symptoms and you want to do things like use steam or drink something warm to

make yourself feel better, that is completely different. but there is a lot of misinformation floating around such as gargle with hot wear the or holding breath for ten seconds. remember, you have to follow the science. if you have serious symptoms and check in with your doctor if you k but nothing right now is going to treat it or prevent it. >> okay. ken rush is asking a question that i see over and over again. and that is it true eye bu pro fen can make the sigh vai us are ten times worse? >> so where that -- that's a great question. because that's an example of kind of cases flying around. so where that originally stemmed from was a report from europe that because eye bu mimic. we don't have thaefdz says that is true. dwoent have a clear cut rule saying please don't take a bu

pro fen. can you take tylenol fight off a pathogen or virus. it may help track your symptoms. regardless of the ibuprofen question, you don't need to immediately treat the fever unless you're really feeling ill. >> chris asks, can you get the virus if someone affected petted your dog? and you touched the dog. >> so i would like to -- i like to compare a dog or a pet to just any other surface. just happens to be a much hairier moving surface. if you were to get a droplet, a loyal loving surface, but, you know, this -- the hair of a dog could theoretically hold a respiratory droplet. are there cases of that? not necessarily.

but i like to just remind people, whatever surface you're touching, you still have to make sure you're washing hands and washing down that surface. this is the case of anything. kitchen counter or your cat or dog. >> they ask i'm 27 weeks pregnant. a front desk health care worker and no ppe. am i safe? now i'm really worried. if she's a health care worke frli ppe, i'm worried about that. i'm not sure the pregnancy adds another dimension. >> so i have two quick answers. the first thing i have solidarity with this question because we have to be thinking about our front line health care workers. who are reporting to us all over the country about shortages of ppe and unsafe working environments. so that needs to be addressed. people are going to be covering that every single day until it is solved. now pregnancy itself is a high risk state. it can affect your immune system.

it can affect your physiology, heart and lungs. but we don't yet have any evidence telling us that covid-19 is specifically dangerous for pregnant women or there is any risk to a developing baby. but that doesn't mean that pregnancy is not a high risk state if that makes sense. >> it does. okay. i think someone who is following you, dr. patel, when you say diabetics are higher risk for this, is that type one or type two? >> i would say both. but i would more be thinking about the management of that diabetes. any chronic illness we're going to say that they're generally at a higher risk. so when you think about a type two diabetic, there is also other variables to think about. do they have heart and lung disease? do they have kidney disease? do they have disease that involves the blood vessels? what age are they? there are all the other vary abs. a type two die bettic that is 60 years old and other organs

involved may be differnt than a 17-year-old who has type one diabetes and really well managed. so it is kind of hard to generally say. >> okay. this one a lot of people are wondering about as well, especially more and more people are ordering food delivery or takeout. can we get infected by consuming food that is already prepared? >> so tricky question. because when you order takeout, you got to make sure you're just following your general rules as far as, you know, people in the delivery system are staying away. people who are sick are not working right now. you also have your packaging, cardboard, plastic. the food itself, you're going to either heat it up or come already warm which should not have any virus on it f you have fresh produce, make sure you to make sure you're watching surfaces and hands. let's say you do all that and a little virus left somehow in your food and ingest it and goes into your stomach, you shouldn't

we have no evidence right now that shows that you ingest the virus you're going to get sick. >> okay. i'm not saying that because people shouldn't be worried they're eating it. follow your precautions. >> i got you. all right g advice. diana moore asks on facebook right now, i have copd, severe asthma and sinus problems. i was in the hospital in january for one week with double pneumonia. should i be tested? >> so remember, we can't give out individualized advice but i would say that anyone who has heart or lung disease is in a different type of a risk category right now. so we're again hearing all over the place depending on our availability of testing that if you have any medical conditions or you're high risk and especially if you have symptoms or you think you've been arounde with yoctor or whoever is administering the test. because we right now have to really look at the population

and say who needs to be tested and unfortunately who doesn't. i hope that situation changes. i hope we get a lot more tests where we don't need to ask this question anymore. that's what it comes down to. >> okay. here's our psa question here. and that's we talk about the need for social distancing and holly asks, has the hand washing and social distancing help lessen the regular flu and if so would this be a positive sign for covid-19? >> i think there is almost like an added benefit of what we're doing right now. it's not only with possibly with other infectious diseases. but it's also with things such as the air quality which is reportedly helping people as well. now i haven't seen any data yet showing that what we're doing is helping curb the spread of the flu. it's an interesting question. common sense does tell me if we are being better about everything that we ask people to do every year, that should also curb the spread of other diseases that have spread from

respiratory droplets, people touch things, et cetera. i would believe it if it's true. >> okay. all right. dr. patel, we're going to take another short break. >> i'll follow up on the facebook group. >> that's it. we have time for a couple more questions on facebook live stream with dr. patel. continue to ask your questions on facebook live and also

you probably seen firsthand that small businesses are struggling to stay afloat in the middle of this pandemic. we've been covering that here on abc 7. joining us today to talk more about how small businesses are navigating through this new world, tough new world, is the general manager of rw garage doors. jake, how you are doing? >> good. how you are doing. >> >> good. i hope you're hanging in. there your business is in hayward, roo igt? >> we have a location in hayward and al and one other location. >> you've been staying open as

an essential service? so service repair, we're infrastructure to keep it safe. so we are serving customers all over the bay area. we've actually stretched out to even areas that we typically don't cover just to keep our employees working. >> can you talk about not only keeping the employees working which is so important for their livelihoods, but what kind of steps you're taking to make sure that your employees are staying safe and contact with customers? >> you know, that's been our biggest thing. we are an essential service. but at the same time, we want everybody to know that we're taking steps for current jobs. so ensuring we're sanitizing the trucks, using hand sanitizer, social distance cwhich is extremely important. let customers know we're going to come to your home. you don't have to come outside. open the door. we'll walk in and if you prefer% you know, we'll give you a call and fill you in on what is going

on. but limiting contact and also, you know, telling them if you're in an uncomfortable situation, you know, get out of there and don't put yourself in harm's way. >> has your business taken a big plunge or dip during this time? >> unfortunately, it has. we've experienced significant temporary layoffs. that's been extremely tough. but we're -- as time goes by and, you know, we're really putting it out there not just for garage doors but for everything, you know, people are still operating. even painters and landscapers. you can pick up the phone and call. so even some of the businesses that aren't going out, you can still communicate with them and, you know, get pricing and work on projects and that's been the big thing. we're here to serve you. if we're taking steps if you want to contact list, a consultation, we'll do that.

we'll do a meeting or over e-mail or by phone. and just urging people like in this time when you're at home, you know, don't forget that life is still happening. >> all right. jake, that is really good insight. i certainly hope that there is something in the new stimulus package that will extend to, you know, helping small businesses such as yours. in the meantime, you're right, now is a time to do a lot of planning for all the construction and work that can start once the shelter in place lifts. the thank you so much. >> absolutely. a lot of other people, too, we worked with other businesses. you are know,eei no doing whatever we can. >> all right. jake, thank you so much. please take good care. and thank you to our viewers on facebook as well. thank you for joining us for this new experimental interactive show. we'll be here every week day at 3:00 on air and on live stream, facebook live, abc7news.com and our app. stick around now for

chaos perspective for coronavirus, the president issuing a order compelling gm to make ventilators. part of the defense production act is the president took aim at gm tonight, trying to force hem to act. the new statement them at this hour as doctors and nurses sound the alarm that they do not have enough masks. inside an e.r. overflowing with patients. new york's governor now warning the noufb cases doubling every four days and that we are still three week from the peak here. with other cities now seeing a surge in cases, parts of