>> so, yeah, i wasn't quite expecting it to happen this late, but i got home from work wenesday and i heard i might be activated, they needed an anesthesiologist at the "mercy comfort." and i had a couple days to get my bags packed and get a lot of things taken care of. i was on a plane sunday morning

down here. by monday, the day after and on board about 48 hours i would say. >> what was the feeling? was it one of being sort of anxious? was it also exciting in a way that you're going to be part of a massive effort? what are kind of the emotions that are all broiled in >> it was exciting, what you train for, what you go into the reserves for. to be deployed and i'm thrilled to be able to contribute. >> can you walk yourself to a spot with perhaps slightly better signal? i know it's tough on a ship but maybe you can start to move a little bit towards the edge where you guys have the stronger signal?

>> yes, i will try. >> we're getting a tour of the hallway. let's just keep going and see where we can get a slightly better signal. i'm wondering, the "mercy" has a very interesting story too. wasn't it about to be renovated and out of commission for a while when it suddenly had to turn around and do this? >> yes, that's what the crew of the ship tells us. i wasn't assigned to the "mercy" so i don't know but the crew told us they were getting ready for renovations. so the operating room was stripped of everything and cabinets off the wall. in a few [ inaudible ] we put cabinets up, medication in stock, and medications and basically built the hospital. >> commander, unfortunately, the

signal is kind of breaking up so we're not able to hear you that well. it's so sad for me to cut the conversation short. but i know that at great sacrifice, a lot of reservists from around the country and sailors there, about 1,000 joining you there, to be prepared to handle whatever comes. we thank you so much for your service. i'm still hanging on to hope the signal is improving. do you have a final message for us? >> yes, this covid-19 virus, i'm a science fiction man. the science fiction would be impressed with all of the amazing people in the we need to put aside political differences, prejudices. the virus doesn't discriminate. it attacks everybody. so we need to unite as a

humanity to fight this existential threat. >> and kmader, we were able to hear that message loud and clear. thank you so much, all of you on board. we appreciate what you're doing. take good care, okay. >> thank you, kristin. i will pass on the word. >> okay, thanks. and earlier commander haung was telling me it's not easy to social distance on board but they're trying their very best. it's tight quarters and they do have 1,000 people and they're taking every precaution. he said they're fed well. he said he met interesting people who all are answering this call to want to help. we certainly hope by doing our jobs to shelter in place and social distance religiously we can keep their jobs a little easier, a little lighter. like he said, it's kind of a slow start at the moment. only a handful of patients so far. they're ready to take on more should that surge happen. you heard governor newsom today. they do expect that to happen in the next couple of weeks. we will be checking back in with commander huang and facebooking

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we know you have a lot of questions about the bay area stay-at-home orders. san francisco mayor said they see positive signs while the bay area shelters in place. let's talk more about this and get your questions answered. joining us live is the public information officer from marin county layne hendricks. how are you doing? thank you so much for making the time for us. >> thanks for having me on, kristin. it's great to join you. you know, we're doing what we can like the rest of the bay area to adjust to this unprecedented health crisis. as you can see, i normally would be meeting you from our emergency operation center, but

even our emergency managers have opted to go virtual. so what we're doing is to try to be as flexible as we can and practice what we preach in terms of staying at home and physical distancing like we're asking our residents to do in terms of responding to covid-19. >> let's talk about the situation in marin county. your cases, your caseload, and also the number of deaths comparatively low compared to the rest of the bay area. but it has grown in the past few days and you are concerned. can you give us a status update? >> absolutely. so we are seeing a significant climb of overall cases. we did surpass that 100 case mark just a couple of days ago, and it was a significant surge. we saw about a 25% jump just two days ago and it continues to climb. and we've experienced five covid-related deaths so far,

which any death is really heartbreaking but we are taking this extremely seriously because all of our deaths so far have been individuals over the age of 60. and in marin county, we have a statistic where we're known as the oldest county in california, so what that means is one-third of the population is over age 65. so we are already seeing a tremendous effect on our older adults and that's why we're taking this very seriously in terms of implementing a very effective strategy in terms of reminding people to stay home, physically distance, and the rest of the area. >> and like the rest of the bay county, you have extended your shelter in place until may 3rd. and along with that you have gotten specific about things you cannot do and pliaces you canno go so a lot of places are starting to get shut down that are operated by the county. i will throw some questions at you. here's one from our viewer who

posted on instagram. they said there's a dog park in walking distance from where i live. can i still take my dog there by foot? >> so there's a yes-and-no answer to that. ultimately, no, dogparks are now closed. yes, you can take your dog for a walk but dog parks are closed. the reason for that is we really wanted to be mindful of areas that naturally tend to encourage congregations. while individuals certainly can argue they could be mindful of the six-foot distancing rule, dog parks are areas that tend to encourage congregation, much like the issue we saw a couple of weeks ago with congregating at the beach. as a dog owner, i recognize the challenge in that that somet there's nothing better to take your dog to a dog park and run and socialize with neighbors. but for now the best exercise for you and your dog is a leashed walk in your

neighborhood. >> nicole molten wants to know why are there car dealerships still open in san rafael? is that still considered essential? >> great question. so there is a caveat to that, and i did want to put out for all of your bay area viewers, each area is being -- beach area is being enforced and patrolled in slightly a different way. so always check with your jurisdiction. the argument with a car dealer or maybe a car repair shop is we may need a car, like a bicycle repair shop, we may need a bicycle in order to complete our essential activities, whether that is going to the grocery store or for essential workers being able to get to their place of business to perform their essential service. so that is why you're still seeing auto repair shops or car dealerships that are open. i don't know if you want to be purchasing a luxury car at this time, i will leave that up to somebody's discretion, but

that's one reason you will see them open. >> that's certainly good advice to check with your local municipality or county. what about when there's conflict? kathy asks, i own a dog grooming business in novato. the health department said we are essential -- actually nonessential, pardon me, and the police department said grooming is okay. who do you believe? i think a lot of people are caught in that. >> that is really tricky. and we're working with our local municipalities to try to see by and large, the new order provides clarity on essential services, where the first order may have provided some gray area. so we hope that that new order does -- that new order does provide the clarity people are seeking. as far as dog grooming goes, the marin public health office maintains nonessential. >> quickly, can you clarify the

exception of the shelter in place? before we were looking at april 7th and now with the counties extending to may 7th and the latest issue made it a lot more clear, what are the big changes? like what are the big things that maybe under the previous order were still allowed and now are not? >> so we already talked about a couple already. some of the outdoor areas that encourage congregations such as basketball court, golf courses. we already talked about dog parks. many of those are now closed, and those are off-limits. that being said, if a family or a household unit wishes to play basketball in their backyard, we can't stop them from doing that. the idea there is if they're playing as a unit, that is deemed safe because they're passing the ball among peers that are likely -- i don't want to say spreading germs to each other but a household unit and

family is a little different than playing pickup basketball at the park. so there are some of those activities that are no longer allowed in those areas that are no longer open. a big change between the first order and the second is really around requirements on some of the essential services. most importantly in that the physical distancing, commonly referred to as social distancing, that effort to keep six feet between you and another person, is now mandatory and many businesses, including grocery stores, are being asked to come up with some sort of protocol to which they can make sure they can ensure social distancing, not only while people arehetsut they're waiting in line to check out, and that sort of thing. so that is definitely something that is new. there is some clarified language around instruction, which is really important to provide as

well in terms of what is deemed essential versus not. really, it comes down to those things that are affordable housing projects, those things that are deemed -- what's the word? government-related essential services. so if it's deemed essential, we need to make a road repair or something like that, those are allowed to continue. if there's an emergency repair to a house, of course, that is certainly allowed so people can maintain the safety within their home, affordable housing projects may go forward. shelter and temporary housing projects also are included with that. but anything that is outside of that really narrow scope, so if for instance somebody had already scheduled an appointment to have their home painted or have their deck replaced, that's not considered an essential need at this time. so those things need to be

rescheduled. i think beyond that one thing i do want to add for marin that is new, marin county specifically on top of the regional health order that was implemented issued a part closure order that is more stringent than what you will see in the original bay area order. really i what that comes down to is that our parks and open spaces are closed to motorized access. i'm sure you recall two weeks ago the first weekend of the stay-at-home order, people were itching to get out of their homes and we had people both from marin and elsewhere in the bay area congregating at some of our hot spots. and that really created an issue for our local coastal communities that were not prepared for that influx of people. while i can appreciate people wanting to get fresh air and seeing exercise, more of what we saw was a lot of people just congregating and hanging out. >> sure. >> and we don't want to be a

downer but at the same time this is a public health emergency. so these things are put into place for safety and not necessarily to ruin someone's enjoyment. what our order is close these parks and open spaces to motorized access for individuals in marin who may be nearby one of those places. they can walk in, they can ride in on a bicycle. and the other caveat is that individuals with disabilities who do have a valid disabled persons placard or a disabled person's marking on their license plate that's valid, may have motorized access in because we want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to rec create and we would hate to prevent them from able to access because they're unable to get in by foot. >> layne han driks, marin county public

and we are back with public

information officer for marin county, laine hendricks, answering your questions. laine, thank you. john has one that represents a lot of sentiments, is it correct you cannot drive to an open space to walk your dog? >> that is correct. what we're trying to do is really keep people as close to home as possible, with the exception of completing those most essential activities, such as going to the grocery store or visiting your doctor, picking up your prescriptions. so what i have been telling people as kind of a rhyme to remember, when it comes to exercise or going outdoors, if it requires you to get in your car, it's probably too far. and so we're looking for people to seek those fresh-air opportunities close to home, taking your dog for a walk around your neighborhood or something like that. so i realize again this is a real challenge for people who are blessed in the bay area with great open space, but now is the time to stay home for public

health and save recreational opportunities when the shelter-in-place order lifts. >> i'm going to ask sheila's question because i think it's a good one even though it's philosophical. but stay with me. she wants to know why we're sheltering in place while southern california is out at a farmer's market and doing what they want. we're doing this for nothing if everyone doesn't do their fair share. i guess maybe you can address that with the respect of coordination and getting to critical mass in terms of people needing to do the same things to try to achieve a goal. >> so i can't speak for individuals that choose to ignore the order, but i can say our shelter-in-place order here in the bay area is in line with that of the governor's similar order, which came into play just a couple of days after the bay area pulled that trigger.

so we're seeing a lot of activity with our southern counterparts and different counties in terms of tightening up their restrictions and implementing additional procedures to try to mitigate the spread of covid-19. i think -- at this point i want to applaud the bay area for being so forward thinking in a lot of ways, and i think the bay area, we have seen it for the state as implementing strict protocols. let's continue that neighbor and show our neighbors to the south what needs to be done so we as a state can move past this. >> laine hendricks, i'm afraid we're just about out of time but i would love to have this conversation continuing with you another time because i know, you know, a lot of us are very confused because the orders are changing quickly, conditions changing quickly. keep us posted and let's keep the conversation going. >> any time. >> you know what, we can keep talking during commercial break, so don't hang up yet.

the conversation continues on our livestream. but on tv we need to take a

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and my latest beauty secret... for bright, smooth skin... olay regenerist cream cleanser. welcome back. we're now able to bring you even more content now that we have this new platform at 3:00 every day. that means we get more from our special correspondent dr. patel. he's part of our coronavirus team of experts. every day he will talk to you directly in a segment we're calling "doctors' note." >> today's covid-19 doctor's note is trying to tell the difference between allergies, common cold or coronavirus, if you even can. right now everyone with a cough or sniffle is worried they have coronavirus. but it's tricky because symptoms are general and can overlap with a lot of other conditions. according to the cdc, covid-19 presents with a fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. a lot of people with covid-19 are also reporting body aches and loss of smell or taste. these are also symptoms you can have with the flu.

early reports suggest shortnss of breath and loss of smell may be more common with covid-19 but it's too earlyo me a general k yourself about your recent t . that can change everything. if you have a stuffy nose and sneezing, it could be common cold or allergy. if you already have season allergies like i do, that's a huge hint. at the end of the day remember every person is different. symptoms may vary. if you're sick at all, it's safe to assume you have covid-19 and follow the same guidelines. if your symptoms are really worsening, it's best to seek medical care as soon as you can. >> all good advice from our dr. alok patel. take those precautions and we can all help each other to stay healthy. thank you so much for joining us on this new experimental interactive show. our experts answered a lot of your questions, of course, seconds after you asked them on our livestream.

thank you so much for taking part. dr. patel will be here all half hour tomorrow to answer as many questions as possible. make sure you're tonight, the staggering death toll across this country. more than 4,500 dead from coronavirus. in new york, now nearly 2,000 dead. st increase of 400 in 24 hours. tonight, the images from inside an e.r. in new york city. the e.r. full. the icu full. patients in hallways. and now new york's governor warning the peak of this in new york city might not arrive until the end of this month. several more weeks. tonight, the vice president and his alarming new words with the world having seen what happened in italy. vice president pence now saying the white house modeling suggests italy may by the most comparable area to the u.s. and what president trump said moments ago. tonight, news from hot spots

emerging across this country. michigan, louisiana, texas among them. and tonight, a