04/02/20 04/02/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic inin e unitedtatates, this s isemococry now! >> the numbeber of deaths has me than doubled in the past week. in the next few days, we will reach one million confirmed cases a and 50,000 d deaths. amy: thehe coronavirus death tol has reached epic proportions.

the united states is expected to see an even further surge in deaths in the comiming weeks evn as the g government stockpile of medical supplies is nearly empty. millions have lost their jobs. we will speak with he had a public citizen about how prpresident trtrump's response s been to support drug manufacturers and suspend environmental rules. then, how is the coronavirus impacting india and the global south? >> i had to ration food for two to three days. even that will be finished by now. we will die of hungerer. eaearlier r we were dying from coronavirus, now we will die from hunger. where do we go to earn a living? amy: we will speak to an indian journalist to says social distancing is a privilege. and we will speak with global health expert yanis beben amor. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, new york city. the coronavirus pandemic continues its relentless expansion in almost every corner of the globe, with the number of confirmed covid-19 cases worldwide rapidly approaching 1 million people -- though the true number is certain to be far higher due to a critical lack of testing. the largest number of confirmed cases is in the united states, where coronavirus deaths have topped 5000. managers of the strarategic natitional stockckpile warn ememergency susupplies of f medl equipment, including life-saving ventilators, are all but exhausted. the intercept reports that even as the pandemic reached u.s. soil and began to spread, the trump administration allowed a steady flow of ventilators and

ppe -- that is personal protective equipment -- supplies to be sent abroad, with a shipment as recentlys s march 17. meanwhile,llll buthe s sicst pients and the wealtest americans contue to struggle to learnheirir cid-19 9 atus. onnew jers lab, , est agnoststs, repord a backlog of about 1600000 cov-19 9 tes, delangng somresusultby as s ch as0 days. he in new rk city,he epicenter of pandemic in the united states, over 1400 people have died. new york andrew cuomo warned state residents wednesday to expect a high death rate through july. through the summer, he said. mayor bill de blasio has repeatedly warned city hospitals are in dire need of millions of masks, hundreds of thousands of gowns, and hundreds of ventilators, and could run out of supplies by april 5. for many medical w workers, the breakiking poioint has already

arrived. one new york city doctor tweeted a photo of the personal protective equipment she was handed when she arrived for her shift -- a new york yankees-branded rain poncho. across the hudson river, seven hospitals in new jersey reached capacity wednesday and were forced to divert covid-19 patients to other hospitals. new jersey's coronavirus death toll has topped 350, and new jersey governor phil murphy said wednesday his state also faces critical shortages. >> do we have enough ventilators? no. do we have an ftp?p? no. do we have enough health care workers? no. amy: in georgia, where at least 154 people have died of covid-19, republican governor brian kemp on wednesday told residents to prepare for a shelter-in-place order beginning on friday. governor kemp's announcement came weeks after medical professionals warned coronavirus

infections would explode across georgia without strict social distancing measures. > what we have been telling people from directives from the cdc for weeks now that if you start feeling bad, stay home. those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad. but we did not know that until and as dr. tours me told me, this is a game changer. amy: in fact, a report in the new england journal of medicine published in late january warned asymptomatic people can spread the coronavirus and the finding has informed public policy worldwide for weeks. the governors of pennsylvania, florida, and mississippi issued stay-at-home directives wednesday. while alabama governor kay ivey has refused to follow suit. florida's s governor ron desants reportedly reversed his long-standing opposition n to a statewide lockdown after a phone call from president trump yesterday -- though the president continues to refuse

pleas by public health officials to issue a nationwide remained it home order. states still have no such policy 11 in place. house intelligence committee chair adam schiff says he's consulting with other lawmakers on plans to form an independent commission to probe why the u.s. was so unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic. schiff told the washington post the inquiry would be modeled after the 9/11 commission and should convene once the nation is back on its feet. los angeles mayor eric garcetti wednesday urged all residents to use non-medical grade masks or facial coverings while in public. the advice came as the centers for disease control and prevention is reconsidering its advisory that people should not wear masks -- advice that was aimed at preventing a run on personal protective equipment, which is already in short supply. the white house has rejected calls to reopen health insurance

exchanges under the affordable care act ahead of the next open enrollment period in november. about half of americans get their health insurance from their employer, and this week, federal reserve economists said a staggering 47 million u.s. workers could be laid off due to the pandemic. on guam, the u.s. navy will allow thousands of sailors to disembark from the uss theodore roosevelt to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. officials will keep a skeleton crew aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. the evacuauation came afafter te ship's captain wrwrote in an impassioioned plea to naval commanders that "sailors do not need to die." acting u.s. navy secretary thomas modly on wednesday didn't rule out punishment for the captain over the letter's release. >> i don't know who leaked the letter to the media. that would be something that would violate the principles of good order and discipline if h e

were responsible for that. amy: legendary jazz pianist and composer ellis marsalis, jr., has died of complications from covid-19 at the age of 85. ellis marsalis was one of new orleans's best-loved musicians and the father of six sons, all -- including the legendary jazz artists branford and wynton marsalis. in poughkeepsie, new york, adam schlesinger, co-founder of the rock band fountains of wayne, died wednesday after a battle with covid-19. schlesinger won a grammy award in 2010 for a comedy collaboration with stephen colbert. he was nominated for an academy award and a golden globe for the soundtrack to the 1996 film "that thing you do!" and also won three emmys. he cowrote songs with rachel bloom. he was 52 years old. the white house's top medical expert on the coronavirus pandemic, dr. anthony fauci, has reportedly been given a security detail after receiving death threats.

dr. fauci has repeatedly contradicted trump's false claims about the pandemic and the timeline for any new treatments or a vaccine. he been pilloried in conservative media circles in language echoing president trump. for example recent headline in , a the american thinker referrrred to fauci as a "deep-state-hillary clinton-loving stooge." meanwhile, in california, federal prosecutors have charged a lolocomotive driver who deliberately derailed a train tuesday and crashed it near the u.s. navy hospital ship mercy, which is docked at the port of los angeles to relieve the burden on hospititals strained y covid-19 pients. 44-year-old driver eduardo moreno reportedly outlined a conspiracy theory to investigators alleging the ship was sent as part of a government takeover. in guayaquil, the epicenter of the coronavirus in ecuador, bodies wrapped in plastic bags have been left decomposing in the streets and in empty

buildings for days, as hospitals are overwhelmed with covid-19 patients and the city morgue lies full. officially, ecuador has the second-most coronavirus casesesn latin america after brazil, with over 2700 reported cases and 98 deaths. but officials in guayaquil say they've recovered over 400 bodies in recent days. in the philippines, rodrigo duterte said he has ordered soldiers to shoot to kill residents if they resist is strict lockdown on the island. are -- one also with the village officials, if there are troubles or occasions where there is violence in your --es are in danger

shoot them dead. amy: there was a protest saying they have gone hungry without food or reliefs of ice that were prpromised when the lockdown ben more than two weeks ago. europe, covid-19 continues its unrelenting death toll as hospitals across the continent were pushed past their breaking points. spain's death toll topped 10,000 with a record 950 new deaths reported in a single day. in the u.k., london's excell convention center has been converted into an enormous field hospital with plans to treat up to 4000 covid-19 patients. over 2300 people have died from the disease across the u.k., where for the first time since world war ii, the wimbledon tennis tournrnament has been canceled. in italy, cocovid-19 deaths have pped 13,00000, but "the wall streetet journal" reports ital's true toll is far higher because the country can't spare the resources to test every dead bodydy. u.s. vice president t mike pence

said mododels predict t the unid wednesday ststates faces a trajectory of covid-19 deaths similar to italy's. back in the united states, a third prisisoner has died of covid-19 at the oakdale federal prison in louisiana. there are confirmed cases in prisons or ice jails in florida, georgia, north carolina, texas, arkansas, pennsylvania, california, nevada, colorado, minnesota, ohio, kentucky, maryland, vermont, new jersey, and illinois -- where a 59-year-old prisoner died of covid-19 at the statesville prison near joliet. in detroit, a michigan department of corrections officer died of covid-19 on tuesday and more than 140 prisoners have tested positive. here in new york city, the top physician at the rikers island jail said it's now unlikely officials will be able to halt the spread of covid-19, predicting 20% of those infected will neeeed hospitalization ana% will require ventilators. dr. ross macdonald called the

situation at rikers a "public health disaster unfolding before our eyes." prisoners report they're packed 50 to a dorm, sleeping 15 5 incs apart wiwith no accessss to soa, gloves, sanitizer, or bleach. the united states is the world's largest incarcerator by far, with 2.3 million people behind bars. georgia republican senator kelly loeffler is facing fresh calls to resign over revelations that her husband invested heavily in a medical supply company ahead of the stock market's coronavirus crash. senator loeffler's latest financial disclosures show her husband jeffrey sprecher -- who is chair of the new york stock exchange -- bought more than $200,000 worth of shares of dupont in late february and early when loeffler had access march to privileged briefings about the threat of the coronavirus. dupont produces personal protective equipment for medical workers. in february, senator loeffler and her husband began dumping

millions of dollars' worth of shares in companies that have since plummeted in value. at the time, loeffler publicly downplayed the risk of a pandemic, tweeting -- "democrats have dangerously and intentionally misled the american people on #coronavirus readiness." another republican senator, intelligence committee chair richard burr of north carolina, faces a senate ethics probe and an fbi investigation after he sold as much as $1.7 million worth of stocks just days before markets began tanking in february. the united nations has indefinitely postponed the cop26 climate summit scheduled for glasgow, scotland, in november over coronavirus fears. the climate action network responded in a statement -- "let us remember this pandemic is taking place against the backdrop of an ecological crisis -- that threatens the one lives of millions of people and will exacerbate the risks we already face. just like a fast-spreading virus, climate change has no

regard for borders. if one country is not safe, no country is safe." in wisconsin, democratic governor tony evers has refused calls to cancel primary elections set for april 7 and will activate the army national guard to work at polling places, despite an explosion in coronavirus cases and 25 deaths. in milwaukee, election officials are set to invalidate more than 450 absentee ballots that were signed without a witness's signature, as required by law, despite statewide social distancing orders that have been in effect since march 24. vermont senator and presidential candidate bernie sanders pleaded with wisconsin to delay voting, writing -- "people should not be forced to put their lives on the line to vote, which is why 15 states are now following the advice of public health experts and delaying their elections." this comes as at least three poll workers in florida have

tested positive for covid-19 since florida's march 17 primary -- two in broward d county and e in jacksonville. meanwhile, democratic front-runner joe biden called wednesday on the democratic national committee to delay its presidential nominating conventi i in miaukekee om mid-ju t to aust.. and elted officialsroundhe uned stateare demaing that presidt tru and replican lawmakerpologizefor peatedly cling theovel conavirus e e "chise vus." trp's peated u of the ter hacaused aan amerins acss unitestates rorting a ra of haterimes, iludiding number of asults on asia w yo city suayiders. this is jean-lucuc. >> we haveve this long l legacyt a great legacy, a thing termedd the yellowow peril fromm over 10

years ago. cocoersely, trurump calling thia chinese virus only perpetuates this notion of f yellow peril. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!w!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we e will lok at the economy. we will lolook at corporations getting exclusive rights to drugs. we will look a at the global south. we are broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, new york city. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "balm in gilead" " by nina simone. we will be speakining about the gilead corporation in a moment. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i am in new york city, the

epicenter of the pandemic in the united statates, joined by my colleague, my cohost nermeen shaikh. she is joining us, to protect community spread -- against community spread, joining us from her home in new york city. hi, nermeen. the coronavirus pandemic has now spread to more than 200 countries and regions. on wednesdayay, the hehead of te world health organization, or who, predicted a death toll of epic proportions. >> over the past fifive weeks, e have witnessed a near exponentntial close anand the nr of new cases, reaching almost .very country the number of deaths has more than doubled in the past week. in the next few days, we will

reach one million confirmed cases and 50,000 deaths. amy: the united states has the most coronavirus cases in the world, almost double the next country. nearly 2400 people have died in here i in the new york, neww jersey, and connecticut -- half the national total. more than 1300 of those deaths were in new yoyork city. with the nation's healthcare system already stretched to capacity and protective gear in short supply, president trump and his health advisors say more 240,000,000 to americans could die from the coronavirus over the next week. this is white house coronavirus coordinator deborah birx speaking on tuesday. mortality to this

disease will increase and then it will come back down and it will come back down slower than the rate at which you went up. issue.that is really the how much we can push the mentality down. and because this comes as millions of people have lost their jobs. last week's unemployment claims saw the largest single-week increase in unemployment claims in american history, with an estimated 3.3 million filing for benefits. another 5 million claims are expected to be filed this week. for more, we're joined by robert weissman, president of public citizen, who has been following all of this closely from his home in washington, d.c. where he joins us from now. again, from his home, where he can protect himself, his family, and stop community spread. rob, i'm so glad to be talking

to you but not under the circumstances. can you start off by just responding to the president? thisis week for the first time, admitting the enormity of the crisis that we are in. the latest news lee fang of the interest of writing the u.s. was exporting military equipment as late as march 17. president trump now admitting -- we're talking about 100,000 to 250,000 americans dead in the next week's. can you start off by just responding to this and then talking about the so-called stimulus bill that was passed? nancy pelosi saying they need a second one and mitch mcconnell saying there is no way that is going to happen. tatalked about the state of f ts countrtry righnow.w. >> thank you, any. it is greaeat to be with y you. when it comes to trump, we have called for him to resign t thate

is a a clear a and presentnt dao the healthth of the countr we supported his impeachchment, but t this is a whole different thing. it is not hard to just t be a leader in times of crisis. because on you to do great things or eveven mediocre thing. the script is pretty well written but he can't fofollow it because he doesn't have empathy for other human beings. everything that happens on the planet for him is abouout him. as a result, we'veve had disastrous leadership. the utter failure of the government to take leadership in treaeating this as a wartime emergency that he says it is -- you know, to make sure we produce masks for people whoo need them.m. itit is not a hahard thihing to. to make sure we have beenen to latest f for everyone who needs them. we d did not have the prerer ockpkpil but w wshould have getd into productionoo sufficient ventilators. were able to do it inorld r ii 70 ars agagfor far more -- ande are far more technologically advaeded. it is crazy it has not happened.

it inonot haeneded becausee do not ha a a lear whos able to speak in termsms of solidarity d brgiging u together even as we araresolated -- whicis what we needigight n. weon''t haveve leader who is able to acknowledge the side to tellhehe truth. he has cee around the last fe days and hopefullyhe will ayay athere. he is at the nation n on a f far more devastating trajectory anan otrwise itould be . it is hard to say enougbabad things aut h how the presint s handled this. it d did not he to be. this is not about how ogressivyou are. you ju have toe someonwho understands whatt is to be a leader in times of crisi doo the thin t that ed to beone, and he is uttey incapae of dodoing at. ockeked eiss econy and itill get rsrse anand gon for weon''t know h lo. abouthey ink

rsrst-ca scenari. they are vy frightening. the cocongss has done some extraordinary things and some really pretty bad things in response. the last relief or stimulus bill that was just past was extraordinary to the extent of its size and the speed with which fungus acted. -- twolion dollar bill dollars trillion bill. it does a lot of good things of getting money out to states, getting money after hospitals and having very strong unemployment program. will be able to apply for and get unemployment that will give them 100% of what they were making, at least for the next four months. a lot of bad stuff is in that bill, too. it was pretty clear how it should have been structured. there was a decision made we need to keep businesses intact. they need financing to get through this time. wewant them to maintain --

want the economy to keep functioning. the number one thing we wanted was to keep people on the payroll. this program does not require businesses to keep people on the payroll as a condition of receiving government loans. it has some conditions that are included so that companies can't spend the money they g get on stock buybacks and dividendd paenents. however, it permits the treasury secretary waive those if he sees fit. nermeen: robert weissman, as you mementioned, millions of peoeope are unemployoyed. millions more are expected to losese their jobs.s. whatat is happepening at the sce and the scope of these job unprecedentedtedly in u.s. histstory -- to take jut one example of the scale of the loss, the u.s. travel

association has warned the u.s. tourism i industry will be the last - -- the loss will be moree than $900 billion, which is seven times what it was following 9/11. meanwhile, many are drawing comparisons between what likely happens as a result of this and the great depression. not just the recession of 2008, but the great depression. whwhat kind of resesponse do you think cocould compensate for wht millions and millions of americans are going to suffer in the long term? thisere is no parallel to thatrms of the scope and it is affecting every single person in the united states s ad every singngle person oundnd the world. we are, in fact, shutting down huge portions of the economy. it is different than the great depression or even the great

recession -- [inaudible] problem andxternal we are making necessary decisions to shut down economic activity. the only force that can solve that problem is the government. have a totalen you problem, you need a total thetion stop starting with people who have the least question, so providing an employment is great but it does not adequately solve the problem for those who have been out of the workforce all along. it doesn't take care of -- the issues you're raising about prisoners and other super vulnerable segments of society. we have a massive population of immigrants, especially people who are undocumented. we will have a lot of trouble accessing financial support that are available. people will fall to the cracked. we have to get more money out

and we need protection for people to be able to stay in their homes. the bill that passed because a lot of people who are homeowners cap give them a break on mortgage payments does not adequately deal with renters who are honestly generally one to be lower income than the class of mortgage payers. try to address the rent problem, but not all of them. a lot of people are g going to e really stuck unless s we have mh stronger moves forward to protect vuvulnerable people. amy: rob, i want to ask about gilead. facing mounting pressure from elecected officials s and dozenf groups, including yours public cizezen, gileaead sciences b bad down from holding on to the exclusive status thehe trumpmp administration granted it for a drug it is developing to treat covid-19. joe grogan, a member of trump's coronavirus task force, worked as a gilead sciences lobbyist

from 2011 to 2017. the status would have allowed the corporation to profit exclusively off the drug for seven yearars and blocked manufacturers fromom developinig generic versions that can be more accessible to patieients ad cocontrol the drug's price.e. senanator bernie sandeders tweed -- "it is truly outrageous that after taxpayers put tens of millions of dollars into developing remdesivir, trump's fda is exploiting a law reserved for rare diseases to privatize a drug to treat a pandemic virus. the trump administration must rescind this corporate giveaway to gilead and make any treatment and vaccine free for everybody." again, that was presidential candidate bernie sanders' statement. can you explain what this whole controversy is about, what the role of trump's top advisers,

his domestic security advisor grogan is now and was as a gilead lobbyist? >> this is extraordinary. gilelead has one of f the possie treatments under study. this is not t a vaccine. treatment very well may not work. but t it is one that has the bet prpromise. was it soughtd protection of what is called orphan drug g status, which isis avavailable for rare diseases fr drugs that treat populations of undeder 200,000. they submitted tirir appcacation for this rare disesease status whwhen there w were fewewer than 200,00000 identitified cases of covid-19 inn the uniteted stata. obviouslsly, they need a populalation was going to go f r higher than that but they got in under the wire. the way the law is wriritten, nt taking into a -- into a accountt like this,s, you get this orphan

drug designation whether or not the population later on goes about 200,000. it was astounding. what you get this designation is a monopoly separate from and in some ways more powerful than a patent. we p protested that and they quickly backed down because there is no way they were going to be able to get away with it. they still have patented other monopolies. if the drug turns out to be useful, they will have a monopoly unless we impose more pressure on them o or the government takes action to override the monopoly and ensure thatat other generic producers e able to get the drug on thee market in the united states and around the world. the last element of thihis appls to this product and most of the vaccine efforts underway. sanders' tweet points this out. this drug benefits from huge men of government funding on the research end of element side. the vaccines have been erwhelmingly [indiscernible]

provided by u.s. federal government. in the casase of gilead trend received this exclusivity from -- for product u.s. government had actually paid for most of the r&d on. we are facing the same possibility with the vaccine if we get one anytime soon. amy: can you talk about the effect of this drug, not only in this country and around the world, the bigger issue of how countries get access to drugs and the role of this domestic security advisor? i mean, talking about the revolving door of who gets money and who doesn't, who gets drugs -- in other words, life-and-death issues? of the revolving door issue, we have -- president trump ran on the idea he was going toto take it t to the drug companies because h he is a touh guy.y. he has done nothing. he has drug g company y executis andd lobbyisist running his s py

so he hahas joe grogan, formerly chief lobbyist for g gilead, running policy on drug pricicing out t of the white h house and a former drug company executive alex azar running the department of health and human services. a arelittle surprisise these ththe policies we are gegetting. when it cocomes t to the vaccin, which are more i important -- it may not work. eventualal we're g going to geta vaccccine that works. the question is going to be, h w is it made a available? is it exclusively conontrolled y one manufacturerer that can chae whatever it wants? or is the gogovernment goioing o say, no, not only do we pay for this, but this is a public health -- an interernational public health emergency with no parallel. you will get some money, but we're going to make this available e to eveveryone aroune world.d. hopefully,y, no onone has to par it. [indisiscernible] of the factlight the governmentnt paid for r thed and we''re goioingo require any

company that might have a momonopoly control over r to lie that product to other qualified manufacturers around t the w wod becacause we'rereoingng have a problem not just -- productiono. once we have a vaccine networks, we wanted to everyone around the world right away. there is no manufacturer who has anything like the capacity to be able to do that. we need lots of producers right away, including the u.s. government to start scaling up production to do it at this scale we need d for this one tie international emergency. amy: last thursday, the environmental protection agency announced sweeping and indefinite suspension of environmental rules, telling compananies they will effefectiy be allowed to regulate themselves during the coronavirus pandemic. under the new rules, big polluters will no longer be punished for failing to comply with reporting rules and other requirements. the epa has set no end date for the policy. then on tuesday, the epa announced a roll back of an obama rule that forced auto manufacturers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. under the new rules, big polluters will no longer be punished for failing to comply

with reporting rules and other requirements. meanwhile, trump says he has invited u.s. oil executives to the white house to discuss how he can help their devastated industry and protests against pipelines are being further decriminalized at this time as a threat to national security. before we wrap up, rob, if you can address this critical issue -- the largest r rollback evever seen of environmental rurules ad hihistory.y. >> it is startling. we have e a cold lobbyist t rung the environment protection agency and he has said we're not going to enforce the rules right now. it is framamed as a reportining requirement that effectively means pollution rules are not going to be enforceded for no gd reason. the arargument is people are too busy and stretched to o the reportrting. it doesnsn't really hold up undr any kikind of scrutiny. it meaeans that for thosose producers who are still making ststuff, they're going to be infection back into europe,

into america, and starting a second wave. we are now seeing a third wave hitting africa and india, possibly because of european tourism or american tourism into india and into africa. in fact, the first case in anandrea was linkeked to an itan tourist.t. i would d say one of the reasons why there is -- there seemsms to be less cases in africa and india is because of the delay. china.as behind we in the united states are consididered to be 10 days behid europe. 15 daysay be 10 to behind us. but what you mention is also true. we are not testing enough peoeoe in the united states. they are not testiting enough people in europe. it is impossible to imagine that the numbers that are reported by who every day are an accurate

depiction of what is actually going on. at the beginning of the crisis, let's say a month ago, the africa cdc said only four out of the 54 countries in afrfrica wod be able to diagnose coronavirus. a much betterer situatation. 46 out othe 54 countries have the equipment toto test, but do they have the tetests? they don't. i am talking to colleagues across africa, whether it is in roby or johannesburg,g, and they are sufferining the s same prors we have in the united states. there are not enough tests. ,ermeen: on the other h hand you've also suggested that because of ebobola certain countries s in africa may bebe better prerepared to deal with n epidemic or a p pandemic like covid-19. could you talk about thahat? >> absolutely. the situation in africa is still

a little bit mysterious as to how it is going to unfold. i am going to explain why there are two positive trends and three negative trends. no expert can really predict. it seems thehe african conontint has s been preparing for outbres for epidemics for many years. in 2014 and 2015, there was the ebola outbreak. in sierra leone, new guinea, and liberia. a lot of the african countries neighboring, but also continent-wide prepared for social distance to make sure they wouldld be able to detect e first ebola cases and they were puput in place systems that whenever they had a case,e, they would d put them in quarantine d theyey would do contact tracing- which is whenenever you have a case, you go around and you see any person that has been in contact and d then you also o pt them in n quarantine. this is effectively done with sars back in 2002 and 2003. that was a lot easier witith sas because everybody who was

infectious was some somatic. that is not the case with this coronavirus becauause the infectiousness seems to be starting 48 hours to 24 hours before the symptoms. many, many cases are even considered to be asymptomatic. so they are spreading the infection without knowing it. the african continent has been preparing for an outbreak. so in theory, they have the systems in place but, as i told earlier, do they have the diagnostic test? they would be able to run the test but if the tests are not available -- just like in the best hospital in new york city, were not able to distinguish who has the regular flu, who has pneumonia from who has coronavirus. africa has another interesting advantage. amy: we just have 30 seconds. >> africa has a very young population, so it is very difficult to see how the disease

will evolve. the median age in africa is about 20 years compared to china, which is about 40 four in europe which is about 45. we know the disease affffects yoyoung people a lot less most f the problems are, there are many other diseaseses like hiv, malaa , tuberculosis, malnutrition. they are going to negatively impact. social distancing, as was discussed by yourr previous to bebutor, is not going possible. hehe will be possible for the urban rich, but notot the majory of the population. amy: yanis ben amor, thank you for being with us assistant , professor of global health and microbiological sciences at columbia university. executive director of the center for sustainable development at the earth institute. and that does it for our show. these numbers have just come in. we just have gotten the record number on unemployment, u.s. and

implement claims have hit 6.6 million. another record high as layoffs continue amidst the pandemic. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh from nenew yo

thanks for joining us. we begin with a dark milestone in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. u.s. researchers say more than 1 million infections have now been reported worldwide. after doubling in a week. the tally says more than 50,000 people have