04/06/20 04/06/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city,y, the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, this is demococry nonow! >> it is literally frightening when you walk in there. you're spending have your brainpower worrying about if you're going to die. you're not concentrating on the patient. you're worried about not dying as you go in there. it is very difficult. amy: is the new york avenue told passes 4000, hospitals are

overflowing and medical workers are reporting using trash bags as protective gear. we will go outside harlem hospital to speak with a nurse treating infected patients inside but is s now protesting outside. in the numumber of infections hs exploded in prisons andd jails. >> today we are gaththered in te sociallyisistant andnd public hehealth conscioious way outsidf sising s sing correcectional fay juannon m monday, mararch 3 3 mascaro d died w with covid-19 n years old. at t 58 amy: ass callsls grow to release the incararcerated from c crowdd conditions whehere they can'n't possssibly practice warding off cocommunity spread, we e speak h a a man just releleased from ris island jail in new yoyork city.

then as we move into the month of passover, ramadan, and holy week, the pope speaks out. courage. to feel theart consolation of god sustains you. amy: cathedral of st. john the divine in manhattan about plans to open its doors to 400 beds for patients to make more space in the city's overwhelmed hospitals. and the church's decision to gramsith franklin ga samaritan first. all of that and more, coming u . welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic and in the united states, new york city. the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has topped 70,000 with over 1.3 million

confirmed cases. the u.s. has by far the highest number of known cases, with over 336,000 reported, as the country's official death toll approaches 10,000. but public health and medical experts say the true number of covid-19 fatalities in the u.s. is much higher than reported due to inconsistent protocols on reporting, early failures to identify covid-19, and unreported deaths in victims' homes. the pentagon says it is procuring 100,000 body bags as demand increases from morgues around the country. as hospitals around the country continue to report dire equipment and staffing shortages, the u.s. surgeon general jerome adams warned sunday the weeks ahead would be the toughest in ththe fight againsththe pandemicic. >> t this is going to o be the hardest t and the saddest week f

mostst americans liveses, quite franankly. th is goingg t to be our p pearl harbor m moment, our 9/11 momen, only it is not one to be localized. it is going to be happening all over the country. amy: over 90% of u.s. residents are now under some type of stay-at-home order. north and south dakota, nebraska, arkansas, and iowa are the remaining states that have no such measures either on a local or state-wide level. the white house's top medical expert on the coronavirus pandemic, dr. anthony fauci, said sunday somewhere between 25% and 50% of people with covid-19 could be asymptomatic. neyork rememains thepicenter of theririsis thehe u., representingeaearly lf o of e couny'y'fatatalies. overhe weeke, more than 10 neyorkers ed withia 48-houwindow, inging t state's offial death toll to over 4000. there are over 123,000 confirmed cases. new york city mayor bill de

blasio said the cityty has enouh medicacal supppplies to last unl tuesday or wednesday, as he repeated a plea for any available healthcare workers to join the figight against the pandemic. >> please, we need your help. we need supplies. we need medical personnel to come forward to volunteer. we will compensate them but we need them to come forward and give us their time andnd energy where it is needed most. amy: at his briefing, mayor de blasio also blamed the surge i n new yoyork cases on n the lackcf early testing and d mobilization from the federal governmnment. as new y york races to keep upup with the e explosion of coronavivirus cases, progressise critics say the state e budget agrereed to by governor cucuomod the e new yoyork legislatuture t week wilill harm new yorkers alreadady suffering the most f m the coronanavirus crisis. the $177 billion budget will slash h the state's s medicaid progogram by $2.5 billion n a y, including a $400 m million cut n money for hospitalals.

the budget also o rolls back bal rereform. meanwhile, a prisoner at rikers island in new york has died of complications from covid-19. hundreds o of prisoners and prin workers at jails across the city have tested posisitive as calls mount to release more detainees in order to stem thehe spread of the coronanavirus. data is emerging showing major racial disparities in cororonavirus death rates across the coununtry. in chicago, 70% of covid-19 fatalities have been black residents, despite making up less than 30% of the population. in new york city, coronavirus patitients from m the bronx, whh has large blblack and latinx populations, are twice as s liky to die from the infection as elsewhere in the city. city and public healthth officis say y the diroroportionately higher rate is due to a greater number of underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and asthma, lack of access to

testing and healthcare and poor conditions in public housing that proromote the spreaead of e disease. new oranans, aajororitblack city, w w has e hihight coronavirudeath rate in th entire country.. in eure,e, spa has surpassed italy covid-1cases wi over 1,000 peoe infect. italhas alrey lost nrly 16,000eople anspain ov 13,000. in france, the death toll haha topped 8000. but the death rate in all three countries, as well as in germany, has begun to slow down. spanish prime minister pedro sanchez has urged the eu to provide more robust financial support in thehe fight "agaiainn invisible enemy that is putting the future o of the europepean prproject to thehe test." in britain, prime minister boris johnson was admitted to a hospital sunday, 10 days after

he tested positive for covid-19. johnson has reportedly been given oxygen treatment. johnsoson was widely cririticizd for his government's initial approach to handling the outbreak which has a already killed nearly 5000 in britain. in a rare televised address sunday, queen elizabeth called for britons to unite and lauded the response of britain's healthcare and other essential workers. there are over 47,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in britain, including the prime minister and the queen's son, prprince charleses. eek authorities have quarantined a a second refugugee camp aftfter at least t one pern there tested positive for covid-19. human rights groups and health experts have urged the greek government to evacuate the over 100,000 peoplele living in ovovercrowded, n neglected camas around the country. japanese prime minister shinzo abe is reportedly planning to declare a state of emergency as tokyo reported over 140 new

coronavirus cases on sunday, its largesest day nunumber. japan has confirmed nearly 4000 cases, though testing remains veryry limited. japan has thus far resisted imposing a lockdown or other strict measures to contain the virus over fears it will harm the economy. in the philippines, a police officer fatally shot a man who refused to adhere to government restrictions on preventing the spread of covid-19. the man was reprimanded for not wearing a face mask after which he reportedly became angry and attacked a health worker. auauthorititarian president rodo duterte said last week that police a and military should sht and kill any troublemakers. in bangladesh, an estimated one million garment workers have lost their jobs as the apparel industry has taken a huge hit from the coronavirus outbreak and its economic fallout. the low-paid, mostly female workers make on average less

than $100 per month. many say their families will not survive without that income. >> we have not gotten our salary and don't know how many days they wilill keep the factories closed. we are f facing lots of problems as we have to give rent and buy food to maintain our households. how can we run our families? the government should look after us. amy: former libyan president -- primee minister has died from te coronanavirus. he was libya's inteterim leader after the ouster and death of muammar qaddafi in 2011. he held the post until libya heldld its first free electionsn 2012. memeanwhile, former r somali pre minister nur hassan hussein has died of the coronanavirus s in london at the age of 82. he was credited for overseseeing peace talklks in 28 as tens s of thousands of somalis were forced to flee amid fighting between islamistst insurgentnts based in eritrerea and western-babacked somali and ethiopian forces.

in brazil, a criminal complaint has been filed before the international criminal court against far-right president jair bolsonaro for ignoring measures recommended d by the world healh orgaganization to control the spread of coronavirus. in central america, hohonduran authorities have ordered mayors across the country to find land that may be suitable for mass graves as fears mount over a possibly overwhelming g ath toll frfrom the coronavirus which is rapidly spreading in the regioi. honduras has reported nearly 300 cases and 22 deaths. back in the united states, the centers for disesease control ad prevention on friday advised all americans to wear nonmedical face masks when out in public. president trump, however, said he would forego the recommendation, saying "somehow i don't see it for myself." trump also once again urged americans to take the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat

covid-19 symptoms despite medical experts, including dr. fauci, warning there is still insufficient evidence for its effectiveness in trereating the virus. pres. trump: that is -- again,oroquine and you have to go through the medical people, get the approval , but i have seen things that i sort of like. so what do i know? i'm not a doctor. i am not a doctor, but i have comments and's. amy: later in sunday's press briefing at the white house, cnn reporter jeremy dimon tried to question dr. anthony fauci about the drug. >> could you weigh in on the issue of hydroxychloroquine? what do you think about this? alreadyump: he has answered that question 15 times. you don't have to answer the russian. looks these are medical experts, right?

amy: president did not let dr. fauci answer the question. "the l.a. times" is reporting the trump administration ended a pandemic early-warning program in china just two months before covid-19 started spreading in wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic. the program trained and supported researchers in labs around the world, including the wuhan lab that identified the coronavirus that causes covid-19. after funding was cut in september of last year, dozens of scientists and analysts were fired. in immigration news, a prisoner has tested positive for covid-19. facility employees also recently two tested positive. there have been reportedly eight cases. meanwhile, over 60 immigrant women imprisoned at northwest detention center in tacoma, washington, have gone on hunger strike demanding theirir immedie release. on friday, dozens of alliess

protested outside the facility in their cars, honking their horns in support of the immigrant prisononers on strike. this is maru mora villalpando, an activist with the immigrant rights group la resistencia. >> as we are told we should keep a distance, cleaner hahanscom tt -- peoplenot go out and detention [indiscernible] [horns honking] amy: it is little difficult to hear what she had to say because we were recording from a safe distance as the horns were

hohonking. in related newews, propublica reports hospitals across new york city are leaving some non-english speaking patients unattended and without proper care. in l lebron's, workers across a wide range of sectors are continuing to demand better safety measures to protect against infections. in chicago, amazon workers aged the fourth strike in under a week. saturday, days after amazon fired a staten island worker who organized a similar walkout here in new york. workers at food processing factories, which are often staffed by majority immigrant workforce come have been walking off the job to per toad -- protest unsafe conditions. recent strikes include workers at a chicken processing facility in virginia, a flan and gelatin production factory in illinois and a meatpacking plant in colorado. meanwhile union representing , a some 13,000 carpenters in massachusetts has called for a strike starting today to protest

republican governor charlie baker's refusal to shut down all construction across the state. and nurses around the country continue to shine light on the dire lack of personanal protecte equipment, or ppe, and understaffing around the country. the university of illinois hospital and the illinois nurses association announced an agreement to provide nurses with hazard pay for the duration of the state's stay-at-home order. after headlines, we'll head to harlem hospital where nurses are staging a strike just today, speaking to organizer registered nurse sarah dowd. in otherer news about the pandemic, a tiger at the bronx zoo has tested positivive for covid-19. at least four other tigers and lions at the zoo also exhibited symptoms consistent with the coronavirus. the infection is believed to be the result of human-to-cat transmission.

in environmental news, construction on the keystone xl pipeline is set to resume amid the coronavirus crisis. officials in alberta, canada, said they would hand over more than $1 billion dollars to tc energy, formerly known a as transcanada, so that construction can continue, even though it risks putting construction workers and residents on the pipeleline's ph -- m many of t them fromom indis communities at heightened risk for contracting the coronavirus. south dakota and several other states recently passed new laws criminalizing protests against pipipelines. navy captain brett crozier, who last week called for the evacuation of thousands of sailors stuck on board the uss theodore roosevelt in guam, has tested positive for covid-19. captain crozier was removed from his post just dadays earlilier r his dedefiant letter, in which e pleaded not to let sailors die, leaked to the press. at least 150 sailors on the nuclear-powered military ship had also contracted the virus. on friday, videos emerged

showing hundreds of sailorss cheering and applaudingg captain crozier as he disembarked from the aircraft carrier at the u.s. naval base in guam. amid the escalating coronavirus crisis, president trump has fired michael atkinson, the intelligence community's inspector general. atkinson alerted lawmakers to the whistleblower complaint that triggered trump's impeachment proceedings. axios is reporting sources close to president trump expect him to fire more inspectors general across the government. long-time associated press writer and deputy technology editor anick jesdanun died from complications due to covid-19. his family says that although he was diagnosed, his case wasn't severe enough to require hospitalization initially and he even appeared to be on the mend before his symptoms took a turn for the worse. jesdanun was an avid marathoner and participated in races on every continent. in other media news, cnn brooke

baldwin announced friday she has tested positive for covid-19. cnn host chris cuomo also tested positive earlier in the week. he is the brother of the new york governor andrew cuomo. malaysian economist and journalist martin khor has died at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer. he served until 2018 as the executive director of the south center an intergovernmental , organizationon of develoloping countries and was eveviously head of the third world network. khor advocated foror collective solidarity among nations in the global south to fight against ecological damage wrought by the world's wealthiest nations. this is martin khor speaking to democracy now! in 202012 at the u.n. climate change summit in doha. >> the catastrophe of climate change is a already. we''re not waiting for the next century of our children. we are the children we're talking about are suffering from climate change. unfortunately, what we're seeing in doha are not reflecting the

urgency that is required by what is happening out in the world. amy: that was martin khor, who passed away last week after a battle with cancer. to see our other interviews with martin khor, go to democracynow.org.. and legendary singer-songwriter bill withers has died at the age of 81 from heart complications. withers was a three-time grammy award winner whose most beloved songs include "lean on me," "ain't no sunshine," "lovely day," and "just the two of us." "lean on me" has found reneweded popularityty during the coronavirus pandemic as videos of neighbors, school children, and others singing the classic hit in a show of solidarity and friendship have been appearing on social memedia. a message posted by bill withers' family reads -- "a solitary man with a heart driven to connect to ththe world at largrge, with hihis poetry a and music,e spokoke honestlyly to people and connected them to each other." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!,

when we come back, we go to harlem hospital where nurses are protesting outside. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "lean on me" by bill withers, by the legendary singer-songwriter bill withers who has died at the age of 81 from heart complications. and as we so often do on the video broadcast at our show, we show doctors, nurses, and other staff dancing. they are dancing all over the world in hospitals and clinics to boost people's spirits as well as their own. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're broadcasting from the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic here in the united states, new york state, where the death toll has has 4000.

in new york city, the hospitals are overflowing and medical workers have reported using trash bags as protective gear. mayor bill de blasio said sunday that the city has enough medical supplies to last until tuesday or wednesday. he asked any available healthcare workers to join the fight against the pandemic. >> please, we need your help. we need supplies. we need medical personnel to come forward to volunteer. we will compensate them, that we need them to come forward and give us their time and energy where it is needed most. amy: mayor de blasio's plea comes as n nurses and didical workers alreadady on the frontlines in new york city have been protesting to demand better protections as they treat a growing wave of covid-19 patients. last week, medical workers demonstrated outside montefiore medidical center in the bronx ad mount sinai hospital in manhattan to protest a lack of personal protective equipment. today, front-line medical workers at harlem hospital are preparing a protest of their own that will begin at 8:30 a.m.

we're going outside the hospital now to speak with sarah dowd, a registered nurse who works in a medical/surgicalal, or "medsurg" unit at harlem hospital. she has been treating positive patients there. sarah dowd is part of the new york state nurses association . welcome to democracy now! as we speak to you, you're jusut outside harlem hospital where the protest is about to begin. why did you helped organize this protest? becauseped start this we have some very concrete needs that are not being met right now as far as taking care of patients and ensuring that workers are not impacted. we have a lot of issues with getting the gear we need to protect ourselves. we also have issues with getting the equipment we need to properly take care of the patients. we're out here today, not just to draw awareness to that, but we have some very concrete demands that we would like to have met by the public health

care system here. amy: saw a contingent of teachers with the movement of rank-and-file educators from the united federation of teachers is coming to show theirir support n cars? >> that is correct. we are very happy for the show support. there are a grassroots movement within the united federation of teachers. they reached out to us, how can we support you? they are also going through it quite a bit with the switch to online learning. they are also facing budget cuts in the most recent budget proposed by cuomo, as are we. they reached out to say, how can we show solidarity? theyey're going to be circling e hospital in their cars. whatif you can talk about you're seeing inside. how are you protecting your selves? how are other nurses, doctors -- inean, the sanitation staff

these emergency rooms are exposed to so much. at the same time, your president trump day after day and his wife's sat -- white house grieving saying they are hoarding or selling materials out the back. >> that t is ridiculous, to mak. we have enough by their standards, but those are not the standards of health care professionals. those are not the standards of people that have been w working with patients with infectious diseases. there are standards imposed because of this panic about resources. and we're hearing there are more n95's. we're demanding to have a better policy for n95. fors come to us using one five shifts, which is up to 60 hours of work with the same mask. those have been proven to be effective for that length of time.

it is not a risk we are willing to take. amy: sarah, can you repeat come how long are you expected or the same mask? >> we are expected to use the same mask for five 12 hour shifts. amy: five 12 hour shifts. that is not seeing five patients, that is 60 hours of work. the same single mask? >> that is correct. a we are out here to demand change to that policy. there are other local hospitals that have changed that polilicy. we are also looking have the full 14 days for sick health care workers. a lot of us are being told to come back to work whe we are still having symptoms. the risk to the rest of the staff at of the patients, not to mention the workers who are trying to work through the symptoms, is too high. amy: i want to ask about this squad. tomorrow i democracy now!, we will be interviewing

congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez, who is part of another squad of women in congress. i want to talk about your squad, who youyork city nurses call the radical nurse squad. we have interviewed kelley cabrera jacoby, tre kwon at mount sinai -- she was just outside protesting on friday. there is you, sarah dowd, standing outside harlem hospital, and lillian udell at lincoln hospital. talk about how your organizing, the four of you, with so many others. you are all women. , the relationship that we have with each other has really helped to strengthen as, particularly now. we have always been a group of nurses that believe in our coworkers, in rank-and-file nurses in their ability to run health care system and our

ability to run our unions effectively from the ground up, not from the top down. we believe both the union and the health care systetem should work that way. now has been ay time w where we can look to each other for ideas, for support. out here nowy are with me. and the solidarity from all of them has been incredible and given me so much strength. amy: sarah, can you talk about your access to tests? both patients s d also youou as nurses? , weou have covid symptoms are now continually learning from thehe chief doctors of thts country that the majority of people who come down with covid are transmitted the disease by an asymptomatic person. so what happens when you actually start to show symptoms? >> so by the time you're showing

symptoms, it is late. you have already potentially passed it. i'm not out here to be in infefectious diseases expert, bt the way it works with a lot of timees is that by the you're showing symptoms, yet potentially transmitted it. and there arare people that can transmit it without showing any symptoms at all. that is of particular concern in the health care setting where workers are not being tested because we don't know if we have it and we're potentially explosion -- exposing patients. it is an absolutely horrifying thing to have in the back of your head that you might be out here trying to help heal people and in fact be doing exact opposite. it is not a feeling a lot of us can readily live with. we are glad they are rolling out testing. it is late. it is great they're finallyly doing it but it needs to be much more widespread, including the testing of asymptomatic people

honoring their basis, particularly their working in the setting. any company talk about the deaths of patients on your watch ? over and over peoplele are dying and dying alone. so your job as a a nurse g goeso do b beyond what you normally with no families allowed in and yet at the same time, a fearful that you could contract the disease. mean, it is kind of dancing a line. we are all trying to dance it the best way we know how. we want to support our patients. we don't want our patients to die alone. we do feel the risk gogoing into the room and being with them withthout the appropriate gear. i have had patients who are ande to d death and pass away

you can take sort of the briefest moment to hold her hand -- hold their hand and try to convey the message that i am here for you, you're not alone. , like, if of the day we had adequate staff, he would feel much less like we're put in a position we have to choose between sharing thahat moment wh our patients and caring for those who are less likely to survive. amy: how long before you have to go home if you show symptoms? >> seven days and then 72 hours without a fever. amy: do you get a test afterwards? , we are being tested for symptomatic employees. asymptomatic employees are going to be tested starting april 8. amy: very quickly, can you, for the national audience, even for people in new york city, health

anand hospitals corporation, understand the difference between city hospitals and the private hospitals and is there different treatment within your -- you are standing outside harlem hospital, city hospital. so often understaffed commanderr supported, than if you could go to the issssue of -- i mean, the issue of problems even before covid and the coronavirus? >> i do work at a public hospital within the health and hospitals corporation system. there is a private sector system that comprises other institutions. there has always been funding disparities. we rely on public funding that has been cut continuously over the past several decades. we're looking at some of those cuts now with the introduction of medicaid cuts in the most recent s state budget and really the >> of the issue here is that we are looking at a system of health care -- notot just in new york, but throughout the country

prioritizes extracting a profit while making people feel better instead of actually participating in some kind of widespread healing effort. and this is what happens when you have people running the system that are not direct when they are absorbed with her bottom line and the politician to write the policy and reallyy them, the people that suffer are the people on the frontlines and the patients. and so that is why it has been interesting to hear this idea of nationalizing the health care system come out of this because right now we're dealing with the scarcity of resources and disjointed resources. with the national eye system, what we have is the ability to share resources across the system as needs arrive. amy: what gives you the strength? what gives y you remarkable

bravery to go to work every day when you encounter your own pre-existing condition? >> i am type o one diabetic sise ththe age of two. i am now 30 years old. timime for people to be s sitting on the sidelines. we need to be e out here. we need to absolutely have our voices heard. we need to make big demands of the system that have been changed in a way that can make it so that in the future, we're not cut to the bone in a situationn like this, that we have a robust health care system . that is what we are out here today to ask for. amy: supporting medicare for all? >> absolutely, medicare for all. even further meaeasures such as nationalizing the health care system. amy: i thank you so much, sarah,

for being there, registered nurse working at medsurge, the medical/surgical unit at the public hospital harlem hospital. she is part o of new york state nurses association u union. helped organize today's frontline medical workers protest.t. the sirens coming and going that have become the soundtrack of new york city. this is democracy now! democracynow.org,, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman as we turn now to look at the coronavirus outbreak in prisons and jails where the number of infections is just exploding in the last two weeks. on friday, u.s. attorney general william barr issued an emergency order calling for the releleasef vulnerable federal prisoners into home confinement, with priority given to those in the hardest hit federal prisons like fci elkton in ohio, where three people died from coronavirus in the past week and at least 20 or have been hospitalized. on friday, a prisoner there named aaaaron deshawn campbell made a desperate plea for help

in a video he filmed on a cellllphone e and posted o on fk live.. >> it was all good a couple off days ago, right? [blel out of the blue e -- ep] dining getting sick. liliterally leaving us in here o die. amy: this comemes as p prisonern alabamama told navieies news the statate prisons there are " "f'' to be a mamass grave sitite." in chicago, at leastst 234 prisoners have tested positiveve for the virus. at least 16 states have alreaday released prisoners sincece the coronavirus outbreak. here in new york, the epicenter of the pandemic, at least 24 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed among state prisoners, but governor andrew cuomo has yet to grant anyone freedom. more 150 spepecialisists have sd a letter to cucuomo calllling om toto act quickly to prprevent me peopople from getting sick

by granting emergency clemencies to new yorkers in prison who are older, sick, compromised systems. hundreds have tested positive. calls mount to release more prisoners. new york city mayor bill de blasio has said he'll release about 300 people from rikers island and other city jails. rikers currently holds just over 5000 people. many are there for parole violations or are serving less than a year for low-level offenses. many have not gone to trial yet. they simply don't have money for bail. for more, we're joined by someone who is just really saturday morning from rikers. jose diaz is a nyu graduate student in social and cultural analysis with an emphasis on latino studies. he was freed after a campaign calling for his release after he was arrested on a parole violation on march 2.

also with us is jose saldana, director o of the group releasig aging people in prison. jose was released from new york state prison in january 2018 after serving 38 years and four parole board denials. his recent column published in usa today is headlined "clemency is needed for incarcerated new yorkers vulnerable to coronavirus." we welcome you both to democracy now! jose diaz a, you just got out. describe what is happening inside. >> definitely. some o of the things i would lie to highlight that we already know that rikers island is a public health crisis. just basically in closee proximity with everyone so there is no way possible you cannot get sick normally come in geneneral, and a conavirus has intensified that sentimentnt. that is the overall idea. alert.dody is on high

we d don't have access s to anye of adequate cleaeaning suppliesn general. and a a corona has f fd officers to begin to ration the cleaning supplplies even furthe. everything has been going pretty much nuts in general.. toalso speak a little closer the inmatate who passed away in the 273 inmates who were alrerey testing posositive as well as correctional o officers and heah tokers and also a litittle bit have the jill being quarantined, i was in one of the jails in rikers island but i wasn't always there. i was initially in manhattan house and transferred to the barge, or the bronx detentition centerer. anand from there, transferred io rikers island.

therere were no cases going on f corona in the bronx, and they transferred me into a place that had corona. so correctional facililities are not really thinking about the overall health of people orr whether they are jeopardizizing people in general. to them, it is just normal business in how things are going. when you think about half the jill is quarantined -- jail is quarantined, i was in a housing unit called three of her. by the time i left early saturday morning, my house and another house were the only houses not quarantined on thee door inside in the center. everyone else was already quarantined. guys might have tested positive and taken out of the facility. everyone else who was in thahat house and had been exposed to the virus were basically l lockd in. you coululd not get out. and somehow, guys were still finding ways to get out and

mingle amongst other people in the process, so there was also -- the quarantine was not taken seriously. that is pretty much what is going on, whihich also put a lot ofof people on high alertrt. this -- just not being able to have access to medical is another issue as well. that is pretty much what i can think about on the medical level. dr. in a series of tweets, ross macdonald, chief medical officer for correctional health services in new york, called for the release ofof as manyny imprisoned new yorkers as possible. macdonald said it's now unlikely officials will be able to halt the spread of covid-19, predicting 20% of those infected will need hospitalization and 5% will require ventilators. he called the situation at rikekers a "public h health didr unfolding before our eyes." jose, , moving on from there, yu have 5000 p people, pririmarilyn ririkers in the new york

prison s system, infection rates in new york jails with start findings calculating and infection rate of almost 4%, 3.91%, eight times higher than new york c city, more than nine times higher than the hard-hit lumbar he region in italy. the lead attorney and legal aid criminal defense practice said in a statement, stop sending people to rikers and let these new yorkers out immediately. anything else is too little too late. we talked about social distancing and how that saves lives. how do social distance in jajai? >> it is impossible to social distance in jail. and they are not releasing people was the i was in on a technical violation. i spent more than 30 days in prison. other groups who basically c cae

up -- if it was not foror them,i would not be out now talkiking o you, amy. also what they're doing, kind of like v violating guys due proces because they basically suspended hearings, court hearings i in general, but they also s suspend parole hearingngs. so that t being said, if you wee able to get out or had the possibility of getting out just through the actual due process of court, that is suspended so you are just sitting there. the issue is, have guys who are ready plead guilty or took a ntence foror a parolole violatin and since they're offering drug programs or things to that are nohe drug programs longer accepting guys to come in. amy: this is a violation of the eighth amendment, essentially sentencing people to deathth for misdememeanors, cruelel and unul punishment? >> it is usually is.

-- it essentialllly is. you don't have the opportunity to social didistance or have the opportunity to quauarantine from others. speaking directly to what you are asking, my bed was less than threree feet away frfrom another maman's bed. it is impossible to social distance yourself in general. the onlyly thing you could possibly do is wash your hands and hope for the best. amy: how much access to water into soap? 'se work in the new york state prisoners were making what is called new york clean, the purell -- the problem with not being able to get purell and selling it outside to people, what, 60% alcohol meant people in the prisons were not allowed he's the very thing they were making to sell outside. i yeah, and not only that, did not see any hand sanitizer at all whatsoever throughout my whole time. i have been in three different facilities.

that is completely -- i don't know. and ago i want to bring in jose ,aldana, director of rap releasing aging people in prison. you are releleased after serving almost 40 0 years and f four pae board denials. your piece i in usa today is headlined "clemency is needed for incarcerated new yorkers vulnerable to coronavirus." cuomo's pressnor briefing every day. it is broadcast by 70 of the networks. this kind of like a fireside chat. he is being hailed as a person of great comompassion, really laying out the facts, but he is rarely asked about the prisoners of new york. talked about what is happening and what your demand is, jose saldana.a. >> firirst of all, governor cuoo withh handled this crisisis

warlike preparation. they may bee commendable, but unfortunately,y, for those who e incarcerated - -- especially the elderly and those with underlrlying conditions -- he hs totally ignored their plight.t. he has ignored t that under his watch, hundrdreds maybe thousans of incncarcerated elders will de because he failed to act. he is a moral obligigation to vw this crisis from a humanistic lens, where he has to decarcererating. all of the health exexperts agre that in a prison setting that is virus,g ground for this decarceratn n is the o only solution to s stopping the e spd of this virus and he has yet to listen to the experts. amy: talk about the problem, .articularly of aging prisonenes close agaging people in prison,

those 60 and older, expense health crisis just about evevery day of their lives for yearsrs d decades. substandard healthth care, esespecially is taking its tol's in the new york state prprisons. now comomes this deadly virususo infect people who are most vulnerablele, nonot only in pri, .ut in our s society for governor c cuomo toot address ththis issue witith heah conditioions are j just horrend, for the most part,t, and now wih this deadly virus thahat is goig to have e catastrophic consequencnces -- - you ow, we have to look at this from a humanistic lens,s,ot from a legal perspective, but just lookining at people who are inincarcerated a as human beiei. we're talking about the elders who have alrlready languished in prison for three to four decades.s.

ey are the ones that have transformed generation of younunger incararcerated men n d women fofor decades. we must look att them fofor what they are worthth and they have already demonstrated their human worth to us. amy: and man just died at singh singh of covid-19. his name was juan. jose,e e behind bars, during other infectious disease sarars,s, whether it was whether it was -- well, why don't you tell us what happened inside. >> the problblem with the departmentnt of cororrection n t t thatiningle health crisis we have been impacted by in prison, they address it with punitive m measures. m measures.e hand sanitizerer here thehey are addressing a pandemicic health crisis and thy have incararcerated people makig

hand sananitizer that they are forbrbidden to have. , we get phoney calls s and emails from those incarcerated and they are explaining the situationon in jt about every m ms prison in new york state. the people are concerned, the familieses areoncerned t they ae being forgotten. they are telng us aboutt p peope whwho are visiblbly sick being denied sick calls. a sick callll.ed he died in his cell. when thehey needed them most, ,y arare forced to l languish in tr cell and getting sicicker and sicker until thehey die. the same t thing happened at grt meadows correctional facility. amy: i want to thank you so much for being wiwith us. how many people dodo you want to see e released, jose saldana?? >> i want to see as many as posslele release.

i am primarily concerned with ththe elders because thehey have alalready languisheded in prisor decades. they can safely be returned to society,y, to their homeme communitieies, and t they will enhance community safefety becae they have the knowledgdge f some ofof the social illsls that we t address as a c community. anyonene that has underlngng conditions that this virusus wil prove fatal toto, you have to releasase them. it is only human ththing to do d it is the moral ththing too and ifif governor cuomo is a morall man, if he is really concerneded with those who are suffengng the most from this virus, people of color, t that he will a address. amamy: jose e saldana a is diref releasining aging peopople in prprison. was released after serving must 4 40 years in prison. anand jose diaz is a nyu graduae student just released from rikers on saturday. when we come back, we speak to the dean of the cathedral of st. john the divine in manhattan

about plans to open the church's doors to an almost 400 bed facility for patients to make room in the cities overwhelmed hospitals. in their decision to work with franklin graham samaritan purse. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

a amy: lebanese choreographer sara karrit, known on instagram as "afro by sara," dancing with her husband and son to the song "nobody" by dj neptune during the covid-19 quarantine in a video that has gone viral. we are broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic in the united states, new york city. as millions of worshipers around the globe enter the month of april preparing to celebrate holy week, passover, ramadan in the age of coronavirus, we turn now to the cathedral of st john the divine in manhattan, which is an iconic institution in the upper west side harlem which is set o open s doors to nearly 400 beds for patients to make morepapace ihospspits forr those suffering from t

coronaviru but erere's a a cah. the tyty is rtneneri with h e chchstian fundamentalist gro samatatan's pupursto trere led by anklin gham, a virulely islamhobic, antihoice ananti-lgbtq preaer. lasteek the group erect an ergency eld hospitain ceral parto tre spillover patits from unt sina hospit new rk mayorill de bsio s promis to sendides to monito-- monit the gro to event derminatioagainst patien. fomore we're joid by bisp ifton dael,he dean the thedral st johnhe divin in n york ci. we have lot to a you a srt peod ofime. n you talfirst abt the decisiono work with samarit'surse? st. hn the dine is known by so many for so many decades as a pro lgbtq rights church, a safe in manyr people

discriminated against groups to feel free to be their whole selves. >> yes. good morning, ms. goodman. hello? amy: it is great to have you with us. can you talk about your decision to allow y your church to bebe d as a hospital run by franklin graham's samaritan's purse? >> absolutely. i am honored to be on your program. i am glad to speak with you. st. john the divine was begun in 1897. it is chartered by the state of new york and chartered as a house of prayer for all people. through the years, we have come to understand that to mean all means all. so anybody is welcome in this place to worship here. we have diverse groups worshiping and meeting here. we have always been at the

forefront of inclusion. we've always been at the front in the aids crisis. st. john's stepped up. we have the national aids memorial here now. lgbtqe a very active ministry. -- the door at this place is open to everyone. our heart is open to everybody. began, icovid crisis sinai the president mount , st. luke's, and spoke with him about it and said, i don't know what we'rere gng to need my but let me asse e you e doors thcathedraare opop to you for whaterer you need. so he called me back a few weeks teter an said, we think we cathedralo use the

as overflow hospitalpapace. i said, of course, i'm gl t to do t tha that is the traditionarorole o cathedralsnn past pandemics and plagues. ainen was contacted sayingwewe're p pareringg with samarita pse and ty're going bthe volueers who setp the hoital for us. said,ine. fralin grahat stands for an i am not for what he stands for at all, but at the same time, we are in the business of saving lives and helping people. i think if you are in the desert dying of thirst and somebody hands you a glass of water, you don't check their drivers license. you just say "thank you

[captioning made possible by democracy now!] so i said thank you and we are opening the hospital now -- i mean, the cathedral now to the hospital. antedate tins will be set up inside the cathedral. amy: and hospital is opening with nearly 400 beds? >> yes, ma'am. amy: i want to thank you so much, bishop clifton daniel. i want to ask if you can stay for five more minutes as we finish the show so that i can talk to you about religion in the time of coronavirus as we enter the sacred week -- month of april with holy week, with passover, with ramadan coming up , and what spirirituality meanst a time like this. we have been speaking with bishop clifton daniel, dean of the cathedral of st john the divine in new york city. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

welcome back and thank you for joining us again. this is nhk "newsline." we begin in the united kingdom where prime minister boris johnson who has tested positive with the coronavirus is now in intensive care after his condition worsened. on sunday evening johnson was mitted to a hospitatal in centntral lolondon with persist symptotoms