amy: mayor de blasio's plea comes as n nurses and didical workers alreadady on the frontlines in nework 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. w

, all couountries are accesessing these supplies from the s same global community, and t there i alreadady constrainin on theh supplies, the medical suppliese both the issues of the personal protective equipment hasn't been an issue. >> the head of the w.h.o., tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, also says african natations are vulnerable because of their weak supply chain. >>> the number of african refugees and migrants trying to cross the mediterranean into italy has fallen in recent weeks. but those who do risk their lives are facing a new challenge because of the pandemic. >> stop! stop! >> about 150 migrants have been rescued by a humanitarian organization off the coast of sicily. they're now being transferred to another ship to be quarantined for about a month. earlier this month, the italian government banned vessels carrying migrants from docking atat its ports to prevent the virus from spreading. rights groups say the measure's aimed at keeping migrants out of the country. they say the government should respect migrants' rights and allow them to enter, even amid the health crisis. >>> cele

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so on february 10 when itit was alreadady serious, trump releasd .is budget for the coming year take look at it. the budget continues defunding of the center for disease control and other government institutions responsible for health. continues to defund. it increases funding for some things like fossil fuel production. gives new subsidies to the fossil fuel industries. i mean, it is that the country theaybe not as if -- country simply run by sociopataths. and the r results -- so we cut back on the efforts to deal with the pandemic that is takining shape and we increrease the efforts to destroy thehe enenvironment in which -- - the efforts s in which the uninited states underer trump is in the lead in racing to the abyss. i don't have t to tell you, that is a far more serious threat than the corononavirus. this is bad stuff serious. particularly in the united states. we w will recover somehow. r recover fromg to the melting of the polarizer sheets, which is leading to feedback which are known to increase as they melt. less reflective surface, more s,sorption in the dark sea the warm

hirired ande alreadady trained anand paid 750 0 contact tracers toto add to the function of the departmentf public health is doing. all of the department of public health to c contact tracing. itit is a staple. but they are unmatched by t this need and scale of ththis epidem. and we have gutttted our public health programs s over 40 yearan the united states and d around e worlrld as part off the neolibel project. so we are trying to amplify and augment what to permits off public health too. contact ththe people who are infected, go through the lisistf people they y have beeeen in cle contact with, inform those people, and then it needs to be paired with support -- socicial and material support -- to isolate and quarantine. amy: how does this work specifically? you're saying something like 300,000 people would be needed in the united states to do this, and you actually go to a patient and say, who have you been with over the l last, what? >>>> since the time you're symptomatic c and a couple o ofs before. whwhat we know is w with social distancing, this is a bit easier. our averagee person