imran ali.e ready for that to be rolled out yet. >> it's really i think premature because we really don't have the testing so we know the prevalence of the disease, and we don't know, you know, what is the extent of, you know, the disease in rural areas, urban areas. some places haven't seen many infections and that's because we might have not done much testing yet, so it's really premature to do it until we know what the situation is on the ground. and people are going to move from place to place and it will be very hard to enforce. >> one of the big headlines you know this morning involves nursing homes, specifically the one in new jersey where dozens of lives have been lost. 17 bodies found. what is the state of this nation's nursing homes right now especially in the hot spots? >> it's in a state of crisis. i work in a nursing home, and this basically boils down to staffing issues and, you know, a lack of testing and a lack of protective equipment, and since there's not enough staffing, there

imran ali and asked him what we can learn about johnson's case. >> it tells us the virus doesn't discriminatest anybody. this guy is fairly healthy, a nonsmoker, physically active. i mean he loves to run and exercise. the only thing that i can imagine that is not against his favor is he's a little bit overweight but not so much so. but it really is surprising how the virus can hit anybody. we know classically we say people with pre-existing health conditions but it really can hit anybody. anybody in, you know, who even has all the resources like the prime minister of the united kingdom. >> the fda has given emergency use authorization for an antibody test. what more do we know about it and when will it become available. >> antibodies are basically the immune system's response to any foreign activities. it could be bacteria, a virus and as soon as you get infected from a virus or a bacteria, the body makes these antibodies, which then in turn helps the body acknowledge or recognize, rather, the virus or the bacteria and kill it in the future but the key thing to remember is that the body can t

imran ali about that and about kidney failure. >> the virus is not only affecting the lungs and the heartike i've talked about before, but now we're also noticing the kidneys are severely affected. we're getting studies out of wuhan, china, where it shows that the tubular cells of the kidney that help regulate kidney function and potassium levels are disrupted. this requires hemodialysis in many patients. you mentioned the leg amputation. we're seeing a lot of blood clotting with this virus and it affects the platelets in some way with the inflammatory cascade. are we're still learning a lot more about why this is. the actor that we had here had, you know, less blood flow to his leg because of a blood clot and that's why they needed to amputate his leg. >> definitely some alarming developments we're hearing. we also learned over the weekend that contamination at the cdc reportedly delayed the testing process for covid back at the start of this crisis. what's the takeaway here regarding how we are moving forward? >> well, we really lost a lot of time because the first tests that were rolle

imran ali. if we should all be wearing masks. >> i was looking back at a study in 2008 at emory university where they actually did look at this very issue. they looked at the n95 masks, compared them to surgical masks and also homemade masks where people actually use terry cloth material, and they had a device which measured particles as small as one micron, and they used a sensor to see how many particles crossed the barrier and it was amazing that, of course, the n95 is the optimal choice. even the homemade material did capture some large particles. now, of course, you're not going to be able to catch the small -- filter the smallhomemade mask bl reduced some of the large droplets, so there is some sense in having at least some sort of mask covering yourself. >> we've been hearing that people with underlying conditions are most at risk of getting in trouble but new figures out today show that as many as 76% of the people that are hospitalized in l.a. county have no underlying conditions. >> an

imran ali what such a breakthrough would entail and why so many tests are not reliable. >> well, rightkenneth, what we use is a viral pcr tool. so the rna, the major component of the virus, is very, very small, so when we go to the laboratory, we use something called pcr, which amplifies it and then it lights up in the lab showing whether it's positive or negative. it detects the whole virus particle. what she was talking about yesterday was looking at an antigen test, which would look at parts of the virus which can be rapidly detected. we want to get to a point where we can do tests and get results within five minutes. >> vice president mike pence says the worst of this pandemic may be behind us here in the u.s. by memorial day weekend. that's in a month. your thoughts? >> well, i wish we could really be ready by the summer, but from all the projections i'm looking at by april 15th we had been seeing on average 2,600 deaths per day from the coronavirus. that was a peak. we are seeing a slight dip in the numbers, but still the projections say for at least until august we're going to h

imran ali about the concern surrounding the drug. >> i'm seeing things on the ground which are very concerning when it comes to the coronavirus and its effect on the heart. so we always talk about the lungs and inflammatory responses in the lungs, but it's also having some inflammatory responses in the heart. now, hydroxychloroquine has been around, but whenever it's prescribed, the physician always checks a baseline ekg, and they look at other medications which could interact with it because hydroxychloroquine has an adverse effect on the heart's ability to regulate its rhythm, its heartbeat, and you can get a higher risk of irregular heart rhythms, and that can be very dangerous. >> doctor, new york, michigan, louisiana, all hot spots, but there are concerns this morning and focus on new hot spots like texas. what do you know? >> well, what we're seeing the trend show something that we are getting more results from philadelphia and the metropolitan area surrounding philadelphia, so camden, new jersey, washington, d.c., for example, and that they're showing the pattern that shows that they ar

imran ali.rtance of this new test. >> you know, i was looking at the data, and it is a test that is -- will be called more sensitive. that means it may pick up more coronavirus than we do using the swab test because the swab test, it depends on the technique of the person taking the swab because they can go at a different angle, hit a spot where they don't get a virus particle on the swab, but the sputum is also beneficial because it -- you know, there's less exposure to the person collecting the sample. >> president trump says in an effort to re-open this country the states would be responsible for testing, not the federal government. is that realistic given the slow progress we've made on testing so far? >> we have done much better. i mean in march -- on march 12th we were at 20,000 tests. now we are above 3 million, so we're testing a lot of people, but we're still not at the point where we should be, so infectious disease is all about confirming cases, tracing cases and isolating cases, so u

imran ali, a specialist in hospital medicine at the university of connecticut, about just that. los angeles right now is recommending masks, face masks, be worn in public. some people are reposting flyers from the 1918 flu pandemic when people in california were told to wear masks. i want to get your thoughts on this debate. >> the human cough contains a lot of droplets, some as large as 10 microns. but some as low as 1 micron. now of course you're not going to be able to catch the small -- filter the small droplets with the homemade masks. but it still reduced some of the large droplets. so there is some sense in having at least some sort of mask covering yourself. and we want to stress that we do want to save the n-95 respirators for our health care workers because they're really going very close to very sick patients during procedures where respiratory drle they're at a high, high risk of getting infected. but yes, masks may be the way to go. and i see now in texas that some areas are also starting to start using the masks as well. >> and we talk about some of these do-it-you

imran ali. thank you for joining us this morning.out how there's been a lot of talk about the president touting new research by the department of homeland security suggesting that sunlight, heat, and humidity could kill the coronavirus on surfaces and in the air. the findings, though, don't appear to be embraced by his top health officials. what is your reaction to this new research, and how does it explain the spread of coronavirus in warmer climates such as louisiana? >> exactly. i get a question about this all the time. is it going to get better in summertime because it's going to be warmer? and people say, can i go out in the sun, the uv light may kill the virus? but sunlight has uva and uvb rays which don't affect viruses or bacteria. it's the uvc type of wavelength of light that actually disrupts the rna of the virus, and that is not available in sunlight. you have to have a special wavelength in a device that is now sold for disinfecting surfaces. we have a device right here. it's a special, unique wavelength. and that's not f

imran ali. president trump's three-phase reopening plan.tes reopen sooner than others, what are your concerns and thoughts about a county by county reopening? >> it's really i think premature. we don't have the testing so we know the prevalence of the disease. we don't know what is the extent of the disease in rural areas, urban areas? some places haven't seen many infections, and this could be because we haven't done much testing yet. so it's really premature to do this until we know what is the situation on the ground. and people are going to move from place to place and it will be very hard to enforce. >> one of the big headlines this morning involves nursing homes. specifically the one in new jersey where dozens of lives have been lost. 17 bodies found. what is the state of this nation's nursing homes right now, especially in the hot spots? >> it's in a state of crisis. i work in a nursing home, and this basically boils down to staffing issues and a lack of testing. and a lack of protective equipment. >> dr. ali, you work in nursing hom

imran ali.on, as well as whether president trump should be taking extra precautions, dr. ali, thank you for joining us. the big headline across the globe, uk prime minister boris johnson is in the icu, announced he tested positive 11 days ago. 55 years old. we saw him just a few days ago. his condition worsened. consistent high temperature. his office said yesterday he's still conscious. of course you're not his doctor, but what do these things tell us about progression here? >> it tells us the virus doesn't discriminate against anybody. this guy is fairly healthy, a nonsmoker, physically active. i mean, he loves to run and exercise. the only thing that i can imagine that is against his favor is he's a little bit overweight, but not so much so. >> johnson the first leader of a major power to announce he had contracted the virus. we expect he has top-of-the-line medical care. is there a cautionary tale for the leaders in the u.s., including president trump? >> the vice president and president may

imran ali. thank you for your time as always.bout serious complications we are hearing are possibly linked to covid-19, for example, kidney failures. doctors are reporting a surge in coronavirus patients with damaged kidneys. also this weekend broadway star nick cordero, who has been battling the virus, had to have his leg amputated. what can you tell us about some of these major side effects from the virus? >> the virus is not only affecting the lungs and the heart like i've talked about before. now we're noticing that the kidneys are severely affected. we're getting studies out of wuhan, china where it shows that the tubular cells of the kidney, which helps regulate kidney function and potassium levels, are disrupted. and this requires hemodialysis in many patients. now not only breathing machines, we need to look at hemodialysis machines as well. it's coming to be a big problem. then you also mentioned the leg amputation. we're seeing a lot more blood clotting with this virus. and it affects the platelets in some way with the

imran ali. dr. coronavirus task force, says we need a, quote, technological breakthrough in order to ramp up testing. can you explain what she meant? >> right now, kenneth, what we use is a viral pcr tool. the rna, the major component of the virus, is very, very small. so when they go to the laboratory, they use something called pcr which amplifies it, and then it lights up in the lab, showing whether it's positive or negative. it detects the whole virus particle. what she was talking about yesterday was looking at an antigen test which would look at parts of the virus which can be rapidly detected. we want to get to a point where we can do tests and get results within five minutes. so for example, if somebody wanted to go to work, we could test them before they enter the workplace, get a result within five minutes, and then know if they're positive or negative. also, the newer tests could probably tell us something about the viral load. like in hiv, we measure how many copies of the virus there is.