host: what is going on on the ground in new orleans right now? guest: as the governor said in the clip that you played, we are factg a pretty heavy the -- heavy effects from coronavirus here. rateve the highest death by far on a per capita basis. are pretty intense down here. much fully inetty lockdown. they have shut down the bars and restaurants. everyone is just trying to figure out how we are going to handle this. host: what is different about new orleans and louisiana? quickly? spreading so guest: that is a very good question. i don't think anybody has a solid answer to that. there have been a lot of theories about some underlying conditions within our population that make people eventually more susceptible to having extreme illness when they get the virus. thatinly there is the fact any federal were warnings, we had mardi gras. that is something some experts think might have helped the virus spread more widely. what has been the response from local officials in new orleans and the governor for people who have been told to stay at home, poss

, governor abbott in texas issued an executive order ordering any travelers going to texas from new orleans to self-quarantine for 14 days. kind of what dr. birx said yesterday about new york city. what's your response to that? gov. edwards: i can't say that's inappropriate. we saw that coming out of new york city, it has to do with the amount of spread in the new york city area. the per capita case count in new york is actually higher than it is in louisiana. but we're close enough, second, along with new jersey, and by the way, new york and new jersey -- that's kind of one large metropolitan area, where i cannot say that that's inappropriate. i would hope that what governor abbott is doing in texas would reinforce my message here in louisiana about the immediate to stay at home. -- about the need to stay at home. because that principally is what quarantining is. and i'm asking people to stay at home, as well. so hopefully, his messaging goes along with mine and just reinforces the importance of this. and the importance of doing it now, by the way. yes, ma'am. >> on the discussion of the s

you've got new orleans, orleans parish, jefferson parish, a large number of cases now in st. bernard and so forth. so it's all of that area together and that is the region of our state that is at risk at the earliest time of exceeding our capacity. again, it's around april 2 or 3 with respect to ventilators, based on the modeling with those we have on hand. obviously we have ordered some. we're trying to procure them desperately. making contact with vendors, asking for them from the strategic national stockpile and so forth. obviously we're trying to bring additional beds online before april 8 as well. did that answer your question? reporter: i guess i was wondering is there an idea for other areas of the state? governor bel edwards: we're limited in how far out we can model at any given timism can only tell you the other regions of the state the modeling doesn't show problems by april 8. but we're going to continue to model out. we know that there are going to be, at some point, more bed capacity needed in central louisiana around baton -- in the baton rouge area and in nort

26 times as large as new orleans.he governor of louisiana, john bel edwards, is asking for a federal disaster declaration, warning now that per state projections in new orleans the current projections of hospitalization significantly exceed capacity beginning on april 4th, which means new orleans won't be able to continue to provide hospital care at the end of next week. some louisiana officials say that mardi gras celebrations last month may have been a veer logical accelerant in louisiana when 1 if the 4 million people flooded into the city to party and parade through the streets at a time we now know coronavirus was spreading in the united states. among doctors worried that mardi gras in new orleans this year may have been that kind of a problem is dr. republican ka gate. she until recently was head of the state's health department. she's now the ceo of the lsu health services. she joins us now from louisiana. doctor, i appreciate you making time tonight. thank you. >> good to be with you. >> what do you make of th

joining us now is jeff adelson, a staff writer for the "times picayune" in new orleans. ouisiana is doing right now to try to flatten the curve, as they say. flatten the curve of new infecti infections. >> well, right now, louisiana as with most other states has instituted a lot of restrictions on all sorts of gatherings. large gatherings over just a couple people are prohibited. the number of -- bars have been shut down. restaurants have been ordered to takeout only. and across the state, they're trying to enforce these measures. we actually had an incident yesterday where about 100 people gathered for a second line parade which is a common thing usually around here on weekends. the police had to go and shut that down on the orders of the mayor. they're trying to take a very aggressive attitude toward stopping a lot of these gatherings, these events and really enforce social distancing all across the state and particularly here in new orleans. >> yeah, jeff, i was just going to ask you, how is that going? i mean, i think trying to get people in new orleans to stop having

more than 1,200 cases are in and around new orleans. outbreak could not have been worse. mardi gras made it easy for the virus to spread. jeff, staff writer for the "times". >> right now louisiana, as with most other states, has instituted restrictions on all sorts of gatherings. bars have been shut down. restaurants are take-out only. across the state they are trying to enforce measures. about 100 people gathered for a second parade, a common thing usually around here on weekends. but the police had to go and shut that down. they are trying to take a progressive attitude toward stopping a lot of these gatherings, these events. and really enforce social distancing all across the state, particularly here in new orleans. >> yeah. i was just going to ask you how is that going? i think trying to get people to stop having parties like getting people in key west to go inside during a hurricane. one thing people don't like to do socially in new orleans it's distance. are people paying attention to the orders at all, especially in parts of the

in texas ordered anyone flying from new york, new jersey, connecticut or new orleans to self-quarantineor 14 days or however long they're in texas whenever is shorter. florida has a routine check point on interstate 10 for people coming across the alabama state line who are from louisiana. another check point on i-95 for what the governor calls, i'm quoting now, any kind of new york-area traffic. and the florida keys are closed to visitors. rhode island is stopping cars with new york license plates and kentucky asking their border states not to cross if they can. governor trying to keep people safe considering actions that would have been truly unthinkable until recently. movements ago governor cuomo responded to the president's quarantine proposal with an interview with cnn, outside the convention center in new york city which is now converted into a massive temporary hospital. the governor seemed caught by surprised when word first broke of this earlier, what is he now saying? >> yeah, wolf, that's right. this day began with a press conference by governor cuomo discussing the efforts

in new orleans itself.ranslate? exactly has to happen right now because the president is saying, the governor say sayi gis sayin the ventilators, the president is saying you're prepared. >> i hope he's right. he's saying the defense production act which is very appealing. it's gm who will have to manufacture these. the question is can gm m manufacture them in time and if not, does the nation have a stockpile to end us? that's the key question. we're staffing up the convention center, 500 beds and the feds are sending a team to help staff it. that's helpful but that's not intensive care. we need intensive care specialists to help us and vents to make sure we can take care of the patients we may have. the governor using the best 12,. let's hope we get a heck of a lot more than the 192 we have. we have some of the best doctors and best medical systems in the country. lsu, i'm very proud to be at, our doctors and nurses on the front line. a fantastic governor and mayor and a wonderful congressional delegation.

at home orders as new hot spots are emerging, cases jumping in cities like chicago, detroit, and new orleans. but today a small glimmer of hope. the fda green lighting a new 15-minute test for the virus with the first shipment coming next week. the governor of michigan also announcing that state has received more than 112,000 masks from the strategic national stockpile with the expectation of 8,000 more on the way. and in rhode island, officials are having police now pull over drivers with new york license plates and using the national guard to go door to door to find people who travelled to new york recently to demand 14 days of self-quarantine. overseas russia plans to close borders with some exceptions beginning monday in hopes of preventing the spread of the virus. and a grim milestone in italy as that country surpasses china in both the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. more than 86,000 people sickened and more than 10,000 dead including 51 doctors. i want to start in new york, because this is where nearly half of all u.s. cases have been detected. moments ago president trump said

new orleans has surpassed 1000 cases. i'll also point out that we have 200 cases in the most northwestern parishes and i point that out so everyone understands this is spread all across the state of louisiana. but nine ofs in all our 64 parishes now and nobody should ink they don't have the virus, novel coronavirus or that they don't have covid-19 in their parishes. i can assure you, it is in every parish in every community across the state of louisiana. deaths weck to the have reported up until now, 119 of them, early analysis indicates that conditions among those covid-19 deaths include 41%, kidney disease 31%, and obesity, 28%. nationna is third in the per capita for the number of cases. we are second, i believe, per capita in the number of deaths. very publichis is a health emergency and it has been and shows no signs yet of abating, and i want to encourage everyone to take this extremely seriously. you've heard me say it before, but medical surge is our number one priority in terms of what we as a state are doing, th

robert hart, chief medical officer of oxnard health in new orleans. dr. hart, thank you for being with us. you heard ed's report, you heard governor john bell edwards say the state could run out of ventilators by this weekend. what are you seeing? >> well, it is concerning to hear that type of a discussion, and i know we have been struggling and working hard to get ventilators in. we have been working with our supply chain constantly, as we've continued to add icu beds. the state has been able to help us get several vents, which have been very useful to us. we're able to use those in different ways. some of the vents are the full best type made that we normally use. some are transport vents. they do different things. different vents do different things for us, and so getting creative about how we use the vents on different levels of severity of illness for our patients. >> i think i'd like to talk about the patients, if we can. i think sometimes in something this big we lose sight of how they're actually presenting and what they are suffering. so what are

but tomorrow it is going to be somewhere else, whether it is detroit, new orleans. it will work its way across the country. this is the time for us to help one another. and then there'll be an intense issue somewhere else in the nation. and the new york way is to be helpful. so help new york. we are the ones who are hit now. that is today. but tomorrow it is going to be somewhere else, whether it is detroit, new orleans, it will work its way across the country. and this is the time for us to help one another. we need supplies desperately, and we are working on that. we just had a very good meeting where we discussed supplies.

chicago, new orleans, detroit, they're all now starting to see the numbers going up just like we were seeing here in new york last week really. so we're starting to see the sort of spread, right? that's why it seems unfathomable the president wants people to go back to work because we're not even close to the peak. here in new york the governor doesn't think we'll hit our peak of hospital surge until another three weeks from now so that's what's happening on the ground. inside that hospital "the new york times" did an excellent job getting video with the doctor who described the scene as apocalyptic. people filling almost -- really all the beds and then having to be transferred to different hospitals because there aren't enough beds. i want you to hear about her calls for supplies, what they're needing inside the hospitals. >> leaders in various offices from the president to the head of health and hospitals saying things like we're going to be fine. everything's fine. and from our perspective, everything is not fine. i don't have the support that i need and even just the materials tha

reporter: governor, the surgeon general this morning said next week this upcoming week new orleans could see new york-like numbers. from the data you're seeing and looking over, is that something you might agree with and if so, is that just in the new orleans rea or in other pockets? governor edward: we're number three in the country, the trajectory we're on right now takes us to a place we're not going to be capable of delivering the health care that will be demanded of our hospitals. so i concur with him if we stay on this trajectory and it's not that hard to understand. it is a very difficult concept to can to grasp with because the situation is that serious and that dire but i agree with him and i will tell you the surgeon general has made himself available to me specifically on a number of cases and you'll remember he was actually here in louisiana, and i'm guessing it was two weeks ago yesterday, it seems like a long, long time ago but just two weeks ago yesterday he was in the state with us and so i would have to say i think he's probably right. but what we should start to see ver

we'll take you to one of the growing contagion hot spots, new orleans. >>> and how the fight xwreagain the virus could be changing in the uk now that boris johnson has it as well. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the board. i'm anna coren live in hong kong. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. the rapid spread of covid-19 shows no sign of slowing with the united states now the focal point of the global pandemic. infects in the u.s. have soared past 100,000. more than 400 people died on friday, the country's highest one day total yet. globally john hopkins university says close to 600,000 people are inspected and more than 27 thourkts ha,000 have lost their lives and millions are out of work. on friday, donald trump signed a stimulus package that dwarfs others. $2.2 trillion. it includes measures to send cash directly to many american families. the president also said he is invokingen an old cold war era w to get manufactures to crank out ventilators. asked if it will be enough, he would not commit. >> we've distributed vast numbers of ventilators and we're prepared to

joining us from new orleans right now. chance to speak to the mayor of new orleans just a couple of days or so ago. i asked point blank, knowing what she knows now, should she have cancelled mardi gras? listen to this. >> if red flags were given, we rely on the facts to make decisions for the people that we serve. given no red flags, we moved forward. in hindsight, if we were given clear direction, we would not have had hardy grau and i would have been the leader to cancel it. >> no federal officials or experts. do people in new orleans blame her for the high number of virus infections right now? >> reporter: not from what i've been able to tell. leading up to mardi gras, as it has been since 9/11 where hundreds of thousands are on the streets, one of the concerns law enforcement -- the predominant concern law enforcement has is crowds and the violence that can be done to crowds. a viral pandemic just hasn't been high on the list of things we've heard about authorities preparing for. i'm sure it's prepared for on some leve

stopping a new orleans party ain't an easy task. nd parades to avoid spreading the virus. they're no stranger to crisis. how will it face this new challenge? let's discuss it about sophia thomas. she's a family and pediatric nurse polly watts owns the avenue pub on st. charles avenue. welcome both to the program. >> thank you so much for having us. >> polly, tell me about your bar and how you are doing now. i'm sure you would rather to be fully open. how are you dealing with this weird moment in your service? >> well, to some extent we're figuring it out as we go. i've spent the last probably two weeks in anticipation of the slowdown happening. figuring out what happens my employees have. how many additional paid time off i can provide. we even cooked meals for people to stuff their freezers and their parents and loved ones freezers just in case we got to the point where the grocery stores weren't open. the situation is very fluid. the city put out a long list of help today on noaa.gov. i haven't had a chance to get through the botto

fair, you live in new orleans. we know that louisiana is getting hit hard and perhaps getting hit hard even more so. when you look at that map that shows up and shows new york city as the epicenter with the most cases, is it a tad misleading? new york, of course, has more people. if you start looking at, for example, percentage of cases per capita, where do you start seeing there are other regions that are experiencing this significantly? >> every major urban hub, so new orleans, chicago, detroit, we're starting to see those as emerging hot spots and it's not unexpected. the way we work in this country is we travel. everybody has family in another state. a lot of people go home to their home areas when they are not working in times of crisis. so you're going to see a lot of transfer between places. again, without that testing in every place, we're not going to know who has the most cases. we referred to it earlier about mardi gras. it was obviously spreading during that time. as the individual said earlier you weren

and just -- and did so in the new orleans area. and if you look at how long it takes from exposure before people become symptomatic and start testing positive, that's the period you're talking about. between two and three weeks. i happen to believe with people coming from all over the country and all over the world into new orleans that a fair amount of coronavirus was seeded in that area, if that's the right word. but that is a theory at this point. it may or may not prove correct, but what isn't a theory, what is fact is what's actually happening on the ground. and we know that it's serious we know that case count is much, much higher than we obviously want it to be. and we haven't yet seen the trajectory change with respect to our growth rate. so those are the things we're focused on. at some point, somebody's going to get a doctoral degree because they're going to do a study on this situation as it relates to louisiana and so forth. and i'll be interested in reading it, but until then, you just have to deal with the facts. repo

let's go to ed lavandera live in new orleans. the governor there is requesting urgent help from the federal government. is he getting it? >> reporter: we don't know yet. they've requested and been told that some 150 ventilators are on the way but they haven't arrived yet. the governor is about to speak here in louisiana in about 10 minutes. so we'll see if we get an update. but the number of cases here in louisiana has really exploded today. more than 1,200 cases and now topped 5,200 and 239 deaths. this as officials all across the state are urging everyone over and over again to stay at home. the somber sound of a lone trumpet trickles down new orleans in the french quarter. he plays alone. his big band is keeping the distance and there are just a few people hanging around. the new orleans area has the most coronavirus cases in louisiana. but what is most troubling for health officials is how deadly it has been just in this city. >> we're tracking at about 5% on the mortality rate and it is just -- that's high. and our populatio

or new orleans. these are local places where the health system may not have the same resources in new york. it's already on its knees and so without a coordinated, strong public federal response, we're never, those places are going to be in trouble. and we have to get to a maplace and i don't know how we get there in the time with we have left from this epidemic, to get there from our president to us as individuals to how we say okay, we have to work together through our government. through the public sector in order to control this thing. as long as we're saying oh, well you know, there might be an individual private response. there might be you know this company may do it on their own. we're just, we're never going to get there. >> nya, there have been some other creative applications that we've seen. in new york university and other universities have graduated their medical classes early. we had dr. emanuel and general, the general from new orleans that i'm thinking about, who had said get your med

i think that's obviously probably an issue for what we have seen in new orleans. >> new orleans is seeing a lot of these cases right now. almost half or a little more half of the deaths in louisiana are from where new orleans is. according to the governor there, this is what we are seeing the biggest issues when it comes to medical shortages as well. they need about a thousand ventilators, just to keep up with the patients that are in the area. now they're bringing homeless individuals who live in new orleans into hotels right now. there is a stay-at-home order in effect for about a week now. the attempt to get people to take it seriously, food banks are running out of food. this is starting to happen across the entire state. outbreaks of covid-19 where they are attempting to tell people to stay away from each other and the basics we have been telling you for weeks. they're trying to keep medical professionals prepared here by bringing in more ppe and icu beds. we are starting to get icu beds. they're moving the floors so they can get people away from those affected by the virus and the s

ed lavandera, cnn, new orleans. >> dr. stanley pearlman is a professor of microbiology and immunology. he joins me now from iowa city. doctor, great to have your expertise. it's looking like the worst of this is not here, perhaps two weeks out, maybe more in the u.s. what are the sign posts you're looking for? what do you see in the days ahead? >> well, it looks like in? cities we see numbers of cases increasing greatly. and some cities like new york already has a lot. places like detroit seem to be increasing greatly. so we know something about the curve already. even in the state i live in, iowa, the last two days the number of cases has gone up much more than the previous days. so we see a ramp up of the infection. and that's what we'll be looking for. >> and speaking to that very point, speak to how important widespread testing is. i'm talking about surveillance testing. sort of enable the isolation of carriers who don't show symptoms, contact tracing and so on, because that ain't happening. >> yeah, so i don't -- i th

from new orleans mayor, comfort for her city with tough days ahead. >> we are very personable people, and so we're just having to do that remotely and showing our love differently. >> reporter: blayne alexander, nbc news, new orleans. >>> and tonight as the toll rises to staggering levels, reports the u.s. has surpassed china with over 80,000 since the start of the outbreak, more americans are falling ill every day and communities are taking new, but the numbers as expected are getting worse. here is miguel almaguer. >> reporter: tonight across our nation in big cities and rural communities, a new reality is hitting home for americans the u.s. death toll has now reached a grim milestone as the number of infected soars to extraordinary levels, but each number is a story, a family torn apart. in st. louis, the heart ofhe buried tuesday, family members had to watch her funeral from a car. >> never in a million years did my family think that we would one day, you know, experience our loved one, our jazz to be the first official victim in the city of st. louis. >> reporter: while most amer

the city of new orleans has ordered a stay-at-home order, other cities have not. has that hampered your ability to hold this? >> at toledo bend, we were surprised to see it look like the fourth of july. a lot of people were driving over from texas because a lot of things on their side were closed. then we had in baton rouge people driving around picking up people for church. until people heed this warning, we're not going to get on top of this. to see that happening when people are dying is pretty incredible. >> goodness, so sorry to see that. a lot of issues here, and you hear it in new york state, too, about requiring people to follow these stay-at-home orders, and there have been concerns in new orleans of some people not listening. do you think it's necessary for police to start enforcing this, issuing fines, for instance? >> i think you're going to have to. i know there was a second line in new orleans and people were looking for the organizers of that second line to arrest them. any large gatherings that disobey the orders of the mayors, the governors, you'r

, then let's all go to new orleans and let's help new orleans and when it's in detroit, we all go toroit. because this is going to happen on a rolling basis. you're going to see regional or local intensities and hot spots and curves and we should really be mobilizing nationwide helping one another. >> governor, the recommendations and the orders that you issued have been statewide. in florida, the governor has issued one set of recommendations for what he calls southeastern florida and then he has looser recommendations for other parts of the state of florida. you represented a state that stretches to niagra falls and have almost unpopulated hamilton county up there in northern new york. you have very different population ranges across that state. why have you decided that the rules have to apply as strongly in hamilton county as they have to in manhattan? >> well, look, we have -- remember, when this first started to develop, lawrence, the number one hot spot was a community in westchester county called new rochelle. there was no rhyme for reason for that. it doesn't start with that

if it happens in new orleans, let's all go to new orleans and help new orleans. when it's in detroit, we all go to detroit. this is going to happen on a rolling basis. you're going to see regional or local intensities and hot spots and curves. and we should really be mobilizing nationwide, helping one another. >> governor, the recommendations and orders you've issued have been statewide. in florida, the governor has issued one set of recommendations for what he calls southeastern florida and looser recommendations for other parts of the state of florida. you represent a state from mont auk point to niagara falls, almost unpopulated northern county, very different population ranges across the state. why have you decided that the rules have to apply as strongly in hamilton county as in manhattan? >> look, we have remember, when this first started to develop lawrence, the number one hot spot was a community in westchester county called new rochelle. there was no rhyme or reason for that. it didn't start with that kind of intensity in manhattan but in new rochelle, f

home, that that is their best attack in fighting this virus right now, jake. >> ed lavandera in new orleansfe yourself, my friend. >>> in our earth matters series, an interesting development in the coronavirus crisis on the environmental front. new images showing a sharp decline in pollution over several major cities in europe, according to the european space agency. as cnn's chief climate correspondent bill weir reports, this pandemic is a stark reminder of just how important it is to heed warnings from experts. >> reporter: this is bill weir, cnn, from a very surreal brooklyn, where for some reason i can't stop thinking about all the disaster movies that start with someone in power ignoring scientists. >> we have it totally under control. it's one person coming in from china. >> reporter: that's just one of the parallels between coronavirus and the climate crisis. >> you only have 11 years to live, folks, because climate change is coming up on us so fast. >> reporter: think about it. both kill the most vulnerable and will cost trillions. both will reveal heroic first responders and scient

ed lavandera, cnn, new orleans. >> thanks, ed, for that. >>> so the new orleans mayor spoke with cnn's wolf blitzer just a few hours ago and he asked why mardi gras was allowed to go forward this year? she said she would have canceled the festivities if she had access to the data she needed to make an informed decision. >> if red flags were given i would say at the federal level, leadership matters. while i was the first in the state of louisiana to stop social gatherings, i had to cancel the st. patrick's day parade. you know, all hell broke loose when i did that, but it was necessary. so given data, allowing science to lead us, it does matter and leaders on the ground, we rely on the facts to make decisions for the people that we serve. given no red flags, we move forward. in hindsight if we were given clear direction, we would not have had mardi gras and i would have been the leader to cancel it. >> strong words there. so the coronavirus outbreak is certainly taking a toll on first responders in new york city. the police department says more than 10% of its uniformed officers called

we haven't tested sufficiently. >> right now we believe that by about april 7th, around new orleans, city to deliver healthcare in the hospitals. >> you don't make the timeline. the virus makes the timeline. you got to go with the situation on the ground. >> this is "new day," with alisyn camerota and john berman. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is your "new day." it is thursday, march 26th, 8:00 now in the east. the coronavirus pandemic in the united states is accelerating. this morning, the death toll is approaching 1,000 people. wednesday was the deadliest day so far. and new york is the hardest hit area, it has nearly half of the country's cases. conditions at hospitals there and across the country are dire. in new york, hospitals are bracing for a surge in patients. one hospital has constructed a makeshift morgue on the street. nurses at a different hospital in manhattan are resorting to protecting themselves by wearing trash bags. this is because of a shortage of their protective gowns. cnn has learned that so

why new orleans in your view? >> new orleans has lots of reasons it could happen there. first of all it's also happening around new orleans. "the washington post" yesterday had a case -- known cases per 10,000 people, not just how many in the state. if you look at mississippi, it is in trouble. there's a lot of cases in mississippi if you control for the population size. so it's not just new orleans. yeah, mardi gras cut two ways. mardi gras put a million -- i don't know the numbers. a whole lot of people in close proximity socially undistanced to put it mildly. and a friend who is an infectious disease expert down there mentioned to me one thing we should have also considered is that a lot of people leave new orleans, a lot of people leave new orleans during the mardi gras because they can't stand it, want to get out of there, it disrupts their lives, so they go flying to places that -- new york city perhaps or colorado. >> right to get away from the crowds. and then they come back. got it. >> so it's a mess. it was a mistake. everyone is a genius in retrospect. in my j

this is what is going to happen. >> joining me now from new orleans is dr. corey abeaux, chief medical officer at dillard university. doctor, what is it like there right now, the data we see looks grim. what is it like on the ground? >> well, the hospitals are being overwhelmed as we would expect, but it's something that, you know, if you don't know your history, you're doomed to repeat it. in 1918 in philadelphia there was a liberty long parade of about 200,000 people. they had the parade even though they knew the h1n1 spanish flu was coming and what happened? 12,000 people died in a six-week period because they had a big gathering. that is the actual curve that we use now when we start talking about flattening the curve and what not to do. you see the giant spike. this was 200,000 people at a parade. in new orleans, we actually had millions of people for a parade about four weeks ago. so that is what we're seeing and what we'll continue to see in other urban areas around the country because when you look at the density of populations around the country, de

and we've been talking about th new orleans.ew orleans is one of the latest hotspots as the corona pandemic -- coronavirus pandemic spreads throughout the country. more than 4,000 cases in the state of louisiana. at least 1,480 of them are in the city. and 86 people have already died from the virus. governor john bel edwards saying, today, that after requesting 5,000 ventilators from the strategic national stockpile, louisiana has received 150. let's discuss now. the mayor of new orleans, thank you. i know it's a busy time for you. wanted to have you on to get the word out and to hear your concerns and what's going on. >> thank you. >> cases in your city are soaring. the president said that he will send 150 ventilators. do you have enough for the critically ill patients that need them right now? oh, no, don, thank you so much for having me. and i'm glad you mentioned that. you know, they were requested. we were told that they would be on the way. the governor requested over 5,000. we were told, today, to expect 150. in no way th

new orleans has about half the cases and deaths.he city widely criticized for allowing large crowds to gather for mardi gras celebrations at the end of february. joining me from new orleans, correspondent blayne alexander. good afternoon. thanks for joining us. new orleans coming under fire for large crowds during mardi gras couple weeks ago. do people think that's where a lot of cases came from? >> reporter: the short answer is yes, absolutely, at least in large part. i am on bourbon street now, you recognize it as bourbon street, don't typically see it like this. i can hear my voice echoing. that's how empty it is, that's how unusual it is here in new orleans. but yes. experts do believe what we saw exactly one month ago today on that tuesday, mardi gras, was more than a million people, packing the area, throwing beads, sharing drinks, standing in close proximity. they believe it was a breeding ground for coronavirus. one expert told me you saw about two weeks after mardi gras is when you started to see the first cases of coronavi

that's what new orleans and jefferson looked like not too long ago. all thee cases are concerning to me and other people across the state of louisiana. regardless what parish they come from. i don't know if you want to alter -- >> i have a question. you talked about the sobering number today. it's a very stark number. what it startling to you? >> i will ask the doctor to come. i can direct it only way i know how. there's no way to see that number and not be startled. i'm telling people to expect things to get worse before they get better. i saw the number and i was startled. i believe the number could be informed by test results stacked up over a number of days. that broke through today. if that is true, we should see something smaller than that tomorrow. i pray that that is the case. i've been wanting to see it for a consistent basis. especially going forward because stay-at-home order if it is going to be effective and flattening the curve, we should start to see that play out in the near future. this is the last question of the day. i will ask the

. >>> across the u.s., more communities emerging as virus hot spots including new orleans. what hospitals there say they need urgently. >>> in italy, the tragic impact of the virus forcing priests to face a new grim reality each and every day. >>> welcome to your viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm anna coren. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >>> it's 4:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast and the hours ahead will see residence of three states waking up to a two-week travel advisory. the region has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic so the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention is telling people leaving there not to travel anywhere unless absolutely necessary. it's a big step back from the quarantine donald trump suggested on saturday, an idea rejected by at least one state governor. it's not clear the travel advisory actually changes anything. stay-at-home orders are already in place in those states and many others. only people with critical jobs such as health care providers and delivery drivers are exempt. still, the cdc's latest advisory shows t

let's discuss now, the mayor of new orleans, latoya cantrell. thank you. i know it's a busy time for you. i wanted to get you on to get the word out and hear your concerns and what's going on. >> thank you. >> cases in your city are soaring. the president said he will send 150 ventilators. do you have enough for the critically ill patients that need them right now? >> oh, no, don, thank you so much for having me and i'm glad you mentioned that. you know, they were requested. we were told that they would be on the way. the governor requested over 5,000. we were told today to expect 150. in no way that's enough. very grateful, right, to the 150, and -- but the need is still great here. our men and women, our health care professionals are on the front line tirelessly 24/7, who are in need still of ppe, and we have to make sure that we protect those who we expect and who are working tirelessly to protect others. >> what about other medical supplies, mayor? what are -- what are your biggest needs right now? >> well, the biggest needs, it goes back to the ppe, t

almost 1,300 of those are here in the city of new orleans alone. ath toll has also risen to 137. what is significant is that the jumps continue day to day and continue to be high. from yesterday to today these new cases jumped almost 570. that is one of the things experts are monitoring closely and it is how you see the continued spike and the exponential quick rise of cases here that has so many people concerned. the governor of louisiana is saying that by this time next week, the state runs into serious problems in terms of bed shortages as well as ventilator shortages as well. the governor says he has requested 12,000 ventilators and so far the latest count is not even received 200 of those. here behind me you see the back side of the convention center here in new orleans. and this is where bed space is being added to prepare for the influx of coronavirus patients. right now they are in the process of setting up more than a hundred hospital beds inside the convention center. state officials say the overall goal here could very well be to set up a

this was mardi gras in new orleans last month. the parades are a highlight.ese celebrations attract more than a million people. but now authorities feared the decision to go ahead with the festival when covid—19 had already arrived created the perfect storm. so what we need to focus on now is the fact that we're several weeks post mardi gras and we are starting to see about spikes, and what the government has indicated is that we are on a path to look like italy. new orleans now appears to be at the centre of the pandemic in louisiana, and on course to become the epicentre for the outbreak in the united states. the numbers that we have today are once again very staggering. i hope the entire state of louisiana is looking at these numbers and that they are as concerned about them as i am. authorities are warning the city's hospitals could be at capacity as quickly as by the end of next week. there are now strong stay—at—home orders in place in a desperate bid to save lives. but new orleans is bracing itself for an onslaught, and authorities are asking themselve

any questions specifically related to testing. >> for the surgeon general says the upcoming week new orleans could see new york type numbers from is that something that you might agree with and if so is that just in new orleans area or in other pockets of the state? >> well, we're number the the country per cap attempt right now. the trajectory we are on right now is one that takes us to a place where we're not going to be capable of delivering the health care that will be demanded of our hospitals. so i concur with him if we stay on this trajectory, and it's not that hard to understand, it is a very difficult concept to come to grasp with because the situation is that serious and that dire, but i agree with him and i will tell you the surgeon general has made himself available to me specifically on a number of cases and remember he was actually here in louisiana and i'm guessing it was two weeks ago yet, seems like a long, long time ago. but it was just two weeks ago yesterday he was in the state with us and so i would have to say i think he is probably right. but what we should start to se

we actually need a thousand more just in the new orleans area. and our numbers are growing all over the state. baton rouge region, around shreveport, cases jumped up. today they have 93 there. so this is a big challenge. we're doing everything that we can. we are obviously asking for help from wherever we can get it. to the extent the federal government can facilitate the allotment, the allocation of more resources to louisiana, we would certainly accept that and be grateful. but we know that this is a challenge because we're not the only ones asks. every state is asking for the same things. >> you're absolutely right. governor, i understand you believe that many of the cases in louisiana may have stemmed from the mardi gras celebrations in new orleans. with hindsight, we're all smarter, obviously, with hindsight, do you think it should have been canceled this year? >> well, you know, i don't want to entertain the question, because there was not any suggestion by anybody at the cdc or anywhere else that the mardi gras would pose a risk to public