as we move forward, don. >> omar jimenez in green bay. thank you, omar.your reporting. >>> president trump tonight signing an executive order under the defense production act declaring meat processing plants critical infrastructure. the order requires plants stay open even as more of them become hot spots for coronavirus. let's discuss with former secretary of agriculture dan glickman. mr. secretary, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> tonight we're learning about more plants with coronavirus outbreaks. why are these plants such hot spots? >> i think part of it has to do with the density of people there. the kind of work they do. they're very close together. they're working on lines that move meat and poultry and hogs and cattle very fast across the lines. i think that they hadn't gotten the attention that they should have gotten from either the government or the companies over the years in terms of sanitation and cleanliness. it is a choke point. you have all these ranchers and farmers selling cattle into the marketplace. they got to go to the mea

cnn's omar jimenez is joining us. omar, there's a surge of deaths in chicago. what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, chicago's cook county has officially acquired a refrigerated warehouse that can potentially store more than 1,500 bodies. they gave us exclusive access today as they work to get it operational as quickly as possible which they expect to do by tomorrow. the chief medical examiner tells me they expect to receive bodies within a matter of days, there are now an average of 40 a day, putting them very near capacity. another need we're seeing in the city of chicago is the need for more data, specifically in regards to demographics. the chicago department of public health putting out numbers showing that just under 70% of the coronavirus deaths here in the city of chicago are in black chicagoans, despite making up just 30% of the population. that's why they've put in place an order working with the hospitals here in the city to put out and enhance the data that we're already seeing to include demographics so the city can better track a crucial component of this ongoi

cnn's omar jimenez is live with more. , meat packing factories account for more than half the coronavirus cases in their towns but are still being told to reopen. >> reporter: that's the decision these plants are having to wrestle with. the three major meat packing plants in green bay alone, it's those employees that account for more than half in this country. and part of why this county now has the highest infection rate in the entire state of wisconsin. now, when you look at those three plants, jbs is the only one that has closed its doors over the past week, in part because of coronavirus. they've been most significantly affected, more than 250 employees test positive there. but the important note is that this is an impact we're seeing across the country. that is the fourth plant that jbs has had to close. and while two others have reopened, based on president trump's executive order, we'll now wait and see on whether the others will soon follow suit. again, as we've seen, more than 20 plants closed in the past two mont

omar jimenez on the ground. thanks very much. >>> what is it like to treat coronavirus patients in the hospitals as they're coming in in the worst of it in one of the few states that does not have a stay-at-home order? we're going to ask a doctor who actually treated some of the very first patients in this country. remarkable experience. and that's next. i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ that's why working together ist more important than ever. at&t is committed to keeping you connected. so you can keep your patients cared for. your customers served. your students inspired. and your employees closer than ever. our network is resilient. our people are strong. our job is to keep your business connected . it's what we've always done. it's what we'll always do. ♪ a beautiful thing ♪ a wonderful thing ♪ that makes this lif

cnn's omar jimenez joins me with more. what more do we know about these outbreaks? a huge number. 1,300 inmates. >> reporter: heal really is. that number exploded in a number of days within the ohio department of rehabilitation and correction. the most significant outbreak at least so far seems to be out of the marion correctional facility just north of cluolumbus. a slight uptick and made the decision to test everything, staff and inmates. as the results come back more than 1,000 inmates at that single facility tested positive. keep in mind, the total population there is 2,500. almost half. then as you touched on earlier more than 100 staff members tested positive along with one staff member who died. the numbers, shocking agency they may be, aren't the full piece of this story. another part of it comes from how these cases are spreading. for example, one of the dorms at that marion correctional facility holds around 150 inmates. while 60 tested positive, according to officials there, all 60 were asymptomatic, which is part of why the state and the correctional fac

cnn's omar jimenez live in detroit with the latest. omar, what are you seeing?l, of course, as we know, one of the biggest impacts from this coronavirus pandemic outside the health aspect is on the economic way of life from layoffs to uncertain futures for businesses. the people in detroit aren't taking it lying down. state and city officials put in place programs to fight back. at least the people we've spoken to have been through a lot over the course of the past decade and a half. one thing they know how to do is survive. >> quiet downtown streets. economies grinding to a halt. all too common sights across america amid the coronavirus pandemic. detroit is no different. >> planning for a place like this takes years. and then here you are weeks away from opening. >> yeah. we would have been ready to go at the end of march. >> now that timeline is up in the air while he navigates unemployment for the first time after also being laid off. >> things aren't great all the time but we've always made it through. >> for many, these are uncertain times. officials hope p

cnn correspondent omar jimenez is in detroit with that story. omar, you've been talking to small business owners and workers. what are you hearing? i'm guessing it's not good. >> reporter: yeah, it's not great, john, but one thing i have heard from the many businesses and people i've spoken to here is they've been through a lot in the past decade and a half, and one thing they say they know how to do is survive, especially as the pandemic has had a huge impact on the economic way of life here from layoffs to newly uncertain futures for businesses. quiet downtown streets, economies grinding to a halt. all too common sights across america amid the coronavirus pandemic, and detroit is no different. the planning for a place like this takes years, and then here you are, weeks away from opening. >> yeah. we would have been ready to go at the end of march. >> reporter: now that timeline is up in the air while he navigates unemployment for the first time after also being laid off. >> things aren't great all the time, but we've always made it through. >>

cnn's omar jimenez has more now from milwaukee on the state's strange election. >> reporter: throughout the day on tuesday, we saw long lines at some of the polling locations. we saw voters and poll workers in masks and gloves. and many voters were actually happy to be able to carry out their civic duty. what they weren't happy about was that they had to risk their health to do so. now, the fact that we even had an election here at all came on the tail end of what was a long few days, even weeks, some could argue, of back and forth between legislature, courts, and the governor's office here in wisconsin, namely, wisconsin governor tony evers issued an executive order trying to move the election to june 9th, saying it wasn't safe. the republican-led legislature appealed to the state supreme court. the state supreme court shot that down, so the election continued. and then at the federal level, i mentioned that deadline for absentee ballots moved to april 13th. that came from a federal court order. then the u.s. supreme court stepped in and said, well, for those votes to be counted, they

omar jimenez joins us from green bay. so, what are the plants saying and how many workers are sick there? >> reporter: yeah, at this point that count on workers is one that the county and the company themselves are keeping a close eye on at this point. so you look at the total cases that we have seen, you mentioned more than half of all coronavirus confirmed cases in this county stem from meatpacking facilities, and you look at president trump's executive order, it would compel some of these to reopen, and that executive order would declare these plants critical infrastructure in the united states. despite us seeing coronavirus not just here, but places across the country in total, thousands of workers are either showing symptoms or have been hospitali hospitalized. we have seen 20 that sadly died. over 20 closures of plants, again, across this country, and some of the locations of those plant closures stem from pennsylvania to south dakota to iowa and, of course, here in wisconsin. now, green bay specifically there are t

omar jimenez is in green bay, wisconsin, home to another one of those closed meat plants. the president says you is to keep the food supply chain open. workers say we need to be safe. >> that's right, and look, when you look at just the three major meat packing plants in the green bay area alone, they now account for more than half of all the confirmed coronavirus cases in this entire county. including at one, jbs, that closed over the weekend, they have more than 250 employees alone that have tested positive, along with 79 cases. and as we tried to get in touch with many of these employees, we understand it's a heavily hispanic population that has been affected here. many of them undocumented that we're told as well, so many of them are fearful to come forward with potential conditions at many of these places. now, to be fair to the three that are in operation here, they did pass cdc, state, and county inspections last week over coronavirus prevention methods, but with this executive order compelling them to keep open, if we see these numbers go up, as we have seen in man

omar jimenez, cnn, milwaukee, wisconsin. >> most certainly is. thank you so much for that. >>> british prime minister boris johnson is still in a london hospital battling his coronavirus infection. as you know, he's been in intensive care since monday. and max foster has been following all of this. max is live outside the hospital in london for us. good to see you, my friend! how's the prime minister doing? have we had any updates? >> reporter: we're not getting many updates, it has to be said. we talked about that a bit yesterday, didn't we, about messaging? it's being criticized, but the argument being they don't want to give a running commentary, it's a private matter to some extent. and also, they don't want to worry the nation, but boris johnson is down there behind me in intensive care unit. over the road we have westminster, of course, where lots of questions are arising about leadership in this vacuum currently. it's being shared with dominic raab, the foreign secretary, but some concern about what that actually means and some clarity, pe

to cnn's omar jimenez, omar, people still coming out to vote today? >> they are. at least what we have seen so far, we're here in milwaukee at one of only five polling places open. milwaukee typically has 180 polling places. but due to a lack of poll workers that wanted to show up and work, we have only five. as a result, we're seeing long lines, even before the polls opened. you can probably see over my shoulder here, there are people lined up around the side of the high school, around the corner, through the parking lot, and then into the road and sidewalk that extends beyond that school as well. that's one indicator of potential turnout today in the state. but then also you look at absentee ballots, the main point of controversy at least one of them in regards to how this election would unfold. we have already seen more than a million absentee ballots requested according it data from the wisconsin election. for the spring primary in 2016, that number was around 250,000. but the more crucial component of that million is that there are thousands of people who req

omar jimenez is in chicago for us. what are officials doing to try to slow this outbreak down? among inmates and also guards. >> reporter: that's right anderson. there are a lot of factors when it comes to this jail specifically. one of the biggest factors is proximity. as you can imagine social distancing is not the easiest thing to do in a yahjail. the government equivalent of a cruise ship or a peachtree dish. we have seen it played out firsthand. low level offenders or non-violent offenders created a boot camp to keep those ka quarantined or separate. that number is now over 400 and more than 250 detainees infected, 150 employees infected, excuse me in a matter of weeks. >> officials are talking of ways to deal with all the people who have died and the bodies that is overwhelming the system. >> it is a sobering reality. i think a lot of us never thought we would be in the situation to see at this point and not to mention city officials who have literally prepared and acquired a refrigerated warehouse here in chicago to deal with the surge in deaths that we have seen. the ch

cnn's omar jimenez is outside of a plant in green bay, wisconsin. what's the plan, omar?rter: alisyn, president trump's executive order likely to have an effect on the affected plants here in the green bay area. of course, across the country as well. with this order, under the defense production act is declaring the meat processing facilities as critical infrastructure in the united states and this comes as some manufacturers, tyson foods for example, were considering operating at just 20% capacity due to closures we have seen over coronavirus clusters at different facilities across this country. there are some estimates that had all of the closures in total affecting around 80% of the meat processing capability in the united states. of course, when you look at a place like here in green bay, wisconsin, this place is not immune to some of those effects, both on the health and on the business side as well. just three meat processing facilities in this green bay area alone, the coronavirus confirmed cases at those facilities account for more than half of all the confirmed c

omar jimenez is there for us. what are the officials at that plant telling you? >> reporter: right now we got off a call with brown county health officials here in the green bay area that had been monitoring in conjunction with jbs, the number of cases they've had. specifically across the three major meat packing facilities in just this community alone, they either through their employees account for more than half of all confirmed coronavirus cases in this county. the vast majority stemming from this jbs meat packing facility. we heard from the contact tracing team about 79 others linked to those employees tested positive. according to the company they service 3.2 million meals to americans per day. this facility alone employs 1200 people to give you an idea of the impact. this isn't the only facility affected. it's one of four that's had to shut down. two have reopened across the country. this isn't the only company that's been infected, as we know as well. smithfield and tyson as well. tyson taking out a full-page ad over the weekend in various newspapers sayi

omar jimenez is in chicago this morning. you're seeing these regional decisions made on the east coast and the west coast and now across the midwest. what are those factors? >> reporter: yeah, poppy, a lot of factors going into this when you look at these seven states across the midwest here. the regional portion especially important because people can drive from state to state so they want to make sure there is some kind of unified approach when making these big decisions. first off, these states across the midwest are illinois, michigan, ohio, minnesota, indiana and kentucky as well, and s and when you talk about some of those main factors they're looking at, the top one is going to be sustaining the rate -- or sustaining control, i should say, of the rate of enhanced hospitalizations, the rate to test for the coronavirus, and best practices for social distancing in the workplace. and while their guidelines are the same, that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be going about reopening their economies the exact same

i want to start with omar jimenez at a new outbreak for a shelter for children. >> in chicago, at leastdren at a shelter for immigrant youth have now tested positive for coronavirus. the shelter houses kids that came to the united states as unaccompanied minors and officials at heartland human care service say they're operating on the assumption they're going to see more positive diagnosis as they get test results. the first wave accounting for more than half of the kids at this particular shelter. now so far the shelter said the kids are in good condition and that they've been in touch with the chicago department of public health throughout this. >> i'm alex marquardt in washington, d.c. where the mayor just announced that the public health emergency has been extended until may 15th. that means school closures, business closures, the stay-at-home order, all pushed until mid may. the mayor calling that a check-in day when city officials will assess. as the death toll continues in d.c. african-americans continue to be affected. according to the mayor's office, three quarters of the 72 co

. >>> i'm omar jimenez in green bay, wisconsin where multiple meat packing facilities are seeing coronavirusmong employees. countrywide, more than 20 facilities have had to close at one point or another over the past two months. tyson foods among them. with this new executive order, they're going to be doubling bonuses for employees, increasing short-term disability benefits and even adding health screening measures which highlights one of the most challenging aspects in this. one worker i spoke to in green bay who is recovering from coronavirus himself says it's going to be difficult to keep these places safe based on how closely these employees have to work together. >>> thanks to our reporters for all the latest information. this morning, doctors are finding new techniques to treat the most severe cases of coronavirus. look at this. what's going on here and why does a doctor we're going to speak to say he's finding success with this treatment? next. you know, new customers save over $1,000 on average when they bundle home and auto with progressive. wow, that's... and now the progressive c

omar jimenez takes us to chicago to what the city has to do in these unprecedented times. >> reporteronce a grim precaution, now an unimaginable reality. an entire refrigerated warehouse in chicago with the capacity in the thousands dedicated solely to dealing with the surge in deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic. transitioning from once holding simple cargo to what will soon be the remains of those tied to the deadly virus. >> these racks are literally made to hold bodies. one here, second in the middle, a third down below. four, five and the numbers continue to go up. the county says they're hopeful numbers won't go up. >> in two weeks, how urgent is the work you all are doing? >> this is occurring at a very rapid pace so we expect to see hospitals -- hospital morgues getting filled up and we'll see the patients in the centers soon. >> reporter: across the chicago area and illinois as a whole, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths has continued to rise daily going from a single death on march 17th to a death toll now in the hundreds for the state just weeks later. >>

omar jimenez is here to show us how they're scrambling to save the people still inside. >> reporter: inside the jails and prison, there's a high risk for the coronavirus to spread and nowhere for it to go. in chicago's cook county jail, that potential was realized in a matter of weeks, growing from a few confirmed cases in late march to a number in the hundreds, infecting detainees and employees and killing three detainees. it meant employing new strategies, including reducing the jail's overall population, by releasing people awaiting trial and those serving time for non-violent offenses. >> we've been able to reduce the jail population in the course of four weeks by almost 25%. >> so this has already had a pretty big impact. >> we want to make sure we're creating conditions whereby people who don't need to be there aren't there and the people who are there have optimal conditions for their health and safety. >> reporter: one of the jail's main tactics was literally creating a kwae ing ing a quara, where those who are infected or are suspected to be and where they stay, separate fro

omar jimenez is in one of the hardest hit parts of the state. what are you hearing about the impact of the president's executive order now? >> reporter: that's right, kate. well a lot of companies and workers are trying to figure out what exactly that executive order means for them because as you mentioned it is one of the hardest hit places in the state and in part due to the workers -- ott numbers we've seen from the meat packing facilities, it's now the highest infection rate in the state in this county. we've seen this in plants across the country. thousands of workers that have shown symptoms or been hospitalized throughout this coronavirus pandemic, at least 20 that have sadly died and more than 20 plants that have closed over the course of the past two months at one point or another. and here in green bay there are three plants being affected by this pandemic and seeing confirmed cases. jbs, american foods groom and salm partners. jbs closing throughout this. but another aspect is when you look at the demographics of employees infected he

cnn correspondent omar jimenez is in detroit with that story. >> reporter: quiet downtown streets.ommon sights across america amid the pandemic and detroit is no different. the planning for a place like this takes years and then, here you are weeks away from opening. >> we would have been ready to go at the end of march. >> reporter: now the timeline is up in the air as he navigates unemployment for the first time after also being laid off. >> things are not great all the time. but we have always made it through. >> reporter: fwourt many, these are -- but for many, these are uncertain times. many hope it's a solution for a better understanding of the present. detroit is the first major city in the country now opening coronavirus to all essential employees regardless of symptoms. >> that was the thought behind it. those at the grocery stores and the pharmacies and the restaurants that are still operating with carry-out service. making sure they are safe and healthy and able to serve the public. >> they will make appointments before hand and information will be radioed in to this ten

we check in with reporters across the country starting with omar jimenez in wisconsin. >> i'm in milwaukee. after a lot of debate, especially over the past 24 hours, the wisconsin polls are open. despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. now, at multiple of the five -- the only five locations open to vote in milwaukee, we have seen long lines. and for the election overall, absentee ballots are as crucial as ever. at this point, we have thousands that won't receive their ballot by the end of the election day today which per supreme court order means they won't be counted. they have to choose between risking health and voting in person or not voting at all. >> i'm amara walkner atlanta. three out of 11 coronavirus clusters that her investigated are linked to church gatherings. one of the gatherings was a recent church conference in kansas city and they say that this is a place ever exposure for multiple people who have now tested positive for covid-19 in kansas. and with the upcoming easter holiday, officials are urging people to avoid gatherings that would put them in danger. the kansas gov

thanks very much, omar jimenez reporting for us.ead i'll speak live with the chef jose andres the founder of a foundation that's sent almost 4 million for those in need. we'll discuss when we come back. great service without leaving the safety of your home. shop at sprint.com for free next day shipping and no activation fees on our best new phone deals, like a samsung galaxy phone for just $0 a month. plus, you'll also get a $100 prepaid mastercard when you switch online. stay healthy and visit sprint.com to get the services you need. for people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay.com >>> as many states are beginning to allow businesses to reopen, owners are trying to decide how many people they can safely serve while maintaining social distancing. we're talking about restaurants, president trump commented on the dilemma facing restaurants just a little while ago. >> we had one restaurant owner come up to me and said sir, i'm going to be opening up but if i distance too much i have 50% of the restaurant i had. i said, and you'll al

omar jimenez live in milwaukee with the latest on this.t is remarkable in this time of social distancing to hear and see behind you people going to the polls. >> reporter: it really is, john. this came after a lot of debate, especially over the course of the past 24 hours. the polls here in wisconsin are open and there are people literally lined up at this polling location here, one of five locations in milwaukee, before polls opened, they were lined up along the side of this high school here and around the corner and up a little bit of the block nearby. so i mentioned there was a complicated debate to get to here. let's start with absentee ballots. there was a federal court order extending the amount of time the absentee ballots could be accepted through april 13th. then yesterday the u.s. supreme court ruled that those absentee ballots must be postmarked by today and received by april 13th. the reason that's important is there are over a million absentee ballots requested here in wisconsin so far, thousands of them have been requested, b

. >> reporter: i'm omar jimenez in chicago. is requesting more medical supplies from the federal government, supplies they say they are going to need, especially ventilators. governor j.b. pritzker says they've requested an additional 4,000 ventilators, but at this point, they've only received about 450 of them, and this comes as the state of illinois just saw its deadliest day yet due to coronavirus, as the death toll jumped by 26 and cases almost jumped by 1,000. in the words of governor pritzker, "we are going to run out of ventilators and the federal government really isn't helping at all." >> reporter: i'm dianne gallagher in atlanta, georgia. about one-third of the deaths in this state come from the small town of el benny where they have been hit hard, their county experiencing more than 30 deaths at this point. the governor saying that much of it able to stem right to a funeral that took place and just exploded from there. now the national guard has been called in to help this small town put together additional icus. the

. >> reporter: i'm omar jimenez in chicago.re reporting a sixth death at a chicagoland nursing facility. a few days ago we were reporting the first. not to mention more than 30 residents infected and at least 16 staff members. these are situations concerning for us. in outbreaks where practices like social distancing aren't as easily possible and these are the most concerning populations. those that are elderly and those are plea existing conditions. >>> i'm anita jones in new york. 13 veterans at a veterans home in massachusetts have died. six tested positive for coronavirus with test results still pending for several others. massachusetts governor charlie baker calling the deaths at soldiers home in holy oak, massachusetts, a gut wrenching nothing less than devastating for all of us. public health experts are conducting a thorough review of the health status of all residents and staff. >> reporter: i'm in atlanta. some encouraging news coming from a retirement community in louisiana called landis house. all residents who test

. >> i'm omar jimenez in chicago, officials are on the verge of getting operational a refrigerated warehousepotentially store bodies in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic. day one, they say they'll be able to receive 400 bodies. but their capacity will be well over 1500. it is a place they say they hope they don't have to use, but the reality is it is a place they're preparing to use. >> i'm erica hill in new york. just across the river in new jersey, governor murphy ordered all nonessential construction must cease by friday night. he has also said that all essential retail, this includes grocery stores and pharmacies must limit their occupancy to half of the approved capacity and all employees and customers must ware face coverings. he said all those stores need to offer special shopping hours for high risk individuals noting there is one set of rules for the state. >> i'm amara walker in atlanta. dr. deborah bicu birx is warnint the d.c. area is going to be a hot spot. dr. birx also says that the baltimore, washington, d.c. area is seeing a 15% positivity rate with 500 new cases per da

. >> reporter: i'm omar jimenez in chicago.here they're working on getting a refrigerated warehouse to potentially store bodies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. day one they say they will be able to receive about 400 bodies but by the time it is said and done the capacity will be over 1,500. a place they hope they don't have to use but the reality is it is a place they're preparing to use. >> so much for that. go hard, go early. that is the message from one world leader who has, it appears, managed to flatten the curve, get a handle on the coronavirus and do so with only one death so far. what new zealand mie-- prime minister has done. could it be a lesson for the world. ivan watson has more. >> reporter: in the midst of a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe, the leader of new zealand sounds a note of optimism. >> i'm cautiously optimistic that we're starting to turn a corner. >> reporter: since the beginning of the outbreak, new zealand hasowd fied more than 1,200 cases and suffered just one death. >> do you think new

we have ryan young in detroit, ed lavandera in new orleans, omar jimenez in chicago.nd athena jones back with us in new york city. ryan, first, to detroit, the numbers there as in so many other places remarkable, what do officials attribute this to? >> we know one of the things we have been talking about, jim, in ter terms of community leaders, a slow rollout in terms of the information, in terms of spreading throughout the community. a lot of people saw the internet and believed that the coronavirus could not be spread through the black community. there were other people who were worried about the older people in the community who had issues with heart disease, diabetes, and that's where we really saw this taking hold. in fact, we went to a funeral home on saturday, who told us basically they were at capacity already. they were worried about the spread, but unlike other cities, like chicago, where they have a database by zip code, we don't have that bit of information just yet in terms of what communities are being hit hard by zip code. we talked to doctors who say t

. >> reporter: i'm omar jimenez in chicago. 60% of the coronavirus deaths here have been black chicagoans more than 50% of the confirmed coronavirus cases in the city have been black chicagoans. despite just making up 30% of the total population. chicago mayor lori lightfoot said it tells a story of resource inequality and part of why their office and the department of public health put in place an order to enhance the medical data shared to include demographics, so we can more accurately trace the impact of the disease on those communities. >> reporter: i'm ry young in detroit. they don't believe we have peak numbers yet in michigan, but it's already reporting 40% of the deaths are african-americans. in the city of detroit, we don't have a breakdown by race just yet. we know the city will start passing out surgical masks to folks getting on buses over the next few days. >>> you're watching cnn special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. i'm anderson cooper. cautious optimism from the infectious disease experts and announce add shid a shift in th projections from the outbreak. could hav

omar jimenez joins again this morning in chicago. it is -- it just such a tragic reality. >> reporter: yeah, it is a grim new reality that cities across the country are now having to face. you mentioned the refrigerated warehouse acquired by chicago's cook county this week. and today that warehouse becomes operational. now, in total, once it is done, it has the capacity to store potentially more than 1500 bodies. the medical examiner's office gave us exclusive access to go inside the surge center as they call it, a place they expect to receive bodies within a matter of days as the chief medical examiner told us, they went from getting 10 to 20 bodies a week, just with weeks ago, now to about 40 a day, putting them very near capacity. >> this increase is occurring at a rapid pace. we expect to see hospitals, hospital morgues getting filled up, and we'll need to use refrigerated trailers to start moving patients to the center soon. >> reporter: and to be clear, this is a place that officials hope they never have to use. but it is a pla