Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
CNN/Facebook Global Town Hall; U.S. Moves to Implement Europe Travel Restrictions Friday; South Korea Aggressively Testing for Coronavirus; Answers to your Coronavirus Questions. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired March 12, 2020 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back. We're coming up on the top of the hour. This is a CNN Facebook global town hall. I'm Anderson Cooper, along with CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Remember, you can send your questions to us, go to CNN's Facebook page and you can leave a comment there on the top of the page. You can also go to CNN's Instagram page and leave a question. We want to hear from you. Do it in the story. We're talking about all aspects of the story tonight, and we're looking to our CNN correspondents who are joining us from all over the world.
COOPER: Yeah, and some of the top experts in the field, all around the world. It's a world increasingly isolated, especially after last night's presidential announcement of a travel ban affecting many European countries that are not the United Kingdom.
Just for perspective, they have seen plenty of cases, from 13 two weeks ago to 89 last week to at least 460 today. No deaths the prior two weeks, thankfully. Six this week. Crisis clearly growing there, as is the travel ban confusion.
CNN's Richard Quest is joining us from Heathrow Airport for us tonight outside London. So, Richard, the U.S. moving forward with these travel restrictions, starting tomorrow at midnight. So it's very confusing. What more are you able to tell us? What actually does this mean?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So let's break it down into who's affected and who's not. First of all, the countries affected, it's the Schengen countries. These are the European Union and Norway, et cetera, and Switzerland countries, that share an open border between each other, but not the United Kingdom and not Ireland, which are non-Schengen countries.
In terms of passengers who are affected, well, U.S. citizens will still be able to return to the United States from the Schengen area, as, indeed, will Green Card holders, spouses of them, et cetera, et cetera. There's a complicated list.
Thereafter, it gets very difficult for foreigners, for non-U.S. citizens, or Green Card holders to fly from the rest of Europe, if you'd like, to the United States. And that's why we've seen over the last 12 hours or so many U.S. airlines dramatically, dramatically cutting flights from the rest of Europe.
United-Lufthansa have been cutting flights. Delta, American, all of them, because there's simply not going to be the demand. And, Anderson, the corollary to that is that those flights over the next few days that are available are just jam-packed.
And one final thought. Flying from London to the United States next week or thereafter, the price has rocketed, because this is the best way back to the States, except, of course, if you've been in the rest of Europe.
COOPER: But so -- let me just be clear. If you're a British citizen or if you live in France or you live in Germany and you fly to London, can you fly to the United States and get in?
QUEST: No. Well, no, no, you can't. You cannot use London as a backdoor, because the -- the promulgation of the regulation says if you have been in the Schengen countries. So somebody who thinks a nifty little wheeze, I'll get the Eurostar from Paris to London and I'll hip on a plane back to the States is going to be met at the other side -- well, first of all, they will be screened here. Have you been?
Now, we don't know exactly what information-sharing there is. But you will risk making an error, making -- telling a false statement to immigration, and as you know, that has serious consequences and ramifications.
One final point -- or one other point is, from the rest of Europe, those aircraft will be going to special designated airports that have been handling, for example, China. They're all the usual suspects -- Kennedy, Newark, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco. So there won't be the same capacity across the Atlantic.
I want to put this in perspective, by the way. IATA, which is the aviation and airline organization, IATA says that there's 200,000 flights between Schengen and the U.S. every year. It's $46 billion worth. Sorry, $26 billion worth of business that's now very seriously in trouble.
GUPTA: Richard, it's Sanjay. Just -- you may have said this, but I just want to be clear. So U.S. citizens who are currently in the U.K. -- in Europe, rather, who are flying back to the States, they're allowed to come back, but what is the process like? Will there be a mandatory quarantine for them? Or what happens?
QUEST: That is unclear. Very unclear. So the non-U.S. don't even get on the plane. OK, they are barred. The U.S. will go to these special -- these special airports and will follow, Sanjay, the same procedures as was introduced by -- for China, Italy, and others.
But it is unclear, at least from our understanding of the rules at the moment, exactly whether they are required to go immediately into self- isolation or whether there's going to be some other form of isolation. Or whether it's sort of a hodgepodge, have you got symptoms?
So U.S. -- so U.S. -- and by that I mean Green Card holders and spouses and the like -- as for everybody else, it's a no-go from Europe. And if you do fly, it's to a specialized -- it's a mess. There's no getting over it.
[23:05:00]
I mean, we're talking about millions of people that would normally make this trip. We're talking about the two continents being completely cut off to some extent by sheer confusion.
And European governments are seething, absolutely blisteringly seething that. First of all, they say, the situation doesn't merit it. And, secondly, they weren't even consulted.
GUPTA: Blindsided.
COOPER: And as you said, those flights that are continuing to the United States are going to be jam-packed. So anybody who may -- you know, the last thing you want is be squeezed in coach next to three other people at a time like this.
QUEST: There's no -- look, there's no question that -- if you look -- look, it comes in tonight. You've got 12 hours, 24 hours, whatever, the planes start flying here in -- it's 3 o'clock in the morning here. The planes start flying in about three hours. Same in Europe on the continent, as we say.
They will be packed as of midnight on Friday. The curtain comes down. The number of flights will be cut. And if you really want to see the economic damage, Norwegian, which is a low-cost carrier you'll be well familiar with in the United States, as well, is slashing 40 percent of its routes and says it will lay off or could lay off up to 50 percent of its staff. So the airline industry is on its knees as a result of all of this.
GUPTA: Amazing.
COOPER: Wow. I'm trying to figure out what a nifty little wheeze is, but that's for another time, Richard. Richard Quest...
GUPTA: Next town hall.
COOPER: Thank you -- next town hall, we'll have a whole town hall about Richard's expressions.
Now, South Korea, where we've seen massive testing in the face of the outbreak and what could be a measure of success in flattening the curve, but it's been a difficult several weeks to say the least, more than 1,700 cases, 13 deaths, two weeks ago, a week ago, that rose to 5,700 cases, 35 deaths. This week, nearly 7,900 cases, 66 people died.
Joining us now from Seoul, CNN's Paula Hancocks.
Paula, South Korea has been dealing with one of the largest outbreaks so far. What measures are in place right now? What is daily life like for people?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, testing really has been key here in South Korea. Since this started, there's been almost a quarter of a million people in this country that have been tested. And that's far more than most other countries around the world.
And what they are starting to see is that over the last week, the number of new cases every day has been decreasing. They still have new cases, but it does appear, at least at this point, to be some kind of a slowdown. I spoke to the health minister earlier this week. And he said that he was hoping that we have seen the peek.
And I also asked him, because South Korea has been dealing with this for months now. What was the advice to give to the U.S., to give to Europe, to those countries who are now starting to have to grapple with this? And he said testing. Early detection is absolutely vital when it comes to -- to trying to stem the spread of this virus, to trying to -- to calm down some regional outbreaks and clusters, which South Korea has had an issue with.
And he said also it's important to try and allocate the medical resources correctly. Not everybody needs hospitalization. In fact, in South Korea, only 10 percent of those who tested positive actually stayed in hospital at all. So he said that that was key, as well. But he kept coming back to the fact that you need that early detection and you need more testing.
GUPTA: I think South Korea, Paula, has been sort of held up as a model as far as testing goes. But I'm curious, what have been some of the other challenges to the response?
HANCOCKS: Well, certainly one of the issues that South Korea has is the clusters that have come really seemingly from nowhere. In the southeast of the country, there was a massive cluster linked to one particular religious group. Close to 60 percent of cases at one point were linked directly to that one religious group.
And officials have questioned that religious group, have said they hampered the effort, the fact that they have been secretive, they weren't giving the list of their members openly and quickly. And so that's really been one of the main issues.
We just had a cluster in the past few days here in the capital, as well, of Seoul, where there's been more than 100 people in a call center that have tested positive. But what officials have done is they have shut down the building, they've quarantined everyone, and they're testing everyone within the building to try and to stem that and doing the contact testing.
But what it does show is that no matter how efficient the health system in the country, no matter how quick the government is to react, it is key that citizens are honest and cooperating. Otherwise, all the best intentions of a health system can be undermined, as they were here in South Korea.
GUPTA: That's a good point.
COOPER: Yeah, Paula Hancocks in Seoul, thanks very much. Just looking at some of the questions on our Facebook wall, a lot of people leaving messages. Hunter Lee (ph) asked, since we don't have enough testing, how do we know how many people actually have the virus in America? The answer is we don't.
GUPTA: We don't. And the projections could be, it could be 5 to 10, you know, 15, 20 times higher. We just don't know yet.
[23:10:00]
COOPER: Yes. Joining us right now from Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove. She's the World Health Organization's technical lead for coronavirus response.
Doctor, thanks so much for being with us. Just globally speaking, where do things stand, in your view, on containing this virus? It seems like numbers coming out of China seem to have stabilized. Is that -- do you believe that's true? What are you seeing globally?
DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, TECHNICAL LEAD FOR CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: So, thanks for having me again. Yes, so what we're seeing globally is, in general, we're seeing a decrease in cases across Asia. And that's led by a decrease in China, as you've seen.
The reason we believe that that is real is because there is a lot of testing that's happening in China, not only among cases and contacts, but also looking in their respiratory disease surveillance systems. And so, it's declining in Wuhan, in the epicenter of this outbreak, in Hubei itself. And I think yesterday there were only 26 cases reported in China overall.
But we're also seeing a decrease in Korea, as you've just heard from your correspondent. And we've seen decreases in Singapore.
The worrying trend now are increases in Europe. We are seeing large increases in a number of countries across Europe. And that is definitely a worry. But as you know, the more you test, the more you're going to find. So it is very important that testing continues and that all cases and contacts are tested.
GUPTA: Yes, Doctor, it's a new world, I think, for a lot of people understanding how best to sort of slow the spread of this virus. And something your organization has said is that all countries must strike this balance between protecting health, minimizing economic and social disruption, and respecting human rights. So what work do you think still needs to be done to really strike that balance?
VAN KERKHOVE: So, thanks for that question. We feel very strongly that what has been demonstrated in a number of countries of reducing transmission can be done elsewhere. And what that means is ensuring that aggressive -- there's an aggressive and a comprehensive approach by all people, by governments, that really attempt to find all cases, find all contacts, care for them, making sure that they get the right standard of care, either in hospital -- and, as you know, not everybody will require hospitalization. Some people will develop severe disease. And it's important that they get the right care.
But then making sure that contacts are isolated, are in quarantine, so that we remove them from other people so that they don't pass that onwards. But if you do that, you have to make sure that they're cared for, as well, that they have the right information, that they have food, that they have medical care, that they can still reach their loved ones. So there is a balance between separating people, you know, making sure that we don't pass the virus between people, but also making them feel connected with their loved ones.
COOPER: It's interesting. You've been obviously monitoring this longer than a lot of folks in the United States have. It's been on the World Health Organization's radar, obviously, since what's happened in China.
You know best-case practices. You know what works to contain this. What is the U.S. not doing that we should be doing, whether it's communities, leaders, whatever the case may be? We heard from our correspondent in China who was saying that folks in Wuhan see in the U.S. Americans in New York still going to gyms and can't believe that people are still doing that.
What should the U.S. be doing that we're not doing right now or that we need to ramp up more?
VAN KERKHOVE: Well, what I can tell you is what we know works. And what we know works is finding cases, finding contacts. We know that social distancing works, keeping people separated from one another. We know that, if you're sick, if you're feeling unwell, you stay home. That's really key.
We know that restricting your own movement, we know that, you know, if you can work from home, work from home. We have seen in several countries where they have shut down gyms, they have shut down social gatherings, and that does work. But it's important for everyone to know that it is going to be difficult for some time, that there are measures that need to be put in place. But these measures are temporary.
You know, all of these measures that are put in place may seem aggressive, may seem over the top, but we know that if you can separate people, then you restrict the possibility of this virus from passing from one person to another.
We know that activating your emergency response and activating your emergency mechanisms, making sure that governments -- not only from the health side, but that you're working with the finance side, you're working with the travel and tourism industry, you're working with businesses, this is an all-societal approach. This is an all- government approach.
And the last thing that we know works is mobilizing your public, so making sure that every single person knows what their responsibility is, making sure every single person knows that the signs and symptoms are fever and dry cough. It's not a runny nose. You know, there are things that people need to know. [23:15:00]
What is my individual risk?
GUPTA: Right.
VAN KERKHOVE: What are the things that I need to do to protect myself and my family? And if you have that, then you have an entire population that can fight this virus.
GUPTA: Doctor, we just got a pretty clear description of what this travel ban looks like now from Europe to the United States. Is that going to work? Is that an effective strategy do you think?
VAN KERKHOVE: Well, I've just heard about this yesterday. And we know that there are many countries that are putting in travel bans. What we know, this virus is circulating. You know, this virus is -- has been identified on all continents. And so, having what we know will work is not necessarily stopping flights because this virus has already circulated.
What we know works is testing. We know that you have to be aggressive in finding your cases and your contacts wherever they may be. And so, increasing -- making sure that your testing capacity has increased, making sure that the people that do need to be tested are, that's what works.
The other thing that's going to work and is going to help people and save lives are readying your hospitals. So, if hospitals are not ready, they're going to be very quickly overwhelmed. And it's important that hospitals have the right supplies, that health care workers are trained in infection prevention and control measures, they're trained in what they can do to help patients who come in.
Making sure that you have enough of a work force so that people aren't working too long hours, that they -- health care workers themselves get a break. These are the types of things that governments, countries, all countries should be doing. Ready your health care system. Get your supplies ready. Increase your testing. Train your health care workers.
COOPER: We've got a lot questions from viewers all over the globe. This is video from Joseph Cook in Sacramento, California, who has a question.
Joseph?
JOSEPH COOK, ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER: A paper -- research paper is recently published by Chinese researchers that indicated that there are two types of the coronavirus. A type L and a type S, with the S- type being the ancestral strain that is much less aggressive than the L-type of coronavirus.
I was wondering, what are the implications of that?
COOPER: Doctor?
VAN KERKHOVE: So -- yes, so there's a large number of virologists all over the world that are looking at these viruses that are identified in different countries. So very early on we know that there are different groupings of these viruses. And that was just mentioned in the question.
There's no indication that there are differences in terms of virulence based on those different groupings. This is a virus and there are normal changes that happen in a virus over time. But this virus is relatively stable. So, so far, there's no differences in the groupings as it relates to severity.
COOPER: We have got a question from Edward in England. He writes: "How many people worldwide have actually recovered from the coronavirus?"
VAN KERKHOVE: Well, that's a very good question. I don't know the -- I don't have the exact answer on that. I do know in China that it's more than 60,000 people who have recovered. It's probably even higher than that. I think that number was from a few days ago.
But that's a good point. So everyone that is infected with this virus -- not everyone that's infected with this virus will have a severe disease. What we understand from the data coming from China is about 80 percent of people overall will have a mild form of this disease. They'll feel unwell for some time, for a week or two. But about 20 percent of people that get infected will require some advanced care in hospital. They'll need some respiratory support. And then a small proportion of people will die.
But so far we're trying to keep track of the numbers of all of the recoveries globally, because this is a very important number. We need to follow people, you know, through the course of their disease, and follow them after they recover to make sure that they are doing well. But at least 60,000 people have recovered.
GUPTA: You know, one of the things I think is worth drilling down on a little bit, 80 percent we hear will have sort mild disease, Doctor. But, you know, when I read the studies out of China, I just want to be clear on what "mild" disease means. Because when I read the studies it looked like people within that 80 percent still could have pneumonia, still could have lung-scarring, you know, significant things.
VAN KERKHOVE: Yes. You're right. It's not just, you know, a few days at home feeling unwell. About 40 percent of people will have a relatively mild disease. And we mean that in the sense where they will feel unwell. They'll have a fever. They'll have some respiratory symptoms. They'll have some aches and pains, maybe headache.
But then there are another 40 percent that will develop pneumonia, or a mild form of pneumonia. And I know that doesn't sound very mild, but will not require oxygen, will not require respiratory support.
COOPER: This is a video question send via Facebook from Carol. Let's take a look.
[23:20:00] CAROL BALTS KLABUNDE, CANCER SURVIVOR: I've had cancer. And I'm wondering if there's anything specifically that cancer patients should be watching for? And if we should check with our doctors earlier, what kind of symptoms to look for?
COOPER: Doctor, I don't know if you could see Carol, but she's...
VAN KERKHOVE: I did hear that clearly but...
COOPER: She's -- I don't know what her age is, but I would say...
GUPTA: Elderly.
COOPER: Elderly, late 60s, early 70s, perhaps. And she said she had cancer.
VAN KERKHOVE: OK. So, yes, so we do know that there are individuals who are more at-risk for severe disease and death. And these are individuals who have underlying conditions such as cancer, such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes. And so, these are individuals, because of their underlying conditions, may be more likely or are more likely to develop a severe illness and die.
So it is important that people that do have those underlying conditions do talk to their doctors, especially if they are older, if they are above age 60, 70, 80 years old. Speak to your doctor. Talk to them about, you know, what your individual risk may be. And make sure that you take the right approach, you know, in terms of, if you are developing symptoms, call them early. Don't hesitate to call your doctor and get questions.
One of the things we want people to know is to be informed, making sure that they know themselves what to look out for. So looking out for fever, respiratory disease, call your doctor. If you have shortness of breath, if you have difficulty breathing, make sure you call your doctor right away, and call ahead before you go in to see them.
But if you have shortness of breath it's important to go in and see a doctor right away.
GUPTA: Doctor, you know, one of the things -- you know, a lot of what we base our knowledge of this novel coronavirus is data that's coming out of China, some of these large studies out of China. And I'm just curious, you know, in the past obviously there has been situations where there has been concerns about transparency, going back to even the SARS epidemic 17, 18 years ago.
What is the World Health Organization sort of -- how do they evaluate this data coming out of China? Is there cause for concern or a lack of transparency?
VAN KERKHOVE: So we are looking for evidence and data on the coronavirus from every country that is dealing with this virus. We are working with all of our member states to make sure the data that is captured by the country is shared with us, and not only shared with us but shared with the global community.
We were very hard on China in the beginning, as with all countries, because with a novel virus it means we don't know much about it. And so, anything that we can learn about this virus needs to be shared not only amongst Chinese citizens but to the rest of the world so that we can build the best approach in terms of battling this virus.
And so, there's a lot of information that has come out of there. You've seen papers that have come out of there. I spent two weeks in China with a mission, a WHO-China joint mission where we worked with Chinese scientists to see what information was there and how that information could be used.
We published a report that's online which has been shared with the world. But now we're working also with a number of other countries. The data coming out of Korea, there are some papers that have come out of Korea recently. There are papers and reports that are coming out of Italy. And we want to see all of this -- all of these analysis be put forward so that we can see, are there differences happening in different countries in terms of the way the virus is behaving? We don't believe so but need evidence to be able to show that.
So, we are an evidence-based organization. And it's important that all of this evidence is shared so that we have the best approach to tackle this virus.
COOPER: I just saw on our Facebook wall a question that came in from a woman named Misty O'Brien (ph) who says, is this like one and done? If you get infected and you get over it, can you then get re-infected or is it like having the flu in a season, you're done for the season?
VAN KERKHOVE: So that's a good question too. So the answer is, we don't know yet. What we are looking at and what scientists are looking at is to see an immune response amongst individuals who are infected with this virus. We don't have robust data on this yet. What could happen is that when someone gets infected that they develop an immune and antibody response. And that that could provide some protection going forward. We don't have data to be able to say whether this is possible or not.
But these studies are ongoing now across a number of countries. So, we'll have to get back to you on that when we have some data.
COOPER: All right. Dr. Van Kerkhove, thank you so much. Really great information. I really appreciate it. So important to get factual information right now. Thank you. Dr. Kerkhove from the World Health Organization.
Coming up next, we're going to check in with a coronavirus patient who we spoke to last week, see how he is doing. He has been in quarantine, as our CNN/FACEBOOK TOWNHALL continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:28:38] COOPER: Back with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Lena Nguyen (ph). We're going to take more of your questions coming up. But first, an update on someone we spoke with last week on this townhall. His name is Carl Goldman. He joins us once again tonight.
Carl, at this point how long have you now been in quarantine and how are you feeling? You look much better, I have got to say.
CARL GOLDMAN, CONTRACTED CORONAVIRUS ABOARD DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP: Thank you. I feel a lot better. I have been in quarantine, actually, counting (ph) the Diamond Princess, since February 4th. And then I arrived here on February 17th, here being Omaha, first put in the biocontainment center and in that room for 10 days. And now I have been here waiting for my body to shed itself of the virus in a lower level of care.
It's -- I'm still locked up, can't go outside, can't open a window. But here I sit one day at a time. Now, if I could be anywhere in the entire world, it's being here in Omaha. And the doctors have just been unbelievable, the full medical team here. This is the one of the top facilities in the entire country. They are doing some clinical studies on me as well. Everything is very high-tech.
But I laugh because my doctor now opens the door, I have been writing a blog on our radio station's Web site, hometownstation.com (ph), writing that the grim reaper approaches each time I take a test and come out positive.
[23:30:00]
So now he announces himself as the grim reaper, in this high-tech place, he is handing me a Post-It note with my results.
So that's what's happening here in Omaha.
Unfortunately, I'm positive once again.
COOPER: You were retested today, is that right?
GOLDMAN: Correct, I was retested today. It still came out positive. So it's been a long time, far, far more than the 14 days. In fact, it's coming up now on about 28 days since I first contacted -- first came down with the virus.
They are -- and I'm not the only one. There's a bunch of us from the Diamond Princess here and also at Travis Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base, that are still in the same boat I'm in.
One of the theories may be that we have dead cells in there from the virus and still testing positive. So the CDC is going to take a sample of ours in the next day or two, take it back to Atlanta and put it -- and grow it in a culture as a different type of test, to see how it compares to the tests we have been getting here.
GUPTA: I've got to say, you're so gracious about your time in the hospital. I don't think I've ever heard someone describe it like that. So good for you.
But you're, sort of, giving us an idea of the protocol here. I think Dr. Fauci said you had to have two negative tests, ultimately? I mean, is that the case for you?
And, I mean, are you...
GOLDMAN: Actually, here in Omaha they are requiring three negative tests in a row. They're being a lot more conservative than some of the other places in the country.
And the tests are done with a swab that goes deep up each nostril for about five seconds and then down the throat, although they're finding the nostril one seems to be much more accurate so they're heading toward just the nostrils for a while.
My clinical study gives me the addition -- and that's not going help me at all. Hopefully, it will give some answers. So I'm getting a lot of blood tests and then I get swabs under each eyelid for five seconds and then one up my rear end. So I'm taking one for the -- for the team.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Mr. Goldman, I really appreciate you talking to us. We want to keep checking in with you. I hope you -- you get better and get all clear tests so you can come out. I know your wife is holding down the fort for you back at home.
Thank you very much. We wish you the best.
I want to also bring back in Doctor Wen...
GOLDMAN: It's so weird...
COOPER: Oh, sorry.
GOLDMAN: ... that my wife never picked up the virus.
COOPER: Well, that's -- that's a small blessing in all of this, certainly, a great blessing.
Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Back now with -- with Dr. Wen, some more questions.
We've got a video question sent in via Instagram from a viewer in New Delhi in India. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: My question for you is that I'm taking a direct flight from Delhi to New York City on Tuesday. Is that a good idea?
And also, what can I expect when I land at JFK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEN: Really good questions. And I know that the CDC has come out with guidance, saying that those who are older, who have chronic medical conditions should avoid these long-haul flights.
And I don't know what the questioner, what other medical conditions she might have. But i think, for everyone who's abroad, it's a question of what else is going on in their lives, as in, if their whole families are here and if their medical care is in the U.S., even if they have these chronic medical conditions, they may still want to fly back and be with their families.
COOPER: It's also -- for travel stuff, it's not just the question of, you know, is this safe for me to fly, if by flying, am I endangering anybody else, it's also just logistically might I get caught somewhere that suddenly goes into lockdown and then I can't get back to my home country or I can't get back to my -- you know, to the country I work in?
So it's not just a health question, although that's obviously the most important thing. It's also a logistics question. You don't want to get caught some place where you then can't get back.
WEN: That's right. And if you may need medications when you're abroad; if you may need medical care; also, what happens if you're somewhere else and you decide that you're going to stay there for months? You may not be able to get back at that point.
GUPTA: Yeah, I think this is a really important point. Because even as we talk about these mass gatherings and things like that, I mean, obviously, health is the -- the number one concern here.
But if you end up at one of these mass gatherings, whatever it might be, a conference or something like that, and someone subsequently tests positive there, you might get wrapped up into, now, a significant contact tracing. If you had direct contact with that person, you may need to be quarantined, or isolated within your home for a period of time.
So all of that -- you know, it's not just the medical. It's the social part of this as well.
COOPER: By the way, just on -- you know, we saw the picture of the president next to the -- I think it was the chief of staff of Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil. And that man has now tested positive for the coronavirus, from all the reporting. And the picture was taken at Mar-a-Lago.
Is there -- I mean, shouldn't the president be tested?
[23:35:00]
WEN: I think the president should be worried, yeah.
COOPER: I mean, if he wasn't the president, just if --
WEN: Right.
COOPER: -- this was a CEO of a company with somebody, an employee, who they were meeting with, you would -- I would think, just for contact tracing, they would be tested.
GUPTA: So -- so it was the person who he met with did test positive? Is that what you said?
COOPER: Yeah, that's as -- yeah.
GUPTA: That was the original thing?
COOPER: Yeah, and then, in fact, Bolsonaro is now, you know, being monitored.
GUPTA: Right, right.
WEN: Yeah. I mean, if, in public health, contact tracing -- we would be tracing the contacts of each person that they -- that they met and that they had face-to-face contact with. And so the president would be one of those individuals that would certainly be asked to monitor his symptoms and I would imagine to be tested, too.
And he should be tested regardless of whether he's the president. He should be tested because that's the normal procedure.
GUPTA: So before, when he met with the congressman who had been in contact with someone who tested positive, that was different. But now, because he came in direct contact with someone who tested positive --
COOPER: Who tested positive.
GUPTA: -- that changes the equation.
COOPER: I want to check in with CNN's Jason Carroll. The questioner in India, in New Delhi, was asking about what happens at the airport when she arrives. What can she expect? It's a good question. And there's been conflicting reports about this.
CNN's Jason Carroll is at New York's Kennedy Airport.
Jason, what could she expect? Do we know?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it really much depends on what your status is and where you're coming from. I mean, look, if you are a U.S. citizen or you have a green card and it turns out that you visited one of these 26 European questions -- countries -- within the past 14 days, you will be allowed into the United States.
But, look, if you're a foreign national and you visited one of these European countries in the past 14 days, then you will not be allowed into the United States, full stop.
Now, having said that, tonight, Anderson, I have spoken to a number of travelers out here, U.S. citizens who were in Europe. And they said, "Look, that just simply was not made clear." Story after story from people who canceled tickets, bought new tickets to try to get here ahead of that Friday midnight deadline tomorrow.
So a lot of confusion. One man simply put it this way. He said, once he found out, U.S. citizen in Europe, he said he freaked out, got a ticket and got here as soon as he could.
So a lot of frustration. But, as for that Indian viewer with that question, should be allowed into the united states. However, if that person has visited any of those 26 European countries within the past 14 days, she should seek other travel plans. Anderson?
COOPER: We have an online submission from Maura in Washington state.
Maura writes, "Why hasn't the Life Care Center in Washington been evacuated? It has the most deaths of anywhere in the U.S., yet people are still living and working there. Shouldn't the patients be repatriated to local hospitals where they can be properly treated and isolated and shouldn't the staff be self-quarantined? It appears as if the government is just leaving these people to die."
GUPTA: This is a tough question. And, you know, obviously these types of situations may come up again because this is where these vulnerable populations live.
But, you know -- and Dr. Wen and I were talking about this before. Unlike school closings, where, you know, there is some place clear for the kids, the students to go, it's challenging with extended care facilities. You've got to really understand what is the next plan; what -- how do you -- what do you decide?
COOPER: So there's the question of, medically, is taking somebody to a hospital, does that make sense, the -- the risk of moving them?
GUPTA: That's right, the risk of moving them, the amount of resources that it takes at the hospital. Can you provide that same sort of care?
I understand what has happened there. But can you disinfect, clean that area, reduce the risk and still provide care there?
My guess is that might be a -- a -- you know, a more desirable option, if it's possible.
COOPER: There are a lot of -- I mean, in Italy, they're already talking about making difficult decisions, doctors...
GUPTA: Yeah.
COOPER: I do want to check in with Sara Sidner, who's standing by at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington.
Sara, has there been any talk about that, about why the folks there, many of whom haven't even been tested, or at least as of yesterday that was the case, why they're still there?
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, it's a great question, Anderson. We have asked the CDC; we have asked the state health department. We've asked the local health department, as well the county health department. And we asked a representative from the Life Care Center here, the nursing home here that now has 22 deaths associated with coronavirus that are linked to this facility.
The Life Care Center answered it this way. Number one, the reason is, that this nursing facility didn't evacuate and just move patients out and get rid of the staff was there was no one that was willing to take these patients.
And what had really become a petri dish of the coronavirus here. The center said hospitals absolutely did not want these patients unless they had very acute and severe life-threatening symptoms because of course the hospitals didn't want to infect anyone else who was already sick in the hospital.
Other nursing home facilities would not take these patients. Families could not care for their medical needs.
[23:40:00]
That's why they're here at the facility in the first place.
And on top of that, with some of the -- the patients testing positive for coronavirus, they didn't want to infect their families and their communities. There was nowhere else, really, for these patients to go.
But I do want to mention this. One of the heartbreaking things here for a lot of people is we are watching people walk up to these windows and talk to their parents through a window, unable to touch them, unable to comfort them with their touch. It's been really, really difficult for these families who have family members, moms, dads, grandparents, inside of this facility.
COOPER: Just awful.
Yeah. Sara Sidner, I'm glad you're there. Thank you very much.
And, Dr. Wen, thank you so much for being with us on this. Really appreciate it. It's great advice.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COOPER: More questions answered by our experts and more on U.S. preparation efforts, when this CNN/Facebook Global Town Hall continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: More to cover now in our CNN/Facebook global town hall. And we've been partnering with Facebook on this, getting a lot of questions on Facebook, also on Instagram as well.
One aspect of any crisis is how public officials communicate with the public. And in this crisis, we have already learned it can be vital. The president has said a lot of stuff that frankly isn't true. Thankfully, there's a coronavirus task force which has been more fact- based, and that's -- facts are critical.
Joining us right now is Juliette Kayyem, former assistant secretary for homeland security. She's currently a CNN national security analyst.
[23:45:00]
In your world, what has been going on today?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So today was a big day. And we had anticipated a day like today, which is when containment no longer was viable. You just knew that you had, you know, sort of community contagion, so to speak.
And governors and mayors I think sort of woke up to the reality or fear that the demand would hit capacity relatively soon. So shut it down. That's what they did, they shut it down. So you could extend the runway, preserve health resources.
COOPER: When you say shut it down, meetings, things like that?
KAYYEM: That's -- meetings, everything.
COOPER: But in New York, there's a move right now to try to pressure the -- there are some advocacy groups who are trying to pressure the mayor to institute more social distancing in public areas, gyms, et cetera.
KAYYEM: I defer to -- yeah, I mean, I defer to the doctors on this, but you want to have a staged isolation or social isolation program. You don't want to go to quarantine immediately. First of all, because we don't have that many deaths. We need to pace this out, extend the runway.
But we have to tell people honestly, if you -- you know, if you flatten the curve, you're extending the runway. So this could be...
COOPER: You're talking about flattening the curve. People don't know what that means.
KAYYEM: You just don't want to hit capacity for our health -- for our hospitals and health workers. You want to make sure that if people get sick with this disease, they get sick over time. And the fear that I think a lot of governors and mayors were worried about was that you just had massive -- you're going to have a massive demand relatively soon.
This gets back to the kits issue. Everything -- it's the original sin.
COOPER: The testing kits.
KAYYEM: Yeah, it's the original sin, I mean, because if you're a governor or a mayor, a planner, like me, I don't know what my number is. So I have to plan around a worst-case scenario.
COOPER: Because you don't have testing kits, you don't know...
KAYYEM: I don't know what my denominator is. I don't know -- like, you know, are 10 people dying out of 10? Or are 10 people dying out of 10,000? That's a very different number for a planner. So it goes back to that number. They don't have a reliable number. And so they're getting to -- what seems to the public very extreme measures very quickly, because they have to plan -- they have to plan for the worst and then you sort of work for the best.
GUPTA: I'm going to have to assume, I think, that it's much higher than what we think...
KAYYEM: Than the flu. I mean, no number I've seen is close to the flu, 0.5 to 3.5.
GUPTA: You know, I'm curious, because you were there during Ebola, as well.
KAYYEM: No, I was there during H1N1.
GUPTA: You were there during H1N1. But -- OK, that was 2009. Ebola, 2014. How has this response been? I mean, you know, we see significant changes all of a sudden. It's not sort of, you know, incremental. There's a shift all of a sudden.
KAYYEM: Yeah.
GUPTA: Was the same thing happening during these periods?
KAYYEM: No. I mean, you had very localized individual fears with Ebola, just a certain handful of people. H1N1 you had a much more border state focused fear, because it was coming from Mexico, essentially, so that once we got the vaccine, you could just essentially send it to the right state.
So you didn't have this -- I'd say nationwide social distancing. And I think that's what's nerve-wracking for the governors and mayors that I talk to. When they think about their Plan B, so they're planning for the worst, right? Often their Plan B is, oh, if I'm Louisiana, I'll call Mississippi. You know, if I've had a hurricane, I'll ask Mississippi for their National Guard or their assets.
When you have 50 states dealing with the potential that they don't have any surge capacity, this is when, you know, sort of federal -- you know, federal assets and gaming come in, right? That's what we're thinking about.
COOPER: Juliette Kayyem, appreciate it.
KAYYEM: Always good news.
COOPER: Yeah, wow, yeah.
GUPTA: Good to see.
COOPER: But information, facts is good. Straight ahead, the physical toll of coronavirus is one thing, but what about the mental health effects? We'll discuss when our CNN/Facebook Global Town Hall continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:52:15]
COOPER: Questions continue to come in to our CNN Facebook global town hall. We spoke about this in particular before the break, and we're all now seeing the effects, the social distancing, big changes in our everyday lives, in where we go, what we do, how we go about day-to-day life, really.
Right now, we want to look closer at the stress that can come with it. Joining us is Dr. Christine Moutier, a psychiatrist who we've often turned to in difficult situations before.
There's a lot of fear out there. And it's understandable. It's not something like you can just say, oh, there's no reason to not be concerned. To me, what's empowering is that there are things we can do that can actually bring us closer together as a community while we are social distancing, which is looking out for one another and looking after our own health and washing our hands and being responsible.
DR. CHRISTINE MOUTIER, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: Exactly right, Anderson. It's -- when we look at the data in actually past events, what we see is that during times of stress, even wartime or natural disasters, there is a tendency -- we're social creatures. We come together and that can introduce an incredibly protective effect.
Now, because this has this social distancing piece and the infectious disease contagion piece to it, I think we have to really think thoughtfully about, are we connecting with our loved ones? Are we checking in? Are we using technology if we need to? This is a time when we really can use that for good.
GUPTA: You know, there are so many questions coming in on Facebook about this. And to sort of summarize them, I mean, there's something that's happening, obviously, with regard to this virus, and it's, you know, a potentially problematic virus for a significant percentage of the population. That is true.
MOUTIER: Yes.
GUPTA: But how do you convey that honesty while also trying to allay, you know, the anxiety that comes with it? I mean, they're opposing forces in some ways, it seems.
MOUTIER: That's right. I think it's such sort of a challenge and an exercise in managing uncertainty, because you look at it and you try to gauge, should I be incredibly concerned? Is this life-threatening? Or is this simply a new and unfamiliar threat which always will have an exaggerated sort of anxiety and stress response?
We live with risk and health threats every day. And we have an incredible ability actually to cope with that, you know, to make rational choices about how we manage all of that and take care of our health.
I mean, the other thing that I think is really important about this issue of that tension of uncertainty and the anxiety that it creates is that -- remember that the brain is a part of our body. And so taking care of our stress, our mental health, our well-being, staying connected to ourselves and being centered and encouraging others to do the same, and really connecting, is actually a way to boost your immune system. The brain is connected to the body in that way.
GUPTA: Yeah.
COOPER: It's also to me -- what makes me feel better is, you know, we have been to places where societies have fallen apart. I spent time in Sarajevo during the war in Bosnia, Rwanda and the genocide. This is not that. This is not -- the water is not going to shut down. The electricity is not going to go off. The grid is not going to go offline.
People will die. People will get sick. The vast majority will recover and it won't be, you know, a deadly illness. And we know how to treat this. It's just -- it's going to be unpleasant, uncomfortable, difficult, but it is not an alien life form coming from another planet that is going to destroy the universe. I mean, it's something that is manageable and doctors know how to deal with it. It's going to be tough, but we'll get through that.
MOUTIER: Yes. I think that's exactly right. And having that grounded reminder in what it is and what it isn't, and reminding the youth in our lives about that, as well, that's very important.
You know, I think that will help counter the sort of day-to-day changes of the impact that it is having. I think that disruption in routine and that sense of uncertainty is just elevating anxiety. And, you know, for people who have mental health conditions, it's all the more important to really go into a very proactive mode about managing mental health and well-being.
GUPTA: One of the things I was saying today -- we were saying, social distancing does not have to mean social isolation. In fact, it could mean the opposite. You know, reach out more. I've been reaching out to my parents a lot, worried about them, feeling that they're disconnected. So it's something we can all do.
COOPER: In something like this, people do come together, even if it's not a physical coming together. It's checking in with people. And we are all in this together. And there really is a community in that, and that can be a beautiful thing.
MOUTIER: That's exactly right. And I just want to say that when you check in with your loved one and you take the time to listen to what their concerns really are, what's on their mind, there is -- we underestimate the power that comes with that level of processing, both for us and for the -- for our loved one. So it's absolutely a time to do that.
COOPER: Dr. Christine Moutier, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
I want to thank all our guests and all those who asked questions on Facebook, on Instagram, everyone at Facebook and Instagram for partnering with us. Thanks to everyone for watching this CNN/Facebook Global Town Hall. We'll keep doing these. The news continues here on CNN.
