Coronavirus: America's Reckoning

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is a moment that is going to change this nation this is a moment that forges character [Music] 9/11 was nothing compared to this and people come in I get intubated they die the cycle repeats we are New York tough we are tough you have to be tough this place makes you tough we're going to overcome this and America will be the grater for it tine square normally a manic mass of people now almost totally devoid of them this is a city many of us feel we know the one that never sleeps and now look at it once again it is ground zero [Music] [Applause] this is going to be weeks and weeks and weeks this is going to be a long day and it's going to be a hard day and it's going to be an ugly day and it's going to be a sad day this is a rescue mission that you're on the mission is to save lives Elmhurst Hospital in Queens the site of an apocalyptic surge in one of New York's poorest neighborhoods bleak long lines of the sick waiting to be tested a virus already out of control and a country the most powerful on earth overwhelmed America went from just 15 cases of corona virus in the last week of February to having the world's highest number of deaths now tens of thousands of people we saw that disaster unfold on the front line [Music] it was a journey that started in New Rochelle a suburb of New York where a synagogue was at the center of an ominous outbreak [Music] the National Guard deployed a containment zone established but it didn't stop spring breakers weeks later flooding Florida's beaches now it's the horrifying numbers of the hungry that fill our screens millions out of work and in search of a meal the specter of a 21st century Great Depression [Music] there's no magic bullet there's no magic vaccine or therapy it's just behaviors each of our behavior is translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic in the next several days to a week or so we're gonna continue to see things go up the next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment it's going to be our 9/11 moment it's going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire life how quick and stark it was being Congress sight of a field hospital in Central Park a tourist hotspot now called the hot zone at the start hospitals couldn't find enough space for the sick the city still can't find it for the dead it's helped biblical I kid you not [Music] the rest three years he respond we're on shift with captain AJ Briones in Yonkers he's a paramedic working seven days a week and it's nonstop everybody calls us the frontline but we're really we're the last one so money somebody who's really sick you have to get there as quick as you can but you also want to be safe thing that we talk about is we're not on one there is no not one two three larry temple AJ's team is getting three times the usual number of call-outs because of coronavirus these days they're the first and sometimes the only emergency responders that go into people's homes struggling with breathing we got a real sense of just how much pressure how much work these paramedics are having to do often on their own they're at risk there's every chance they - to get exposed to covert lighting back in New York City we go inside Brooklyn's biggest Hospital an ER that's become a war zone where there's a constant crush of covert 19 casualties [Music] so we're now in the critical care area of the emergency department everyone that's in here today is here due to breathing problems almost uniformly often coded we sing such a large increase on a day-to-day basis on a number of patients who are presenting in critical condition requiring really all the resources that we have to provide in order to help them doctor eight and Dikmen says there are normally seventeen beds in this room at Maimonides Medical Center today there are 32 patients and the numbers are rising rapidly every hour this pandemic demands more people more space and more staff willing to confront a lot more danger so we have opened up new ICUs new intensive care units we've opened up the new medical units in order to accommodate for this increased demand of patients who are coming in so ill everywhere in the hospital is now effectively an intensive care unit and they're seeing every type of person in this ethnically diverse borough this is an intense demanding and desperate atmosphere in here the patient's keep coming and it's not just the elderly it's the young too and they're always struggling it's a daunting new frontier for medics even for the most experienced we're obviously single large number of critically ill patients yeah I've seen some of the papers I've ever seen in my whole career not only do they have coronavirus but they also have their diabetes is out of control particularly hard and we're learning how to do it it's a very sharp learning curve and an often brutal experience for those with existing health conditions really the main effect that we're seeing is it's is a significant effect on impairing the lungs ability to provide the oxygen that the body needs and then it spreads it affects the heart it affects the kidney ultimately unfortunately often Sable times taking the ultimate toll throughout this crisis there has been a shortage of personal protective equipment Maimonides was well prepared but across the city supplies are on a tightrope [Applause] concerned about the days ahead I think we're in for a significant period of seeing a lot of very very ill patients and this is gonna put a strain on the system we want to make sure that we have enough supplies including PPE for the staff including ventilators high flow oxygen devices at this time we do have sufficient supplies but that's something that we're monitoring very very closely their work starts on the streets triage tents at the front for their living refrigerator trucks at the back to carry the dead but here is where brave doctors and nurses worked every minute risking their lives so others can avoid that fate [Music] America imposed travel restrictions on China pretty quickly it has now tested more people for covert 19 than any other country to [Music] but that aggressive screening didn't happen early enough regulatory hurdles technical flaws and lapses in leadership meant it spread undetected for weeks President Trump meanwhile has gone from skepticism to optimism to sounding the alarm one person coming in from China and we have it under control it's gonna be just fine is this just like flu because people die from the flu when you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero that's a pretty good job we've done it's going to disappear one day it will disappear this is a pandemic I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic but this is going to be a very painful very very painful two weeks we took good care of every place we didn't we didn't miss a trick but could he have seen what was coming Eric Lipton and a team of journalists at the New York Times claimed health officials concluded that it was time to move to social distancing back in the third week of February but that recommendation wasn't made directly to mr. Trump then there was a consensus that was reached among the medical advisors that it was the time had come to to flip the switch and to go to what's called mitigation which means social distancing closing schools closing businesses causing intentionally causing economic harm to United States was just something that Trump really did not want to do but the time had come by the third week in February to make that difficult choice because that you were gonna save potentially a million lives if you did that and and Trump was unwilling to do that until March 16th and that was basically a week or two late for places like New York Michigan Massachusetts New Jersey Connecticut Louisiana places where there are more deaths than there needed to be if the United States had switched the mitigation sooner [Music] [Music] yes world [Music] small-group yes if you just give me a call to let me know when you're coming because we are a little busy and I want to make sure somebody is here to sit down and speak with you properly Jerrod Neufeld funeral home was at the heart of managing the mounting death toll and it still is demand is just unfortunately a lot of debts all at the same time so we're trying to manage services for all the families in a proper way whatever they want to do so and it's just a lot of families well at the same time so we're trying to get fit in schedules trying to keep track of who's you know which day which families got to go and go from there people are fortunately passing away in big numbers and because they live in this area and I'm the only funeral home left in this area they're coming to me so so I'm trying to accommodate them the best I can and every day yes yes I mean we left the office last night and I think we had about 12 services or so scheduled and shortly after I left the office within two hours I had three more services and then this morning as soon as we came in we put on three or four more services so that's what's happening and and it's only twelve o'clock Robert Lee o gay has just lost his grandmother Anna her family suddenly robbed of the chance to grieve together my grandmother died alone those tough my grandma she died alone we didn't even get to say bye des and I understand that's part of the death process but she was zero she was in the hospital she was feet away we couldn't even see how we couldn't touch to talk to her we couldn't even give her like that boost of morale to say hey you know you're gonna come out of this we need you to come out of it it's late there was nothing what would you say to those people who don't think coronavirus is a serious threat if you don't think that it's a serious threat Here I am I lost my grandmother and I'm in the mess of less than a week Roberts family had just celebrated her 80th birthday they call her the glue now they too are infected she was exposed to the virus they also became it's also the virus and half of our family member right now are in quarantine because they tested positive with collective mourning forbidden and traditional rituals removed death is marked by a drive through the Crematory is really aren't letting anybody in the cemeteries eliminated for the most part two people stayed in their cars and just watching the burial from the gravesite Joe negotiates at the gates [Music] carrying the candles for the families that can't sometimes when it's so brief it almost leaves them still feeling in hollow like you know what just happens they don't have enough time to process it it it's heartbreaking it's really sad [Music] in these alien times there is no group goodbye it's a little after dawn and we witness just how great and grim the scale of the problem is on this truck bodies of the dead this is Hart island where coronavirus victims are among those being temporarily buried in mass graves unclaimed by a family member or unable to afford a private funeral there are normally 25 caskets a week placed here now it's nearly that many every day in the centre of the city there are makeshift morgues everywhere some places are running out of body bags the authorities acknowledge the death toll is likely higher than the official figures but no one knows just how much this team at Long Island Jewish Medical Center work in a morgue processing and examining those killed by coronavirus I really admire our colleagues on the front lines that are dealing with the patients that are coming in with the Cova Dean their triaging them they're managing and they're treating them but I think people also need to realize that there's another front to this war and that's the front with the dead it's not just the sheer volume of cases that's challenging they're also trying to find a new way of communicating with relatives it's always working with hard working with the families at this point in time but even more so now when when you know they're not able to see their loved ones in their last moments I've had to improvise to try and support the bereaved offering them a chance to see those they've lost using video calls this time that was the FaceTime so I did first let her see me explain you know what she's going to see asking her if it's okay that she's you know are you able to see this you know because we couldn't keep it the way we normally do as far as you know having sheets and there was a body bag and you're seeing her face so that was difficult it must be very surreal and distressing for a family to have to look at their loved one on FaceTime I'm not going to lie they're great it was tough it's you know it's if we could do at least one small thing to make this hard time for them a little bit easier that's what we're gonna do and no matter how crazy our day is and how much work we have to get done we're gonna do our best for our families that we're dealing with their their families [Music] carrying out lots of post-mortems will be crucial to understanding the virus and ultimately saving lives Lisa normally deals with all the administrative issues but there are so many bodies she now has to help move them to the three of us were outside and we just collapsed on like a crate and we were just done you know we're exhausted we're physically exhausted were mentally exhausting [Music] they expanded their morgue others haven't been able to it is a structure that simply wasn't built for this level of strength [Music] [Music] [Music] across America what we can now see is that certain groups are disproportionately affected in Louisiana 70% of those who have died are African Americans that they represents only 32% of the population in the Lower Ninth Ward destroyed by Hurricane Katrina they're bracing for another disaster Anita's mother Mary has fluid on her lungs but she took her out of hospital fearful she might also get coronavirus so make sure she don't die from me because another thing you know your people dying from it and they alone they are alone we want to go out like that you can't have a proper barrier for being honest in it so we just say we'll stay here with mine and tell all this fair solder all right it's very risky for her and for us just as well because it's a monster we can't even see it but we know is it's here so basically that's why we've been doing keep the house bleach clean everything so we could have more time with my mind she's 75 years old how scared are you for your mama I'm scared to death like she come out and catch a little fresh air but I I let her catch a little fresh air cuz she's still half a year she can't stand up there and be out there and be out come catch a little fresh air and then we go back in black people are more likely to suffer comorbidities - diseases like obesity and diabetes they also work in riskier front-facing service jobs those factors have played a huge role in this path damnit it's the perfect storm of problems here poverty poor access to healthcare and poor health when you speak to people they'll also tell you that this is a place of big families who live close together and love to hug that has been a hard thing to shake the famous Mardi Gras is to city officials pressed ahead with it in late February a heaving mass of people on the streets two months later New Orleans had the highest death rate in America but that was long before a national emergency was declared this is known after an Easter Sunday service in Baton Rouge [Music] these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed with with rights from their creator with certain unalienable rights among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and this freedom that I have my governor it comes from my god [Music] a fierce uncompromising show of American individualism [Music] this morning we had 14 hundred and 25 people in attendance people came here from 20 different states this morning to worship with us reason being is people have deep convictions about going to church especially on Easter Sunday Easter Sunday is the greatest Christian holiday of the year because we celebrate our resurrected Savior every churches doors are shuttered in America as you know worshiping God behind the screen on a television is not the same as worshiping God in person I say to them don't be an hypocrite anybody that's on that road right now anybody that's in a retail store such as Walmart such as a liquor store if you go to those places but will not come to church your two faiths you're a hypocrite it is hard to comprehend when you hear stories like this one the Franklin's lost four members of their family in just 12 days every other bear was one of the family members four family members in the same ICU at the same time it was first my uncle passed then a few days later and my grandmother passed and a few days later my dad passed and a few days later after that other pass you've dealt with so much loss in such a short space of time how are you coping the whole virus is just unbelievable and what's the hardest for me some people really think that it doesn't exist and it's not real and we bear it for family members buried my husband and to his brothers in the same funeral three caskets in a room and it I just want the world to know that this is real do you think the poverty to some extent in New Orleans and Louisiana as well has played a role people fearing they won't have enough money to go to the doctors I think health conditions has a huge part of it in some cases but people in New Orleans are very culturally superstitious people don't like hospitals here you have to be really sick to go to our Hospital in New Orleans forced him to go especially african-american families we we and we have big stigmas about hospitals local author Maurice Ruffin sees a past and present marked by disadvantage why do you think Louisiana is suffering as much as it is well I think they're part of this economic disparity the South does tend to have less money than the northern part of the country here in Louisiana in particular there's this legacy of systemic racism that has been born forth to the President and that means a lot of african-americans in this city in this state don't have good economic opportunities to get education or health care and those things have played forward throughout this entire pandemic [Music] the homeless in the city have lost their shelters and soup kitchens some only just lost their homes after losing their jobs now they stand six feet apart hoping to get food and that hunger that insecurity is everywhere just look at this San Diego and a seemingly endless line of cars wait for a meal with more than 22 million unemployed the desperation Dwarfs anything in recent history [Music] the food bank feeding America has seen a 40% increase in demand it expects a shortfall of 1.4 billion dollars [Music] the government has tried to ease the financial pain sending $1,200 checks to Americans as part of an historic stimulus package early evidence suggests most of it is being spent on food there will likely be a tale of two pandemics in America that emerges in the next few months one about those who were scared disrupted but thanks to luck an advantage they will survive physically emotionally financially there are the others though who will be left with deep scars this crisis will change the course of their lives [Music] New Orleans is a city divided by the haves and have-nots it is now being stalked by a virus once again the poorest people are carrying the heaviest burden [Music] you [Music] [Music] unlike some countries America has no experience of such a testing public health emergency in a cramped New York hospitals are so full they're ferrying patients around in groups in a vehicle normally used for mass casualties what is the most active days behind for you now vomiting nausea vomiting okay [Music] [Music] the United States has a global leader in science technology and medicine but it wasn't prepared for a pandemic no one really was and it has never had to collectively sacrifice quite like this in just one week the world's superpower was asking nurses to make their own gowns and masks [Music] inside st. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers are still processing it I always trusted our government to be able to provide the stuff we need I'm sorry you know and then when you hear the difference in the government and people speaking for the government it doesn't make sense we need nursing staff we need physicians we need PPE America is not Italy but you know it turned out that we were much worse so it's definitely something that we like to think about and it's it's hopefully going to change in the future because this this is unnecessary and just said at this point why do you think America suffered so that we were underpaid we were unprepared for this the decisions made by state governors have been critical some moving quickly others not moving at all with some high-stakes consequences but there are those who still feel the buck stops with the president I think he needs to accept his responsibilities in this and now try to fix it but don't blame everybody else and all the other people and the other governors and mayors and things like that when it's early intervention he I think he could have prevented some of this you feel that gone by yeah for sure I mean it's a the administration I think like it like I said just had no plan for this so it's a it's hard when you are going through this and you're in the midst of it and there's really no support coming from anywhere except you know this local community are you having chest pain yes yes okay so they want to make sure everything in your lungs are okay so this is a special kind of film that we're ordering to look at it okay what is clear inside some Josef's is the inherent goodness of this country the selflessness and the heroism of its people however politically divided it may be what are the things that stick in your mind the most I guess stories stories of a nurse saying I had day off yesterday tears just cut coming to my eyes and here she's back again to work through the day families being separated from their dying loved ones I just to me that's inconceivable know that unfortunately there'll be a lot of people who don't survive those at least 75% of the people who go on ventilators are not coming off this team has seen things they couldn't possibly coach their hearts or minds for how much death have you personally come from we've never seen anything like this personally and one 12-hour shift i pronounced six people dead just me and that didn't include the other physicians who had deaths as well staggering number staggering number I've never had anything like that in my entire twenty plus year career the psychological impact on medical staff will likely be felt and studied for years to come the hardest moments are when you feel like like you just stretched so thin where it feels like there's no there's no way that you could take care of the patients that are here and the way that you're trained to do so that's really the hardest part because all of us here I mean we went to school we learned all the things you're supposed to do on a regular basis and when the capacity is overloaded and you just can't you can't make those things happen it really it weighs on you and you know there are people that are that are going through some serious hard times and possibly their last moments on this earth and you just want to be able to stand there with them and hold their hands and it's impossible this was new to everyone dislocating but wildering will reshape the country and many families there are just so many stories of loss and isolation I've just been told they had a wife and husband a sister and brother they came in together they had to place them apart and they all died alone [Music] and yet some states are already starting to reopen [Music] the fact is America is a decentralized country the champion's individual liberties protests in Texas Michigan and Minnesota show people are impatient to get back to normal life others want to keep the brakes on what mr. Trump has had to wrestle with is that choice is theirs to make when somebody's the president of the United States the authority is total and that's so it's got to be what are you gonna grant me what the Constitution gave me before you were born it's called the Tenth Amendment I didn't need the President of the United States to tell me that I'm governor I think that states are much more weary of relying upon the federal government now and they are they formed the western states and the West Coast in the Northeast have formed their own consortiums that are going to make decisions together about when to reopen and I think that they're they've learned a lesson about relying on leadership from the White House and that they're going to largely try to do this on their own and it doesn't really matter almost what Trump is going to say [Music] the United States was challenged by a complex foe undaunted by its borders and military might it didn't mobilize a global response if you expect that of anyone anymore [Music] no amount of money or power protects an America like so many other nations it was flat footed what does seem distinct here though are the extremes of the spread inequity and politics [Music] lives have been ruptured but that trauma has also brought a unity of purpose [Music] we've seen an abundance of courage kindness and compassion [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] there was no single guiding light for the world to follow [Music] drastic draconian action isn't easy in any democracy this one won't ever be the same again you

Channel: Sky News

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Rating: 4.6793766 out of 5

Keywords: sky, sky news, news, coronavirus, covid, covid-19, social distancing, stay safe, wash your hands, america, us, united states of america, donald trump, president trump, president, election, washington, white house, how many people have got coronavirus, andrew cuomo, new york, quarantine, boris johnson, the donald, virus, chinese virus, invisible enemy, fake news, deaths, dying, healthcare, obamacare, unemployment, furlough, america's reckoning, cordelia lynch

Id: eLgbpnILYyQ

Length: 44min 5sec (2645 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 23 2020