slowly Wuhan is emerging and today a
national moment of morning to honor the
3,330 people the authorities say have
died from kovat 19 and the medics who
lost their own lives trying to save
others
imagine Hannah no Tania and we'll miss
you that Humboldt's are you there so we
can either hold on sincerity on sense
under mama know me you didn't work white
people with India and it's change that
one with the nonsense was a chance for
that can you that woman you didn't
quit so hard far from nearing the end
Western Europe is still in the midst of
it there are so few beds in France where
nearly 7,000 have died already critical
patients are being airlifted around the
country Alsace in the east and
Strasbourg have been particularly badly
hit when people ask will infections
begin to slow difficult to say we're
hoping that in our region we've kind of
reached the peak and and we are not
going to have her every day even more
admissions than the previous day
hopefully but that's not the situation
everywhere in France because we've been
hit it first so we're just hoping that
now it will slow down both China and the
EU are promising assistance to Africa to
help bolster fragile health systems like
this isolation center in Lagos in Joburg
mobile testing labs began visiting
townships and the entire continent
became the focus of some deeply
unsettling comments this week when two
French doctors suggested trial
treatments should be tested on African
prostitutes or people with AIDS on a
fake who yep and mask one of the doctors
has since apologized
in the USA no apologies just more
contradiction from inside the White
House itself where the Surgeon General
issued new safety guidance starts
wearing masks something Melania Trump
immediately tweeted but as for the
President himself evidently it's beneath
him somehow sitting in the Oval Office
behind that beautiful resolute desk the
great resolute desk
I think wearing a face mask as I greet
presidents prime ministers dictators
kings queens I don't know somehow I
don't see it for myself the u.s. now has
by far the largest number of infections
anywhere with deaths predicted to
approach a quarter of a million and
projections New Orleans could soon join
New York as one of the nation's
coronavirus hotspots well the state of
New Orleans where just a few weeks ago
tens of thousands of people crowded into
the city to celebrate Mardi Gras is fast
emerging as a southern hotspot of
coronavirus in the United States cases
are soaring and the death rate is twice
that of New York in a state already
grappling with high levels of poverty
and ill health officials are struggling
to cope Kate Fisher reports
Mardi Gras in full swing on the streets
of New Orleans two months into a corona
virus outbreak 35 days after the first
u.s. case it's thought the disease
spread rapidly through the crowds even
though at that point there were no
reported cases in the state oblivious to
the risk partygoers filmed themselves
jostling in the cramped streets two
weeks later a dramatic surge in the
number of sick shut down the city the
mayor says she would have acted sooner
if President Trump had alerted the
country to the risk in hindsight if we
were given clear direction we would not
have had Mardi Gras and I would have
been the leader to cancel instead the
city and surrounding areas are
overwhelmed the rate of infection in New
Orleans is one of the highest in America
the state governor's predicted the city
will run out of ventilators by the end
of this weekend it's tough it's almost
like whack-a-mole every night you know
there's a different facility that's
overwhelmed at this isyes we don't have
any inpatient beds at this place and
we're constantly moving around the chess
pieces the death rate from kovat 19 here
is nearly twice that of New York City
almost a quarter of people in New
Orleans live below the poverty line
where a family of four makes less than
22 thousand pounds a year this in a
country where healthcare isn't free from
early childhood so all of this leads to
the perfect conditions for chronic
disease and what we're learning about
this virus is that it is opportunistic
and that it is very deadly to people who
have multiple organ disease those deaths
can be rapid - meaning families if
they're even allowed to visit may not
get there in time to say goodbye we had
ninety-eight year old lady who tested
positive and she wasn't doing well but
because of her age she was not going to
be ventilated by her choice so the
family was called but as is so common
with this she just went bad really
quickly you know it's rough to think
that someone who had lived almost a
hundred years would end up dying with a
stranger or relative stranger holding
her hand it's trust the concern is that
those levees will just get overrun and
the city will quickly flood this isn't
the first time New Orleans hasn't been
able to properly mourn its dead in 2005
Hurricane Katrina claimed more than a
thousand lives I think that there's
definitely a feeling of us or triggering
effect there's people who have PTSD from
Katrina I think a lot of the rules from
that situation haven't really healed for
many of us myself included I think about
Katrina in that situation all the time
and I think that it is sort of one thing
after another and is very disturbing I'm
from a very poor state knew all this is
not a very wealthy city and we don't
have a lot of political power nationally
and so I think that that is a real
problem and I think you have to lay that
at the feet of the federal government it
is their job to make sure that all the
citizens in this country are being
supported equally New Orleans Lower
Ninth Ward was washed away by Hurricane
Katrina those who survived were left
homeless and hopeless but bunnell Kotlin
was determined to salvage his community
then and he's doing the same now he set
up the only store for miles in the
wreckage of his neighborhood now he says
those neighbors have lost jobs and he's
having to give away food on credit these
the customers coming here trying to get
milk eggs bread cheese no defeat their
families and I can't tell them no oh
because if they had but it was I'm sorry
again
I just see so much fun eating everything
and it hurts it hurts I wish that I
could do more it is so it's like except
this time it's like the invisible
monster it's like a nightmare the best
way to describe it
New Orleans is still trying to rouse
itself from the last bad dream it
endured but this scarred City is once
again unsure whether it will get the
help it needs to treat its wounds