there are now more than 1,000 cases in
38 states in Washington DC among the
latest 3 TSA workers at a California
Airport tested positive in the meantime
a mile-wide containment zone will be
created around a large cluster of cases
the largest cluster in the country it's
happening in the New York City suburb of
New Rochelle the National Guard has been
called in drastic steps could also be
taken in the Seattle area today where a
ban of crowds of 250 people or more
that's expected to be announced the
outbreak is also impacting the
presidential race Joe Biden and Bernie
Sanders cancelled their overnight
rallies in Ohio their next debate which
is for later this week will not have an
audience by the way we're gonna get to
the primaries and results from yesterday
just ahead but we have a lot to cover on
this coronavirus stand a story including
our live interview with New York's
Governor Andrew Cuomo that's coming up
soon but we'll begin our in-depth
coverage with NBC's Tom Costello he's in
Baltimore
inside the incident command center at
Johns Hopkins Hospital Tom good morning
to you yeah good morning Savannah so
they are right here coordinating how the
entire system within Johns Hopkins the
entire medical system responds to the
corona virus outbreak do they have
enough staff on hand enough equipment
enough protective equipment for all of
their personnel what happens if somebody
who's on staff a nurse or a doctor comes
down with the virus how do they help
isolate that person back fill that
position care for all the patients
that's what they're involved in here
around the clock meanwhile up on the
wall this is really the definitive word
word rather that the entire world is
using the Johns Hopkins global
case-by-case counter and as you
mentioned a thousand known cases in the
United States right now known cases
importantly experts believe there are
far more than a thousand cases right now
the vast majority people who have been
sick simply haven't presented to a
health clinic or haven't been tested
meanwhile New York taking a major step
towards stopping the spread of the virus
this morning emergency measures in New
York the state's governor deployed the
National Guard to New Rochelle a suburb
of New York City in an effort to contain
a corona virus outbreak there
residents within a one-mile radius
required to stay within the area for a
two-week period it is a dramatic action
but it is the largest cluster in the
country and this is literally a matter
of life and death as new cases spread
nationwide health officials are warning
all Americans to be prepared you have to
start taking seriously what you can do
now that if and when the infections will
come and they will come sorry to say sad
to say they will earlier President Trump
appeared to contradict that downplaying
the threat we're prepared and we're
doing a great job with it and it will go
away but in Washington state where the
most of deaths have occurred the
governor is warning without action
things could rapidly escalate in seven
or eight weeks there could be 64,000
people infected in the state of
Washington if we don't somehow slow down
this epidemic and the next we could be a
hundred and twenty thousand and the next
week could be a quarter million
meanwhile in California passengers are
still slowly disembarking the Grand
Princess cruise ship then traveling by
plane and by bus to military bases or
they'll be held in quarantine for two
weeks the process expected to take days
on the campaign trail Joe Biden and
Bernie Sanders both canceled primary
night rallies in Ohio the Sunday they'll
square off in the first debate in the
2020 cycle without an audience
on the education front a growing number
of school districts are closed for
several weeks while many major
universities are suspending in-person
classes Harvard among the latest telling
students to pack up their dorms and head
home I live in California so I have to
figure out how to get my things in
storage and just across the river in
Boston all eyes are on the city's
world-famous Marathon next month New
York City has already called off its
half marathon that was supposed to take
place Sunday Ivy League schools have
canceled all of their men and women's
basketball tournaments but for now the
NCAA is still plenty to allow fans to
attend March Madness games the fear over
the disease even hitting the food
industry
MGM Resorts temporarily closing buffets
at restaurants across Las Vegas and Ben
and Jerry's postponing their popular
Free Cone Day for the first time in 40
years last person at Penn says that all
50 states now have test kits and by the
end of the week he says there will be
four million test kits that are out
there by the way a biotech conference a
recent conference in Boston is proving
to be the epicenter of the Massachusetts
outbreak they've had 70 cases in
Massachusetts linked to that conference
and then people left that conference and
they dispersed to other states so you
can see how quickly this is spread just
out of normal everyday conference guys
back to you it makes that very clear
what officials are trying to prevent now
Tom thank you very much gonna focus now
on that situation right here in New York
a one-mile containment zone in the
suburb of New Rochelle with the National
Guard called and we're going to talk
about it with dr. with a governor or
Andrew Cuomo in just a moment but first
and VC's Morgan Radford is in New
Rochelle for sa Morgan good morning
Hoda good morning there's a sense of
fear and confusion and uncertainty this
morning in New Rochelle if people brace
for a virtual lockdown because this has
now become the epicenter of the corona
virus outbreak 108 confirmed cases here
and that's more than double the number
of cases in New York City and the
largest cluster of cases and the entire
country that's why just a few blocks
from where I'm standing now they set up
a containment zone and that's an area of
about one mile in radius where any
large-scale meeting places like schools
churches synagogues community centers
will be shut down for two weeks starting
tomorrow and the number of these cases
really stems from interaction with one
man a lawyer in his 50s who became
symptomatic last month and then that
virus very quickly spread to his friends
his family members his colleagues at
work even people who attended his
synagogue that's why the National Guard
has been called in here to New Rochelle
to really clean those surface areas and
schools and to help deliver food to
people who are in that quarantine zone
as people here at New Rochelle braced
for that lockdown starting tomorrow Hoda
all right Anna Morgan Radford Morgan
thanks okay let's turn to New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo who joins us live
governor good morning it's good to have
you with us
yeah with you we're talking about this
this situation in New Rochelle it sounds
very dramatic it is dramatic a
containment zone but what does it mean
in practice as I understand it it's not
no one in no one out
not checkpoints but the National Guard
is there yeah good morning Savannah Hoda
it sounds a more dramatic than it is
let's look at the situation we have
about 108 cases in New Rochelle just to
put it in perspective we have 36 cases
in New York City New York City is 100
times the size of New Rochelle okay so
New Rochelle is the hottest spot if you
will in the country the most dense
cluster and as you hear from all the
experts now we have to take action we
have to do something this is not going
to stop spreading on its own it never
has not in China not in Korea not in
Hong Kong we are going to determine our
fate and we're going to have to take
actions our action in New Rochelle is
just no large gatherings people can come
people can go there's no limitation on
movement but no large gatherings because
the large gatherings are where it
spreads we know that so if you have a
high concentration of people no large
gatherings beyond New Rochelle and I
know that in particular New Rochelle
you've set up a facilities to test for
the virus right there but to the larger
issue of testing this has been a
persistent source of concern are there
enough tests and is there an ability in
the state of New York and more broadly
if you can speak to it to get the
results of those tests to labs and back
in a timely manner that is the issue and
when they do the retrospective on this
one they're going to say why did it take
the United States so long to bring up
the testing capacity we knew this was
happening in November in December we
watched China China did something like
200,000 tests per day South Korea did
about 15,000 tests per day the United
States has only done about 5,000 tests
to date
and the way these other countries have
gotten ahead of it was you do the
testing a lot of testing you identify
the positives you isolate the positives
so the retrospective is going to be
damaged yeah I was about that's where
just where I'm going because real
quickly before we have to wrap up what
is the situation now is it improved well
the federal government I think in large
measure is now leaving it up to the
states
just take the handcuffs off me and let
New York State do what New York State
can do let the other states take their
own path forward and we're going to ramp
up as quickly as possible
now that the federal government is
giving us some leeway all right Governor
Cuomo I know it's a busy time for you
appreciate your your time with us this
morning
you