well John today we learned that 6.6
million people here in the US filed for
unemployment benefits last week that was
higher than its pected and on top of the
3.3 million who filed the week before
that's that 10 million number that you
are talking about 10 million people John
in two weeks that is completely
unprecedented normally in a crisis like
this in some form of financial crisis it
would take several months for job losses
at this level to filter through what's
so shocking here is the level that has
already notched up in just a matter of
weeks so great is this Corona
contraction that we are seeing already
frankly at great depression levels of
unemployment and no more so has that
been felt more painfully than on the
front line with the medics doctors and
nurses in New York where there are now
incidentally 92 thousand cases and where
the governor today warned that they
would run out of ventilators so great as
the volume of patients they will run out
of ventilators he said in six days time
and where a nurse Caius Kelly aged just
48 died on March the 24th he was the
first nurse believed to have died from
the virus well today I spoke to his
grieving sister Caius Kelly was a nurse
at one of the main hospitals in New York
City Mount Sinai West that's been
treating coronavirus patients from day
one the 48 year old was a team leader
working around the clock but as an
asthma sufferer he too was vulnerable
and on March the 18th he texted his
sister Mariah to tell her he'd
contracted kovat 19 told me that he was
in ICU but that you okay and that he had
the virus and that he was on a
ventilator
she'd been mostly worried about her
parents given their age and hadn't
really focused on her brother but then
it came over her felt like someone
pulled a dark blank over me it was very
heavy I had this very heavy dark feeling
and as much as one can know the feeling
was this is just a knowing that this was
not this was not good she asked him some
questions but he was weak and struggled
to reply he sends me a screenshot of
himself of he's taken ahead so he sends
me a picture of himself then he says
can't talk because I choked and can't
breathe I love you I'm sorry okay I love
you going back to sleep I send him a
couple hearts I say you've pulled
through so much love you and we are
praying and he sends me a giant part
that says I love you emoji
and it's on his back and that is it that
would be the last time she would hear
from him it was Wednesday the 18th Caius
his condition deteriorated rapidly over
the next few days but they weren't
allowed to see him on the following
Tuesday six days later her parents
called they just called and said that
he's declining rapidly and has very
little life signs we got off the phone
and she called back about 7 minutes
later and said that they called her and
that he had in fact passed Caius is
believed to be the first nurse in New
York to have lost his life to Cove in 19
and he did so in a hospital where staff
were openly complaining about a lack of
personal protective equipment like masks
and gowns to shield themselves from
infection nurses at the hospital posted
this picture of themselves wearing
dustbin liners as gowns to make the
point but across New York it's the same
story staff are overwhelmed and under
equipped to cope Kaiser's fellow nurses
are left with one conclusion hospital
killed him that's their position there
that is how they feel they and and
continue to
other respite there there are three
people right now that I'm aware of in
his unit that are sick there is was and
remains to be is so important remains to
be a PP issue I know that you think that
had he had the right protective
equipment yes he wouldn't be dead today
based off of the information that I've
received from staff and other people in
hospital was he along with others were
unnecessarily exposed they didn't have
the PPE that at all that they needed but
they also had a BP issue before
coronavirus if her speaking out makes
any difference Mariah says her brother's
death will not be in vain his body is
being flown home today alone on a plane
to his parents in Michigan another state
that's fast becoming a new virus hotspot
she born Canada and the Mount Sinai West
Hospital sent us this statement this
growing crisis is not abating and has
already devastated hundreds of families
in New York and turned our frontline
professionals into true American heroes
following Kelly's death the hospital
added we lost another hero a
compassionate colleague a friend and
selfless caregiver well now joining me
now from New York via the Internet
is dr. Leah Houston she's been an
emergency medicine physician and now
leads a group for medical professionals
the humanitarian physician empowerment
committee leer Houston thank you very
much indeed for joining us now we've
seen an internal email from Lang owned
hospital saying doctors face dismissal
if they talk to the media
why are medical professionals being
threatened with being fired for telling
the truth well this isn't anything new
you know physicians have had a gag
Clause for quite some time about
shortages of medications and supplies
and that's a part of why I'm starting
this company but this now is really
shining
sunshine and some light on this problem
because it's now being so exposed
because it's being it's so big you've
got former colleagues and and friends on
the ground there what are they telling
you well you ask you know actually you
you guys reached out through me to me
through a New York City doctors face
Facebook group that's a private Facebook
group of only physicians and I get to
see and hear a lot on that group and I'm
currently not working but I hear crazy
stories inhumane stories of you know not
having the proper protective equipment
having their masks ripped off their face
one story where doctors were being
sprayed down as if they were
contaminated equipment and not given new
gowns and they were just spraying them
down with chemicals at one health system
in New York City and this know from from
where would you say it was from it was
from the University of La no hospital
Wow okay
well I guess my point is is that I've
seen letters like that written to me
before many times and this is not
surprising or new and I'm certain that
almost every Health System has sent an
email like that out gagging their
physicians from speaking the truth and
you know you will be terminated and you
might even get reports to the OPM C and
lose your license and be blacklisted if
you speak out about this but my take is
is that we took a Hippocratic oath for
our patients
and we serve them not the health systems
and this is just a travesty it's
criminal the the the problems with the
protective equipment and also
prophylaxis you know hydroxychloroquine
is being used prophylactically in both
Italy and ubiquitously in India right
now and they've only just recently
started a clinical trial at the Roy
Vagelos College of surgery Columbia
University in New York City about this
but this is something that there's good
evidence for that it you know
it serves as some protective effect if
it's given prophylactically it's really
a shame but let me let me ask you this I
mean after all the United States is an
exceptionally wealthy country
why is personal protection equipment in
such short supply I mean we're in the
same state it has to be said but we
don't quite have the same money you have
well it's all supply chain you know and
it's the same reason that we've
experienced drug shortages and shortages
of other supplies in the supply chain in
general it's the same reason we're not
able to have ubiquitous testing if you
look at the countries that are able to
ubiquitously test and then you look at
the the companies that provide the
testing equipment you know those
countries supply them so you know here
in the United States we have third-party
administrators that control the supply
chain of medical equipment and
pharmaceutical agents into the health
systems and bate they play a role you
know I'm assuming and a lot of it might
just be lack of preparedness you know I
was trying to get an understanding of
what happened with FEMA and and why you
know why they hadn't prepared for this
so you know I'm not an expert by any
means but I do know that there are you
know group purchasing organizations and
pharmacy benefit managers that had
caused shortages in the past and I'm
assuming they probably also have a
significant impact on what's going on
today