Speaker 1: It's Monday, March. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive
Speaker 1: podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus updates.
Speaker 1: With the most number of confirmed COVID nineteen cases in
Speaker 1: the world here in the US, new hotspots are emerging well,
Speaker 1: mostly concentrated on the coast, more cases are creeping into
Speaker 1: other cities. The CDC has issued a domestic travel advisory
Speaker 1: urging residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut not
Speaker 1: to travel for fourteen days. In other news, GM and
Speaker 1: Ford are working to make more ventilators, and new polls
Speaker 1: show Joe Biden and Trump in a competitive race for
Speaker 1: Julia Manchester, political reporter for The Hill, joins us for more.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Julia, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: We're continuing our conversation about coronavirus and it's spread throughout
Speaker 1: the United States. We've been seeing a lot of hot
Speaker 1: spots on the coast, most notably New York. I know
Speaker 1: they're kind of the epicenter of this right now, but
Speaker 1: on the West coast and the East coast that you know,
Speaker 1: there's high numbers and as the needs for more protective
Speaker 1: equipment for medical workers and ventilators, things that we need
Speaker 1: to treat patients. The spread of the virus is starting
Speaker 1: to get down into Middle America. Now there's new hotspots
Speaker 1: that are people are talking about. Absolutely, you're seeing the virus.
Speaker 1: Really we don't really know if it's necessarily moved, because
Speaker 1: remember this is something that can be very asymptomatic, so
Speaker 1: you could have it for a long amount of time
Speaker 1: or a certain period of time and not realize you
Speaker 1: have it. So what I think is really happening is
Speaker 1: you're seeing a lot more testing being done, but you're
Speaker 1: also seeing continuing, you know, some travel between the states
Speaker 1: as well. I mean, it's not like the entire country
Speaker 1: has been shut down one so you're seeing that a lot.
Speaker 1: And actually where I am here in Florida, we're really
Speaker 1: starting to see the impacts of it. Remember I'm in
Speaker 1: Central Florida right now, but in South Florida, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of New York, part time New York or
Speaker 1: New Jersey residents going to their winter homes in Florida,
Speaker 1: are going back and forth, and we've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of hot spots really pop up in South Florida, and
Speaker 1: a lot of that is attributed to the epicenter of
Speaker 1: it being really in New York right now, and you've
Speaker 1: seen Governor Rohnde Santa's here, and we've also seen this
Speaker 1: happening and happening in Rhode Island as well. They've been
Speaker 1: ordering people who have traveled from the Tri State area
Speaker 1: the New York area to quarantine themselves for two weeks
Speaker 1: about fourteen days, So that's really been an impact. And
Speaker 1: you're also seeing it happening in other states as well.
Speaker 1: Michigan is a huge state that's thought to be a
Speaker 1: big epicenter as well. Louisiana. Louisiana, I thought, I think
Speaker 1: is very interesting and I kind of see some comparisons
Speaker 1: between Louisiana and Italy because in Louisiana, it was kind
Speaker 1: of thought that this really started because of the Mardi
Speaker 1: Grass celebrations earlier this month and the large gatherings of people,
Speaker 1: and that was thought, you know, in Italy, these large
Speaker 1: gatherings um in early March, er I guess late February
Speaker 1: was part of that. So it is starting to become
Speaker 1: and it has been a nationwide problem. But I think overall,
Speaker 1: the more testing you the more positive cases are going
Speaker 1: to be reported. Yeah, and those travel restrictions. As you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, it kind of leads us into something that
Speaker 1: happened over the weekend. The President said he was considering
Speaker 1: quarantine measures for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, seeing
Speaker 1: as how it's kind of an epicenter there. Then he
Speaker 1: backed off of it. I think some of the governors
Speaker 1: were mad. Andrew Cuomo said it would cause chaos if
Speaker 1: they actually put on full, complete lockdowns. But after that,
Speaker 1: shortly after that, the CDC issued travel advisory saying anybody
Speaker 1: traveling from there needs to quarantine themselves for two weeks.
Speaker 1: I also wanted to talk about vital equipment that hospitals
Speaker 1: and states need right now. The President had activated the
Speaker 1: Defense Production Act, but it wasn't until this past weekend
Speaker 1: that he actually said that he's directing General Motors to
Speaker 1: start producing ventilators. And there were some back and forth
Speaker 1: between them, but it seems that Ford and General Motors
Speaker 1: are both working with companies right now to help make
Speaker 1: these medical devices so they can supply them to the states. Definitely,
Speaker 1: and you saw the President get praise for that move,
Speaker 1: even from Democrats. Joe Biden said he congratulated President Trump
Speaker 1: for finally invoking the order. We are implementing the order.
Speaker 1: We know that he technically invoked it earlier this week,
Speaker 1: or it might have been late last week. But you
Speaker 1: know a lot of his critics still say this should
Speaker 1: have been done earlier. This he should have been putting
Speaker 1: more pressure on these companies earlier to produce this equipment.
Speaker 1: But right now we're going to see them really start
Speaker 1: to create those ventilators to send out to the states.
Speaker 1: We know that medical equipment is a huge concern across
Speaker 1: the country and even in urban centers like the New
Speaker 1: York City area of the Boston area Michigan, for example.
Speaker 1: So I think this is definitely good for right now,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of people are questioning why
Speaker 1: this really doesn't wasn't done earlier. And you mentioned Joe Biden.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to bring him up for a moment.
Speaker 1: It's a weird time to be campaigning for a general
Speaker 1: election almost I know Senator Bernie Sanders is still in
Speaker 1: the race, but it seems like Joe Biden is so
Speaker 1: far ahead right now, at least with the delegate count.
Speaker 1: So he's his campaign has gone completely digital. He's kind
Speaker 1: of trying to contrast himself with the response to the
Speaker 1: President Trump to this crisis right now, and there was
Speaker 1: a new Washington Post ABC poll that has them running
Speaker 1: pretty close Joe Biden and President Trump a registered voters.
Speaker 1: The interesting in that is that Trump is more trusted
Speaker 1: to handle the economy, which is a very tricky situation
Speaker 1: right now with what we're dealing with, and Biden is
Speaker 1: more trusted to manage healthcare policy, which is also something
Speaker 1: that we're kind of dealing with right now. So this
Speaker 1: is kind of the latest from the polls. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think what you're seeing right now are there two strengths.
Speaker 1: You know, remember President Trump has always how did the
Speaker 1: fact that there have been stock market gains at least
Speaker 1: the macro economic level, and it is his administration, which
Speaker 1: they're absolutely has been, whereas Joe Biden has really pushed
Speaker 1: this healthcare measure. I mean, during the Obama administration, Joe
Speaker 1: Biden very much was involved in the writing and the
Speaker 1: passing of the Affordable Care Acts. So that's definitely both
Speaker 1: of their ranks being played out in this. And you're
Speaker 1: seeing Joe Biden really trying to push this issue of
Speaker 1: public health and the need to improve public health. He
Speaker 1: has set up his own public health advisory on the campaign,
Speaker 1: and you know, to the digital part, his campaign has
Speaker 1: very much um try to revamp their presence in the
Speaker 1: digital landscape because it's really the only place they can
Speaker 1: have a presence at this point, right So you're seeing
Speaker 1: them come out with a newsletter, a podcast. This is
Speaker 1: them really trying to counter program President Trump, but also
Speaker 1: really try to keep themselves, keep the Vice President Biden
Speaker 1: in the public eye, and they're really pushing his executive
Speaker 1: experience as vice president, his experience as a leader dealing
Speaker 1: with crisis. He often talks about what he did too
Speaker 1: in the Obama administration to combat the Ebola epidemic and
Speaker 1: the swine flew in two thousand nine and maybe parts
Speaker 1: of two thousand and ten. So they're definitely pushing that. However,
Speaker 1: it's difficult because you see the networks airing President Trump's
Speaker 1: conferences with people like Dr Fauci, Dr Deborah Burkes, who
Speaker 1: are very popular with the public right now. They are
Speaker 1: seen as very trust in public figures, and I think
Speaker 1: that definitely helps the Trump campaign to have those people
Speaker 1: by his side. Julia Manchester, political reporter at the Hill,
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you I'm
Speaker 1: Oscar Emiras and this has been your daily coronavirus update.
Speaker 1: Don't forget that. For more top news stories, you can
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