WEBVTT - Coronavirus Explained by Ryan Gorman 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:06.800 Welcome to Coronavirus Explain. Here's your host, Ryan Gorman. Right now, 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:10.480 the entire world is dealing with the same issue, the 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.480 spread of a new coronavirus. Here in the US, life 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.400 is rapidly changing as communities across the country work towards 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.840 mitigating the spread of this infectious disease. Over the next 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.520 half hour, we'll talk to a medical expert, a government 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.920 response expert, and a financial expert to get you the 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.320 right information that you need to keep yourself and your 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.200 family safe. Our first guest is gonna help us better 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.080 understand the virus itself. I'm joined now by the Chairman 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:41.400 of Medicine at St. Joseph University Hospital, Dr Bob Leahda 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.320 Dr Lohida, thank you so much for helping us better 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.520 understand COVID nineteen. The first item I want to touch 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.200 on is what a coronavirus is and what makes this 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:56.000 particular one unique. Okay, a coronavirus, This is a fairly 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:02.320 easy question. Coronaviruses are RNA viruses. They're very infectious. The 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:08.320 cousins are measles and viruses that cause the common cold, 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:12.920 which are also coronaviruses, but they're not novel coronavirus is 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:15.479 the ones that caused the common cold. We've had around 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.679 for years and years, and when your listeners get sniffles 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.200 and you know, start to cough, etcetera, and and it's 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:26.399 usually early winter or early spring. Um, this is coronavirus 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.520 as a rule. But the novel coronavirus, the coronavirus of 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:37.120 is a specific mutant to which we have no immunity. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.000 We've had heard immunity from the old coronaviruses that infect 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.600 us and cause the common cold, but we don't have 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:49.040 any specific community to the new coronavirus. Now, these viruses 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.720 are very infectious, so you breathe on somebody and you 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.960 can transmit the disease. The reason you do that is 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.760 because you have receptors for these viruses in your tongue, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.560 the cheeks, your nose, your lungs, and even in your heart. 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.240 And so when you get loaded with virus, your immune 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.320 system has got to fight this virus that it has 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.799 never seen before. So there's all kinds of new immune 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.720 processes that go in which are very complicated. They go 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.919 into effect to try to overcome this new infection. And 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.000 that is primarily a coronavirus. Now there the reason it's 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.680 called coronavirus is a covering of the virus, and this 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:30.119 is extremely small um virus which can only see under 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.480 the electron microscope, so it's invisible to the naked eye. 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.560 These viruses have projections that stick out that make them 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:39.840 look like they have a crown, and that's why it's 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.959 called the corona or crown virus. So how does it 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.440 spread and what's the life cycle like from the time 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:50.200 of infection to when symptoms may begin to present themselves 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.680 to when someone's all better. Yeah, so that's that's a 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.919 good question. Now, the problem with this virus is that 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.919 you can have it and not know it. Um when 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:04.959 someone is exposed to somebody who's definitely infected proven infected, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:10.240 it takes about five days at the least to show symptoms, 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.040 and the median time is eleven point five days. So 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.880 we like to quarantine people for two weeks because we 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.400 know that within two weeks you're gonna show signs of 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.840 the infection. So that's the rule of thumb. Now, the 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:26.639 problem with this virus, as I just said, is that 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.720 you can have it and not know it. And about 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.200 of people that are infected with this will have something 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.000 that you would consider a head cold or a mildly 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.520 scratchy throat and that's it. Nothing else. And then there's 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.320 twenty of people who may have what we in medicine 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.680 call coal morbidityes. That is, you either have diabetes, you're 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.360 on chemotherapy, you're an alcoholic, you smoke too much, you 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.000 have bad asthma, you have cop D. If you're older, 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.680 you have emphysema. People like that that get this virus 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.720 from somebody else wind up with bay had kinds of 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.440 respiratory problems, lung problems, and most of the deaths that 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:09.800 occur from pneumonia and overwhelming lung infection. And that's why 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:11.960 everybody has to be checked out and everybody has to 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.080 be careful because we don't know who those people are 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.719 that have these these glitches in their immune systems. We're 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.679 talking to the Chairman of Medicine at St. Joseph University Hospital, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.920 Dr Bob Lajita here on My Heart Radio. There's two 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:26.760 other types of illnesses that a lot of people are 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:30.240 dealing with at the moment, the flu and allergies. How 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.680 can people tell them Apart from COVID nineteen well, COVID nineteen, 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.400 as as Tony Fauci, the head of the NIH state, 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.200 is about ten times worse than the flu. That's when 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.200 you get the bad infection. You'll run a high fever, 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.520 but you do that with the flu. If you haven't 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.240 been immunized. You'll get muscle aches and pains, You'll have 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:54.760 nausea and perhaps vomiting, maybe some diarrhea. All of these 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.479 things are similar to that which you would get when 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.080 you get the flu, and it's ex extremely difficult to 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.600 tell the difference. But the difference is we have a 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.920 vaccine for the flu, and we also have a rapid 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.360 test we do in the emergency room to determine whether 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.040 you have the flu. We can do it on site. 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.240 Most hospitals have flu swabs and flu tests that they 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.240 can do and you can get a result within an hour. 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.040 Um The allergies are very easy. You don't run a 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.560 high fever. With allergies. You you have sniffles, you your 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:26.960 you know, your nose turns red, you cough up a 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.200 lot of gunk. But that's not the same thing as 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.080 the flu, and it certainly is not the same thing 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.919 as COVID nineteen. You just brought up testing. Can you 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.480 explain for a moment what we should know about tests 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.719 for this coronavirus and why they seem to be a 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.200 bit more complicated than say a test for the flu. Yeah. 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.920 So the reason they are difficult is that the testing, 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:53.680 because coronas are very common, the regular garden variety coronas, 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.240 we have to be able to discern which one is 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:01.320 COVID nineteen. There's a very complicated pro sets which revolves 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.520 around the fact that this is a DNA virus, and 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:09.080 we do something called polymerase chain reaction on the sample. 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.479 That's why regular hospitals don't have at this point the 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.080 capability of testing for this virus. It has to go 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.560 to the state Health Department, and before that, it had 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.880 to go to the Communical Disease Center better known as 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.400 a c DC. You know the PCR, which we routinely 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:28.080 do for things like diarrheal infections. We do the PCR 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.560 for tuberculosis. Now this has this is a test that 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:37.160 has streamalized streamlined diagnosis of infections. Thirty years ago, we 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.440 didn't have anything like this. We would have to culture 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.400 you for TV. We would have to find out, you know, 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.880 in your stool if you had organisms that cause diarrhea. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.120 Now we can do the same thing for coronavirus, but 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.720 we have to be able to produce the markers, namely 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.120 the r N a ribonucleic acid from the virus, which 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.520 we can get. We have to multiply that and then 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.240 we have to create these little tests that will define 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:06.360 and show us that you the patient has an antibody 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.520 or something that really reacts with this and what's called 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:13.240 the polymeray chain reaction. The polymeray chain reaction is a 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.360 little complicated to describe for your listeners, but suffice it 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:19.920 to say that that's the reason we haven't had tests upfront. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.960 Really quickly, we're talking to the Chairman of Medicine at 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.840 San Choseph University Hospital, Dr Bob Lajida. A lot of 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.840 information is floating online suggestions for how people can keep 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.960 themselves in their families better protected. What are some practices 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:39.640 or products that we know actually work. Handwashing with soap works, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.840 purel or hand sanitizers work. If you can get ahold 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:46.360 of some. We have them on the walls here. I 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.800 have a bottle right on my desk in front of me. Here. 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.360 I have several bottles at home and I wipe my 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.640 hands down. And I also get those you know, those 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.840 wipes we use in the gym wipe things down like 0:07:58.000 --> 0:07:59.920 jim stuff. If you're going to a gym and you're 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.320 working out with a lot of other people, you want 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.920 to really wipe the machines down. You should be doing 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.160 that anyhow, but now you really should do that. If 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.600 you go to the theater, you should wipe the chair 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.880 down before you sit down and watch a movie. And 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.200 most people are going to go to theaters and movie 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.280 theaters and sit with two people today, Nor are they 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.360 going to go to Broadway shows and do the same thing. 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.800 Or flying an airplane, you gotta wipe You should have 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.720 done this before Corona. You gotta wipe the seat down, 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.280 You gotta wipe the tray table down and make sure 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.319 that things are pretty clean because these viruses can stay 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:37.280 on surfaces for upwards of two days, and some people 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.000 are saying even longer. What about face masks. Well, with 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.240 my patients that have certain illnesses, I make them wear 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.080 face masks. Now, the face mask they wear is the 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.679 cloth face mask. The N ninety five face masks is 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.040 the face mask that grips around your nose and is 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.440 and is seamless. You you you breathe through that mask, 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.280 but there's no leakage of air around it. The regular 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.920 cloth face mask does one thing. It protects you from 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.800 touching your face. Because if you handle uh, some object 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.480 that's been contaminated with the virus and you touch your face, 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.679 that's a problem. You'll get the infection. It'll go right 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.199 up into your narries of your nose or into your mouth. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.840 And everybody touches their face. So we're saying wear a 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.040 mask of regular cloth mask and will prevent you from 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.880 touching your face. Also, wash your hands as much as 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.520 you can and keep the hands as sterile as possible. Now, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.200 if you are infected and you're coughing up phlegm and 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.680 you're copping up what you think maybe virus, you should 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.560 wear a nice and mask or at the least a 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.559 surgical mask wherever you go. And frankly, you shouldn't go anywhere. 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.920 You should stay in your house. Uh, don't go to 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.240 the emergency room, don't go to your doctor's office because 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.560 you're gonna contaminate everybody else that's there. If you have 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.560 trouble breathing or you're running a super high fever, then 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:57.560 you go to the emergency rumor then you go to 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:01.120 your doctor's office, dial get an ambulance and get over 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.600 there or have somebody drive you. That's my advice. Is 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:09.040 there anything else about this disease or outbreak that you 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.560 think it's important we know? I think I think there's 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:14.679 not much we need to know right now. There's very 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.400 little known about the course it's going to take, whether 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:19.839 it's going to fade away in the summer or whether 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.480 it's going to continue into the fall. I do hope 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.400 that we have a vaccine in the early fall, September 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.520 October time, so that we can all get immunized with 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.439 the flu. At the same time we can get vaccinated 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:35.880 against Corona UH nineteen COVID nineteen, because that was that's 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:37.800 the only sure fire way that we're gonna be able 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.280 to control this infection. As you know, it's it's devastating 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.520 certain countries in Europe, like Italy and UH, countries like China, 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:50.319 and and it's just been devastating to all sorts of populations, 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:54.360 especially the elderly, those elderly people who are quite ill 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:59.080 with lung disease or people who chain smoke, UH probably 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.560 even people who smoke pot You've got to be understanding 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.840 that your lungs are irritated. And when you have an 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.000 irritated lung, it sets you up for roaring infection with 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.440 this virus because there are receptors in the lung for 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:14.000 the virus. Chairman of Medicine at St. Joseph University Hospital, 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.120 Dr Bob Lahda. Dr Lahda, thank you so much for 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.560 your time and thank you for helping us better understand 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.200 everything we need to know about COVID nineteen. You're quite 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.880 welcome and thanks for having me. Next, let's turn to 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.480 someone who can shed some light on the local, state, 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.000 and federal response to the coronavirus outbreak, joining me now 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.400 as a former counter terrorism and community outreach official and 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.960 former chief spokesman for the New York City Office of 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.120 Emergency Management, Jared Bernstein. Jared, thank you for joining us 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.800 here on iHeart Radio. Let's start with the organization's federal, state, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.120 and local that our front and center in the handling 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.760 of this COVID nineteen response. What can you tell us 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.600 about them? Sure, well, depending upon where you live, you 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.680 will have a city or county or even cown office 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.920 of Emergency Management and Public Health Authority, and they're really 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:02.839 the front line of defense. They're going to be working 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:07.480 with local physicians and other medical providers, hospitals, nursing homes, 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.440 skilled nursing facilities to really understand what they're seeing in 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.240 the field in terms of patients, uh, symptomatic, where people 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.440 are coming from, and then they're going to report that 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.480 information up to a state department of health, and then 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.920 the state emergency management or territorial emergency management agency is 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.280 going to be involved, and those all ladder up to 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.920 the federal Emergency Management Agency, the Centers for Disease Control 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.120 and the Department of Health and Human Services, and the 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.600 National Institutes for Health. So really everybody is in this now. 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.320 The entirety of the federal government is involved with fighting 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.320 this outbreak, and everybody has their role to play here. 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.960 So communication is clearly important. So the right information is 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.800 going from local communities to the state level and then 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.480 eventually to the federal level too. Yeah, that's correct, And 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:55.200 and you know, communicating with the public in an an 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.200 outbreak like this is probably as much as important or 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.920 more important than the actual clinical care that you're giving, 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.080 because this this outbreak is going to infect a certain 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.199 number of people. But what we really need to do 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.840 is make sure that we can focus medical resources on 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.520 people who are most vulnerable, people who may have compromise 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.640 immune systems, people who may be elderly, have other some 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.480 some kind of medical condition going on. And the only 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.200 way we can do that is if they're public at 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.360 large cooperatives. And if you're sick and you think you 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.120 might have COVID nineteen, you can contact your your healthcare provider, 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.079 but chances are, unless you have one of those other conditions, 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:29.959 they're gonna tell you to try and ride this out 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.800 at home, obviously monitoring if your fever gets too high 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.359 or if you have any other kind of secondary symptoms 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:38.920 other than than what is you know, generally associated with 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.200 with this virus. And so that's going to allow our 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.960 public help, you know, resources to go to the people 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:45.760 who needed the most. But the only way we can 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.920 do that is if we are regularly as authorities briefing people, 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.120 and people believe that what they're being told by government 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.600 is accurate and that they're getting accurate and timely information. Um. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.800 We always used to say that you want to tell people, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.520 here's what we know, Here's what we don't know. Here's 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.600 what we're trying to find out, and here's what we're 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:05.559 doing about it, and here's when you will hear from 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.640 us again, and kind of keep repeating that drum deal 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.079 over and over and over again until people can come 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:13.720 to depend on if you can do it every twelve 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.280 hours or every six hours or every twenty four hours 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.880 and make sure people have the latest and greatest information 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.520 so they can make good decisions for their families. A 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.440 lot of people are hearing about emergency declarations, which can 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.160 sound a little frightening, but there's a purpose to them. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.920 What actions do these declarations typically lead to. Sure, they 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.760 differ from state to state and from government to government, 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:41.640 but in general, emergency declarations allow executives, either mayors or 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:47.480 county executives or governors to circumvent state rules. Usually they're 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:53.120 related to overtime, to collective bargaining, to procurement. Sometimes they 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.160 involve quarantine, uh suspension of some kind of you know, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.080 normal civil liberties. But in general, what they're really we 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.440 used for is to be able to buy things quickly 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:04.800 that we need without maybe going out to a ninety 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:09.320 day bid process or maybe lifting cap on caps on 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:14.320 overtime For particular job titles of critical critical employees, or 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.560 maybe ordering people into into work who we need to 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.600 come in and maintain our vital infrastructure like water and 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:26.080 sewer and electric and so emergency declarations are a means 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.560 to do that. At the federal level, an emergency declaration 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.600 typically means that FEMA is the President has declared a 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:38.280 major federal disaster, and it frees up FEMA to start 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.960 paying states and localities the cost of dealing with at 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:44.960 whatever the disaster is. A lot of times you hear 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.280 about it with a hurricane or a coastal storm or 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.960 a tornado, or even a major snowfall. If you get 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.640 a few feet of snow that overwhelms local or state resources, uh, 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:58.760 you can get a limited federal disaster declaration to help 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:03.360 reimburse on the back in for infrastructure and for uh, 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.160 you know, the human capital costs of dealing with these things. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.040 We're talking to former counter terrorism and community outreach official 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.400 and former chief spokesman for the New York City Office 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.880 of Emergency Management, Jared Bernstein here on iHeart Radio. Lots 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.480 of events are being canceled across the country. Large gatherings 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.800 are being banned. What goes into those decisions, well, I mean, 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:29.160 there's there's lots of consideration, um, but basically you need 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.440 to figure out who's at risk, what the unintended first, 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.120 second and third order consequences are of closing down any 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.320 institution or series of institutions, whether it be public schools, 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:45.400 private schools, Broadway theaters, large gatherings. Um. Sure, it's a 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.840 very prudent decision to you know, close down large gathering areas, 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:51.800 but what are you you know, who are going to 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:53.640 pay the people who work at those places? And how 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.360 are those people are going to afford to feed their 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:59.080 families if they're not getting paid? So really, uh, you 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.400 try to take as as much of a holistic view 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.440 as you can to any kind of second and third 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.960 order consequences of the decisions you make. But at the 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.879 end of the day, elective leaders and they are appointed 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.399 staffs and teams have to make the call. That's what 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.040 that's that's what they get paid for. And you know, 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.560 sometimes they're gonna be right and sometimes they're gonna be wrong, 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:19.879 but they have to make decisions and and you know 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.760 that's what they're there for. Uh, And you know that's 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.960 what it is. And I'm assuming in most of these 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.560 instances there's some kind of coordination between public officials and 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:32.359 the private sector, especially when major sports leagues decided to 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:36.240 suspend games, which has a huge impact on the community. Yes, 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.159 I think, you know, normally it's made uh at a 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:43.679 more local level. Um the for example, the head of 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.200 the Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks would 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.679 be coordinating with City Hall and with the New York 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:52.439 City Office of Emergency Management on a snowfall or a 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.199 blackout or something like our coastal storm. I think what 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.320 we're seeing here that's quite different is that whole leagues 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.000 or just shut down. Uh. And that's not something that 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.680 we've ever seen, at least in my lifetime, where it's 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.439 being done wholesale. I can tell you that in the 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.840 post nine eleven world, where there was a tremendous impact 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.600 on the financial sector in downtown Manhattan, lots of cities 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.480 and states have made a real effort to engage the 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.359 private sector at every level of emergency planning. In New York, 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:28.760 it is a very common occurrence to have a regular 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:33.000 conference call an update for leadership in the private sector 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.080 throughout the year, and especially in times of you know, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.880 an active incident. I think the only difference we're seeing 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:41.960 here is just the scale of it because it is 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.720 a nationwide issue at this point. Final question for you. 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.720 We live in an age of memes and viral social 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.320 media posts. How important is it for everyone to get 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.320 their information from the right sources and really be careful 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.360 with what they share. I think that's a great that's 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.199 a great point and a great question. I know that 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.679 there is you know, a lot of suspicion of what 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.520 people call fake news these those but it's really important 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.840 in an emergency situation to get your information from the 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.280 elected and appointed leadership of your city, of your state, 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:16.520 of the country, and not be taking it from forward 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:19.000 that somebody may have said, you know, all this is 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:20.879 from a friend who works at the police department, this 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.359 is from a friend who's a doctor. Well, until that 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.280 person is in a position of authority where they're giving 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.440 direction and they will be held to account if it's wrong, 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.840 you should not be relying on the information. So I 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.639 think we need to, you know, utilize that The Centers 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.879 for Disease Control has an amazing amount of information on 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.439 their website at TVC dot gov. Each state has a 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.200 health department, and they are all using using their websites 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:48.560 and having a tremendous amount of information up there for 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.400 folks to folks to put on there. And individual employers, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.240 you know, large companies are all doing really uh good 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.760 job at trying to inform their employees. And then you know, 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.439 individual smaller businesses are going to have to work with 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.480 their local Department of Small Business Services or local health 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.040 department in order to make sure that they have the information. 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:11.120 Former counter terrorism and Community Outreach official and former chief 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.520 spokesman for the New York City Office of Emergency Management 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.160 Jared Bernstein, Jared, thank you so much for your time 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.880 and insight. Thank you finally to help us better understand 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.480 what's happening with the markets and the US economy. We're 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.439 joined by CNBC contributor Ron and Sanna. Thank you for 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.840 taking the time to break this down for us. First off, 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.760 what sectors of the economy are getting hit the hardest 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:37.480 so far due to the coronavirus outbreak? Well, certainly travel 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:43.240 and business, travel, leisure, travel, um, restaurants, retail, anything that 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.320 is a really consumer oriented is getting hit quite hard. 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:51.280 Amid expectations that as as various cities and states around 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:53.760 the country declare states of emergency, or in the case 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.000 of New York, shut down things like Broadway um where 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.600 where the consumer directly has to go somewhere in order 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:01.840 to have an experience or a meal. All of that 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.200 is getting just absolutely crushed. And while we're not seeing 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.200 it show up immediately in the economic data, it's going 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.879 to And so it's that, and it's the fact that 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.440 we're now starting to see schools closed across the country, 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:17.080 not just universities, but elementary schools and high schools. We 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.960 are seeing disruptions now in workplace habits, where we're seeing 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:25.520 split teams, we're seeing people hopefully on in an hourly wage. 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:27.280 We'll we'll get a backstop, but if if they have 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.600 to stop going into work, you're going to have two 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:31.680 different kinds of shocks. You're gonna have a supply shock 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.720 because we have in some cases too many goods having 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.120 been made, and then a drop in demand and the 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:39.800 demand shock which could which could throw us pretty quickly 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:43.000 into recession. There have been a lot of comparisons of 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.679 what we're seeing right now to the financial crisis in 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:47.760 two thousand seven and two thousand and eight and the 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:51.480 period immediately after nine eleven? Is this similar or there's 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:56.000 some significant differences that we need to understand. In many ways, 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.439 what's transpired in the last three and a half weeks 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:02.840 four weeks is really a combination of multiple different events. 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:05.639