Consider This from NPR - Why U.S. Coronavirus Cases Are About To Rise Dramatically

Episode Date: March 18, 2020

White House officials expect a spike tied to increased testing. Plus a guide to social distancing, a look at the grocery store supply chain, and a suggestion from NPR Music to take the edge off feelings of isolation and stress. You can hear Life Kit's episode on social distancing, "Disrupted and Distanced," here on Apple podcasts or at NPR.org.You can stream NPR Music's 'Isle Of Calm' playlist via Spotify or Apple Music. Find and support your local public radio station here. Email the show at [e-mail] episode was recorded and published as part of this podcast's former 'Coronavirus Daily' format.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It is a familiar thing these last couple days. The president and the people on his coronavirus task force walk into the White House briefing room and stand around the lectern. Thank you very much. And try to explain their efforts to get the nation through the coronavirus pandemic. It's the invisible enemy. It's always the toughest enemy, the invisible enemy. But we're going to defeat the invisible enemy. I think we're going to do it even faster than we thought. And it will be a complete victory. It'll be a total victory. With the virus now in all 50 states, and now that more than 100 people in this country

have died, President Trump is warning young adults about how dangerous it is to not practice social distancing. The White House pointed to new data from France and Italy that suggests young people might be more vulnerable than previously thought. We don't want them gathering. And I see they do gather, including on beaches and including in restaurants, young people. They don't realize they're feeling invincible. Coming up, for those of us who are trying our best at social distancing,

we have some advice on how to manage it. Plus, how grocery stores are holding up in all of this. I'm Kelly McEvers. This is Coronavirus Daily from NPR. It is Wednesday, March 18th. So in that White House briefing today, reporter Peter Alexander of NBC News asked a question about the availability of testing. Yeah, Peter, go ahead. If I could ask you about the test, sir, for a second. Federal officials have shipped millions of tests, as you and your colleagues have said. Why, as the federal government says, have only 59,000 tests been processed to this point? We just heard from the Atlanta public health director saying that they have fewer than 50 test kits for more than 900,000 citizens. President Trump was at the lectern. He passed

the question to Vice President Mike Pence. I'll let Mike answer that. Who passed the question to Dr. Deborah Birx. Deborah. A coordinator on the administration's coronavirus task force. So that's a very critical question, and thank you for asking it. So the test kits that we put out last week through the approval, the rapid movement of that meeting that President Trump called less than two weeks ago. That has resulted in bringing our private sector to the table.

And what she eventually gets at here is that testing capacity should be moving up, way up, which means that in many places, backlogged tests are finally going to be processed. And what that means is that the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is about to go up. A lot. So we will see the number of people diagnosed dramatically increase over the next four to five days. I know some of you will use that to raise an alarm that we are worse than Italy because of our slope of our curve. To every American out there, it will be five to six days worth of tests being run in 24 to 48 hours. So our curves will not be stable until sometime next week. As this virus spreads and economic activity in more and more places slows down, massive numbers of new people are filing for unemployment. In Ohio alone, 78,000 people applied for unemployment this week in just three days.

And then today, the three big automakers, Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler, all announced they would suspend production at their U.S. plants. And while for many people, work is getting more scarce, if you've been to the grocery store lately, it might look like it's food that's getting scarce. But empty shelves are not a reflection of the overall food supply in the United States. NPR host Rachel Martin recently talked about this with Greg Ferreira. He's president and CEO of the National Grocers Association, which represents more than 8,000 stores across the country. We're obviously dealing with an unprecedented demand in our grocery stores today, one that we really haven't ever seen before.

However, our country is fortunate. We have the most efficient and effective supply chain really in the world, and that supply chain is cranking at 100% to get stores refilled, and that is happening on a daily or even more frequent basis. If you see empty shelves, the chances that a couple hours later, by the next morning, that shelf is going to be full. Now, you might not see the exact brand or the exact flavor of product you're looking for, but you're going to have product on the shelves. The supply chain is cranking and trucks are getting to stores for sure. All right. So if your kid can't get their favorite form of string cheese, that's just an allowance that he's going to have to make.

We know, though, that many of the ports have slowed down in terms of traffic and that truckers are saying they can't get containers from the ships to transport. So, I mean, we don't want to be all gloom and doom here, but can we expect things to get worse? The reality is for the vast majority of the products in the supermarkets, they are produced here domestically. So we're not really talking about product coming into the ports. We're talking about product that is produced domestically, often regionally or locally, and that product is getting to stores. So whether we're talking about fresh meat, we're talking about produce, some of which does come from Mexico and other South

American countries, but it's coming into the United States. Or we're talking about paper products, for example, toilet paper. It's produced here domestically, and it's fairly easy to produce. The supply chain is cranked up. Manufacturers are humming along, and those products are getting produced. They're getting to our distribution centers, and they are getting to store shelves. We're just seeing an extraordinary demand right now that we really haven't seen before. All right. So if you go in and a shelf is empty, don't panic.

Just come back in a couple of days, and those stocks will likely be refilled. What about the workers? What about the employees, though? They're at great risk of exposure, aren't they? How are you protecting them? First, let me say about our employees, and we represent our members, over 1 million workers across the country. These are really the unsung heroes of the crisis we are dealing with today. We are so proud of the work that our frontline associates are doing. And if you go into a store, take them out and thank a grocer or a worker. They're just doing an amazing job. But yes, we are taking protections to make sure they are protected. Our stores are following CDC, state and local health official guidelines.

Stores are doing extra sanitation, extra wipe downs. Some employees are wearing gloves. If an employee is sick, they are told, do not come to work. And the same, by the way, we go for a customer. If you're not feeling well, you're sick, do not come into the stores. That is very important. And we'll take everything one day at a time. But right now, things are going well, and associates are just doing a tremendous job. Right. So the bottom line there, don't panic buy.

Stocks will be refilled. And thank the workers that you see at those grocery stores. Very, very good advice. Greg Ferrer, President and CEO of the National Grocers Association. We so much appreciate your time. Thank you. Thanks for having me. For all we don't know about this virus, there are some questions we can answer. Health correspondent Allison Aubrey has done just that with NPR host Elsa Chang. Here is their Q&A about social distancing and how best to manage it. You know,

social distancing does not mean absolute isolation, right? We still have to go to the grocery store. Right now we're being told don't gather in groups of 10 or more. If you live alone, yeah, this isolation could be very difficult. And I don't think anyone is going to tell you you can't have one or two people over. The key is do what we know works to help prevent the spread of this. And that is the simple stuff you keep hearing. It is wash your hands, stop touching your face, clean your surfaces, and keep your distance. Look, it is possible for adults to gather two or three and stay six feet apart. Harder for children. And then we should say go outside, right? I mean, use the great outdoors. It is very possible to take a walk where you're all

six feet apart, to take a hike, to take a bike ride. I love that idea. People want to know if they're still having to go into work, what's the best way to sanitize once they get back home in order to avoid infecting everyone else at home? Well, you know, if you've got roommates and you've got shared surfaces, and if you've got somebody going out into the world and coming back, whether that's to get groceries or to go to the office, then they can bring something back with them. So the first thing, and this is something we've been told a million times during this, wash your hands. When it comes to surfaces, yes, it's really important to disinfect them. So you can actually do a lot to, you know,

sanitize your own home. You need to wipe down with wipes. If you don't have wipes, it's pretty easy to make your own cleaning solution. You take a little bleach. There are specific recommendations on the CDC website. But yes, wipe down those surfaces. Wipe down your phone, which you can think of as your third hand right now. Our phone goes everywhere with us, right? And just be mindful of that. So this question has popped up in a lot of people's minds because people are already getting antsy and restless, staying at home and watching tons and tons of movies. How long does all this social distancing last to accomplish its goals? Every expert I am speaking to is saying, I wish we knew. We just don't have a perfect answer. When the CDC announced the guidance to cancel or postpone all events where 50 or more people would gather, they indicated this would be for the next eight weeks. So that's until about mid-May. But I would also say that the message coming from the White House and from many public health officials is that the next 14 days are really, really critical. And that is because there is an assumption that if everybody does the

right thing right now, we can start to slow the spread. So maybe think about it in baby steps. I mean, my mother always told me inch by inch, life's a cinch, yard by yard, life is hard. If we start thinking about, oh my God, what if we're still social distancing two months from now, we really will go insane. So focus on hunkering down right now for the next 14 days, and then we'll take it from there. That was science correspondent Alison Aubrey. She answered even more questions in an episode of NPR's Life Kit. You can find a link to that podcast in our episode notes. So like a lot of you probably are, I am working from home now. I am recording this right now in a shed slash tiny house in my backyard. Needless to say, this is a big change from the nice studio and team of engineers and

producers I usually work with. So many of our daily comforts and routines are disappearing right now. Sports, church services, dinner out, museums, movies, theater. So our colleagues at NPR Music have built a playlist to try and help take just a little of the edge off. It is six hours long and it is called Isle of Calm. It's got all the genres, classical, jazz, ambient, pop. They call it a little hammock for your soul. It's also a great place to start if you're looking to add new music to your own playlists. There's a link to the full list in our episode notes, and you're hearing a song from it right now. It's called Still Dreaming by Raveena. It's from her 2019 EP Lucid.

Remember, you can stay up to date on all of NPR's coverage at npr.org and on your local public radio station. Now more than ever, find and support that station. We have a link for that, too, in our episode notes. I'm Kelly McEvers. Thanks for listening, and we will be back with more tomorrow.