#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Gen. Lloyd Austin (Ret) talks COVID-19; States announce shutdowns; Protecting your $ during outbreak

Episode Date: March 29, 2020

3.20.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Gen. Lloyd Austin (Ret.) talks possible military response to COVID-19 outbreak; Calif. announces a mandatory shutdown, IL Gov. issues a stay in place order, NY issues a PAUSE order; Protecting your $ during outbreak. #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: AFSCME AFSCME is the nation's largest and fastest growing public services employees union with more than 1.6 million active and retired members. Visit https://www.afscme.org to learn how we make America happen. #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Thank you. Today is Friday, March 20th, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin Unfiltered, we have the most up-to-date information dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Folks, it is just unbelievable what's going on. We now have a third state that's on complete shutdown. We'll tell you all about it. Retired General Lloyd Austin, four-star.

He knows what it's like to send troops in command when it comes to fighting terrorism. How would the military be conducting this national security issue? And that's exactly what this is. We're looking forward to that interview with him. Also, folks, we'll have how long is pandemic going to last? The answer is in understanding how the virus actually works.

We'll talk about that with a biological scientist. Also, millions of people working low-wage jobs. How do they protect the money they have in these uncertain times? So we've got a full show for you, trying to bring you as much information as possible. It's time to bring the funk on Roller Marker and the Filter. Let's go. He's got it. Whatever the go. He's got it.

Whatever the mess, he's on it. Whatever it is, he's got the scoop, the fact, the fine. And when it breaks, he's right on time. And it's rolling. Best believe he's knowing. Putting it down from sports to news to politics. With entertainment just for kicks. He's rolling.

It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know. He's Rolling, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know He's rolling, Martel Martel As of today, there are 16,026 cases of COVID-19

in all 50 states and three U.S. territories. At least 213 patients with the virus have died. Folks, this thing is continuing. The Trump administration continues to say that more tests are being made available, but now we keep getting word from a number of hospitals that they are running out of masks. They're running out of gowns. Some say that you have one hospital CEO say one company is trying to charge them $7 per mask when they normally cost 58 cents. Yesterday Donald Trump stood before the cameras and talked about what he said was a

promising drug to fight coronavirus but then he said the FDA approved it but then the FDA had announced last night no no, it has not been approved. It's still going through testing. Lots of conflicting statements coming out in today's news conference. Here's some of it. We've also temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans. They'll be very happy to hear that. And I've instructed them to take that action immediately. And today, Secretary DeVos has directed federal lenders to allow borrowers to suspend their student loans and loan payments without penalty for at least the next 60 days. And if we need more, we'll extend that period of time. Borrowers should contact their lenders. But we've given them very strong instructions.

So we've temporarily wa very strong instructions so we've temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans our folks also the issue came up when it came to testing and the conflicting information that we keep hearing here dr. Fauci answering that question go to my iPad when will every American who needs a test get a test and be able to get a test? And why not have medical equipment being shipped right now to hospitals who need it? You're hearing very positive things about testing. And just so you understand, we don't want every American to go out and get a test.

350 million people. We don't want that. We want people that have a problem, that have a problem with they they're sneezing, they're sniffling, they don't feel good. They have a temperature. There are a lot of different things. You know, you know better than I do. So ready. We don't need that. But what we are having is we're having these private labs have come and they've been really fantastic. And we also have a great system for the future, because as I said, we inherited, we meaning this administration, an obsolete, broken system that wasn't meant for anything like this. Now we have a system that you can see because, look, we're well into this and nobody's even talking about it except for you, which doesn't surprise me. There are Americans, though, who say that they have symptoms and they can't get tested. What do you say to the Americans who are scared that they have symptoms and can't get tested? We don't want everybody to go out and get a test because there's no reason for it.

We'll do one more after this. So part of the problem with that is that we are hearing individuals. We're hearing doctors who also have been speaking to this whole issue. And so here was Dr. Fauci, Anthony Fauci, when he actually got to the microphone today. Roll it, please. Availability, not only just availability, but the implementation of the availability is getting better and better and better. Having said that, I understand and empathize with the people who rightfully are saying, I'm trying to get a test

and I can't. So is that a way of saying we are not yet at a point where we are meeting the demand pressure? Well, the answer is yes, John, we are not there yet because otherwise people would be never calling up saying they can't get a test. The availability, not only just availability. When you get a straight answer, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is also holding daily briefings, and he's made it clear that the city, New York, is being shut down as a result of coronavirus. We're going to take it to the ultimate step, which is we're going to close the valve, all right? All right. Because the rate of increase in the number of cases portends a total overwhelming of our hospital system. So we're going to put out an executive order today. New York state on pause policies that assure uniform safety for everyone.

Yesterday, California Gavin Newsom gave the exact same order. 40 million folks in California shelter in place. We need to bend the curve in the state of California. And in order to do that, we need to recognize the reality. The fact is, the experience we're having on the ground throughout the state of California, the experience that's manifesting all across the United States, and for that matter, around the rest of the world, require us to adjust our thinking and to adjust our activities. A state as large as ours, a nation state, is many parts, but at the end of the day, we're one body. There's a mutuality and there's a recognition of our interdependence that requires of this moment that we direct a statewide order for people to stay at home. I want folks to know that we've lost a lot of volunteers that, you know, simply are concerned and understandably

are staying at home and our food banks and other others that have relied on volunteers and the community spirit need a little support. And so we're going to provide that support. This shouldn't be alarming. It's humanitarian only. But we'll send out about 500 of our extraordinary leaders and National Guard to help with the distribution and the food. Again, just purely humanitarian.

A few moments ago, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker also announced that Illinois is going to be on state, they stay in shelter until April 7th. So a lot of things are developing just in real time as folks were trying to get a handle on this. Joining us right now is someone, again, who knows very well when it comes to the military, how things are handled, how do you deal with issues like this, trying to mobilize and get people organized. That is retired General Lloyd Austin. He, of course, was the 12th commander of the United States Central Command, the first black commander

of the Hathaway organization, and also served as the commanding general, the last commanding general of the United States Forces Iraq Operation New Dawn. And so, General, certainly glad to have you here on Roller Mountain Unfiltered. Glad to be here. All right, so as someone who has commanded troops, when you look at this coronavirus epidemic, we're seeing it going on all across the country. You have states who are saying shelter in place. The federal government has not given that order yet. They're trying to get a handle on it.

Tests are increasing constantly. As someone who has commanded troops, do you believe that we're at a point where what these governors are doing, Fauci has been saying, we actually need to do this? We got to shut the country down in order to get a handle on making sure people are getting tested, folks not congregating, and to understand how widespread this thing is. Clearly, it's widespread. What's dangerous about it, a lot of things are dangerous about it, but what's alarming is that it's moving with incredible speed, and it can be transmitted very, very easily. And so the magnitude of this problem, Roland, is unlike anything that we've ever

encountered before. You know, typically when you have a national emergency, something like a hurricane or a tornado or an earthquake, it's centered in one part of the United States or one part of the world. And you can mobilize resources from other places and direct them to that place in need. In this case, when things hit the fan, the globe got sprayed. And so it's very difficult. It's impossible to shift resources around. What you have to do is bring things up to scale as quickly as you possibly can. And what the military does is it adds scale to the can add scale to the problem. It clearly can provide command and control and structure. It has capability in the forms of lab in the form of labs and and some other things. And it has America's some of America's best people. The military has been employed or utilized in a number of national emergencies, but we are typically not the lead agency, lead federal agency, when it comes to something like this. Typically FEMA is, and that's the case in this case. FEMA has a lot of capacity, and the military is in support of FEMA and providing a number of types of capability.

And you just heard one governor talk about how he's utilizing his National Guard forces. So, again, this is different from anything that we've ever seen. And I want to remind you that the focus of the military is to protect the United States of America. And so, by the way, we still have troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq and other parts of the world. The medical capabilities of the military are focused on supporting those troops that are deployed and helping the military to gain and maintain the required readiness in order to be able to protect the country. So the military adds significant value to or can add significant value to an issue like

this. By the way, I doubt that you'll see and anything can happen, but I doubt that you'll see in the near term that the president will issue an order for the entire country in terms of, you know, stay put or something of that nature. Why is that? I think that's probably best left to the local governance, the governors, the mayors, to work through that. The national government, I think, is focused on providing resources and direction in those types of things. But what you have, though, is you have yesterday, you know, Trump stood there and said,

you know, look, federal government, we're not shipping clerks. And you have others who are saying, no, the federal government can use its power. And for instance, with this one CEO who said a company is trying to charge $7 per mask when it normally costs 58 cents. The power of the federal government is to be able to say, come in, take a seat, do this, and this is what's going to happen to you. I mean, that's where, but that's also where leadership comes in. As you've watched this, and we played a video

yesterday, folks, get that video ready. And it talked about just these contrasting comments where it's no big deal. It's just one person. This is under control. This is contained. You had Larry Cutlow earlier in February was saying, oh, no, no, this thing is we pretty much got this thing airtight, contained by stocks. It was saying all these different things when it wasn't happening. And so at some point, leadership has to be honest about exactly what's going on so people are hearing the truth and you're not getting these conflicting messages. Yeah. And I do think that as time has evolved and our scientists and our doctors have had a

chance to take a look at how this thing has progressed on the international stage, it's provided an ability to model a bit more and better. And so now I think the true threat is clearly recognized not only by our government but by governments around the world. And so recognizing, you know, the potential of kind of the breadth of the spread of this and the speed at which it's moving, this requires a national effort, not just a whole of government effort, but a national effort. And what I mean by that is that all of the agencies and the government have to work together under the direction of the White House. But we also need industry, Roland, to stand up and really lean into this.

And I think you're beginning to see that. I think you'll find that in this country, as you well know, Roland, people will exercise initiative to get the right things done. We saw that from the very beginning. CDC says, hey, this is dangerous and you need to be concerned about large gatherings. So based upon that, the NBA shuts down. Then the NCAA shuts down. Then a number of other things shut down, individual initiative versus a mandate from on high. So I think what you're seeing, what you'll see is companies across the United States of America

begin to lean into this in a major way. But it takes a little time to gear up to produce masks if you haven't been accustomed to doing that. Which means that every day matters.

I mean, every day, every moment. I want to play this and there was a group, look, they're not lovers of the president. They put this video together. But I think the timeline is important when you hear what was being said January 22nd and then what you begin to hear in February and March.

Go ahead and play it. We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. We think we have it very well under control. We pretty much shut it person coming in from China. We think we have it very well under control. We pretty much shut it down coming in from China. You know, in April, supposedly it dies with hotter weather. When it gets warm, historically, that has been able to kill the virus. People are getting better. They're all getting better. And the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. It's going to disappear one day., it's like a miracle. It will disappear, and you'll be fine.

They're gonna have vaccines, I think, relatively soon. Not only the vaccines, but the therapies. Therapies is sort of another word for cure. We're talking about very small numbers in the United States. Our numbers are lower than just about anybody. It's really working out, and a lot of good things are gonna happen. And we are responding with great speed and professionalism.

It's gonna go away. Yeah, no, I don't take responsibility at all with great speed and professionalism. It's going to go away. Yeah, no, I don't take responsibility at all. It's going to all be great. We're going to be so good. This came up, it came up so suddenly. This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. All you had to do is look at other countries.

The coronavirus, you know that, right? Coronavirus. And this is their new hoax. We're 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early we went early we could have had a lot more than that we're doing great our country is doing so great as as a money who's who's led massive amounts of people, does that frustrate you when the commander-in-chief makes those statements and he gives the impression early on, no big deal, everything is fine?

When the scientists were going, no, it's not. In fact, when there's a military intelligence unit that began to track this, they were saying, this thing is real. Those comments, that's probably what drives me crazy because that's what led to people going to beaches and keep having gatherings because it's kind of like, oh, it's contained.

He said it's fine. There's no doubt, Roland. I've not heard anyone say or very many people say that we weren't late to need. We were late to need. We, you know, certainly I wasn't in the room when the input was being provided to senior leadership and the assessments were being made.

But I think that, you know, when your experts are telling you something, then it pays to listen to them and it pays to begin to focus on gathering up the resources to address the problem. And obviously we didn't do that in a timely fashion. Now we're racing to catch up. And again, we understand more and more each day about this threat. And what we know now, Roland, is that it's going to require a lot of resources to get in front of this.

We we're behind it and more time will pass before we can we can generate more or fabricate more, more equipment, you know, personal protective equipment and masks and ventilators, because you've got to retool some things. You've got to you've got to really get industry to lean into this. But my sense is that industry has begun to lean into it, and shortly you'll begin to see some progress, and we hope that that'll be the case. If the order came down for the military to mobilize and assist, not necessarily lead, but assist.

What does that look like? What kicks in? How does it then go from that decision from the White House to the military then to the rest of the country? So you're right. We wouldn't lead this. It would be led by a federal agency

and is led by a federal agency, FEMA. As the discussion evolves, we'll focus on, hey, what problem is it that we're trying to solve that we can bring military capability to bear to help this problem? Again, we know that we have a need for personal protective equipment. The military has some of that in its stockage. And I think you've heard the Secretary of Defense say that, you know, he's willing to, not willing, but he will provide some of that.

Masks, ventilators, and that sort of stuff. That's all helpful. We have labs that can assist with testing. So, you know, we would take, and I'm sure the military is taking a look at, you know, where can we add value to this overall effort? But we, you know, the military can only do, it can do a piece of this. This will require, and I think it will get, a lot more capability than just the military alone can bring to bear. We can help erect and fabricate shelters for additional beds. We can use some of the military personnel to displace some of the people that are on

the front lines, swabbing noses and taking samples so they can test people. You know, so there are a lot of things that can be done and are being done, quite frankly, as you've seen. You know that there's a hospital ship that's soon to be headed to the East Coast, New York. There's another hospital ship headed to the East Coast, New York. There's another hospital ship headed to the West Coast. And that's pretty significant capability. Now, you wouldn't want to put COVID patients on a hospital ship because of the confined spaces. But you can use those beds to open up spaces for folks who have other problems. And you can displace them.

That can create some space for COVID patients eventually. But the military is also very familiar with going in, having to erect hospitals, having to be able to commandeer land, to be able to create those tents. We had the Brooklyn Bureau President on yesterday. What they did was they erected these tents outside of the hospital to serve as the entry point. So instead of people coming into the hospital, the points you just made, they were going through this tent first to get assessed to determine what happens next. And the sense that I get is that from these local hospitals and these mayors and these governors,

I mean, the reality is, as you said, from a national standpoint, they aren't used to having to mobilize entire states. Like you said, look, I've lived through three hurricanes in Houston, and so what happens in this city or this particular area of a city, this is a whole different deal. To me, that's where the capability of the military comes in,

where y'all are used to going in where there's absolutely nothing, then all of a sudden, a city all of a sudden is erected. You're right. We bring scale, we bring structure, we bring command and control, we bring speed. And again, we know how to get a lot of things done.

And I think this capability should be used, and I think the governors are tapping into that capability. And just the Army alone, you know, you have three components, as you well know. Active Army, you have Army National Guard, you have U.S. Army Reserve. So that's three different components. Each of those components has some medical capability, units that have medical capability. So there's a fair amount of potential there. And, again, we just need to focus on what are the major problems, you know, where can, where can the military add value and then quickly make those decisions to,

to employ that, those capabilities. When we, we earlier, we, we talked about speed, talked about time. I talked about how, again, it's every day you didn't have it taken seriously, what was going on. I remember we played a video from Senator Kamala Harris. February 12th, that was a hearing, Department of Homeland Security. And she actually posted that video on that day. And there were Trump administration officials who didn't even come to the hearing. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss coronavirus. And the response was, well, we don't have our

talking points together. Here were United States senators who was a hearing on February 12th, who were saying, hey, what is what is happening here? And that seemed to be a huge problem in this whole idea of just, well, you know, we're not really ready to talk about it. And now all of a sudden it's like, oh, no, no, no, we were always serious about it. But then when you look at the response, when you look at the fact that we still are not, despite all we're hearing, we don't have massive testing. You still have people who are showing symptoms, whose doctors are saying, I need them tested. They said, oh, they're not serious enough. And doctors are going, what in the world am I supposed to do? And to me, that delay of being able to have mass production of those tests,

being able to go to those companies and say, what capability do you have? How can we retrofit your companies to now produce ventilators? Things along those lines. That to me was, for me, a dereliction of duty from this president in the, are engaged, and I think we are at this point, I think you'll see things begin to pick up steam and that flywheel begin to spin and it'll come up to max RPM a lot faster than people would have thought possible. But again, you've got to— I understand, Ben. Look, you respect the chain of command, being the general four-star. When it comes to these news conferences, should the scientists be leading them?

I've always felt that having the folks who are the experts talk about the significant issues is the way to go. I think they're committed to providing factual information to the public, and that's really, really important, in a way that the public can comprehend and digest. What we want to make sure is that people understand what it is they need to do to protect themselves and their families and understand also that the system is beginning to work hard to deliver the capabilities that we'll need to counter this going forward. Last question. Are there one or two things currently not being done that you believe should be done? Well, I think you've heard a number of people say that we need to increase the amount of tests available so we can get a better picture of of how how how

big this problem really is and and again since since I am NOT in the decision making loop and I don't fully know all the things that are being done you know I won't care to second I don't care to second guess at this point. I suspect there are a number of things happening behind the scenes that we're not aware of. But I would tell people that if you want to know what the military is doing, if you go to DOD.gov and look at the latest updates, you'll see what the Department of Defense is doing. If you want to know what the Army is doing, you can go on the web and figure out, you know, the or gain information about the latest decisions that have been made to deploy resources or employ resources.

So I think a lot more information is out there now, Roland, than was just 48 hours ago. So I encourage people to be proactive, you know, check out the websites to see what people are doing and what they're actually, the decisions that are actually being made. Well, and we also have to be mindful of the fact that members of the military are also impacted by this as well, because we need to ensure that they're being tested and we know whether or not they have coronavirus and how their families are impacted. We're seeing that on with medical personnel because they can't go home. They can't actually see their family members. And so we, you know, that's one of the things that we have to also remember as well, that they might be National Guard, they might be in Army, Navy, Air Force,

Marines, Coast Guard, but they still are regular folks who are dealing with the same thing we're dealing with. You're exactly right. And when you unplug a nurse out of the civilian community and mobilize that person to go be in a National Guard unit, you've just taken away a little bit of capability out of the community that you need there. So you have to really be careful about what decisions you're making and what kind of capability you're trying to take and apply to the problem set. What I would leave you with, Roland, is that, you know, our military has never failed this country once in the country's existence, not once. When called upon, they will rise to the occasion and they will put country and the people of this country before their own personal concerns. But the issue that you just raised, that the service members have family members too,

is something that we need to continue to be mindful of. The military will always want to do our part or their part to help. And again, they have never once failed the United States of America. General Lloyd Austin, retired four-star general. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. In the history of the Army, how many African Americans have been four-star generals? Is it seven, eight?

I think we're up to nine now. Okay. All right. Well, our goal is to get... I was number six. You were number six? Yes. Wow. Wow. That's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. And also, when I interviewed General Brooks, one of the things he told me, he said that,

you know, I've always made sure that when one retires, there's always one who's coming on line. So who's the current active duty four-star general in the Army? General Mike Garrett, he's a commander of United States Army Forces Command down in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He's a great American, and one day you should have him on your show. All right, we'll do that. Well, luckily, of the total number, I've actually talked to five of them.

Talked to five of them. So I've talked to probably a majority of them, so we'll definitely try to get him on as well. All right, General, of the toll number, I've actually talked to five of them. Talked to five of them. So I've talked to probably a majority of them. So we'll definitely try to get them on as well. All right, General, I appreciate it. You should have us all on at one time here at some point, Roland. Right, and guess what? Y'all can probably all fit on one set. Absolutely.

Which is not a good thing. General, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thanks, Roland. All right, folks. Again, as I said, the U.S. has suspended all non-essential traffic across its borders with both Mexico and Canada. Italy announced another record-breaking death toll, folks, 627, up from 427 the previous day. The country cited 9,600 people in one day for violating its lockdown.

Also, when it comes to your taxes, y'all don't really want to talk about that. It's been extended from April 15th to July 15th. And also, stocks continue to fall. The S&P 500 fell by more than 3%. Going to go to break when we come back. More breakdown of the latest with the coronavirus right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show

by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Okay. All right, so a lot of y'all are always asking me about terms, some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't know. Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket

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Again, we're talking about that news conference today where it just really just got absolutely wild and crazy. And Dr. Fauci was asked a question dealing with the shutdowns in New York, California, now Illinois. Here's what he had to say. I'd like him to go back to the State Department, or as they call it, the Deep State Department, if you don't mind. I'd like to have him go back and do his job.

So does anybody have any questions? All right. So what you had also, folks, going on today was this whole issue of, again, the drug and the testing. And then, of course, you had that exchange that took place between Donald Trump and Peter Alexander with NBC News. Go to my iPad, please. I'm going to play it from here, folks. And just listen to this. I'm going to break it down with our panel. Prescribed for many years for people to combat malaria,

which was a big problem, and it's very effective. It's a strong drug. So we'll see. people to combat malaria, which was a big problem, and it's very effective. It's a strong drug. So we'll see. The Press It was also fairly effective against SARS. The President It was very – it was, as I understand that, I – is that a correct statement? It was fairly effective on SARS.

The Press John, you've got to be careful when you say fairly effective. It was never done in a clinical trial. They compared it to anything. It was given to individuals and felt that maybe it worked. So was there anything to compare it to? Well, that's the point. Whenever you do a clinical trial, you do standard of care versus standard of care plus the agent you're evaluating. That's the reason why we showed back in Ebola why particular interventions worked.

Is there on that topic? About the possible. Yesterday, Mr. President, you said that they were for, quote, immediate delivery. Immediate. We heard from the doctor. The President Yes, we have millions of units ordered. Bayer is one of the companies, as you know, big company, very big, very great company.

Millions of units are ordered, and we're going to see what happens. We're going to be talking to the governors about it, and we're going to be talking to the government about it. And we're going to be talking to the government about ordered, and we're going to see what happens. We're going to be talking to the governors about it, and the FDA is working on it right now.

The advantage is that it has been prescribed for a totally different problem, but it has been prescribed for many years, and everybody knows the levels of – the negatives and the positives. But I will say that I am a man that comes from a very positive school when it comes to, in particular, one of these drugs. And we'll see how it works out, Peter. I'm not saying it will, but I think that people may be surprised. By the way, that would be a game-changer.

But we're going to know very soon. But we have ordered millions of units. It's being ordered from Bayer. And there is another couple of companies also that do it. For clarity, Dr. Fauci said there is no magic drug for coronavirus right now, which you would agree, I guess, on this issue? Well, you know, I think we only disagree a little bit. Is it possible that — sorry.

I disagree. Maybe, and maybe not. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. We have to see. We're going to know. Is it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope? No, I don't think so.

It's representing the preparedness right now. No, I don't think so. I think that, I think it's got... The not yet approved drug. Such a lovely question. Look, it may work and it may not work. And I agree with the doctor when he it may work and it may not work. And I agree with the doctor, what he said. It may work, may not work.

I feel good about it. That's all it is. Just a feeling. You know, I'm a smart guy. I feel good about it. And we're going to see. You're going to see soon enough. And we have certainly some very big samples of

people, if you look at the people. We have a lot of people that are in big trouble. And this is not a drug that obviously, I think I can speak for a lot of, from a lot of experience because it's been out there for over 20 years. So it's not a drug that you have a huge amount of danger with. It's not like a brand new drug that's been just created that may have an unbelievable monumental effect like kill you. we're going to know very soon. And I can tell you, the FDA is working very hard to get it out.

Right now, in terms of malaria, if you want it, you can have a prescription. You get a prescription. And by the way, and it's very effective. It works. I have a feeling you may and I'm not being overly optimistic or pessimistic. I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try.

I mean, there's been some interesting things happened and some good, very good things. Let's see what happens. We have nothing to lose. You know the expression? What the hell do you have to lose? Okay? The Press So what do you say to the Americans

who are nearly 200? The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press I'm going to go ahead. The Press What do you say to Americans who are scared, though? I guess nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick,

millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared? The President I say that you're a terrible reporter. That's what I say. Go ahead. The Press Sir, I think it's a very nasty question, and I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people.

The American people are looking for answers answers and they're looking for hope. And you're doing sensationalism and the same with NBC and Comcast. I don't call it Comcast. I call it Comcast. Let me just ask for whom you work. Let me just say something. That's really bad reporting. And you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism. Let's see if it works. It might and it might not. I happen to feel good about it, but who knows? I've been right a lot. Let's see what happens, John.

Can I get back to the science and the logistics? The units that were. All right. Talk about absolutely arrogance there. Let's bring in right now my panel, Dr. Neombe Carter, she, of course, Howard University Department of Political Science, Mustafa Santiago Ali,

former senior advisor for environmental justice, EPA. Here's the thing with that whole exchange there. First of all, yesterday, he said the FDA approved it. They didn't. They had to release a statement last night saying that was not the case. He gave the impression that it was a cure.

It wasn't. The timeline we showed, oh, treatments means cure. No, it doesn't. The problem here, which is what Peeler Alexander was getting to, is you're lying. He didn't want to say it, but he should have said it.

What he should have said is you constantly lied and they had to correct things. Remember the Oval Office address. Three different things he said, they were all lies. They had to come back and correct those things immediately after the speech. He stood up and talked about

the hospital ships. They're still in port getting repaired. They're not going to be able to go out for a couple of months. He makes announcements, and it's not rooted in fact. That's really what Peter Alexander was saying, and then he got pissed off. Well, I mean, and Peter Alexander gave him a softball at the end. What would you say?

First of all, what do you mean a softball? That was a snowball, and it was melting. But it was an easy way for him to say something presidential, right? He could have had an easy win because everybody gets all excited once he says something that actually makes him sound like a leader. And then he gets all this positive press. He had a moment. And instead, he

got caught flat-footed and does what he always does. He pivots. It's the media's fault. The media is not making up a global pandemic. The media is not making up coronavirus. It's still like Chris Rock. It's the media. It's the media. Chris was talking about, he's like, he said, what in the media when you got robbed of the ATM machine?

Stop trying to blame the media. And I think this is par for the course because the truth is he doesn't understand what's happening. He doesn't understand public health. He certainly doesn't understand leadership. And anytime you have to have Anthony Fauci sit right next to you and then come back to the podium and correct again. I mean, it's just creating a more difficult problem

for the CDC and other agencies that actually do understand health and health care crises. And that right there, Mustafa, is the fundamental problem that we're dealing with. You cannot trust what comes out of his mouth. You can't. The president has been, you know, he's been in a situation since the first day that he came into office where he was not prepared. And when he was

in over his head, I mean, just look at all of the choices that he's made. Sensationalism was the only thing that the president had going for him. He would find the most sensational aspects of different policy of various things, and that would be what he would focus on, making it a negative or flipping it and trying to make the country believe that we were in a better place than we actually were. I resigned from the federal government over three years ago now. I started talking about the coronavirus in January the 24th because I found out from some other scientists how serious they thought it was in mid-January. So if somebody who does not work and does not have the same access that the

president does can know how serious this is, then it says something about the president. It was another exchange. Go to, I think this is Cecilia Vega on ABC. Go to my iPad, please. I'm just thinking the application here. So that would be under sort of a modified compassionate access? We're doing that, I guess, and that's what it's called. Yes. I would like, Dr. Fauci, if you don't mind, to follow up on what the president is saying. Should Americans have hope in this drug right now? And, sir, I would like to follow up on Peter's question here.

Could you please issue, address Americans in this country who are scared right now? This is a very valid concern that people have no there really isn't that much of a difference in many respects with what we're saying the president feels optimistic about something his feeling about it what I'm saying is that it might it might be effective I'm not saying that it isn't it might be effective but as a scientist as we're getting it out there we need to do it in a way as while we are making it available for people who might want the hope that it might work,

you're also collecting data that will ultimately show that it is truly effective and safe under the conditions of COVID-19. So there really isn't different. It's just a question of how one feels about it. Is there any reason to believe it's not safe? Well, certainly as a drug, any drug, John, has some toxicities. The decades of experience that we have with this drug

indicate that the toxicities are rare and they are, in many respects, reversible. What we don't know is when you put it in the context of another disease, whether it's safe. Fundamentally, I think it probably is going to be safe, but I like to prove things first. So it really is a question of not a lot of difference. It's the hope that will work versus proving that it will work. So I don't see big differences here. I agree. Sir, your message to Americans who are working at home, who have their children in their homes right now, who are homeschooling, doctors who say they don't have the masks

they need to do their jobs, your message to them? The President My message to the American people is that there is a very low incidence of death. You understand that. And we're going to come through this stronger than ever before. If you get it, if you happen to get it, it is highly unlikely. It's looking like it's getting to a number that's much smaller than people originally thought in terms of the ultimate problem, which would be death. My message to the American people is, number one, you've done an incredible job. Incredible what you've gone through.

It's been incredible. It wasn't their fault. It wasn't their fault. It wasn't the fault of 140 other countries where this has happened. And there is tremendous hope. And I think we're going to come out stronger, better, bigger in every way. I think we're going to be a better country than we were before. And we learned a lot. We learned on reliance, who to rely on, who not to rely on. But our country has been incredible, the way they pulled together, including the fact that I just spoke to Senator Schumer. We had a wonderful conversation. We both want to get to a good solution. But it's been really, for me, watching and seeing people that weren't speaking, getting along well, because we all have one common aim and that's to get rid of this invisible

enemy get rid of it fast and then go back to the kind of economy that we had and maybe even better yeah please this is what again it's the line first of all y'all let it run cuz I'm looking for something else don't go to the split screen. I'm looking to pull the audio down. I'm looking for something. Why the hell is Sean Spicer asking a question? Hold up.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What the hell was that? Sean Spicer, all of a sudden, is in the... Yeah, pull the audio down. What the hell was that? Sean Spicer all of a sudden is in the... Yeah, pull the audio down. What the hell was that? Sean Spicer, really? He pulled the audio down of that just for us.

Here's the whole piece here. He lies. To sit there and say, well, it's not, you know, it's all about death. There are more people who are dead today than a month ago. We said it, 16,000 cases.

The number's increasing in New York State, in Washington State, in Louisiana. What world is this dude living in? But this is the thing. Donald Trump has routinely done this, which is play fast and loose with the facts, and then you have to have other people come clean it up. And the fact of the matter is people will continue to die because

he's very cavalier about this, saying, oh, you'll just get sick. Like, it's just going to be a case of the sniffles. This is a very serious disease, and I think he's treating this as if it's just a cold or it's just something that won't really kill that many people. But isn't one person dying one too many, particularly when we knew in January that this was happening. Particularly when you had health officials saying, this thing is coming, and if we don't test people and we're not proactive, this is going to spread. This is exactly what happened.

And now we're here reaping the whirlwind. There's a reason states are shutting down. Absolutely. I had a guy who, matter of fact, John Ziegler, he's been, first of all, I think I have a, Sean, go to my iPad. I think I have a Sean question, Sean are shutting down. I had a guy, matter of fact, John Ziegler, he's been, first of all, I think I have a, Sean, go to my iPad. I think I have a Sean question, Sean Spicer question. I'm still laughing at it. Go.

No, in the back. Mr. President, I have two questions to get a dog ring. The first question is many small businesses are concerned that they have weeks, not months, and are worried about how long it'll take. We're going to be helping them a lot. We're going to be focused, a big focus, including my conversation with both Mitch and with Chuck, a big focus of that conversation with small business.

Here's the thing that it is baffling here. The governor of California says shelter in place because, based upon the numbers that we've run, 56% of all Californians are going to get this. There are 40 million people in California. He's saying more than 20 million are going to get it. To then go, oh, this thing is slowing down. But it's like, no, that's something that's actually happening in the world. And there's something totally different in his brain. Right.

But you have to. So let's go back just a little bit in history. The president has never believed in science. There you go. See science folks talking. He ignores them. When he came in, he tried to get rid of all the science advisory committees. He began to take scientists away from their scientific jobs and put them in accounting jobs and other types of things at other agencies where people left. At the Environmental Protection Agency, he did everything that he could to manipulate science so that he could manipulate policy so that those who are making profit could continue to do so and to expand that. And here's the other part. The president lives in a billionaire bubble. He lives in a place where he is protected from many of the things that

everyday people have to deal with. Now, Corona may be a different situation where, yes, he may actually get impacted because he may actually contract the virus, but his administration has lived. They have created policy. They have implemented different types of steps from this privileged paradigm, which I call the billionaire bubble, where you think you can do whatever you need to do and you will always be okay, and the folks on the outside just have to live with it. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic

showed up in the middle of spring break. They defaced a whole bunch of young people that act like nobody can get it. And here's some video, of course, from Florida. Hold on! Hold on! I appreciate my alpha brothers, but I'm just simply saying, first of all, that wasn't in Florida. That was actually from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

But all I'm saying is, y'all was strolling, but you need to sit your ass down and not congregating as a group. And people don't understand the importance of social distance. Now, finally, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has decided to man up and issue an executive order calling for strict closures of beaches and businesses in Broward and Palm Beach counties. You know, duh, that's what you should have been doing before. And again, people are sitting here saying,

how, though, how are these closures, how are these shelter-in-place going to impact those who are homeless and in faith based communities? Joining us right now is Reverend Shane Harris, founder of the People's Alliance for Justice. Reverend Harris, what's interesting is I've been seeing these stories of homeless folks in California taking over abandoned homes. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's it's a it's a critical issue, Roland. I'm glad that you're you that you're dealing with this. Last night, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, issued a stay-at-home order.

But there are people who don't have a home. There are people who are unsheltered. And we've been raising to county officials here in San Diego and across the state that our homeless population should be screened. We've been calling for street screening teams and in some cases tested depending on the symptoms that they show. Now it's a real issue and one of the dynamic things that we're seeing here in San Diego County is that county officials have partnered with motels and hotels to provide hotel rooms and motel rooms to those that are, to our homeless population to be quarantined. Because obviously they've been out in the streets on a consistent level. And so this is really important and something that we're really pushing for in regard to our streets being screened and

our homeless populations being quarantined through this whole process. And so who's actually dealing with this issue? Well, it really is a coordination of county government, state government. We don't think the federal government is doing anything about this on a federal level. But state and county government here in California are really partnering to try to partner with hotels and motels across the state to provide these rooms to our homeless population. And I believe that the state of California and our local county government, and I know particularly here in County of San Diego, what happened was that county government basically is funding these hotels to be able to provide the space to homeless folks out in the streets so that we can quarantine them for at least the next few weeks until this thing slows down. What are you advising these cities and counties to do?

I mean, because, look, we've been dealing with this homeless issue. We've seen it really rise up over the last six or nine months. Cities have been talking about how much of a crisis it is, especially on the West Coast, where, of course, the cost of homes is exploding, places like San Francisco and L.A. What should be happening in cities and counties across the country? Well, I think that I like the idea of partnering with hotels and motels to provide a temporary space to our unsheltered populations. But I also think that what I mentioned is that there needs to be consistent screening in this whole crisis

and public health outbreak with our homeless populations. You're not seeing people being screened. They're not social distancing. I had the chance to visit a shelter just a few days ago here in San Diego County because obviously I'm not traveling. And one of the things that I'm very concerned about is that when I went to the shelter and I had my mask and my gloves and everything on, but there is a serious issue outside of the shelter, people not getting in, shelters are overcrowded. And this is why the hotels and motels are important. But we're calling on county and state officials to start screening the streets. There are people that need to be identified

that are homeless, and they need to be screened for symptoms. If we're not screening them, then we're not testing them. And you know that that can be a real large issue to this public health outbreak, our homeless and unsheltered populations, which could be carrying the virus and spreading it across the city, our cities, towns, and counties. Real concern to us that they're screened and then tested.

All right, then. Reverend Shane Harris, founder of the People's Alliance for Justice. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you. This is what I've been saying. What this is exposing are the multiple facets, again, the gaps in this society. That's what this is exposing.

Absolutely. And when you talk about folks like the housing insecure, which like a lot of different kinds of people, people who are couch surfing, people who are maybe living in cars for a while, people in shelters in these different communities, they don't really have the ability to just go out and go to the doctor if they get a sniffle.

So there are lots of concerns. You're also talking about people who may have other kinds of chronic health conditions, which will then make this virus all the more dangerous to those folks. So I think there's a lot to consider when you're talking about the housing insecure and even dealing with people's shame around not being able to provide a steady place for themselves to live, perhaps their children to live, and having to overcome that stigma so that we actually can do something to actually help people in a proactive way. But for sure, with the housing crisis we see, whether it be California or D.C. or New York,

I mean, that's not going to go away. And long after this virus is done, we'll still have to be thinking more proactively about how we find people long-term and short-term solutions to their housing insecurity. And part of that is the cost of housing. We have 500,000 people in this country, and that's the conservative number, who are homeless, who are housing insecure. Ben Carson, where have you been?

You had the opportunity to make sure that we had affordable housing. You come from a situation like that when you were growing up, so when you took this job, you should have been doing everything that you can to make sure that we no longer have this housing situation that we have going on. Our homeless brothers and sisters also sometimes suffer from mental illness. So when

we're talking about social distancing, when we're talking about this new set of stressors that the virus brings, you've got to be thinking about how you're going to help them to navigate that and to make sure that the capacity and the tools are in place to help them to understand what's going on and where the resources are to be able to help them to understand what's going on and where the resources are to be able to help them. If you're not doing that, then you're creating additional gaps in the system. All right, folks, with so many mandatory shutdowns in states across the country, people who are following directions and staying at home are wondering how long this virus is going to be a danger to everyone. The key to that is understanding how viruses grow and mutate. Here to join us,

here to talk about that is Dr. Joseph Graves, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina A&T University. So, Dr. Graves, so break this thing down because now we're hearing, now people are scared to even touch packages. Now we're hearing that the coronavirus is airborne, that it could now reside on the corrugated boxes for four or five days and surfaces. So now people are just totally freaking out. And so, uh, walk us through exactly, you know, what all of that means. Is that true or not true? Um, from what we know,

viruses can persist on services for, um, a number of days. What I've seen in terms of the coronavirus is 72 hours, but that's always going to have a plus or minus to it. So the key with regard to touching surfaces is always going to be maintaining your own personal sanitation. That means if you receive a package in the mail, you should probably leave that packaging outside. If you can take out the contents that you need, and then you should thoroughly wash your hands. And that means getting a lot of soap on there,

getting in between your fingers, you know your nails okay how about this okay okay how about this doc okay i so so so i got a package today from amazon so you're saying i should open it up outside but then but then but then but then no i can i can but then but then shouldn't i also open the box as inside of the box and take the item out and then because again if the item came from a company in china or from some other different company i mean and so then but what about the item itself somebody had to assemble it so what do i what do i do do i then spray the item down with with with down and then wipe it down? Again, if you can wipe down the item with an antiseptic, it's probably a good practice.

The chances of, let's say, if this thing was assembled in China six months ago, the chances of a virus staying viable on the surface of that item is very low. But at the end of the day, your protection is always going to be assume the worst and use soap and water and keep your hands clean. In particular, after touching items, make sure they don't go near your nose or your eyes. Got it. So, again, I'm gonna go back. So if we get a package, so let's just say, let's just say not, not, not just a package that came from Amazon, but let's say it's a package. Uh, we went to Costco or Sam's or even a grocery store. Um, it's the box of cereal. Okay. You want to go stores, the box of cereal. What you're saying is if you went shopping and then you got that package and then you came home, um, what you should do is if that box of cereal, what, get some wipes and wipe the outside of the box down, then go wash your hands? I think the best thing to do would even be to transfer the cereal into your own container. Okay. Transfer the cereal in your own container and then throw it out the box. Okay. And then wash your hands. Oh, so that's just, so same thing, if somebody went out and bought a pack of cookies or whatever,

whatever we bought that's in another container, then what we should do is transfer it. So if it's a meat, put it in Ziploc bags or whatever the heck, and then throw that package out. But absolutely, before we touch it, wash our hands, and then after we throw it out, throw that package out. And, but absolutely before we touch it, wash our hands. And then after we throw it out, wash our hands. Yeah. And if you have the option to buy disposable surgical gloves, my laboratory, we work with bacteria all the time. And so my students are always in the lab wearing gloves. And so when we work with, you know, bacterial samples, we have

gloves on, they then dispose of the gloves and then they wash their hands thoroughly singing, you know, happy birthday to me at least two or three times. And the key, again, is getting lots of lather because the way you get the virus off of your hands is by the action of the soap. And people should not, by the way, have overdue confidence in antiseptic and antibacterial substances because, one, generally they don't work well against viruses. And even in the case of bacteria, they tend to lead to the bacteria evolving resistance to the antiseptic. So the tried and true manner to keep viruses and bacteria off of your hands is good old soap and water. Gotcha. So, all right, so let's talk about, again, how do viruses grow and mutate? So viruses are actually non-living genetic codes that are wrapped inside of a protein shell.

They probably originated in the genomes of the organisms that they inhabit. And so they then become essentially rogue genetic codes that are copying themselves at the expense of the host organism. And since DNA, when it replicates, the protein machinery that replicates the DNA or RNA, in the case of the coronavirus, is incapable of doing that without making a mistake. Those mistakes we call mutations, and that's what drives the evolution of viruses. The viruses that have the ability to replicate most successfully inside of the cells of their host are the ones that persist and go on to infect more hosts. And that's simply the way all genetic systems work. Replication, mutation, natural selection.

And that's what's happening with the coronavirus. Mustafa, got a question? Doc, you know, there are some rumors going around right now on the Internet about folks being able to utilize garlic, collodial silver, a number of other things. Do you have any sort of tips for folks if any of that is effective or should we stay rooted in the science that we currently know that people should be doing? Yeah, soap. Yeah, well, I was actually, my laboratory was the first laboratory in the world to show

how quickly bacteria can evolve resistance to silver. And so if bacteria can do it, viruses can do it too. So certainly, if you have, you know, and there are a lot of products now that use silver in soaps and in bandages, et cetera, they're going to work for a limited period of time before the viruses evolve resistance to them. So at the end of the day, this is what we call a co-evolutionary race. Every substance that we devise to try to control the virus is then going to lead to the virus's evolution of resistance to that substance. And then we devise a new substance and they evolve resistance again. And so this is

something that we can't, we will never be able to get out of. Viruses are going to exist as long as animals and plants exist. They're going to co-evolve with them. Sometimes they're going to be extremely virulent, like new viruses generally are when they come into a new species. And hopefully, the good news is that in general, new viruses tend to evolve towards less virulence over time. But the problem is in that first wave that hits a species, like in the case of the great 1918 pandemic, which killed some 50 million people worldwide. Now, this current coronavirus has that capacity. So we should not in any way underestimate it. But neither, and this is really

important, should we jump into sort of wives tales and urban myths and folklore about how to deal with, you know, viruses and bacteria. There is a science of this and we particularly need to employ that science. And I hate to say this, but part of the reason we were unprepared for this is because the administration that currently resides in Washington didn't listen to scientists and has hampered the ability of scientists to do their job with regard to the danger that now the world is facing. Yeah. So, Dr. Graves, they're expecting this disease to come on in waves. So after we do this sort of initial hunkering down until probably mid-April to late April

in some estimations, what should we be doing going forward as this disease will continue to be around, but maybe not as worrisome as this initial first wave from, say, February to April? Well, it's hard to make predictions about when the virus populations are going to drop off enough so that we can stop with the social distancing. But let's say at some point we're going to have to. So it's either the virus kills us all off or we get to the point where we feel safe enough to be able to resume, you know, sort of life as normal. But what I said earlier in the program is always going to be your best friend with regard to personal sanitation and being careful about what you touch, when you touch it and it going near your eyes and nose. So even before this specific virus, that was always good practice. And the other thing that I want to make really clear to the viewers on the show is people in my field, I study microbial evolution, we've been warning

the world about these coming pandemics for near 70 years. And this corona outbreak is just one of many that we're going to experience, particularly as the human population grows, as more people are packed into less space. We've created the conditions by which viruses and bacterial disease have basically a windfall opportunity to spread themselves. So this is something that is not going away. So we need to change the way we live, and we need to do it soon. So when you say that, when you say change the way we live, break that down. Well, I happened to hear some of the discussion before I came on the air. And one of the things that really wealthy people don't seem to understand,

that one of the unanticipated side effects of income inequality is creating a reservoir of people, for example, homeless people and incarcerated people, who are always going to be the target of these viral and bacterial diseases because of the conditions that they have to live in. But those people also come in contact with services where rich people are. So if they think they're going to be safe by, you know, cloistering themselves in their own communities while allowing the majority of people in this country to go homeless or underemployed or thrown in jail, then they've got things absolutely wrong.

Because even in their best interest for us to have people with places to live, people with employment, that is meaningful. It's important for us to end mass incarceration. Even if you were just going to not even talk about the social justice aspects of it, epidemiologically, it is a terrible idea. Doc, the... One of the things I find to be very interesting, and granted, you're...

Look, you're a scientist. Some might say this is a question of faith, um... but also could be science. And that is, when you look at where we are now, I saw there was a video in Venice, and because the ships have not been able to travel, the dolphins have returned to the area near

where people walk. There was someone who posted a graphic that showed the air quality in Los Angeles as a result of people not being able to travel. I've been hearing all over the place, folks have been talking about, wow, man, I went for a walk and the air is different not going for a walk. When you hear someone say that this was Earth's way of telling

the world, you need to slow your ass down. How do you respond to that? Number one, and if you don't mind, I'd like to share with the viewers that I'm a confirmed Episcopalian. So I don't find any contradiction between my work as a research scientist and my work in the faith community. I don't find any contradiction to that at all. Now, the earth to me is an inanimate thing. So the earth isn't telling us anything. However, our behavior is leading to the creation of a world that is drastically dangerous to the quality of human life. And so you don't need the earth to tell you that. All you need to do is open your eyes and take a look at what's been

happening over the course of the 20th century. If you haven't seen the videos of Antarctica calving huge sheets of ice bigger than states in the Union, if you haven't seen films, documentary films like Chasing Ice, where you see glaciers receding in time-lapse photography over 50 years, then you're simply unaware of the fact that we as human beings are destroying the planet that gives us substance. And if we, again, do not change our ways, biological processes are going to let us know in no uncertain terms that the way we are living is unsustainable. Now, I don't throw that on God because, you know, from where I stand, you know, God is good. But people, on the other hand, okay, have that.

That's me turning on the automatic light. We got you. We got you. We know it's God. Well, yeah, but Mustafa said God was sending you a signal. Go ahead. Go ahead. So it's just just going on with that. You know, this is the kind of thing that really, again, calls into question the social structures, the economic structures that we built. The way we're doing things really can't deal with this kind of pandemic. We don't have enough trained doctors.

We don't have enough hospital beds. We don't have enough health equipment, ventilators. I read a report from a nurse in New York City this morning who claims that they're already making triage decisions about which patient gets a ventilator and which patient does not. So, and again, since I think the focus of our conversation is also on people of African descent in the United States and other underserved communities, these kinds of tribulations are going to be visited more so on people who have been historically underserved with regard to the health care infrastructure, which, by the way, isn't prepared to help the entire nation. But the effect of this kind of pandemic is going to be even more devastating on the poorest people in this nation. I'm going to ask you this here, Doc. So when I was driving in to work, 72 degrees outside,

not that many people who were on the roads as well. And I had my sunroof open, had the windows down. And I was actually streaming and playing some music in the car, sort of our hashtag, rolling with Roland jam session, before I came on the air. And I had a woman who said, Roland, are you not scared about the coronavirus being in the air with the windows open in the top down? So, okay, you're here. What about that? We're hearing that it's airborne. So,

okay, what does that mean? We now can't roll windows down, can't open sunroof, can't open the windows in our house, can't go for a walk. Just explain that. Yeah, that's probably an incorrect view of the situation. And when we mean airborne, it means that one of the ways that the virus is transmitted is by people coughing and sneezing. And the virus, viral particles will go into the air. Now, how long they stay in the air, and the virus is about 150 nanometers in size and diameter, it's not really clear how long it will stay in the air, but this is still probably several feet. So unless someone happens to be in the car in the lane next to you with their windows open and your windows

open and they turn in your direction and cough at you, it's unlikely that you're going to get coronavirus from a random breeze. So I think we, you know, we don't need to panic in that way yet. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Any other questions for Doc? I'm good. He said it all. He said a mouthful. Well, Dr. Graves, certainly glad to have you here. One of the reasons why I created this platform is because it drives me crazy when these sort of stuff, stories happen,

and you swear that there are no black scientists, there are no black doctors, there are no black biological science, you know, microbiologists, virologists. And so for our audience, it's been great for us to see the expertise that exists with our community and to be able to answer these questions. And so we certainly will be calling upon you and some of your other colleagues. If you've got any other folks you want to recommend to us to have on, just... Yeah, and actually, I would like to say one thing

in that regard. Go ahead. This is the first year in the history of this science where two students of African descent earned their PhD in microbial evolution in the same year.

The first is my student, Dr. Sadi Boyd. She defended on Monday of this week. And the second is Nkrumah Grant, who's in the Lenski Lab at Michigan State University. So they're wrong. I mean, there aren't a lot of us yet, but we are beginning to make progress. And so there is a cadre of top African-American scientists in the biological sciences. And I'm happy to forward you a list of names. Absolutely. You can have on your show.

Well, absolutely, because this is obviously going to be the story every single day. And so we want to be sure to get those, give those folks an opportunity to share their expertise and knowledge with our audience. Thank you, sir.

Dr. Graves, thanks a lot. We appreciate it. Folks, when we come back, we'll talk with Deborah Owens about how to protect your money. Lalia, don't even just look at your 401k right now because don't even look at it. When we come back, we'll talk to Deborah Owens about that very issue right here on Roller Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roller Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club.

Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUniltered.com. I can! A million workers ages 18 to 64,

or 44% of all workers, earn low-income salaries. They are our working poor. Applications for unemployment compensation has reached its highest level since September of 2017. In fact, folks at Goldman Sachs estimates it's more than two million. The Trump administration wants to check this out. They want to keep this thing down. They want to wait for those numbers to be released after they release the employment figures the first of April. Yeah, we know how that goes.

Now, with so many people barely making enough to survive, how do they protect the money they have during this financial crisis? We're joining us is America's Wealth Coach, Deborah Owens. Deborah, we have been seeing the stock market just people, don't even bother opening up your 401k and seeing that number, because what it was on December 31st, and you look up and all of a sudden, it's down 50, 60, 70, 80, $100,000. Just don't even open it and don't freak out.

Well, what I would say is this, Roland, and thanks for having me on again. You know, I love having these conversations with you specifically around what our community needs to be thinking about in this current environment. Now, what I would say is not to not look, but I really want to prepare our community for what we're about to go through. Now, I have the, I don't know, the great benefit is how I look at it, is having a perspective of what the stock market crash of 1987 was like. I had just started my career at that point. And I had a very similar, I have this similar feeling, but that was a financial crisis. And what we're seeing now is a health crisis that is causing a financial crisis. The other thing that is a little different is, you know, in 1987, the number of people who had 401ks or defined contribution plans was a lot less. And so now pretty much average people have a considerable amount of their investments in the stock and with stock market risk exposure.

So what I want folks to do is to don't panic, but be prepared. And so what I mean by that is We are already seeing a decline very similar to the same decline that happened in 1929. And that is the market as of today has declined about 35 percent, which is significant. And the real significance of it is how quickly it has happened. And so to that end, what I do want to say to your viewers, to our viewers, is this, is that even with a 50% stocks, 50% bonds or guaranteed account, you should, and we're seeing it now, you should anticipate that your investments, the value can decline by more than 30%.

Now, in addition to that, if you have a sort of aggressive portfolio where you have, you know, 70 to 80 percent of your investments in stocks, you could, based on historical performance, anticipate seeing that your portfolio declined by more than 60 percent. So the key to this is really recognizing what is the worst case scenario. And that's the conversation that I've been having in the wealthy youth Facebook community around, yes, for people are younger, they will have time to ride this out and just like in 2008, recover. However, for many in our community who are now depending on their 401ks because they don't have a pension and let's say they're five to 10 years away from retirement, then it makes sense to reduce your exposure and stops. Now, why do I say that?

I say this because there still is so much uncertainty. I have listened to every one of your guests on this show this evening. And I think you would agree that the, you know, coming out of each of, or if we just look at your last guess, the uncertainty that this virus, coronavirus virus has created is the one thing that financial markets don't like, and that is not knowing when this is going to be over. Well, and again, that is always the case. And what we have to also now deal with in terms of Congress is now dealing with this package they're trying to put together. Debra, from your perspective, what should this financial package

that Congress is looking to pass, what should it look like? What should it include? You know, we are hearing that if you are an income-earning person from $75,000 to $99,000, you actually are able to get money. But if you're actually poor,

you're actually getting less, something like $600 as opposed to $1,200, which is sort of idiotic. It is idiotic, but it's exactly how this system is set up. And it's set up so that the people with the least get the least, right? I mean, that's basically how they structured these payouts. But so I would say certainly we can call our government representative, but you know me, Roland. I'm the old do-it-yourself, save yourself. So here's a couple of things I want to tell people in this economic environment that we're in.

First of all, look at your essentials. Okay. So, you know, the basic things that all of us need are, are clothing. Most of us have far too much of that shelter and food. So in this environment, focus on the essentials and make sure that you begin to, uh, look at your expenses from that lens. So what I mean is that if you know that, you know, we just heard companies like Marriott, you know, people are on furloughs. If you get any inkling that your income could be reduced, then you need to make sure that you're already

paring down. And that's one of the other tips on here is to begin to look at your expenses right now, pull out your bank account or your recurring subscription, anything that is a want and not a need. The time to cut is now, not after the fact. The other thing that I want, and I mentioned it a little earlier, is really take a look at your investments and how much stock exposure you have. I don't think many people certainly, you know, I hear all these, you know, new financial bloggers, all these people kind of spouting off, you know, us time to invest in that sort of thing. Not for everybody. OK, so if you are young, you have the advantage of time to recover.

I don't think we many people have experienced the kind of long term economic recovery that we could find ourselves in. You know, I don't have a crystal ball, but I have the benefit of eight. And because of that, you know, I know recessions, I know bubbles, I know stock market crashes, and we have to prepare ourselves for this being, because of all the uncertainty, for it taking some time to have some economic recovery. So that's the look at how much you're exposed to stop. And you need to, if you cannot afford to, if you don't have five to 10 years to recover, then you've got to reduce your exposure are there some opportunities in in this market certainly there there is because if you look at

the stops that have done well and that are still doing well they are what what are now being called stay-at-home stops right so they're your Zooms of the world where you're able to do teleconferencing. They are, you know, you see there's great demand for grocery stores, so the grocery stores are doing phenomenally well, provided that the supply chain and all of that holds up. So there are some bright spots.

I just wanna make sure that realistically that our folks are prepared to hunker down and at the same time be creative, be creative. Now, you know, Roland, I do not espouse fear, but I am a realist. Right. And so I think we all need to be thinking about in this new environment that we find ourselves in where many of us are working at home. Now, I am a small business owner, so most of my work is either done on site with clients or from my home office anyway. So I'm sort of ahead of the game. But one of the things that I've had to do, even with my business, is now companies are asking me to do webinars virtually because many of their employees are feeling financially anxious. So now I'm simply that what that workshop that I would have delivered in person I'm now doing online. So if that is true, then what are some

of the companies that are going to change the way they do business that now perhaps I can be employed by? I want you to be online looking for opportunities right now. Who are the companies that are hiring? You know, we heard that Amazon is hiring more. I forget. So go online. Do your research now. Yeah, 7-Eleven announced they're going to be hiring 20,000 people because of increased demand at their convenience stores.

Yes. So what I'm saying is let's not be reactive. Let's be proactive and let's start looking. I think it was Wayne Gretzky that said, you know, he looks at where the puck is going to go, not where, you know, not where it is. And I think that if we're going to survive and be resilient and weather this economic storm, we have to be creative. All right. Deborah Owens, we certainly appreciate it. Folks, with more information, where do they go? Yeah, I tell folks if they want to learn about more tips, they can find us on Facebook, the Wealthy You Community. All they have to do is go and search for the Wealthy You Community, and we are having these conversations every day. And, of course, folks, we certainly want to thank the folks that asked me for being the sponsor of our American Workers segment and supporting Roland Barth Unfiltered. Debra, thanks a lot.

Thanks so much, Roland. All right, folks, COVID-19 has claimed the life of an NBC employee, Larry Edgeworth. Here was Chuck Todd making the announcement on air. We've now lost a member of the NBC News family to the coronavirus pandemic. Larry Edgeworth, a veteran audio technician, a beloved colleague, he died yesterday

after testing positive for the virus. Those of us who did know him and worked with Larry remember him as a gentle giant, kind, talented, and dedicated professional who made us all better. His loss is a reminder that this crisis is personal for so many of us, that behind the daily numbers are stories of struggle and hardship and loss. We truly are all in this together. And if we remember that, we will get through this together. So we send our condolences to Larry's family, his wife, Crystal, and their two sons. And we hold them in our hearts.

Again, it's one of those things where I keep trying to tell people this whole notion that somehow black folks don't get it. It's absolutely crazy. Mostafa, you asked the doctor that question about folks talking about garlic and whatever. People need to, all them old-ass remedies, they need to stop. Yeah, this is real. This is real, and we need to listen to science, and we need to make sure that we're doing what's necessary to protect ourselves and protect our communities. It was interesting when I was driving over to the show today, you know, it's a nice day outside and I was driving by the basketball court and I saw like 50 guys out there

playing basketball on the court. And I was just thinking, one, do they have the information? Do they really know what's going on? Do they know how serious it is and why this whole social distancing thing is important? Not just generally, but just for you inside of your own family, protecting your

mother and your grandmother and the other elders are in your community. And now we also know that the virus is actually impacting much younger and younger people. So I just hope we get it together and do what we have to do to help to protect our community. Also, what I hope is I wish these people, especially these crazy right wingers, would stop this whole nonsense and trying to compare coronavirus to auto accidents. I mean, here was this idiotic question today at the White House. Check this out. Mr. President, to follow up on that, there are millions of people out there that share that view that say, I don't really need to shut things down. I don't really need to stay away from stores. I don't, I can go to the beach. And those people making multiple actions exponentially,

it's the difference between life and death. Yeah, I agree with that. But I think I'd like to have Anthony answer that because to be honest, that's what he does. And he, we had a lot of, a lot of very talented people telling us what they think we should do. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I think that's a false equivalency to compare traffic accidents with. I mean, that's totally way out. That's really a false equivalency. When you have something that is new and it's emerging and you really can't predict totally the impact it's going to have,

and you take a look at what's going on in China and you see what's going on right now right now in Italy and what's happening in New York City I don't think with any moral conscience you could say why don't we just let it rip and happen and let x percent of the people die I don't understand that reasoning at all. Okay, so again, you're hearing this whole nonsense that it is just people, they say this stuff. I do have to play this here.

You know, there was this point in today's news conference where you just heard where Donald Trump just being idiotic and dumb and then he made this comment about the deep state department. Just watch Fauci. Just watch his response. I'd like to do.

I'd like him to go back to the State Department or as they call it, the deep state department. You don't mind. I'd like to have him go back and do his job. So does anybody have any question? I'd like to have him go back and do his job. So does anybody have any questions? Please do. Mr. Secretary, can I ask you something? What I'd like to do, I'd like him to go... Mustafa, we're not supposed to touch our face.

Fauci's like, why in the hell am I standing next to this fool? I mean, you know, Dr. Fauci's been doing this for decades and decades and decades and knows what he's talking about. And to have to stand up there when you have a president who has no idea what science is or how it plays a role in a proper administration's decision-making, you know, he deserves to win an Academy Award for being able to stand there and have to deal with this foolishness. He was experiencing that secondhand embarrassment.

Because standing there, you kind of look like you're cosigning the nonsense, even though that's your job to stand there. And I will give him credit. Every time he goes to the podium, he is saying something that makes sense. But this is the nonsense of this administration. And I think, as much as we may joke,

this is going to cost plenty of people their lives. I mean, not just from this disease, but all the residual effects. How many people are going to be unemployed? How many people are going to lose their homes, etc.? So this guy is a danger, and Mike Pompeo is also an absolutely odious human being, I must say. So the

two of them together are going to wreak havoc on this country in very real ways. Again, you're just watching clueless people. It's clueless. All right, folks, as I said earlier, when I was driving into work,

I was sitting here getting my jam on. But man, D-Nice, DJ D-Nice, a couple days ago did a straight nine-hour DJ jam session. He did nine hours, y'all. And so he's actually spinning live right now on Instagram. you you you you Thank you. Anthony, split screen. So the problem is, you take guys like D-Nice, DJ Thiezy, these cats, they can't DJ. And so we can't go to parties, we can't do anything. And so we saw earlier this week, John Legend

and all the other artists start doing these concerts from home. And so I've been talking to D-Nice and Kenny Burns about doing a virtual block party. And so when he did this earlier, I was like, okay, we gotta figure this thing out. And so I think we figured out how we can have a hundred different people tying in

at the same time on a video shoot. People need it in times like this. I mean, I appreciate all their efforts because DJs, artists, everybody's sort of pitching in and doing what they can to raise people's spirits. Cause some of us are home alone. Some of us can't go and get in touch with other people. And it is nice to have something like this set because music, I think, connects so many people.

And it's always there, even when nothing else is there. It's music. I mean, we don't know how long this internet thing is going to last. But while it's here, we can at least enjoy the music. Well, absolutely. And so that's why we're sitting here jamming with D-Nice. And here's the deal, Mustafa. We're going to need more of this.

And so one of the things we're talking about is if we do this virtual block party and if we're able to pull in these different video streams, we can have, because normally he does these parties with Kenny Burns. And so Kenny was on earlier. And so we can be able to pull in all these different streams of people who are dancing in different parts of the country, different parts of the world. Our culture is amazing. The way that it helps us soothe the soul, bring folks together, bring joy and happiness.

Matter of fact, you say this. I got to play this. Somebody sent me this. Okay, first of all, I got to remember who the hell sent me this video. You talk about had me absolutely dying laughing. So this brother took a, oh, here it is. Does this hit? Monte Bell.

This brother took. Hold on, Turn it up. All right, come back. So I'm going to try to pull this video up. I'm going to tell you how creative black folks really get. So this brother did this, and if I could pull it up, y'all. When I talk about I hollered laughing because it was so ridiculous. This brother did this video. So he took this song, he took this song,

and then he remixed it for coronavirus. And it was a, okay, DJ Feezy, he's about to go live. And I'm trying to see if I can find this video. Oh my, first of all, it was just ignorant. It was just ignorant. Okay, here it is. I think I found it. All right, Anthony, hold up. Let me watch on IGTV. Let me see if I can turn it this way. just it was just ignorant it was just okay here it is i think i found it uh all right anthony

hello let me let me go let me watch on ig tv let me see if i can turn it this way you you you you Thank you. So this just in, a staff member, Vice President Mike Pence's office has tested positive for coronavirus. Their statement, Peter Baker of the New York Times, they released it saying that person didn't have contact with Pence or Trump. We don't believe nothing they say. But we'll see what happens with that. So, folks, if you want to support what we do, go to rolling believe nothing they say. But we'll see what happens with that. So folks, if you wanna support what we do, go to rollingmark.filter.com, join our Bring the Funk fan club. You can support us via Cash App, PayPal, or Square.

Every dollar you give goes to support this show to make it possible for us to keep giving you the kind of information you're not going to get anywhere else. Please be sure to go back and watch all the shows we've had this week. We had some amazing guests, guests you're not gonna see anywhere else.

I certainly wanna thank retired General Lloyd Austin for being with us today. We had retired General Kip Hoare, another four star, who was with us on Wednesday as well. And so, giving that perspective in terms of the military, I wanna thank, of course, Mustafa and Dr. Carter as well for being with us today. And so, folks, we always end the show on Friday,

showing you, of course, all the people who support what we do. Don't forget this weekend. So we are going to try to work on this virtual block party. And so look for our update. And then my wife was supposed to give a sermon on Sunday at a church in Maryland. Obviously, they're not having services. So we're going to actually live stream the sermon on our platform. That's going to be on Sunday. And so that's what we're going to do. And then sermon on our platform. That's going to be on Sunday.

And so that's what we're going to do. And then on Monday, I want to do it today, but we were so caught up with some other different things. So next week what I'm going to do is I'm going to actually bring in all different gadgets. And so all you churches out there, especially a lot of small black churches that are trying to figure out how they reach their members, we're going to show them different ways on how they can actually live stream. It's cost effective. It's not going to cost them a whole bunch of money. So it's going to take place next week. So I'll see you guys on

Monday. Stay safe. Wash those hands. Follow what the doctor said. And please, please don't congregate in groups. It's OK. Learn how to FaceTime or how to use Google Duo. As a matter of fact, that's important. If you have an Android phone and somebody has an iPhone and you can't, obviously with FaceTime, it's only Apple to Apple. Download Google Duo. Google Duo essentially serves the same thing. It allows for you to do a video conference free. It's an app between an Android and an iPhone and vice versa. So if you've got an iPhone and you know somebody who has an Android, get Google Duo. Both of you must download the app. It allows you to be able to have a video conversation between both individuals. And so we'll also have Mario Armstrong on the show next week, tech guru, giving you some great information on how, with social distancing,

how we can stay in contact with folks by utilizing technology. And so we're going to have all that for you as well. All right, y'all have an absolute good one. I gotta go. Thank you. this is an iHeart podcast