Bill De Blasio: Not Enough Ventilators For Next Week | Morning Joe | MSNBC

joining us now New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Mayor de Blasio that's a pretty extreme decision to make given the doctor shortage for the most part I want to start there you've called for a national enlistment of doctors So that we are hearing on the front lines, we have doctors who are in crisis and also a mental health crisis, as their fellow doctors and nurses are getting sick alongside them. Are we going to have

enough

doctors to overcome this Amica? The truth is, unless there is a national effort to recruit doctors, nurses, hospital workers of all kinds and get them to where they are most needed in the country and over time, unless that happens, I honestly don't see how we are going to have the professionals we need.

I need to get through this crisis, look at the skyrocketing number of cases, look at how many of these patients need ICU care, that requires a lot of medical staff, respirators, this country is actually not this time, this is the sad truth, mica, this country en We are not in a position to face this crisis in the future, whatever we have seen so far. I guarantee you that

next

week

is going to be much harder and I say that without joy. I say this to try to shake our national leaders to understand that

next

week

in New York City is going to be very difficult in New York State, in Detroit and New Orleans and in many other places, and unless the military is fully mobilized and create something we already have.

Never before have we had any type of national enlistment of medical personnel who constantly move to the most urgent needs of the country. If we don't have that we will see that the hospital simply will not be able to care for as many people who could be saved in Mica, this is what makes me so angry and I have been talking to the leaders of this nation for weeks saying that we are running out of time. I think we literally have days to create something that never existed before for a crisis this country has never had. seen before, we have days to establish a structure to mobilize the medical community of this nation to truly mobilize our military and if that is not done in the coming days, we will see people die who did not need to die, not just in New York, But in many parts of this country, we hear from doctors on the front lines, especially ers, that there are people waiting on stretchers for up to five hours and that people are dying unnecessarily, what does that tell us about what next week will be like? ?

Will it be necessary for the military to intervene and help Mieka? I have repeatedly called for the military to be fully mobilized. I asked the president. I've spoken to the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I have told everyone to just do the math, there is no way the civil sector alone can handle this crisis right now. They are right that hospitals are under pressure they have never been under before, so what will it be like next week. If we are going to see an increase in the number of cases, we will easily see that right now it could be 5,000 or more people in New York City that need to be intubated, that need to be an Icee used with

ventilators

, we have

enough

.

ventilators

just to get to Sunday Monday, we still don't have enough for next week, certainly as far as staffing goes, you can't run an ICU without people, you can't have a ventilator to save a life without a doctor or a nurse to be there constantly monitoring it and adjusting it, we won't be able to do it much longer for each patient if we don't get reinforcements.

I asked the White House. I asked the Pentagon to send a thousand nurses, 150 doctors, 300 respiratory therapists. I asked him to bring it here on Sunday. I put it in that request 10 days ago. I spoke with FEMA. I haven't received a firm response to that request yet, but I've literally told everyone what's coming. Even day to day, I think that somehow in Washington there is an assumption that there are weeks to prepare, there are no longer weeks, now it is days, just before not only New York but other places are left without doctors, without nurses , without equipment, and why?

Earth, these countries act as if we are somehow still in peacetime. This is a war. It is a very different enemy. It's an enemy you can't see, but look at the death toll, for God's sake, look how many people are in danger. It is as bad as if a foreign invader had landed on our shores and yet our military was on his bases. I know they don't want to be, but they still are. It does not make any sense. Mayor DeBlasio, what specifically could the military do? The civil force right now cannot accommodate President Trump look, he responds on tweets from him that show he is looking, so talk to the president directly, what could you do to help New York City in this moment?

Mikko, this is what I would say, the president, the military has a lot more to do. 10,000 doctors, as I understand it, the army has doctors and nurses not only in regular service, but also in the reserves, many of those doctors and nurses are places where they do important work, but it is not the same as fighting on the front to save thousands of lives. all of them should be mobilized immediately the military has the best logistical and operational capacity of any organization on earth our military should be organizing a civilian draft of medical personnel if you think of a doctor somewhere in the heart of America right now he is doing business like We always do a good job, but we need that doctor on the front lines where they can save lives.

We are going to lose lives that could have been saved. It's as simple as that, so we need the military with its incredible logistical and organizational capacity, its command and control. ability to look at this entire nation and say okay, here are the places where we need to increase medical staff, use as many of their own medical staff as possible and incorporate a civil enlistment program and they could get a doctor who right now is doing a good job. You know, in Iowa or Utah they could have it in New York City in front of us, that's how good our military is, but they haven't been given that order and time is running out, if they were given that order we could create something in our time that could rival the incredible work of that great generation World War II were created from nothing remember our military was almost nonexistent at the time of Pearl Harbor it had to be created almost from scratch to fight in World War II our nation did that we have to create something we've never had before we have to create the ability to take the incredible medical talent of this country and put it on a war footing put our military on a war footing bring resources to the front and then move them because the moment New York City turns the corner, move them, get those doctors, get those ventilators where they're needed, nothing like that is being done right now, Myka, that's the harsh truth.

I have had this conversation with all due respect to the president. and to all the other leaders of this nation. I've had that conversation repeatedly. I have warned you where this is going and no such order has been given. Mayor DeBlasio, it's Willie Geist, when I ask you some specific questions about what's happening in New York. Yesterday you recommended that New Yorkers when they go out wear some type of mask that covers their nose and mouth. What was the medical basis? What information did you obtain to make that public recommendation yesterday? Well, just, there have been a number of studies done just in the last few days, especially one from Singapore, which is a place that handled this crisis very well, but let's point out now for the first time that our medical leadership here in the city sees increasing evidence that asymptomatic transmission could occur; there's been no real evidence in their We saw it before so this is not a very precautionary move, it's a face covering, it could be a scarf, a bandana, anything and the blunt truth is that people think it's thinking well, oh, this will mean that I personally can't get this disease.

It's not actually the idea, the idea is to help make sure that all of us don't accidentally pass it on to someone else because we could have it, we could be asymptomatic, we don't even know this is not a lot of precaution, act to make sure people don't spread it to other people and it's only relevant when you're around people if you're socially distanced you don't need it if you're among people living under the same roof you don't need it but if you think you could be closer it's a smart thing to do but Willy, no, this does not mean taking those surgical masks or the n95 mask off our first responders or a healthcare person, they will know it is sacred, they need it and they are protecting. all of us, anyone can go back to covering their face at home, a scarf, a bandana, anything like that will do, yes, and we hope that the White House will make a similar recommendation today at the national level, the USNS Comfort sent by the president of the USA.

Navy dramatically sailed into New York Harbor and up the Hudson River a couple of days ago passing the Statue of Liberty, we learned yesterday that it was supposed to give help to hospitals to receive 19 non-kovat patients and provide a thousand beds hospital, we found out yesterday. So far there are only 20 patients on board that ship. Why is that number so low? Do you expect to see that increase soon? Yes, I have spoken with our Navy colleagues. I don't have any questions in mind, Willy, that number is going to increase. change very quickly and the comfort of the USNS was extraordinary the appearance the arrival meant a lot to New Yorkers it was like the biggest sign of hope we have received in weeks.

I am sure that the boat will be very full soon they have to be smart with the cases they take and create a protocol that is going to work because next week it will be very busy very quickly, so I am convinced that in the next few days they will be prepared and They will fill up next week. that's what I'm worried about, that's when things really skyrocket and we're going to need the convenience and all the other places in the city where we can have hospital beds up and running because we're expecting a big surge in the next few days and also the Convention Center Jacob Javits providing two thousand five hundred additional beds to provide some relief.

We've also had it on a lot over the last few months, Mayor de Blasio, talking about this, you've been kind to come and update us and update the country on the state of the problem, obviously the set of facts that we have today is very different than those from two months ago, but you tried to calm people down in these

morning

interviews where you said, "I'm not going to do it." We will close the schools and we will close the playgrounds. I think they can still go out and live their life, live their lives knowing what they know now.

Do they wish they had closed schools a little earlier? Do they wish they had closed restaurants and bars? a little early just to stop the spread and maybe save some lives, you know right, we're all trying to make sense of something we've never dealt with before, every day, look at this city, I gave the order to close the restaurants and pubs. obviously that was one of the first places to do it. I requested shelter in place right after San Francisco did. I give them great credit. Major Breed did something very important there. I asked for it immediately after we were one of the first places in the country to do that there will always be questions about whether we got all the information we needed if we acted on it.

I did my best. I think all decision makers are doing the best they can, but this is not even the case. The problem now the problem now is that we are about to move on to the hard part and this is where we really have the opportunity to save lives. Think about it this way Willy and I have had this conversation with our healthcare leaders, they can project. Right now, the number of cases that were expected for next week, could now project how many ventilators we need, how many doctors, how many nurses, and we know that we don't have all of that for next week despite the constant pleas to Washington and everyone They know where. the epicenter of cases across the country, so Willy, I'm obsessed.

I had this conversation with the president yesterday and with all the senior leaders of his administration. I'm obsessed with getting us through next week and saving every life, every life we ​​can. we can save and I want our national government to see it that way to recognize that there are lives, there are people who will be alive and live full lives if we act now and if we don't act first there will be hundreds Willie, then there will be thousands who will lose, they will lose the Americans who didn't need to die, that's how urgently that's where all of our focus needs to be now as a nation, when the smoke clears, when this crisis is over and thank God we know the day will come when this is over, then we can find out what that we need to learn from it,but right now, how could we not be on the warpath?

It's just that it can feel like the nation is not on a war footing and yet we are fighting the war well and Let's try to send some data to our leaders here. Let's talk to Mayor de Blasio, as tough as he is about the death rate in New York City and the housing of bodies. The government has placed an order for 100,000 body bags. What is the Death rate right now in New York City, what do you expect it to be like next week? How does it look? Can you accommodate that mica? I think it's very important for people to hear the truth.

You have the doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers. Emergency medical paramedics, all doing their job heroically, are fighting to save every life. I have absolute faith in them, well what I don't have faith in is that they will have the equipment they need, especially those ventilators and they will have the reinforcements they need because this is the problem. Many of our healthcare workers and our first responders became sick themselves. Now most of them come back after seven days, 10 days, but we have to admit that they don't. Even you know we don't even have our full complement that we normally would have of these critical, crucial life-saving people because so many of them got sick, on top of that, man it just keeps increasing, that's why we need those reinforcements now.

I again tell the knighted president of the United States, I tell the Pentagon more than a week ago, a thousand nurses 150 doctors 300 respiratory therapists for the largest city in the country eight point six million people that one would think that in a country so large and so strong would be an easy request to fill out and I'm still waiting for those reinforcements to arrive or our healthcare professionals will already be overwhelmed by 1,500 deaths and we haven't even gotten to the hard part of this. Mayor Bill DeBlasio, thank you very much. Hopefully, we'll talk to you again soon to try to work our way through this thing that's still to come.

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