WEBVTT 00:01.966 --> 00:04.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: The number of hospitalizations in New York state has slowed, a pattern that 00:04.833 --> 00:07.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% has been consistent for more than a week now. 00:07.133 --> 00:12.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% But to give you some perspective, more than 15,000 people in the state have died from 00:14.133 --> 00:17.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% COVID-related complications. In New York City alone, 35,000 people are estimated now to 00:19.333 --> 00:22.500 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% be hospitalized with COVID-19. 00:22.500 --> 00:27.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% William Brangham gets a front-line dispatch from a group assisting the hospitals there. 00:27.366 --> 00:32.266 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The International Medical Corps is working right now in New York City, 00:32.266 --> 00:34.900 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% the epicenter of America's outbreak. 00:34.900 --> 00:39.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% They're bringing in volunteers from across the country to help four different hospitals 00:39.800 --> 00:44.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to help support the people who are working in those hospitals as they deal with COVID-19 00:44.400 --> 00:46.600 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% patients. 00:46.600 --> 00:50.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Susan Mangicaro is the New York coordinator for the International Medical Corps. And she 00:50.133 --> 00:53.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% joins me now from the Javits Center in New York. 00:53.100 --> 00:55.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Susan, thank you very, very much for being here. 00:55.900 --> 01:00.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Could you just start off by telling us -- you're in New York City. Most of our viewers are 01:00.600 --> 01:04.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% elsewhere in the country, watching what's going on in New York. Could you give us a 01:04.600 --> 01:08.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% sense, broadly, of what you have been seeing over the last weeks, the last month or so? 01:08.600 --> 01:12.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% SUSAN MANGICARO, International Medical Corps: When we arrived on April 2, it was really 01:12.000 --> 01:14.700 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% at the peak of the storm here. 01:14.700 --> 01:19.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I have served in disasters for International Medical Corps across the world, and I have 01:21.700 --> 01:25.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% never seen anything like this in the United States. It was truly unprecedented. The hospitals 01:27.300 --> 01:31.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% were completely overwhelmed. Staff was -- was basically in shock and traumatized from having 01:33.233 --> 01:37.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to make some choices that we're not accustomed to in the United States, and simply the number 01:37.133 --> 01:39.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% of deaths of patients dying alone. 01:39.666 --> 01:44.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The supplies that were needed were eventually brought in. But, initially, things were very, 01:46.700 --> 01:50.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% very tight. Luckily, things are slightly improved this week, but still quite devastating. The 01:53.333 --> 01:55.833 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% system is in a state of shock. 01:55.833 --> 01:59.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As you alluded to, the International Medical Corps normally responds to wars, conflicts, 02:01.233 --> 02:03.300 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% disasters in other nations. 02:03.300 --> 02:07.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Do you ever stop for a moment and just sit back and think, we're doing this here in the 02:07.733 --> 02:09.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% middle of New York City? 02:09.233 --> 02:13.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% SUSAN MANGICARO: Yes, all the time. It's -- it's surreal. 02:13.566 --> 02:18.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Seeing and witnessing in hospital emergency departments the stress that the system was 02:20.633 --> 02:24.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% under, it's something that, again, you're kind of not -- we're just not accustomed to 02:24.866 --> 02:29.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% this in the United States. You're used to seeing that perhaps in resource-poor regions 02:29.566 --> 02:34.566 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% or regions that have been devastated from natural disasters or work conflict areas, 02:36.300 --> 02:38.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% but certainly not here in our own country. 02:38.366 --> 02:41.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Are there lessons that you have learned from doing humanitarian work 02:41.933 --> 02:44.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% of this sort in other nations that are -- that's applicable here? 02:44.800 --> 02:47.000 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% SUSAN MANGICARO: Absolutely. 02:47.000 --> 02:50.800 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% We have done this both in disaster response, but infectious disease outbreak from Ebola 02:52.866 --> 02:57.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to cholera. We know how to set up quickly. We know how to bring in the people that are 03:00.400 --> 03:03.466 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% accustomed to dealing with trauma very rapidly. And we know -- and we have support from wonderful 03:05.466 --> 03:10.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% partners and organizations that allow us to do what we do and bring in the relief where 03:11.133 --> 03:13.266 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% it's needed most. 03:13.266 --> 03:17.166 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You're obviously there to help backstop the front-line health care workers 03:19.600 --> 03:22.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% that are working in these hospitals, and provide relief and sort of rotate in when they need 03:22.766 --> 03:24.200 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% it. 03:24.200 --> 03:25.666 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% How are those people doing, from your experience? 03:25.666 --> 03:28.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% SUSAN MANGICARO: So, I will tell you from both perspectives. 03:28.200 --> 03:32.533 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% We have done a number of things here. We have brought in emergency field shelters for them 03:32.533 --> 03:36.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to use as surge capacity. We have brought in supplies and PPE. 03:36.733 --> 03:41.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But most important, we have brought in medical staff to help relieve those overburdened staff 03:43.700 --> 03:46.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% workers. Some facilities were down 25 percent of patients because -- or of staff, because 03:48.100 --> 03:50.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% they were COVID-positive and sick. 03:50.266 --> 03:55.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And those that were there were working very long shifts and in very critical areas that 03:56.833 --> 03:58.900 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% the hospitals had to adapt to. 03:58.900 --> 04:02.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You're standing there in the Javits Center, which we know was an -- is 04:02.766 --> 04:07.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% an overflow, a big convention center now turned into an overflow hospital. 04:09.666 --> 04:13.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We have been seeing some reports that New York state and New York City might be bending 04:13.733 --> 04:18.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% its curve a little bit, and seeing some plateauing of cases. Has that been your experience thus 04:19.266 --> 04:21.366 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% far? 04:21.366 --> 04:24.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% SUSAN MANGICARO: Yes, certainly, in the emergency department, the number of admissions are down. 04:24.533 --> 04:29.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% That is help, providing some relief and to decompress a little bit. 04:29.233 --> 04:34.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% However, if you look at the number of patients still in the intensive care unit, and the 04:34.066 --> 04:39.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% acuity level of those patients, they're still at capacity, if not over, beginning to decompress 04:40.800 --> 04:42.866 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% some. 04:42.866 --> 04:46.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So there is a little sense of relief here in the health care system. They're -- they're 04:48.900 --> 04:53.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% very trepidatious about backing off, because the concern is, what if it -- what if it skyrockets 04:54.966 --> 04:58.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% again? We certainly do not want to see what happened the first time around happen again. 05:00.800 --> 05:04.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And I don't think it will. I think one of the biggest lessons for all of us is that, 05:05.933 --> 05:08.100 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% you know, preparedness is really important. 05:08.100 --> 05:10.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Susan Mangicaro from the International Medical Corps, thank 05:10.766 --> 05:12.266 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% you very, very much. 05:12.266 --> 05:13.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And thank you for all the work that you're doing. 05:13.500 --> 05:13.733 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% SUSAN MANGICARO: Thank you so much.