ABC News Prime: Coronavirus global spread, White House response, Women's History Month

Subtitles section Play video

a police officer, his legs in the air pulling out a suspect after a car chase in Oklahoma.
Dramatic imaged and a dramatic week.
A week where we've seen the Kobe 19 outbreak hit close to home in much of the country off the coast of California.
The crisis on the cruise ship passengers and crew members testing positive for Corona virus.
The president today touring the CDC after initially calling off the trip over concerns and employees could be infected.
All this is the world gets closer to a milestone.
No one wants 100,000 cases and rising.
Mother of those two missing item oh siblings in court after she was extradited from Hawaii.
Where are her Children?
Overseas suicide bombers on Mo Peds, just feet from the U.
S.
Embassy when they detonate investigation into who was behind his brazen attack now underway.
Good evening, everyone.
Thanks so much for streaming with us.
I'm Lindsay Davis.
We have a lot to get to, but unfortunately, once again, we have to begin with the rise in cases of Corona virus in the U.
S.
At least 15 people have died in Washington state, in California and off the Coast.
A tent seen thousands of cruise ship passengers waiting to get back to shore a minute.
Scare test kits flown in by helicopter.
And we just learned 21 onboard tested positive for Cove in 19 back onshore.
More cases air confirmed relating to the previous voyage of the ship as crews, workers try to keep it clean for fear of another outbreak disaster.
We're going to talk to a passenger on that ship in just a bit.
And here in New York, where testing has ramped up, 4000 people are now under quarantine, with at least 33 confirmed cases.
And meanwhile, all over the country, large events are being canceled.
Like Ultra, the popular music festival in Miami and the annual South by Southwest Festival and Conference in Austin.
We're going to talk exclusively to the secretary of health and Human Service is tonight.
But first, we begin with the latest on the developing situation on the West Coast.
Tonight, nearly 24 hours after those choppers delivered those Corona virus test kits, theme results revealing 21 aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship off the California coast have tested positive for Corona Virus 19.
Our crew members.
It was news the passengers had feared all day.
Right now, it's just numbing it, trying to process this information and see what our life holds in the next couple weeks.
Debbie Loftis and her parents among the 2400 passengers circling about 60 miles off the coast of San Francisco, now confined to their ruins.
I was worried, mainly because my parents are elderly.
I'm traveling with them.
They're from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and my mom has asthma.
So yeah, I'm very worried if she would get ill.
What might happen tonight we're learning.
There are nine cases of the virus now linked to the ship's previous voyage, including that 71 year old passenger who died after exhibiting symptoms before getting off the ship two weeks ago.
This ship, haunted by that recent nightmare for passengers of the Diamond Princess off Japan, where thousands were quarantined for weeks.
But nearly one in five people on board wound up infected today Outside this San Francisco hospital, they were setting up tents to handle any overflow corona virus patients in Seattle, another crisis, officials there, announcing that a team of 30 federal health professionals are on the way to help out at this nursing home, where at least eight residents have died.
We are grateful that the cavalry is arriving.
We've had some challenges with life care, and I'm starting to lose my patients.
In just the last day, 15 patients have been rushed from the home to the hospital, and tonight we're hearing for the first time from a resident inside.
Susan Haley has a cough and is waiting for test results.
Do I wanted leave?
Yes, absolutely yes.
It's not that people are nice.
Instead, I don't like being four days.
Families have been begging for information on their loved ones are Kaylee?
Hartung sat down with Pat Herrick after she learned her mother died.
Then she got a second painful call, and she said, I just want to check in with you and let you know that your mother's doing fine.
That she doesn't have a temperature.
I said, That's My mom died at 3 30 this morning, and she was, Oh, my God, you know, that wasn't in the charter.
That is just an incredible story.
Matt Gutman joins us now live from San Francisco, with the latest on the breaking news from that cruise ship met what he learning?
We're learning that officials are still working on a plan.
They have those 3500 passengers and crew about 60 miles off the coast.
They don't exactly know what they're going to do with them.
Here's what we do know.
So far, though, Diane Thehe Levin 100 crew members They're going to be tested and possibly quarantined onboard that ship.
2400 passengers.
They're gonna be offloaded.
We don't know exactly where, but we do know it is going to be a non commercial port at that point that people who need it will be sent for testing on possible quarantine at one or likely Maur military bases.
We're talking about 2400 people, so that is a big number to deal with.
Lindsay.
In addition to that, just moments ago, onboard that ship, the captain came on criticizing Vice President Pence and the federal government for making the announcement that people had tested positive on board the ship before the passengers and crew on board were notified.
Obviously, some of them are patients as well, so they're pretty critical of that.
And now everybody is stuck in limbo that don't know how long they're gonna be out there at sea.
They do know at some point they are going to be brought to shore for testing, but we don't know when.
So obviously, Maur of this is gonna clarify over the weekend.
One more thing we do know CDC and other federal officials are surging.
Resource is here to California to help deal with this mess.
Lindsay.
All right, Mac up, man for us.
Thank you for the latest update.
One of the Grand Princess Cruise passengers joins us now live from the ship where 21 people onboard have just tested positive for Corona virus.
Denise Stone.
Um, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
Very well.
So we just heard from Matt that it wasn't actually the captain who delivered the information.
You guys heard the latest from the news?
Yes, we have come on work that Easter.
We've been streamed delivery of passengers that tested positive.
And it was something that we didn't expect to hear a beeping.
But then again, I apologize that he was unaware that this news to get a break for years, they let us know and we're getting having a little bit of a bad connection, so I just want to get a sense from you.
If you know about next steps and who's getting tested and all the rest of what's happening now, we do not have any further information brought to a non support.
The crew was gonna stay on the ship and they will spark all the passengers and from her, I do not know.
But I believe that we will.
All these tested.
Okay, Dinis, thank you so much for your time and hope that you and your husband stay healthy And across the country concerned continues to grow.
In Boston, dozens of people from a conference at the hotel were sent to the hospital over Kobe, 19 fears and in New York communities air fearful of potential outbreak empty streets in places where the number in self quarantine continues to rise.
Thousands linked to a New York City lawyer who is now in critical condition with Johnson has more on what's being done to contain the outbreak and its ripple effect across the country.
Tonight, authorities shutting down a street in Boston, transporting dozens of people from the Marriott Hotel directly to the hospital to be tested for the new Corona virus.
We now have new information that there have been three confirmed case of Corona virus of Boston residents tracking back tracing back to the same Biogen meeting.
This is a rapidly evolving situation.
Health officials testing people outside the hospital, then sending them home to wait for results.
This as states across the country are scrambling to contain the spread in New York about 4000 people, more than half in the New York City area alone now under quarantine.
This is like a flu on steroids.
The number of new cases doubling again today, jumping to 44 including a doctor who works at the same hospital where the sick Westchester lawyer was initially taken.
That attorney frequently traveled by train to Grand Central Terminal tonight, his rabbi telling his congregation, I have the virus and am doing reasonably well, but caution those who've had contact with him to seek counsel from your health practitioner, he demonstrated confidence in his own condition.
On dhe, he reminded his congregants that we all have a responsibility to do what we can to safeguard public health.
The normally bustling business district of New Rochelle Ah, virtual ghost town.
It's eerily quiet.
There's not many cars.
They're not many shoppers.
Bob Kent lives just down the street from the lawyer at the center of the outbreak.
Do you get the sense that people are anxious about what will happen next?
Yes, I think people have pretty well decided that it's, in a sense, unstoppable.
But I don't see any way that it doesn't continue to expand.
ABC News Getting exclusive access to New York's Wadsworth Center in Albany, the first state lab in the country to begin testing for Corona virus with its own developed test.
There's no reason for panic here.
There's no reason for undue anxiety.
Fax.
Do not back that up tonight.
Nationwide, many schools and universities canceling classes, air holding lessons online.
New York City schools preparing plans for remote learning capabilities.
The University of Washington also teaching classes online after a faculty member tested positive, and pharmaceutical companies are bracing for shortages too.
80% of drugs consumed in the U.
S.
Come from China and India, so Maur delays threatens supplies of critical medication.
Late tonight, the city of Austin, Texas, canceling the wildly popular South by Southwest festival.
Ah, $355 million blow to the local economy.
More than 400,000 people attend the event each year.
Our thanks to wit Johnson for that report, turning now to Washington, D.
C.
Where this morning, the president signed an $8 billion emergency spending bill to address the threat from the Corona virus outbreak.
Later, the president made a visit to the Centers for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street, the markets ended another day down more than 250 points, closing another week of dramatic losses as the federal government grapples with how to contain the fallout from the disease.
ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl has the latest on President Trump's response the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and insisted the federal government has the krone virus outbreak under control.
Head of the CDC seemed to agree that the present time the American public remains president also said Corona virus tests are available to everybody who needs them.
Anybody that needs a desk, it's a test week.
They're there.
They have the test on the test so beautiful That is not clear.
As Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said last night.
Up to this point, that has been a lag and the ability to get tested.
Vice President Pence went to Washington State last night praising the efforts of Democratic Governor Jay Inslee in the state hit hardest So far.
I do want to command Governor Inslee your team's effort and the seamless partnership that was Ford from the very beginning today.
The president offered an entirely different message.
So I told my not to be a compliment, really, governor, because that governor's snake on the governor of Washington, that's we have many of your problems.
So Mike may be happy with him, but I'm not.
President's trip to the CDC almost didn't happen today, after concerns there may have been employees, they're exposed to the virus.
Mr President, why aren't you going to see D.
C today?
He's actually way make.
It was they thought there was a You see, somebody had a virus.
It turned out negative.
So what's he doing?
And Jonathan Karl joins me now from the White House.
Johnson see mailing mixed messaging from the president about testing.
But now, just a little while ago, we heard from vice president Pence, seeming to try to clarify what he said.
What did he have to say?
Well, the president, the vice president said that President Trump was exactly right.
This is way, he put it for the communities that have been impacted.
We have been able to respond for tests.
So the president said, everybody that needs a test can get one.
That's essentially what vice president Pence said.
But the big question is whether or not there will be enough going forward.
On that point, the vice president offered some numbers.
He said that by the end of the week, 900,000 test kits will be distributed around the country by next week.
Four million test kits around the country remains to be seen, whether or not that will be enough.
So last week the president we saw him kind of downplay the Corona virus, even blaming the media for the decline in the stock market.
How has he changed his tone and message as we continue to see the spread in this country?
Well, he is taking steps to show that he's taking it seriously.
Obviously, his trip to Atlanta to the CDC he's doing events on this just about every day and putting the vice president out there with the team of experts.
But in terms of the president himself, his tone, frankly, really hasn't changed much at all.
He he talks about her.
Do you know?
He says he's taking it seriously.
But he's also again today downplaying the threat, saying, comparing and again to the flu.
So that's the message from the president.
One point even seemed Thio to be joking a bit.
He said that the the tests are perfect and he said, Perfect.
Just like the transcripts on apparent reference to his transcript of the Ukraine call the president with the president.
Ukraine.
So the president does seem to still have a slightly I don't know if Cavalier is the right word, but but much less sober approach to this than we see, for instance, from the vice president, right?
And we saw him just a few days ago saying that he'd stop touching his face and then he misses touching his face.
Okay, Jonathan Karl, for us from the White House.
Thanks, John.
Thank you, Lindsey, And joining us now to discuss the Trump administration's response to this crisis.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Aid are a czar who was with the president at the CDC today.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Great to be with you, Lindsay.
So we're monitoring a developing situation in Boston.
As you know, authorities shut down the street to bring people from a hotel to a hospital for testing.
Are you concerned about Seymour incidents like this in major cities, where large groups, they're told to go to the hospital to be tested for Corona virus?
Well, the local public health authorities in those situations have to be, of course, very careful to make sure that the collecting of individuals doesn't itself lead to spreading of disease.
I'm sure the folks in Boston know what they're doing and are falling appropriate protocols on that situation.
We've now seen two large festival shut down ultra in Miami and south by Southwest in Austin.
Is the Trump administration considering halting large scale events like March Madness, for example?
Well, Lindsay, it's really important that we that we think about the broad spectrum.
We've got a couple 100 cases here in the United States were very large country, and so what we're doing now is really pursuing what you call a blend of containment where we work to stop this, the introduction of the disease further into the United States or its spread in the United States.
But then measures like that, which would be containment mitigate would be mitigation measures in individual communities where you have outbreaks, so measures around mitigation would make sense and areas, for instance, like Seattle or in Santa Clara, California Um, and the local authorities work with CDC on those steps.
But at this point, we aren't seeing anything like that that you would call for those measures across the entire United States.
But we're gonna will keep open and be surveilling toe and advising if if we ever get to that point.
And how is the federal government helping hospitals across the country to prepare for this?
Especially since there's a testing kit shortage on the federal level.
First, there is no testing kit shortage, nor has there ever been.
There is, in fact, today with the president.
Dr.
Steve Monroe, who runs the labs and testing here at CDC, made it clear that throughout this this entire this entire disease, there has never been a time where a public health lab has needed to test an individual.
That was, is that they wanted to test and capacity here at CDC has not been available.
We will have by the end of this weekend over 1.2 million tests around American public health labs as well as in private and commercial labs, and that is scaling up by the millions ramping up rapidly.
So that's that's what's going on on the testing front.
Secretary is just today, Vice president Pence said that there is a testing shortage.
No, he didn't.
What the vice president said quite clearly was, we do not at the moment have out there the number of tests that we would need in the future.
Because, of course, we're ramping that up.
We have.
We will have 1.2 million tests available by the end of this weekend out in the country, and we will have probably up to four million available by the end of next week.
So it's ramping up quite rapidly.
Washington or Washington, California They have all the tests that they've asked for.
So, uh, then there's never been a shortage and inability to test an individual that public health officials have felt has needed to be tested.
So he was saying just the point of clarification here, that we have a shortage potentially for our future needs.
He was saying, We have to build up capacity because our future needs air going to be greater than what we're already out there.
But literally this week we've solved that issue by getting to 1.2 million tests being out there in communities.
The commercial labs, America's great companies like like Quest and Lab Core Roshan Abbott.
They're in the middle of validating their own commercial tests that will be coming out, probably as soon as next week if they pass their validation on top of the great work that CDC has done to get what will be by the end of next week.
Probably close to four million tests out there in the United States For a country that has a couple 100 individuals infected right now.
Okay, so when you say a couple of 100 let's take a step back here for a second.
What's your current assessment of the situation in the United States?
So, like I said, we're in a blend of containment and mitigation.
We're still working aggressively to stop the spread of the disease and introduction of it.
But then, where we've seen limited instances of community spread, for instance, in Seattle area or in Santa Clara County were involved in what we call mitigation steps, which is, we work to bring down the spread of that disease and hopefully stop it by appropriate social distancing measures by appropriate infection control.
So we're in that really blended period right now.
So just trying to get a new assessment as faras the hundreds of cases that you're referencing right now, not extremely concerned about where we are right now, but just concerned potentially about the future.
Well, we're concerned about where we are and where we are and what the future is.
This is an unknown disease.
And so we we we wanted this take this very seriously.
We prepare for the worst we hope for the best, but we've got the finest public health infrastructure in the world than what we've been saying to folks is for the average American.
For the average American, the risk to them is still low in certain communities.
That risk might be higher, and in particular for individuals who are older or who have multiple co morbid conditions who are medically fragile.
This could be a particularly concerning disease.
One thing Lindsay that we have found globally is that for younger individuals, while they can still get the disease, we've not seen the kind of mortality that we've seen in the elderly or the individuals who are medically fragile.
So a lot of our efforts are gonna be to focus on on the individuals and the care and of those types of indulge, for instance, aggressive outreach to America's nursing home community for infection control, an early disease spotting so we could protect our seniors who might be a nursing homes, for instance.
Sure, so we've seen a little bit of confusion across the country about just who should be tested.
Can you clarify that for us?
So from the federal government level, we have made it clear now the CDC believes anybody that a doctor or public health official should have tested should be tested.
So it's up to individual clinician judgment.
But what that means is we don't We don't necessarily think that tens of millions of Americans should be clogging up the lab testing system simply because they they think they might have a cold.
There should be a the physician's mind in the public.
Health officials mind a reason to suspect novel Corona virus that would be the presence of, for instance, influenza like symptoms ruled out diagnosis of influenza.
Something like that would be the reason why a doctor might order a test.
But from the CD sees perspective, we've made it clear that that that is subject to doctor and public health.
Official discretion.
And what about the vaccine itself?
Another medical treatments?
What will you do to ensure that whenever a vaccine is online, that the cost will not be unattainable to the average American?
Well, so President Trump This morning I was standing with him as he signed the $8.3 billion emergency supplemental appropriation, which will add money into our vaccine and therapeutic research efforts.
And I've made it very clear that where it is, federal funding and federal technology at issue were enjoying venturing with the private sector.
We're going, we're going to ensure in those contracts that we have appropriate pricing for the acquisition of those products and by the federal government, a CZ they would go forward if they do come to market in China.
We have, of course, seeing the mass quarantines here in the U.
S.
We're just doing self quarantines as cases continue to grow.
Is the federal government considering another scenario, perhaps where we shut down everything for a week or two?
Well, we look at all scenarios.
That's part of how we do our planning.
We look from the small to, for instance, may be recommending against assemblies in local schools in a particular community all the way up to larger scale, social distancing measures that can involve telecommuting or school closures or or public transportation.
But it has to be driven by science evidence and epidemiology, and that's what our advice will be based on Secretary A Czar, Thank you so much for your time in what we know is a very busy day for you.
It's good to be with you, Thank you.
As we know, this virus is rapidly spreading across the country and around the world.
A big question is how do we track and stop that spread for more on the medical and public health response to this growing outbreak?
I want it out bring in Dr Seema Yasmin, the director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and former CDC epidemic detective.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
Let's say we just heard from HHS Secretary a czar, and he said, I want to quote There is no testing kit shortage.
There has never been a time when tests were unavailable.
Do you agree we're not seeing any evidence of that?
So far, it looks like less than 1900 Americans have been tested on.
Let's contrast that with countries like South Korea, where more than 140,000 have already been tested now.
On Monday, FDA Commissioner Han told us about a 1,000,000 test kits would be available by the end of today.
On then, on Wednesday, we were told by Vice President Pence that one and 1/2 1,000,000 test would be available, and yet we're not seeing this happen.
In reality, the number of Americans who may actually be walking around with the virus may be many more than the 1900 were actually being told, and the other issue here is that at the beginning of this epidemic, there was a lot of concern about the potential lack of transparency from Chinese officials on.
Actually, What we're seeing here is a potential lack of transparency from American public health officials.
It's the CDC is job to do this, counting on a national level on, we've seen the numbers disappear from the CDC website.
So now if you look at the CDC website says about 100 Americans have tested positive.
But if you look at the scientists collecting the data from all over the state, it's more than 200.
So you think that there is an issue of transparency here?
It totally looks like that and so far states reporting on their own websites.
But that requires you going to 50 different websites on I usedto work, a state health department.
That data wouldn't be published on a daily basis.
It might be once or maybe twice a week.
It's really CDC is job to collect that data on a national level of making available in one place on.
We've seen that information sometimes, and it's disappeared, and now it's not there with full transparency, Okay, shifting gears a minute.
You used to be a CDC investigator.
How do you go about tracking down at particular person who you believe has the Corona virus and then everybody else that they may have come in contact with.
So we call that kind of detective work contact tracing on It's really 19th century public health measures, its boots on the ground.
It's interviewing people who might be quite scared and panicked on a lot of stigma around the infection in the epidemic.
And you're saying to them, Look, have you had any symptoms like this?
And if you did, when did they start?
Did you go to work that day?
Did you go to eat that day?
And you're keeping down a list of all the people that they may have come into contact with and then trying to find out if those people are sick and who they came into contact with?
So you're building this fighters, weapons networks that gets wider and wider.
We're seeing with this investigation.
Even in Illinois, there are some individuals who, perhaps while they had symptoms, came into contact with more than 150 people.
And how do you know?
I'm particularly interested in this case in in Westchester County and the man got on a train.
So how do you then tracked down the people who may have been on that train car with him?
It could be a huge task, and it can sometimes feel impossible.
Might be easier with a plane where you have a flight manifest with train people buying paper tickets.
You can't even always track like you could with Elektronik passes.
So it's really difficult detective work.
It is possible having testing kits actually available makes your job easier because you know who's positive and who's not.
You know, we've seen already thousands of people here who are self quarantine.
Do you feel that the government should step in and make that Maur mandatory?
The U.
S has actually met mandated some federal quarantine.
So those Americans who were evacuated from hot spots on then quarantined on military bases have to say, that's quite extraordinary to see in 2020 the last time we saw, that was about 60 years ago, during the smallpox era, in terms of those massive quarantines we saw in China with tens of millions.
In fact, that likely wouldn't be possible in any other part of the world.
There's a authoritarian government there that makes that possible.
I don't think you can necessarily replicate that in any other country and just curious going back to when you're tracking down the people.
How urgent is that?
I mean, time has must be of the essence.
It's absolutely urgent that you get people to be honest with you, give you that information thatyou, contest them ideally and find that information out.
But you're trying to build trust, a very tricky situation on you're trying to find out everybody that they came into contact with and everybody that they came into contact with, sometimes as well, really fascinating stuff.
Thank you so much for your time.
We really appreciate you for having me and when we come back.
The investigation now underway after suicide bombers detonate explosives at a checkpoint near the Tunisian US Embassy.
Thea Race against time Stunning footage.
A trapped woman quickly running out of there when a nearby skier shows up to help on the mother of two missing Idaho siblings appears before judge the question she was asked.
Act!
Laurie Val Oh, the mother whose Children have been missing since September, appeared in court in her home state of Iowa today, a judge reduced her bail to a $1,000,000 because she still has not told authorities where her kids actually are.
Vala was arrested in Hawaii last month and faces several charges, including two felonies related to the disappearance of her two Children.
The FBI released new pictures yesterday, showing both Children at Yellowstone National Park the last place where they were seen with their mother.
Marcus Moore has been following this story from the beginning and joins us now from Texas markets.
We keep asking the same question, but it really bears repeating.
Where are the Children?
Have you gotten any kind of new updates?
No, Lindsay, we have not and in fact, prosecutors.
During a court hearing today in Idaho, where Lori Vala went before a judge to face these charges, even the prosecutor said, To this day, no one knows where the Children are at this point.
And as we have covered this story for months, we have had the opportunity to ask the family Lori and her husband, Chad Day bill off point blank, face to face where the kids are on four time, they would say no comment on Then.
At one point, Chad a bow did tell one of our producers quote Kids are safe.
But Lindsay, he did not expand on that offered no other details on exactly what that means nor where the kids are right now.
And Marcus ever some fireworks in the courtroom today.
What happened?
The other worry was actually pretty remarkable day in the courtroom.
The prosecutors have been arguing to keep her bond set at $5 million But her defense team said that that bond for the charges she's facing is excessive and unreasonable, and they implored the judge toe lower it.
They asked for the bond to be lowered to $10,000 or not more than 50,000.
In the end, the judge there in Idaho reduced a bond to $1 million also said that if she is able to post bond that there would be stipulations.
For example, she can't go out outside of a number of counties there in Idaho, and also she would be required to wear an ankle bracelet and being constant contact with her defense team and with counsel Lindsay.
She is expected back in court for a preliminary hearing in the next couple of weeks.
Later on this month, And that is when we anticipate that there will be two days of testimony, including witnesses, that will give the judge on the court details and the probable cause that she has deserted her two Children, Tiley and J.
J.
And that she has not supported them and that there are grounds to move forward.
But of course, all of this, as authorities will say, is to find out where the kids are and make sure they're safe on, as you have just mentioned to this day, more than five months since they were reported missing in September, was still don't know where they are.
Five months.
All right, Marcus Moore.
Thank you for that live report from Idaho and when we come back, the CEO facing backlash after she expressed her hopes in a target ad she's now speaking out.
And the storm we've been tracking all week.
That's brought misery for so many.
Now moving, he's.
But there is some good news in the forecast.
Stay with us.
Welcome back.
We are now back within an intense high speed car chase that took a dramatic turn that two teens allegedly are now on the run.
They may have been thankful for how that chase ended in the officer's body camera caught the entire incident on video.
Newly released footage shows how this police chase in Enid, Oklahoma turned into a rescue effort.
Theo Kerr, in pursuit, went airborne, flipped and landed in a fiery crash.
One officer gets out of his car, then jumps on an adjacent vehicle, breaking the window of the car in flames.
Theo.
That's when more police arrive on the scene and help to pull two teenage girls out of the car.
Wait, let me see your hand.
I hold my feet holder, holder, holder to open the back, Back or both, were taken to the hospital.
Those teens are expected to be okay, and we still have a lot more to get to here on ABC News Live.
We've been talking about the Corona virus crisis here in the U.
S.
But overseas cases continue to grow.
For the second day in a row, A large jump in deaths in Italy.
We'll have more on the global scope of this outbreak and so many questions tonight, after the Supreme Court stopped the execution of an Alabama man sentenced for the death of three officers and then quickly reverse that decision.
But first year The trending headlines on ABC news dot com with with number of Corona virus cases in the U.
S, continues to rise.
This'd like a flu on steroids President Trump this morning signing the emergency funding bill to tackle the Cove in 19 virus.
You know where the cruise ship the Grand Princess still waiting off the San Francisco coast.
And we have developed a plan, which will be implemented this weekend to bring this ship into a noncommercial ports.
All passengers and crew will be tested for the Corona virus.
Those that need to be quarantined will be quarantined.
Those that require additional medical attention will receive President Trump visiting the CDC in Atlanta for an update on U.
S.
Efforts to stop the spread of the deadly Corona virus.
Anybody.
Earlier today, the president surveying damage from the deadly tornadoes in Tennessee.
24 people dead, causing widespread damage in 32 years.
This is the absolute worst I've ever seen.
The damage extends for miles of lives have been lost.
It's just it's it's unbelievable, unfathomable.
Walking on a block where homes were leveled, wreckage strewn.
I love them.
I love them very much.
That's why I'm here in Afghanistan just after the U.
S.
Taliban peace deal, officials say gunmen killed 32 people and dozens today.
Actually, you only told somebody a convicted cop killer stop eating his final meal after he thought his life would be spared.
Supreme Court last night first granted and denied a stay of execution.
Daniel Woods, one of two cop killers in the bloodiest day in Birmingham Police Department history, has met his just fate if annual woods died by lethal injection.
Despite vocal support from advocate groups and celebrities proclaiming his innocence tonight, justice has been served tonight, the World Health Organization has reported the number of Corona virus infections is near 100,000.
More than 3300 are dead in Italy, the situation is growing particularly alarming with the second straight day of a surgeon deaths.
But in China, their numbers appear to be slowing down.
James, long maned, has more.
The viral wave from China now seems to be cresting as it surges west Italy, Iran and Britain, all recording their single biggest daily jumps in Corona virus cases with 100,000 infections globally.
Now the chief of the World Health Organization is calling on all nations to make containment the highest priority.
This is a time for pulling out all the stops.
Italy, where 49 people died in a day, is restricting access to nursing homes.
Risk is particularly great for Western Europe's large elderly populations.
On the Vatican reporting its first case, a medical clinic there shut down for sterilization.
One major European airline slashing its flights in half from pre outbreak levels.
And as people look to avoid crowds, tourist spots around the world are unusually quiet on Lindsay tonight, a glimpse of hope from Asia, China on South Korea, both reporting a slow down in the virus.
And if you think back just a couple of weeks ago, we were reporting thousands of new cases on a daily basis, now in three digits.
So there is some cause for hope.
But I think Western European countries have a bigger task on their hands in containing it.
China, of course, you seem pretty draconian methods to contain this virus, forcibly removing people from their homes, locking down entire cities.
That really is not an option that's open either to Western European countries or to the United States, or the possibility that this virus continues to spread in Europe is still very, very real, Officials say.
Two men on a motorbike detonated a suicide bomb just outside the U.
S embassy in Tunisia.
They blew themselves up at a near a checkpoint.
One officer was killed, several others injured.
No Americans were harmed as investigators trying to determine who was responsible in Florida.
The FAA is looking into what brought down this aircraft.
Take a look at this aerial footage.
The plane appeared to hit a tree next to a pool fence.
Sadly, the pilot was killed in the crash on Woody Allen's memoir, Canceled.
The hatchet book group announced the decision after criticism from his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, who accused him of molestation.
Her brother, Ronan Farrow, who's best seller, Catch and Kill, was published by Hatchet, said he would leave the group.
Woody Allen has denied the molestation accusations, and now we turn to the controversy surrounding the execution of Nathaniel Woods.
Woods was convicted in the shooting death of three police officers and injuring 1/4 back in 2004 while they were executing a warrant.
But Woods never actually shot at the officers.
It was a man named Carrie Spencer who was with him when police arrived.
That's what he said, spends or even confessed to being the sole gunman who killed the officers.
Ultimately, Woods was convicted on four capital murder charges.
He tried appealing his conviction and argued that he had been given inadequate representation.
His appeal was denied by both the Alabama Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States.
High profile individuals from the son of Martin Luther King Jr to director Ava Duvernay to Kim Kardashian West.
All tweeted against Woods is execution.
But the governor of Alabama released a statement doubling down, saying, This is not a decision that I take lightly, but I firmly believe in the rule of law and that justice must be served.
Joining me now to discuss the complexities of this case as well as the role of the Supreme Court plate, is criminal law professor Echo Janka.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
So we see convictions and appeals turned down all the time.
What makes this case particularly unique?
I think this case was difficult for everybody because, um, there's no question on anybody's mind the prosecutor or the defense that Woods was not the person who shot these police officers.
There's testimony that he didn't do it.
There's confessions, as you point out, by the actual shooter that he was not the one to do it.
But on top of that, the case was just riven with really problematic evidence.
Two of the witnesses recanted and said they were pressured by the prosecution doing.
There are even rumors of police corruption that the police were not there just to serve a warrant, but that they were part of unlawful and corrupt bribery.
So there was so much doubt in this case that many people thought the finale of the death sentence just had to be forestalled so we could get to the bottom of it and really kind of scratching my head.
And initially the Supreme Court had decided to stay the execution, then reverse that right away.
Why and how unusual is something like that.
It was very strange.
The Supreme Court gave us stay that ended up being for little more than four hours.
To be sure, the court stay was on a very technical issue.
Woods was not told that Woods was given a choice between two different ways of dying.
Essentially two different chemical protocols.
One of which, the state of Alabama doesn't yet have a full protocol.
So had he chosen that won, the state would have had to wait.
It would have bought him more time.
Tohave his case appealed.
So this is part of the overall question of how he was failed at every point by his counsel.
It really was.
The fact that he didn't choose a protocol is why he's no longer here.
But why did they then reverse?
I think on that technical issue, the case was never gonna be reversed.
Indeed, Um, the sort of the more substantive stay that asked the court to look at the substantive issues of lack of effective counsel.
This is well, a cz conflict of evidence was never reviewed by the court.
And is this really unprecedented?
Or is this something that the Supreme Court does kind of waffle?
Well, there's a There's a larger fight in which this is embedded.
That where the Supreme Court members of the Supreme Court, what we might think of is the conservative members of String Court are more interested in staying.
The courts hand in having fewer.
It's a complex set of friends were fewer stays, fewer injunctions, fewer interferences with lower courts.
And so we see this as part of a larger trend of fight.
So I'm not surprised that on this technical issue, the court was not going to reverses.
It was not going to stay his execution.
Nathaniel Woods family released a statement saying The fight is far from over.
Nathaniel is an innocent man, and that will always be the truth.
We're not giving up.
What else can be done at this point?
You know, it is a stunning case because, of course, he's now.
Not only are three police officers dead, but Nathaniel Woods is no longer with us.
But what is really true is that even if his life is over, his story's not over.
There are just countless organizations, and countless families who fight every year in orderto have their loved ones.
Full story come out in order to be able to proclaim to the world that this person who was executed by the state is ultimately innocent on we see that sometimes spanning over decades, I think.
On top of that, of course, their family surely cares that Nathaniel Woods life was not, in the end in vain, that the next person who doesn't get counsel, who tells them what they're facing, what the capital charge might be.
That, for example, Alabama remains the only state in the nation where you could be executed without unanimous vote of a jury.
That there's not another Nathaniel Woods who loses their life because they don't have the right legal counsel.
And so for that, I'm sure the family will always want to stand all right.
Mr Younger, Thank you so much for explaining that to us.
We appreciate it, Thank you.
A stunning rig rescue caught on camera skier trapped in snow in the French Alps, and her friend immediately comes to the rescue.
A B C's Maggie ruling has the full story tonight, an incredible rescue in the French Alps moment caught on helmet cam when 23 year old will field skis up to his friend trapped in the snow, all that he can see or her legs flailing as she struggles for air Immediately, he pulls out an emergency snow shovel, frantically trying to free her.
Another sphere arrives and together the men dig the woman out.
The incident on the heels of another dramatic rescue in Switzerland last month.
Professional snowboarder victory, leaving goop rescuing this woman and her friend who were caught in an avalanche, leaving goo, crediting the fact that the woman was wearing an avalanche airbag and carried a locator beacon without deacon or without dear.
But first you're like least I will not be alive.
Our thanks to Maggie Ruli and winter storms continue to batter the Midwest and Northeast.
Check out this snow in Marquette, Michigan.
Really coming down hard.
They're moving east.
That's no turning into heavy rain, as you can see here from these floods in South Carolina.
But don't worry.
Ah, warm up is on the way.
Ginger Zee has more with the national forecast.
Ginger.
No Lindsay.
It is a nasty night out here, and this is that low deepening right now.
Let's go ahead and dive into the maps and show you the coastal flood alerts from Delaware up through New Jersey is that low spins out in the Atlantic Ocean.
It'll just tickle the coast enough to bring the cape a couple of inches of snow and gusts with those warnings up to 65 miles per hour.
That's gonna be a rough start to the weekend.
But boy, will it rebound after we all spring forward with the clacks, it's gonna feel like spring.
Check out some of the numbers.
65 Minneapolis 64 Louisville, New York City by the end of the weekend will be nearly 60.
Lindsay.
All right, Thank you, Ginger.
When we come back.
Theo.
Two women making history with their designs tell us what it's like to imagine new things all the time.
What many jazz fans in a sentimental mood tonight as the music world says goodbye to a legend tonight, McCoy Tiner, influential jazz pianist, has died.
At the age of 81 Tiner was one of the pillars of modern jazz playing piano as part of John Coltrane's groundbreaking quartet, Tiner had a uniquely dynamic sound, using a percussive yet delicate style of play.
Even if you don't know his name, you have heard this man play and others try to play just like him, diners label blue note records saying tonight, Thehe mount of beauty he gave the world is simply staggering.
And you may have seen this story online.
The CEO of a company featured on a target ads speaking about her wishes and then receiving backlash.
Take a listen to what she said in that ad, the reason why it's so important for Honeypot to do well it.
So the next black girl that comes up with a great idea, she could have a better opportunity.
That means a lot to me.
My name is Beatrice Dixon.
I'm the founder of the Honey Pot.
In the beginning, it wasn't easy to like start this company, and there was a lot of times that it almost didn't happen.
If Target, those comments sparked a firestorm, some accusing Beatrice Dixon, the CEO of Honey Pot, featured in that ad of being racist because she was only focused on black girls.
Well, we caught up with Dixon earlier, and here's what she had to say.
I stayed in the ad board the end that it was really important for honeypot be successful, though that other young black women are girls, even that are coming up so that it will be easier for them to be successful.
We got e mails, we got social media post on dhe.
Then you know where people said that I was raised.
Several people came on trust Pilot that gave us really bad reviews.
But the reviews weren't really based on our product.
They were based on those statements or the statement that I made.
I think what those people are missing from my message is understanding the fax Of the $425 billion that was invested in companies 4250.6% of that was investments of black women led businesses.
Honey Pot has to be that business that grows and skills so that so that we can help to build that to build that story so that then when the next girl that it happens to be a brown woman goes and is building a business and scaling it, she can chicken faction point to honeypot and say, I'm building my business models similar to this.
If you have a message to share with the wo