U.S. braces for 'hardest, saddest' week of crisis

U.S. braces for 'hardest, saddest' week of crisis

The United States enters one of the most critical weeks so far in the coronavirus crisis with the death tolls exploding in New York, Michigan and Louisiana, while eight states still don't have stay-at-home orders.

Lisa Bernhard has more.

***WARNING: SENSITIVE IMAGES IN VIDEO*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, SAYING: “It is going to be shocking to some….” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, warned on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ Sunday that one of the most critical and brutal weeks lay ahead as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, SAYING: “Unfortunately, if you look at the projection of the curves, of the kinetics of the curves, we're going to continue to see an escalation.

So, we'll just buckle down, continue to mitigate, continue to do the physical separation because we got to get through this week that's coming up because it is going to be a bad week.” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state, the hardest hit, reported on Sunday that, for the first time in a week, deaths had fallen slightly from the day before, but there were still nearly 600 new fatalities and more than 7,300 new cases.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK GOVERNOR, ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: "The number of deaths over the past few days has been dropping for the first time.

What is the significance of that?

It's too early to tell.” Bodies of victims were stacked in bright orange bags inside a makeshift morgue outside the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, according to photos provided to Reuters.

Cuomo also said that new hospitalizations had fallen by 50% over the previous 24 hours - (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK GOVERNOR, ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: "...that's partially a function of more people being discharged..." but he cautioned that it was not yet clear whether the crisis was reaching a plateau in the state, which has more than 4100 deaths and over 122,000 cases.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Fox News Sunday also said that, "This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans' lives,” but added, that there is a “light at the end of the tunnel if everyone does their part for the next 30 days." Eight states still do not have stay-at-home orders – something Dr. Fauci warned was putting their residents at risk.

Among those that do, Pennsylvania and Colorado, as well as Washington, D.C., are starting to see rising deaths.

Cuomo said that once New York is past its apex, the state will help other parts of the country in need.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK GOVERNOR, ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING: “We're going to codify everything we've learned, and we get past this curve - whatever part of the country goes next, we will be there with equipment, and personnel, and however we can help." White House medical experts have forecast that between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could be killed in the pandemic, even if sweeping orders to stay home are followed.