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  • hot zone that is New Orleans, the city with the highest death rate in the country.

  • Streets typically vibrant with music and tourists empty tonight.

  • Meantime, the hospitals are filled and rapidly running out of supplies.

  • 15 years after Hurricane Katrina, residents are hunkered down once again in their homes, weathering a radically different storm.

  • Our markets more reports.

  • The narrow streets of New Orleans are empty.

  • Boards block the sun rays that ordinarily would shine right into the now shuttered stores and shops here, the balconies above, lonely and the unmistakable sound of New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, silenced.

  • It was much like this 15 years ago when Mother Nature's fury came in the form of Hurricane Katrina.

  • Today, the city is enduring a different kind of storm, this one invisible but no less crippling nor vicious.

  • And the health care workers on the front line of the raging war against Kobe, 19 are embroiled in the struggles of a city on the precipice of catastrophe once again, And each day you think OK, is the hurricane here?

  • Is this it?

  • And you don't know if it this is it, and it's gonna be a Category three or if it's coming and it's gonna turn into a five or we don't know.

  • Louisiana is one of the epicenters of the global pandemic for than 14,000 cases reported so far across the state, most of them right here in New Orleans, this city known for its charm and attitude.

  • The virus has killed at least 512 people statewide, the death toll up 38% over the weekend.

  • One economics professor telling the Wall Street Journal The virus is killing 38 out of every 100,000 people in New Orleans and is nearly twice as much as New York City.

  • And in their fight to save lives.

  • Health care workers one of the potential for the hospital system to be overwhelmed by cases.

  • It's the reason the city's mayor in Louisiana's governor have ordered residents to stay home at this time.

  • We need you to stay at home.

  • The obvious question is why, why so many cases in Louisiana and this remarkable city?

  • Health officials fear that Mardi Gras that brought thousands of people right here to Bourbon Street.

  • We have helped to spread this highly contagious virus.

  • Now the tourism industry, the city depends on for about 240,000 jobs is left stagnant, and life in the Big Easy is getting harder every day.

  • Being inside as much as possible has been, unfortunately, right.

  • Middle of profits, thieves in normal.

  • This is when you're going to boils all the time.

  • But as the local economy, like in so many other cities, hemorrhages jobs, doctors at ash, no hospitals describe an onslaught of Corona virus cases.

  • Every single icy you bet at their West Bank hospital is taken.

  • The patients all suffering from Cove it 19 the convention center once again being transformed to take care of the needy.

  • A virus that discriminates neither by Ray's nor age.

  • We've intubated 23 year olds.

  • We've put, uh, put 27 year olds on the ventilator.

  • One of the sickest people I've seen since this all began was the nicest 42 year old manager of a hotel downtown.

  • And he just came in feeling kind of tired, just tired, Doc.

  • I just feel tired.

  • And he was on a ventilator within about 24 hours, 24 hours, and as they meet the challenge every day, they're faced with the real possibility that they themselves could get infected.

  • It's a scary time for everybody.

  • I think that it's scary because we are seeing so many of our patients get so sick.

  • It's scary because we recognize that we make ourselves get sick.

  • And it's even scarier knowing that our friends and our family and our loved ones have the potential of getting sick as well.

  • The enormity of it all is exhausting.

  • Often working 14 hour days.

  • The losses are justice taxing.

  • Seeing the numbers of patients that are getting so sick so quickly does impact us both both physically and emotionally.

  • You know, it's it's psychologically draining at times.

  • But once again we understand that that is our duty.

  • And so I think that we in health care are going to continue to press on.

  • We're gonna fight the fight.

  • They certainly know about fighting in this city.

  • After having endured one of the most devastating storms in recent memory, I think it's actually worse than Katrina.

  • Given the uncertainty given the nature of how long will this go on the acuity of patients that we're seeing in our hospital?

  • It certainly is A big challenge for a nurse is a big challenge for a physician, but the doctors and nurses keep coming back.

  • And much like 15 years ago, when the music stopped and the streets emptied, the flood waters did recede.

  • Many of the shops reopened and life returned.

  • A new find threatens the city once again, but the belief here is this, too.

  • Show Pass.

  • Marcus Moore, ABC News, New Orleans Our thanks to Marcus for that report.

  • Hi, everyone, George Stephanopoulos Here.

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  • Thanks for watching.

hot zone that is New Orleans, the city with the highest death rate in the country.

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