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Coronavirus News: President Trump shaken by scenes from NYC's Elmhurst Hospital

Monday, March 30, 2020

President Trump shaken by scenes from Elmhurst hospital

The president said he's never seen anything like it

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WABC) -- The haunting images coming out of Elmhurst Hospital in his native Queens appeared to rattle President Donald Trump on Sunday.

"I've been watching that for the last week on television," he said. "Body bags all over, in hallways. I've been watching them bring in trailer trucks - freezer trucks, they're freezer trucks, because they can't handle the bodies, there are so many of them. This is essentially in my community, in Queens, Queens, New York," he continued. "I've seen things that I've never seen before."

13 patients at the hospital succumbed to the virus in one day last week.

He added, "When I see the trucks pull up, to take out bodies -- I mean, these are trucks as long as the rose garden and they are pulling up to take out bodies and you look inside and you see the black body bags? What's in there? It is Elmhurst hospital. Must be supplies. It is not supplies. It's people.

President Trump also shared the story of a friend of his who went to the hospital with coronavirus and a day later was in a coma.

"I had a friend who went to a hospital the other day. He's a little older, and he's heavy, but he's a tough person," he said. "He went to the hospital. A day later he's in a coma. I said how is he doing? Sir, he's in a coma, he's unconscious. He's not doing well. The speed and the viciousness, especially if it gets the right person, it's horrible. It's really horrible."