good evening. tonight, the impact of president trump's decision to declare the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency. we will look at what it means to people and communities seeking not just help from the federal government but also access to testing, which as you know has emerged as possibly the single biggest challenge in this country getting its arms around the outbreak. there is that and there's what else the president said. refusing to take responsibility for a significant part of the crisis. and in a somewhat related vein, there is the question of the president's personal conduct because he's already come into contact with one and maybe more people who have tested positive for the virus. direct contact. this picture was taken at mar-a-lago just this past weekend. and there is late reporting that another person who visited mar-a-lago at the same time has also tested positive. first, though, some of what the president said today about the

big decision he made. >> to unleash the full power of the federal government through this effort today, i am officially declaring a national emergency. two very big words. the action i am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion of very importantly -- very important and a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease. in furtherance of the order, set up operation centers effective immediately. i am also asking every hospital in this country to enact their emergency preparedness plan. the secretary of hhs will be able to immediately waive provisions of applicable laws and regulations to give doctors, hospital -- all hospitals and healthcare providers maximum flexibility to respond to the virus.

and care for patients. >> as he said that and laid out other steps for streamlining medical care and testing, the number of cases in the country kept rising. now, stands at more than 2,100 with 48 deaths. more states declare emergencies of their own, more school districts cancel classes. louisiana pushed back its primary by two months. delta airlines announced it was cutting overall capacity by 40%. took yet more steps toward whatever the new normal may turn out to be. what has not changed is that any effort the president made to reassure people today, also including plenty of patting himself on the back, blaming past administrations for some problems today, and ducking responsibility for important decisions made on his watch, it all came together in this exchange. >> dr. fauci said earlier this week that the lag in testing was, in fact, a failing. do you take responsibility for

that? and when can you guarantee that every single american who needs a test will be able to have a test? what's the date of that? >> yeah. no, i don't take responsibility at all because we were given a -- a set of circumstances. and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. wasn't meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we're talking about. >> i don't take responsibility at all, he said. the president of the united states. i don't take responsibility at all. it is a far cry from harry truman's not koe tmotto the buc here. and this is also breaking news to hammer out relief legislation. nancy pelosi announcing an agreement with the administration but there are what are being called snags. what those are, we don't yet know. there's plus -- there is also news on testing and the president himself. cnn's jim acosta joins us now from the white house with more.

jim, has the white house provided any clarity on if the president himself will be tested? and if so, when? i mean, i find it hard to believe he hasn't already been tested. >> yeah. anderson, we are still waiting on officials over here at the white house to tell us when, exactly, the president will undergo that coronavirus test. i will tell you talking to my sources, my understanding is that the president essentially had to be convinced to take this test. that advisers around him were urging him to undergo a coronavirus test. and that, initially, he was resistant to it until, ultimately, deciding he needed to do that. and for good reason. i mean, if you look at what happened down at mar-a-lago last weekend, that before stillibraz tested positive for coronavirus was photographed with the president. we are hearing there was a fundraiser that occurred at mar-a-lago over the weekend that the president attended. where an attendee there is now coming up positive for the coronavirus. the trump campaign is saying that person did not interact with the president.

but, obviously, there is, you know, good reason for the president to undergo this test. we are just waiting to find out when exactly that's going to happen. >> you know, the -- the -- the white house disbanded the pandemic office inside the administration under their watch. i want to play this clip of how the president responded when he was asked about that. the disbanding of the pandemic office, which was the administration oversaw in may back in 2018. this is what he said today. >> thank you, mr. president. >> yes. >> my first question is you said that you don't take responsibility. but you did disband the white house pandemic office. and the officials that were working in that office left this administration abruptly. so what responsibility do you take to that? and the officials that worked in that office said that you -- that the white house lost valuable time because that office was disbanded. what do you make of that? >> well, i just think it's a nasty question because what we've done is -- and tony had said numerous times that we

saved thousands of lives because of the quick closing. and when you say me, i didn't do it. we have a group of people. >> it 's your administration. >> my administration but i could, perhaps, ask tony about that because i don't know anything about it. >> he apparently doesn't know anything about it he said. to be specific, it was john bolton, his national security advisor at the time, who oversaw the disbanding of the pandemic unit. and nobody else was rehired for that unit. do we know about what the president did, or didn't know, about it at the time? and why wouldn't he know about it? >> it's a very good question, anderson. from what we're hearing from white house officials, the people who were apart of that unit, did move into other parts of the national security council and are doing some of those same functions. that is the official word from the white house. in terms of why the president doesn't know about this or not taking responsibility for it, anderson, that is consistent with how he has been since coming into office. he has been the no-responsibility president. when i asked him whether he took

responsibility for being impeached during the ukraine saga, he did not take responsibility there. and this is a president, during this coronavirus outbreak, who has said that this virus would miraculously go away. that the cases would get down to zero. even though we're -- we're nowhere near zero at this point. and so there have been multiple instances, you know, his -- his downplaying of the problem with the tests. he was saying that was going smoothly when that wasn't the case. there has been instance after instance. anderson, you've been cataloging this over the past several weeks where the president was obviously downplaying this crisis. so ultimately, he is responsible for it. he's been president for three years. he likes to say certain things happened during the obama administration. he was doing that today at the press conference. those things didn't happen that he is accusing the obama administration of doing. disbanding the pandemic office in the national security council is something that happened on his watch, so of course he's responsible for it. >> jim acosta, thanks. before we dig further into the

overtly aspects of the president marks. joining us right now is cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. also, dr. lena wen. sanjay, what do you make of what the president said today? is this moving in the right direction? and what do you think we need to see more of? >> i think we're definitely moving in the right direction. you know, it was just not even two weeks ago, as jim acosta was just saying, the idea from the white house was this was simply going to go away. and now, we're declaring this a national emergency. so i think the public health officials, many of whom have been advising the president, have sort of seen this coming for a long time. so i they as he clearat's clear direction. i think these public-private partnerships, getting them for c. it's very hard to get those days and weeks back. that's very critical. there is a couple things that i think are crucial. and the president sort of talked

about this near the very end of the press conference. and it goes back to these breathing machines that we've -- that we have talked about. and i think it's really important because this idea of having the types of resources to take care of the most critically-ill patients, we're not sure we have those -- enough of those resources right now. he did say that we will buy them. we will buy lots of them. that was his quote. that's how he put it. so i think that that's -- you know, that's a good sign. obviously, we want to see these things come to fruition. and, you know, we'll have to wait and see over the next hours and days. >> yeah. i mean, dr. wen, who knows two weeks -- sanjay said two weeks ago the president was saying there were 15 cases and that they were all getting better. and, you know, this was all going to go away. you know, two weeks in the fast-moving pandemic is a lifetime. and, you know, day after day that you don't do stuff, that cost people their lives and, potentially, the spread of this virus. the president announcing this new partnership with the private sector. he says it would vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to

test for the coronavirus. but the trump administration has promised millions of testing becoming available. the president's been saying anybody who wants to can get tested. now, all of a sudden, they have this public/private partnership because they're not acknowledging that the testing hasn't worked because it hasn't gotten out into people's hands. they're just pretending like they never said it was working. now, they're just saying it's going to get better. >> that's right. and it's extremely frustrating to be a clinician or a patient who needs this test. what we really need is a realistic timeline that the president and public health officials can stick to. and say, by this time, we'll have x number of tests available. and here are the patients that were thwe're testing now. here are the patients we'll be able to test in time to come. because right now, clinicians have no idea. i mean, we, as a society, have no idea how many cases are out there of people who actually have covid-19 but just don't know it.

and it's so frustrating and terrifying, too. >> and that question was asked by a reporter today and the president essentially said, you know, anybody wants to can be tested. that's been happening for a long time. but i mean, i listen very scarefully to t carefully to the vice president answer. i think it was roughly at least a minute and a half, two minutes long. it was a complete nonanswer. it just stretched over a long period of time. and then he had another doctor come up and -- to just back him up in what he said. and she went into very detailed things about the test itself. but, again, there was no answer to when americans can actually get tested who want to be tested or need to be tested. like, they have not answered that question. >> and clinicians really need to know because we have patients coming to us saying that they need testing. they have symptoms. they're concerned about spreading it to their loved ones. and we, at least, need a timeline and something to be able to tell them other than just wait and see.

>> sanjay, i want to play an exchange the president had with a reporter today over at his meeting with the brazilian official who tested positive for coronavirus. >> dr. fauci said this morning if you stand next to somebody who tested positive, you should self-isolate and get a test. you say your white house doctor is telling you something different. who should americans listen to? and my second question -- >> i think they have to listen to their doctors. and i think they shouldn't be jumping to get the test unless it's necessary. but i think they have to listen to their doctors. and i mean, i don't know -- i haven't seen the picture. somebody said there's a picture with somebody taking a picture with me. but i haven't seen it. but i can tell you -- >> said you might have it even if you don't have symptoms. are you being selfish by not getting tested? >> well, i didn't say i wasn't going to be tested. >> are you going to be? >> most likely, yeah. not for that reason but because i think i will do it anyway. fairly soon, we're working on that. we're working out a schedule. >> sanjay, i mean, there is the

question of this president setting a bad example. there's also just the question is he -- is he just lying here again? because the idea that his schedule is so busy that he can't get somebody to give him a test, he has an entire secret service, which is designed to protect his life. if they allow pathogen -- if they allow a virus to infect the president and nobody tests him, that just seems, like, you know, security malpractice. >> yeah. i mean, look, this -- there is a lot of tough calls in this whole thing but this is not one of them. i mean, he should be tested. he would fit his own criteria. i mean, the cdc's own criteria for having had contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. he should probably -- may need to be isolated for a period of time. look. i think that's the point the reporter was trying to make who asked the question. if he is positive, doesn't know it, i mean, he's interacting with a lot of people and he was shaking a lot of hands today even at the lecturn. if he is passing this on

unknowingly, that's obviously a terrible thing. i think he's got to be tested. he said i would. like you, i'm not sure what the holdup is because this is of concern here. and not just for him. for him, for certain, but for all the people around him. >> dr. wen, do you think this has sunk in with the public to the extent that it needs to? i mean, should -- should gyms be open? you know, should people be working out next to each other? should -- you know, i was in -- you know, i was out and about. there were people not -- you know, next to each other well closer than three feet together, talking with each other, complete strangers. you know, on subways. i mean, is -- is it sinking in yet? >> i think people are realizing how serious this is. it hasn't hit home for most of us. but we do see the charts. we see what's happened in other countries and we know that it's only a matter of time. and we're talking about days to weeks before we have tens of thousands of more cases in the u.s. and we have a chance to make a difference.

individual actions now will make a difference in protecting all of us, as a society. >> dr. gupta, dr. wen, thank you very much. coming up next, what the president said today especially in the wake of an oval office address this week that did not reassure most people. the question for our political professionals was today any different? also in that vein, we will be joined by former white house communication director anthony scaramucci. we'll be right back. with advil, you have power over pain, so the whole world looks different. the unbeatable strength of advil. what pain? my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still

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approach the crisis. cnn political analyst and "new york times" correspondent who broke the story that second mar-a-lago guest who may have come in contact with the president. also, former presidential advisor david gergen. and cnn correspondent dana bash. president trump's been hesitant to acknowledge the threat the virus faces. today, he did take a step in declaring national emergency, freeing up funds. >> anderson, i actually think it would have gone much further way had he not taken questions at this announcement. i think that while he was standing with these officials, both health experts and corporate officials, who oversee some of the nation's biggest drug store chains, that diluted some of his own credibility problem that he has handed himself with things he has said that have been inaccurate about the number of people who would be sick. things he has said about testing and his own speech the other night, which had inaccuracies in it. but he didn't stop there. he decided to take questions,

because he likes to be the person who is the last one talking. and it got contentious at points. he said things that were not true. and he claimed to know nothing about -- and maybe he doesn't -- about what was done by his former national security advisor john bolton in folding in the -- the pandemic or -- or global disaster section of the nsc into a wmd directorate. whether he knew it or not, he should have known it and asking a president like that is not abnormal. he is not the first president to get questions about what happens in their administration. and he asks as if it is a personal affront every time. and the other thing i want to make clear here which is his health. he was around this brazilian aide to the president at mar-a-lago. he said today maybe he will, likely he will. i don't know if that means anything. he is doing himself, actions health experts have said they shouldn't do if they've been in contact with somebody who has the coronavirus. he was shaking hands today.

he was talking into a microphone that everyone else was talking into. that is going to raise questions and it should. >> dr. anthony fauchi i learned last night is 78 years old. he is a legendary person who is desperately needed right now. if the president is sick and gets people on the coronavirus task force sick, i mean, david, that's the concern the not only as maggie pointed out the president undermining his own task force's important, you know, fact-based messaging. he's not only undermining it with his own non-fact-based misinformation. he is undermining it with his actual actions shaking hands in front of cameras, dismissing the idea of taking a test. >> yeah. i -- i -- he acts as if he doesn't really believe in what he's saying. that he's only doing it because he's under pressure. he has to do something. but i -- i do think stepping back from this, anderson, that most americans do want their president to succeed in a crisis. and i think they want donald trump to do some things, and i think he will get some points

today for declaring the national emergency. making much more funds available. wall street responded well to that. he is going to get a lot of points for pushing -- expanding the tests. and if he gets a deal done with pelosi, which may be in some trouble tonight, he'll get credit for that. but a lot of americans are also going to judge him. i think he is teetering on the edge because of the complacency in the past and letting this many precious weeks pass without urgent action. and allowing the numbers of people who are infected to probably go up to much higher than they would be otherwise. but americans are asking, how is it possible that we've only tested just about 20,000 people in the same period of time when -- when italy was on the front edge of this -- i mean, south korea. south korea tested 100,000 people in the time it's taken us to do 20,000. it's crazy. and i do think the testing is going to be a real key in the next two or three weeks. my bet is that a lot of people think it's going to be easy to get these tests. and they're going to be much

more bureaucratic. they are much harder to get sign dan signoffs than anybody believes. we have doctors here in boston, you know, who are treating patients and trying to get them tested. and i have heard one case where two people who had to be -- they were denied having test by the bureaucracy because they were not in the i kru. icu. that was a prerequirement. to be in the icu. that's crazy. >> yeah. maggie dena, we saw the president shaking hands over and over again today. obviously, we know the cdc has said do not do. >> that's right. >> is there any sense within the white house that president trump has a responsibility to set an example for people? and, you know -- you know, we all know that -- you know, evangelical leaders say they don't want a pastor in chief. they're not looking for a moral leader anymore. but what about just a scientifically responsible leader? >> absolutely. you know, it was only one of the businessman who kind of had the

presence of mind. and it's understandable when you're in the rose garden and it's the president of the united states offering a spot at the podium. putting your hand out. it's hard not to do that. but, of course, there is a responsibility to not do that. and that goes to the whole question that david gergen knows better than any of us, of leadership. which is, and should be, genuinely nonpartisan in a time like this. and just look at what happened just at the very end of the -- of the -- of the trading day with the stock markets. they did rally because, you know, there is a yearning for somebody who is showing that -- that there is -- is a grownup in the room. and not only has donald trump, until, frankly, today, a little bit with the speech but as maggie said, it was so riddled with errors, it contradicted the very policies he was saying he put in place. it's because he has been downplaying and undermining the really grave public health risk that is here. by saying, oh, no, nothing to

see here because he's been so worried about the economy. that has made the economy even worse. today, you know, he -- he made it as if the country is on a war footing. bringing together the key member -- or some key members of the private sector. never mind the members of the medical community and the infectious disease experts that he has been relying on. and it was a much, much more calming event than we have seen before. except for the handshaking and the things that they are doing that is not -- they are not leading by example. that was, definitely, problematic. but in terms of the show of force, better than before. >> that's true. >> maggie, you and i were talking about the president saying that -- that -- that he hadn't -- that he didn't know anything about the white house pandemic office being disbanded. and i just want to play that, again, for our viewers. >> thank you, mr. president.

pbs news hour. my first question is that you said you don't take responsibility but you did disband the white house pandemic office and the officials that were working in that office left this administration abruptly. so what responsibility do you take to that? and the officials that worked in that office said that you -- that the white house lost valuable time because that office was disbanded. what do you make of that? >> well, i just think it's a nasty question because what we've done is -- and tony had said numerous times that we saved thousands of lives because of the quick closing. and when you say me, i didn't do it. we have a group of people. >> it 's your administration. >> i could ask perhaps -- my administration but i could perhaps ask tony about that because i don't know anything about it. i mean, you say -- you say we did that. i don't know anything about it. >> so he says he didn't anything about it. still doesn't know anything about it. nasty question. we just found a moment from a press conference from february 26th being asked about these

very cuts and i want to play that. >> consistently called for enormous cuts to cdc, nih, and the w.h.o. a lot today about how these professionals are excellent, critical, necessary. does this experience at all give you pause? >> no. no, because we can get money and we can increase staff. we know all the people. we know all the good people. a question i asked the doctors before. some of the people we cut, they haven't been used for many, many years. and if -- if we have a need and we can get them very quickly. >> so seems like he knew something about it on february 26. >> right. i think -- i think he was defensive about the question. i just want to note very quickly, i think david and dana are absolutely right. everything they announced on  testing was important and a big step forward and on the national emergency, he was getting praise even from people like bill de blasio. but then he answers a question the way that he did, which was not just to say he didn't know it. he got really personal with her and really nasty with her and said something about her that

was just not true about how she left her previous role. she had worked with us at "the new york times" where she was loved. now she is at pbs. when you do something like that, it is not -- and he does things like that often. it is not just, you know, a momentary blip that everyone should look away from. it is how he was answering a substantive question about his administration and he chose to make it personal. and i'm sorry but that is something that people are going to factor into their reporting and into their assessment of how this event went. >> i got to say it's a woman asking him a question, a tough question, and he uses the word nasty in relation to women. we know this. >> yes. that is -- that is -- absolutely. that is not the first time nasty or rude. but on the substance of it, the other thing is that not only was the president asked about it last month. there has been, you know, report after report or reminder, i should say, from members of congress, people who had important jobs like this in the past. >> right. >> real time, you know, trying to, you know, raise real big

concerns about him disbanding it. sherrod brown, for example, wrote a letter in 2018 as soon as this happened saying this is a very big mistake, mr. president. you need these people in place in case a pandemic happened. and, shockingly, he didn't get a response. >> yeah. he's not responsible. doesn't know anything about it. we got to leave it there. david gergen, dana bash. thank you. what to make for a president who claims he doesn't take any responsibility for the central aspect of the crisis on his watch. ♪ dad, i'm scared. ♪ it's only human to care for those we love. and also help light their way. it's why last year chevron invested over $10 billion to bring affordable, reliable, ever cleaner energy to america. ♪

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[ fast-paced drumming ] you heard at the top of the

program what president trump had to say about his part in managing the coronavirus pandemic. it's worth repeating both the question he was asked and his reply. >> dr. fauci said, earlier this week, that the lag in testing was, in fact, a failing. do you take responsibility for that? and when can you guarantee that every single american who needs a test will be able to have a test? what's the date of that? >> yeah. no, i don't take responsibility at all because we were given a -- a set of circumstances. and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. wasn't meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we're talking about. >> with me now, president trump's former white house director of communications anthony scaramucci. anthony, what do you think today did? not only as positive for combatting the virus, which is the most important thing. but, also, on the president. >> well, they definitely took

steps to combat the virus. but i think they had a very big failing over the last seven days where the president, you know -- the buck stops with him. he said today that he doesn't take any responsibility but he did something really bad this week, which i think is going to hurt him in november. he -- a good leader defines the problem, directs people to where he wants to take the american public. but speaks very honestly to them. and so he's had three attempts. i was on your show a few weeks ago. said that was a trillion dollars. he took another couple trillion dollars out of the market. and then they staged that today, at 3:00 with everybody on the podium there, to try to get the market lifted back up. and so it was successful in the short-term, anderson, but the real colossal mistake is that the american people have lost trust. maybe the red-state voters and people that are watching fox are going to still hang in there.

but the average person is looking at what he's doing and saying, wait a minute. can't really trust what he's doing. he's overreacting to the situation without any moral compass or any scientific compass. and so i think those things are really going to haunt him come november. >> how did the president's, you know, address the nation -- how was that allowed to happen by, allegedly, professionals who are around him in the white house? i mean, it was disastrous. i mean, it -- it did -- it did nothing if, you know, if the very basic point of that was to calm people, at least give a sense of you know what, i got my arms around this. we're working on this. i hear -- i believe in science. and we're going to -- we're going to beat this thing. it did none of those things. >> yeah. and you could tell from his body language, he knew that -- that that did not go off well. those were ten disastrous minutes.

he's made three really bad sort of speeches. but that was, by far, the worst one. and the main reason why it was so bad was a combination of his body language, his lack of certainty about what he was saying, and then the last piece, which i think really -- and, again, forget about partisanship or liking the president or disliking the president, just looking at it objectively, i run about $10.5 billion a capital and every time he was speaking, he was causing people to get into cash as quickly as possible. so, again, why that happened, we both know why that's happening. the people that are surrounding him are afraid of him. he is a little unstable. he -- he acts in this really bellicose way towards his staff. and they're -- you know, they're on pins and needles. there is a couple guys inside that, more or less, said to me, you know, i'm here. it's better to have me here than, like, alex jones or something like that. so i'm just going to keep my

mouth shut and i'm going to get under the bunker. and hope for the best and hopefully i can make some incremental changes here that help the american people. but, you know, the whole place is under siege. and they're making a very big mistake. they would be much better off teaming up and having an intervention with the president. and just saying, okay, look, it's not going well the way you're handling this. can we just take a pause in the system? and so that sort of happened a little bit today because he was allowing other people to take the podium. but he needs to do way more of that. and we're leaving out the elephant in the room, anderson. is that we are way behind the curve on surveillance and testing here. anybody that looks at this situation from a public health point of view knows that. and -- and he's not telling the truth. you could have 100 million people infected with this disease over the next six to eight weeks. and he's got to be very honest with the american people. and explain how that fans out and how we, eventually, get immunity. and how we can, eventually,

solve the problem. but he's done none of that. and i think that's why people are in such a turmoil, particularly here in new york city, which is one of the hot zones. >> you know, the one thing you want in -- in a disaster of any kind, whether it's a hurricane, a -- you know, a financial collapse, a military takeover, you want to have a sense that there are good people working on it. and they -- they are focused like a laser on it. and that they are telling you the truth. and that is what, you know, the truth takes on an even greater importance than in normal times. and that's, i think, to me, just personally as a citizen, the most worrying thing. when you just get a sense that what -- what they are saying is not what you, yourself, are seeing in your doctor's office when you try to get a test. or whatever it may be. you know, there's a tweet on the president talking about leadership in 2013 saying, quote, leadership. whatever happens, you're responsible. i mean, you know, there's a tweet for everything. if it doesn't mean, you're

responsib responsible, he even says. >> two quick things. i would say may 1940 when winston churchill took over parliament and i would also say rudy giuliani, right after 9/11 in terms of the compassion he had and the speeches he was giving. so you have to rise to the occasion. and the president is failing at that. he's got to be more responsible. he should bring out harry truman's the buck stops here. put it on the desk. see if that helps him a little bit. >> anthony scaramucci, appreciate it. good to talk to you. the early empty treatstreets in italian cities, a reminder of the psychological impact. but what may be ahead for -- for american citizens. i am going to talk to a harvard-trained psychologist about how this country's reacting to the possibility of scenes like that happening here. at fidelity, we can help you build

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people all over the world are reacting very different ways of course to the coronavirus. there is frustration, anger, hope. in italy and also fear, we shall point out. in italy, the hardest-hit european nation, the people in these apartments broke out in their country's national anthem. listen. they're physically isolated but they are not alone. they are together in this. scenes like this seem especially poignant when the entire nation is on lockdown in italy and it's certainly one way of dealing with this crisis. of facing it together. joining me now is gretchen shneltzer, psychologist and author. gretchen, you write, yes, you need to wash your hands and stay home if you are sick. but the biggest work you can do is expand your heart and your mind to see yourself and see your family as part of a much bigger community that can have a massive, hugely massive, impact on the lives of other people. i think -- i read your blog post and i just think it's so important. so can you just talk to us

about -- about that? about sort of the idea of this not being about us. it's about us protecting others. the weakest. the most vulnerable. >> absolutely. you know, i think when you were talking earlier about italy and the stress we're all feeling. you know, it's important to recognize that extreme stress has a predictable physiological effect. it makes us narrow our focus. it makes us kind of become our smallest self-s. and it's really important for us to lower our stress to expand ourselves to our bigger selves so that we can see the bigger picture. so we can remember, i'm not just an i, i'm a we. i'm not just a family, i'm a community. i'm not just an organization, i'm a city. and it's not easy to do that. it takes a lot of discipline. >> and i think, especially in this polarized day and age, but also just in regular times, you know, it's only in -- in wars or

disasters or big events that we, as citizens, are called upon to -- to be better than our regular selves. or we are called upon to be -- to sort of re -- relearn what citizenship is all about. and this is one of those opportunities, i think. >> absolutely. i grew up with the stories of my grandmother in the great depression. and hearing how entire families and communities pooled their gas ration tickets so that my grandmother's grandmother could go to her college graduation far away. and, you know, there were times when people stepped up. and i feel like -- i feel like people just needed the permission to do that, in some ways. i think that we had gotten so engaged in fear over the last week that people weren't looking up. they weren't feeling like they could do something. >> it also seems like -- maybe i just spend a little too much time on instagram. but i am getting sick of watching people sort of make

videos in the supermarket and they're talking about, oh my god, it's so chaotic here. and we got to get stuff. and, you know, i feel like this is a time for all of us to put down our phones and to sort of, if you -- okay, you have to stay six to three feet away from somebody but you can still reach out to somebody in different ways. and you can reach out to a larger society. and i feel like if you are going to post stuff on instagram, it's not about you and your needs in the midst of this disaster. it should be about, you know, the doctors who are working round the clock, right now, whose names we will never know. who are trying to save the rest of us by taking care of those who are most vulnerable. >> right. i mean, there was a -- there's -- has been and really was, on tuesday when i wrote this, a real vacuum of leadership about what people can -- could actually do to be helpful. and, under stress, you know, severe stress also makes us feel helpless. and the antidote to helplessness

is action or agency. but this was a paradoxical situation, in that what would feel like doing something was actually not going to be helpful. we needed people to understand that inaction, staying home, not going out and >> so what do you recommend people do? what can we do? >> i mean, it's starting to happen. so i think schools have stopped classes. i think people can stay home. i think that people can reach out to the elderly, who are afraid to go to the food store. i think we can shop local or order food from restaurants that might go out of business. i think that you can read books on video and send them to your niece asks nephews who are out of school. conversely, i think nieces and nephews can put on a show and send it to their grandparents who may not be able to leave the

house. we can get out in nature and go for walks. this might be a really good time to reconnect with nature in a way we haven't been able to because we haven't slowed down. >> i'm going to look at my own life, and i just think trying to, again, focus that we are all part of a larger community, it's very easy to think of ourselves only. but that we are a part of a larger community. gretchen sxhelzer, i'd like to talk to you again. i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you so much, anderson. bye. >> still to come on a very busy night of breaking news the latest on the coronavirus relief legislation that so many people are waiting for. we'll be right back. when you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it.

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let's check in with chris, see what he's working on for "cuomo prime time." chris? >> how are you doing, coop? we're going to shift to war

mode. because that's what this is. the virus is an enemy and we have to take it on as such. you and i remember, you in the audience, you so brilliantly took them on the journey of what happened in katrina. that's where we are now. so i asked for russell honoree, the general, to come on to remind us what wartime looks like, how you prepare for, this what you need to do and not do. and we're going to do that with the political side as well. what's going to happen in congress and will it be enough. >> all right. good advice. chris, look forward to that. thanks very much. just ahead, a deal reached on the virus relief bill that the white house and lawmakers have been trying to agree on. who fought for you?

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♪ more breaking news this evening on the tense negotiations between house democrats and the white house over that coronavirus relief bill that we mentioned at the top of the hour. moments ago president trump tweeted his full support for what he calleded compromise. separately we learned a deal has been reached between the white house and lawmakers. a vote on it is expected tonight. that's it for us. the news continues. i want to hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> just one step but it's an important step. anderson, thank you very much. i'll see you sunday. i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." my brothers and sisters, let's be honest with each other. we are at war. the president has finally declared a national emergency as a virus is attacking the country. okay? it got the jump on us. the election will decide how people feel about how we got here. right now we have to focus on