beds so tens of thousands of americans don't die? and how many more ventilators are you looking at ordering so people don't suffocate? >> let me let the secretary step up. i know that there's a long-term planning that takes place at hhs for those circumstances. and when i traveled to hhs yesterday, we reviewed all the numbers about stockpiles, everything from masks to ventilators to gowns. mr. secretary, you might just speak about capacity issues. and let me say, it's a very good question on your part. right now, our focus, as the white house coronavirus task force, is to have widespread testing across the country using this new partnership with our commercial labs that the president has forged and work with states to make those tests available. we're also going to continue to work every single day to promote best practices for mitigation, working closely with and

supporting state governments for decisions that they're making on mitigation to prevent the spread. but the whole issue of personal protective equipment and supplies and the capacity of our health care system is in the forefront of what we're talking about every day and the secretary can address it. >> thank you very much. first, being here at the podium, i just want to especially talk about the people in blue behind me. these are the leaders of the united states public health service commission corps that i am incredibly privileged to lead. over 3,000 of them, america's public health warriors. whether it's going into the eastern congo or western africa to fight ebola, or if it's staffing the nursing home in kirkland, being on the world health organization team in china, or helping to facilitate community-based testing, these are america's public health heroes, and i just -- they rarely -- in fact, i doubt that there has ever been a time in american history where the leadership of the public health service commission corps has had

the privilege of standing here on this stage behind the president and vice president of the united states. i wanted to commend that. in terms of our capacities in our health care system, any pandemic like this runs the risk of exceeding our health care system capacity. and we must acknowledge that. that is precisely why the president and vice president's strategy is, as dr. fauci has repeatedly spoke, to delay and flatten the curve. the point of this is, instead of a spike of the curve, to delay and flatten that curve with the hope that you can keep the utilization of resources to be within the health care system's capacities. in addition to that, the entire point of our pandemic planning over the last 15 years has been to put extra flex into our health care system.

that's why we have hospital preparedness grants that we fund every year through our preparedness program. that's why we have in our strategic national stockpile ventilators, field hospital units, like mass units, if you'll remember those, that have capacity for hundreds of individuals. in terms of supplies, obviously this is an unprecedented challenge, unprecedented. and so, we will work to increase the supplies of personal protective equipment, of ventilators, of field medical unit hospitals that we can deploy. we have tremendous supplies, but we want to acquire more, and that's thanks to the bipartisan work of congress funding the emergency supplemental. that gives us the money to scale up production here and abroad, and we're doing that. we don't disclose concrete numbers on particular items for national security purposes, but we have many ventilators, thousands and thousands of

ventilators in our system. we have received so far only, i think, one request for just several ventilators. one of the things in terms of hospital capacity that's going to be really important -- this is a really good learning from china that we got from the world health organization team that went there. if we have communities where we have enough capacity where we can put people who are positive with covid-19 and have them be exclusively reserved for individuals who are positive for covid-19, this reduces our need to try to protect patients from other patients, because they're all positive already. we need to protect our health care workers and our service workers in those facilities. this gives us reduced burden on personal protective equipment, but it also can give us greater capacity as we put field medical shelters up, as we consolidate into single facilities, as we don't need individual rooms, negative air flow, isolation, et cetera, a vastly more efficient utilization of our health care system. this is all part of the planning

work that we've done and are promulgating throughout our health care system. so that's our strategy. we're going to keep building that capacity, though. >> mr. vice president -- >> -- use of the military? >> go ahead. >> mr. vice president, you talked briefly about trying to make information more accessible online. so, can you give us a timetable for when you think a website will be available based on your conversations with google? and secondly, and this might be to the broader team, can you also talk specifically about how many of these tests have been sent out to states and how many you still have to send out? >> well, let me say that we're working with google, but we're working with many other tech companies, and we're truly grateful for the efforts of tech companies in disseminating best practices and guidance for citizens, online, all over the country. and today those resources are available.

we literally heard not only from google, but from facebook and amazon and the public spiritedness that's reflected there is a credit to those great companies and a credit to all of the dedicated americans who work there. our best estimate, and literally, the team has been working around the clock since friday, is that at some point early in the week that we will have a website that goes up, the purpose of which will be for people to go and first fill out a questionnaire so they can identify whether they fall in a category that dr. burks described would indicate a need to have a test. once they go through that questionnaire, then our objective is, as more and more of these sites come online, run by state governments working in cooperation with our team, our public health service team and fema, and also working in cooperation with local businesses and retailers, the

people will know not only how to find it, but also the objective would be for them to literally be given a time that they can go and report for the test, but let me let the admiral speak to the timing on the testing and unpack that for you. >> so, in our design, i just want to emphasize, we talk about testing and we talk about so many things, but we're really talking about people, and we're trying to make this a very person-centric experience to clearly access the system, to be given clear guidance about how to go, when to go, information that even if you're not really indicated for testing, information you need to help protect yourself and your family. then on the back end, very customized reporting, and we're talking literally about having telephonic services to call individuals who have been tested let them know yes, no, and what the next steps are. we tried to envision this as a patient experience. let me talk about the testing.

progressively over the course of this week, there will be rollout to different laboratories of approximately 1.9 million tests. there are many centralized laboratories, the behind-the-curtain, that you never see after you give your blood -- and you saw some of the ceos in the rose garden last week, like quest and lab corps, that are fully able, ready to run. they have been testing already, but fully able, ready to run within the first part of this week, the very high throughput testing. the 2,000 laboratories that are around the country that have a different platform, one that's amenable to so many labs -- in and out the big, hugest output, but very high through-put laboratories -- are progressing. they have to adapt the test slightly to their machines and get used to this. they will start lighting up monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday. i can't give you the precise timeline, except it has been an

absolute priority of the laboratory associations, of thermo fisher, the company that made this test. you heard the president predict that it might be approved within 24 hours on friday. i think it was five hours after that in the middle of the night that the fda approved that. and that's the one that's going to be widely disseminated, high through, ae put that's going to be available. so, i know you want a specific time when these will light up progressively over the week. when that happens, there will be a centralized opportunity like in quest and labcorps. there will also be distributed opportunities like in all of the major hospital systems and labs that are in your area. and then that number of 1.9 million goes up dramatically in the weeks coming forward. i'm not going to say that the lab testing issue is over, because it's not. it's entering the next phase. but the much higher priority now is, now that we have the testing available, how do we get people into the system to be tested in the appropriate prioritized way, and that's what we've really

been focused on -- information, website, points of distribution model that are tried and true, enabling the states, providing them with equipment, supplies, know-how and commission corps officers as needed to help man these or staff these as we move forward. so you'll see this rapidly developing over the week. >> all right, guys, last question! >> mr. vice president, are you considering domestic -- >> mr. vice president, market futures are down, despite the dramatic move from the fed that the president applauded, which suggests that there's still concern about, that we haven't done enough to respond to the economic impact of this deal -- or of the coronavirus. i'm wondering when specifically we're going to hear from the white house about how you're going to impact -- or help impact the industries, from the airlines, the cruise ships. >> right. >> and secondly, i wanted to talk about the legislation that came out. the white house fought to exclude workers at larger corporations from paid sick

leave. and so i'm wondering what you say to, you know, somebody who flips burgers at mcdonald's or works at one of these large chains that's worried about staying home and potentially missing a paycheck? >> well, first, let me say, we strongly support the house legislation, which, while it gives some flexibility to small businesses, which will be reflected in the regulations going forward, no american worker should worry about missing a paycheck if they're feeling ill. we can't say often enough to our fellow americans, if you're sick with a respiratory ailment, stay home. and as you've heard here today, over the course of this next week, we're going to see testing become much more widely available, beginning in the areas the cdc will focus us as the highest priority. but working with members of congress, we've made sure that not only is testing free, but we

have every confidence that the extension of paid and family leave to americans will be extended in a way that it should give every american that confidence. and let me say -- let me say with regard to the economy as a whole, i think the treasury secretary is working very diligently on the president's behalf -- we had the supplemental, $8.3 billion bill. the house has now acted on important legislation that we fully support and we hope the senate takes it up this week. but whether it be the airline industry or the cruise line industry or the hotel industry. as the secretary said recently, we are in just the first few innings of this effort. and the president has directed us to bring the full weight of the federal government to bear to confront this crisis, first and foremost, on behalf of the

health and safety of the american public, but strengthening our economy, ensuring that those vital industries will be able to find their way through and grow strongly once this coronavirus has passed, will be a priority, and we're already in discussions with members of congress in both parties about that next phase of the support. but let me say as i close, we will be back in the morning tomorrow for a briefing and also we'll have a health briefing in the afternoon. again, i know i speak on behalf of the president when i say how grateful we are for all of the governors in the country, for all the local health officials, everyone that's coming alongside americans. we encourage every american to continue to use best practices and common sense. even if you're not in a high-risk category, as the vast majority of americans are,

remember those people around you who may well be. remember those seniors with underlying health conditions. it's the reason why you need to keep washing your hands, you need to keep practicing good hygiene, cleaning those counters and surfaces to make sure that we don't convey the coronavirus to them. and finally, let me also just -- let me add to all the wonderful accolades of the public health service personnel behind me. these are all heroes. and i have to tell you, having been over at hhs yesterday, having seen the way these people drop everything and are rolling into this effort to expand testing across the country, it will be these people in these blue uniforms that you see at an awful lot of points of distribution, these community centers around the country. and for all they're doing today, for all each one of them have done throughout their career, i know they have the thanks of this president, the vice president and the american people. thank you. >> -- about missing a paycheck? how can you say that?

>> -- companies? >> all right, so, there you have it. it's been an hour since this briefing started. the president came out right at the very beginning, and he was extremely upbeat about what's going on here in the united states right now. he says, "we're doing great. this will all pass. just relax." and then he made this statement. listen to this. >> there's a very contagious -- it's a very contagious virus. it's incredible, but it's something that we have tremendous control over. >> something, he said, that we have tremendous control over. and it was just a little after that, we heard from dr. anthony fauci, the top infectious disease expert here in the united states, who totally contradicted what the president said. listen to this. >> because, as i've said many times, and i'll repeat it, the worst is yet ahead for us. it is how we respond to that challenge that's going to determine what the ultimate end point is going to be.

>> all right, let's get some analysis. dr. zeke emanuel is with us. a lot of people are wondering, where's the president right now? what is he thinking when he says specifically that we have tremendous control over this? the numbers seem to be doubling every few days. >> i don't want to make a clinical diagnosis, but this was really disassociated from the reality that we're seeing out there, and he does not seem to be listening to the experts that he has. i also have to say that the whole briefing was about testing, and testing is necessary, but it's not sufficient. we need interventions that are going to slow this thing down -- social distancing -- and we heard nothing about it. and that has to happen quickly. you can't keep putting it off and often and off, and yet, the task force seems to be slowing that and not really responding as rapidly as we need. time is of the essence here, and the sense of urgency, i didn't hear it from the task force or other people. >> and we certainly didn't hear it from the president, did we, dennis carroll? >> well, certainly not, wolf. and i think what we did hear was, good news, late, but the

diagnostic situation is moving forward in ways it should have happened two months ago. it appears to be moving forward now. but as was said, the diagnostic tells us where the virus is, it tells us who has the virus, but it doesn't stop the virus. and it's social distancing is the one tool we have in the toolbox, and we're seeing that spontaneously across the nation. independent actions are being taken. municipalities, cities, states. and to really bend the curve as dr. fauci talks about, this has to be more than just spontaneous acts. it has to be well coordinated, thought through, and ultimately led at a national level and we're not hearing that. hopefully, what dr. fauci said about guidance coming out tomorrow will speak to this in more detail. >> a lot of work that needs to be done. dr. yasmin, let's talk about

what the president said when he specifically said, "this is something we have tremendous control over" right now. do we? >> no, we don't. we don't have control of the situation because we are so far behind in the academic response or the pandemic response. we heard so many assurances over the last hour and i have a legal pad with a list of testing promises made since mid-february. none of these have transpired yet, so i need to see this to believe it, this idea that 1.9 million tests will be available. we need to see that happen immediately. and also, i want to push back on this idea about 80% of people having a mild disease. sure. but when you read the fine print when you read that clinical case definition, that mild disease includes people with a walking pneumonia. anyone who's had that, anyone who's treated that knows that's a lower respiratory infection. it knocks people out. that's what we're up against here, and we're not in control of that. >> yeah, i spoke the other day with dr. sanjay gupta, and it

was very clear -- he made the point that even if you have a mild case of coronavirus, you may have long-term lung issues, lung disease, even if you don't necessarily feel it right away. >> yeah, and we're still learning that day by day, and that's the point here. that's what makes us not be so much in control. is this a novel infection, we're on that steep gradient of the learning curve. and what you have even with the newer testing guidelines about who should get the test, who should get priority, we're still going to be deluged with people who just don't feel well, who are really worried and who are confused, wolf, because the leading public health experts are saying one thing, and the president and vice president are saying another. that's how you end up in a situation where health care systems become overwhelmed. >> let me get elizabeth cohen into this conversation, our senior medical correspondent. elizabeth, we hear one thing from the president, we hear another thing from dr. fauci. it's going to lead to confusion

out there. >> oh, absolutely it will lead to confusion. and what i've been saying all this time is, look, as an american citizen, as our viewers right now, they have a choice. they can listen to the president or they can listen to the guy with the md after his name. donald trump did not go to medical school. donald trump is not an infectious disease specialist. he is not an epidemiologist. we all get to choose who we listen to. >> you know, and let me get some of our political analysts -- margaret, you're with us as well. the president was very pleased by this extremely dramatic move by the federal reserve to cut interest rates to near zero right now. >> yeah. >> i want you to listen to what the president said. >> you know, it just happened ago, but to me, it makes me very happy. i want to congratulate the federal reserve. for starters, they've lowered the fed rate from what it was, which was 1% to 1.25%, and it's been lowered down to zero to

0.25%, so it's 0 to 0.25%. that's a big difference. it's quite a bit, a point. and in addition, very importantly, the federal reserve is going to be purchasing $500 billion of treasurys and $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities, and that money can increase. but they're going to start with that and that's really good news. >> really good news. he was clearly pleased about the economic impact. >> he was. he said the fed was phenomenal and what they had done was phenomenal. i was really surprised to hear the news conference start that way, although once the fed announcement came, it was obvious that's how it would start. but americans are trying to understand their health risk. it was obviously about confidence-boosting, what the president was trying to do. what the fed did was phenomenal. he said all would pass.

he talked about how people are buying more stuff than they do at christmastime, and it was just in such a stark contrast to what we heard from admiral giroir who says this is not make-believe, dr. berks who said we're going to see a spike in cases before it gets better, but i do think it was noteworthy that president trump was disciplined enough to leave the podium before the questions began and turn those questions over to other officials. >> a very different line coming from so many of these other experts. cristina alesci, our business correspondent, is with us as well. i take it futures right now not necessarily all that upbeat about what they heard. >> no. i think investors are trying to digest exactly what this means and whether this was a move to prevent possibly a market crash, we assure investors that the federal reserve is aware of the nervousness in the market. and let me just take you through what happened. so, the federal reserve cut interest rates to near zero. let's put some context around this.

this was an expected cut, but the fact that the federal reserve announced this on a sunday night does signal some urgency. so, i was on calls and emails with my sources who are trying to determine, is this a manic signal or is this a reassuring signal? they're trying to sort that out over the next couple of hours. we'll be monitoring that to figure out where investors land along that spectrum. another notable thing that the federal reserve did here was quantitative easing, that is, injecting cash into the system. that is supposed to re-ensure the orderly functioning of the markets, while all of this in a bid to calm the markets and reassure investors. >> it's an important point. our political analyst from the "washington post" is with us as well. what was your bottom line? >> well, i thought it was very interesting that dr. fauci said we're about to go into a critical point that could make or break the u.s. response. it was very different from the upbeat statements that we heard from the president. some of the words that he

used -- tremendous, relax, everything is going to be fine, we're doing great, i'm very happy about what's happening with the fed. that is not the words of a president who believes we are about to go into a critical make-or-break moment where people need to make changes in their daily lives. we didn't hear anything from the president about social distance i ing. we're hearing that guidelines will be coming out from the white house, but nothing to discourage people from leaving their house this afternoon. with the president saying relax, we have this under control, it gives americans the sense that they can live their lives normally and not have to worry about what happened. >> jeremy diamond was there at the news conference. a pretty stark contrast between what the president said and some of the others said, jeremy. >> reporter: it certainly was, wolf. and i think what we saw born out here was what we've been reporting throughout this coronavirus epidemic, now a pandemic, which is that the president's primary concern really is with the economy, and that is what we saw the president focusing on today in the wake of that announcement from the fed. and the president here also

trying to calm americans so that the economy doesn't suffer such dire consequences, rather than really focus on the public health impact of all this. hearing the president repeatedly say, relax, that everything's going to be great, that everything's under control. clearly, those remarks were aimed at keeping americans spending, frankly, to ensure that they are still boosting the economy. i asked the vice president about those comments and why the president's message is so different. he dodged that one and said that everything that the administration is doing is at the president's direction. >> let me get ron brownstein with a quick thought. what do you think, ron? >> you know, i'm just struck by the real-world consequences of the president's kind of disaassociated optimism. look at the polling today, not only on the political reaction to this and the partisan divide between republicans and democrats over how he's handling it, but the enormous gulf between republicans and democrats and how they are responding and whether they are changing, in fact, the way they live their daily lives. there are consequences to the message the president is sending and that is being reinforced by

so much of the conservative information kind of transmission belt. >> all right, guys. everybody, thanks very much and thanks to everybody here in "the situation room." good that we're separating a little bit and we're living up to the cdc guidelines, unlike those officials at the white house that are all cramped on that little podium over there. to our viewers, thanks very much for watching this special edition of "the situation room." the democratic presidential debate preshow with anderson cooper and jake tapper starts, actually with chris cuomo, i should say, anderson cooper and chris cuomo, starts in just a moment. i love rakuten, it's basically free money. it's an easy way to earn cashback on the stuff i'm already buying. when you have a child and they're constantly growing out of clothing, earning cashback from rakuten just makes everything easier. sometimes it's 3% sometimes it's 8% but you're always getting cashback. the way cashback works on rakuten is so they get a commission from the store and then they share that commission with me. and you have money, more money to spend because you got free money. go to rakuten.com and sign up today for a $10 bonus.

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and good evening. i'm anderson cooper in washington where the white house coronavirus hearing just wrapped up and where at least one topic is expected to dominate the cnn presidential debate. the president's claim of "tremendous control," of the coronavirus. >> and i'm chris cuomo here in new york. messaging, as anderson is saying, is going to be key in the country right now. leaders must tell the truth. government must be held to account. but we're all being tested, right, as much as any institution or office. life is changing fast. this is the first weekend of, like, the new abnormal in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. questions about schools, work, food, travel, and of course, testing. stories of not getting clarity and not getting tested are spreading, anderson, as quickly as the virus. >> that's right. in just the last several moments, new york's governor, andrew cuomo, announced that all public schools in new york city, westchester county, suffolk county, and nassau county -- in other words, the new york

metropolitan area -- will close this week. today, dr. anthony fauci, who's become the administration's primary truth-teller, ramped up his warnings that this needs to continue more for the outbreak to be slowed enough so the health care system can actually handle it. he said life is not going to be the way it used to be. he wanted to see dramatic changes, talking about bars, restaurants, and at this evening's briefings, he was asked how seriously he meant it. >> i meant everything i said this morning on the shows, that, really, to protect the american people, we'll consider anything and everything on the table. you're going to see some advanced and updated guidelines tomorrow that are going to address some, but not all of the questions and concerns. but on a day-by-day basis, we look at this and we will do literally everything we can to ensure we safeguard the health and well-being of the american people, and that means anything and everywhere we will consider. >> everything under consideration. we'll talk about that tonight. and to that point, we're going

to talk about the large and crowded gatherings in the wake of the president's decision to bar foreign travel. take a look at those pictures. imagine you're an american. you arrive back in the united states. you've been told social distancing, three to six feet. and for hours -- hour after hour after hour, you were squeezed next to hundreds of other people in long lines waiting to get back into the country. late today, president trump announced a major move to keep the economy afloat. the federal reserve cutting target interest rates to zero. the president praising that move by the fed. joining us now for some perspective on what we just heard, emergency room physician and former baltimore health commissioner, dr. leana wen. talk about this new effort to ramp up testing and this notion by the president that it's total -- that they have total control over the virus. >> well, look, i'm glad that we're ramping up testing, but the problem is, we've been hearing about that, that very

same promise, for weeks now. and clinicians and patients are still just as confused as ever. i mean, there are all these promises being made. but what we need now are very clear deadlines. because otherwise, what i'm hearing from my colleagues around the country is that patients are showing up to ers. they're showing up to hospitals, to doctors' offices, and crowding these spaces, asking for tests. and i wish the president would just come out and say, we don't have these tests right now. we will have the capacity in a week or two weeks or whatever, but we don't have them right now, so stop coming to the ers. and you're right, too, we really need to ramp up the seriousness of social distancing, because we have a really narrow window to prevent the transmission of coronavirus, and that window is narrowing every day, and we have to take this extremely seriously, understanding that it's a great sacrifice and challenge that the american people are facing right now. >> it does seem like, i mean, to your point, that we have been hearing about, you know, oh, i feel like, i guess maybe it was

two weeks ago that the million tests had gone out and there was all this happy talk about anybody who wants a test can get one. they never seem to acknowledge, we weren't being truthful back then, but now what we're saying is what really is happening. it is hard to have confidence. it seems like there's a lot of plans afoot. people use that word efforting, but to me, efforting means it's not actually there, the tests aren't actually in place and available yet, still. >> and that's right, and that's exactly it. we know that in times of public health emergencies that we depend on the government to tell us what they know, what they don't know, and what's the timeline for everything, because otherwise, how can we trust that anything that's said is going to be done? we've been failed multipletimes before, and we really need to have clarity, and these deadlines have to be met. >> yeah. i want to bring in chris. chris, i know you've got questions for dr. wen. she's been so great with us over

the last several weeks with some just fact-based information. >> all right, it's a really important conversation you're having also because you're getting mixed messaging, doctor, right? i mean, that's been happening for a while now. it doesn't matter outwardly, because people have developed an understanding of what this president and his relationship to the truth is or is not. the problem is whether or not the president gets in the way of certain steps that have to be taken because of messaging. now, to that, my question is, testing matters. i think the argument can be made, though, that what you're saying, social distancing and the other preventive measures, now matter more because the horse is out of the barn. you're going to have community spread. that takes us to capacity. what are your considerations and what is your understanding of where we are in terms of building up capacity to deal with the cases that will surely come? >> that's a great question and that's exactly right, that we need to not just be looking at the problems of the past with testing. we have to move forward. and in anticipating what's next,

we are anticipating a huge surge of patients, and our hospitals in the u.s. are nowhere near capacity in terms of being able to accommodate all these patients, especially these critically ill patients, and that's why the idea of flattening the curve, reducing the rate of transmission so that even if we have the same number of ill patients, at least it's spread over months instead of days or weeks. but in order to do that, we need people to practice social distancing now. actually, we needed them to do it yesterday and the week before, but at least if we do it now, we can make a difference. and it's not just with the elderly and those who are vulnerable. i keep hearing this message also from the trump administration -- oh, it's only the elderly, it's those who are chronically ill. actually, all of us have to practice social distancing, because that's how we're going to stop the transmission of the disease. this really takes all of us. so, stay at home, don't go out, and do everything we can to protect our communities right

now. >> it is a real test of patriotism, because we have it so easy in this country in terms of doing what you want, when you want, how you want. and this is pretty much the first time that we've all collectively been told, "no," and it will be interesting to see how people respond. because it really is about us as much as any institution or plan. dr. wen, thank you so much, as always. all right, now let's get a take on what we heard about the interest rate today and the big dose of monetary medicine that the fed has been planning to pump into the economy. for that, of course, our chief business correspondent christine romans. rate cut, fiscal policy and injections to the banks. what can it all mean? >> reporter: this was a powerful move, a really powerful move, and it showed you the fed's throwing everything it has left, everything it has left at this problem -- lowering interest rates essentially to zero, announcing $700 billion of other purchases, quantitative easing,

and saying it's opening swap lines with a bunch of other central banks, too, so it's coordinated with other banks around the world, chris. this was meant to send a powerful message, but futures are down as much as they can be. the stock market tumbling as much as it's allowed overnight, 5%. i mean, one of the reasons here is, i think, you know, this is not a soothing sign but a worrying sign. and fed policy, chris -- fed policy can't fix the virus, right? it can make sure the oxygen's flowing in the financial system, but the big concern is we don't know how far this virus will go and what the damage will be to the economy. >> that's why the president was talking about pent-up demand. that was signaling, right, christine? he was trying to say, boy, we're really going to bounce back. the question is how the economy responds between now and then. and let's be honest, one of the reasons the fed doesn't have a bigger bat to swing at this is because the rates have been kept low, and there have been arguments both ways about that. so they didn't have a big cut in their pocket to bring.

>> reporter: no, they don't. and look, a fed -- lower rates is something you do for a financial crisis or once there's already a recession here. we haven't seen a recession yet. steven mnuchin, the treasury secretary today said he didn't think there would be one, that there would be a big snap back in the second half and that is possible, the snap back in the second half, but a lot of the major banks say there will be a recession, but the question is how deep and how short, and we just tondon't have -- there's n guidebook for this. we haven't seen this before, what we're seeing right now. i mean, you have life on pause. essentially, the way i've been describing it is we are moving ourselves into a recession on purpose to prevent a bigger public health crisis down the road. we're pressing the pause button on the american economy. we've never done that before. >> we have never dealt with an impetus like this before, but we have seen reactions like this before and the concern is, are they just going to help the big guys again? that's why there was so much pressure on congress to do things for workers, paid leave and families. christine romans, you'll be on

it like nobody else. great to see you, especially on a sunday. anderson? >> chris, thank you very much. the white house taking action to try to help the economy, as we've been talking about. meanwhile, there are questions about the conflicting messages on coronavirus. want to bring in cnn's senior political commentator and former adviser to president obama, david axelrod, political analyst gloria borger, political director david chalian and national reporter for "politico," laura barron-lopez. gloria, we just heard the press conference. again, just from a visual standpoint, all those officials tightly packed together othn th stage, not social distancing. what do you make of the message they gave and the president gives? >> the message that the president gave is completely at variance with what the experts are saying. and the president said -- and let me get this right -- "we have tremendous control" of the virus. that's not true. we don't have tremendous control of the virus, which is why the experts are saying you have to

self-quarantine, you have to practice social distancing, which is why schools are closing -- >> and the president says that, he leaves and then dr. fauci comes out and says -- >> the worst is ahead of us. that's exactly what fauci said. fauci on the one hand saying, uh-uh, and the president, who, by the way, leaves then, because he was so happy with the fed news, obviously, and he wants to give the good news. he wants to tell the american public things are going great. and what he has done throughout this entire crisis, and continues to do, is box himself in, because he started out the crisis by saying, you know, this is small. we've got it contained. it's like a light flu. you're not going to feel it. and then every day that it gets worse, he has to figure out a way to stick with a part of that message, even though the public health experts are saying, this is not true. and a lot of people in america -- and i guarantee you, it will be most americans -- will be dislocated at some point to a great degree, and how does

that message fit with what the president's saying? >> there is also, david, the financial market's reaction to the announcement by the fed. i mean, at a certain point, there are fewer and fewer levers for the federal government, for financial institutions or the fed to actually use. >> as christine was saying, and that's one of the really alarming things about this. but you know, as to the president himself, he simply can't stop spinning, he can't stop selling. and this is a situation where when you're the president of the united states what you owe people more than anything else is the truth, because we don't have control of this. and the way we get control of it is collectively. people need to take action themselves and they need the president and his team to be consistent in telling them how serious it is and what actions they need to take, so he is doing material harm to people by trying to spin his way out of a situation that is unspinable. >> and you give people a false sense of security. >> right. >> and when you have a false sense of security, you go out to restaurants, as you always did,

and you go to work as you always did, and you let your children play with others as you always did. >> again, it does marken back to katrina, where you had administration officials slapping each other on the back, early days, saying you know, oh, wow, brownie's doing a heck of a job. you had members of congress praising the administration's response to katrina when there are bodies still in the streets. and a good amount of these press conferences are these individual officials, from the vice president to, you know, to various doctors and others who are on there, you know, praising the president, because that is what they have to do in order to maintain the president's -- the favor, i assume -- and praising everybody else for their hard work, as opposed to just focusing on facts. >> yeah. i mean, we talk a lot on this set and elsewhere about presidential leadership and what is that? and we talk about that during election time. as david was saying, this is a moment when the president of the united states needs to kind of grab the country by its lapels

and say, listen up, folks, i'm not a doctor, but i'm here to sort of guide us through what it is you need to pay attention to, what's really important here, because this is the only way to move through this process is through community, the national community. and he's not doing that at all. he's not taking the country and saying, "it's so important that you're hearing what i'm saying right now. it's so important that, come here, dr. fauci, listen to exactly what dr. fauci is saying." he's not doing that. he is only, only touting happiness when the market is up and frustration when the market is down. >> and on multiple fronts, it's not just trump saying that there's tremendous control versus dr. fauci saying the worst is yet to come. also when president trump is talking about young people and the effect the virus can have on young people, he's saying that young people are not strongly affected. earlier today, dr. fauci was saying, young people, you are not immune and you are not safe from getting seriously ill.

>> and these are a lot -- these are the kids who are filling the bars, the young people who are filling the bars when they should be home and mindful and not in a community setting like that. >> well, and then -- >> well, this is the -- you guys are making the point exactly, which is that one message that hasn't been coming from the president is that young people should be engaging in social distancing. this isn't just for the older population. >> and by the way, young people doing that is also beneficial to the older population -- >> of course. >> -- because they are protecting the older population. up next, the big public health question about long airport lines as americans flood home from overseas. can you imagine being trapped in an airport surrounded by all those people, given what we now know about social distancing? could this measure actually make people sicker? illinois governor joins us ahead. who fought for you?

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images coming out of o'hare international airport. thousands of travelers coming in from overseas, overwhelming custom service there. the administration is trying to fix the problem. there are more international place scheduled to arrive

tonight. authorities are obviously well aware of the problem now. what are they doing to fix it if anything? >> reporter: yes, anderson when you talk about those flights coming in it is based on what we saw last night. now the governor their in illinois requested from the federal government more screeners to help this process, trying to get passengers physically from their plane through customs and onto american soils. passengers were reporting waiting up to five hours going through that process entirely. they were packed into spaces by the hundreds which in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic is exact opposite of what health officials are recommending. so to give you an idea what

passengers are seeing and part of the delays is you go through one round of screening of board of correction, you see under the normal circumstances then if you are coming from one of these countries under the travel restrictions, and then if you are showing symptoms and again have that relative traveler history, you go through a third round of screening for disease control. as you understand as i just heard from the head of the chicago department aviation things are running smoothly now with resources. we have to keep an eye on it. >> chris. >> anderson. let's bring in the governor of illinois. joining us now, thank you for joining us at this time what is your take on dealing with o'hare of what people are reacting

across the country and your ability to control it. >> my control of what they do is some what limited. we only found out about the situation at o'hare because people are posting photos on twitter. we did not get a call from custom of border patrol. we did not get a call from the white house about the problem there. what we saw was you know hundreds of people packed into a small area. this is what i have given orders against and i am trying to protect people against in illinois. it is very upsetting to me and that's why i issued a harsh tweet last night and athis morning they reacted well and doubled the number of employees working. it seems to be working well. although we'll have another full day as a result of the cut-off of the u.k. and ireland, we have another full day of travelers coming into o'hare and jamming

their way in. hopefully they'll have manage through that tomorrow as well. >> look, we are seeing across the country, governors are having to fight on their own. you will be no different there. anything that comes up and if those people are locals or cases, you have to handled in your capacity for your healthcare system now. in terms of what you do control. the primary for your state still being held on tuesday, are you questioning that decision? >> you know we have had validing goi ballots going on. we have early balloting and we had record early voting and a variety of areas across the state. and we had long hours as a result of my requests to our county clerks. we'll have a robust turn out. on tuesday people don't have to

choose to vote on tuesday, they can do it later today or they're still open tonight. frankly we expect not very many people at any given moment will be at the polling places. i am pleased of the way our county clerks handle things. i think we'll have a good election day. governor, i hope you are right. safety is a priority. governor pritzker, we'll be watching, good luck going forward, be well. >> thank you very much, chris. >> these issues are going to be discussed in just a little bit at the cnn debate that's going to happen between senator sanders and former vice president biden, squaring off 8:00 p.m. eastern. just about an hour away. stay with cnn. we'll be right back. won't it sink?! alright, i'm going to get back to you. i'm going to get back. people ask me what sort of person should become a celebrity accountant. and, i tell them, "nobody. nobody should."

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good evening, we are an hour away from our democratic presidential debate in washington. it has been an hour since members of the task force as well as the president himself briefed reporters. >> we'll be covering the big

health and political headlines. they are all coming together on this big election. of course rising bets. 3,400 cases riegts nght now in state except for west virginia. the president says "relax, we are doing great, it will pass." now dr. tony fauci says, "the worse is yet to come." people learning a big changes. new york's governor announced schools closing in the biggest district in the city, west chester and nassau and dr. fauci warns of more dislocations in everyday lives. cases will become to hospitals. will they handled them?

we'll see. federal reserve boosting the economy. that was a big deal. >> the public health questions are looming large. dr. lena wynn is back with us. >> he also said relax which millions of people are confused of what the do in situations like this. that play back talks about consistent messaging and guidance which is giving people heads up that things are going to get back. it is going to get worse before it could get better so get ready

for it. what else do people do when they feel a lack of personal control? they do thing that is are irrational like buying toilet paper. we need how testings are going out but also social distancing. that's key right now. >> the press conference today and the administration is going to have 1.9 million tests available this week. and we certainly heard vice president pence talking about you know a million tests are going out there are already out there. you can get tested if needed. is that enough? are a million going out this week, is that significant? >>. >> i mean it sounds like a lot of tests but the question is where are they going? what does the reality look like on the ground? i am talking to patients who have symptoms and may have

exposures to someone who has coronavirus or calling around to their doctor's office to the e.r. and hospitals they're not getting answers. i spoke to doctors and nurses seeing e.r. waiting room filled with patients colding ming in. they're taking up room in the e.r. and patients were having heart attacks and strokes are not able to get the care they need. so we really need to know where are these tests going. what's the plan to roll them out? whom has access to these tests and what does it mean for doctors of patients on the ground? >> dr. yasmeen. one of the things, reasons people care about tests not just to know whether or not they have virus but for health officials to be able to trace where that person has been and who they may

have been in contact with given the fact that people can't be tested and there is no tracing to be done. what impact on tracing the virus and spreading the virus. >> that's why so many of us have been hammering about testings early on. early testing and epidemic response acts as prevention. you start to get focused to people in the community. we are 45 days into the declaration of this being a public health emergency. u.s. have done a tiny fraction of the number of tests we should have done. that means we just don't know the true extent of spread in this country. it means we are about to see what's called an epidemic where you stop seeing the number going up and up but we should have seen it weeks ago. >> you are a dr. and you advise

patients, what do you tell patients when they ask you who do i listen to? do i listen to what the president is saying or what the vice president is saying or dr. fauci is saying. there is a lot of people talking and it is not clear. >> i would tell my patients to listen to the public health experts and their doctors and local health officials as well. we have the president saying things are going to be fine when they're not. how can things be fine when we are seeing cases of patients are doubling every few days. we just watched the numbers of patients with coronavirus, patients dying from this disease everyday. we need the clarity of message and we need to be clear with the american people that this is very serious. these are extraordinary times.

this is no t tt the time to liv your life as usual. i see people going around having birthday parties and celebrations and saint patrick's day celebration. and bars are crowded. these are exactly opposite of what should be happening right now. everyone needs to be clear about what we should do going forward. >> dr. wen and dr. yasmeen. we appreciate it. >> what's the trick? what the doctors just said is the right information but tough to hear if you are the one having to do to forbearance. the president wants to stay popular in this. he's learning that lesson. anderson we'll be back to you in a second. pandemic is not just the backdrop for tonight's debate. it is the foreground as well and everything in between. joining us now for a look ahead, cnn jeff zeleny.

>> reporter: this is a different moment in every way. for the first bit we'll see joe biden and bernie sanders alone. there is not going to be a studio audience. everything about the mood and the moment is entirely different here. joe biden wants to show that he is the epiphany -- and how he would be directing this country in a time of crisis. also he's going something else. he's going to extend to bernie sanders spoupporters. he's ahead in delegates but he's trying to reach out to bernie sanders supporters. he moved in a couple of different directions.

he assigned to a bankruptcy bill. he's supporting three college. s the -- it is a plan and not quite as far reaching. he wants to press joe biden on the argument of progressive leadership. he wants to press him on those ideas. this is something that's going to be fascinating. the pandemic is front and center in all of this as these two men square off here tonight. >> jeff zeleny, thank you so much. >> van jones, coronavirus is going to be literally all over this debate tonight. challenge for both sides? >> i think first of all, democratic party have an opportunity to put forward two statesmen of a time of crisis and unrest and uncertainty who can speak to our better angels and troying to bring us togethe. i don't think the country wants

to see two old guys screaming at each other. they want to hear what you would you do to make sure we get through this thing well. if both campaign did not know that, bernie sanders has to make a decision because he wants to destroy biden or development. thigh challenging biden, he can do it in a way that undermines joe biden or build him move him in the right direction. that's the kind of nuance we are looking for. tough to do in the context of coronavirus. coronavirus is son quconsuming country and it is not what bernie sanders wants to talk about. >> you are right. >> bernie sanders wants to win the presidential election. i think if bernie sanders decided i am not going to win, i need -- i don't think bernie is

there yet. he still tries to win and he's got to strikes the right balance. people do not want to see these two going after each other in any kind of personal way. bernie sanders just said he wants to go after biden on policy issues. that's acceptable and nothing's wrong with that. i expect them to drop their distinctions but i would be surprised if there is any personal attacks. >> i want to point out. this is not a subtle message. we are further apart, we are trying to send a message that separation is obviously something. >> you see on the debate stage tonight, debaters are going to be 60 apart those podiums and wider apart. this is all about trying to be consistent on the message that

we got to take it seriously. >> now, hthis is a tricky thing tonight. bernie sanders wants to win. bernie is going to try to make it a healthcare issue. it checks a lot of boxes. we have been talking about bernie, what's the challenge for joe biden? >> it is simple for joe biden. they want somebody who's experienced to lead. i am sure joe biden talked about how he did alabama and difficult time. he was able to bring our country together. nafta is almost impossible for bernie sanders. joe biden was the nominee. i agree bernie is going to want to make some points on policy issues. we have to bring out our country together. we have al president today -- >> how do you do that?

everybody is freaking out and they're getting mixed messages and they can't get tested and things are changing. >> they want to see leadership. we need to show that we can take this on. you have a president that compulsively lies day in or day out. a week later, he said it will miraculously going away. when springtime comes in april. he told the other day that testing have been solved. they need to see the testing. that's the problem that trump has had. he said there were 1700 engineers working on it. the company only has a 1,000

people. we'll tell you the truth no matter what it happens in our crisis. >> i think that you are saying that d is not where bernie sanders does not want to measure measurement. it has not happened here yesterday but it has happened in italy. god forbid that happens. we do not have enough beds that you see in a lot of these hoeshl socialist countries. i think that's the point he's trying to make. this is going to show us exactly how broken our system is. that's the conversation you see. >> i must say he's talking about funding capacity. forecast is a little bit of a nuance issue. it is going to come up the night and a lot of people --

>> it was once compared to hurting cats. keeping the party in line and on message, of course, tom perez is joining us next. s an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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we are looking now of tonight democratic presidential debate. tonight we are looking at social distancing as pointed out earlier. none of the kind of lek industry that comes with having the audience actually on hand. >> it is like i am meeting my fan club. a lot of people are home, right? so people are going to be watching this because they're looking for some opportunities but also because of the moment we are living in right now. people care about government right now in a way they did not earlier in the election and

leadership has been brought into very sharp focus so this is kind of 2008 if you think about it. the economy is melting down. it was new contacts injected into that election. the question becomes well, what does it mean for democrats and the two people who want to lead them right now. let's get perspective from someone trying to hold the party together. tom perez. tonight you have to balance huge national concerns, i am sure you are hearing it from your own family and friends, the concerns. what does it have to mean on the stage tonight? >> this is a leadership moment, this is a moment that calls for clear compassionate leadership. leadership that is not afraid of facts. leadership that will enable the american people to see that our democratic candidates are truly able to meet the moment.

this is a serious and somber time. we all know that. our lives are offended in ways that we did not imagine and frankly frustratingly are self preventable. we have a president who did not prepare for this. and so that's what we are going to see tonight. it will be more somber. you will see the candidates talking about the need for us to come together and talk about how they have dealt with similar issues in the past. there will be disagreements here and there. i think what you will see more than anything are two leaders who are exuding that leadership. >> do you believe it is fair criticism for the president and his supporters for to point out what happened during the swine

flew and it was not handled well and a lot more people died and a lot of the challenges for this administration are laws passed during the obama administration. fair criticism? >> absolutely. here is why, the president walked into h1nh1n1, the epicen of h1n1 was mexico. because they understood this, they were able to prevent it and by the fact they looked at the signs. they were prepared and acknowledged and did everything dr. fauci did everyday and everything that donald trump should be doing but is not doing. in the after math of ebola, president obama introduced a number of bills of preparing this. they created an office of preparedness in the white house. what does this president do?

he eliminates it. national security is not simply issuance of guns and terrorism. that's a huge part of it. national security involves pandemic and things of this nature. this president does not get it. night and day. >> given the state of play right now, you are not lucky you are not running against tony rauci. i think you will have a tough test in your hands. >> national security you just said. if there starts to be a call of the primaries, too many people coming out. i am not worried of long lines on illinois on tuesday. a lot ofoptimism. if they start to become more pressure on you. the primaries have to stop and maybe no convention, are you worried of a domino effect.

there are so many states and you look at washington and oregon and california and there is vote by mail. when you spread out early voting, you can eliminate or minimize the extent. republicans have been fighting to make voting harder. the challenges that exists and making sure that we protect our campaign workers and our poll workers and our candidates. we don't minuimize the seriousness of this. if you look at the election taken place so far, last tuesday and super tuesday. we have been able to handle and we are going to continue to consult with public health officials. i think we can move forward. all four of the states, tuesday are moving forward. this coming tuesday is the third

biggest hall of delegates. it is a large amount of delegates about 14%. we'll continue our first moving forward and we are always going to put people's health first and i think we can also move forward with our democracy. >> well, i appreciate the answer obviously. it means one thing with the set of feedbacacts we have now. let's see how our situation on the ground changes on what is safe or not safe. tom perez, good luck with the debate tonight. thank you as always for joinings joinin joiningjoining us. >> our team is joining us now. what laura, wh laura, what do you think will be of the debate tonight? >> different tone. if you had two fellow ons the

stage together and they're duking it out in a middle of a campaign, it would be different. i think tonight they're going to unite against donald trump and the way he has handled the coronavirus. i think you will hear from joe biden about how they would have handled it differently in the obama administration. i also do believe that you are going to see a lot of bernie sanders saying to joe biden, i told you so. he's coming around to a couple of sanders position on college affordability and bankruptcy reform so you will see bernie sanders saying to biden, better late than ever. >> do we know how the coronavirus, how it is going to affect of the primary on tuesday and the statesmen have been a lot of early voting as we have been talking about. >> we don't. governor pritzker took that question. we don't know how it is going to

impact to move forward of early voting. anderson, we should focus on how astounding it is. it was just 18 days ago that they had their last debate. it was seven candidates on the stage. the speculation was if joe biden did not do well, his campaign may be over and bernie sanders was a front runner in that race. the fire was emerging as an issue. think how dramatically the world has change. biden is in a commanding position. one effect of the viruses it may free him in place of the advantages he has here. the tone of this debate is different. biden is thinking likely of the nominee of the party now and he's going to try to use the debate to throw the branch to

sanders support. today he reiterated his support for a version of free college and not universal. sanders put up 125,000. he wants to signify to those young sanders supporters. i hear you, your concerns are my concerns and we'll march together. >> fauci says it is going to get worse from where it is now. people are working at bars and restaurants and hotels. there will be a lot of people out of work with all of these business, kids are out of school. >> american life has changed and it is going to be completely changed. we saw more so this week as you head into a workweek and a

school week where you will be working from home or students are home and there is no school in person, in class. that's why what's so intriguing about tonight is two reasons why this debate is so different. one is coronavirus, putting it into a completely different context to date. the second point is because the race itself is in such a different place. joe biden started turn to the general election. he went out thursday to give a speech about coronavirus as a contrast to donald trump. that was his signal he was moving onto a general election context even though bernie sanders is considering his candidacy. how he balances that in a one-on-one debate is going to be important to watch. this is joe biden responsibility and the burden on him to do it in a way that works for him. >> and the sanders campaign.

his manager told politico they are not naive. they know it is a hard path. they are hopeful that the debate tonight can change the dynamic. they think one of his coach chairs told me they feel the coronavirus provide an opportunity for sanders who highlight what he considers the dysfunction of the healthcare system and he'll try to establish himself with biden and push biden up more. >> stay with us when we return. both men will be on stage tonight. we'll see how both candidates answering questions about coronavirus. stay with us. executive transpor. and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. the thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire?

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we are about half an hour from the democratic debate. also first to go without a live studio because of coronavirus.

our andrew yang, how do you think coronavirus will impact tonight's debate and the ramifications of what this country is going through? >> the coronavirus is likely to dominate a significant part of the debate because it is dominating the news and public's attention. it is one of the reasons why i think a lot of people are watching the debate and everyone is stuck at home and there are no sports. for bernie, the incredible opportunity and challenge. it is an opportunity because he has a powerful critique of the healthcare system that many americans can agree with and he can paint joe as a bit of an element tof defender of the status quo that many feel that are not up to the challenge for coronavirus. because everyone is focused on families and schools closing and being too aggressive is not

going to serve bernie as well. he's going to have to try to balance but also not attacking too much because it is going to across negatively since most americans right now have bigger concerns on their mind and don't want to endorse someone who's playing politics. >> can you imagine joe biden wanting to focus on president trump and obviously focusing on the general election. do you see sanders going after joe biden. sanders for medicare for all and biden putting out all branches to try to get some of the young people of bernie sanders' supporters. do you see sanders going double barrel? >> we know joe is going to pivot at trump and the general at every opportunity. it is in bernie's hand how

aggressive he wants to be. the fact is joe and bernie get along. they're friends. they're not going to be too aggressive while trying to drag joe on healthcare and trying to remedy income equality and school loans and education. >> i wonder when you make and the other thing that's happening is the latest press conference of the president and the task force. i wonder what you heard today from the white house, the administration and also from the federal cutting interest rates. >> cutting interest rates which are really little. you talked about them, the bartenders and hotel workers. i just passed a restaurant, we are closed until further notice because of the coronavirus. think of the chefs and the wait staffs and parking attendance. they're going to go home and

interest rates does nothing for them. that's why we need to put cash in american hands to help keep families able to manage this crisis. people have only been home a day or two but the fact that we could be at this for weeks or months. it is unclear when we'll get an all clear sign because we don't have good data on the infection rate or how spread it is in the communities. >> appreciate it. thanks. >> anderson, let's bring back the panel right now. on one level it is all complicated and influx and scary. it comes down to simple precept that's been ignored. someone has to tell you the truth when it matters. that's a precious commodity. how is that play?

is it presumptive? bernie sanders is a straight shooter. we assume that he'll go out there. we have seen debates and flipping the whole thing upside down when we saw bloomberg gets taken out by elizabeth warren. we don't know what bernie is going to do. on these kinds of issues, there are people and constituents that can hear a bernie sanders and hearing it totally differently. why don't we forgive our student loans. let's get your student loans off the table. if you are in prison and waiting for trial and waiting for three months or six months, let you come home. homeless people, you got a bunch of schools and campuses and hotels opening and empty, you can come out with bold ideas

that may put biden in a position that he's not up dealing with the full scope and scale of the challenge. you could see a debate performer from bernie. >> i think also this is a one-on-one debate. there is not -- biden typically has not done well in debates. he's got a couple of debates where he's done well. bernie does not mess up. he's on point and not confused. sometimes biden can stumble a little bit. there is nothing to deflect here. it will be interesting to see if bernie goes after him. >> do you think there is a chance that bernie does what van suggested that. you struggle d in the past and

this country needs the truth. >> you could. if i am joe biden, i want to look calm, cool and presidential. i can respond to that. >> how? >> we are in a crisis. and they want to see somebody, that's what they want to see. look, i am presidential. i can deal with this. here you have the president of the united states in the middle of pandemic, what is he doing? he's tweeting about hillary's e-mails and against chuck schumer and he says i may give a pardon to flynn. the world is worried to death today. it was donald trump who cut the unit inside the white house and the cdc funding economic response by 80%. we were forward leaning in 49 countries.

we reduced it by third now because of the funding cut. guess who got cut? china when this whole thing starts. make sure the american public knows the truth about this. >> the big debate is only 20 minutes away. we'll see how it plays out in realtime as the nation without question faces a historic crisis. a lot of people will be home watching. let's take a break now, stay with cnn. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ for ralphie's appointment. who's his groomer? carrie. full groom for sure what? i just booked ralphie's appointment online. that work? wait you what? it's that easy! download the app or book online at petsmart.com

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! breaking news of the new guidelines from the cdc. i want to read a portion of it. large events of mass gathers could contribute to the spread of covid. the statement continues cdc in accordance of its guidance recommends the next eight weeks, organizers whether groups or individuals cancelled or postpone events consisting of 50 people or more throughout the united states. this recommendation does not apply to the day-to-day operation like schools or businesses or higher learning.

back now with our political team. david, this has ramifications for upcoming primaries and uncharted water. >> 50 people, not that large of a group, right? hearing that, you see cities and states say bars and restaurants are going to be closed. but some cities here in washington, there were guidel e guidelines not to close but keep it under a certain number. i don't know how you can gather in any kind of public space in that kind of way if you are limiting at 50. whatever we thought about how life is going to change and the different things we'll have to do as individuals to alter our behavior, i just think hearing that information anderson suggests that it is going to be so much more than we thought we are going to have to do. >> the convention this center, the republican democratic convention. >> and republicans have said they have been looking at

contingency plan and they're preparing in case they do have to cancel which would be a mass gathering. campaigns have started to adapt to this new normal that we have seen sanders and biden holding town halls and chats and their campaigns are not doing door knocking anymore. they just are resorting to phone calls and texting. and also number of activist groups and mobilization groups across the state. they are now doing that a few days ago. >> this is not two months. this is not doing it for the next couple of weeks or to reassess. this is two months. that gives you an idea of this severity that the cdc sees it here and warning people to social distancing themselves and tony fauci talks about the curve

and wants to see it flatten. on the one hand you have a president who says "relax, we are doing great and it will pass." the hope is yes, it will pass but when because the cdc is now saying for two months you have to change the way you live. >> we have overlapping crisis here and so many as andrew yankeyang saying earlier in the wreeek bernie sanders and joe biden had back-to-back statements after trump's disaster oval office speech. they wanted to rush in and show people what their presidential statement would look like. they were different in some way. biden focused on a protocol of what the government should do. bernie focusing on human dimensions and economic dimensions and the personal

dimension of people whose kids are home from school so they can't go to work or you know, there is a whole range of issues here. it will be interest ing in the debate to see how much of a discussion evolves over those fundamentals which i guess what people are thinking about as they are sitting at home tonight wondering what the future will be like. >> and cancelling their plans. >> people have plans. vacations with their family for spring break. if we are not doing that, how are we going to pay the babysitters if we are at home or if you work as a waitress. it is your personal finance situation and your business. what does your business do if your business has to cancel? >> i don't want to harp on this because it is so important when

churchill took over in 1948 and say, you know, the germans are coming but i got this. don't worry about it. relax. i mean really is so important for the leader to say, this is a bad situation. we we're all going to be have to be part of meeting that challenge. we just haven't seen that. we'll see if we see it from these guys. >> it's also rare you have a situation in which each of us is a player in the solution to this. it requires a massive societal change in behavior and willingness to wash your hands more regularly and not gt in someone else's face. >> and not go to bars and restaurants. i refrained from doing that. i know other outlets have started tel working. so other than coming in tonight, a lot of reporters are staying away from the hill or staying away from their news rooms.

so it's definitely a change in life as any of us are used to it. and it will have to continue clearly for the foreseeable future. one thing i'm looking at is whether or not any of the candidates talk about the notable exemption in the house bill. which is that for the paid sick leave applied, it doesn't apply to companies with 500 or more employees. so that leaves out companies that are like walmart or amazon and seems like something sanders will jump on in a debate. it will be interesting. >> it was a last-minute statement. the democrats wanted to go that way and the administration in final negotiations, this is the the only place that they could have landed for knapp sit pelosi to pass it. >> i think they are going to try to go back at it. they couldn't get it this time. >> this reminds me of john mccain and his campaign talking

about something greater than yourself. and that is what leadership sometimes has to ask of the public. to be a part of something that's bigger than you are for the greater good. and that is something we have not yet heard. >> and it's not something, transly, that this president has been involved with headligrealls life in another capacity. it's a very different kind of situation he finds himself in. you want to turn it over to crisp his panel for the breaking news. >> absolutely. thank you very much. so 50 or less, let's avoid it. what does that mean? >> the obvious thing is that there's not a polling station in most parts of america that can meet that standard. so i don't know if anybody is doing the math on this, but what does it say about tuesday? we have super tuesday three coming up. we're in the middle of a national election. these things are starting to collide now. >> so the cdc said, as you were talking earlier on, the states control voting.

so cdc says nothing 50 or above. van's point is right what happens to the state primaries? >> the government north is running your particular state with your board of elections. you have to make the decision. people are going to vote on tuesday. we already have people that have voted by mail. the four elections are going to go on on tuesday. and i think cdc guidance for other big events around, but we're not stopping the primaries on tuesday. >> i want to say i think it's good that we're starting to get some federal guidance and taking it seriously is important. if you lock at italy right now, that's a country that's on its back because they didn't manage this thing. it's not that you can't deal. if you have enough time, you can deal with all kinds of people. you just can't deal with them all-in-one day. that's why you're trying to keep people from getting close to each other. however, this is a tricky balance here. >> on voting. we have democrats to make it easier for people to vote is. early vote extnding.

republican legislatures around the country have stmicily stopped all that legislation. maybe this will be an impetus to get this country to make it easy for everybody to kprz their right. >> nobody wants to talk politics. they want things to work and get it done. it's a the lot of mixed messaging. anderson was making a great pount. this president struggled with vending. but the country doesn't believe that leaders are about that anymore. what is the message you think that resinates best tonight from the podiums? >> i think a message of truthful leadership of somebody who is actually speaking the truth and not doing what donald trump has been doing, which is really saying a lot of things that aren't true, send issing a lot of mixed messages. telling people to do things us they shouldn't be be doing. the favor goes to biden for sure. because he's a former vice

president. and so i think people are in this moment are looking for somebody who is very steady, who has experience and they are feeling unsafe. they are feeling unsure they are feel iing scared. so i think when it comes to those kinds of moments, you are looking for somebody more like joe biden. >> we're waiting on the two debaters to come out. it's supposed to happen any second now. of course, as we pointed out earlier, those podiums are farther apart than we're used to seeing. >> they are. six feet apart. and done with the the number of folks there. you see former vice president biden starting to come out. sanders will be out there shortly. we're told that i think they won't be shaking hands. but that's the advanced word i got. we'll see. >> here's the moment. do nay keep the social isolation thing? here we go. was that an elbow thrown at the jar of bernie sanders? it was sort of an elbow forearm

bump. there's going to be a pool spread. they are standing there for pictures. and that six foot of distance is something we have not seen anything gnu kind of debate quite like this. >> really, as journalists, we're always excite d about being witnesses to history. we have never lived through anything like this. so as soon as we know this is going to start, let me know. van n terms of the uniqueness of it, how do you speak to the the uniqueness of this moment when it's terrible in a different way every day. >> i think we're going to look back on this as an inflection point. first of all, you have a lot of people who for the first time are really having to -- democrats have been talking about a health care system and a government that works. yao looking down a brl of a real challenge. and this election matters.

and how a leader steps up to the plate is going to matter for a lot of people. but also you have people who are having to i think differently about their neighbors and their responsibility to each other. this virus doesn't care who you voted for. it doesn't care what youz look like opinion it's coming for all of us. do you turn to each other or on each other? that's going to be the opportunity for politics to dhang, for society to change and it's a big test. >> it's the first time we have been told you guys are interdependent. i'm only going to be as healthy as you help me be. maybe that was the message this country needed more than anything else. it's horrible for it to come in a coronavirus crisis, but it's important. >> to remember we're all interconnected and in a community and even when people are panicking and starting to hoard whatever it is they are hoard iing to stop and think,

wait, there are other people that are going to need these things. take as much a as you need. be reasonable and plan, but remember there are oh people that are going to come to that store and need to be able to have access to the same things and to be thinking about it that way. >> very different drum beat than the us vs. them, which has been dominating politics since the beginning of this administration. >> real opportunity tonight to come out unified. this is a real opportunity. trump and all his insanity, ul be delegate. you watched his tweets. there's something seriously wrong with this guy. we have an opportunity to be big, bold, be presidential, show leadership. i'm hoping that we come out of this debate tonight unified as a contractic party. >> opportunity is only as good as it is captured by the people involved. anderson, we'll see that any second. >> now going to be a lot of people watching this debate with a different situation they are facing in their own lives.

they are facing the potential of losing their jobs in the restaurant thas work, the airline they work for, the company they work for. and they are suddenly going to be looking at what sort of a safety net is there in a situation like this that they have not been in before. >> and it's one of the few times we have been beating up on government and our institution trs three years. now they are looking to congr s congress. what are you going to do? if i have to be quarantined, i don't have that kind of deal with my employer. congress acted. it's good to see government work. this is just the beginning. especially as we see the cases come. there's going to be needs for these hospitals that can't be met. what is government doing right now to plan for what they know is going to happen. >> this debate is going to be seen by an awful lot of people. cnn debate. it's going to be fascinating. we have never seen anything like it. it is about that time. the democratic presidential debate starts now.

good evening from washington, d.c. welcome to this unique event. the cnn democratic presidential debate with the two leading candidates for the democratic nomination. former vice president joe biden and vermont senator bernie sanders. candidates, it's good to have you. i'm jake tapper along with dana bash. >> we come together tonight at an extra oordinary time in our country when people are worried about far more than just presidential politics. we're in a national emergency because of the devastating global pandemic of coronavirus. it has killed nearly 6,000 people around the world and 65 dead and more than 3,300 cases known here in