♪ one more time right now there are almost 3/4 of a million coronavirus cases globally. to our viewers here in the united states and across the

world, welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. ahead this hour -- >> we have between 100,000 and 200,000. we altogether have done a very good job. >> donald trump concedes that more than 100,000 americans could die from the coronavirus. plus -- >> mask doesn't have official approval from health authorities but icu staff are already using them. >> running out of supplies in one european country. doctors are making their own medical gear. and it's happening right now, it's killing the the most vulnerable. it's costing trillions of dollars and it'll change life as we know it forever. it's not the pandemic. we explore just ahead. thanks for being with us. some three months after the coronavirus was first detected,

it's exploding around the world with astonishing speed. the number of global cases is now quickly approaching 3/4 of a million with more than 34,000 deaths. that is according to johns hopkins university. now this comes as the u.s. becomes the world's biggest covid-19 hot spot with nearly 140,000 infections. that's more than italy and china. the american death toll has more than doubled in just the past few days, now exceeding 2,400. the country's leading expert on infectious disease says the u.s. could eventually see upwards of 100,000 fatalities. when asked about that, president trump said if the death toll can be held to that figure, it means everyone did a, quote, good job. that, to many, would still be a staggering loss of life. the u.s. president suggested there could be millions of cases if no action was taken.

well, he also announced that he's extending virus restrictions for another month. j jeremy diamond questioned him about the federal response and his shifting narrative. >> president trump on sunday announcing that he is extending those social distancing guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the united states, announcing that he will keep those guidelines in place for all americans across the country until the end of april. this just days after the president was suggesting that he might want to begin reopening the country's economy by easter sunday. and the president suggesting that just a few days ago. but clearly the president was convinced by his public health experts that he needed to keep these restrictions in place in order to avert worse case scenarios as far as the death toll is concerned. nonetheless, the president acknowledging that 100,000 americans could die from the coronavirus. that was an estimate put out earlier on sunday by dr. anthony

fauci, one of the leading public health experts. and the president saying if he can keep it under that number, he feels like it will be a good job. >> if we can hold that down as we're saying to 100,000 -- it's a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000 so we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job. >> the president also refused to back down on this statement that governors of various states across the country shouldn't be critical of him or his administration but should be appreciative. that was the word the president used on friday during a news conference when he said those governors should be appreciative and if they don't treat him right, he would not call them back. i pressed the president on that on sunday. listen in. >> you were talking about governors in different states and said i want them to be appreciative. you also said if they don't treat you right, i don't call -- these are direct quotes, sir. >> excuse me.

are you ready? ready, ready? take a look at what i said? i want them to be appreciative of me, okay? and then you cut it off because it's fake news. >> you and your administration -- >> please, let me finish. you just said it again and you know the answer is a lie. >> i can read you your full comment. >> your statement and your response and your answer is a lie because here's the story. you ready? i said i want you to be appreciative of me. then i go on, and you cut it off. >> you said i want them to be appreciative. i don't want them to say things that aren't true. i want them to be appreciative. we've done a great job. i'm talking about mike pence and the army corp. of engineers. >> thank you. thank you. >> you can see the president pushing back but sticking with the same point that he doesn't feel the governors should be disrespecting him. he's talked about this as a two-way street between him and the governors of various states. those governors who have been critical of the president haven't been critical of him

personally. they're saying the federal government hasn't been doing enough to get them vital medical supplies or equipment whether it be ventilators or n95 reps ray tor masks. the vice president of the united states, mike pence, just on saturday did phone governor gretchen whitmore of michigan and whitmore thanked him not only for the call but for delivering nearly 100,000 additional n95 masks. cnn, the white house. clearly there are a lot of political fights going on. but the reality on the ground matters the most. elm hurst hospital in new york city queens borrow. this is the line of people

standing apart. dozens of medical workers have been sent to the hospital to help care for the flood of people needing the property to hold what the hospital morgue cannot. and to give you a better sense of the dreadful conditions hospitals are facing right now, doctors and nurses have started filming their experiences on the front lines and have shared their stories with cnn. >> hi everybody. my i'm an emergency medical doctor in new york city. i'm making this video with my colleagues in new york to help you understand how serious covid-19 is, to encourage you to stay safe, stay home, and to kind of give you a better idea of what's going on in new york city just so you can really take this seriously. hospitals are running out of medications. some hospitals don't have protective gear for staff or family members or patients that come to the hospital.

we're running out of medication. we're running out of the equipment. and we're even running out of the oxygen which is something that patients that have covid-19 need. >> we don't know who's doing well and who's not doing well. you hit a tipping point. everybody that comes to the emergency department has this and we're getting completely overwhelmed. >> there's a common misconception going around that it's only the older people in our population being affected. this is simply untrue. every day we are having people, younger adults come in, who have very little comother bidti. >> i work at an er in brooklyn. today has been crazy. we're very short staffed. we're short supplied. but the last three weeks, every day we have been given aonal pr

that we are to make last throughout the day. i currently did not get one today because we are out. >> well, dr. richard darrwood is the medical director of london's fleet street clinic. he joins me now live. good to talk with you sir. we just heard from some new york city doctors and specifically we heard about the dire circumstances they're confronting while trying to save lives. that last doctor has no personal protective gear because the hospital has run out and yet president trump seems to think doctors and hospitals are exaggerating how much protective equipment they need, even suggesting they're hording it. how is there such a disconnect between a president and the doctors working on the front line trying to save lives? can you explain that to us? >> well, i don't think anyone can explain that.

yeah, i mean, unfortunately it would be much more reassuring if he was in better touch with what was actually going on in the front lines. so, i'm afraid that is cause for concern. i mean, up until this crisis began, the united states had an outstanding international reputation for its work in public health and with the cdc which has really led the world in so many different ways. and it is a bit alarming to see the u.s. is now coping and having to deal with so many cases and appears to be facing these shortages and difficulties. i mean, si have to say these ar almost universal which is almost impossible for anyone to keep up

with the distribution of the equipment and ppe that is required. >> can you explain to us what the situation is for doctors in britain as far as this protective equipment is concerned? >> yeah, it's still in dire short supply. i mean, i mean the problem is that most of the rest of the time a lot of this equipment is not required and just simply doesn't exist in the kind of quantities that it's now being needed in. i mean, for example, malaysia is one of the places that produces rubber gloves for the entire world and they're completely overwhelmed. the demand has way outstripped the ability to produce these things at a normal rate. i mean, in my own medical practice, we accumulated ppe at the time of sars and bird flu and various other past crises. these things all have an expiring date and we are left with stocks that end up, you

know, you put the provision in place and it goes incentive for everybody to stock pile these things when times are not needed. and that's the problem. >> if i could ask you just about ventilators because we hear about the british company dyson coming up with a design of a ventilator that they are apparently currently making and supplying to british hospitals and ultimately european hospitals. what do you know about that? >> well, so dyson is one of many engineering companies have risen to the challenge. the british government has started something called project pit flame which has harnessed the expertise of the formula 1 racing teams, all the different past seven or eight opposing teams all working together to design new ventilators, to

reverse engineer existing technology, and come up with different ways of using existing equipment. and this is proceeding at a huge pace. and in fact, the first ventilators that have risen from this project are on the point of being in production and being promised for something like the first or second week of april. so, there's a huge technology drive, lots of different engineering companies and the supply chains that go with them are being activated to produce the products and the technology in the machinery. and this is the kind of innovation that is needed everywhere to put everybody's minds and abilities together to overcome this. >> absolutely. and a lot of this ppe equipment has to be manufactured. i mean, this is exactly what the world needs because everybody needs it. they can't sort of turn to another country and say send it to us because they're in great

need for it. thank you so much for joining us. we do appreciate it. well, italy reported hundreds of new deaths in the past 24 hours. 756, but that's fewer than the day before. italy has suffered the highest number of fatalities in the world, well over 10,000. because of the pandemic, the dying must remain alone, of course, and loved ones can't say their farewells. >> reporter: coffins, one next to another next to another next to another lined up in a church in northern italy, the epicenter of this country's coronavirus outbreak. social distancing means family and friends can't say their final farewells. the sick were all alone as they lay dying.

they were people, says father mario, who died without anyone to hear or see them, without the possibility to talk to their loved ones, with no one to comfort them. the increase in new cases has of late shown signs of beginning to slow down. but now covid-19 has killed more people in italy than anywhere else on earth. the public health system, one of europe's best, has been pushed to the limits. the disease has killed more than 50 medical personnel, more than 7,000 have fallen ill. italy has been under lockdown for almost three weeks. severe measures may be starting to bear fruit. we should see less people arriving in the emergency ward, he says, and we will be able to better look after patients.

even if the numbers are starting to level out, the damage coronavirus has done to this country is breathtaking. friday evening, the 24-hour death toll was 969. saturday evening, the authorities recorded another 889 people had died. if there's light at the end of this tunnel, it is at best a faint glimmer. ben wedeman, cnn, rome. and to find out how you can feed the hungry, protect health professionals, aid refugees, and support service workers during the pandemic, you can go to cnn.com/impact. coming up next on cnn newsroom, now doctors in spain are using snorkeling gear and a little ingenuity to solve their shortage of surgical masks. we're back with that in just a moment. s clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance.

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youyour dishwasher looks cleans but when grease and limescale build up its not as hygenic as you think use finish dishwasher cleaner its dual action formula tackles grease and limescale finish clean dishwasher clean dishes much needed medical supplies have arrived in madrid, spain, a country with one of the highest rates of coronavirus infection in the world. military planes delivered the stock pile from the czech

republic. with protective masks in short supply, some doctors in spain have gotten creative, turning snorkeling masks into life-saving equipment. cnn's scott mcclain has more. >> reporter: the coronavirus pandemic has turned the surgical mask into a hot commodity worldwide. many spanish hospitals are in desperately short supply. a couple of doctors watched colleagues struggle with shortages and had an idea. >> i thought maybe i can do some kind of connection. >> reporter: this doctor is a cardiology invited to lead spain. >> this one, i think it was a little bit crazy but it was true that we were all very concerned so we have all the crazy ideas. >> reporter: making it work took some engineering, replacing the snorkel with a medical grade

filter placed with a tube 3d printed at the hospital. the filters last five days. >> these are protected. there's a complete sealing. >> the mask doesn't have official approval from health authorities but icu workers are already using them. >> i wonder what this says tabt situation your country is in. >> we're in a dramatic situation. we need solutions straight away. >> that's because 15% of all confirmed cases in spain are health care workers, one of the highest rates on earth. some hospital staff in madrid have had to make gowns out of garbage bags and reuse single use masks. >> many, many people from around use their scuba masks from home. >> reporter: the hospital is

going all in on the easy breath, already bought a second 3d printer and also catching on at other hospitals, desperate for a solution to protect staff on the front line. scott mcclain, cnn, madrid. necessity, the mother of invention always, right? british minister michael gove says people in the uk need to get ready for significant period of lockdown measures. he made the comments like boris johnson remains in isolation. he has tested positive for the virus and his government is facing growing criticism for its handling of the crisis. nic robertson joins us live from london. good to see you, nic. the british government was criticizing the initial stages in the pandemic but then seemed to move in the right direction. now they're being criticized again for their handling of it. what's going on here? >> i think the reality is that the criticism they're facing at the moment, the people that feel that the government hasn't done

enough that move too slowly recognize that we're in this situation right now and they have criticisms, but everyone needs to work together. i think that's the view at the moment. but the view that the country is being prepared for by the deputy chief medical adviser is that there will be another three months of social distancing. that's not official government policy, but that's what's being -- the ground is being prepared, if you will. and she also said that people should expect six months before things would get back to normal. but, yes, there is, while the prime minister is in isolation, there is criticism. >> i've taken a test that has only can out positive. >> uk prime minister boris johnson, the first world leader to get covid-19. his health secretary and several top officials all have the symptoms, all self-isolating. the message from government: keep calm, we are carrying on.

>> there are no gaps in the government. >> reporter: as emergency hospitals are hastily constructed, masks and other vital protective equipment, ppe, belatedly rushed to the pandemic's front lines, hospitals, by soldiers. there is also another message from government. >> the situation will get worse before it gets better. >> what to believe? what to think? questions everyone is asking with some falling unfavorably against the government. the respected medical journal the lance et describing the response as a national scandal, the editor in chief saying the government has failed to follow if world health organization's guidelines. this doctor leads a union representing doctors. >> it's a snapshot of our members into the ppe and

preparedness for the onslaught. and 80% of our members said they were fearful. they were anxious. they were fearful for their safety. >> our action plan, as you know, contain, delay, research, and mitigate. >> just three weeks ago, johnson's plan sounded solid. no one mentions it now. back then, this former top government official was urging faster action. now reluctantly accepts the fate this government has delivered. >> i think it's very difficult to criticize the government in these circumstances. they're trying to do their best and very, very difficult circumstances. i think when we look back at it, when the inquiry happens, people may say he was a bit late to move because usually my experience in government was you have to move quickly if you have a crisis like this. >> that questions will have to be raised is not in doubt.

the priority for now, keeping her doctor's spirits up. >> the questions would have to come afterwards. it's not something that is actually particularly useful right now to decide whether that's the right thing or the wrong thing because we can't judge it because we don't know what the end result is. >> a result that depends not just on government but on everyone in the country doing their bit, staying home, social distancing. >> and the prime minister from his isolation has released a second video. he does sound a little bit hoarse, but he's wearing a suit and tie, in his position as prime minister leading the fight against coronavirus as he said he will. and he has good news for the country, that 20,000 retired national health service workers have come back to the front lines to help staff there. that's something, an appeal, that the government had made. also he said that 3/4 of a

million people have now volunteered to come forward and help the health service and help those 1.5 million people in the uk who were vulnerable, who the government has asked to shelter in place for the next 12 weeks. while there's criticism and this country is also rallying around to do everything it can to get through this crisis. i think we're seeing this worldwide. you know, people may have concerned and doubts about the way they were led into this. however, that's not stopping them stepping up. >> oh yeah. i mean, people across britain definitely stepping up and around the world. brings out the best and the worst in people. many thanks to you nic robertson with the latest from london. appreciate it. well, russia says it's closing all of its border crossings begin mondaying including with belarus to stop the spread of coronavirus. there are currently more than 1,500 confirmed cases of covid-19 in russia. slammed los angeles area

hospitals are getting some relief. u.s. navy ship "mercy" has started taking in patients with problems not related to the coronavirus. we will give you a look inside when we come back. stay with us.

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welcome back everyone. just recapping our top story. president trump is extending social distancing guidelines in the u.s. until april 30th. the move comes as the country faces more than 139,000 cases of coronavirus, the highest known number in the world. last week, mr. trump was focused on a quick economic recovery, saying he wanted the u.s. to

open up by easter. on sunday, he acknowledged the number of deaths here could top 100,000 and might not peak for another two weeks. new york remains the hardest-hit state. makeshift hospitals are going up as officials say they're facing a shortage of critical equipment like protective gear and ventilators. and as new york grapples with this crisis, concerns are deepening over whether los angeles could emerge as the next hot spot for the pandemic. the state has closed vehicle access to all 280 of its state parks. the decision came after a surge in visitors, making it impossible to maintain proper social distancing. restrictions on beach access have already been in place. for patients in the l.a. area with problems not related to the coronavirus, help is now on the coast. cnn has more from the hospital ship "mercy."

>> reporter: here in los angeles, the navy hospital ship "mercy" has begun to treat its first patients. it has 1,000 beds. it will only treat patients who do not have covid-19. the idea is to take pressure off hospitals on land, the ship's captain saying we are ready and energized. then behind me you see this boardwalk empty. extreme social distancing measures in california. not only can no one go on this boardwalk, all state parks and campgrounds closed. l.a. county closed down its famous beaches and public hiking trails. then we see a shifting at hospitals. 60 surgery residents are going to take on nursing-type duties including drawing blood and administering iv bags. we talked to the chief resident. he said this is something we signed up to do. we want to help. >> while we are happy to assist

our nurses in any way we can, we certainly will not be replacing them. they're the backbone of health care in the united states. and listening to the epidemiologists, the infectious disease specialists, pull month nol pulmonary nolgss. >> the city fire department is taking on the testing of covid-19. the first priority is to test those firefighters, police officers, and even publics works officials. they will also test those who are vulnerable, 65 or older, with pre-existing conditions. but they are now actively testing here in los angeles as the "mercy" is now actively treating patients. reporting from los angeles, back to you. >> thanks for that, paul. european airline easyjet is grounding its entire f the coro.

the budget airline also reached an agreement with its union to furlough staff beginning april 1st. the company is among many airlines across the world making drastic moves to survive the economic impact of the pandemic due to a drop in passengers. u.s. treasury secretary steve mnuchin says americans can expect checks to be deposited into their accounts within three weeks. experts say it could be longer than that though. in 2001, it took six weeks for the irs to start sending checks and in 2008, checks went out three months after that stimulus package was signed into law. in the meantime, investors remain worried about the pandemic's impact on corporate earnings and jobs. >> the economy, we're

sympathetic to the people who don't have jobs and that's why the president was clear he wanted to work with congress on a bipartisan basis to support those people. so, i hope number one businesses rehire, small businesses rehire those people now that they'll have the money, number two, people will have enhanced unemployment insurance, and number three people have direct deposit money in their accounts to provide liquidity. we want to get people back to work as quickly as we can subject to the medical conditions. >> and our john defterios joins us from abu dhabi. good to see you, john. the u.s. approved that $2 trillion rescue package. asian economies are coming out with their own stimulus plans. but despite this, we're seeing selling pressure back on. why is that? >> well, rosemary, the mood is brighter than it was just a couple hours this stage investo

grabbing at straws, if you will. it's about this timeline of uncertainty. you heard the views of steve mnuch mnuchin on capitol hill. nancy pelosi suggesting we may need another stimulus package. that's a cloud of uncertainty people are having to contend with right now. it's the crosscurrents affecting the stock markets. let's take a look at the nikkei index, it cut its losses in half but ended well below the line. hong kong and shanghai down 1% and seoul to finish at break even. we saw australia rally by 7% because of the government stimulus plan and china is easing interest rates. one of the drivers in the markets today is oil prices itself. this price war between saudi arabia and russia will start when the new supplies come on to the market. we touched a 17-year low on wti

testing below $21 a barrel and coming up again. what are we talking about in terms of the plan? nearly 4 million barrels a day. because of the coronavirus, they've seen demand drop by 20%. so, that is a near 25% swing in supply and demand and why we see prices under pressure yet again today in the oil market. >> the big unknown of course is when global growth will hit bottom. what helped to determine that? >> well, again it's when do we go back to normal? i heard you story on easyjet grounding the entire fleet. the uk is talking about months, not weeks. the timeline is back to april. that seems ambitious. jpmorgan chase said we're going to lose 10% of the global gdp in the first half alone. that's the equivalent of $8 trillion. the stimulus package worldwide

is $5 trillion. you can see the gap emerging. i'm speaking to a number of different business people and they're suggesting the recession continues through the third quarter. >> that is tough to hear for so many people out there, especially those who are retiring. that is just horrendous. john defterios, many thanks to you for bringing us all that. cnn has exclusively learned that the us justice department is investigating stock trades made by lawmakers ahead of the market downturn caused by the spread of the virus. according to sources familiar with the matter, the fbi has already reached out to at least one of them, senator richard burr. you see him there. the investigators are trying to find out if lawmakers tried to profit from information on the virus from private briefings. burr has said he relied only on public news reports when he sold between 628,000 and nearly

$2 million in stocks in february. it's illegal for u.s. lawmakers to use inside information for financial benefit. we'll continue to follow that story. well, coming up, the lights are off at new york's bars and clubs and their owners aren't sure when they'll turn back on, how the coronavirus is impacting the city's once vibrant night life. here's a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard.

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take a look at this map. it shows how spring breakers in florida may have potentially spread the coronavirus. it was created by tectonics geo and tracks the cell phones of a group on one beach in fort lauderdale. it shows them dispersing after the holiday carrying whatever illnesses they may have contracted across the country. incredible. new yorkers will be fined $250 to $500 if they don't follow social distancing

policies. new york mayor bill de blasio says if the police tell people to disperse, if they disobey the order they will have to pay up. new york has long been known as the city that never sleeps, but now bars and restaurants across the city are closed and hundreds of thousands of people are out of a job. elle reeves shares some of their stories. >> reporter: what would this look like at 2:00 a.m. on a saturday? >> people would be dancing on the stage. you end up having thousands of people in the course of the night. >> night life is a huge ecosystem, supporting nearly 300,000 jobs in new york city. from people who work in clubs and bars to freelancers who design how they look and sound. >> have you considered laying off your staff? >> yeah. >> are you going to do that? >> we are, unfortunately, yes. >> with no income or job

prospects for the foreseeable future, many don't know how they'll restart with wh the crisis is over. >> my number one priority is trying to get employees paid because out of 12, 15 people that vagus nerve have been work essentially 7 years and now they're just in really, really bad shape. >> john barkley owns bars nova civic club. >> why would you lay off employees? >> they understand that's the best path for unemployment insurance. there's just no way that this business could afford to pay them for months. >> i'm a frequent lance designer. all the clubs i would be working for, all those projects have ground to a halt or are cancelled as the night club owners are wondering how they're going to pay their rent. >> most small businesses only have two weeks of cash flow.

no one's arguing we should be staying open during this period, but something has to give. we fundamentally believe that music and night life are part of personal identity, personal expression. and it's one of the things that makes new york city so vibrant and so culturally diverse. we as a society value that night life is something that we should support and champion and save. we really do need that government assistance. >> a government stimulus package could help small businesses, but many night life workers wonder if that would be enough to keep the industry going. some of them have started raising money online through gofundme. they say they can't make up for systemic failure through a patch work of internet fund-raisers. >> unless they put some kind of clamp on rent for businesses and also individuals themselves, i don't see how people can survive. they're just bleeding money. >> are you worried you might have to close down forever?

>> terrified, yeah. >> what would you do? >> i have no clue. i would probably have to move back in with my mother. >> do you think it'll be able to back to the way it was when the crisis is over? >> not for a long time. >> after a pandemic of this nature where crowds are the danger, how do we ever look at engaging on mass the same way? >> but, you know, there are bright spots amid all the uncertainty and pain. and here's one of them. ♪ ♪ when the night >> atlanta residents saluting medical professionals on the front lines of this pandemic in what has become a new nightly tradition. ♪ no i won't

♪ be afraid ♪ no i won't ♪ be afraid ♪ just as long want to brain better?

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environment. as people stay home and go out less, air quality is improving. new images from the european space agency show a sharp decline in pollution after several major cities. as bill weir reports, this pandemic is a stark reminder of just how important it is to heed warnings from the experts. >> hello, bill weir, cnn from a very surreal brooklyn where for some reason i can't stop thinking about all the disaster movies that start with someone in power ignoring scientists. >> we have it totally under control. it's one person coming in from china. >> that's just one of the parallels between coronavirus and the climate crisis. >> you only have 11 years to live folks, 11 years because climate change is coming up so fast. >> think about it. both kill the most vulnerable and will cost trillions. both will reveal heroic first

responders and scientists and inspiring neighbors as well as deplorable horders, grifters, and profiteers. both are reminders that life as we know it depend on predictable flights and growing seasons and supply chains. but what if the age of predictability is over? >> which brings us to the main difference between coronavirus and climate change, fear. exhibit a, jane's carousel here in brooklyn. the last time it was this deserted was after superstorm sandy. between the melting icecaps and sea level rise, there's no doubt my neighborhood is going back under water. invisible carbon dioxide molecules cannot set down a city or the world the way invisible virus can because we think we have time. time wanders down fear. if we could go back in time just a few months, wouldn't we take

science a lot more seriously? wouldn't we wait that the countries that wait for people to start dying before acting suffer the worse. and the countries with the most transparency and mutual trust fair the best? wouldn't beknow the importance of flattening the curve? you've probably seen this by now, right? this represents the time. this is the number of patients on the dotted line. this is the hospital capacity. a sudden pandemic spike crashed the system. but with enough smart leadership and mass cooperation, we can flatten the curve. guess what. this works with climate too. miami is trying to flatten the curve of sea level rise by spending millions on higher streets. california is trying to flatten their curve with new wild fire regulations and insurance laws. but so much of humanity still thinks about the climate crisis the way a spring breaker thinks about coronavirus. >> we get no school and we can do whatever we want.

>> since the global fossil fuel economy slowed down, you can see the cleaner air from space. and in just a few weeks, china conserved about half as much heat trapping pollution as australia or the united kingdom burns in a year. mother earth can bounce back if we let her, and it shouldn't take a global pandemic and recession first. just more smart science, smart leadership, and a sense that we're all in this together. something to think about the next time you wash your hands for 20 seconds to save people you will never meet and life as we know it. bill weir, cnn, new york. >> well, medical experts say social distancing is one of the most effective ways to fight the coronavirus pandemic. the message echoing across america and the world right now, stay home. even some pets are doing their part to make sure families stay safe.

>> don't go out, the message from luca the parrot in israel. do heed. i'll be back with more of cnn newsroom in just a moment. stay with us. awesome internet.

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hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" and i'm rosemary church. just ahead,