they're at risk of contracting coronavirus. back to you. >> well amara walker thank you very much. our special coverage continues now with kate baldwin. i'll see you later tonight. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello, everyone, i'm kate baldwin. thank you for joining me. here are the numbers that are driving today. unfortunate unfortunately momented ago the deaths surpassed 12,000. 12,021. half in new york. governor cuomo announced today that the last 24 hours have brought the single highest number of deaths in the state. 731 people succumbing to the coronavirus. and again, remember, this is so much more than just a number. listen. >> behind every one of those numbers is an individual, is a family, is a mother, is a father, is a sister, is a

brother. so a lot of pain again today for many new yorkers and they're in our thoughts and prayers. >> it is almost confusing as the governor said just yesterday that he saw a glimmer of hope that the state could soon be reaching the plateau. even so, this is a cruel reality of the virus. it is clearly -- there is clearly still a long and rough road ahead. the state is now using the u.s. navy ship "comfort" to treat coronavirus patients. but just as quickly, we find out one crew member on board has now tested positive and is being isolated. and more unsettling news in the nation's epicenter, the coronavirus is hitting the new york police department hard. 20% of the uniformed work force is currently out sick. shimon prokupecz is here in new york city with this and much more. shimon, how is nypd dealing with this strain on the work force?

>> reporter: yeah, so they've had done a couple of things to try and deal with this. one of the things is that they've allowed officers who could be concerned that they're at risk for contracting the virus to try and work it out with thur supervisor to work from home. they've done other methods, obviously masks and more protection for officers. they are seeing some signs that officers who did contract the virus are coming back to work. so some good news. but it is important to know that the number of officers that are out sick really is staggering. close to 20% of the police force now out sick. some 7,000 officers throughout the department out sick. you have civilians who are out sick. and also the nypd announcing another death today. this is a civilian member, a woman by the name of ava walker. she was with the police department for 20 years and she

worked in the communication division which essentially they dispatch officers to get 911 calls and they tell officers where to go. the police department announcing her death today. also very important to know, there are some 57 people, officers and civilians, who are hospitalized and i'm told five are critical. so nonetheless, of course, the nypd is still dealing with this. more officers getting sick. more members of the department, civilian members getting sick. these are people who live in any community within this city and even outside of the city, kate, that are now getting sick. >> absolutely. and shimon, about the u.s. navy hospital ship that came to new york to offer help and be a relief valve if you will for the system. what are you hearing about the crew member that tested positive? >> reporter: we don't know much about the crew member. >> that person is isolated. we have been told by the navy is that the crew member didn't have any contact with any of the patients aboard the ship.

there are people and patient as board the ship. five of them, about 41 on the ship, five of them are being treated for the coronavirus. this crew member has been on the ship since it set sail to new york city from virginia about a week and a half ago. none of the people on this ship, the crew members, are allowed off. so it would likely be that this person had contracted the virus sometime obviously they boarded the ship. we don't know exactly much about this person. but we're told that the person is okay and is being isolated, kate. >> that's good. shimmon, thanks so much. and to washington and the federal response. you've heard that the president say at least once if not multiple times that no one could have predicted this. but it appears members of his own staff were issuing warnings and putting it on paper as early as january. kaitlan collins is joining me now. kaitlan, this wasn't just talk, an aside at one meeting, these were warnings put into memos. what are you hearing happened?

>> reporter: yeah. peter navarro wrote out what he thought would happen if this outbreak did turn into a pandemic and of course now it did. so there are questions about why the two memos that peter navarro wrote, the top trade adviser, were not heeding at the time by other officials in the west wing. and the president's top economic adviser larry kudlow and the surgeon general are saying they did not see the memos. it is not clear why because "the new york times" which first reported said they were circulated to senior staffers. and ultimately the question is the president's response to this. because the day of the first memo from peter navarro warned the u.s. is not ready if this turned into a pandemic, that is the same day the president announced his coronavirus task force. peter navarro was not put on the task force and still not formally part of it, but certainly created a role for himself. and it is the next day that the president granted the travel restrictions from china. but publicly, kate, you saw the president and i did, where he

continued to downplay it repeatedly and now people are questioning why wasn't he listening to someone he's put in a top job inside of the white house. >> he listens to on other things. the president today removed another inspector general from his post. this is in charge of overseeing coronavirus emergency funding. what is happening, kaitlan? >> reporter: yeah, you've noticed an up tick in the president dismissing inspector generals lately. did he it on friday when he got rid of the intelligence community whistle-blower that led to his impeachment and yesterday we saw him going after the hhs inspector general who published the report about the severe shortages in hospitals across the country and now today we have the president removing the acting inspector general for the pentagon. this is the person who was selected last week to oversee all of the other watch dogs who are going to pay close attention to how the trillions of dollars in taxpayer money was going to be spent. this is someone in this job at the pentagon, glenn fine, since

before trump took office and he remained there since trump has been in office and now that he's in charge of this watch dog panel, the president removed him from the position and put in someone from the epa so he's removed this person from this top job without a lot of explanation as to why. and of course people are going to raise questions because this is someone who was known for his independence. after 9/11 and the roles that he had. and so the white house hasn't done a lot to explain it. the president may try at the briefing today. but we have not gotten anything really substantive out of them just yet. >> and why right now. kaitlan, thank you very much. good to see you. then the lingering question. how do communities start eventually opening back up. when will they know it is safe. new york governor cuomo talked about that today and he had one very clear answer. >> it's going to come down to how good we are with testing. you're not going to end the

infection and end the virus before you start restarting life. i don't think you have that luxury. how do you start the economy back up? how do you start getting back to work as quickly as possible? it's going to come down to testing. >> let's focus in there. joining me is dr. amish adaly. thank you for being back in here. top government officials in charge of testing continue to say that things, when it comes to testing, that things are in a good place right now. do you think they are? >> no, they're not in a good place. we now have many test kits that have been approved by the fda. we have many people able to do it but this is still logistically hard. it is not just having the test kits, it is the reagent to run the test and the nasal swab to get the specimen. all of that needs to be in tact and we have to get to a place to

test for this just like hiv without any bureaucracy and be seamless. today i'm still having test problems trying to get results and where the specimen went and it is too long of a lag time. it is days before you know the result of a patients' test. >> so on the ground it's a problem. if you take it from the macro sense, why does it seem that testing is still the most important thing that people aren't talking about enough. >> because testing is how you key all of your public health intervention. testing not only helps you with patient care, it helps with understanding what is going on with this disease in your community. how prevalent is it. are your cases going up and down and where are the cases and who is linked to who. and that all required testing. the cornerstone is diagnosing the infection and take that data and use it to tailer your sfons response. the fact that we didn't have that recision tool of testing

available and had to use blunt tools because there was no way to know where the virus was and where it wasn't. >> that is a great point. and then there is also the quality of a test obviously is of utmost importance. you're a fellow with the infectious diseases society of america and today the group is warning that drive-thru testing not be producing quality results because of the level of expertise of the clinicians who are providing the test. drive-thru testing is all over the country at this point. do you think this is -- how big of a problem do you think this is? >> i hope it is not that big of a problem. but i do think we have to worry about the quality of specimens, how well trained the individuals are that are taking the specimens because there is a lot of sensitivity issues to the test based on how good of a specimen and how far do you put that swab into someone's nose and there are difference in techniques and we want to make sure we're getting true negatives when we say someone is negative. we're not worried about

false-positives but false-negatives could be a issue and there has to be quality control of the tests as well. >> when it comes down to it, when it comes to testing, who is responsible? i mean the president yesterday was asked about testing and he essentially said don't look to us, we're the federal government. you can't expect us to be standing on every street corner testing folks. >> well, what i would say is that at the very beginning of this pandemic it was the federal government that had the sole ability to do the testing and made it very difficult for private labs, for university labs to make their own test based on certain regulatory hurdles so in the end the fact that we're playing catch up is the federal government's responsibility because of the regulations in making cdc the exclusive purveyor of the test and the cdc restricting guidance and who could be tested and they didn't allow you to test child cases or someone that wasn't in china. that is where we are today. because the testing was so -- not just having the kits but who

and when we could test and the health department took the cdc guidance and gospel and we were kind of stuck. >> and playing catch up at this point, wherever we are in the point of pandemic, it a truly terrifying concept when it comes to testing. doctor, thank you for what you do. thanks for coming on. i appreciate it. coming up for us, talk about disturbing, new data coming out revealing african-americans are dying at a much higher rate from coronavirus. coming up we'll take a look at what is behind those numbers. plus there is breaking news just coming in about the secretary of the navy. we've got that. we're getting our reporters up. we'll have that for you right after the break. >> announcer: "cnn newsroom" brought to you by --

our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence. they help us with achievable steps along the way... ...so we can spend a bit today, knowing we're prepared for tomorrow. wow dad, do you think you overdid it maybe? i don't think so... what do you think, peanut? nope! honey, do you think we overdid it? overdid what? see? we don't think so, son. technically, grandparents can't overdo it. it's impossible. well planned, well invested,

well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

100% online car buying. carvana's had a lot of firsts. car vending machines. and now, putting you in control of your financing. at carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking. it only takes a few seconds, and it won't affect your credit score. finally! a totally different way to finance your ride. only from carvana. the new way to buy a car.

we have breaking news coming in. the acting secretary of the navy has submitted his resignation. this is just a day after that audio came out of the secretary calling the former commander of the uss theodore roosevelt stupid and naive over the sound system of the ship. that commander you will remember sounded the alarm about the growing problem of the coronavirus among the crew on his ship and he was dismissed. cnn's barbara starr joining me now. what are you learning. >> reporter: well, kate, u.s. official tells our own jim sciutto is that tom modly has submitted his resignation as acting secretary of defense. this is one day after the very disturbing audio emerged of modly speaking to the crew of the carrier theodore roosevelt in guam where it is in port because it has been hit with

coronavirus and he had to relieve the captain of duty last week. when that captain, brett crozier, had publicly in modly's view talked about the problems aboard the ship. of course it was widely distributed an email message saying he was very concerned that ill soldiers were not being taken off the ship fast enough. he wanted more action. modly proceeded to relieve him of duty saying that he had violated trust and confidence and that he had gone around the chain of command that he must have known these complaints, these concerns, if you will, would become public. modly said the captain was either naive or stupid and that pretty much sealed his fate. he to apologize last night. but he still made clear that he thought the captain of the carrier had done all of this deliberately. so his resignation has been submitted. there is pretty good reason to think it will be accepted.

the navy very much wanting to move on from this. they want to get those sailors healthy, they want to eventually get the ship back out to sea. but most important, you'll remember that video of hundreds of sailors cheering their captain as he left the deck for the last time. they want that crew to feel like the navy and they want all of the navy sailers to feel like somebody is looking after them in this crisis and that is -- the fact that that was called into question may be the biggest crisis for the navy at this point. kate. >> that is an excellent and very important point. barbara, thank you so much. let's see what the president has to say about this. right now, though, let's turn to this. a new and troubling trend emerging in the coronavirus pandemic. african-americans are getting hit harder in some communities facing the brunt of the infections. in michigan, for example, about 40% of people who died from the virus are black. but african-americans make up only 14% of the state's

population. cnn's ryan young is live from detroit with this. ryan, what are you hearing about this there? >> reporter: well, the stories here are starting to just sort of have a ripple effect throughout the community. and to view this differently, kate, in our travels throughout the city we've talked to several people over the last week and a half and they are sort of terrified by what they are seeing. in fact, when we talk to people, they say, first, initially, they thought this would skip over different parts of community but in a emergency room doctor he said this is ripping off the band aid throughout the city because health care officials are seeing people come into the e.r. sicker and sicker and folks waited longer because they couldn't afford health care and didn't want to go to the hospital. by the time they arrive, they're almost too sick to treat in a lot of cases. we went to a morgue, the funeral home, they had 60 covid bodies in one location and having to

expand. when you talk about the numbers getting closer and closer to 900 people dying from covid-19. anywhere you go in the city, especially when you deal with food service or any sort of travel, we're seeing front line workers without protection. you think back to just last week when that bus driver died from covid-19 after explaining that he didn't have the proper stuff to keep himself safe. so this is a story throughout this city that people are paying attention to but it is spreading through the country and a lot of people are scared. >> and, ryan, it is not just michigan. we'll show you the full screen. similar data out of louisiana and illinois as well. >> reporter: when you think about that, in fact i talked to another doctor in chicago and they said today they're going to start going out to the west side of chicago where they see the numbers high and target african-americans above 60. the reason why? they think if they could stop the disease from spreading in that area it could have a great effect of stopping the spread all over. i could tell you personally

having friends who lost parents to this disease, it is really hard when you start understanding how difficult and how fast this can take a loved one. >> thank you, ryan. joining me now for more is jum annie williams. thank you for being here. if you look at just chicago, african-americans make up about less than a third of the city's population but so far they've made up 70% of those who died of the virus in chicago. and mayor lightfoot told "the new york times" these are numbers that take your breath away. new york city hasn't reported this data yet. but what do you fear this is going to look like in new york? >> if you look at milwaukee, 81% of the people who died are black. here in new york, we've unfortunately seen a similar trend. my office has recently demanded the data and we're hoping to get it soon. but we saw a map of zip codes and unfortunately it looks like the same thing is happening here in new york city and new york

state. and what i want to impress upon folks is that many of the inequitiesed long before coronavirus. and many of us have been fighting and trying to ring the alarm bells to no avail. what happened is a perfect storm of the inequities and to leadership to provide a plan to deal with this inequities. there was no leadership from the federal government. so you have a wide array of people responding. here in new york city, we did not see a plan put in place that would deal with the inequities that people were coming with. so if you have a shelter-in-place message that here in new york was muddled and confusing as best. what about the folks who couldn't shelter in place and can't get deliveries like what is happening in manhattan. we're saying we're at war but we didn't put a cartime plan in place. and black and brown folks are the front line workers.

so the way we exacerbate it is not only do we not have a plan, we said you, front line workers here in new york city, 75% black, brown, immigrant, you go out there with no personal protective equipment and no plan. and we need to see emergency plans starting now. we can't go backwards but many have been pushing for true lockdown of cities and plans for the most vulnerable. that didn't happen. but we can start today. and we also have a plan that is on my website for recovery and response. what we did was pretend that these folks were expendable for the rest of the community. i do want to add that there are peoples in all socioeconomic statuses that are dealing with this and we want to lift up every family. the coronavirus does not discrimination. unfortunately our response and lack thereof and policies have. so some people are clearly dealing with the brunt of this and there has to be accountability and action. >> that is an important message.

you've called on -- you mentioned you called just to get a baseline of what it looks like in new york city. you called in the mayor to release data. the mayor and the governor's team say they'll be releasing it by week's end. is that good enough for you. >> it is unfortunately because what with v we been making our policies based on. this is speeding quickly. it was called a bullet train but we need bullet data to respond carefully to where the data is leading us. so we need the data today because we have to be responding today. we have to be figuring out what is the wartime response that we have to get. so i'm glad they're going to put it out by week's end but we need it now. and the clear message is that these folks are not expendable. it is okay to be on tv providing calm, but we need clear, concise actionable steps for the communities. we didn't get it and unfortunately these real people with families are going to

suffer more. we have cases of people in new york city that are dying in their homes and we don't think those are being counted and they're being found days later. this needs action and we need it now. >> i do fear what the data will show when it does come out. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. a nurse on the front lines helping an endless flow of coronavirus patients coming through the hospital faced with three that she did not expect. her own relatives. her story next. shouldn't you pay less when you use less data? now you can.

because xfinity mobile gives you more flexible data. you can choose to share data between lines, mix with unlimited, or switch it up at any time. all on the most reliable wireless network.

which means you can save money without compromising on coverage. get more flexible data, the most reliable network, and more savings. plus, get $200 off when you buy an eligible phone. that's simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinitymobile.com today. the fight against the coronavirus is incredibly personal for so many medical professionals. not only trying to save the lives of others but also trying to protect their own. but then take this one story of one nurse in new jersey and consider this. michelle works at holy name medical center in what is likely the hardest-hit community in the whole state. as the director of nursing, she was in the middle -- is in the middle of the pandemic. when three of her family members contracted the virus. and they ended up in her hospital. her mother-in-law, brother if

law and sister-in-law. her brother and sister-in-law are recovering and her mother-in-law, edna, you see there, she died. she passed away saturday morning. and the nurse told "the new york times" this about it all. she said you could compartmentalize. you go home and shower it off. but when you have a family member here, you can't scrub that off. joining me now is nurse michelle acedo. thank you sore being here. i'm so sorry for your family. how are you doing? >> thank you, kate. we're doing the best we possibly can under the circumstances. still with my sister-in-law here at holy name as she continues to recover. the family is working through their grief individually unlike the normal circumstance where you could be together gathering as a family. we've all had to work through this separately through phones and things like that. >> absolutely. of course you can't

compartmentalize losing a family member no matter how extreme and extraordinary the circumstances are. and also being the only family member able to be with her because of your job. what was that like for you? >> you know, i felt very fortunate because i was able to be with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and be the connection to the rest of the family. while the nurses here and the doctors are amazing and extraordinary, each one of them realizing that not only are they the caregiver, care provider, but they are the stand--in family member having the ability to be with my mother-in-law during the last days was special for me and i was able to share that with the rest of the family through ipad and facetime and just communication and pictures that way. >> well, unbelievable and yet another pressure to put on your shoulders. i could imagine that was such a relief to the rest of your

family that you were able to be there too. i don't know if you could hold her hand but to be there with her. >> i was able to hand her hand and celebrate her 89th birthday with her and the rest of the staff who came in and sang for her and presented her with a piece of cake. it was very important to the family to know that she was surrounded by people who cared and that she knew that the care they were giving her was important and singing happy birthday was very important and the rest of the family was happy to know she was not alone and she was being celebrated with her last birthday here on earth. >> you're strength is truly remarkable. and i can't believe i'm saying this, but in some strange, cruel way, it is like your family was lucky because of your unique position that you were able to be there with her and with your other family members. how is that impacting how you

are with your patients now when you know that they can't have someone from their family with them? >> you know, when you go into a patient room, when there is no other family around, you know you are that stand-in family member. but ever since this happened, it is even more important to walk in, communicate with the family, even for the patients who are critically ill who can't communicate back, knowing they could probably hear you. it is so important to let them know you're here while you're in the room, what you are doing. if they can communicate to ask them about their family, to offer them the opportunity to facetime with their family. it just brings more meaning every time you walk into a patient room. >> look, and we talk about the numbers on tv. they're on the side of the screen right now. and this is -- you're reminding me right now that every number there is a story and there is a family. and your hospital system has been hit incredibly hard. 20 people dying in the span of

72 hours. how are you doing? what do you need? >> well, i'm doing very well. thank you. and the staff is as well. and mainly the staff is doing as good as they are because of the support that we received from holy name medical center from our ceo mike marin down to everybody who is contributing to make every unit safe and keeping the resources, our primary resource and that is our staff at the forefront of their mind. putting every measure in place to keep us safe makes us feel that coming to work, we're protected and able to give everything we can to our patients and still go home and know that our families are protected because of what is being done for us at holy name. >> and you mentioned your sister-in-law still recovering. how is your brother-in-law if i may ask. >> my brother-in-law is home. he's doing well. my sister-in-law is still here recovering. every day she's trying to get stronger. but this disease, it can really

catch up to you pretty quickly so every day we talk and we try to get her to eat some meals and she's doing a little bit better every day. it was not easy for her to be here with absolutely no visitors to mourn the loss of her mother and i think that may have delayed her recovery a little bit because it was her mom and even though her mother was in the same hospital, she couldn't visit her. she just wasn't strong enough to do that. and so my heart really broke for her because she had nobody to mourn with and it was very hard for her. >> that is tragedy compounding tragedy. michelle, thank you. that doesn't seem adequate but just thank you so much. i'm so sorry for what your family is going through. but thank you for being there day in and day out in the strength and the courage you have for your patients and for your family. >> thank you, kate. one of the many angels on the front line. coming up next for us, a very different scene that we are

seeing. take a look at this. this is a shocking scene in one state. in the midst of the pandemic people lining up to vote. why wisconsin was the only state allowing in-person voting this month. that's next.

words of encouragement are pouring in from the around the world for boris johnson as he remains in intensive care with coronavirus. japan's prime minister shinzo abe for one, also french president manual macron and the

queen among those sending well wishes. cnn's bianca nobilo is following the latest from london. what is the latest on the prime minister's condition? >> reporter: we got told a few hours ago, kate, that the prime minister remains stable. we understand thatez requires oxygen support but not any kind of mechanical ventilation. so that is encouraging news begin how quickly he deteriorated over from sunday night to last night. now the next question is how long is he going to be in there? obviously the fact that he remains in the intensive care unit shows that he still requires a lot of support, that kind of one-on-one care. and there is plenty of reasons why someone might be in intensive care other than needing a ventilator. we're told he remains in good spirits. so the man leading the country is the foreign secretary dominic raab. there is quite a bit of confusion as to the extent to which he's really in charge.

he said he's fulfilling the strategy and the instructions of the prime minister. also, the former prms'ster he isu may and david cameron, the immediate predecessors of boris johnson have wished him wfl and tried to reassure the country that the britain does run on a collective cabinet basis meaning that the cabinet together sculpted policy and while the prime minister is essential, the country can run without that influence. >> we all wish him well and we'll continue to track his condition. thank you very much. appreciate it. back here in the united states, new pop ups tied to church gatherings and it is election day in wisconsin. we check in with reporters across the country starting with omar jimenez in wisconsin. >> i'm in milwaukee. after a lot of debate, especially over the past 24 hours, the wisconsin polls are open. despite the ongoing coronavirus

pandemic. now, at multiple of the five -- the only five locations open to vote in milwaukee, we have seen long lines. and for the election overall, absentee ballots are as crucial as ever. at this point, we have thousands that won't receive their ballot by the end of the election day today which per supreme court order means they won't be counted. they have to choose between risking health and voting in person or not voting at all. >> i'm amara walkner atlanta. three out of 11 coronavirus clusters that her investigated are linked to church gatherings. one of the gatherings was a recent church conference in kansas city and they say that this is a place ever exposure for multiple people who have now tested positive for covid-19 in kansas. and with the upcoming easter holiday, officials are urging people to avoid gatherings that would put them in danger. the kansas governor kelly signed

a stay-at-home order but religious activities are exempt. >> thank you so much. for us, could some good news be on the horizon for sports fans? some teams are talking about getting back on the field sooner than you might think but there is a catch. that's next. in this world where people are staying at home,

many of life's moments are being put on hold. at carvana, we understand that for some getting a car just can't wait. that's why the new way to buy and sell a car is also the safer way. at carvana, you can do it all 100% online from home with a touchless delivery and pickup process to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a 7-day return policy. so if you need to keep moving, it's our goal to keep you safe. check out carvana, the safer way to buy a car.

if things were normal, which of course we're not, we all, or at least many of us, would be watching and enjoying the beginning of baseball season. today, for example, the nationals would be playing the marlins and my family would care about the fact that the tigers would be playing the royals. and the yankees would be playing

the orioles. instead, postponed, postponed, postponed, for who knows how long. but baseball's return might actually be sooner than you think. cnn's tom foreman joins us. what are they working on, tom? >> reporter: major league baseball is throwing around an idea which some say is ridiculous and others say could be right on the money for a beleaguered nation. players not in crowded dugouts but spread out in the empty stands. and every team, every game, in arizona. that's how it may look if major league baseball says play ball next month, filling president trump's repeated call for a fast return of pro sports. >> the fans want to be back too, they want to see baseball, football, hockey. they want to see their sports.

>> reporter: baseball's official stance remains unchanged. >> we'll resume playing when it's safe for the fans, our players, and the public for us to resume playing. >> reporter: the plan under discussion would attempt to create a safe zone with teams operating in isolation for months amid rigorous virus testing at their hotels, on buses, in stadiums, closed to all fans. still, it's a stark contrast to health officials warning against any contact with others. >> this is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe. >> reporter: other pro sports are nibbling at resuming with similar plans to limit exposure but only tentatively. basketball commissioner adam silver. >> at least for the month of april, we won't be in a position to make any decisions. i don't think that necessarily means on may 1st we will be. >> reporter: hockey's stanley cup playoffs should have started this week. instead ideas are being floated for returning to the ice maybe

this summer in north dakota. those seem barely more than rumors. the league is saying little. and the biggest game around, football. the nfl's draft is this month with teams planning virtual parties to celebrate. in conference call days ago, the president said he hopes the league can kick off on time in september. many state and local officials are questioning all this talk of sports coming back soon. >> that's not something i anticipate happening in the next few months. >> reporter: with millions of dollars and thousands of jobs at stake, of course everybody would like to see sports back. but for now, the teams and the towns that host them seem to largely be saying they will let health officials, not politicians, make that call, kate. >> but the talk of it, tom, is making me start wondering what the new normal, as we've been hearing, will look like in the post initial coronavirus area. >> reporter: we watch the replay games, and they're fascinating. >> exactly, still good a third

time around. coming up next, the cdc director says the estimated death toll could actually be much lower, in his words, than the previously projected 200,000 deaths that were feared across the nation. we'll discuss with dr. sanjay gupta.

>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to "the lead."

i'm jake tapper. the coronavirus battle continues in what could be one of the worst weeks in the united states for this pandemic. right now there are more than 81,000 reported deaths worldwide from coronavirus, and 12,021 of those just in the united states alone. at this time last week the number of deaths in the u.s. was 3,662. the number of reported cases around the world now more than 1.4 million. that's globally. about 383,000 of those are in the united states, although of course there continue to be major questions about the availability and accuracy of coronavirus tests throughout the world and in the united states. and of course there are continued questions about the reliability of any of the data coming from places such as china, russia, or iran. one silver lining in the dark cloud over all of our heads, the efforts that most americans are making to stay at home and to

practice physical and social distancing seem to be working according to the director of the centers for disease control and prevention, dr. redfield said because of people's efforts, the death toll could be much lower, lower, than the up to 200,000 deaths previously projected. but of course that comes along with new disturbing data showing that one group of americans is being hit harder by the coronavirus. here is the surgeon general of the united states earlier today. >> and i and many black americans are at higher risk for covid. it's why we need everyone to do their part to slow the spread. every single person who stays at home, whether you're white, black, brown, orio yellow, is a person who is not spreading covid and who is protecting their neighbors. >> the centers for disease control director dr. redfield and the