and the need for this program to work. >> phil mattingly. thank you very much. appreciate. our special coverage continues now with kate baldwin. i'll see you later tonight. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello, i'm kate baldwin. thank you for joining me. here is the state of things. dr. fauci is calling this week sobering. the government at the epienter of the pandemic calls the news terrible. andrew cuomo announcing that the highest day yet of deaths in new york. 779 people in 24 hours. pushing the national number then to nearly 14,000 lives lost. cuomo offering also some devastating perspective on this. listen. >> just to put a perspective on this, 9/11, which so many of us lived through, in this state and in this nation, 2,753 lives lost

and this crisis we lost 6, 268 new yorkers. >> but there is some hope to grab on to in all of this in this moment. all of the top officials say it appears social distancing is working. and showing some result. the white house models now are being revised downward. projecting an overall death toll of 60,000 people to die by august. down from a prediction of something about 81,000. that in no way is something to celebrate but it is something to give you hope that there is an impact for all of the hard work on the front lines and all of the work of staying home and social distancing. but here is another "but." only if the country continues to hunker down. >> we are by no means out of the woods. and do not misread what you see

in that data and on those charts. >> if anything, it is time to be more vigilant. not less in the face of the hope and the devastating news. the white house task force is now looking at washington, d.c., baltimore, and philadelphia as potential new hot spots emerging. so let's start there. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent kaitlan collins for perspective on this. if all of the top officials are saying that this is no time to ease up, rather it is time to redouble our strength efforts and be more diligent, why is the white house now talking about opening up the economy. >> reporter: because the president has made clear that as soon as the social distancing can ease up, he wants an economic big bang as he was calling it last night. when he did an interview on fox news. so he's basically instructed the aides to figure out a way to have the economic upturn and they want to try to figure out something where they could deliver results that the president wants and also not erase all of the gains they've

made by having the country practice social distancing measures. so they have started these intensive discussions dr. fauci said they met late into the night last night and did he tell democratic lawmakers on a call today they do expect to issue a new guidance in the next few days as they try to chart a path forward to try to figure out how it is to return life to some kind of normal for most americans. and of course there are a lot of considerations going into this. because you have the president, we know what he wants. he makes it pretty clear about this. but also they've got to figure out how to do this. because it is going to be determined if they do it in geographic locations and one thing that you have to remember is the president did not close the country down. it was the governors and the localities that are instructing people in their states what to do. so they are the ones who really make the ultimate decision to reverse the stay-at-home orders, to lighten up on them, that is the key factor. and you have to look at new cnn poll that said 60% of americans right now do not favor easing up

on the restrictions so it is going to be up to the people if they feel comfortable going back to what their lives used to look like. >> that is a great point. as i mentioned off the top, there is a big update overnight in the model used about the predicted death toll about the virus. it is still tens of thousands but lowered by tens of thousands. what are you hearing from the white house today about that? >> reporter: yeah, as dr. fauci said today, the models are only as good as the assumptions that you put in and if the assumptions turn out differently than what they projected it will change what the numbers are looking like. something you heard from the health experts, dr. fauci and dr. birx, this is not the time to ease down on the guidelines, that is when dr. birx said follow those diligently to make sure it doesn't change the projections more than they already have. >> kaitlan, thank you so much. so there also another blow to the claim from the president that no one could have ever

predicted that this virus was coming. a new report about just how early the u.s. intelligence community was warning about the coronavirus outbreak. cnn's alex marquardt is digging into this one. he joins me now. so, alex, what is going on here. >> this is a report from abc news that shows that the intelligence agency was issuing alerts as early as late november about this emerging threat. they were saying that there was a health issue, there was spreading -- contagion spreading throughout the wuhan region. and this is coming from a small, not very well known outfit at the pentagon and it is called the national center for medical intelligence. and what it does is combine medical with intelligence expertise to protect u.s. troops around the world. so according to abc news, this outfit, the ncmi, was seeing this threat in late november that could pose a threat to u.s. troops in the region.

now in the ensuing days and weeks there was obviously more information coming out. there was more intelligence being gathered. that is in early december when we started to see the first public reports from china. social media posting about the health issues. and we understand there were more and more intelligence reports. but this report from abc news said that the mcmi was alerting as early as late november about the threat. now, kate, the big question is who was briefed, who knew what when. and according to abc, the joint chiefs was briefed, the national security council was briefed. we have reached out to the white house to the national security council, they have declined to comment. we've reached out to the office of the director of national intelligence and they have declined to comment. we're hoping to get some clarity from the pentagon. >> thank you very much. dr. robert mclain is president of the american college of physicians. thank you for coming in. appreciate it.

first what we're just hearing, when you hear this report the white house was alerted to the real threat of the coronavirus back in november, as a physician who has been on the front lines, what is your reaction? >> well, you know, i really can't speak to who knew what when. as a president of the american college of physicians we've been focusing really on what to do now. how to get ppe and ventilators to where they need to be. >> absolutely. and that is understandable. and where a lot of focus should be. on one of these important issues, the important issue of testing. top officials in charge of the testing effort, they continue to say that testing is in a good place right now. that is not what i have heard from doctor after doctor who has been trying to get tests for the patients. what are you seeing? what are the reality that you see? >> yes, well eye in new haven, connecticut, i could tell you that while the amount of testing has ramped up a lot in the last

week or two, there are still tremendous delays in the tests, the first couple of weeks going out to washington state and taking upwards of a week to get results back and sometimes even longer. now as we're starting to get more testing available it is coming back a little bit quicker but still aupwards of five to seven days to get results back from the first round of tests. there are newer tests coming out and starting to have some of them with more couple days or a day or so turnaround so that is helpful. but it is still too far away when people are calling up our call centers to get tests done, there are sometimes not able to get an appointment to go to one of the drive-thru centers for a day or two. >> yeah. as mentioned, you're the president of the american college of physicians. the organization put out a report last week with a clear stance on this continued debate over using a anti-mal aerial

drug hydroxy chloroquine as treatment for covid before clinical trials are done and the report said in part public officials pushing this -- pushing this as a treatment could do serious harm. why do you all feel the need to come out and say that? >> well, i think there are concerns going back several weeks that there were shortages looming as word was coming out from some preliminary studies that maybe this had an effect. some of those early studies were quite premature, were very small and some analysis since then have shown there are potentially kind of problems with how to interpret them. so that was kind of one. the data just wasn't there yet to say exactly who was most benefiting, people more sick or less sick. there was not clear data on exactly what the dangers were. i think with the regimen used, high doses given in the first day or so and that may be leading to some of the higher

rask -- rate of cardiac arrythmia from that but there is not enough data to say how we should be using this so we've been advocating as have many other organizations to have these done in clinical trials which are ongoing in many centers in very controlled situations. but the last thing we want is for people to be using these in outpatient settings. we have no data that it is safe in that setting when people are worried about taking profill acticly or to mild illness. >> i was very interested in today saying the cdc website has updated the guidance on hydroxy chloroquine, no longer giving dosage information. and that tells you something. with that in mind, i want to play what president trump said just yesterday about this. >> i say, try it. i'm not a doctor. i'm just saying we hear great results. and some people say, let's go to a laboratory, let's test it for a couple of years.

no, we have people dying in this country and all over the world right now. not in a couple of years. they're dying as we speak there are people dying. and i really think it is a great thing to try. just based on what i know. >> what do you say to that, doctor? >> i say as many have said, listen to dr. fauci. listen to the science. i think there is concern when nondoctors are giving medical advice, especially in things like this where the data is just not there around safety, around the validity of the data we have and with the shortage issues. if this is helpful in people in the hospital, we do not want there to be shortages of getting the medicine to who needs it most and we just don't know that yet. but there are lots of studies currently being done with hopefully rapid turnover for

some of the results. >> what do you say to someone who said, look, it could be helpful, what is the problem with jumping the gun a little too soon to say it is a good thing. is there harm with someone as loud of a voice of the president saying what he's saying. >> well i think listening to the science is the most important thing. there is always potential harm with every medicine we give, you have to weigh the positive and the negative. and we just don't know, we can't quantify the positive or the negative because it hasn't been studied enough. >> doctor, thank you for what you do. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. coming up, two states both seeing their deadliest days so far from coronavirus. we're going to check in with our reporters on the ground next. plus the lessons learned that should be learned from one nation that dramatically slowed the spread. we'll be back. (announcer) carvana's had a lot of firsts.

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amidst so much darkness, some encouragement. in new york, governor cuomo said the hospitalization rate is down and he expected the overwhelmed hospital system to be able to stabilize in the coming weeks if that trend continues. but this news comes with a healthy dose of caution right now. cnn's erica hill is in the city with the very latest. it was good news and bad coming from the governor. and he didn't even seem to know what to make of it today. >> reporter: you're right. he really didn't. and at the top of the daily press conference he said as much, i'm not sure what to do with this good and bad news or what to make of it so i'm just going to give it to you. so let's start with what he planned for the good news. not just the hospitalization rate, but also overall in terms of the curve what he sees. take a look. >> you have four or five days of

flattening. you could have tomorrow morning we wake up and the number is back up. so i'm not willing to say because it's not true that any of this is over or anything has been accomplished. this is just a small snapshot in time. >> reporter: and what you'll hear from governor cuomo and other officials is that that snapshot is also more reason to keep doing what you're doing in terms of social distancing. in terms of the bad news that he referenced, the state hitting another highest day death toll on tuesday, 779 people died in new york state. >> and maybe potentially some good news also coming from new york city mayor bill de blasio on the ever present issue of ventilators? >> reporter: it does seem we're always talking about ventilators and typically you're right, the

news is negative. but he told john berman on new day that he's go for this week, likely into next. but that doesn't mean that he's set for the future as a whole. but he said today for the first time he could say that they actually have a little bit of breathing room. >> there is that. thank you, erica. checking in with another state that emerged as another epicenter of the outbreak in louisiana. the governor reporting a new high in deaths from the virus. just yesterday leaving everyone to fear what today will bring. ed lavandera is live in new orleans with this. ed, where is the focus there today? >> reporter: hi, kate. well the new numbers from the state health department are out and again -- once again a mixed bag. the number of cases has jumped as well. but the number of deaths has jumped by 70 once again. so those are the highest levels of jumps in death counts that we

have seen in the last couple of days. now a little bit of the sliver of the good news. for the first time in all of this pandemic we've seen the number of people required to be hospitalized has dropped. it is only slightly, 13 beds, but it is the first time we've seen that number drop. and for two days in a row now we've seen the number of people on ventilators here in this state drop as well. so a -- a mixed bag. the governor has pushed back the deadline as to when they would run out of ventilators so they seem to be okay on that front and the governor and state health officials here have been saying very cautiously that they hope they're beginning to see the flattening of the curve here in louisiana and in particular the new orleans area and here in southeast louisiana that has been the hardest hit part of the state. >> absolutely. and louisiana is one of the states where the data is showing a huge racial disparity when it comes to infections and deaths. what are you hearing about that today?

>> reporter: yeah, a little more than 70% of the deaths in all are accounted for in the african-american community. a great deal of concern about that. state health officials here say that this kind of underscores a large problem here in the state in terms of health care and that sort of thing. but the immediate solution to all of this is really urging the communities and those neighborhoods to maintain social distancing, that that is the one thing that gets them through this crisis. >> ed, thank you. appreciate it. coming up next for us, when doctor becomes patient. i'll talk to one doctor who recovered from coronavirus after ten days in the icu. that every single time that i suit up, there is a chance that that's the last time. 300 miles an hour, thats where i feel normal. i might be crazy but i'm not stupid. having an annuity tells me that i'm protected. during turbulent times,

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consider this snapshot from one county in new york. sources are telling cnn that two nurses have died in just three days from coronavirus on long island. suffolk county has fron line workers that tested positive throughout the 11 hospitals in the county which is another reminder of the great risks that they have to take every day to

serve their patients. but for health care workers who are able to recover, what is it like heading back on the job after doctor becomes patient. one person who knows is dr. thomas singer, a endocrineologist, the first icu patient to be discharged from jewish island medical center. he joins me now. thank you for being here. you look very well. how has it been going back to work after having been through something like this, after having been a covid patient yourself? >> thank you, kate. it has been a challenge being in icu for ten days and one day you're seeing patients and then a couple of days later you're suddenly admitted to the hospital and it has been a humbling experience to say the least. as you mentioned, i was one of the first patients at the the hospital and i learned through my admission the treatment, the

prognosis and so forth. it was a scary to say the least. >> absolutely. you learning about this along with the doctors and nurses and physicians right along by your side. as you're now back seeing patients, you're seeing patients not in person but only virtually, is that correct? >> correct. i'm seeing patients in the past ten days via video conference. i'm a fertility specialist and a lot of patients are eager to conceive and continue with what we've begun in the last few months so i think the video conferences is here to stay and will only bring patient when it is necessary or really mandatory until we have a vaccine. so things are changing no doubt in the medical field all over. >> that's really interesting. and we've heard so much about nonemergency procedures being postponed, some canceled because of the need to focus all efforts on covid and combatting covid.

what has -- has that meant to your patients. many people i know, some who have been years-long journeys to try to get pregnant. and coy only imagine what that means for them right now. >> it is a very good question. i think it is a point worth focusing on. just from today's consult avenue seen over 12 patients, one was a wounded warrior from iraq who his wife had to go through ivf and now they're trying to baby number two so they cannot just have planned intercourse at home. we don't hear dr. fauci or dr. birx saying don't have sex. i have another couple planned to get pregnant next month and another couple in a bind because the wife's philopian tubes are blocked. i saw a patient who is a breast cancer survivor who just did egg

retrieval and would like to try and save more eggs because she's about to embark on chemotherapy treatment. so it is important to remember that infertility is a disease and 50% of patients are suffering from infertility. and to put treatment on hold for three months or six months or we don't know how long that, puts even more pressure and more anxiety and i think that we need to pay attention. >> that is tragedy compounding tragedy when you put the perspective of what people are already going through with infertility and having be told it needs to be on hold for an undetermined amount of time before they could continue on this their fight. that is cruel and unusual punishment in and of itself. we've heard, doctor, so many people say it is helpful to hear about the experience of those who have you are vived covid-19. you were in the icu. how do you describe what that experience was like? >> so, it's a scary experience. in medical school they tell us

that there is something called icu delirium but that is a real thing. you're in a room with fluorescent light and the machines are beeping and you get antibiotics in one hand and fluid in another and coming with different regimen, and chloroquine which i was prescribed from the get-go and you see the staff very nervous and compassionate at the same time. it is a new thing. they're trying to figure out how to put their ppes and how to examine me and some of the employees were my colleagues that were there as a staff member, i was the vice chairman just six months ago and you see that oun within hand they want to do the best job and on the other hand they're really concerned. so it is a humbling experience. on the one hand i had time to do research because i was one of the first patient in the hospital and in the icu but you're learning and in a way you're helping them learn the right temperature and you're

part of the treatment and so being a doctor and a patient is a unique situation. i have utmost respect to my colleagues. one of the nurses that took care of me had a baby with me just a year and a half ago and suddenly she's my doctor. so that was a very -- experience. >> that is amazing. would you say as a physician you are changed because of the experience that you went through? >> no doubt. i think that things are going to change forever are going to change. and i think that being a physician and being dependent on some of my colleagues and nurses and the wonderful job that they did puts things in perspective, what is really important, my wife, me three kids and my colleagues and to be able to go back home and be with my family after two scary weeks in the hospital is definitely humbling. every patient i've been talking to since i explained my -- my experience and understand what they're going through, though i dealt with the life-threatening event with oxygen and corona and

pneumonia, they're struggling with infertility but there is a lot of similarities. you're hoping to get through it and to get to where you hope to be. the child is to be -- certainly. >> did you think at any moment you're going to die? >> yes. five days into the admission, my oxygen saturation really went down. the icu attendant came to me and talked about intubation and what it means and there is less than 50% survival once they put the tube. yeah, that was a scary moment, no question about it. i spoke to my wife, my kids. and in case i'm not going to be coming out of it. but that was probably the most powerful moment in my admission. >> doctor singer, thank you so much for what do you. thank you for coming in and talking to me. >> thank you, kate. coming up, how one country seems to have already dramatically flattened the curve. why are many looking to new zealand now to find out what went right?

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looking across the country, chicago is turning a warehouse into a temporary morgue for a potential surge of coronavirus deaths. let's check in with our reporters across the country. starting with cnn's ryan nobles and a huge political headline in the midst of this pandemic. >> reporter: i'm in burk, virginia, and bernie sanders campaign for president has come to an end. more than a year after he launched the second bid for the

white house. sanders telling supporters he's suspending the campaign because he does not believe he has a viable path to beading joe biden. now sanders did say that he would support joe biden but said that he would remain on the ballot through the convention to collect delegates and exert influence over the democratic party platform when the convention rolls around later this summer. and he said from the beginning that he would support the democratic nominee and that's what he plans to do after exiting the race today. >> reporter: i'm omar jimenez in chicago. where they're working on getting a refrigerated warehouse to potentially store bodies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. day one they say they will be able to receive about 400 bodies but by the time it is said and done the capacity will be over 1,500. a place they hope they don't have to use but the reality is it is a place they're preparing to use.

>> so much for that. go hard, go early. that is the message from one world leader who has, it appears, managed to flatten the curve, get a handle on the coronavirus and do so with only one death so far. what new zealand mie-- prime minister has done. could it be a lesson for the world. ivan watson has more. >> reporter: in the midst of a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe, the leader of new zealand sounds a note of optimism. >> i'm cautiously optimistic that we're starting to turn a corner. >> reporter: since the beginning of the outbreak, new zealand hasowd fied more than 1,200 cases and suffered just one death. >> do you think new zealand has lessens to offer other countries with how it has dealt with this crisis? >> i think the go hard go early is the lesson. but obviously we're not out of the woods yet. >> reporter: new zealand identified the first case on february 28th, less than three

weeks later prime minister jacinda ardern announced new zealand is one of the first democracies to shut its borders. >> from 11:59 p.m. tonight we will close our border to any nonresidents and citizens attempting to travel here. >> reporter: the ban on foreign visitors a dramatic move for an island nation whose economy depends on tourism. >> so please take it seriously. this is about saving lives. >> reporter: two days later a rare address from the prime minister's office, not seen in new zealand in decades outlining a response plan. just four days after that, ardern imposed a state of emergency and announced a nationwide shut down. >> so we head into the next four weeks, stay at home. it will break the chain of transmission. and it will save lives. >> reporter: enforcement hasn't been easy. police received tens of thousands of reports of people ignoring the lockdown, including

these surfers. but the most egregious case came from the country's health minister. ardern demoted but did not fire him after he drove his family to the beach for a walk. >> i'm an idiot. if i'm being frank and i understand why people will be angry with me. >> reporter: he was thrust into the spotlight last year when an australian gunman massacred muslims in the city of christchurch. 70 hours after the deadliest mass shooting ardern announced on a ban on semi-automatic weapons. she broadcast life on facebook in a sweatshirt and sending a message to children that despite the lockdown, the easter bunny is still in essential worker. >> if the easter bunny doesn't make it to your household, then

we have to understand that it's a bit difficult at moment for the bunny to perhaps get everywhere. >> reporter: it is far too early to say whether new zealand's strategy will succeed but there may be some lessons here for other countries grappling with coronavirus. and kate, that is the whole point here with a global pandemic. we could look at different countries and see what works and what hasn't worked. clearly new zealand seems to be on the right track for the moment. the city i'm in currently hong kong which has a population close to the size of new york city which is right next to mainland china and has a high pop density, it's been under lockdown since the end of january and it is only had four deaths and less than a thousand confirmed cases. and it just makes you wonder if some of these strategies perhaps had been adopted in the u.s. earlier, how many lives could

have been saved. >> it definitely makes you wonder. ivan, thank you so much. great reporting. as americans are told to stay home, a disturbing trend. traffic on domestic violence assistance websites are seeing a surge. what does this mean and what are they doing to help. we'll be right back.

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since the outbreak hit, the state of new york has been under a stay-at-home order. officials are reporting visits to new york's domestic violence resource site, nyc hope, visits have more than doubled. add to that, in new york city, like many other places, city offices were victims of abuse

can visit to get assistance were closed, putting a spotlight on a troubling consequence of the virus, forcing people to stay at home when home might be the most dangerous place for them. arielle zang is head of a nonprofit that is the largest provider of services to victims of crime and abuse in the country. arielle, thank you for being here. what are you hearing on the ground, are you seeing increases? >> well, we're certainly hearing about increased threats, increased uncertainty, and those are all elements of what can make a violent situation worse. although, as you mentioned, the visits to the website are up, our hotline calls are down by about 20% versus last year at this time. and our concern is that people don't know that we're open for business, that our essential services are operating in person, and that a lot of help is available over the phone and

over the web. and we're here to do that. >> that gets me to -- because this really is a perfect storm, if you will. when the state mandates that you stay at home, that means people in abusive relationships could be essentially required to stay at home with their abusers while there's additional stresses, jobs lost, the economy in the tank. i mean, what is your biggest fear here? >> well, our biggest fear now is the same as our biggest fear always, which is that heaven forbid, somebody in a violent situation experiences that violence, is harmed, their children are harmed, or worse, and we're dealing with a situation where there's terrible loss of life in general, and we know the primary driver of

domestic abuse against women is violent. there are so many resources for people to reach out for help even while they're in this terrible situation. >> do you think the city and the state were prepared for this? >> i don't think anyone in society fully expected the magnitude of that. and i will say that we have seen tremendous flexibility in the police, in the courts, in allowing us to serve clients remotely. we're able to get orders of protection remotely. so we're very pleased with those participates and how they are allowing us to help serve victims. >> i have to tell you, my heart really broke when i read a piece that you wrote for cnn about your concerns for children in particular at this time, schools being closed means fewer eyes on children, those eyes normally able to spot who is struggling

and who has been hurt. what are you hearing on that front, ariel? >> exactly what you said, kate, those reports of child abuse are way, way down, and that doesn't mean it's not happening, it means that those doctors and social workers and teachers and just neighbors or anyone who might see a child being maltradma maltreated and call it in because that's what they're mandated to do or what any of us can do as a responsibility as human beings, that's just happening less. what we're bracing ourselves for and encouraging our government partners to be very much aware of is, once things get back to normal, we expect to see a big spike in requests from both adult and child victims who need our help and who have been hunkered down during this terrible time, but will need help that they can't necessarily get all of right now.

>> you touched on it a bit, but can you describe how you're adjusting in this new reality of social distancing and still trying to provide help? >> absolutely. about three-quarters of our staff are operating remotely. that means they're providing therapy, counseling, groups, helping people navigate an order of protection, helping people's safety plans, how can i be safer, even in this terrible situation. so about three-quarters of our staff are doing that. the other quarter are on site for central services, just like police and fire and other essential services, so is domestic violence shelters, our camps where kids are treated, our staff are putting their own health at risk every day to make sure we're there for victims who need our help. >> ariel, thank you so much for

coming in to talk about this. the national domestic violence hotline is on the screen, and ariel's organization. the hotline for safe horizon. thank you so much, ariel, i really appreciate it. coming up, even as the projections for a national death toll are down, some states may see more lives lost than initially projected. we'll discuss with dr. sanjay gupta, ahead. laughs ♪ hello, i'm t. d. jakesof the potter's house and i just want to interject a thought into your heart and into your mind during the turbulence and the unrest that we are seeing in this time. because of the corona virus and so many things are going on in the world today there's much that we could be worried about today. but we're not, because we have learned to allow our heart to rest in god.

the bible says he will keep us at perfect peace if we will keep our mind stayed on him. yes, you must be aware of the times and yes you must be aware of the news and yes we must be aware even of what our physicians are telling us. but we can not allow any voice to be louder than the voice of god in our spirit, and in our lives. and that is the voice that spoke to the winds and the waves and said peace be still. i pray you will allow that peace to saturate your soul and slay the wind that would assault your mind.

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin this hour with a warning from the nation's top infectious disease expert dr. anthony fauci. he says, this will be a, quote, bad week for deaths, unquote. moments ago the death toll in the united states of coronavirus as compiled by johns hopkins university surpassed 14,000 deaths, specifically 14,262. to give you an idea of how quickly this is spreading and killing, this time last week at the beginning of april, the death toll from coronavirus was about a third of that, 4,500. and health experts say that number is likely an undercount because of the lag in test production and how much the system is currently overwhelmed. today yet another grim milestone, coronavirus has now killed more people so far in the united states in just six weeks than the h1n1 pandemic killed in

all of 2009. dr. fauci calling this week, quote, sobering, as dr. deborah birx of the white house coronavirus task force explains, there is new concern that washington, d.c. and baltimore and philadelphia may be emerging hotspots in the united states. nationwide there is growing evidence that the social and physical distancing and stay-at-home measures are in fact helping to alleviate the devastation in the united states nationally. new york governor andrew cuomo says his state is beginning to see some results and it is starting to flatten the curve. the revised projection by the university of washington of the national death toll now down to 60,000 anticipated deaths by august. that's assuming the measures in place continue as they are. it's a reduction of about 20,000 deaths from the previous projection, and a significant reduction from previous ones that had it up to 240,000.