awe giusto valderas was 58 years old and came from the dominican republic. his wife and family say he was a loving family man. may they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing. erin jur"erin burnett outfront" right now. "outfront" right now, breaking news. after weeks of delay, the cdc opening new guidelines on reopening schools, businesses, and guidelineses. but are key guidelines missing. and a new alert to doctors about a mysterious illness in school-aged children that may be linked to coronavirus. and we'll take you inside cesar's palace to see what the famed casino is going to look like when it reopens. let's go "outfront." and good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, the breaking news. the cdc just releasing new guidelines to reopening the economy after weeks of waiting for any sort of guidelines. and here they are. there are six one-page decision trees on reopening.

they're for workplaces, restaurants, mass transit, child care, camps and schools. and for the most part, these are extreme extremely basic. things like, promote healthy hygiene processes, encourage social distancing, one of them, develop a plan for if an employee gets sick. so it's pretty basic. wonder why we had to wait this long for them. there is an additional one thing that we noticed, though, that has been added to these decision tree. something that was missing in the guidelines that were originally drafted from the cdc before all of these delays and their release. those guidelines were initially shelved by the trump administration. take a look at the decision tree for schools. it says, prompt employees wearing a cloth-faced covering, as feasible. and "as feasible" is really important. it's all over these decision trees. and in the draft guidelines by the cdc, there is know "as feasible." it clearly says, encourage employees to use face coverings when around others.

and as i said, "as feasible" can be found on these other charts, as well. it's an important point here, because there is a real question. why would you not say face coverings be worn at all times when the guidance on your own website tonight says, everyone should wear cloth face cover when they have to go out in public. that's what they say on their website. so they're sort of backing off that. this is unclear. well, here is president trump today at a medical equipment distribution company in pennsylvania. he was not wearing a face mask. these new guidelines come as the administration's former top vaccine expert testified that there is no master plan to combat coronavirus. rick bright -- dr. rick bright in testimony today warning that more lives could be lost because there's a lack of leadership at the top. >> we don't have a single point of leadership right now for this response. and we don't have a master plan for this response. so those two things are absolutely critical. >> dr. bright continuing to say that he had tried to recommend

desperately everything he could do to get ppe for hospitals, since he was turned down at the highest levels. and says he believes that that cost lives. it's damning testimony, which prompted the president to respond, calling dr. bright a disgruntled employee. kaitlan collins is "outfront" live outside the white house tonight. kaitl kaitlan, look, the testimony was searing from dr. rick bright and the testimony is now responding. >> reporter: yeah. and he's calling him a disgruntled employee, but before he even testified this morning, the president said that he's someone that he believes that shouldn't even work in the federal government anymore. and that's really notable, because after rick bright finished testifying today, his attorneys put out a statement saying that he does intend to start that job next week. that's the job he was given working on operation warp speed, this vaccine operation they've come up with after he was removed from his other job, the head of that vaccine developing agency. so that will be very interesting to see exactly what happens next week, because we do see he's

trying to get his job back. especially after that criticism today that have just blistering of the administration, where he was not only say that they do not have a master plan, erin, he was also disputing several things that the president himself has said, including last week and this week when he said, everyone who wants a test can get a test. rick bright said, that is just simply not the case. and today the president said, once again, that he believes that there could be a vaccine by the end of the year. and rick bright said that that is just not realistic, based on his knowledge of vaccines and what he's worked on for the last decade or so. he said, a 12 to 18-month timeline is incredibly optimistic and he said that if everything goes right -- and erin, he said, things rarely all go right. >> kaitlan, thank you very much. i should note, the president when he refers to that vaccine is talking about a pfizer vaccine. the lead researcher on that clinical trial has been on this program and been very clear that if everything goes as they think -- if everything goes well, we are looking at next spring before you would have that. certainly not matching what the

president says from the lead researcher at pfizer, either. and despite dr. bright's warnings, some states are under pressure from residents to open even faster. nick watt is "outfront". >> without better planning, donald trump donald trump could be the darkest winter in modern history. >> reporter: wow, warnings today in washington -- >> people are getting restless to leave their homes and we have to make critical decisions on how to balance the economy and science. >> reporter: meanwhile, in michigan, protesters who just won't stay home anymore. >> we're not going to be bullied, browbeaten or intimidated and we're not going away. >> open box! >> reporter: pennsylvania's governor under pressure to accelerate reopening in harder-hit counties. >> basically living in fear. they're living under threats from the governor to revoke their license, the way that they feed their families. >> reporter: in wisconsin, some bars opened almost immediately after the state's supreme court struck down their stay home order as unlawful. >> i don't think that the risk

presents any higher than me going to a grocery store. >> reporter: but is there dangerous? well, georgia started gradually reopening nearly three weeks ago and since then, the average number of new covid cases every day has actually fallen, down 12%. in florida, miami-dade, and broward counties, home to nearly half of that state's confirmed cases, will now start reopening monday. and on sunday, four of golf's big guns will tee off in florida for charity and tv cameras, the governor is now opening his doors to all pro sports. >> if you have a team in an area where they just won't let them operate, we'll find a place for you here in the state of florida. >> reporter: the jersey shore will now be open in time for memorial day midwest. the mall of america reopens june 1st. out west, yellowstone will reopen a little on monday. and other national parks could follow. case counts are now slowing in nearly half our states.

there could be a rebound in the fall. >> our window of opportunity is closing. if we fail to improve our response now, based on science, i fear the pandemic will get worse and be prolonged. >> reporter: still, tomorrow, in louisiana, gyms, barbers, casinos, zoos, and more can reopen at quarter capacity. >> yes, there is a risk of reopening. there is a greater risk of not reopening. so we have to use our data to figure out how to thread that needle. >> reporter: today, some good data from new york city. hospital admissions, numbers in the icu, and the percentage of positive tests have all falling. >> my friends, today is a very good day. and you deserve the credit. >> reporter: the city will likely wait until early june, but tomorrow, parts of new york state, which has suffered more confirmed cases than any country on earth will slowly start on the road back to some sort of norma normal. >> so all 10 million of us in

los angeles county have now been told we must wear masks when we leave the house. i'll just take mine off so you can hear me. governor cuomo summed up the situation right here today in one line. phased reopening does not mean the problem has gone away. and he's right. covid-19 has now killed more than 300,000 people worldwide and erin, it's not done yet. >> no, no, it isn't. thank you very much, nick watt. and of course, as nick points out, even the forecast in this country and that dynamic model are still pointing to close to 150,000 deaths in the united states by august. nick, thank you very much. and "outfront" now, dr. sanjay gupta and dr. howard guo, former health and human services assistant secretary under president obama. sanjay, i want to start with the cdc release. this had been all delayed and this sort of argument going on in the white house about what to put out. and we got these six decision trees for schools, workplaces, camps, child care, mass transit, bars and restaurants.

you don't have anything here about churches. most of it's very basic, right? cleaning, ventilation. well, just take a look at the one for schools, though. here, one for workplaces, and they're all pretty specific -- you know, pretty similar and generic. is this helpful? is this going to give people the detail they need? >> no, erin. i mean, i hate to say it, because the cdc guidelines are something that we've been anticipating for a while. and these are the, you know, the world's best epidemiologists who look at the virus in real-world situations and give guidance on that. and this is -- you know, it lacks a certain seriousness and it lacks a specificity. there's not a lot of specifics here. and some of it seems very ad hoc, you know, sort of, do it if you can. if you can't, you know, it's okay. i was surprised by this. you know, i have a lot of colleagues, people that i know that work at the cdc. i know that the type of data, the type of guidelines they typically provide are going to be much more specific. they're going to have a certain

gravity to them. this surprised me, erin. this is not that. >> no, it certainly is. i mean, dr. guo, you know, the reopening, we haven't gotten, you know, all of the details, these decision trees, when they came out, the general decision trees, they've been released after nearly every state has already started reopening. so what does this do? >> well, the decision trees are a start, but we've all seen the interim guidance from previous weeks that were much more detailed and at this point in time, every business, every school, every house of worship is looking for a detailed guidance to reopen. we can't reopen society unless people have the confidence that they're going back to a place that's healthy, safe, and secure. so we need that guidance to be detailed and upgraded, going forward. you know, the cdc has always been the premiere public health agency that americans turn to in a time of crisis. so i'm hoping that much more information will be forthcoming.

>> so dr. sanjay, there's a lot of "as feasible" suggestions in here. it's the caveat, to be sure they put "as feasible" on almost every single one of these. one says, promote the wearing of masks, as feasible. and of course, if you go on the website right now for the cdc, there's no "as feasible," they're actually telling you to wear a face mask. they seem to be a little bit less stringent in their requirements here. of course, coming on the same day where, again, president trump was the only one not wearing a face mask when he toured a medical supply distributor today. the only one, again. >> yeah, i don't know what happened here. i don't know, as dr. guo said, there are other things that are forthcoming. these are not the detailed 17-page plan that we've been hearing about, that we asked dr. birx about and said she was still editing it.

this is not that. it seemed to be stripped away, as dr. guo mentioned, from previous guidance. there was previous guidance for employers and employees as they go and return to work. this seems to have been watered down even from what was previously put out. there's really nothing about testing either, which, you know, a national testing strategy is what everyone is sort of talking about. what's it going to look like? how often do people get tested? are are those tests going to be? all the stuff we've been talking about for months, this is what we get now in the middle of may? i mean, most americans know more than this is in this decision tree already. it's helpful to have it laid out, erin. but i think the actual content is nothing that, you know, most people don't already know. >> i know. it's -- you know, yes, encourage anyone who is sick to stay home. but that's not something that will move the needle or help anyone at that point. i don't mean to say with an eye r roll, it's true, but it's certain ridiculous as well. so dr. guo, dr. rick bright today criticized the trump administration for failing to implement a standard and

centralized coordinated plans, those are his words. the president says that bright is just a really disgruntled, unhappy person. we should note that bright was in charge of a vaccine for the administration. the timeline he gave today contradicts that of the president, but it does match what the lead researcher on the coronavirus trial for pfizer, which is the same vaccine trump is referring to, is saying. so how seriously do you take rick bright's accusations? >> well, what we need now in the face of a national emergency is a national response. and what all americans want for the united states is a united response. right now, we're seeing 50 states going in 50 different directions, but we need to look more proactively to have ar national strategy for testing, sanjay had mentioned, not just symptomatic people, but also asymptomatic people in high-risk sites like nursing homes and long-term care and prisons and also reaching out to communities of color that have absorbed a

great burden of the suffering and deaths so far. we need a national plan for contact tracing and building community health worker capacity, so we can reach people and contain the disease going forward. and then, as the fall is coming, we are all concerned about a possible second wave, along with the seasonal flu. so we need to coordinate now, nationally, to have ppe ready, on site, and not go through all the challenges that we've had in the past number of months. >> a quick final word, sanjay. >> you know, i think it's remarkable, obviously, you see what's happening at the white house in terms of the amount of testing they have. major league baseball, not talking about testing players several times a week in order to get mlb, you know, maybe not in front of fans, but get the season maybe kicked off again. when are you going to see that same stuff for the highest-risk populations in the country? we still don't have that. you know, five months into this. >> yeah. thank you both very much. i was talking to a doctor at a hospital here in new york, one of the main hospitals treating

coronavirus patients. still hasn't been tested. there's not even daily testing in those medical facilities. thank you both so very much. and i want everyone to know, sanjay will be back with our global town hall on coronavirus starting at 8:00. you'll see him then. next, rhode island will open summer camps. ohio about to reopen child care centers. this is a new warning tonight about a syndrome affecting a growing number of children. plus, president trump stepping up his attacks on dr. anthony fauci. >> i've disagreed with him. when i closed the border to china, i totally disagree with him on schools. >> disagree, disagree, disagree. why say it now? and the numbers are shocking, 36.5 million people have now filed for unemployment benefits since the shutdown began. i'm going to talk to gary cohn, the former director of trump's economic council, says he's not surprised at all. aa was made fo. and right now, is a time for action. so, for a second time we're giving members a credit on their auto insurance. because it's the right thing to do. we're also giving payment relief options

to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. right now is the time to take care of what matters most. like we've done together, so many times before. discover all the ways we're helping members at usaa.com/coronavirus discover all the ways we're helping members and get way more.ith wso you can bring yours vision to life and save in more ways than one.

for small prices, you can build big dreams. spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair today. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence... ...we can spend a bit now, knowing we're prepared for the future. surprise! we renovated the guest room, so you can live with us. i'm good at my condo. well planned, well invested, well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health.

new tonight, the cdc issuing a warning to doctors across the u.s. to watch out for a new inflammatory syndrome in children which may be tiude tie coronavirus. it resembles another childhood condition known as kawasaki disease. doctors are now looking at more than 150 cases impacting children in 18 states across the united states with most in new york and there have been fatalities. "outfront" now, dr. michael portman, director of the kawasaki disease clinic at seattle children's hospital. so dr. portman, this is something that you've spent your career studying here, in terms of the kawasaki disease, which

this seems to look like or mimic. and now we've got that cdc warning tonight, saying there's very limited information about this syndrome. they want reported -- suspected cases reported. so, i guess, the key question for you right now is, why do you think that this is happening in children weeks, more than a month after they may have had the coronavirus itself? >> well, this does relate to kawasaki disease. as far as the potential ideology. kawasaki disease is an inflammatory syndrome and the hypothesis ongoing has been there's been some sort of virus or viral antigen that causes a hyperinflammatory immune reaction two to four weeks after initial exposure to the virus. so now we have this virus which is very infective and very

aggressive, which in itself initiates this very strong immune response. so this does resemble the pathology and the mechanism of kawasaki disease. >> so, in italy, researchers found a 30 times increase in the number of cases of this syndrome in just one town after the pandemic began spreading. in the uk, they're investigating now cases up to 100. we're seeing in the u.s. and europe right now, but it does not appear, at least from the numbers that we have, it just hasn't shown up really in asia. why would that be? >> i have been in contact with asian specialists on kawasaki disease and it's true that they have not been seeing this phenomenon. it's interesting that the phenomenon started in italy, spread throughout europe and is now hitting the east coast and spreading throughout the united states. the -- there are probably

several reasons for it. one could be related to genetics. that's something we've been studying with relation to kawasaki disease for years. and the asian population, the genetic susceptibility may be totally different than it is in other races. the other possibility is there's a change in the virus. we know that the virus has had some mutations as it traveled from china to europe and then europe, it sort of reached the eastern coast of the united states while mostly on the west coast, where we still have not quite seen so many numbers as on the east coast, we got direct transmission of the virus from china. >> so -- and i guess that is the big question people have. genetics versus a change in the virus, and those are -- look, that answer will be crucial for a lot of things here. it's hard to understate the -- to overstate the importance of it. what is your message to parents

who are worried about their children getting this? >> well, they did show these alarming numbers from italy, but in context, we still have to remember that this is a pretty rare disease. the new syndrome, which we're calling pediatric multi-inflammatory syndrome, is fairly rare in context of the number of adult patients we've seen that have had covid infection and needed hospitalization. we are seeing a upsurge of kawasaki disease now on the west coast, both l.a. and seattle children's, i think, are seeing that. but the message is that this is still a rare phenomenon. and parents should be aware of the symptoms and certainly for kawasaki disease, we would see four to five days of persistent fever and other clinical signs, such as rash, conjunctiviticonj

red eye, swelling around the hands and mouth. and if they see any of those, they need to contact their health care provider or go to the emergency room. during this pandemic in the past, people have been warned away from the emergency room, but in this case, i think that if a child appears sick, then they need to get them attention. as far as the new syndrome, it's been highly favorable. there have been some patients with one to two days of fever, the symptoms are overlapping, but not exactly identical to kawasaki syndrome. we're getting reports of patients with confusion and abdominal pain. >> all right. dr. portman, i appreciate your time. this information is really important to people. and i thank you for that. and i want to go to our medical analyst, dr. jonathan reiner, who quizzed a white house medical team under president george w. bush and is currently the president of the cardiac cath lab at g.w. a couple of things from that conversation. i guess one key thing is what dr. portman said. it could be genetic and there's

a lot of studies being done, but it could be open to there being a change in the virus, which i think goes to prove how little, perhaps, we know about if it's changing and how it's changing and what the implications of that might be. >> yeah, you know, we're getting to see -- the public is getting to see the discovery of a new disease in realtime. and i think this is one of the first times in almost anyone's life that we've seen this play out with such spectacular velocity. now, i think the last time we saw in such a public way the discovery of a new disease was hiv/aids. it seems like almost every day, there are new discoveries, new therapeutics, and this is evolving very rapidly. and this disease in children or the man ifestation of a prior covid disease later on in children is just another example of how much we're learning and how new this whole disease is.

>> so, despite cases of the inflammatory syndrome, you know, we know it's rare, but we also know that they're going up. and it's sort of a newly observed thing. president trump said this today. >> i think that we have to open our schools. young people are very little affected by this. >> obviously, the syndrome itself is rare. but there are concerns about sending kids back to school. where do you stand on this now, this whole question of when? >> well, the president is wrong about this. he's been wrong about a lot of the medicine in this pandemic. he was wrong -- he was wrong about the virus going away when it gets warmer. he was wrong about hydroxychloroquine. he was wrong about bleach. he was wrong about masks. and he's wrong to downplay this. this is a serious illness in children. and even though this is rare, this really resonates with parents. and it really matters when a parent decides whether to send a

child to school. they're going to be thinking about this. the president should not downplay it. he should understand how serious this is for the parents of young children. >> all right. thank you very much, dr. reiner. and "outfront" next, trump taking on dr. anthony fauci again today. plus, a new report found nearly 40% of low-income workers lost a job in march. so what needs to be done now? right now. to help. i'll ask gary cohn, former director of trump's economic council and former ceo of goldman sachs. e wireless to get more control over your wireless plan. they give you unlimited carryover data-- you pay for your data, you keep really? yeah, you just swap your sim card you can also keep your phone, keep your number, keep your network, $20 a month, no contract. oh, but that case- temporary- it's my daughter's old case- well, ok, you know. you do you. available 24/7 at tracfone.com tracfone wireless. now you're in control.

theand we want to thank times, the extraordinary people available 24/7 at tracfone.com in the healthcare community, working to care for all of us. at novartis, we promise to do our part. as always, we're doing everything we can to help keep cosentyx accessible and affordable. if you have any questions at all, call us, email us, visit us online. we're here to help support you when you need us. take care, and be well. to learn more, call one eight four four cosentyx or visit cosentyx.com

ibut that doesn't mean ayou're in this alone. we're automatically refunding our customers a portion of their personal auto premiums. we're also offering flexible payment options for those who've been financially affected by the crisis. we look forward to returning to something that feels a little closer to life as we knew it, but until then you can see how we're here to help at libertymutual.com/covid-19. [ piano playing ] we do things differently and aother money managers, don't understand why. because our way works great for us! but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? nope. we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? we don't have those. so, what's in it for you? our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different.

yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

tonight, president trump's latest target, dr. fauci. the president resuming his criticism of his open top infectious disease expert after he cautioned reopening schools too quickly could lead to a resurgence of coronavirus cases and put kids at risk. >> anthony is a good person. very good person. i've disagreed with him. when i closed the border to china, he disagreed with that and ultimately he agreed. i totally disagree with him on schools. we have to open our country. we have no choice. >> "outfront" now, cnn chief

political the analyst gloria borger and dr. eric gooseby, a friend of dr. fauci and was a u.s. global aids coordinate from 2009 to 2013, seceded in that position by dr. deborah birx. so gloria, why do you think we're seeing this now by president trump? >> well, because tony fauci has been very outspoken and he's made it clear that he's not part of the program. and the president's program is very clear quhibs, he's all about reopening now and what fauci has said is be careful not so fast. and when the president hears that, he has to push back. because now his entire campaign is based on the fact that you need to get the country going again. and of course, everybody wants to get the country going again, but if you heard him today in pennsylvania, it was very interesting to me. what he said was, this is a matter of your freedom and he was talking to people in the state, because the state has been reopening slowly. and he said, you know, you better get your governor going. and the president is criticizing

those democratic governors who have moved more slowly on reopening. it's part of his campaign. fauci is not onboard, so he has to take him on. >> so dr. gooseby, you obviously know dr. fauci well. you spoke to him a couple of days ago. look, he's trying to do his job, but how does he handle the president now directly criticizing him, contradicting him, making a point of doing it in these public things. i disagree here, i disagree there. he's wrong. how does he handle that? >> i think that dr. fauci is in a familiar position as a scientist and as a public health administrator, he has been over programs in the last 30 years where he has positioned himself where he is charged with being the position to bring the science into the policy discussion, so the principle he's supporting in that decision will have the science that's relevant to the issue and allow

for that political decision to be made in the context of the scientific ramifications. that's a delicate position to be in. it's difficult to be constantly putting the hard fact realities into what often is a an attempt to appease a political pressure point. so tony fauci has been in that position his entire career. >> so you think he just lets this roll off his back. obviously, he tries to. but he's not going to get it let to him, as the president tries to go after him. >> i think that there's no question when you're dealing at that level of discussion, the president of the united states reaction to qular bringing into the discussion is critical. you have to learn to find ways to maintain your credibility so

you can continue to deliver the science to the conversation, so that decision is informed by the scientific principles or issues that are pertinent. i think that he -- yeah, excuse me. >> i'm sorry. i was just saying, of course, the issue here is you have dr. fauci cautioning, gloria, and you have the president saying the opposite, right? so he's -- you know, continuing to try to say what he thinks. if you're dr. fauci, the president is continuing to do the opposite, speak the opposite. and it's not the first time -- this issue of schools, it's not the first time. here are a few others. >> we will have coronavirus in the fall. >> this is going to go away a vaccine. >> we absolutely need to significantly ramp up not only the number of tests, but the capacity to perform them. >> i don't agree with that. i think we're doing a great job on testing. >> i think we ought to be careful if we are not cavalier in thinking that children are

completely immuneeffects. >> young people are very little affected by this. i totally disagree with him on schools. >> it's a smart road for trump to go down, gloria? certainly, when it comes to americans, 67% of them trust dr. fauci's information on coronavirus versus 36% for the president. >> tony fauci is very trusted and he's not a very adversarial person. he is somebody who is grounded in the science. but what the president has now is a chorus of supporters on fox news and elsewhere trying to take on tony fauci and kind of saying c'est, wait a minute, who elected you? nobody elected you. we elected donald trump. and i think the president is pushing with these people at his back. and so i think he feels a little more emboldened now to be able to take on fauci. and of course, the one thing he can do is he could not listen to him, if he doesn't want to, right? and the other thing he can do is

kind of cut him out of the inner circle, if that's what he wants to do. that's up to the president, but i don't think that fauci will stop speaking out when he feels like he has to. >> that's like he won't stop speaking out and he's going to continue to be consistent on that basis. i thank both of you very much for your time tonight. and "outfront" next, 36.5 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since the shutdown began. the former goldman sachs ceo gary cohn is not surprised. and a cnn exclusive. slots disabled, chasirs are gon. we'll take you inside cesar's palace so you can see exactly how that las vegas casino, the iconic caesar's, is preparing to reopen. ♪ can it help keep me asleep? day sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. absolutely, it senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable.

and now, save $1,000 on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed, now only $1,799. only for a limited time. we're returning $2 billion dollars to our auto policyholders through may 31st. because now, more than ever, being a good neighbor means everything. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. but if you look to the land, it's a whole different story. from farms to backyards, wheels are turning.

seeds are being planted. animals are getting fed. and grass is growing. and families are giving their all to the soil because no matter how uncertain things get, the land never stops. so to all those linked to the land, we say thank you. we're here for you because we all run together. roundup for lawns is here to put unwelcome lawn weeds to rest. so, draw the line. roundup for lawns is formulated to kill lawn weeds to the root without harming your grass. roundup brand. trusted for over 40 years. to ewhether you'reting these uncaring for your. family at home or those at work, principal is by your side. we're working hard to answer your questions. like helping you understand what the recently passed economic package can mean for you. we're more than a financial company. we're a "together we can get through anything" company. now, more than ever.

tonight, 36.5 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in the united states since the shutdown began. now, this accounts for more than 22% of the workforce. i mean, this is a stunning thing. you're talking about a quarter of the workforce in this country. and it comes as a new fed report shows that nearly 40% of the people with household incomes below $40,000 reported a job loss in march. this is stunning. these are people who, you know,

their livelihood, food insecurity, it's a frightening situation. and "outfront" now is gary cohn, former director of the national economic council under president trump and former goldman sachs president and ceo. so these jobless claims, when they came out today, still shocking many. but not you. why? >> well, thanks for having me, erin. so, look, first, let me give you the good news. the trend week over week on jobless claims has gone every week since we've started this pandemic. so that's the good news. i'm not shocked, because, remember, the federal government asked us to stay at home. they literally asked every american that could possibly stay at home to stay at home. what that meant is most of the service businesses in this country had to shut down. the service businesses are literally small businesses, family run, very thinly capitalized. they, in essence, had to lay off their workers or temporarily

furlough them. and those people were put on unemployment. and the federal government did exactly what they should do. they made going on unemployment fairly enticing by that. they not only gave you the state benefits for unemployment, the federal government topped those off with additional benefits to be on unemployment, because we wanted you to be out of the workforce. we may not have wanted you to be unemployed, but we needed to get you out of the workforce, so we needed it to be economically feasible or economically plausible for you to stay at home and allow us to flatten the curve. so i'm not at all surprised that we continue to have unemployment claims. what i'm a bit surprised at is that we're not seeing them come down faster, week after week, because not only has the federal government increased unemployment benefits, they've also thrown an enormous amount of money at a variety of projects or a variety of situations, where they're enticing companies by giving them money and forgiven loans or

very cheap loans to really hire back their workforce. and that does not seem to be coming through the workforce or the labor force yet. and that is a bit surprising to me. >> and i guess part of the issue here then is that you still have people being paid with the purpose of having them stay home. and as some jobs start to come back or these businesses start to hire people, they're not paying anywhere near as much as the federal government. so what does this mean as you have a new thing coming through washington? are they literally supposed to cut those payments and how do you figure out how to do that and to whom? >> well, look, this is a very good interesting equation. look, initially, we wanted to make sure that unemployment benefits were high enough to make sure that people who were unemployed could feed their family and they were actually incentivized to stay home and not go out and seek employment, because we did not want them to go out and seek employment. now we're getting to more of an

inflection point where we need some people to reenter the workforce and reenter the working population. and so to the extent that unemployment benefits are higher than wages they can receive in the workforce, people will not want to rejoin the workforce. there are a lot of company right now that are actually trying to hire people back. there's people that got the paycheck protection plan money that are trying to hire people back, and workers are not wanting to come back because the unemployment benefits are high. now, look, understand, there are many people that cannot come back because they have children at home and there's no day care or no school so some people don't have the luxury or the option to reenter the workforce, but there are many people that are literally evaluating unemployment benefits versus what i can earn work iing -- >> so this is obviously a crucial thing for policy.

there's been some talk in terms of the broader plan here, which would include an adjustment possibly to unemployment benefits. obviously, republicans and the president have been talking about an infrastructure package. and this keeps coming up again and again. but i guess the question for you is, why do you think now is the moment. i know you do think now is the moment perhaps for something specific. why? >> well, look, as i evaluate the workforce, and you have to say, not all of these jobs that existed pre-crisis are going to come back. even if restaurants are lucky enough to open, they can't open quickly enough, and they're going to be in a position where they're at 30% capacity, so the amount of employees they have is going to be less and diminished. so the federal government could step in and say, haey, we can pt people to work. we can allow people to work. we can get them jobs. and the federal government is very good at this. so, look, we're not in an ordinary environment. we're not in normal times.

we need to think way outside of the box. so by that, think of what we did in the past. in 1935, we came up with the wpa. we came up with a system where the federal government hired people and put them to work. infrastructu infrastructure, a high-speed rail system in this country would solve so many of our problems that i think it would be time right now for the federal government to not build the systems, to just give the approvals out and the private system, the private world would go out and build a high-speed rail system in the united states. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it, gary cohn. >> thank you. >> and next, a cnn exclusive. we're going to go inside cesar's palace to see how they plan to keep gamblers safe once the las vegas strip opens.

i have moderate to severe pnow, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ nothing is everything. keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ and it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats,

chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. ♪ managingaudrey's on it.s? eating right... ... and staying active? on it! audrey thinks she's doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk? maybe not. jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. so it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and it lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection... ...in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection,... ...ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction and don't take it if you're on dialysis

or have severe kidney problems. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack? on it with jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance.

tonight las vegas casinos betting on reopening in just a few weeks. but the casino floor will look much different.

kyung lah has an exclusive look inside. >> this place is erie inside. so much excitement going on. >> reporter: this is caesars palace in the dark because of the coronavirus. you can hear our voices echoing through the lobby. >> yeah, you don't hear that echo because it's muffled because of all the bodies and all the sound and activity. >> reporter: there is not a soul here, something the iconic casino has never experienced in its 54 year history says tony rodeo of ceasar's entertainment. every single day it was operational? >> every single day. there weren't locks to lock the front door. it was tough in the beginning and there was so much uncertain tifz how long this was going to last. we're starting to see some movement. >> reporter: as nevada moves to reopen parts of its economy, cesar's is making changes across the floor. >> this is the typical configuration for black jack style games. normally there are six seats. in the new world there will only

be three chairs and nobody will be able to be within 6 feet of any of the three customers that are playing. >> reporter: this looks like it's a little less than 6 feet. is that the goal? >> i think that you're real -- if not at 6 feet, you're close to 6 feet. you're certainly not face to face. >> reporter: this is a craps table. >> correct. we're going to limb at this time to three a side. >> reporter: a bunch of people come because it's an exciting game. >> between the dealers, supervisors, security, we're going to limit it to three on each side and they have to be -- anybody else has to be 6 feet away. we will be deactivating every other slot machine and removing the stool from the game. a customer can't even stand here and play this game because the game is not even active. so we will do that throughout the whole floor. >> reporter: in addition, a video released to cesar's workers the public will use electronic sprayer. they'll disinfect dice and

elevator games. they will be required to wear masks and have temperatures taken. guests will not. casino goers have concerns about returning to the vegas strip. >> for people who say can i be 100% sure i won't get sick coming in here, is that something you can say to your customers? >> i don't know anybody in the country that could say that to anybody under any circumstance and i'm a casino operator so i don't pretend to know everything about an infectious disease, especially one as contagious as this. all i can do and ask of my team is to listen to the experts. >> reporter: are you ready for people to come in? >> oh, my gosh, yes. i'm ready. our staff's ready, our team's ready. our customers are ready. >> reporter: and this is what it looks like outside caesar's palace. you normally see taxis lining the area.

ubers, limos. they've had to furlough 90% of their employees. erin? >> wow, it is amazing. i was there just in february, end of february, and like you said, the cab lines all hours of the day. it's amazing what you said. they've never had to lock the doors. thank you very much. and next jeanne on a girl with a way to safely hug her grandparents. as made for right . and right now, is a time for action. so, for a second time we're giving members a credit on their auto insurance. because it's the right thing to do. we're also giving payment relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. right now is the time to take care of what matters most. like we've done together, so many times before. discover all the ways we're helping members at usaa.com/coronavirus

discover all the ways we're helping members now through may 17, enjoy free access to the best shows and movies from favorites like hbo, showtime, starz and for the first time ever, hulu and peacock! watch the show starring that guy you saw in that other thing... you know the one. or the series this kid on reddit says is "legit," punch emoji, explosion emoji. even the one with the actor people say looks just like your boss. and maybe sounds like him too.

put your phones down. everyone's got a show to recommend. watch the best for free. just say "watchathon" into your voice remote, or download the xfinity stream app. so bob, what do you take for back pain? before i take anything, i apply topical pain relievers first. salonpas lidocaine patch blocks pain receptors for effective, non-addictive relief. salonpas lidocaine. patch, roll-on or cream. hisamitsu.

here's jeanne. >> reporter: excitement builds. but her great grandchildren never saw nanna quite like this. >> put your arms through the slots. >> all right! oh, my goodness. >> reporter: after two months. >> oh, i love you, i love you. >> reporter: of no hugs, 85-year-old rose gagnon finally got to wrap her arms around her kiddies. >> i wanted to cry because i couldn't believe that this was happening. >> reporter: and the kids, too. >> we wanted to hug nanna. >> reporter: so rose's adult granddaughter, carley of rockford, illinois, got to work. >> i just thought, how can i do this? not putting bags over my kids or

her. >> reporter: for over 50 bucks she built hug time with plastic and tape. it's very similar to what an elementary school teacher constructed in her doorway so she could give quarantined hugs to students. the rules say disinfect all surfaces before and after each hug. since the students are unrelated, emergency room doctor leana wen wasn't crazy about the idea of kids doing the disinfecting and said the family would be better off -- >> i have seconds here. >> reporter: quarantining separately for two weeks, and then hugging the old-fashioned way minus the plastic. even a plastic-encased hug tugged at grandma's heart. >> my heart was going to burst. >> we're not meant to be separated. >> reporter: carley had a trick up her sleeves.

>> you know what kind of gloves you have? >> reporter: those are livestock gloves used for examining livestock. the kids were eager to examine their nanna. >> my turn. >> reporter: their fingers may not fill the gloves, but their arms fit great with their great grandma's. jeanne moos, cnn. >> i love you. >> reporter: new york. >> i love you. >> and cnn's coronavirus town hall starts now. ♪ ♪ >> hello, welcome, i'm anderson cooper in new york. >> hello, anderson. i'm sanjay gupta. this is cnn coronavirus town hall: facts and fears. this is seen on espanol. this is our 11th weekly gathering. >> we've gone from 12 lives lost to the virus to almost