>> tuesday on c-span political analyst charlie cook talks about the coronavirus outbreak and impact on the 2020 presidential race. that's live from the bipartisanship policy center at 5:30 p.m. eastern. on c-span 2 the senate is back at 10:00 a.m. eastern to consider an economic aid package passed by the house that provides free testing, paid sick leave, and other public resources in response to the coronavirus. coming up this morning from the institute for global and health law talks about the powers of the federal government during a health emergency. later we also discuss the role of state and local governments

with james hodge who is director of the center for public health law and policy at arizona state university. "washington journal" is next. " is next. is next ♪ host: good morning. this is "washington journal" for tuesday, march 17, 2020. there is very little celebrating planned due to the shutdown of bars and restaurants nationwide because of the coronavirus and further restrictions and limited by the federal government, the white house, state governments and localities. we would love to hear what you are seeing in response to the outbreak. the748-8000 is the line in eastern and central time zones. for mountain and pacific residence, 202-748-8001. in the line we have set aside for medical professionals. your line, 202-748-8002.

we would love to hear your experience. you can text us a message. that is 202-748-8003. we would love to hear where you are texting from, your name as well. andwitter we are @cspanwj post your comments on facebook, facebook.com/cspan. there was a briefing yesterday with the coronavirus task force and we will show you that throughout the morning and hear from you as well. here is the reporting, the message from the briefing, front page of the washington times. trump tells u.s. to shut down. president changes tone as coronavirus threat to america rose more serious. president trump implored americans to stop eating in restaurants, bars, and food courts to avoid groups of 10 or more as the group tries to avoid the fate of china and italy in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. these guidelines, which rely on

public cooperation say americans should avoid discretionary travel and stay home if they are sick. mr. trump wants americans to learn or work at home if possible. we would rather be ahead of the curve than behind it. shift in tonen for mr. trump who late in february predicted the u.s. would tackle all the cases swiftly. he says the outbreak may last into the summer. [video clip] seems to a good job, we will not only hold the death down to much lower than the other way had we not done a good job, but people are talking about july, august, something like that. it could be right in that period it washesere i say

through, other people do not like that term. >> is this the new normal until the height of the summer? >> we will see what happens, but they think august, july, could be longer than that. i have asked that question many times. host: more coming up on this morning's "washington journal." and748-8000 in eastern central time zones. mountain and pacific, 202-748-8001. specifically some of the guidelines calling on individuals, americans to engage in schooling from home when possible. avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people. avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating, drinking in bars, restaurants, and public food courts. here are the numbers from the john hopkins university center for systems and science and engineering, their numbers on the coronavirus worldwide.

183,304. total deaths, 7166. recoveries, nearly 80,000. u.s. cases jumping 9000 yesterday. total deaths, 85. 17.total recoveries, the latest numbers from johns hopkins. let's hear from donna in georgia, good morning. question concerning the elderly people during this crisis. what about when we lose our income tax and not able to go out in crowds? what do we do? host: in terms of doing your income tax by april 15? caller: right. has been some talk

of extensions, but i don't have anything specific for you. we will find that out as the morning continues. thanks for your call. this is the front page of usa , plan to stay in longer is the headline. it is primary day and ohio is postponing. the governor announced monday afternoon he is requesting the delay to in person voting until june 2 making it the only state holding contests on tuesday to try to delay the primary. three other states, arizona, florida, and illinois plan to head to the polls tuesday, today with joe biden and bernie sanders leading the democratic tulsi gabbard is still in the race, but trails by

thousands of delegates. [video clip] >> when i received a call from the lieutenant governor, the governor and the director of the ohio department of health, they made it clear due to the changed guidelines from cdc and the guidelines they were putting out , that it was not going to be possible to conduct an election in a way that would be safer ohioans. decisivenor took action to protect health and safety when tonight he issued an order along with the director of the department of health making it clear the polls would not be open tomorrow to protect public health and safety. the governor took action to protect health. i took action after that to provide the certainty ohio -- ohioans need that their voice will be heard. i sent a directive to make it clear we were going to comply order.e

i wanted to lay out the circumstances under which we would hold a fair and free election for every ohio voter and here is what we are doing. june 2, ohioans will have the opportunity to vote in person. between now and then, they will have an opportunity to vote by mail. it is something we have enjoyed for many years in the state. by doing this, we will make sure we have a fair and free election and protect the health and safety of ohioans. host: government issues historic restrictions amid virus outbreak. give us your calls. audrey in alabama, go ahead. .aller: good morning i had an experience yesterday. i went to the hospital with chest pain and it was virtually deserted. 4 suspected cases and

they had a suspected case that had been in contact with somebody from washington state that seemed like they were getting theblem .esting correct everything is going pretty smooth right now. we will have to wait and see what it does. now we are locked in and my sons last day ofmy son's school was yesterday. i made sure i kept my hands clean. i guess i will be seeing a cardiologist soon. just wanted to let you know, people are not abusing the er and not going if it is not necessary. everybody stay safe and healthy. host: we have set aside a line

for medical professionals. that line, 202-748-8003. tennessee, james, hello. caller: hello. host: you are on the air, go ahead. caller: thank you. i would like to say this. first of all, it started out that it was a hoax and you cannot believe nothing this man say. he finally got serious yesterday . it has always been he is smarter than the generals, the .cientists, the doctors is always somebody else's fault. he did away with the people he had in place and then he is going to blame.

he would not call obama's name, but that is what he meant when he said they had to fix everything. he is still lying. host: the washington times mentioned a change in town by the president, americans kept wondering what the president wanted to do on the coronavirus he distracted himself by stoking unrelated feuds and nursing grievances and shared little information about the spreading pandemic and much of what he did share was false. governors and mayors and leaders of businesses large and small stepped into the vacuum to make difficult decisions affecting constituents, employees, or customers. the frustration of governors boiled over.

andave an invisible enemy he presented a notably changed demeanor and tone from his previous briefings. here is ray in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: i have at least three or four points i would like to make, so i hope you don't cut me off before i make them. anybody who believes the numbers coming out of china, i have a bridge in brooklyn i want to sell them. every infected person they identify, there are five to 10 they do not. any numbers coming up on the screen about cases, you should by five or multiply 10 times and you will get a more accurate description of what it is like. people are not going to stay out of the hospitals. if i have symptoms and i think i have got this thing, i am not going to let some doctor or norse -- nurse tell me i cannot

get infected. should be, way it everybody should get tested because it is a lot worse than people think. i would like to know the name -- the exact name of the person who said we would not accept test o.ts from w.h. somebody said no. it came down to one person who said we are not going to get the test kits. they don'tchina, have domestic flights. they have how many cities with millions of people and they are saying they don't have symptoms anywhere else in china? that is hard to believe. i would like to know between november and january how many flights came from china into the united states because during that time, even our own intelligence communities knew there was something going on.

i saw that on the news the other day that they knew ahead of time there were things going on in china, so the president had to know. i would like to know how many flights came in between november and january when he stopped the planes from coming in. host: he talked about china, the numbers from johns hopkins, their daily tracking, 81,058 total confirmed cases in china, 69,000aths and nearly recoveries. oregon, richard, good morning. caller: i would like to make a comment how quickly the virus started spreading in china and within a couple months, it is thatl and it astounds me is even possible. apparently, it is.

on the like to comment , how it went straight up for like 3.5 years marketis an inflationary . it is all printed money from the imploding. it is my belief is they are using this blame itsomething to on and that is all i have to say. host: a caller earlier asked us about the tax deadline, she was concerned about how it affected taxes. the reporting of cnbc tax deadlines are likely to change, they write march 16 is the deadline for corporations and partnerships to submit the 2019 income tax returns.

individual tax returns and payments are due april 15. while the trump administration has said it would delay due dates, details are scarce on what the deadlines would be and it is uncertain when tax payments must be in. get your paperwork in now. if you are close to ready, file an extension if you need more time. we go to kansas. good morning. i have two quick comments. the first comment is where is russia? is anybody talking about russia? the whole world is suffering from this disease and russians are not? i think what happened is the ofsians had sent some kind virus to china and it is going all over the world. i was wondering about that.

my second thing is this. republicans freed trump of all the charges and i have always said i am not going to worry about it because the man upstairs will take care trump. this may be that. he has got to be stopped and the only person that scenes can stop him now is god. host: anthony fauci is the director of the -- part of the coronavirus task force. the before a lot of briefings spoke yesterday on the social guidelines recommended by the administration. [video clip] >> i believe if the people in

the united states take them seriously because they were based on some rather serious consideration back and forth, some may look at them and say they are going to be really inconvenient, some will say maybe we have gone too far. they were well thought-out and the thing i want to reemphasize and i will say over and over again, when you are dealing with diseasesng infectious outbreak, you are behind where you think you are if you think today reflects where you really are. , youu think you are here are really here because you are only getting the results. therefore, it would only seem the best way to address it would be doing something that looks like it might be an overreaction. it is not an overreaction, it is

a reaction we feel is writ.erate -- commence a briefings, allr of our coverage on the coronavirus available on our .ebsite caller: good morning. my question is i believe donald trump is doing the best job he can do as president of the united states. i think if anything, the governors of the states and cities of mayors and counties should take the lead. chemicald possibly be warfare from china as a gift -- kim jong-yu.

i think he is handling it correctly. i think everybody should stop being hard on the president of the united states. what about when obama did when declare anything where 12,000 americans died and he did not mention anything from six months later. he did not say anything from the american people after 12,000 people died. tim, goiffith, indiana, ahead. from the want to speak first responder standpoint of this. i am a disabled police officer my i have a brother who is caretaker and a nephew who is a firefighter. i would not ask them to give up

their job in order to save my actually -- ire am going to put it like this, a police squad car, if you ever had the misfortune of sitting in the back of one, it is like a public restroom. everything that happens in a public restroom happens in the back of a squad car. a police officer really does not decontaminateto something like that. they are, in my opinion -- my question is i wonder if our first responders are actually bridging the gaps and spreading it themselves because their personal protection is not there . it is something you would have to have on every call and you would have to decontaminate

every call because first responders have to go in. host: where did you serve, how long, and how long have you been on disability? caller: i have been on disability 10 years. the personal protection equipment is not there. caretaker -- i would not ask them to stop serving because i know what it is like. serious -- i am in serious jeopardy because i have serious health problems. theer: i just think hysteria and hype of the news media puts more fear into what .s going on

when obama was in office, i don't remember the hype from the news media over this. and iuld all be vigilant understand closing people down. the countryple in is greedy. i bought a ticket, i will go to again. that is the sad part about the society we are living in right now. it is all about me and what i have done. let's take a deep breath and look at what is going on. it is a virus. we do not have a cure for it yet. what the news media is doing with this under trump, they did not do it over -- under obama.

nothing was being closed and i believe it is right. the state should take control of their own states. the mayor wants all bars to do last call at 9:00. what is the magic number for 9:00? no bars or just say gathering places should be opened at all? what happens to the people that need to make a paycheck in this -- country? i heard one person say we will send a person $1000. $1000 does not last a month. why not make it 12,000. -- $12,000. ont: stuart in florida capitol hill, the senate returning at noon eastern. this is the reporting on the coronavirus bill from roll call. revised aid bill headed to the senate finally. white house officials and the

top senate republican said late monday economic aid to households affected by the pandemic is on track despite concerns by gop rank-and-file about the impact of paid leave requirements. hang ups inin said the house over a package of "technical fixes" to the bill on the verge of being resolved. minutes later, louie gohmert of texas, one of the 40 republicans to vote no on the bill dropped his objection and corrections were adopted by unanimous consent. ofer it held out for much the day yesterday, arguing he had not seen what the fixes were. mitch mcconnell yesterday on the senate floor as they came into session said this package was just the beginning of the response to the coronavirus. [video clip] >> senate republicans are convinced the senate bill can

only be the beginning of congress efforts to secure our economy and support american families. challengeunique unlike in any other tough circumstances, our short-term goal is not to bring economic activity back to normal starting tomorrow. our task is to secure the historically strong foundation economy andn's support americans went public health may require some normal activities simply be scaled back. i have spoken with colleagues and committee chairman. we agree there are three major areas where the senate must continue to develop bold and bipartisan action. number one, we will need to take further steps to assist individual americans and families with financial challenges in the weeks and months ahead.

member 2, we will need to further significant action to secure our economy. especially main street, small businesses and safeguard our strong economic foundation through this period. we will need to ready our health care system and support health professionals. to the senate majority is working toward next steps for all three of those fronts. further bold action can be .ipartisan and collaborative our live coverage of the senate on c-span 2. duck schumer also spoke about the pending coronavirus legislation. [video clip] are proposing an immediate and initial infusion of at least

$750 billion to wage war against covid-19 and the economic crisis .t is causing the proposal would get money directly into the hands of the american people and among other priorities, include federal funding to address hospital and capacity issues, expand unemployment insurance, and increase medicaid funding, assure everyone can -- and sure everyone can avoid -- afford treatment. --dent loans, mortgage loans moratoriums on convictions and closures. fund emergency childcare, especially for health-care workers and first responders. help schools with remote

learning. provide assistance to keep public transportation and address health and public needs and utilize the defense department to provide personnel -- to support the nationwide response. schumer yesterday on the floor of the senate. this is from a c-span viewer who tweets this, the senate is burns.g as rome headline from foreign policy. evacuateps to volunteers worldwide amid pandemic. they announced they were suspending operations and recalling volunteers. your response to the coronavirus and effort so far. 202-748-8000 for those of you in

the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 mountain and pacific. if you are a medical professional, we would appreciate your input and insight, 202-748-8002. bradley, clear fork, west virginia. caller: i really got burned a minute ago. i had just switched over to c-span and the gentleman, whatever state he was from, it is pitiful that we have an epidemic like this and a gentleman comes up and blames politicians it don't care if he is democrat, republican, or independent, it is a disgrace. this guy should hide his face in the dirt. it is a shame on somebody blaming politicians, especially our president for this virus. wake up. get your head in the right place. that a shame and a scandal

the american people and our american country has to rely on our paper product, toilet paper, paper towels, medicines, mask, and all this stuff coming from a foreign country. i have complained on this show multiple times. we need to shut our borders down and make stuff in america. the twoadley mentioned of the paper supply, wall street journal, relax, companies will have enough toilet paper, america can spare a square. jittery companies are clearing -- customers are clearing shelves. toilet paper, unlike other high demand items such as hand sanitizer and facemasks remains plentiful. sharman maker proctor and gamble and cottonelle maker

kimberly-clark has ramped up production. kimberly-clark started posting pictures of warehouse full of toilet paper. the problem the manufacturers say is getting the product shipped to warehouses in real tailors and onto store shelves quickly enough to keep up with cell -- shelves. medicalfrom jaclyn, a professional. thanks for calling in. caller: you are welcome. host: tell us about the work you do. physicianam a assistant and i work in cardiology. we are a consulting service at the hospital, which i will not name for employment reasons. we are called to see patients throughout the hospital and we are seeing patients under investigation. i was in the icu yesterday and i think americans are not quite understanding the severity of the disease partly because we,

even in the medical profession, thist quite understand how is spreading and that is critical for people to appreciate. you cannot compare this to the flu, you cannot compare it to swine. the flu has a much different incubation. flu it has anthe incubation period of 1 to 4 days. you are typically contagious one day before symptoms and up to a week after. this is truly an invisible disease and the people spreading there the people that are most active in society, the young people, the young and healthy and the people that are getting it and dying from it are the mostinactive, vulnerable. i know that has been mentioned, but when you hear people say if you have flulike symptoms, that is somewhat misleading and we have to use some terms so the

general american public can have something to watch out for, but this is truly, everything i have read and i have been reading reports out of china and listening to my governing bodies, it presents like the common cold and that is where we are misled and it is not the government's fault, it is not the cdc, it is that it is completely under investigation and the research is ongoing and years later we will be able to look back. the danger is the asymptom atic danger of it. people need to understand it is not the flu, it does not present like the flu and you cannot compare it to that.

this is my last point, the other thing is millenials -- i heard them mention this yesterday on the press conference, millenials have an enormous impact on how we can help get ahead of this because we do not have enough supplies. our hospitals reach capacity on a regular basis and i work at a pretty large cardiac institution and we have to think outside the box. if we could invoke social media and if the press conferences giving some authority to the millennial generation, the facebook --eration, i think host: what are you and your

colleagues doing for extra ?afety measures caller:caller: every morning we do daily huddles and we are getting updated protocols every .ay if not twice a day we have had to pull resources from certain departments such as floors.ral medical things are on back order, so you are seeing supplies being diverted. we always have isolation

procedures. hospitals are very good at isolation. if you ask medical providers, often times it is too good, meaning it becomes inconvenient because you have to count and glove and mask. we are doing what we can, but we are short supplies. the biggest fear is our physicians and providers will get sick. people will get sick and die. there is no perfect answer and this is a virus that is just getting started. personalo have responsibility and americans are to crisis andused basic survivors. we need to lean to our neighbors in this instance because there is no overarching answer to this right now and if we recognize that and empower our youth,

which are quite powerful, makes them feel powerful, give them the chance to make a difference. i think it would make a difference. messagee mentioned the coming out of the briefing from the white house. part of that was delivered by dr. deborah the coronavirus response coordinator. this is what she had said. [video clip] >> to the older population or those with pre-existing medical conditions, everyone in the household needs to focus on protecting them. i want to speak particularly to our largest generation, millenials. millennial young women who are bright and hard-working and i will toll you -- tell you what i told them. they are the core group that will stop this virus.

they are the group that communicates successfully independent of picking up a phone. they know how to contact each other without being in large, social gatherings. not just in bars and restaurants, but homes. to be able to address this fire that we cannot see for which we do not have a vaccine, the only thing we have is the amazing ingenuity and compassion of the american people. we are appealing to all americans to take these steps to protect each other and ensure the virus does not spread. these guidelines are very specific, very detailed. they will only work if every american takes this together to heart and responds as one nation

and one people to stop the spread of this virus. host: reporting on the briefing yesterday, the washington times on the role of deborah burks, the coordinator for the task force. when it comes to starting from scratch, dapper -- dr. deborah burks has been there. she cut her teeth in public health with the hiv, aids epidemic, starting her career in .985 at walter -- walter reed in naming her to the coronavirus task force last month, mike pence described her as a "world-renowned global health official and that is no exaggeration according to others in the field." your response and reaction .elcome at @cspanwj

this one from roger in idaho says we are doing fine in idaho. i think president trump is doing a great job. shelves are empty, america needs to slow down with the panic and remember there is elderly and young people trying to buy stuff. if you are going to buy 2, give one to another. help each other and be kind to each other. prayers to all. is it possible to virus could be transferred by our daily mail? let's all self-contained, we can do it. i was confined for four months last year and we can do it. be positive and look at true facts instead of criticizing those trying to help in a difficult crisis like we have never seen. stop with the hatred and try to help all of us worldwide. in hawaii, we say good morning to george.

go ahead with your comment. know your name, mr. host, but i like you and a loja. -- aloha.ja caller: the retail stores, i was hoping management would regulate the number of people they allow into the stores so they can maintain the social distancing between customers and workers. often times i have seen news thet a police car being in main entrance of costco or something because they are fighting each other for goods and services in the police are there to break up the fights and everything and arrest people as necessary. a police not need officer at the entrance to help management and when you reach

the limit, stop the people and until three or four people come out, let three or four people come in. i hope you understand my point. host: absolutely. go ahead and finish up your thoughts. caller: that is about it. i think they should give that some attention. don't let the stores get crowded with shoppers crawling all over each other. host: harold is next in virginia. caller: good morning. thank you for the national of c-span. i just wanted to say i think our government is getting caught up and getting things rolling now.

i have severe copd and i am on oxygen and my doctor is working with me. my doctor called me the night before and set it up to do a phone visit in place of an office visit and medicaid paid for that. i think our government is working well with everything and please, everyone, stay safe and do not politicize this. it doesn't care what party you are with. it doesn't take a lot of people to make a difference, it only takes a few. thank you and have a great day and thank you for c-span. lou in illinois, go ahead. ofler: i am sick and tired hearing people thinking this is a political problem or a political argument.

president trump fired those people. someone who has no idea of how to run a government. thanks for that. i had seen an article on your point. the washington post writing about that. this is an opinion peach -- piece by a man named tim morrison. this is the headline, we have heard this allegation several times, the pandemic response office was not dissolved. president trump gets his share of criticism. his codecs have chosen curious ground to question his response

to the coronavirus outbreak since he began spreading in december. it is alleged by multiple officials of the obama administration including in the post that the president and his --ional security advisor counter proliferation in bio defense office for a year and handed off to an official that holds the faust -- the post. officials out of power want to be back in power, but the middle of a worldwide health emergency is not the time to be making accusations. tim morrison writes when i joined the national security council calf -- staff, i inherited a skilled staff. this team of national experts together drafted the national bio defense strategy of 2018 and

the national security presidential memorandum to implement it. we wrote an order to influenza vaccines and coordinated the response to the ebola epidemic in congo, which was ultimately defeated in 2020. it is true the trump administration had seen fit to shrink the staff, but the bloat under the previous administration needed a correction. of thegates and members obama administration itself all agreed it was too large and operationally focused a departure from the traditional role coordinating executive branch activity. as the post reported in 2015 from clinton administration to obama administration, the staff quadrupled in staff to nearly 400 people and that is why trump again streamlining staff in 2017. , alabama.rmingham

go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. for protecting against hiv, we assume every patient has hiv, so we are careful around bodily fluids. because 10 to 14 the incubation period when you are not having symptoms, we need to assume we are infected and take actions accordingly to avoid infecting others, staying six feet away, and so forth. that is one key piece of advice, assume you already have it and you are not showing symptoms and stay away from others if you do not spread it. clarification for the news media, there is reporting about the effects on the economy, but

there is a second issue that is rolled into this that is not getting any attention, which is thefederal reserve since 2008 crisis, the federal reserve has been printing dollars to hold up the stock market. our president, who i think is a narcissist, he took credit for that as if he is the one who recovered the stock market when they had been pushing money into it and it seems they are not able to do that anymore and it may be the case this bubble is collapsing and there is a lot of fraudulent activity going on getg rolled into 401ks to absorbed. they sold in 2008 to well diversified portfolios among people who do not know what they are buying. there is a lot of bad activity with fraudulent fiat currency that is not being discussed. the impacts on the economy may

.ot just be the coronavirus basically, when you are watching sensationalist news, they are pushing a narrative based on fact, but they are not necessarily reporting the actual situation. reports --ple other two different stories, airlines --ssed for aid millions of people turn to online deliveries after an unprecedented pace and americans continue to reorient their lives to limit the spread of the coronavirus. -- to plans to deploy fuel the e-commerce machine and raising pay for employees at fulfillment centers and deliveries in the u.s. and canada by two dollars an hour through april.

amazon pays $15 an hour as a starting wage to workers in facilities around the u.s. in minnesota, we hear from bonnie. caller: hi. that the shocked united states, knowing the crisis we are going into, why we are not setting up factories and making everything we need for them like ventilators and masks. i have a friend that works in a hospital in south dakota and i talked to her this weekend, she is washing masks. i had seen on tv about a week ago how many masks we are making. where are they? we must be capable of getting something together and making stuff that we are going to need. in kansas, you are next. my concern is all this

talk about families, helping families, what about the elderly that have pre-existing conditions that are on very tight budgets? they are going to need a lot of help and i have been paying ixes for over 60 years and would like to know what the government is planning for the elderly. tracy, marilyn, your thoughts. go ahead. caller: hello. and thank you. if c-spanke to ask were the news media for more coverage of a company in rochester, new york called oy agen. apparently they were approved

in thecer research 1960's. the drug is not approved for use in anything else like covid-19, the doctor gave an interview 13 whan ing to believe is in rochester, i am not sure, that seems to indicate in lab tests at fort dietrich, drug proves to be very effective at neutralizing the covid-19 virus. host: i know in terms of the development of vaccine, that process getting underway yesterday. the task force holding a briefing middle of the afternoon yesterday, president trump leading off with his comments and the rest of the task force getting questions from

reporters. the president was asked if the stops with you. >> normally, but this has never been done before in this country. if you look back, take a look at some of the things that took orck -- took place in 2009 2011, they have never done what we are doing. we are also getting this ready for the future so when we have a future problem and hopefully we don't have anything like this, but if there is, we will be starting off from a much higher plateau because we were at a very low base. we had a system not meant for this. it was a smaller system meant for a much different purpose and for that purpose, it was fine, but not for this purpose. we broke down the system and now we have something that is very special and ready for future

problems. i think we can say that strongly. host: we hear from thomas, hello there. caller: good morning. thank you. i am overtired army officer for public health center although my thoughts are my own. i want to ask my fellow listeners, are we going to be remembered this for acrimonyatic growth or and throat cutting? ourselves.sed i really think we have a conscious choice. i am a christian, i am not preaching on air, but we need to take a look at the idea of being transformed through suffering versus getting more divided. finally and in the interest of brevity, we need to be interested in economic triage. the government cannot reward everybody for every bit of

suffering. fromu look at everything paying people following 9/11, there are going to be things that occur that are going to decimate you economically. the government cannot constantly make up for the fact perhaps that you cannot continue to grow soybeans in the midwest. a certain amount of aid, yes, but the idea that we go into deeper debt to supplement everything that goes wrong is too much for me. those are my thoughts, i do not heartedcome across hard or anything. day. st. patrick's on sunday, ireland closed their and very little celebrating going on. michael higgins urges irish to show solidarity and concern for fellow citizens.

the president recalls the life and legacy of the patron saint. as the world faces global spread of coronavirus, we are called to follow the values embodied in the story of saint patrick. solidarity and concern for the well-being of citizens will play a role in our confronting the challenge with which we are presented. you can read all of that at rte. ie. in greensboro, north carolina, good morning. caller: good morning. you hadioned earlier gotten a lot of calls with persons making complaints about the pandemic office being closed earlier and i think that might thatbeen because information is out of there and you read an article from the paper that said it was not, but there is an article that came out maybe two or three days

before that one and the person said she led that unit and it was closed. do you mind reading that article? host: the piece i read was an opinion piece, so it is one of several out there in response to a caller mentioning that. appreciate your input. this is nicole, go ahead. .aller: i file statewide or nationwide shutdown, especially for small businesses, is completely unnecessary. i come up personally, don't feel as a small business employee -- it is not up to the government to tell us to shut down. if people want to come into a bar or restaurant and she was to be in public, it is their decision.

anyone to come in and spread a disease or virus we know nothing about. we don't know exactly how it will end. all we are told are minimal we ares and debates and put into fear right now. down is saving maybe federal and government taxes, but it is injuring my life and small businesses. host: well kind of small business do you work for? bartenderhave been a and restaurant employee for a long time. i rely on people to come in and i rely on their money. to be closed down to the public allers all of that and small businesses are being shut down and that hinders middle class. what are we supposed to do to

survive? host: appreciate your input. a couple of thoughts on twitter. this is from facebook. you follow recommendations put forth by his medical team -- trend,asy to watch the joke, hoax, democratic plot -- after several weeks of trump denying that there was a virus problem in the u.s., he did a 180 turn. he still does not have a clue, he is too worried about the stock market. his ignorance has turned into a major collapse. that is mike in orlando, florida. let's hear from roy in georgia, go ahead. we often hear a guy can take something bad and turn it into something good.

it's time to bring those industries that are essential for our survival back to the united states. those that are critical of president trump should remember that when israel went into bondage, god sent judgment to deliver them. it wasn't the greatest speaker or the most gifted warrior. the greatest qualification was their ability to be used by god to face the challenge. the firstave spent hour talking about the u.s. response to the coronavirus. coming up we will discuss the powers the federal government can use during a health emergency. we will talk to lawrence gazan. later on, what states and .ocalities can do

james hodge, arizona state university, will join us. first, andrew cuomo and his coronavirus response briefing yesterday talked about the state responsibility to wrap up -- ramp up testing there. [video clip] phenomenalhad a increase in testing. we have been able to use the laboratories, our emergency management teams that have done a very good job of reaching out to state labs, getting them on them coordinated. our testing numbers are way up, as you will see. by the end of this week we think we will be up to about 7000 tests per day. which is an exponential increase of what we have done. i made the suggestion to the vice president, i made it to the president. i amen tell you when unhappy with the federal

response to the state. the fairness dictates that kudos where kudo's are due in here the president responded very quickly . so, i want to thank them for that. we started drive-through testing facilities in new rochelle, westchester, where we have one of the highest clusters, one of the first in the united states. i believe one of the first on the eastern seaboard. it has worked very well. it is safe for everyone. you drive up in your car, you never get out of your car. you are tested in your vehicle. they take the test gets back. takes to takeit the test is faster than we thought. it doesn't normally happen in government. we have 15 minutes per car. it's actually running ahead of that schedule. we want to replicate that. is

just smart. the worst thing is a person walking into an emergency room. if you are positive, you infect other people. if you are negative, you may get infected by walking into the emergency room. so, this is the best way to test someone. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us is lawrence gostin, director of the o'neill institute for global and health law at the georgetown university health center. joining us to specifically focus in on the powers of the federal national government and a health emergency. saw a briefing yesterday by the white house task force and a number of news outlets have reported a ramping up, this turn from the president. what did you hear in terms of

extra measures that came out of the briefing that caught your ear? host: many countries have been aggressively getting -- guest: many countries have been aggressively doing social distancing. the u.s. has been very slow to that. particularly the federal government has not been urging it. just two days ago for the first time cdc recommended that there should be no gatherings of 50 people or more, which is way too many. the president yesterday said that we should try to avoid gatherings of 10 people or more. that's probably too many also. but this indicates to me that we are in whole new territory. i have been working on and globaldiseases health through my life and i have never seen anything like this and i think americans should expect in the coming weeks to have extraordinarily

strict measures of social distancing. even before this disease, when you look at what the federal government could do, based on the fact that we are 50 states and all of them have their own health protocols and challenges,re the the roadblocks for the federal government acting? guest: it's actually a really good question. we often think the president is thatowerful and it is true with international travel bans he has extraordinarily broad powers. , it's the the country states, the cities and the that have the primary what we call police power. the president's power is quite narrow. to protect the people coming into the country

and prevent state to state transmission. but it is actually quite a limited and narrow power. the: this gets into argument of executive power versus other powers in the federal government. clearly that is happening now with the congress trying to pass what are not emergency health measures but eight measures. that's right, yeah. there are two things. one, even apart from the constitution, the president has the legislative powers that are delegated to him to be able to kind of shut down or lockdowns something with an estate. it's very unlikely constitutionally problematic. that, the president has been pretty much a bystander in a lot of what's going on with the coronavirus because congress is the one that did the emergency aid package and now

families first act. yesterday's briefing, the latest one, the new guidelines , they aretalked about hampered, these are really just recommendations. there's no enforcement mechanism. -- guest: no, there's no enforcement mechanism. tonys hinted, and even fauci, who has been an absolute national treasure, this idea that the federal government could order a lockdown. but it's unlikely that would because of constitutional reasons. i think we are likely to just see it as a recommendation by the government. host: our guest, lawrence gostin , director of the institute of national and global health at georgetown university law center. the lines are regional, (202) 748-8000 four folks in the

eastern town zone -- time zones. (202) 748-8002 for set -- for mountain and pacific. c-span0 eastern, live on and on c-span radio, if you look worldwide it but other nations are doing or have implemented so far anyway, who is doing a good job? guest: it depends on what you mean by good job. if you mean just controlling the virus, one would have to include china, but there were many human rights concerns in china. but there were big democracies that have done a very good job. places like south korea for example have managed to really bring the epidemic well down. guest: what are they doing right? host: what they are doing right -- host: what are they doing right? sadly america is right behind the curve, way behind,

the drive-through testing. going to homes and communities, a better handle on that. they did very aggressive social separation. closing of public spaces, public gatherings. restaurants, things like that. we have been, we are still way behind the curve on testing. and america has been way beyond the curve on being aggressive with social distancing. a large lack of consistency in the united states about social distancing. host: i may be giving away my age here and i remember being a kid, that i seen i can't remember at the time, polio? they said show up at the elementary school and you were given a shirt. everyone in the neighborhood, the town, everybody showed up. guest: exactly. attitude, how, is the among americans different, say, then it was back then in terms

of the federal government implementing the program? how receptive you think americans are to a nationally instituted vaccine or whatever program, a health effort that the government made? host: when week -- guest: when we get a vaccine, and very sadly we probably won't see it for at least a year, maybe 18 months, i clamorhink people will for the vaccine, that's protective. the real question is whether americans are going to listen and just stay in their homes and not go out, not go to restaurants, ours, clubs, book clubs, all kinds of things that they want to do. that has yet to be seen. i think there is a lot of civic responsibility, but also we have to recapture the idea of the common good and when we go to our neighbors, we need to look in on them, particularly the

vulnerable and the elderly. we need to come together. maybe the biggest problem we have is a nation, and it's sad to me see it unfold, the kind of divisiveness, social, demographic and political divisiveness that we have right now. if we can't all come together as americans in what is literally an unprecedented health crisis, it would make me very sad. we have calls waiting for you but i wanted to ask you at the stafford act and its implementation to empower fema, the federal emergency management agency to declare major and emergencies to coordinate national response. only the president can declare a major disaster under the law. could the stafford act be used, for example, to declare a national health emergency? guest: actually, the president

has already declared it. under the stafford act. there have actually been three health emergencies, national health emergencies that have been declared. one of the public health service act by the secretary for health and human services, alex a czar, andanother the stafford act the other the emergencies act. living inwe are now uncharted territory. three national emergencies. all 50 states have declared state emergencies. what does the stafford act give the president the flexibility to do? it creates surge funding, enables him to weigh technical -- wave technical rules and legal requirements around laboratories and testing. they can waive certain medicaid or medicare requirements.

it gives a lot more flexibility and funding to the president. host: does it also clear people or protect them from liabilities? yes, it can do, depending what the president decides. it does have those possibilities. host: focusing on the coronavirus epidemic pandemic, we go to lawrence. myler: thanks for taking call. you answered my original question earlier about the permission, the mandate from the government versus recommendations for going out. i was also curious, with the news organizations considering two things, doom and gloom cells so much, so they can over, not overreact but overly sensitize people or make them afraid of various things. other side of the spectrum, where they say they are spreading false information, that can be a huge detriment.

is there a certain president where the government is able to penalize them for any kind of act like that? guest: that's a good question. the answer is probably not. but there are two really important points. the news is that all over the place. not just the traditional media, but the social media. facebook and other social media organizations, about how to get out accurate and evidence-based messages. but right now it is all over the place, the exaggeration, the underestimation. and there's all kinds of rumors floating out there about what might or might not be true. the truth is, if you want to know, you need to use reliable sources. probably the most reliable source is the cdc website.

it's highly evidence-based, i trust it. but the second point you make has to do with the press. we do have a first amendment and freedom of the press. there's very limited room for the president for governors to actually try to interfere with the press. of course, they can try to take patently if they can, false information, but they need cooperation from the media outlet. do still have across this country, television and radio outlets have the emergency system,otification which is tested on a regular basis. you are watching a cable system, a cable system, radio station, you hear them. when would something, could something like that be used in an emergency like this? guest: yes, it absolutely could. wes intended for times when

don't, that we want to literally just capture the whole country's attention. it would be made on a high-level decision. it could not be used as a routine way of informing people. dan, bridgewater, new jersey, good morning. caller: as a physician i'm really outraged at the impact the president has had on how we roll out these procedures. keep in mind that we have the experience of china, dubious as it might be, as they did misrepresent things from the beginning. we have the experience of south korea and a number of countries to go by. the issue was always testing. at theressional hearings end of last week, fauci was saying that the policy is as .ollows -- testing is free

if you feel symptomatic, you go to your doctor. if your doctor feels that you have suspicious symptoms, you can then go get tested. a week before fauci said that you can go almost a month asymptomatic shedding the virus, which is very possible and understandable. there is this contradiction with no sense of responsibility for it. fauci is what, 87, now? guest: he's not that old. [laughter] caller: the main thing, this process that you are not doing testing and thinking that a tested person is valuable only if you know when he was negative and when he turned positive. guest: yeah. i mean, certainly the rollout of testing in the united states was highly faulty, to put it mildly.

on a per capita basis we have done far, far less testing them other countries have done, like south korea or china. italy. so, we really are way behind the curve. in fact, sadly the major benefit of testing, the real sweet spot ofm an epidemiological point view would have been weeks ago. yes, we want to get that number there has notut been an approved test. our allies are using tests. the fact that we decided we were going to use our own tests that ended up faulty, there were bureaucratic mistakes. there's no excuse for that. we should have done better. let's try not to look back. let's try now to really seek the

virusunity to bring this and at least slow it down and get it under control. this from facebook -- host: do you feel like the federal response was a month behind schedule? guest: it absolutely was. there were countries doing aggressive social distancing a long time ago. we saw this coming. the drip drip of what, first of all, every time there is a specific case here were there, that's not the point. we knew that there was large-scale transmission many weeks ago. we should have been acting. and now for the first time yesterday i thought the

presidents tone was sufficiently somber in showing that we are facing a serious crisis. but gosh, we have been through this for many weeks and we really should have been much more aggressive. we really need to ramp up. governor cuomo of new york saying that he was calling on the corps of engineers and was asked about joe's comment in the debate the other night, that the military could play a role. let's show that to you in a minute. what do you think the possible role of not just the national guard but the u.s. military could be? very helpful, but not as a policing force. that would -- guest: very helpful, but not as a policing force. that would be a very bad idea to see them out on the streets with weapons and, you know, making sure people don't leave or come out.

that would be just wholly against american values. but could they help us to build hospitals? to getth logistics protective equipment to the right places? get medicine to people in their homes? absolutely. in fact one of the greatest things president obama did was send the military to liberia during the west african imola outbreak. it really turned things around. but it was all about the just six. the military is the best in the world on logistics and we should use them. of presidentcase trump, he has used the military in the past at the border, logistically. that requires only a presidential order, not congress? yes, exactly.

host: all right, here we go to peter -- guest: but not on a partisan basis. host: i got it. peter? new york. your comment? caller: it appears that the federal government's are failing short. there could be a silver lining to this whole thing, the sense that this virus is serious, not killing millions of people very quickly. why theunderstand federal government hasn't coordinated with state government and had a contingency deal with theto situation. hollywood has been making movies about pandemics for years. it's almost as if our government

has their head in the sand and are shooting from the hip now trying to put together some type of a program to deal with this. we should already have a contingency plan. the cdc and other health organizations, why don't we do, allowed the american people to outsource all our to aaceutical products communist country? this is insanity. host: we'll get a response, peter. thank you. guest: the government has been late, no question about it. and our vital public health agencies, state and local departments on the front line, the cdc have really been starved for funds. in his budgetp tried to cut them even further, though that never went through. capacity ofealth

the national security council was stripped by the president. that's all bad. but it's not all bad. one should point out that the president did assemble through the vice president a really world-class public health task force. i know that most of the people on that task force are really good. we need to give the white house credit for that. and they also have been liaising with individual governors, national governors association's and the mayors of this country. government been and a wonderful leader? no. steps they've taken that we need to congratulate them for. we can ask you this

question, see if the answer is changed at all -- could or should the government oppose a mass quarantine on an american city? at the can read that website. guest: my view is the same. as some of your viewers may know, san francisco cordoned off parts of neighborhoods. my answer is no. in aggressive social distancing with strong recommendations. i don't think we want to see the same kinds of lockdowns that we saw in china. the united states is not china. the values of americans wouldn't tolerate that degree of social .ontrol in surveillance people in china have apps on their phones that told the government where they were. there were citizen informers.

we're not going to want an armed police or military on the streets guarding the borders. but i think we can get highly substantial performance with the american public. i believe it's like a social compact. we tell people to separate yourself for the good of humanity and in return the government will make sure that you get your food, your medicines, your health care, your sick pay. up government needs to live to it's part of the social bargain. host: it's a very new thing for americans to separate themselves , they are used to gathering in bars and restaurants. it's unprecedented in the history of america. perhaps the great flu pandemic of 1918. but nothing and over 100 years, none of us have ever seen anything like it. and it's not going to get easier, it's what you harder. any lessons- host:

from them that are applicable today question mark guest: -- today? guest: things like school closures involve social separation, affecting some of the evidence that we have now. the great influenza pandemic. but you know that swept through america and the world. it's possible that it could abate in the summer. many of us are expecting that by june, july, august, it could abate. unfortunately with the 1918 pandemic, it did come back into most people died in the second wave. i'm not suggesting that would happen now, but the future is unknown. let's go back.

host: missouri, jim, welcome. caller: good morning. let's see, one thing that i have heard is that in china, when they had people quarantined they actually isolated them instead of sending them home to infect the rest of their family. , china having had such a head start, i am sure that they are working on a vaccine. they have got a head start on us. i'm sure germany, the rest of the world is doing the same thing. will we again can -- insist on doing our own vaccine and ignore the rest of the world? guest: unlike scenes, the news is much better than it has been, thank you. there is a lot of global cooperation on the race for a

, being, including china coordinated by the world health organization. but more than that the u.s. national institutes of health are second to none in the world in their technical capacity for vaccine development. we will be in the vanguard. i also know that tony fauci and others at nih, they are not going to just go it alone. they are working in partnership and in collaboration around the world. solidarityt global around a vaccine is there. my only worry is that it may become in short supply. if so, will rich countries like the united states, germany, and others poured the vaccine -- and lethe vaccine

others die in sub-saharan countries, like africa. these are hard questions. just happen when the virus gets embedded in places like syria, yemen, and other fragile states. we have got a lot of challenges ahead of us globally, not just nationally. gostin, i have a question for you on text, text a question for you. does the president have the power to order u.s. cruise ship companies to make some of their vessels available for converging to hospital ships -- for converting to hospital ships? last: first of all, the place on earth i would want to ship.al is on a cruise i don't know why people are going on. ofhave seen lots

transmission on cruise ships, so i would be deficient -- in terms --commandeering private host: facilities. guest: we have had that in our constitutional tradition. it depends upon the national -- on the national emergency and on the legislature delegating that authority to the president. host: he has been able to shut down flights from various nations. how about within the country? can he order no flights between cities? guest: that would be much more constitutionally problematic he has very broad power restricting power into the -- restricting travel into the united states. he has very narrow power in restricting the right to travel within the country. infact, we have not done it constitutional history. the only time before now that the cbc -- the cdc even advised

people not to travel in the u.s. was for pregnant women going to southern florida during the -- epidemic. 9/11, flights were grounded through the faa? guest: the faa close down their support of travel, yes. host: next up, las vegas, nevada. go ahead. caller: good morning, america. just a couple of points. the federal government should use powers, and the first power i would like to see them use is to clap down on the corrupt media that is just reporting and underreporting the whole affair. i mean, the swine fluke killed 120,000 people -- i'm sorry, killed 18,000 people, before obama even did anything. i would just say that as far as other things go, 20 years ago i used to kid that the first thing as czd do as is our is --

ar, i would board up all nursing homes -- burn them down. we have lost our way in america as far as how we used to -- the media not reporting about the conditions in china, about the under nourished people, we are all going to be ok. host: we did talk about the numbers in china. yesterday and today for our the numbers from johns hopkins university. china,total confirmed in over 3000 deaths in china. in the u.s. today, cases 4661, there are a total of 85 deaths across the country. arun's cost and the echo guest: we have 2 -- lawrence gostin? heads we have to keep our about this. it is unwise in america to call all media corrupt.

are there inaccuracies? is there skewed reporting? of course there is, and we know that is a problem that we need to work on. be aournalists can lifeline to a democracy, and are a lifeline to a democracy if they are responsible. i don't want to see the president or our citizens demeaning hard-working journalists. to fix it? yes, of course, we need to get more accurate information out there. but also burning down nursing homes and all of that kind of thing -- we do need to keep our heads. but is very, very serious, we can actually defeat this virus and do so in accordance with our constitutional, social, and civic values. we need to come together as americans and say, ok, we share some values.

we also share a common goal of our own health safety and security, so let's put our heads together, let's stop fighting, and let's focus entirely on the national health crisis that has no precedent in the united states. in deerxt up is dale park, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, we can. caller: i am calling about civil service workers that work for the federal judiciary. they pay into the retirement fund, and right now they are losing thousands of dollars because the stock market is going down, down, down. is, people do not realize when they call in to stop that, they are told it would take two weeks to go into effect. losingmeantime, they are

thousands and thousands of more dollars. i would like to see the government take steps to stop that practice. i don't know how it works in the private sector, if they have that ability, the individuals to stop that if they are contributing some plan like that. that is about it. somebody that retires in four or five years, when it becomes time for retirement, they find out that they lost thousands of dollars they were not even a part of. host: that is dale in texas. lawrence gostin? a financialnot expert. clearly we are in a health pandemic, but we are also in a economic pandemic. with the pain not just at the civil services are feeling, but what people are feeling all over the country is real and palpable.

we need to have much more of an economic and social safety net than we do. and while the rich will probably be able to withstand this, the lower income working class, middle classes of america -- of americans are suffering, and there is just no denying it. article go back to your about potential mass quarantine. term -- what is that? guest: people in the united states colloquially, including the press, have been calling these things mass quarantine's lockdowns. it is really not the technical correct term from a public health point. , iuarantine is literally

know you have been exposed to a dangerous infection and i quarantine you for a period of time of incubation, in this case 14 days. but when we are doing it en , it is a guarded area where nobody can leave. host: they did something like that in new york. in new rochelle, correct? that is the problem because governor cuomo in articulately called it a lockdown, and the press really has been referring to it as a lockdown. it is actually not. closures,ally school closures of banks, calling in the national guard or the army corps of engineers to help with logistics. if you look at the headlines, you would think it was very direct county and and you might be very concerned come as i was.

when you look at the details of what governor cuomo did, it was not only reasonable but -- more broadly, you have experience with the world health organization the president yesterday talked about speaking with leaders of the g7, and this group with the g7 statement yesterday, we've leaders of the group of seven acknowledge that they pandemic is a human tragedy in global health crisis, which also poses major risks for the world economy. we are committed to doing whatever is necessary to ensure strong global response through closer cooperation and enhanced corporation.nced we remain committed to the stability of the global economy. we express our conviction that current challenges related to the covid-19 pandemic be a strongly coordinated international approach based and using, evidence,

the strengths of private enterprise. what is your appraisal of the international, the coordination that they use several times. guest: i am the director for the world health organization center on global health law. i work with them and i helped draft the g7 summit on global health. that statement is admirable. we do want mutual solidarity. we want global cooperation. unfortunately, we have seen anything but. everybody is closing their borders to everyone else. each country is blaming each other. even the vice president called this the wuhan virus, the china, the foreign virus, as if it were a virus -- a virus is a virus, it does not belong to any country. calling the influence of the spanish flu, it actually originated in the united states there is so we should not really

be dividing as a global community. we should be uniting. host: what is the one concrete thing internationally that can be done? guest: one of the things, we should put our money where our mouth are and we should give financial support, not just now but in the future with the world health organization. we have been extraordinarily stingy with them. they have the budget about one quarter of the u.s. cc, and they are responsible for the whole world. the who budget is less than a large hospital in america. host: we want to alert our c-span viewers and listeners. the world health organization -- we cover them as we can life if we are able, but certainly you can find them on our website. the website, c-span.org/coronavirus, all of the briefings we have covered in the past in conversations about

the coronavirus are there. this is barbara in jensen beach, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is, can the virus be transmitted through the mail or fedex or any sort of organization? it is a good question there there is so much we don't know about the virus, but let me tell you what we do know. not an aerosolized virus. it does not hang in the air like flu, but it is highly there areble, and basically two routes that it can transmit. youis somebody sneezes on and the droplets go on you. stayis why we ask you to apart from everyone else. but the other reason is more common, that the droplets will go on a surface and you will touch the surface and then touch your face. that is the mechanism.

that is why we are telling you to wash your hands, not touch your face. we do not know how long and on virus lasts. the we are trying to find that information out. but let's say that you were going to get a fedex package or may be more pertinent, someone who is going to do a home food delivery, which a lot of us are doing now. so i caning my family, tell the american public -- i think it is ok to do that, but what you would do is have the delivery person leave it outside on your front step, and before you go get it, up, put the food on your plate, discard the packaging, and then wash your hands thoroughly before you eat. without touching your face in between. that will keep you safe. host: good advice.

albert in lb on, maine. you are on the air. go ahead. caller: kudos to c-span, the only objective network on the air today. the question i had not heard asked before, how specifically does all the testing really helped? more badeating even a situation by having everybody else trying to get tested when if you got it, you got it, you don't, you don't, and people are doing the same things anyway? guest: a lot of people will say that is not a good question. actually, it is a very good question. usually we dohat testing as a diagnostic tool. we want to know if you have a particular disease so we can treat the disease. in this case, we have no

specific treatment for covid-19. so until we do, we are just going to treat you symptomatically. your clinician might want to rule out other things that might be useful, but the value of testing from a clinical point of view is it gives the doctor more information, it gives the patient more comfort. no value in the public -- there is more value in the public health side. if you are positive, we can isolate you, we can do contact testing to see you have been that who you have been in contact with and prevent the virus from spreading. that would have been much better had we rolled out mass testing weeks ago. but now that we are in the mitigation phase, we have missed the sweet spot where testing would be good. but when the president says they will have millions of tests

available in the next couple of weeks, is that a good thing? yes. would it have been far better to have had it weeks ago? absolutely. host: your best advice for someone who thinks they have some sort of symptoms like that. who should they contact first? guest: if they can cope at home, they should call their doctor and talk to their doctor and not going to a clinic or emergency department where they might spread the virus. if they cannot cope at home, if you are elderly, you're really sick, then you are going to need to get to a hospital and be safe, but don't go into a waiting room. let people know that you may have covid like symptoms. so that they can prepare and not accept others in the hospital setting. covid can spread quite rapidly in these kinds of congested settings. we have seen it in nursing homes, cruise ships, and absolutely in hospitals.

host: lawrence gostin, you need to stay well. we will have you back here in a couple of weeks, i'm sure. the o'neill institute for national and global health law, thanks for being here this morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: we will continue the calls with you. if you are a medical professional, we would love to hear your experience, your guidance, your thoughts. 202-748-8002. larry kudlow yesterday talked with reporters about the economic impact of the coronavirus. you argue with some of the top economist in the world who are now saying we are entering a global recession? >> there are a lot of forecasts out there, and i appreciate that

and respect that. we are going to be challenged. no question about it. we are going to be challenged. i have been saying that and i will continue to say it. i am not going to label it one thing or another. we don't know, the models don't know, there is a lot we don't know. first quarter is going to be fine. it is the second quarter that will be difficult. i don't need to have labels on this. point, ifs is a key you would just allow me a moment -- for some reason, some friends of ours have written in, prominent people, that we have not done anything fiscally. that is just not true. , in hisident has said speech wednesday night and again on his presser friday, and i will say it again -- we have in -- i$400 billion would prefer to think of it as

fiscal assistance. one of them is in the bill coming through the house. obviously the unpaid sick leave. enormous support for small and medium-size businesses, which will be made larger because of the declaration of the emergency stafford act, which allows us to draw funds from fema as well as the sba. the other is the deferral of the income tax, businesses and individuals, for three months, penalty free, interest rate penalty free. 400 pretty much gets you to million right there. on top of that, where deferring the interest on student loans for the end of the year. i don't have a number estimate on that yet, but that is part of our package. we are buying $75 million worth shenanigansop the from saudi arabia and russia and protect american oil companies. on top of that --

>> what is the number? >> $75 million is the target. on top of that, i want to remind that the payroll tax holiday is a serious proposal, a very serious proposal. we will be discussing all of that with house leadership. end, provides cash flow and liquidity for both employers and employees. it also has an economic incentive. you get to keep more of what you earn. and i think that is great. the blue-collar tax, middle-class tax cut attender, is henrik, very important. collar tax, middle-class we have an enormous fiscal plan. much of it can be done through

executive authorities. president, we will use whatever federal powers are available. and i will add and maybe then some. keeping our phone lines open, to hear from you on your thoughts of how the federal government has responded so far, is the coronavirus pandemic. time zones,central mountain pacific, that is 202-748-8001. for medical professionals, 202-748-8002. a couple of tweets from greg kaplan, who says the senate is back at 10:00 a.m., expected to vote later today on the revised economic relief bill announced by unanimous consent, past last night.

corrections to the bill passed saturday morning by the house. president trump tweeting this morning that andrew cuomo wants all states to be treated the same but all states are not the same. some are being hit hard by the chinese virus, some are being hit practically not at all. new york is a very very hot spot -- a very big hotspot. west virginia so far has the fewest cases. andrew, keep politics out of it. the governor yesterday called on the use of the corps of engineers. here is what he said. flatten the curve, flatten the curve, flatten the curve. that is what you hear every day on tv, we must flatten the curve. the concept is right. flatten the curve, slow the spread so the health care system can handle it. , i don't say this think of a curve, i think of a wave. break, wave is going to

and the wave is going to break on the hospital system. we are doing everything we can to flatten the curve. i believe we have taken more dramatic actions than any state in the united states. i believe we have had the most effective response of any state in the united states. i don't believe we are going to be able to flatten the curve enough to meet the capacity of the health care system. business, plan ahead. plan forward. anticipate what is coming down the road and get ready for it. expanding the capacity of the florida -- system, for a state is virtually impossible. building a hospital is a very elaborate, extensive expense of

undertaking -- expensive undertaking. again, we need the federal government to play its role. the federal government has tremendous capacity. i was in the federal government. i was a cabinet secretary. i worked with the military, i worked with the army corps of engineers. they have tremendous capacity. this is what they do. this is what they do. they build airports. they build the bridges. they build hospitals. this is exactly what they do. deploy the army corps of engineers to come work with states to build temporary medical facilities. get us back up beds so when the hospital is overwhelmed, we can have some of the people who are in the hospital beds go to a backup medical facility. it makes all the sense in the

world. all of the, that and briefings we have covered, on c-span.org/coronavirus. looking for your calls, 202-748-8000. for medical professionals, two 02-748-8002. townhall, pat buchanan, the headline of his opinion bea piee in the -- on the pandemic here he writes about the efforts of countries around the world and what they are doing. "what we areis, witnessing is the clash of human nature and ideology. throughout history, most men have put an attachment of family, tribe, faith, country, above thenation

claims of liberal ideology. but while all citizens may have the same god-given right to life and constitutional right to "equal connection -- equal protection of the laws," all people do not have equal rights to our affections or concerns. for most men, the claims of the heart are superior to those. people put family, friends, and country first. we go to stacey in mclean, virginia. thanks for waiting. go ahead. caller: thank for having me. good morning, america. my question is about the tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires. shouldn't we overturn those and make them pay their taxes so that money can go to helping people and hospitals who are in need of aid? in taxeser $17,000 this year and had to pay an additional $2500 in taxes because they said i did not pay enough. where people like jeff bezos

made $118 billion and paid nothing in taxes. scam should be overturned, and those millionaires and billionaires should be made to pay back all that money so we can use that to build hospitals and to take care of the sick. this coronavirus is more like germ warfare. it is spreading too fast, too quickly, and it is too deadly to be a virus. i believe we were attacked spirit i believe this is an act of war. next, phoenix, arizona. caller: good morning. my name is linda. concerned about the fact that they are saying that we should not be anymore. 50 people in a group, and we are in a tight space with way more than 50 people. it just seems like there is not a whole lot of concern about us

and the fact that we really are fine.g a america we are in the first line of getting the virus. and it seems like the government does not care about us. host: what kind of precautions has the governor -- has your employer told you to take? us givenhey have had better gloves to wear. although i have not seen that. i have been working, they have also said that we can work in gloves. and -- tell us what airline you work for? southwest,ork for and i have been all over the united states. . have not been tested

they are not asking that we test. and i guess the other day, delta had an incident where someone said that they had been in contact with someone with the -- i don't know what happened, but it was on cnn. host: are they extra cleaning the planes these days? have you observed that? caller: yes, i will say that the planes do seem quite a bit , you know, as far as cleaning throughout the day, we do not have cleaners. we just have flight attendants that tidy. and they feel that they probably should be cleaned better than what we are doing. host: thanks for calling in. to robert next in alexandria, louisiana. caller: yeah, good morning. i have a theory.

the president has two countries mad with us, iran and china. iran said they were going to put a bounty on him. china said he had a christmas present -- they had a christmas present for him. -- i think they need to check the seafood and other stuff because i think the virus coming through the food. thank you. hill posted within the last 20 minutes the headline, " trump to propose $850 billion stimulus for coronavirus response."

host: casper, wyoming, beverly, welcome. caller: oh hello. host: hello. caller: hello? host: you are on air. caller: i suggest people wear plus,and gloves and little, one of them sanitizers, vials. they can put it on their gloves instead of taking off so many different gloves, changing them out.

them.at sanitizer on it would save a lot of people from transmitting this virus. flu and as it is the instead of the corona because a lot of people, you know, they are panicking and everything. if they stay in the house for a while, if they have it, they can call their doctor and ask them if they can pick up a testing, suit up, go get your testing and a lot of people, you know, they depend on the nation. we need to be a team. the people, volunteer workers, like i. host: ok. hawaii, larry.

caller: the first thing we got to do is get the village idiot out of the office. trump needs to go. larry, mute your television or turn down the volume. you are feeding back. caller: ok. host: anything else? caller: nah, that is it. (202)-748-8003, text us. "may god watch over all of us in this crisis."

host: harold, east alton, illinois. caller: good morning. i am not sure if i am thinking about this right. from what i understand, once you get this, you cannot contract it

to 90% oflike, 80% the people that get it, it is just like having the flu, you are down 3, 4 days, may be a week, but you will live through it. should we maybe quarantine older people instead of shutting down , 60 and above, and make sure they were protected and let everybody else get it? i am not sure. i think if you get it, your antibodies in your blood learn how to fight it off. host: i am not sure that is a certainty. lawrence, our previous guest. i do not think that is a certainty. kathleen, pasadena, maryland. caller: good morning. i wanted to see if anyone have info -- cnn had a report this morning president trump

the pharmaceutical company working on the vaccine in germany and wanted to purchase the vaccine. they did not mention whether that was for himself, if it was a personal request or if it was a request from, for the country. i would like to know if c-span could do some research on that, maybe find another source, so we could find out if that is true? host: where did you hear the report? caller: cnn. host: ok. thanks. nancy, evans, georgia. husband is an er telemedicineing with people that have this. my nephew is a lab person doing testing for this.

my daughter and sister are on the front lines as nurses for this. people need to calm down and have our ownch responsibility for this, to stay in. we have canceled church where we live. they need to quit -- it shows a lack of people taking care of themselves and always depending on the government. the biggest thing it shows is if you look at where the outbreaks are, people should not be living the way they live in new york city and san francisco and places like this where they are on top of each other. another thing i would like to say is, when i hear people come and the newsel channels blaming trump, this started in china.

they get it from everybody. we all need to be in this together. quit making this such a political thing. yes, the thing the guy just said -- if you contract it, will you have immunity to it? yes. people don't remember that when we had sars, there was no vaccine for it. it lasted one year and went away. people need to calm down, be responsible for themselves. i grew up in the town where katrina hit. i did not see people acting as crazy as people are acting now, when we had nowhere to go to get food and we all depended on each other. that is what i wanted to say. people need to calm down. story.ollow-up to a she said she had seen on cnn, the caller, the reporting of usa today "german vaccine company,

offer from trump to buy exclusive access." they tweeted monday they did not receive an offer from president trump for rights to a vaccine. the statement was aimed at putting an end to a controversy surrounding a reported attempt by trump to gain exclusive access to a potential coronavirus vaccine or the german research group doing the work on it. the white house also dismissed the charge. the controversy broke sunday. host: read more at usatoday.com. dale in colorado. caller: good morning. host: you are on air. colorado, they have shut down restaurants and bars.

days,re starting 30 possibly going 60 days. friend, owns aal bar in southern colorado, a small town. thats several employees they make just enough money to survive paycheck-to-paycheck. they are talking a stimulus package with a tax break. doax break is not going to the very small business and all the employees that work out of a tip jar, that is not going to help them survive this. i am curious what you think should be done about that. host: eddie, albany, georgia. caller: hello? host: mute your volume and go ahead, annie. i am a licensed cna.

do you hear me? host: we do. caller: i have retired over 45 years ago. i worked in a government hospital in new jersey. we were told about this same virus coming in the years to come and is here now, this is this coronavirus, and we had to -- they showed us the masks and everything, that is coming right now. host: thanks. president trump, part of the briefing at the white house. another one coming up this morning. we will tell you about that in a minute. yesterday afternoon, the president and officials gathered ramping up recommendations on dealing with coronavirus. [video clip] force, newes of task modeling conducted by dr. burks

and our consultation with governors, we have made the decision to further toughen guidelines and blunt infections now. we would much rather be ahead of the curve than behind it. that is where we are. my administration is recommending all americans, including young and healthy, work to engage in schooling from home when possible, avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating and drinking in bars, restaurants and public food courts. if everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and defeat the virus and we are going to have a big celebration altogether. with several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner quickly. a lot of progress has been made. host: part of yesterday's briefing.

today's briefing, the first one, coming up at 10:30 a.m. eastern, live here on c-span, also c-span radio and all briefings available at www.c-span.org. we go next to paula in st. petersburg, florida. caller: good morning. president's fault. i agree with the previous caller that they have to stop blaming him for everything. attacky, this is an against our constitution, amendment 1. the government has no right to be shutting everybody down. this is about self-governance. congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging freedom of speech or of the press or of the right for people to peaceably assemble and

petition the government for a redress of grievances. what they are doing, this is a form of control and this is just the beginning if they are allowed to get away with this and the way i am seeing it, everyone is causing mass asteria over this and they will get away with it and before you know it, we will be a communist country. thank you and i hope people wake up. host: we continue the conversation. states, we focus on what /localities are doing in response. we will be joined by james hodge at arizona state university to talk about that. first, the coronavirus briefing at the pentagon where the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, jonathan hoffman, updated the latest numbers of the outbreak and how it is affecting the pentagon. [video clip] >> i want to start with the latest dod coronavirus numbers. as a 5:00 today, there have been

37 reported cases, 18 military, 13 dependents, three civilians, three contractors. we are monitoring. we will provide updates each day as we receive them. secretaryputy released guidance on travel for dod personnel. effective today through may 11, all domestic travel for military personnel will be halted unless it meets one of a number of waiver criteria's, including mission essential travel or humanitarian reasons. this will restrict dod civilian hiring, dod installations to persons who live within the immediate commuting area of facility. topetary continues to say priority is to protect service and families and maintain ability to complete central missions. we will take all those efforts. additional updates. given department has

authority to local commissaries, store directors to impose restrictions on purchasing high demand products. this will be done in coordination with pace leadership. department is making sure family members living on base understand this and have access to goods they need. finally, i want to give you updates on what we are doing in the building. starting today, secretary and deputy secretary remaining physically separated. we are attempting, for lack of a better term, a bubble around them. staffeans they and their will only interact via teleconference. we are limiting the number of people who have access. teamer today, the cmo posted a tele-town hall to address protective measures in place. they have a bunch of questions from people, which includes

disability and also other buildings in the national capital region talking about health protection measures. we will do events like that here and around the country to keep our people informed. announcer: washington journal continues. phoenix,es hodge, arizona, director of the arizona state university center for public health law. we will focus on the role of thees/localities in coronavirus pandemic. we spoke broadly about the federal role earlier. what sort of authorities to states have indo being able to respond to the virus? guest: it is important we make the distinction between states and federal. states have the broadest health powers, tribal governments as

well. what it means basically is, they have sovereign authority to respond real-time to a slate of different powers you see put into effect as we speak. that is the constitutional system at stake. we reserve those state powers. they use them in emergencies like this. host: we have seen states act. new york, maryland, california. what have you seen so far of note? guest: it is important to observe one thing we have never seen before in u.s. history to my knowledge. every single state, all u.s. territories, simultaneous declared state of emergency. we have never seen that. this is that serious. we have unleashed public health powers -- traditional things we might do -- we are now using those on expedited basis. everything in relation to testing, screening, social

distancing, measures pursuant to quarantine, isolation, very aggressive measures out of san francisco and other regions, all thanks to those emergency declarations and what they authorized. -- authorize. host: what about civil rights when social distancing policies are implemented by states/localities? guest: great question. a lot of americans are concerned about constitutional protections. they did not go away. they are being recalibrated as we speak. the government, at any level, cannot waive fundamental constitutional rights but we are assessing the compelling state interest involved against the backdrop of being expeditious in regards to response effort. social distancing powers especially, without question, infringe on basic civil liberties. that rebalance is occurring but

we are not dispensing with those liberties. there are fundamental protections regarding due process, equal protection, first amendment rights, etc. they are being recalibrated because of the backdrop. host: you used the term, compelling state interest. what does that mean legally and for your average citizen? guest: legally, when we assess interventions that do infringe on individual interest and rights, what we look at from a constitutional perspective is -- does government have a compelling state interest? is there something so compelling from public health perspective that would justify these types of infringements? courts will be looking at that at every level, if issues are challenged, i daresay they will be in jurisdictions, so that is the standard. is there a compelling governmental interest at stake? covid-19 is compelling. i don't think any court will debate that. how do you balance that against norms/protections we enjoy when

we are not in these situations? that is what courts have to balance. the arguments will be there, laid out neatly before the public but the truth is, if we do not systematically, in an organized way, engage in social distancing at levels we have not seen before in modern history, if we don't do that, covid-19 threatens the health of everyone in the country, no question. oft: james hodge, university arizona state -- error-prone state university, director -- arizona state university, joining us to talk about localities and state response. we welcome your calls and comments. 8000, eastern and central time zones. mountain, pacific time zones, (202)-748-8001. what about quarantine situations? how much leeway does a governor

quarantine on a city/locality within that state? clear, legal terms. quarantine is just about separating persons who may have been exposed to covid-19. we don't know if they are infected. you may be quarantined at home. you may have been exposed. that is legitimate. we do that in non-emergency's all the time. perspective,legal just about those persons who may be suspected of potential infection down the road. what we are talking about and seeing, at federal and state level, california, new york have been suggesting this, there is an issue using curfew laws in new jersey to do this, what we are talking about in relation to self protection or sheltering in place initiatives, these are not

quarantine, they have not all been exposed to covid-19 yet but these are different dynamic from a social distancing perspective. they raise additional concerns about how far government can go. that is an open book question. weit were a federal issue, would have severe problems implementing some sort of national sheltering type of initiative. state powers are more extensive. whether or not they may infringe on specific liberties in a way that would be problematic, we will see here real soon. host: our guest has been on the faculty of georgetown law university center, also the bloomberg school of public health in baltimore. james hodge, joining us from phoenix. jenny, lincoln's and, north carolina. caller: hey. first of all, being in north

carolina, there is 33 people here with a virus. people are doing a great job in north carolina. i hope people continue to stay away. let's get rid of this may be in the next month. things would be better if everyone did their part. trump are talking about and the border and everything. tell the people what would happen if trump did not close the border. this morning on the radio, they had said this virus has been around in china since like 2002 and the government was told 13, this is8-20 spreading every year and getting worse and worse. we really should have prepared for this before trump got in. had nothing when he got started. closing the border was the best thing he did. it slowed everything down. it gave us a chance as people started spreading it, it gave us a chance to prepare for more tests. this is new ground for us.

i don't want people to blame trump when the previous administration had warnings and was told, this virus is getting worse and it will get here eventually and spread. guest: thank you. great observations in regards to what might have been perceived threats to the nation's health with prior incidents. sars-19 has derivations in and other coronavirus is. one of the important things to levele at the national through president trump, on the local level, north carolina health authorities, doing a great job, state of emergency through the governors -- these initiatives, honestly, to work, have to be grounded in key principles. the science of what we know about covid-19 and the potential spread. we are learning that real-time. any lawyer will tell you if you want to be effective in legal

interventions, listen to what epidemiologists are telling us about the spread. the second thing is the rule of law, constitutional principles, the same principles that make sure we get through this emergency with dignity and respect for civil liberties but also acknowledging we are in unparalleled times. this is unprecedented. closing borders, initiating specific travel restrictions. we will run up against a lot of constitutional interest at stake. if they are grounded in best practices, science and what we can do real-time social distancing, that is yet to be determined. great point. thank you. host: patrick, st. petersburg, florida. caller: yes. be fortion might not your guest. i am just wondering. the numbers are not adding up.

deathst under 10,000 globally at this point? guest: patrick, one of the things i deferred to, as i was mentioning, what epidemiologists are telling us. here is the message you're hearing from our nationally, supremely talented epidemiologists. confirm, thecan numbers, are important to her knowledge. yes, in excess of several thousand deaths. to be the this does notthis isr biggest issue and how we are responding. provent not literally be to be as problematic as some numbers suggest. theexperts will tell you projections were in the first wave of what could be a two or three wave epidemic. we have so many unknown cases globally because we cannot get testing done fast enough.

we are working on that in the united states. statescant calls from demanding a lot more help from the cdc and others were those interests. what i don't want to do in the nation's -- and the nation needs to be consciences -- clumsy of,nes of -- conscientious the fact that we have preventable deaths that we can actually manage and do well against if we take these initiatives now. that is what we are up against in regards to conditions. we know it kills, it kills quickly and there won't be a vaccine for sun time -- for some time. that is why we are using what we are using against that backdrop. host: for all of our other viewers, we showed you a moment ago the tracker from johns hopkins, you can google that. it is called the johns hopkins dashboard of the daily numbers in the u.s., the number of cases

in the u.s.. 61 deaths -- 85 deaths confirmed. we will go to california. glenn, good morning. bless donald trump god bless america. here is one thing we are not talking about. we have talked about the coronavirus for about a month now, right after impeachment was ended. he put a travel ban and he was called a racist just like me of deplorable -- a deplorable who voted for our greatest president we have ever had who is working hard for the american citizens. what is our congress representatives done? host: we will go to ronnie in oceanside, -- in oceanside, california. caller: thank you. first of all i would like to say thank you to our speaker. daughter andd my

my future family, they all work in the medical field. therapist, they are at the frontlines. they are heroes in this situation. people that work in the medical field. we have to remember, they are at the frontlines. the original frontline was trump keeping the department that would handle something like a pandemic. cryinge whining and about trump being picked on about this, he is our president, our leader. thehim to eliminate department that protects the american people, the buck stops

there. host: go ahead. guest: i did not mean to interrupt. thank you for those comments. i will focus on the ones that are most serious, frontline health care practitioners are definitely national heroes at this point. we are calling on them to take risks that are excessive. a are doing so against backdrop knowing we are going to be implement in crisis standards of care. we are shifting to triage and local jurisdictions. is important to remember about that is that these emergency declarations that our network of public health , providess tracks signet -- specific opportunities for legal protections for their health care -- for those health care workers. they are putting themselves in great risk. we are serious about making sure we can protect them but there is

potential claims that could arise them -- arise against them for having to make extremely tough decisions. createmergencies often legal protections against them -- legal protections for them against claims. the legal environment has changed a lot and a lot of it is about making sure our health care workers on the frontlines working with state and local practitioners really have the best possible opportunity to respond and save as many lives as we can. host: all 50 states have their own public health service, a state health service. how healthy are most of those systems? guest: these systems have been underfunded for too long. some wealthier states like california, new york and such have a robust public health system. others don't and what you will see is covert is an equal player in regards -- covid is an equal player. infusion of additional -- you will see

states be able to sort of upgrade and move up with every effort thrown at this from the perspective of the governor dickey emergency that would mickey difference. however, we could have had more robust and better funded public health systems in place to at least alleviate some of these concerns. in a final comment to make sure we are clear, i am not as concerned about the dedication or the skills or even the boots on the ground factor in relation to public health in the united states. i am much more concerned about the influx of patients that may be affecting health care worker operations to the tune of actually impacting not just a person with -- persons with covid but all persons, nationally. host: there is an article in the washington post about the states reaction and the president's response as well.

the people wondering what president trump one of them to do about the coronavirus and finally he gave some guidance. piece, they write that he whacked a beehive when he called that meeting of the nation's governors. he said they should not provide of the federal -- they should not rely on the federal government to provide equipment and the state should obtain a work -- in the states should work on obtaining their own. here he is. [video clip] >> they can get them faster by getting them on their own. go through a supply chain they may have. the governors during normal times, they buy a lot of things, not necessarily through the federal government. if they are able to get ventilators and respirators and certain things without having to go through the longer process of the federal government, we have stockpiles now and we are ordering tremendous numbers of ventilators, respirators, masks and they are coming and we have quite a few at this point.

directly,n get them it is always going to be faster if they can get them directly and i have given them authorization to order directly. host: james hodge, what did you hear from the president in terms responsibility? guest: there is the good and the bad and the ugly. first of all, what the president isn't saying is that -- what is saying is that we have had in place for years is the strategic national stockpile. these stockpiles are out there and they are going to be drained and utilized systematically and those resources are available and the states are meant to be the primary recipients. we are going to get those out the door. i think the president is intimating that is what is available. the bad is that while president trump is right that the states has -- and he has

waived a lot of the red tape so we can get these things in hand, the fact is that the deepest pockets of this country is at the federal level. we've got multiple billions of dollars in stimulus funding that looks to be forthcoming. if the feds can get a faster, i would suggest they do so and distribute to the states on some equal basis on the purpose -- on the permissive need. if a governor can acquire these resources through their procurement waivers and such, they certainly can. here is the ugly. the ugly part is what you really don't want at this point in time , a national upright that affects every state and will soon consume so many health-care systems across the country, you don't want states with deeper pockets basically competing with states that don't have as much to work with, resource wise, trying to procure things as

vital as ventilators. that is not a level playing field that most states would like. the feds would be a great place to have that type of resource purchased and distributed. i think we will see a change in policy. host: this question has been raised by a number of viewers. can anyone explain how or why west virginia remains an outlier? this is either a statistical anomaly -- anomaly or something i would not have guessed. guest: i don't and i am from kentucky. i have been to west virginia any times. it looks to be unscathed presently from covid-19 though it is in a constant seat of emergency because the governor recognizes it is coming. i'm not going to say while you are not seeing reported cases there. if you think there are not cases of covid there, it would be a mistake but whether or not they are being reported is an enigma.

host: you are from new -- we will hear from new hampshire next. this is pete, good morning. caller: good morning. this is pete in new hampshire. irregardless, i am listening to mr. hodges. you had a previous caller that mentioned something about the coronavirus being around for some time. that is true. there was not not -- there was an article in newsweek in 2003. this coronavirus, the history of it has been there for a long time. , wetruth of the matter is have had leaders and politicians in washington that have sat on their hind ends and have not done a dam thing about it, just like everything else that happens in washington. here is the other thing. people are freaking out over this coronavirus.

it is a flu type virus. it will run its course and people need to wash their hands, look after their personal hygiene and mind their own and each other's business. advice, id medical won't call a lawyer. thank you. host: james hodge has been in public health for quite some time. what is your take on this covid-19 coronavirus? guest: two points. to be sure, i am not here to distribute medical advice. you're welcome to receive any guidance from medical practitioners to that event -- to that effect. here is what they will tell you because it is what they tell me. this is serious. this is a significantly more dangerous strain of coronavirus than has been around that we have seen. it is more dangerous than sars. even though that is more deadly, it doesn't spread like this.

kill, it kills quickly and it kills in a way that would require heroic efforts to save patients that will greatly stress the health care system . that is why we are taking -- the health care system. that is why we are taking it so seriously. nott of all, this is coronavirus, what you saw the last 20 years. this is a new strain that has come out of an area of china that has developed related to factors that cannot be controlled for. new strains of viruses developed all the time. one of the most important observations i can make is we know nationally and from a legal perspective, we are asking a lot of americans at this point in time. national leaders like president trump trump, local leaders, we are asking a lot of americans. we are doing so to save lives, honestly. if we can accomplish that, that is what we call an act of her --

an act of heroism across the united states. if we accomplish that actually do the right things and legally balance with what we have constitutional rights to. host: our next caller is out of oregon. laura, there we go. caller: ok. i want to mention a couple things. much a -- speaker. i have pretty intense add but it keeps me busy. probably never have made it to a university education if i hadn't ended up divorced at 58 but there i was at oregon state university and one of the classes i took was bio weapons.

the education is out there and it is really healthy for all of us to challenge ourselves. i would not have done it. there is in moral ethics and biological ethics to learn about utility and on economy -- and autonomy. the individual in the group. if you're in a raft in the middle of the ocean, three people one candy bar, these types of situations. liberty,wing about positive rights versus negative rights. i have heard many people

--ewhat clumsily host: how do you apply your question to the coronavirus crisis? wondering if you could talk about the ethics, the morals, the self responsibility that is involved in autonomy and also involved in this crisis when the utility viewpoint. guest: thank you. great to hear from you. you have tripped on a very important area, one of which lawyers work closely. let me tell you what exactly happens legally when we declare

emergencies across all 50 states .nd now president trump we invoked a different ethics code. we invoked what was built into crisis standard of care plans at hospitals. public healthout ethics which is a different field. it is about public health emergency ethics. what that means, just to be sure is it is not that we threw aside autonomy and other specific interests, we had to to engage medical triage, shift to a weferent form of ethics that largely mapped out already. these public health emergency ethics codes exist and that is what we are following in the near future. it does prioritize things and balance things a little differently. the need is grounded in a very core principle. we are going to do from a utilitarian perspective,

everything possible within the science and best practices, within the law to make morally sound choices and save the most lives possible. it does not put individual autonomy at the forefront but it does take that into consideration against the backdrop of those positions. what is compelling about your observation is this, we can help legally solve all of these issues. can't know what directions covid will go. we are going to make it through because those principles are counterbalanced with individual group interests at stake. host: less than 15 minutes with our guest, james hodge, the director of the center or public health law and policy at every student -- arizona state university joining us from phoenix. we welcome your calls and comments. we want to remind you about the next briefing coming up from the white house, the task force, vice president pence will leave easternefing at 11:30

on c-span, also on c-span radio. president trump is tweeting this morning. he says this, talking about states and governors, failing michigan governor must work harder and be much more proactive. we are pushing her to get the job done. i stand with michigan. he also says the federal government is working well with governments -- with governors and state officials, good things will happen. do you think the federal government is working well with state governors? guest: i think there are a number of governors including in michigan were i've got family as we speak, that would not agree with that particular statement. one of the things i have tried to avoid is politicizing and i democratic candidates for presidential -- for president happel's -- have politicize this at the last debate. -- politicized this at the last debate. you want to make ground

quickly in regards of battling this uniform and consistent incident, you work hand in hand with these governors, you work with local officials, you work to closely align with how you can think on these issues at every level. to the degree to which there is uniform messages, people are going to be responsible for responding in kind to that. pitching battles against governors is not smart because they are front liners, they have controls over things and powers that even the president does not possess in regards to specific measures that can be done. i would say just as a moment of guidance, nationally, this is about a uniform threat. it is about consistent responses as you see governor cuomo in new york asking the white house, give us the guidance you think will work best. governors in little states like -- appealing to the federal

government, give us some guidance you think will work well debate -- based on the national trends you are observing. against that backdrop, politicize asian -- politicization is not good at this point. host: our next caller. caller: i had one quick comment before my question. stopt all americans to blaming everybody and just unify. my question is, where i am at there are three cases with the governor and local -- we are closing bars and restaurants, they can do take only. other businesses are closing. wonder what is the next steps at state and local. i am not clear what the next action is. guest: a great point. the governor in your state has been out front because seattle was hit and what you are seeing

at that level with the seattle-based leaders, we know they are doing really heroic work to be honest. they are also taking some of the most aggressive measures you are seeing nationally because they see what is on the forecast. how far can we go? who preceded me on c-span, how far can states go? here is where the line is going to get drawn at some point or another. first of all we can create new public-health powers involving social distancing that includes everything from closures to quarantines to isolation to specific issues like curfews. and they these powers are counterbalanced against individual rights. powersublic-health coupled together creates what i call a public health safety zone. it is about saying can we make

zones of safety so the disease ?oes not spread within that is legit, that has happened nationally and we are doing it at the state and local level. take it to one other level and you might run into some constitutional issues and that level might be what we are seeing in china, and italy as we speak. france has proposed it. it is what a lot of media call it is about basically saying no coming or going, no leaving your house for any legitimate reasons but sit -- beyond the most exceptional for a good period of time. that is close to what you are seeing emanating out of many in california -- communities in california. why is that different? it feels like a lot down because

in many ways it tells people do not go out, do not travel, did not ingress or egress without -- within your community. i can be problematic. issues related to your rights to travel rise. there were due process concerns. you will see some significant challenges to it, whether it is about scrutiny solely for the basis that that more aggressive measure, just to be clear, if it is proven to be most effective, it might survive scrutiny but it does take us beyond the public-health safety zones and more into something that feels to americans like a lockdown which would be unconstitutional. -- in oregon saying bars and restaurants closed, senior centers, churches, schools closing for at least a month. the economy will suffer greatly. we go next to kansas city,

kansas to hear from phyllis. about: i have a question -- i have seen that the governor , he was new york talking about how the coronavirus was going on and that president trump wasn't doing what he was supposed to do and wasn't doing it quick enough but here is my problem. it was governor cuomo who was sending busloads of illegals from his state just about a month and a half ago to other parts of the country. doesn't our government have a responsibility to refuse people like that? host: phyllis in kansas. what: i am not aware of governor cuomo may or may not

have done. i won't comment to that effect because i'm not aware of it. let me be honest about one thing. whatever was done in relation to mass movement of perp -- of persons even six weeks ago before we got to this point of realizing covid is here, covid is serious, that was a very different series of circumstances. everybody has the right to travel and ingress and e grace across state borders and will continue to do so until we see more aggressive initiatives attempted by the white house or governors in specific jurisdictions. let's not worry about how people moved around six to eight weeks ago. that is all legit. how do you think the governor responded, the state of new york responded to the one case they had? i believe it was in new rochelle where they created, it wasn't a

quarantine necessarily. tell us about that. guest: that was exactly what i talked about before in public health safety zones. what governor cuomo ordered was not a lockdown. he didn't say to anybody within that one-mile radius in which they had an epicenter, he didn't say you can't leave and you can't come in. we need to doas something within this pacific region that is a little exceptional compared to other parts of new york state. we are going to create more heavy closures to help limit the spread. we are going to bring in the national guard not to maintain order or ensure the people don't leave. they were passing out supplies and assisting people. we need a lot more of that. are legitimate

public-health powers that work. they are temporary. they are meant to save lives. they are asking american citizens to just take reasonable precautions and act from a civic responsibility perspective. you start shutting down state borders, you start seeing your counties say no ins or outs, that is when you will trip on some constitutional impediments that could be highly problematic and counterintuitive. host: let's see if we can get a couple more calls. drew a minnesota. caller: good -- drew in a soda. -- in minnesota. caller: good morning. i would like to ask mr. james hodge a question regarding public-health. i served as a county commissioner. i i served for nine years, found out something that needs to be spread more widely with elected officials to local, state and federal government and that is public-health and all

decision-making. think about health and all of your planning and all the decisions that are made. we need to adequately fund our andic health system consistently the last three or four years, we have been fighting for funding both from the federal government and from state government. local governments are then burdened with deciding how big do we want our public-health staff department to be? you can talk about policymaking. guest: you have a very sophisticated public health system in minnesota, regularly ranked among the top three in the country. here is the observation you make that i like a lot. first of all, health in all policies.

we are responding in how the government -- we are observing how the government response to covid-19. this is not just about underfunded public health apartment alone. this is every agency having a role to play with emergency response efforts. we will learn from covid real quick where we see the fire outbreaks. you need the real gamut of what the government can do in terms of responding effectively. here is the reality that we don't recognize outside of that emergency. we government working at -- working towards these objectives and policies consistently, regularly. it's about housing and urban development and transportation departments. it's about labor and insurance initiatives if we are better to recognize health in all policies as a key initiative, we are making investments in the long-term. against this backdrop, you are seeing how much government has mobilized. every department, every agency. a great observation.

i appreciate that because the significance of what we can learn from this event. host: james hodge has been joining us from phoenix. he is the director of the arizona state university center for public health law and policy. great to have you with us. we will talk again soon. guest: thank you so much for having me. host: that will wrap it up for the program this morning. a couple reminders, a briefing coming up at 11:30. also the u.s. senate coming in at this hour. you can follow senate coverage on c-span two -- c-span2. they are taking up the aid package. we will see you here tomorrow morning. until then, simple -- happy saint patrick's day. ♪

>> we are getting another briefing from the white house coronavirus task force today, scheduled in about an hour and a half. the briefings have been led by vice president pence although president trump has attended several of the meetings as well. we will have live coverage at 11:30 eastern time. later, a live discussion on the global pandemic with veteran political analyst charlie cook. he will talk about the response and the 2020 presidential race. time, we:30 eastern will have that here on c-span. you can also watch online at c-span.org or listen free on the c-span radio app. late yesterday, the house approved a second coronavirus economic relief bill. that bill heads to the senate for consideration. lawmakers are planning to consider -- votes are possible today. the senate will also break for their weekly party caucus meetings just after noon.

republicans are meeting with treasury secretary mnuchin. democrats will hold a conference call instead of meeting in person. you can watch the senate live on c-span2. while the treasury secretary is on capitol hill he is expected to talk with republicans about another relief package. $850 billion to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. the washington post reports the measure would aim to merrily flood the economy with klatt -- with cash through a payroll tax cut around the mechanism. $50 billion would go to helping the airline industry. you can read more details at the washington post. easy to follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at c-span.org/coronavirus. track the spread throughout the u.s. and the world with interactive maps and charts. watch briefings and hearings with public-health specialists any time, unfiltered