nation that reflects those values and lifts up our people. please stay in this fight with me. let us go forward together. the struggle continues. thank you very much. >> as of today, 316 million americans, -- are all living under stay-at-home orders. we are asking how social distancing is impacting you. we split our phone lines by age. under 25, (202) 748-8000. .6-50, (202) 748-8001 51-70, (202) 748-8002. over 70, (202) 748-8003. we want to start with mary out of fort washington, maryland.

i am doing ok. i am retired. i have a daughter that is disabled, and we have been in the house since christmas. in december. in january, it stayed in the house. i said no way. demanded that my mother-in-law not go out. work,y had to go to gloves and masks. i knew then. what was trump doing? golfing. i do not celebrate valentine's day. garrotte, stayed in the house, nature everybody was safe. trump was golfing. another thing, the caller that said that black people need to take that drug that trump wants to push, he has money invested

in that. tell that color that when he takes the drug, we might. host: you say you have been doing this since december? when are you going to feel like it is ok? are you going to trust when maryland's state that -- stay-at-home orders are lifted? caller: for me and my family, when the doctor says it is ok, the scientists, not when 45 says. he has been lying since he slithered down the escalator. i would like you to do one thing for me, c-span. do not use the word minority to describe people of color. that has got to go away completely. that is all i have to say. host: mary in maryland. alan out of manassas, virginia. over 70.

caller: good morning. very minimally. i am a lawyer, i am still practicing. igo into my office without anybody there. sensempacted me in the that i have not had lunch with people. everybody is making such a fuss. , it is aonvenient horror for the economy, but as far as the impact on people -- in my lifetime i have seen what people have gone through in world war ii, korea. where living in places most of us have heat, air food, we are not starving. this is a horrible thing, but i

think people ought to grow up and realize that compared to what other people have gone tragedies, itious is minimal. disaster, butmic the personal aspect, i think we are fortunate. the: allen calling in from line for those over 70. in your lifetime, what was worse? caller: i rationing during world -- i remember rationing during world war ii. i was more in this country. i didn't go through what people went through in europe. my deceased wife grew up in germany and describe the bombings.

she was not a nazi. the horrors of that, and the absence of food, no heat and so forth. i have been fortunate. i have not gone through anything like that. wase worst i went through rationing in world war ii. that is all i can say. host: thanks for the call from manassas, virginia. in portland,el oregon, "social distancing has strengthened my spiritual life. it is like being back in the monastery. ." "when you take care of the elderly, you have to be patient, find new ways to do your job and be the person they need. prayers for america." connecticut, "social

distancing is unnatural and unhealthy. after all of this, the more we interact and connect, the healthier we will be. immunity means avoiding junk food." "my wife and i only went to the store once a month before this." from allegheny county, "people are refusing to go grocery overloaded?" -- we are asking how social distancing has impacted you. we split up our phone lines by age. on the line from those 26-50, this is lisa. >> good morning. -- host: i am well. caller: here, it doesn't seem like anyone is taking this serious. you go into the stores and they

are overrun. the lines run down the aisles. designated, stand here, stand there. there is really not a whole lot of distancing going on. i'm considered an essential employee working in fast food, which is crazy because they told us to not wear masks. today i was told it will be mandatory whereas before -- they need to make masks mandatory for anybody in public. the social distancing isn't working here because people aren't taking it serious. host: what has happened with your hours at work? caller: they have been cut in half. self-employed, both of those jobs are not considered essential. i lost quite a hit of income.

go to this position i have whether i would like to not. host: how long can you work on half wages? caller: i will make it work. it will be tight. host: good luck to you. from waldorf, maryland. this is done out of falls church, virginia. caller: good morning. i was laying in bed and paying attention to how quiet the streets were. i was thinking about how the social distancing -- it is working. .t works in a way you have to -- you are kind of forced to deal with your strengths and weaknesses.

people who areor ,xtroverts and have to be out have to interact with people. annted, you have to do it on everyday basis anyway, business things. me, i think i was already doing social distancing in terms how you can meet people and waythey can affect you in a -- in a negative way that it makes you want to distance yourself from people. -- if itfor some who works in a way where it keeps

your mindset balanced. enddon't go off the deep and wants to hurt people, and solemnu don't become so and depressed. i think it is a very interesting thing. there are so many aspects attached to it. i am a black female. even with the woman was saying making it like -- more modest means. i am raising two grandchildren. really not that difficult for me because i have already been surviving day by day. host: do your grandchildren get

it? caller: they are three and four years old. no they don't get it. becausehave to go out, they do have to go out with me when i go to the grocery store, i have no choice. i have little masks for them that they wear. it is kind of difficult to have them wear gloves, but we do it we have to do. i pick up what i pick up and we come back home. i wash their hands. they are so young, their minds aren't really understanding all of this. host: finisher comment. that there are many parts to this that are not good. i have done my own research.

timelines whent this first started because i choose to be an informed citizen. host: donna in falls church, virginia. fosters, a small city inside the beltway -- falls church, a small city in the d.c. area. according to johns hopkins university, zero confirmed cases in falls church. not too far away from fairfax, 532inia which has had confirmed cases and two deaths. -- all of this available on the johns hopkins university coronavirus dash board map. from richmond, virginia. caller: good morning. i am one of the seniors here in richmond -- it really scared me.

it is ironic, the nursing home that we have here in richmond that have had over 32 as of yesterday -- deaths -- the canterbury. canterbury used to be lexington court. years ago, i was at lexington court because i had a stroke. they took good care of me. over i think, with -- itople tested positive is not a nursing home. it is a rehab. for the fact that trump is always no pushing that drug. it is a shame. friends who have been

turned away when they go to the hospital to try to get help. even just to be tested, to see if they have the virus and they have been turned around. my doctor, i told him -- i had an ear infection three weeks ago. i have been inside here for a month. i refuse to go out, but it is scary because i live in a senior community. i found out that somebody in my building has it. richmond,lp here in and all over the country. host: more of your phone calls in just a second. bertha mentioning president trump at the white house task force briefing yesterday, likely to be leading get again today. it is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. eastern. yesterday with him

was dr. fauci, dr. deborah birx. to talk more about the relationship, michael crane-ish, washington post investigative reporter has looked into the working relationship between the doctors. how far back does it go? guest: good morning, think you for having me. dr. fauci has been the director of the national allergy and infectious disease institute since -- , the coordinator, underrking as a fellow dr. fauci's tutelage in 1983. the year before he became the director of the institute he still runs. it goes back to 37 years ago. a lot of people are watching these briefings and they are relying heavily on the advice of

--tors perks and hatchery dr. birx and dr. fauci. president trump has made a lot of misstatements a lot of people are leading to these professionals for advice. i talked to both of them for this story. they are gracious with their schedules. they thought it was important for people to understand this is not something that has just been thrown together randomly. they first got to know each other working on what later became known as the hiv-aids crisis. they were attending to soldiers at walter reed and the nih clinical center. young men were dying and they did not know why. this disease had no name. there was no known treatment for it. they told me they watched hundreds of young men die in the 1980's.

walking side-by-side in some occasions. that has a -- that had an extraordinary effect on both of them. they continue to work on hiv-aids. started,hen they first around 1995-1996 is when the cocktail of drugs was used to manage the disease. to this date, there is no cure, no vaccine. birx --000's, dr. excuse me dr. fauci's institute provided tens of thousands of dollars to dr. birx who was working at walter reed on a vaccine. they have worked for many years together on hiv-aids. that is a very different kind of , there than coronavirus were similarities in the way they initially faced this crisis.

investigative reporter with the washington post. this is the story he wrote, rx work together at the dawn of the hiv-aids crisis." you can read it at washington post.com. youbirx talked about what were just discussing, the background and fighting the aids epidemic. this from the rose garden last month. [video clip] >> i was part of the hiv-aids response in the 1980's. we knew from first finding cases in 1980 run, it took us until almost 1985 to have a test. another 11 years to have effective therapy. it is because of the lessons learned we were able to mobilize and bring those individual tests

that were key -- individuals that were key to this response. host: interns -- in terms of the role each plays on the task force, how would you describe that? >> -- guest: dr. birx is the data person. she shows where the data is going. weeks ago, president trump said he wanted to get the country back running by easter sunday, that was unrealistic by every estimation. dr. fauci and dr. birx went to him, explained to him with charts. dr. fauci is a wonderful explainer. he has an incredible scientific background. he has a great ability to connect with people and explain things in human terms. he has done that with the president. dr. birx has done that with the data as a coordinator. they explained that if the

country was to be reopened as he wanted on easter sunday with churches packed, that could lead the nation down the road to 2 million deaths. they explained they needed another 30 days at least of social distancing. president trump looked at the data and said i guess. that is where we are etched today. at today.where we are they both play roles together. thereuci will often stand while dr. breaks talking and say she is correct. he will be asked questions -- he is the better known of the two. dealing has also been with infectious diseases for about the same period of time, she is not as well-known. within the community she is well known.

she is the u.s. ambassador for global aids. a program where taxpayer dollars are going to africa. patients in a long-standing program. she is very well known in the disease community. dr. fauci told me when they were tapped to work on coronavirus, they said to each other we have done this before. a very close working relationship. personally, dr. birx told echo anecdote where her daughter and dr. fauci's daughter competed together in a -- league. long-standingique personal relationship. host: you made the point that dr. fauci has something the kid tomore -- something akin more job security.

caller: dr. -- guest: dr. fauci is head of one of the institutes of health. he is an administrator appointed by the head of the nih. dr. birx was appointed by president obama in 2014. she is a holdover from the obama administration into the trump administration. very widely respected. she made a comment a couple weeks ago where she said president trump is very attentive to scientific detail, scientific literature. this got criticism from critics on the left, for example joe lockhart said on twitter that she "drunk the kool-aid." worried she was not being forthright with the president. i asked dr. birx about this, she

said my job is to try to explain the information to the president. she said she is doing that. and fauci bothe went into the oval office and told the president, you have got to extend social distancing for 30 days. they are in sync. thisery estimation with data that so far has convinced him despite what he said originally, to extend social distancing. end: finally, i want you to with the anecdote you started with in the washington post. you mentioned dr. birx's daughter, going back to the birth of her daughter and how much she had been impacted by the aids epidemic. guest: it was a striking anecdote which i first heard by listening to the swearing-in ceremony of dr. birx by john

kerry. intold the anecdote that 1983 when she was first at walter reed, was dealing with a siege of patients that we now know were hiv patients. she had been working with dr. fauci and there were people dying. she was concerned the blood was tainted. during her birth in 1983 at walter reed, lost a lot of blood. she knew the blood at walter reed was suspected to be tainted. when doctors wanted to give her a transfusion, she screamed don't give me a blood transfusion. she didn't. she later found out there was a lot of tainted blood there. it was a measure that in retrospect she is glad she did, but it underscores how much she was affected seeing these young men die.

she didn't know what was going on with this tainted blood, saying she did not want that put into her body. thisderscores how personal was for her. host: you have been -- if you have been watching the daily task force briefings, you would be well to read michael kreme -- story in the washington post. time you so much for your walking through it with us. back to your phone calls. we are going to continue with your phone calls until the end of our program at 10:00 -- at 10:00 we were going to be kabus.by shia we will reschedule that conversation about the economic

impact. plenty to talk about when it work -- when it comes to the social impacts. that is our question for you, how has social distancing impacted you? --ne line split up by edge by age, under 26 (202) 748-8000. .6-50 (202) 748-8001 51-70, (202) 748-8002. since we were discussing the white house specifically, this story we mentioned at the end of our program yesterday, here is the follow-up in the new york times. in president trump's early days in the white house, -- made a name for herself. she became a fixture at his political rallies. tuesday, she was named white house press secretary.

her appointment by president trump's chief of staff mark meadows is the latest shakeup in a communications office that has seen constant turnover since 2017. she will replace stephanie grisham, a loyalist who was named press secretary last summer. ms. gresham did not hold a press conference moving during her time on the job. mcenaney is not expected to in the short term. will be designated to collect talking points to explain the president's decision making to the public. mr. trump is happy to spend hours a day doing that job himself. we are expected to see president trump back in the white house briefing room today at 5:00. announcer: we are going to leave washington journal. you can watch this and any programin