[♪] lou: good evening, the number of wuhan virus deaths in this country are on the rise. yesterday 22 americans died of the disease. the largest single day increase in the death toll attributable tote virus. the virus killed 0 -- 105 americans. president trump assured the player can people his administration is doing all it can to stop the contagion. president trump: we are getting rid of this virus. for the markets, a simple

solution. we want to get rid of it and have as few deaths as possible. you look at what's going on with italy, we don't want to be in a position like that, but much larger because we are a much larger country. i think we have done well, the states have done well. the best thing we can do is get rid of the virus. lou: president trump trying to lessen the effect on americans from the wuhan virus to send cash directly to american workers who are finding themselves unable to work. >> the country is very strong. we have never been so strong. we don't want with this invisible enemy, we don't want airlines going out of business and people losing their jobs and not having money to live when they were doing very well just a few weeks ago. we are going big and that's the

way everybody seems to like it on the hill. lou: it includes the defense department. the defense secretary announced the u.s. military will provide 5 million rest brino receipts rat. the pentagon preparing two ships to be sent to possible hotpots if hospitals are overwhelms. the administration will immediately turn back all asylum seekers and foreigners trying to enter the asylum seekers from mexico. border patrol agents will turn them back at the border. they will be returned to mexico without detain the or any other

process. joining us tonight, the u.s. surgeon general, jerome adams. i would like to say welcome to the broadcast. these are becoming increasingly difficult times. the death toll is mounting as are the cases. what is your best judge the as to which model we should be following as to what we can expect right now? >> good evening, lou, and thanks for having me. a lot has happened the past several days. the president made an emergency declaration. we put out an announcement on testing. but to answer your question, we are at an inflection point in this country. we have numbers about where italys were two or three weeks ago. we have to decide to follow the path of italy where we see a

rapid increase or do we follow the path of south korea, of china who aggressively leaned into mitigation measures and saw their numbers go down precipitously. it's why the president announced his 15 days to slow the spread initiative of coronavirus. helping all of america understand that we know the playbook from looking at what china and south korea did. now we need to implement it, including as the president said today at the press briefing. we need to stop non-essential travel. we need people to stay home from work and telework as much as possible. and we need people to not get together in social gatherings more than 10 people. liz lou: is that in your judgment adequate for us to create a fire

break between americans and the continued contagion by this disease? >> important for the american people to know, this will get worse before it gets better. you will see the impact of what we are doing now in three weeks, in four weeks. italy was two weeks ago where we are right now. so we want to lean into this. as people say, flatten the curve so we don't overwhelm our healthcare system, and so we put our path on a trajectory to allow us to lower the number of deaths and infections. i'm confident we can do that. but important to know that this outbreak isn't going to be stopped from washington, d.c. it won't be stopped from the cdc in land. it will be stopped at the community level. we need everyone to participate with mitigation measures.

lou: in new york city the mayor calling for a possibility of a shelter in place order from his office. governor andrew cuomo saying i am not considering such a thing and i'm the only one as governor who can make that happen. your reaction to shelter in place and this division, contention and friction between a governor and a mayor? >> well, i used to run a state department of health and i worked for a local department of health. it's important for people to know a lot of the authority lies at the state and local level when it comes top public health. sometimes you see this back and forth because what is right for one community is not right for others. what you do in indiana may be different than what you do in new york city. that's why we put out the guidelines. the president put out these guidelines make sure people know what the science says they

should be doing. but remember they are guidelines. they are not mandates, to give people of the flexibility to figure out what's best for their communities based on how many people have the disease in their communities and what their culture is like and what their limitations are like. lou: in this country in business, most professions including your own. best practices are essential. we are watching china in which this disease originated. they are it appears, in control of the pandemic, the disease in their country. what have they done that is most remarkable to you, that's most effective to you that should be replicated. >> they did something that can be hely katee he -- that can bed

here. i have the coronavirus, i can't spread it to you, and you can't spread it to me. and also leaning into protecting the most vulnerable people. people over the age of 60 with medical conditions are the most at risk. other people out there are taking it into nursing homes and nana and grandma. we want to make sure the people who are most at risk are protected. the president really leaned aggressively into this, working on public-private partnerships. in mayo -- in america a lot of r capacity and manpower lies in the private sector. we are not going to solve this from washington, d.c. it doesn't mean we don't have the ability to solve this problem. we need to unleash the private

sectors we did last week for high-speed testing. my rural community where i group opened up drive-thru testing. it's not where it needs to be but it's rapidly getting there because of the private sector. lou: that's the same private sector that outsourced and offshored the ingredients for pharmaceuticals and antibiotics. our dependency on china and india, principally china for drugs and medical equipment for this country and supplies. we are in a heck of a mess. and right now there is not a short-term solution to deal with it, is there? >> there is. you know this better than i do. there is supply and there is

demands. on the demands side, the best way to make sure you don't run out of equipment is to make sure don't need as much equipment. that's why the next 15 days are critical. on the supply side the president and the vice president have met day after day with private industry to increase capacity and the national strategic stockpile as a back stop for communities. lou: that stockpile isn't adequate to the current needs. when we talk about ventilators and respirators and masks, we are coming up short. 5 million masks is not even close to the number that will be required in short order. ventilators will be in short spry, and we don't know what

steps are being taken by the private sector. i applaud the president for a public-private partnership. but i'm uncertain about critical gaps that exist in essential medical equipment and supplies. >> we are working with the department of defense to get additional supplies. and we are looking at a bill coming through congress that will increase the number of n-95 masks by 30 million every month. but the best way to make sure you don't run out of them later is to make sure you don't need them. lou: it's an interesting algorithm. >> it will take both. we need the american people to be realistic about the situation we are in. stop going to bars and restaurants. stay at home, hunker down for two weeks and help us lower this

demands so we can get over this terrible flu season. we can empty out these hospital beds. lou: dr. jerome adams, we thank you for being with us. >> send people to coronavirus.gov. lou: thank you very much. breaking news. >> polls in florida have closed. joe biden is in the lead with 9 per in. -- 9% in. in arizona 10 eastern the polls will close. ohio's primary will be delayed until june.

441 delegates are up for grabs tonight. 11% of the party's delegates. the president responding to china's disinformation campaign. we take it up with china expert dr. michael pillsbury. and what is being done about that shortsage of protective masks for healthcare workers. stay with us, we are coming stay with us, we are coming rightwhile the world keeps fighting for your attention. we'll keep building smarter suv's. to help keep you focused on the road ahead. and. the road beside. did we mention the road ahead. with an available best in class. epa estimated combined fuel economy

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lou: the air traffic control tower at chicago's midway airport has been shut down after several of their operators tested positive for the coronavirus. the faa said they had backup facilities and operation to help that's airport continue operations. the french government ordered all of its citizens to stay home under a 15-day lockdown unless

they have documentation permitting them to leave their house. a policy similar to the one already in place in italy. european countries have been ravaged by the wuhan virus, italy more than others. 2,500 have died of the disease. in spain nearly 12 hours have contracted the virus and 533 have died. 140 french citizens have died. compare those countries to south korea where more than 8,300 cases, but 8 -- 81 people have died. a stark contrast. vice president mike pence asking

construction companies to donate a key piece of medical equipment in order to help healthcare workers stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic. >> we urge construction companies to donate their inventory of n95 masks to hospitals. the industrial masks they use on construction sites are perfectly acceptable for healthcare workers to be protected from a respiratory disease. lou: mark esper announced the department of defense will provide 5 million masks to hhs. and there are about 30 million masks stock piled. but the estimates are as many as 300 million will be needed during this current outbreak.

joining us from the national quarantine center in nebraska, dr. mark rupp. he's the infectious disease expert at the university of nebraska. let's start with calling on construction companies for n5 masks. i was surprised we would need to do that, and turn to the military as well. that we have not converted production to meet the demand for those essential masks for our healthcare providers. >> we welcome the help from federal sources and from our industrial partners, construction companies. there are clearly some specifics they need to get into. the n95 respirators have to be fitted to be effective and use

new. our hospital like other places, we are getting towards a critical shortage and we are putting in place everything we can to stretch our supplies. we are starting to put in measures to reuse them. we are looking at ways to disinfect them so they are safe to be used again. we are doing everything we can to stretch the capacity of those devices. this does point to some weaknesses of our current be system. with the he a is of not having the -- with the emphasis, this is a weakness that's coming back to bite us. we cannot ship the supplies to other parts of the country like we would have because we are seeing it in he part of our country. lou: the ingredients for

pharmaceuticals, our outright dependence on china and india for antibiotics. pharmaceuticals. we are in a bit of a strait here. >> we are in a global society and it documents that the supply chain is very fragile. when we have one place go down, it can have a ripple effect. with plants went down in puerto rico there was -- -- there wasa critical shortage of saline. lou: offshoring production was just fine with corporate american wall street. but they forgot to consult with the medical industry, doctors,

scientists and we searchers who are going to lead us out of this. your thoughts right now. what is in your judge the the likelihood that we'll see -- the bifurcation is south korea and italy. which do you think we are on a trajectory to become? >> there are examples of places where they have been been smart about things and they have been able to flatten or blunt the curve and blunt the impact. i am hopeful with the measures put in place and the strong statements of social distancing that people will take those things seriously and will start to have an impact on that. any time we are in an epidemic we are always behind the curve.

we won't see the impact for at least a week or two. folks need to be somewhat prepared. but if we do it right, we should be able to blunt things and start to have an impact on this. one thing i'm not hearing a lot of information on, we may have the season of the year working in our favor. we know that flu and cold viruses don't like it when it gets warm and humid. that's the type of conditions we are starting to approach in the spring and summer months. that may work in our favor. but nobody knows that. i remain guardedly optimistic that the seasonality will work in our favor. lou: we'll pray along with you that science gets a break from heavens above. we'll it appears need some breaks of all kinds.

i look forward to talking with you soon. breaking news. new england patriots quarterback and greatest all time, tom brady, leaving the team with which he won six super bowls. he's joining the tampa paid buccaneers. he made the pro bowl 14 times, winning the nfl's most valuable player award three times. up next, the markets stopped their free-fall today as the trump administration is getting a lot of the money to major industries, small business, working men and women. direct funding for individuals. also tonight, president trump takes direct aim at the chinese as they try to avoid responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic?

did i say wuhan virus? yes, i did. dr. michael pillsbury joins us after these quick messages.

lou: president trump defending his use of the term china virus when referring to the worldwide pandemic that rim nateed in china. president trump: china was putting out information which was false that our military gave them this. that was false. wrathered than having an argument. i have to call it where it came from. it did come from china. i think it's accurate. i didn't appreciate the fact china said our military gave it to them. our military didn't gift to anybody. >> does that phrase create a stigma? president trump: no, i think

saying our military gave it to them creates a stigma. lou: joining us now, dr. michael pillsbury. director for chinese strategy at the hudson institute. let's start with the president having to quote-unquote defend himself against using the term china virus. if i may say moronic journalists in the white house press corps suggesting that would create a stigma. >> the chinese are focusing on a global effort with their disinformation. they are playing to the whole world that they didn't create the virus. lou: we know they did create the

virus. at least they originated it. the question is answerable. where did it originate? it rim nateed in wuhan, hubei province, china. >> the wet wild life markets exist in all of china's major cities. it's a public health catastrophe and may be why the president referred this morning to other viruses we may face in the future. lou: they are doing something else, too. as you pointed out talking about their disinformation campaign, a worldwide propaganda campaign. it's suddenly evil to move the world health organization in mind control and language control to their doorstep to do

their bidding. it's astonishing to watch this occur. the united states response to this has been weak, tepid and uncertain. >> i agree with you. i think it's only fairly recently we have seen a new arrogance in china that they are laying claim to being the world leader in many things, including virtue. they made a lot of progress -- lou: because they steal more? >> i don't want to rehearse for you why they are smarter than we are. this new arrogance i find scary because they still have a lot of friends in america, they have friends around the world. their agenda is to raise another 2 or 3 trillion in capital. the sec waiver helps them.

the federal pensions going into chinese companies. it has not been stopped. our supply chain dependence hasn't been fixed. lou: wall street supported corporate america in seeking the labor advantages of building their plants overseas and outsourcing millions of american jobs with the support of wall street. now in a time of desperate need, everyone says it's not a financial crisis. but you don't put $4 trillion into the markets without it being a financial crisis. now we are bailing out the wall street firms that left us dependent upon china for mc, --n

china for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. >> the madness extends to what's been called the deep state, the permanent bureaucracy. these are the people who are supposed to carry out the president's wishes. they just haven't started moving. lou: there is very, very clear causal connection between the two from the deep state to wall street to corporate america. they are not operating as an interest faction. clearly. -- as an independent faction. the next time we talk, the next question i will leave that a mystery. a bit of a fight between new york city mayor deblasio and new

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lou: a new poll says republicans are more confident in our country's ability to handle the virus. 40% of a republican say the worse of the wuhan virus is yet to come, versus 80% of

democrats. 40% are worried a family member will catch the virus versus 60% of democrats. eighty-six approve of how the president is handling the pandemic. and also it could be taken as a clear sign that republicans have much more faith in the countries institutions, it's but a gem possibilities and potentialities of the democrats. perhaps. the new york governor andrew cuomo shooting down may or bill de blasio consideration of a shelter in place order. governor andrew cuomo's and the lockdown has been accordance with the state and he has absolutely no desire to issue a quarantine. a couple hours layer may or bill de blasio said new yorkers should be prepared for a shelter in place order. within the next 48 hours. governor, it's your move. joining us tonight is doctor

oz and director university medical center. we had great reaction to our last discussion and your terrific decision on to read graphics of whether you should go to the doctor and what you should expect. i want to turn -- we are going to put that up on twitter at lew dobbs for our folks, and we recommend that you go to that to see it. we are going to put it up here on the broadcast tonight as well as we are talking. the death toll is rising with 22 deaths suddenly and one day putting into starker focus just how this is exponentially moving ahead. your thoughts about what we should be considering tonight? >> it is easy for a clinician, a doctor to say shut everything down, that's a safe move. i'm aware of the social impact

of all that. i have to say, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. the south koreans have done a fantastic job eliminating the spread of this virus pierces our case totals continued to drop. they are reopening for business basically. they did not shut down the country, they were aggressive and acted early. they acted early because of a prior experience. they're very strict about two things. they may trip you are sick and got tested, which we have had trouble doing, but once you tested positive they were very strict about quarantining you. they focused where the problem areas where they went to where the money was. and dealt with that. instead of making a doctrine that they felt it would do more harm than good in other parts of the country. i think at least for now, that is a wise step for the entire country. there are parts of the country, epicenters, newark city, where the virus has gotten a bit out of control and you have to get more aggressive. and the steps that have been

taken in those areas like closing down schools, ohio was in the same, many other states are considering it as well, it's reflective of the concern that exists both amongst the elected officials and those have a medical experts with them. they're looking at the same curves i am seeing. the countries fairly early movie of the last week since i was less with you to a more disciplined approach. these are tough, but they are necessary. lou: we can call it discipline we can also see it as acknowledgment and implementation. the understood necessity to fulfill our civic duties to one another and the nation. i am very proud of what we are seeing so far there is a lot of people of doubting the millennial's, but i think they are starting to show that discipline you're talking about. all of us older folks, appreciate that. i want to turn to where we are

with the vaccines, modernity is moving ahead with its attempts and others with antivirals. are you pleased or optimistic about what you're saying from the private sector partnership that the president has put together? >> i am pleased for a couple of reasons. lew, let's be honest, they are at least 15 months out, or in that range prayed what's important are couple things. we are actually redeveloping and repurchasing drugs that work for hiv, they work for ebola, there's actually a drug family that works for malaria that seem to show benefits against this coronavirus. a fantastic solution for right now would be just a slow down the growth of the virus for people who aren't high-risk. this drug that is extracted from malaria, is an old drug but it might be something you could give to healthcare workers to become a bit more resilient to getting the

infection. that's the weak link in the system. we have advances occurring with people having complications of the virus. in both of those areas, the private public partnerships rhyme seeing huge opportunities and that's it were good at. ballou, don't forget about the digital vaccine sprayed that's using technology to identify people who are ill, at high risk, get around that with protective measures early on. that kind of dashboard helps governor's manager states more effectively. we have that technology now. we have shared care, live apple we have google, facebook has programs. we've got large companies that have the wherewithal, let's use those to guide our targeted hits on this virus. lou: and doctor and from your center talked about the possibilities for simply plasma to bring the antibiotics of those who had survived the disease into those who are afflicted with it. that sounds what kind of

antiquated, but if it works let's get going. >> it was used and its iconic leader in his field. he's a virus hunter. it's an old therapy, but it was used in china when they were in the throes of this epidemic and it's possible we may want to take antibiotics and people have recovered there's tens of thousands who have recovered uneventfully from the coronavirus. why not use that will getting better ideas out there. lou: doctor oz as always, it's great to have you with us. >> take care lives. >> thank you two. a check on the democratic primaries around the country right now we are most interested in florida because the polls they are, some of them have closed. seventy-nine of precincts in fact, they are reporting with the former vice president joe biden 60% of the vote, bernie sanders 22%. not much need to say much of

anything about that. video tonight showing penguins at the shed aquarium in chicago. they are exploring other exhibits, walking around. they were permitted to do so because the aquarium is closed because of the wuhan virus. there are no people to bother them. the staff allowing the pain was to walk around freely saying they want to give them new enriching experiences and activities to keep the animals active. i am good with that, how about you? up next president trump seeks a stimulus package, a huge stimulus package potentially worth more than a trillion dollars to fight the wuhan virus. some of that money could be coming up with you. we've taken up with economist ♪ it's surprising how the bigger a city gets... the smaller it starts to feel.

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lou: joining us tonight, bill lee, the chief economist at the milken institute. the dow climbing 1,049 points. a big day on wall street. your thoughts about volatility. is this just here with us for a while? >> the market got lost because

it underestimate the cost of limiting the contagious effects of this virus. we have to shut down both supply and desmand sides of this economy. but you notice this morning when the plan came out about injecting fiscal stimulus which is what the doctor ordered for this situation, markets calmed down. lou: it's a recovery in the biggest crash since 2007. >> if we can limit the virus in the next two months i think we'll avoid the first health parole cipro diewsd recession in the history of the united states. if the policies work it will have very little effect on the economy as a whole.

lou: it will have the greatest effects on our economy of if these projections are proven to be valid. i don't hear a lot of talk about best practices. south korea doing -- dr. oz talking about it just before i started to talk with you. it's important to look at those. china did some things right. it's only a month ahead of us in public policy terms in their experience with the wuhan virus. i don't hear a lot of talks focusing what they did that worked and whether we should apply the same tactics. >> you never hear about what the singaporeans did. they limited the exposure. and whoever was exposed they were able to follow.

in italy it seems it's getting worse and worse. and it's failing. in this country i'm confident as we bolster the public health institutions we'll get closer to the singaporean-type results. lou: i'm glad to see the president starting to push back against china. it's outrageous, the disinformation campaign against us. and our dependency on china for medical supplies, equipment and antibiotics. it's outrageous what we have allowed our globalist elites to lead us into. >> this is why it is we can't depend on globalization

principles without back upsystems. -- backup systems. lou: move money directly to those in the most need, working men and women in this country and their families. that's a grand idea. >> not on is it an a score on how to decide fiscal stimulus. but they didn't say we are going to give a thousand dollars to every one below the median income. lou: i think secretary mnuchin implied that now. >> targeting it to those who really need it is the key to success. and doing it early and doing it big is the key to success. lou: will you stay with us through the commercial so we get a little more time with you. our question tonight, do you

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lou: bill lee, integrating the federal reserve policy and the administration. >> the key is target the policy so the victims receive the benefits.

the administration learned to target the shops and the credit towards the people who night and stop fooling around with interest rates. lou: bill lauren: it is 5:00 a.m. here are your top stories at this hour. the coronavirus has now spread to all 50 states as you can see here and the white house wants economic relief now and money in americans' pockets fast. cheryl: we're going to talk about that this hour. another big, big night for joe biden. does bernie sanders still have a path forward in the race for the white house? lauren: million of americans working from home, how to navigate your new reality. its wednesday, march 18th. "fbn: a.m." starts right now. ♪ cheryl: welcome,