america by iheart. >> airing this sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern. set your clocks for all fox platforms. we'll be watching it sunday night and we'll see you monday morning. goodbye, have a good weekend. >> sandra: the u.s. now has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country in the world as the house gets set to vote on a $2 trillion relief package for americans. >> i'm ed henry. new this morning the british prime minister boris johnson has now tested positive for coronavirus showing mild symptoms, though. meanwhile the u.s. surpassing italy and china in the total number of cases, more than 85,000 americans have now contracted covid-19. the death toll topping 1200. in hard-hit new york city hospitals near the breaking point. doctors having some patients

share ventilators as health officials fear new orleans is becoming a new hot spot for the outbreak. president trump touting the senate's historic relief package that still needs approval in the house. >> president trump: i have to say it's the largest by far and i'm profoundly grateful that both parties came together to provide relief for american workers and families in this hour of need. the house of representatives must now pass this bill. hopefully without delay. i think it has tremendous support. we're sending more every day and we have tremendous amounts of equipment coming in. a lot of great companies are making equipment right now. the ventilators take a little longer to make but we have a lot of companies making them. and we'll be in great shape. >> sandra: fox team coverage on this friday morning. chad pergram has the latest from capitol hill. we begin with jonathan serrie reporting live from atlanta for

us this morning. good morning, jonathan. >> good morning, sandra. louisiana officials believe that so many people became infected in that state from attending mardi gras celebrations last month. although new york has the highest numbers of cases, louisiana is among the top three states for covid-19 infections per capita. the governor says every resident needs to practice social distancing to stop the spread. >> if we don't slow the spread of this virus, if we don't slow the spread of these cases, this is what is going to happen. it is not conjecture or a theory or scare tactic. this is what's going to happen. >> in massachusetts the four medical universities have agreed to graduate their fourth year students early responding

to the state's urgent request for more healthcare workers to fight the coronavirus pandemic. as americans take unprecedented measures to protect their physical health, psychologists at the mayo clinic say it's important they also protect their mental health. >> we may be in this for the mid to longer haul. making sure we're doing things like exercise, relaxation, mindfulness skills, learning new things. our brain likes novelty. >> throughout the country displays of moral support. in atlanta they cheer from apartment buildings, as a show of support for local medical workers and a way of maintaining a sense of community from a safe distance. back to you. >> sandra: jonathan serrie in atlanta. >> ed: thank you, sandra. all eyes on the house this morning where kentucky republican congressman thomas massie could side track what could be a voice vote on the

senate relief bill. some lawmakers slammed it for so much wasteful spending. speaker nancy pelosi insists the bill is focused on helping coronavirus. >> understand this. it's important to know this. this is all about the coronavirus. it's not about anything else. it's about the coronavirus. >> chad pergram is live on capitol hill where passing the bill is getting more complicated. despite the wrangling, is it still expected to go through? good morning. >> it will go through at some point but the question is when and how. things are pretty tense on capitol hill as you say all eyes are on thomas massie, the republican congressman from northern kentucky. the issue isn't that they have the votes but whether or not they could delay a vote or get into serious parliamentary wrangling. they want to have a voice vote later this morning after two hours of debate. what is that? all in favor shout yay, all

opposed nay and the loudest side wins. they do it all the time to pass amendments and bills. not have a formal roll call vote. will massie require them to conduct the roll call vote where all the members have to file into the chamber. if that's the case they'll subdivide the population in groups of 30 and bring them through in individual groups through an example, congresswoman from oregon and -- in alphabetical order. here is the other issue. the constitution indicates that the house of representatives and the senate have to have a quorum to conduct business. we don't know if there are 216 members in washington today. they cannot take that vote if

they don't have a quorum and if somebody raises a hack will about it. that's a concern. under house rule 20 clause 51c you could try to do a provisional quorum. it indicates you've had a catastrophic circumstance and you have to declare a number of seats in the house of representatives vacant. that won't happen today. if they don't have 216 members here today you could see a scenario where it drifts later into the night as members try to rush back to washington or maybe tomorrow. if they go to having a roll call vote and not a voifs vote where they file the members through the house chambers it could take five or six hours and the vote could take just as long. members of congress are facing competing interests here where the office of the attending physician has sent out notice saying don't get on the elevators together, stay in your house offices until it's time to vote. don't congregate in the house chamber. they're trying to keep as many

members out and discourage attendance, which is very strange in the house of representatives. but the reason is because the house is so much bigger than the senate. 330 more members and a lot of members are very concerned about getting on airplanes and flying back to washington, d.c. just to make this one vote. it is easier if they do the voice vote because of the risk that could pose to other persons and the public. we don't know how it will go down. two hours of debate, possibly a voice vote. everybody watching thomas massie later today. the bigger issue isn't so much whether the bill will pass but whether or not they have a quorum here in the house of representatives. >> ed: a lot of people scratching their heads and want congress to get going. steny hoyer, we're watching him. we'll get back there if the debate gets going. much more on today's house vote. coming up later congressman max

rose will join us. >> sandra: president trump casting doubt on numbers coming out of china as the u.s. now reports more infections than any other country. >> president trump: i have think it's a tribute to our testing. number one, you don't know what the numbers are in china. we'll see what happens there. a tribute to the amount of testing we're doing. we're doing tremendous testing and i'm sure you're not able to tell what china is testing or not testing. that's hard. >> sandra: dr. peter hotez is dean of the medical school of tropical medicine and from baylor college of medicine and joins us. thank you for being here. we have now surpassed china, italy, and all the others as far as number of confirmed cases of covid-19. is that due to spread or is that due to the increased number of tests that we're conducting here at home? >> well, i think it's probably

a bit of both. there is no question about it that we're ramping up testing and a lot of this is being led by admiral of the u.s. public health service. a friend and colleague of mine. no question he is ramping that up. that's good news. we are seeing -- what that does is uncover new areas of transmission that we didn't know was going on. we're also seeing a pretty serious increase in transmission and icu admissions and hospital admissions in some cities. i think this is going to be the new story coming out of covid-19 in the united states. that it is picking off cities. it is really showing us that we're looking at an urban/rural divide. we know what is going on in new york. now we're seeing a big increase in new orleans, detroit, chicago, and that's i think going to be the way things are going to play out for the next

few weeks is selected cities with a surge in hospital admissions and icu admissions. i think that's where the emphasis is going to have to be. >> sandra: there are those hard-hit cities and there are other parts of the country that are not seeing the number of cases or spread, doctor, which is why we're hearing from the administration potential plans or guidelines to now rank counties as far as risk. so that they can decide to bolster or relax social distancing measures, go back to work messages and others. could that work, ranking counties by risk? >> you know, there might be some validity to it. it will be awfully top to operationalize it and make it impactful. if you look at -- the reason the president wants to do this and i understand his sense of urgency, is to keep the economy of the united states going. but if you look at where the virus is hitting, it's hitting

chicago, new york, l.a. you are not in a position to open up those cities. i think you have to look at the risk versus benefit saying maybe there are smaller cities not yet hit. if you can heavily implement testing and maybe open some of those up. maybe some of the rural areas. then you have to look what's the real benefit to the economy? so it's -- actually trying to make this work is going to be really challenging, i think. >> sandra: doctor, because now there is also a fear even if we get rid of covid-19 this time it could make a comeback down the road. here is the latest from dr. fauci on a vaccine and where things stand on that. >> a vaccine is not going to help us now, next month, the month after. but as i mentioned we went into a phase one trial. one of the things we are going to do that you need to understand that has been a stumbling block for previous development of vaccines, that

is even before you know something works, at risk you have to start producing it. once you know s you say great it works, give me another six months to >> sandra: it's a really important message as we wonder what that timeline looks like, doctor. now you've even got some researchers who want to relax the standards for finding a vaccine because it is so time sensitive. is that a risk or could that benefit everyone? >> so sandra, we're also in our lab we've also developed a vaccine at our texas children's center for vaccine development and hoping to accelerate that and move it into clinical trials. with baylor college of medicine. we hope ours will be one of the vaccines dr. fauci is talking about and trying to be creative how to do this and do it safely. so what you're referring to is

a couple of scientists have put out this idea that maybe to accelerate development and know it is actually working you actually immunize human volunteers and infect them with the virus to see if it works or doesn't. these are called human challenge infections. we've done it in the past with some of our disease vaccines. the problem with that is this. it's not trivial to create that human challenge model to figure out what the right dose is and figure out when they get sick. it could take a year to develop the human challenge model. i don't think that piece will accelerate things so much. the way it will play out is as we move this vaccine into clinical trials and we'll test it in areas where there is a lot of transmission going on and see if it protects. >> sandra: really interesting insight there, doctor. we appreciate your time this morning and hope to have you back on soon. thank you. >> ed: meantime the coronavirus tairking a big toll on first responders here in new york

city. the nypd deputy commissioner john miller is now in the hospital here with symptoms consistent with coronavirus. he has not tested positive. he is awaiting the test results. the nypd is also reporting its first death from the disease, a custodian who worked at one of the department's headquarters has died. 350 members of that force are confirmed to have coronavirus. it is also hitting the fdny very hard. we wanted to bring in jere ard fitzgerald. we appreciate you coming in. i want to know how your force is doing and how your team is doing. react to the news about john miller. he is one of the deputy commissioners and there has been a lot of police officers and the hierarchy, leadership who have tested positive for coronavirus. he is just showing symptoms.

what is the fdny and others, what are you doing to keep your folks safe? >> well, right now if we have symptoms, we're being sent home on sick leave and they're treating it as it is a positive. testing we're not getting testing quick enough and certainly not getting results quick enough. we believe we should be a priority for results, we think the people are in most danger of dying should be getting the early testing. but i think that the doctors, nurses, and then should come police, fire, ems, we should be getting priority results. >> ed: did i hear you right you're saying that firefighters in new york city are having a hard time getting tests for the coronavirus? >> that's correct. we have to join the lines, join the queues, no special place that we have to go get testing.

so we have a report yesterday they will prioritize us. i haven't seen the results yet. up to now we have not had priority testing nor priority results. >> ed: that seems problematic with so many first responders trying to help other people at a time of crisis. as i understand you have 11,000 fdny employees total. 4300 more medical services personnel, ems and other responders. i still hear sirens going and fire trucks around responding to other emergencies, ambulances going around responding. you hear ambulances all night sirens. maybe not coronavirus. there are other issues you deal with. talk about the balancing act going on dealing with coronavirus but so many other emergencies. >> we're breaking records as far as the amount of runs a day ems is responding to numbers

that are unfathomable. as far as the firefighters are concerned, we're still responding to all the emergencies that we always respond to. coronavirus is an added responsibility. so that is a challenge and it is a challenge that our members are putting themselves on the line and going home seeing their family and they don't know if they're spreading the virus within their families. that's a real problem for us. >> ed: last bit on this. a psa the fire department has put out here. it is important because it applies not just to new york city but communities around the country. >> only call 911 during a real emergency. allow first responders to assist those most in need. if you are not severely ill, follow the guidelines put in place by the new york city department of health and keep healthcare access available for those with more severe illnesses. >> ed: as i understand it here in new york city 911 has been overwhelmed if you have to take, that i understand.

talk about balancing 911 and making sure people are calling with real emergencies right now. >> that's a year round problem that we have. sometimes people calling 911 for what they may consider an emergency but perhaps really isn't. now it's more important than ever because our departments are so stressed to be calling 911 for something that certainly is not life in jeopardy emergency, it is jamming up the system and where we could be more helpful for somebody who is having a life-threatening emergency we're responding to other things that perhaps aren't as important right now as you may think. >> ed: you have about 170 members of the fdny tested positive for the coronavirus. we're thinking of them and the first responders around the country helping a lot of people. thank you for coming in today. reminder this sunday elton john

hosts a benefit special called fox presents the iheart living room concert for america on all fox platforms including here on the fox news channel. performances by music biggest stars, back street boys, billy joe armstrong and many more. it will air commercial-free to pay tribute to front line medical professionals working to treat patients. it will seek donations from viewers and listeners. air commercial free this sunday. all fox platforms on all iheart media radio stations around america. >> sandra: looking forward to that. fox news alert from london where british prime minister boris johnson has been confirmed with the coronavirus. >> everybody who is working to keep our country going through this epidemic and we will get through it. the way we'll get through it is, of course, by applying the measures that you will have heard so much about.

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healthcare worker, the same fabric the players wear on the field. it would have been opening day yesterday. the manager of the yankees texted me during the show yesterday saying he was watching you and i for the info. happy opening day. it is time for everyone to hunker down. we'll get through this. >> sandra: a great story. good stuff there. thanks for watching. the british prime minister has tested positive for the coronavirus. that's breaking news this morning. boris johnson making the announcement on twitter. data from johns hopkins showing more than 500,000 cases of the virus worldwide and more than 24,000 deaths. benjamin hall has more on all that from london for us this morning. hey, benjamin. >> just in the last half hour we've heard that matt hancock, the british health minister, also has tested positive for this. we had prince charles testing positive wednesday. the big news today boris

johnson coming down with it. currently self-isolating in 11 downing street where his private apartments are. he will do it for seven days. he is otherwise feeling well. downing street making it clear he remains in charge of the country and that he is doing that from isolation. the message he released earlier. >> i've developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus. that's to say a temperature and a persistent cough. on the advice of the chief medical officer i have taken a test. that has come out positive. so i am working from home. i'm self-isolating, and that's entirely the right thing to do. >> boris johnson got the results after midnight this morning and hours after he joined president trump and g-20 leaders including china and russia via videoconference to discuss the global crisis. he announced the u.k. will put

$250 million into developing a vaccine and chaired the government's morning meeting remotely and continues to do it in the future. who else has he been in contact with? wednesday he attended questions in parliament surrounded by mps including the minister of health and spent time with other politicians and staff this week, a few of whom are also reported to have shown symptoms. the last time he was seen in public was last night when he and the chancellor joined the rest of the country in applauding health workers. as with so many other countries the health service here in the u.k. is overrun. hospitals are full. doctors and nurses on the front lines are catching the virus and now firefighters have been targeted to deliver food and collect dead bodies wherever they may arise. boris johnson making it clear he remains in charge despite his positive test. if he were unable to continue in his job the number two would go to dominic rob, the foreign secretary. >> sandra: more on that

breaking news coming up later in the show. benjamin hall, thank you. >> ed: a growing number of sailors testing positive for coronavirus on a giant aircraft career. stock futures are down as we await a house vote on the relief package. stuart varney tells us how it will impact the economy and your money. which most pills don't. get all-in-one allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase. ♪ oh, oh, (announcer)®! ♪ once-weekly ozempic® is which most pills don't. helping many people with type 2 diabetes like james lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic®

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trading on wall street following three straight days of gains for the u.s. stock market during a tumultuous time for the economy and for stocks. here we are out of the gate down 845 points back below 22,000. a loss of 3 3/4%. stuart varney, you're still on your show and joining us here as well. we're looking at these markets together. we've been watching this entire process play out and now there have been big hopes on this $2 trillion relief package that led to three days of rallies. here we have an 800 plus point drop this morning. what's going on? >> i just asked everybody to remember yesterday the dow was up 1300 points. you can expect to have a pullback today. over the last three days the market overall has been up about 20%. that is the most explosive

rally since 1933. so you can expect a little bit of a pullback. you can expect some people to take the profit they made over the last three days. then they also are very much concerned about the state of the economy. yesterday we learned that there were over 3 million first-time jobless claims. we're told the unemployment rate could go to around 10%. all of that bad news will come in the early part of april. so the market may be anticipating to some degree some very bad news coming up on the economy in the near future. right now we're down 800 on the dow, sandra. >> sandra: we're watching the house floor where there is expected to be several hours of debate on that relief package and some indications there could be a no vote by this kentucky congressman massie. we might see him a moment from now. we have a camera there. a possible grandstander. if there were to be a delay

with that package passing in the house, stuart, what would it mean for the economy and the american people? >> the money doesn't get out there to the american people as fast as it should. the market would not like it. you might see a further downside move because of it. and you get people throwing up their hands and frankly in disgust at the shenanigans of congress that they can't work out in a national emergency like no other they can't get something done properly and quickly. all of those reactions. however, let's be realistic here. i cannot see a serious hold-up in the bail-out package. we may -- depending on what thomas massie does today, we may not get a vote in the next few hours. if he does raise the issue of a voice vote and insists on a quorum, those members will flock back to washington you'll get 216 people and by tomorrow you will have a yes vote. so the delay would only be in

my opinion a maximum of, what, 24 hours? that's it. >> sandra: stuart, i know on your show you talk so much about the balance that eventually needs to be found with opening our economy back up as we eventually see the number of confirmed cases go down. you've now got the administration mulling over this idea of possibly ranking counties in the united states as far as risk of spread of the coronavirus and then possibly either bolstering measures to prevent the spread or starting to relax some of those measures. this is going to be the very fine balance that we eventually have to see in opening the economy back up. we're still facing the highest number of confirmed cases here in the united states than any other country around the world. >> yes, that is true. but what we want to avoid, i think, at all costs, is a

months long shutdown of the catastrophe. that would be a catastrophe. an unemployment rate that would go to 20%, an economy that contracts, maybe by 15, 20, 25%. all of that is possible. so what you want to do is to bring people back to work as soon as possible without seriously endangering public health. there is a trade-off here. you don't want a depression. you do want to get people back to work as soon as possible. and i think the president's plan addresses that. you would only go back to work in low-risk areas where -- which are -- the virus is limited. at the same time you offer some hope that you can get the economy moving again. it is a very fine line, very fine line to walk, very fine balance, but that's the job of the president and he is doing it. >> sandra: fair to say this market will be all eyes on

capitol hill to see what happens with that $2 trillion relief package and the debate and vote this morning. three days of gains we're coming off of. 20% up over the last three days, but this morning some red down 679 for the dow. thank you stuart, great to have you on this morning. >> our pleasure, thank you very much indeed. >> ed: thank you. meanwhile this fox news alert in new york city the number of coronavirus cases topping 23,000. some hospitals taking a drastic step of putting two patients on one ventilator as the outbreak strains the city's healthcare system. david lee miller is live at mt. sinai hospital in manhattan with the latest details. good morning. >> good morning. the problem very simple, too many coronavirus patients and not enough resources for new york city hospitals.

the mt. sinai hospital system is setting up tents in seven locations including a facility in suburban nassau company. that should be operational today. a doctor who works at a mt. sinai icu describes the situation as horrific. >> physical, i kid you not. people come in, they get intubated, they die, the cycle repeats. nothing compared to this. we were open waiting for patients to come who never came, okay? now they just keep coming. and they are all ages. >> to try to prevent supplies from running out new york city is studying ways to maximize use of personal protection equipment by safely sanitizing and reusing some ppe. the governor says new york's plan to use one ventilator for two patients is not ideal but

workable. mayor bill deblasio toured the brooklyn navy yard where ppe was being manufactured. this days it houses various businesses. a group got together to make face shields to be used in the war against the virus. the production line can assembly 120,000 facemasks a week. and the world's largest hospital ship is slated to leave norfolk, the usns comfort tomorrow will head to new york city. the 1,000-bed floating hospital will take some of the pressure off city hospitals by treating non-coronavirus patients. the comfort had been undergoing repairs and not expected to arrive until april. the pentagon sped things up. it is slated to arrive in new york city on monday. president trump has said he will be on hand to see it off. in his words, i will kiss it goodbye, ed. >> ed: thank you. >> sandra: it is not all doom

and gloom out there. there are some puppies that got to take a special field trip in the middle of all this to the aquarium. adorable day out is now going viral. meanwhile on capitol hill one lawmaker threatening to derail a house vote on the coronavirus relief bill. we'll ask new york congressman max rose about that. he will be joining us live next. >> think about what this bill does. provides funding for those who need it by the income level. provide money for hospitals that are in crisis right now. then we take the small business where millions of americans work for and we provide funding. we're trying to keep people employed in this nation. or from the things they love to do? with right at home, it doesn't. right at home's professional team thoughtfully selects caregivers to help with personal care, housekeeping, meals - and most of all, staying engaged - in life.

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canines roaming through the empty exhibits bringing much-needed joy to viewers in difficult times. the shelter writing on social media the puppies had the best day ever. >> president trump: hopefully it will get approved equally, easily in the house. it could be one vote, one vote, one grandstander maybe. you might have one grandstander and for that we'll have to come back and take a little more time and it will pass. it will just take a little longer. let's see whether or not we have a grandstander. >> ed: president trump weighing in ahead of today's big house vote on the $2 trillion release package. republican congressman thomas massie opposed to the bill wants an in person bill and prompting anger on both sides of the aisles. max rose, a democrat from the other side of the aisle. >> ed: we hope your colleagues

on both sides of the aisle are healthy. we understand thomas massie may hold things up a bit longer. we expect final passage at some point. is on the house floor weighing his options, a libertarian not happy about some of the spending items in here. >> so let me take a moment and talk about thomas massie. i don't take his actions or his threats so lightly. every single day constituents of mine, residents of my district staten island and south brooklyn are dying. new york city and new york state the epicenter of this crisis. that crisis will move on to other places in america. we have never seen a threat like this. so thomas massie, this is disgusting. this is inhumane. you aren't a libertarian, you're unamerican. if we push this back 24 hours there will be blood on thomas massie's hands and anyone else who steps in the way of this blood on their hands. we have to get the money out into hospitals, pockets, ppe

for our first responders, action is needed. >> ed: okay. i understand your frustration. new york city is particularly hard hit. questioning his patriotism calling him unamerican is something i'm sure thomas massie will have a chance to respond to. >> good. >> ed: in the meantime you are questioning thomas massie and rightly so. why is he holding this up? i have a question for you coming from a democrat. andrew cuomo. here he have is yesterday on his frustrations with the bill you are passing. listen. >> the congressional action in my opinion simply failed to address the governmental need. i spoke to all the officials involved, i spoke to our house delegation, i spoke to our senators, and i believe what they did failed to meet the governmental need. i'm disappointed. >> ed: please answer your own democratic governor. you are there in washington and helping to negotiate this.

you've got chuck schumer, the democratic leader in the senate was at the table with the treasury secretary and your governor said you failed and didn't provide enough money to new york. >> first of all andrew cuomo who has shown great leadership taught much of the rest of the country how to lead is correct. new york city, new york state still needs more. that's why after this we are most certainly going to go back and fight for more money for states and local alts. but let's talk about what this does do. in addition to billions of delays for the state and city, $4 billion for public transportation, tense of billions for hospitals. billions of dollars for hospitals, hundreds of billions for our businesses, for hard-working americans who have been laid off and it is critical that we get that money out as quickly as possible. you are rightfully focusing on the economy as well.

we need for this to be a v-shaped recovery, not a long, slow recovery. in order to do that you remember back to 2008, we have to start the recovery process sooner rather than later. part of that is putting money in people's pockets. >> ed: absolutely. it is an economic crisis but you raise the alarmed bell a moment ago a health crisis first and foremost. very hard hit in new york city. i know as you just said you'll fight for more money. your own mayor, bill deblasio said it is immoral and thinks there is not enough money. a big fight ahead to get more money for new york city and other cities around the country. congressman max rose, appreciate that. >> thank you for having me on. >> ed: sandra. >> sandra: meanwhile a massive u.s. aircraft carrier diverted after a growing coronavirus outbreak on board. a live report from the pentagon on that is next. and we're keeping a close eye on los angeles where a navy hospital ship is set to arrive.

how this will help in the fight against a pandemic. >> mercy has a team of medical professionals and equipment and supplies, all of which will act as a release valve for local civilian hospitals in the los angeles area.

>> sandra: the uss theodore roosevelt has arrived in guam. the navy diverting one of its biggest warships after a coronavirus outbreak on board. we're live with the details from the pentagon. >> moments ago u.s. officials tell me the number of cases on board the aircraft carrier now number more than 30. that number is expected to continue rising. the carrier pulled into guam 12 hours ago days ahead of

schedule. unclear from the strike group from cases on the viruses on board. the acting secretary of the navy said testing is limited. >> i know the small ships don't have the ability to test on board. it's my understanding that on the larger ships we do have the ability to do some limited testing on board. they have approximately 800 kits on board. we're flying more on there today as we speak. so they'll have more brought in to help solve this problem. >> about 30% of all known coronavirus cases in the u.s. navy are aboard this one ship now. no pilots on board have been infected. officials expect the number of cases among the crew of 5,000 to continue growing. impossible to keep the caouf isolated at sea. there are not 5,000 state rooms on board. only those showing symptoms will be tested. the carrier is still able to complete her missions, quote, we're taking this threat very seriously and working quickly to identify and isolate positive cases while preventing

further spread aboard the ship. no sailors are seriously ill. another aircraft carrier in the regions has cases of the virus, uss ronald reagan has two sailors on board who tested positive. it forced the entire navy base located outside tokyo to shut down over the weekend, sandra. >> sandra: all right. lucas tomlinson at the pentagon for us. thank you. >> ed: all right. the house meanwhile set to vote on a massive relief bill sending the $2 trillion to the president's desk. how one congressman could try to delay the whole process. we're watching the house floor and we'll get there after this. veterans, how can one phone call save you $2000 a year?

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and there's no money out of pocket. call newday right now. >> sandra: this is a fox news alert. a house vote on a rescue package to stabilize the battered economy could be up in the air at this hour after a republican lawmaker hints that he opposes a voice vote. potentially putting the coronavirus stimulus plan on hold. welcome to a new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm sandra smith. good morning, ed. >> ed: i'm ed henry. good morning. growing concern from both sides of the aisle that republican congressman thomas massie of kentucky could at least try to trigger some kind of delay by forcing his colleagues to vote in person in the capitol. president trump urging congress to send the bill to his desk. >> president trump: i'm profoundly grateful that both parties came together to provide relief for american

workers and families in this hour of need. the house of representatives must now pass this bill hopefully without delay. >> ed: fox team coverage, griff jenkins with the latest on the coronavirus numbers here at home but we begin with mike emanuel on the hill with the latest. i got off the phone in a break with a top source who says they believe they have a quorum, the leadership does at least. thomas massie could try to block this. it might take a little longer but they believe at this hour they'll move forward. good morning. >> good morning to you. that was critical when they heard that he might say hey, you don't have a quorum here. they needed to get 216 or so lawmakers back to the capitol. we have seen a lot of lawmakers jump on planes today texting out photos and that sort of thing showing empty planes. they're than the planes to make sure it gets done today. we're in an hour on three hours

of debate on the house floor on the $2 trillion package. now the house needs to get it done. a big point of emphasis in the debate has been the need to act now. the scene on the house floor as we take you there live is different today. they are practicing good social distancing. one for their health and protecting one another but also to be good examples to the american people. bottom line the house majority leader moments ago making the case and making this call for action. >> we must take swift action to insure that people can stay home to slow the spread of this deadly virus and that our economy can be supported so that it can rebound when the medical experts and scientists say it is safe to do so. >> the hope was this would be a very simple process with a

voice vote where lawmakers would yell yay or nay and they would say okay, by voice vote it is approved. it could lead to one member stangd up and saying no i want a recorded roll call vote. that point led to a lot of lawmakers heading to the airport to head back to the united states capitol to do their duty. the bottom line they're supporting this measure. >> no one will agree with every part of this rescue bill. we face a challenge rarely seen in america's history. we must act now or the toll on lives and livelihoods will be far greater. i strongly urge its passage. >> ed: if thomas massie or other member says they don't want a simple voice vote, that could stretch this out for hours because they want to be careful about not having too many members congregating on the house floor at any one time. they divided them up into groups of 30 lawmakers at a time. they don't want more than two

in an elevator at any one time. it could stretch out the process quite a bit. bottom line the leadership on both sides of the house of representatives wants to get this done today. >> ed: absolutely. we'll get back to you as news breaks. >> sandra: we'll follow it minute by minute. the u.s. has now taken the top spot for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassing italy and china. reported u.s. infections now surging to more than 17,000 since yesterday morning. the new total more than 86,000. about 16% of all cases worldwide. u.s. deaths hitting 1300 with the largest daily increase for a fifth consecutive day. griff jenkins has more on all that live from washington this morning. hey, griff. >> good morning, sandra. leading the world with the most cases is not a place we want to be. those trends aren't going in the right direction. look at this. the second consecutive day with more than a 200 plus increase

in those daily deaths. as you mentioned, the fifth time i've sat here and recorded the largest daily increase in those deaths. while new york is still the epicenter of this pandemic with more than 80 deaths yesterday and more than 1200 new cases, officials are turning their eyes to south to louisiana. in particular to new orleans. the state is among the top three per capita for cases with more than 2300 and 83 deaths. new orleans the hot bed has 997 cases accounting for 43% of the total and 46 deaths accounting for 55% of the total. right now one out of every 10,000 new orleans residents has died of coronavirus. many believe mardi gras may have played a role. the governor is asking people to experience social distancing. officials are mobilizing fearing a spike that could lead to hospital shortages in april. like new york is headed their way. it comes as the president is

considering reopening parts of the country showing a lower risk telling hannity it is time for americans to get back to work. yesterday dr. birx and how they've tracked the hot spots. >> these outbreaks and clusters we've been able to very well define to date. the one that was in king county, the one that is now in new york city, the one in new orleans, the one in wayne county. so -- we can see that spread throughout the region. >> ed: monday will mark the end of that first 15 days, sandra, so it will be interesting to see what the president advises come the end of the weekend. sandra. >> sandra: we will see. griff jenkins in washington for us, thanks. >> ed: the latest u.s. numbers raising questions about testing, treatment and public health strategy. dr. marc siegel joins us now and he is a fox news contributor. good morning, doctor.

>> good morning, good to be with you. let's start on testing. last hour we interviewed a union official from the fdny. he said there are over 100 firefighters who already tested positive for coronavirus and says the men and women of the fdny that they aren't a priority list for testing. how is this possible? >> it's deeply disturbing and there has been a problem in new york city over the last few days that may be under the radar which is testing centers have been overwhelmed. we're saying that over 400,000 people have been tested in the united states now. new york being a major hot spot here with over 23,000 cases but it is getting harder to get tested. i tell you the reason. the tests themselves are very difficult to administer and require personal protective equipment which we're also running low on. on the good news side henry shine, a medical supplier just announced they'll release a pinprick test where you can

tell right away within 15 minutes whether you've been exposed to the coronavirus and fda has issued emergency approval for this. it could be a game changer in terms of figuring out who has this. >> ed: that's good news. we're showing a line in the video, a long line of cars in new jersey near new york so people are in various places getting testing but it is taking a long time. hopefully at the end of that line they're getting it. real quick scott gotlieb used to be the fda commissioner under president trump. last night he said he is worried about emerging situations not just in new orleans which we covered earlier but dallas, atlanta, miami, detroit, chicago and philadelphia. we talked a lot about new york city and l.a. there are a lot of cases. are you worried as scott gotlieb is about other cities starting to show spikes? >> yes, i am. i agree with dr. gotlieb and we're having hot spots emerge around the country. the ones you mentioned and we have the previous ones in

washington state and california and chicago and miami now. but i do want to add, though, i'm not really dependent on draconian mathematical modeling. we don't know where this virus is going to go. we don't know how many people are going to be infected. deal with the problem on the ground now. personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, negative pressure rooms for patients so they don't spread it, identifying cases through rapid testing and dealing with the actual needs now. the government sent 4400 ventilate horse to new york. that's probably as many as we need right now. to say there will be hundreds of thousands of cases when that may not end up being the case is not where we should be going. we need to look at the problem as it is emerging and contain it. >> ed: on that point we're just 16 days from easter sunday. the goal that the president has put out there at least for whether or not we can start to reopen parts of the economy, he

has taken heat for even raising that. when the democratic governor andrew cuomo in new york had an interesting thing to say yesterday. watch this. >> what we did was we closed everything down. that was our public health strategy. >> ed: he went on to say -- >> we thought or had time to analyze that public health strategy. i don't know that you would say quarantine everyone. i don't even know that was the best public health policy. >> ed: what is he saying there? it seems like even the democratic governor here is saying maybe we went a little too far. >> a couple of points on that, ed. number one there are 19 states in the country that have very little of this virus. to use that containment strategy of quarantine chokes the economy without a lot of gain. here in new york social distancing, hand washing, being more aware of the issue, all of

this has paid big dividends. the question on top of that whether everybody should be sheltering in place is what he is questioning. i would again say if we knew who exactly had the virus we could use the strategy of maybe we could use our universities that are now closed or hotels and separate out people the way they did in china from the general population. that would be the most effective public health strategy rather than closing everything. i think that's what the governor is thinking about now and he is right to be thinking about that. the more cases we're aware of and their contacts the better off we are from a public health point you view. >> where we started about testing. you need to test people to find out who has it and who doesn't so you can do exactly what you just said. last point. here is dr. birx talking about different parts of the country and different strategies. >> we can see in washington state that they have very aggressively through their

mitigation methods really started to flatten their curve. their curve never got to the highest levels like you see in new york city. so every single cluster will have a different curve and every single community around the united states has to focus on insuring that they are flattening their curve. >> ed: final minute, doctor. >> you know, ed, here is the point about washington state. it was where it first started. it was where we all spotlighted. we spent so much time doing what is called contact tracing. figuring out who was in touch with people who were actually sick. the problem in new york has been people live close together and this got out of control before we tested. our testing was way behind the curve. it spread into the communities and into the general population before we could contain it. that's the difference in the two states. that's got to be an education strategy for all of us going forward. we need to know who has it. new york is a caldron because of how close everyone lives together.

because all of this overflow and hospitals being in trouble and overwhelmed right now. >> ed: dr. siegel steering us through this crisis so well as he has done from the beginning. appreciate it. have a good weekend, sir. >> thank you, you, too. >> sandra: fox news alert now stocks have been falling on wall street as investors wrap a wild week for the markets. we'll take a closer look at that action and your money coming up. a potentially dangerous connection between vaping and covid-19. what health experts are now warning. and we've been hearing so many stories throughout this about the shortage of masks and protective gear for our medical workers fighting on the front lines. up next how a group that builds houses is now pitching in and trying to make a difference. protected lifetime income from an annuity can help your retirement plan ride out turbulent times. learn more at protectedincome.org.

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>> sandra: is vaping making a bad situation even worse? health experts are now saying that people who vapor use e-cigarettes could be considered high risk for the coronavirus. the world health organization warning vaping can cause dangerous lung and respiratory problems making those who vape more vulnerable to covid-19. the fda saying that about 1 in 4 teens in america vapes.

the cdc said the virus could be affecting more younger patients than we initially thought. >> ed: we've also heard stories of companies and organizations coming together to volunteer in the fight against the coronavirus. leading builders of america is one of those many organizations. they're now launching a major campaign to get home builders across america to donate thousands of masks and protective eye gear to healthcare workers. joining us live via skype is that organization's ceo ken gear. it is good to have you. builders all around the country have masks, they have this eye gear. it is so critical for healthcare workers. what led you to this place? >> you know, we heard from healthcare workers on the front line that were sending out the call for anything they could get. they were desperate for these materials early last week. we heard the president's call

and our industry mobilized and came together. we have a campaign now in full swing across the country asking for builders asking for subcontractors to join us. literally thousands of people across the country getting every mask we can get. n-95 masks, goggles, gloves, whatever we can get and getting them immediately to the front lines. >> ed: include gloves as well. how is it going so far? give us an idea of the scope here. there are homes being built across america. what is your sense about how it is going and how much may be pouring in now to help? >> we started we didn't have a number in mind as far as a goal. we wanted to get every single spare mask and safety goggles we could find. across the country the response has been terrific. we're getting masks from job sites from stock rooms and from the backs of pickup trucks that workers aren't using and we're immediately getting those to central locations within hours

and getting them out to the front lines to healthcare facilities. homeless shelters, community hospitals across the country. >> ed: next hour we expect to hear another live news conference from andrew cuomo. doing it regularly. he will typically start off by talking about this critical need for masks and all the protective gear. and he has talked about price gouging. president trump has talked about that as well. some people are trying to profit off all this. what led you to say look we aren't going to try to make money off this, we're going to get in there and get it off the backs of pickup trucks and store rooms and help. >> builders are parts of communities across the country. we build communities across the country. the people that in our communities, our nurses, first responders, policemen and firemen and teachers. they protect us every day and we are trying to give back a

little bit just to them and do what we can to make their lives a little easier in these difficult times for all of us. we have over 100,000 masks so far and tens of thousands of goggles going out to the front lines. >> ed: the healthcare workers are the ones on the front lines as you have noted. we've talked a lot about restaurant workers and other industries that have been hard hit. hotel and cruise industry and airline industry. how are home builders doing? i've seen and read stories in certain parts of the country building is still moving forward. how is it going for your workers? >> it's going fairly well across the country. we're trying to stay up and running. most states have allowed us to stay up and running. we are able to work on homes, build homes. and also comply with social distancing. so we can have one trade at a time on a job site. limit the number of people on the job site to under 10. we're able to keep going. we have tens of thousands of

closings across the country that people are waiting to move into their homes so they can shelter in place. we need to continue to build those homes and so far we've had good luck across the country with some exceptions we've had to close down. we're looking to remain building and pull this economy up as soon as we're able to do that and go full speed. >> ed: everybody has a role in this economy and this society as you know. but in our last minute again we talked about the restaurant workers who provide food and talked about the grocers still pushing forward and the pharmacies. but talk about what goes through your mind as a home builder leading the association as you see these healthcare workers who are putting their own lives on the line to help the rest of us. >> as i said, it's remarkable. i have a lot of nurses and things in my close circle of friends and family and i'm amazed what they are able to do every day. they put their lives on the line for us all and they are the ones -- this is all about

them. they are on the front lines of this war and we are just looking to do our part to help them. i'm in awe of them and what they're doing these days. we want to do just a little bit to sort of give them a pat on the back and tell them we're here for them as a country. >> ed: more than a pat on the back you are providing critical protective gear that might help save their lives and the lives of many people. we appreciate you stepping forward and telling us your story. thank you. >> thanks for helping us get the word out. >> sandra: absolutely. fox news alert meanwhile. u.s. navy hospital ship is set to arrive in los angeles taking part in the fight against covid-19. we'll have the details on its medical mission that's coming up. new cases of the coronavirus surging in the state of louisiana. so could that become the next epicenter of the pandemic? does it have enough medical supplies to deal with this outbreak? >> so my message is look, we have 10 days. we are not new york yet.

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>> i think that -- i think we are there. we have a large number of cases that are coming in on a daily basis and it's kind of a slow process every day more add up. >> sandra: a doctor on "america's newsroom" yesterday there warning new orleans is in

danger of becoming a new epicenter for this pandemic testing for covid-19 is expanding throughout the state as new cases are spiking. take a look at the latest numbers here for louisiana. so far 83 people have died from the coronavirus with more than 2300 cases statewide. joining us now is dr. robert hart, executive vice president and chief medical officer at oscar health. dr. hart, thank you for being here this morning. what can you tell us about what your state is seeing and experiencing as far as number of cases now confirmed in louisiana? >> certainly. we have over the past three weeks as you know continued to have the cases rise, as we're beginning to have more testing available those numbers are rising much quicker than maybe perhaps is a real number. we probably had much more

positives early on but certainly the testing availability, the more rapid turnaround is certainly leading to numbers that contribute to that spike number that you are seeing. >> sandra: new york is the epicenter for this virus here at home you hear from the governor, about to hear from him about an hour from now, andrew cuomo, warning about shortage of medical supplies including ventilators. if you are seeing that spike in louisiana and coming on faster than perhaps the state prepared for, what is the current situation for available medical supplies and protection for your medical workers on the front line? >> sure. we've been working hard. our group supplies people are working 24/7 trying to stay ahead of the surge getting supplies in. so far we've been doing well at staying ahead of that. we have asked people to be conservative with the supplies knowing that we are having to stay ahead of this surge.

that's requiring everything from masks, gowns, beds. again, trying to stay ahead of the people coming in that -- the newly diagnosed with this covid-19. >> sandra: part of the problem is the length of time it takes to get the test results back from a covid-19 test. a hospital in new orleans is experimenting with and testing a covid-19 test that could return results within 45 minutes, doctor. what can you tell us about progress being made on that and is it working? >> so yes, we're involved with discussions about that looking at getting that set up. we've got some of the equipment to be able to run those tests when we get them available to us. i'm glad you mentioned the turnaround time. that's so important for a lot of reasons. if we can have a more rapid turnaround. it is a big help to our patients because we can give them better guidance about the

care. it's a big help for the use of your personal protective equipment. if we know someone is positive or negative quickly, we can continue to not use, we can quit using the pppe on those patients that are negative and helps us concern our resources. our human resources, if we have the rapid turnaround we can be confident we don't have to quarantine people as long before they are able to come back to work and continue to help us fight this coronavirus. >> sandra: dr. hart, one thing we've heard discussed in the potential reasoning behind the rapid spike in cases in the state of louisiana and new orleans is mardi gras only several weeks ago. what part can you -- how much can you attribute to the

celebration in new orleans to the spike in cases you're seeing? >> that's a great observation. if you look at the epidemiology behind this it is certainly the cases began to spike after mardi gras and there are several things that happen with marred gra. a lot of people come into the city from around the country and around the world. and to be honest there is a lot of people that live here in the city that go elsewhere on cruises, other places around the country. and so i do think that certainly gave the opportunity for us to spend a lot more time together, closer proximity, be exposed 20 people from all around the nation and world. so you look at the epidemiology behind how this disease is transferred. it probably did contribute to this. >> sandra: dr. hart, you mention the amount of tourism you see in the city of new orleans and the entire state.

the boards up on the windows and restaurants and bars in the french quarter and it is really something to see but necessary in a time of social distancing and stopping the spread of this disease. and lowering that curve. so what are you seeing as far as the response from the residents of that state and the drop in tourism to combat this? >> so i think the residents of the state have really begun to take this seriously and i think they really started this a couple of weeks ago. i think our city and parish officials and governor certainly have been working with this closely. we've been in contact with them. i have think they've made some decisions very wisely to recommend that people stay inside. i observe people all the time that clearly are taking steps to social distance. it certainly has had an economic impact, you are right. but i think for the short term good or for the long term good

the social distancing is the right thing to do. people -- i have to say, people have really been more accepting of this over the past two weeks and you see it -- you really see it everywhere. >> sandra: doctor, final thought. your message on -- as far as the nation is concerned. you hear the message from andrew cuomo, the governor of new york who is dealing with this in such a big way right now. you are seeing firsthand what's happening in new orleans. what is your message to the federal government on anything that you may need as you now continue to deal with the spike in cases there? final thoughts. >> right. so we know the cases are going to continue to grow. we really need help with staffing. these patients require a lot of care. we are going to need staffing. i know we're making preparations, our governor and the state are making preparations for more beds.

and that's these patients do take a while to get better. and the recovery time is prolonged. so we're going to need a place for many of these patients to have time to recover. so i think that would be the message. the other message would be across the country people need to take this for real. the social distancing, if it hasn't hit in your city or state yet, be smart. do the social distancing. take the measures you need to prevent it from becoming the next hot spot. very wise to do that. >> sandra: it's a good message and one we all know by now but we continue to put out there. dr. robert hart, appreciate you coming on this morning. we'll check back with you a bit later on. thank you. >> ed: fox news alert now, the highly anticipated mercy is due to dock at the port of los angeles in california today. 1,000 beds on board.

the u.s. navy hospital ship will provide care to non-coronavirus patients helping to relieve medical centers and hospitals on shore. christina coleman is live at the port of los angeles where the ship will arrive in just a few hours. good to see you. >> good to see you. the mercy is expected to arrive here in about an hour and will have at least 1100 personnel on board. the mayor of los angeles expresses gratitude for this ship last night. >> the united states naval ship mercy is an incredible ship. i'm so grateful to the president, the vice president, to the governor, to our senators, to supervisors. i certainly made call after call after call to our representatives. >> the mercy depart evidence from san diego bay on monday and also has 70 civil service mariners on board. this will be a referral hospital for non-covid-19 patients who were admitted to local medical facilities.

the mercy is designed to treat trauma patients and equipped with 1,000 hospital beds, freeing up space at local hospitals so they can use their intensive care units and ventilators for people infected with covid-19. >> we're here to provide medical care for pash whoents may be on a ward. we have surgical capability as well. if a patient transfers to us that needs to have surgery we're capable of providing that. >> the ship is set to arrive at a good time at l.a. county officials are expecting more covid-19 patients. as of today more than 1200 covid-19 cases in l.a. county and 21 deaths. >> ed: if there are 1,000 people that are possible and they infect two other people. if we don't curtail that spread

within a few weeks there could be over a million people that would be infected in l.a. county. >> now the navy hospital is expected to be in service by tomorrow and port official s and say it will not impact business at the port. >> ed: thank you. >> sandra: i'm certain investors are pushing stocks down today one day after exiting a bear market. three straight days of gains for the u.s. market. fears for recession as the coronavirus jolts the u.s. economy. >> it is unsustainable for my finances. looking for a job in this time with the economic implications will be really tough. restaurants have always been there for you.

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>> ed: prince george, princess charlotte and prince lewis

honoring doctors, nurses and caretakers. prince charles, the heir to the british thrown announced this week he tested pos fifsh tore coronavirus. very nice they're pausing. >> sandra: meanwhile wall street opening sharply lower one day after exiting bear territory and it was a three-day gain for the dow. it was a welcome sight for many. david asman host of bulls and bears from the fox business network joins us. >> they're reacting to congressional idiocy. a week ago it was the democrat senator schumer who was stalling the bill, dragging it back saying he wasn't going to sign it and everything. he was going to be responsible for depression. now it's a republican. a guy named massie threatening to stop passage of the bill. it was set to get to the president's desk. now he is stopping the bill. there is mr. massie.

i don't know if he likes the idea of his name going down as one of the people who might have been responsible for a great depression. he is stuck with it now. i hope he can live with that. he is responsible. again, idiocy in congress is bipartisan. first it was a democrat. now a republican. having said that, that don't mean this is the greatest bill of all time. there is a lot of junk in this bill that doesn't belong there. the president has admitted to that. he said there is a lot of stuff that i didn't want to put in but in order to get it done and help the american people now, we had to do it. we have to get america back to work. even governor cuomo who put in the this 100% work restriction in new york except for essential workers is saying perhaps he went overboard in terms of the 100% closure. he is saying we need to get back a work strategy. the governor of florida, republican governor desantis saying he is not for the full shelter in place policy.

we have to get americans back to work. i worry that the package has a little bit too much in terms of keeping america out of work for four months. that's how long these unemployment benefits last. but the point is get it done, get it out there, then we can get to work in terms of licking the virus and getting america back to work. >> sandra: we know that those jitters are playing out in the economy. the possibility of recession, are we in one already? david, i know you talk to people every single day. you look at the dow down 927 points right now. that's a loss of more than 4%. important to put that friday sell-off in context, though. as you point out, 1300 point gain yesterday, david. three consecutive rallies. the biggest three-day gain since 1931 up 20% over that three-day period. friday morning we're looking at the sell-off and the debate continues in the house on capitol hill this morning.

so it would appear that the market is so dependent on what happens next with this $2 trillion relief package. >> absolutely. you can call this a massie downturn by the way. you should really link it to this guy. one person is causing all this trouble right now. we were ready to roll on this thing except this one congressman massie now is stopping it. it is really disgraceful. it was disgraceful when schumer was doing it, a democrat and disgraceful when mr. massie is doing it, a republican. this guy could be linked to disaster. hopefully we'll get beyond it. it won't be more than a blip on the screen. it is awful to see. get beyond this initial hump. then get america back to work after we have licked the virus. the president rolled out this idea which dr. saphier has been on your show many times and had this idea of county by county

definitions of how to deal with this thing. we don't need the china solution. china is a communist country that implemented the solution that had a lot of positive effects on killing the virus in china, we can have a uniquely american solution that doesn't have to be based on a communist idea of social order. that's what we're looking for and what the president is looking for and i think that's what we can find. >> sandra: as far as congressman massie's next move, we don't know what it will be. we're watching the house floor closely. he indicated that he would be a no. the president has gone off on him this morning on twitter. markets are looking at all of this and trying to take it all in. historically looking at markets it's anybody's guess where we close today. >> the markets -- remember, the markets look to the future and that's the key here. the markets are looking to the future. that's why we're above 21,000 right now from the depths we

hit 18,000 earlier in the week. the markets think we can get beyond this. so do i. the folks inside the beltway have to do head knocking to get their priorities straight. >> sandra: when you look at the markets. this is in a week where we got numbers from a single week of those unemployment and jobless claims, over 3 million. that was expected, that was extraordinary. >> absolutely. >> sandra: david asman. thank you for being here this morning. >> ed: thanks. americans from coast to coast staying home trying to stop the spread of coronavirus. but with everyone working from home, can technology actually keep up? home values are up, ande rates are at record lows. that's good news for veterans with va loans. that's me. by using your va streamline refi benefit, one call to newday usa can save you $2,000 a year. that's me. there's no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs.

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>> ed: americans are looking to

devices and machines more than ever as millions work from home. it can be hard for technology to keep up. you probably learned that with a full house using one interet connection. brett, you're laughing. i think this has happened to you. >> yes, it has happened quite a few times actually as all of us are starting to work from home. we're putting the internet to the test now as more of us are stuck inside, more of us are using the internet connections and we'll find out if the internet service providers speeds are holding up. here is what i love about the internet. when you talk about the phone system they talk about 59 reliability. if everybody picked up the phone in america not everybody will get a dial tone. the internet was built for this kind of thing. when you are streaming netflix if it can't get it from a server in say atlanta maybe it will get it from a server in

new jersey. that's how the traffic goes about the internet. if you are stuck at home and you are seeing your internet connection getting slow for one thing you have to get the router up high. want it unobstructed and fun things you can do. if you're stuck at home with the kids you want to take a break from work, you will want to have some fun. there is all kinds of stuff you can do. facebook has been great about doing video streaming. i was just reading statistics about facebook video streaming. it has doubled over the last couple of weeks. no surprise why that's happening. if you are screaming netflix and finding it to be a bit of a problem you can log into your account and change the settings so that you are not getting as high quality a picture which will take less bandwidth and have an easier time streaming on that. you can use things like facetime, group chats to stay in touch with friends and family so that you can't be in

the same room with them but you can still have a drink around your ipad, see how everybody is doing. >> ed: you can use zoom for happy hour. what will they think of next? >> what will they think of next? >> have a great weekend. sandra. >> sandra: well, many once bustling parts of america now looking like ghost towns. president trump set to review options for opening them back up. is that feasible? chris wallace joins us as our coronavirus coverage continues next hour here on "america's newsroom." at chevy, we promise to do ours. we're offering chevy owners complimentary onstar crisis assist services and wifi data. if you need a new chevy, interest-free financing for 84 months - with deferred payments for 120 days on many of our most popular models.

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>> ed: president trump set to hear recommendations from the coronavirus task force on reopening the country as the united states now leads the world in coronavirus cases with more than even china or italy. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm ed henry. good morning, sandra. >> sandra: good morning to you. good morning, everyone. i'm sandra smith. the u.s. has more than 85,000 cases, the death toll rising to 1300 as the white house looks for ways to reopen the economy without putting more americans at risk. >> president trump: the united states is working with our friends and partners around the world to stop the spread of the virus and coordinate our efforts. we will be using the data to update existing guidance on social distancing. >> president has made it clear in his words he wants to open the country up.

we'll do that responsibly. >> sandra: fox team coverage for you this morning. chris wallace standing by. chad pergram reporting from capitol hill where there is a lot of action this morning. but we begin with chief white house correspondent john roberts reporting live from the north lawn. >> as the house prepares for a vote on the fiscal stimulus bill the president in the last hour taking a blow torch to the republican congressman from kentucky thomas massie who is threatening to hold up this bill. the president tweeted looks like a third rate grandstander named thomas massie, a truly great state of kentucky wants to vote against the congress. workers and small businesses need money now in order to survive. the virus wasn't their fault. it is hell dealing with the dems, had to give up stupid things in order to get the big picture done. 90% weight. win back the house but throw

massie out of the republican party. president leaving no doubt how he feels this morning. 15 days to slow the virus. the president came out with expires on monday. the president will be hearing recommendations from the coronavirus task force this weekend on how to proceed while it may be possible to modify the guidelines for some counties at low risk it will likely have to be renewed for most places. a couple weeks away from easter sunday. the day the president would like to reopen the country. the white house calling it an aspirational target and a moving target more than anything. the president saying the country can't stay closed for business for an extended period ever time. listen here. >> president trump: we have to get back to work. our people want to go back to work. they have to go back. and we are going to be talking about dates. we are going to be talking with a lot of great professionals. but this is a country that was built on getting it done and our people want to go back to

work. i'm hearing it loud and clear from everybody. >> it is likely major urban areas like new york city will be slower getting back up and running. the infection rate is 1 in 1,000 people. concerning indications in other places now. listen to dr. brix. we need to look at wayne county in michigan and cook county in chicago. so we have integrated all of our information to not only look at where the cases are today but how they're moving. >> the president spoke yesterday with g-20 leaders and from xi of china. the president tweeted this morning just finished a good conversation with president xi of china discussed in gait detail the coronavirus. china has been through much and developed a strong understanding of the virus. we're working closely together,

much respect. interesting piece of news, sandra, yesterday from dr. anthony fauci who said this time around with a vaccine the government is planning to pair with pharmaceutical companies so if they get the promise that a vaccine is working they'll spool up production so when the tests are completed, if it's found the vaccine is effective, they will have a stock of vaccine that they can push immediately out to the public. another thing the president said yesterday he is likely go to norfolk tomorrow to send off the us naval ship comfort as it departs for new york city from norfolk tomorrow. >> sandra: john roberts, thank you. meanwhile members of congress rushing back to washington in case the house is forced into a roll call vote on the coronavirus relief package. as fox news now learns that kentucky republican thomas massie will likely demand it in a mom that has drawn fire from

both sides. chad pergram is live on capitol hill with the very latest. there is a lot happening there this morning. >> good morning. a bit of as soon as possible. but there is a lot of contempt that they have for thomas massie maybe calling into question and jeopardizing the health of members by bringing as many members of the house of representatives to vote on this bill rather than doing it with a skeleton staff. the pressure i refer to here is tense. that was on display in the past hour on the house floor. haley stevens, a democratic freshman from michigan. >> to encourage you to take -- >> give you more time. >> to the families. >> general lady will suspend. >> she was ruled out of order. they cut off your microphone and how members are torn

wanting to get this bill through but also not wanting to potentially contaminate one another. the plan is to have a voice vote. what is that? where all those in favor shout yay, the opposed nay and they can do it with a skeleton screw. loudest side wins. if massie or any other member calls for a roll call vote all members here have to file into the chamber. separate them up into groups of 30 and maybe stretch out this vote over a five or six-hour period so they don't have as many people in the house chamber estimate. the other issue. it is obvious they have the votes to pass it with 10 or 430. but the problem is under the constitution, the house cannot conduct business, article 1, section 5, unless they have a quorum. any member could say we don't have enough people and don't know how many people are here. if you don't have 216 people out of 430, the current population of the house of representatives, they cannot take that vote today. that's why so many members are mad that they had to rush back

to washington just to be on stand by and maybe vote today or if they don't have the votes or a quorum to do it today maybe they have to vote tomorrow or sunday. sandra. >> sandra: we'll be watching that situation as it unfolds on capitol hill this morning. chad pergram, thank you. >> ed: house speaker nancy pelosi sounding off yesterday on the possibility of a forced roll call vote on that $2 trillion relief bill. she said the american people want certainty. we need to get this bill passed tomorrow and get people off their selfishness. let's bring in chris wallace. first of all, how are you holding up, sir? >> like everybody else, doing the best that i can and the only advice i would give to people is be patient. this is going to take a while and you have to pace yourself. but we're all in it together and stay safe and stay kind to each other. >> ed: we certainly are in it together. wise advice from our friend

chris. speaker pelosi, thomas massie this republican lawmaker doesn't have a lot of fans in either party for slowing this down. at the beginning of this week i seem to remember it was speaker pelosi who was trying to add on some items to this bill that frustrated people that she was slowing the process down as well. >> i think the two things are somewhat different, ed. on the one hand that was when the bill was still being negotiated in the senate. they hadn't written the bill yet and the democrats obviously needed their vote. they had leverage both in the senate to get to 60 and pass it at all in the house and they wanted certain provisions in it and things did change. that's different than a bill that passed 96-0 in the senate that clearly has an overwhelming majority in the house. the fate of the bill is not in doubt. you have thomas massie, i couldn't say anything more negative about him than president trump has already in that tweet, who is sitting there insisting let's just go

through all the parliamentary niceties of a quorum count. a majority of members present and counting and we won't just have a voice vote, we'll actually force everybody to come back. and the two problems there, ed, one, you are talking about people's lives. the members of congress. 430 members of congress. a lot of them would have to be in planes, be in crowded areas, come back to involvement all the things they aren't supposed to do and people are counting on this money getting out and tom massie isn't going to affect the outcome of the vote. he can delay it for 24 hours maybe. but it just seems like a real waste of time. i will also say this, i just talked to a veteran republican vote counter who has never steered me wrong. he says that they do have the 215 votes for the quorum call today at the capitol and they

can pass the bill today. we'll see if he is wrong. he never has been before. >> ed: we'll check that later. quick on that point and i want to move onto another big topic. opening up the economy. you have treasury secretary mnuchin on this weekend on "fox news sunday". another issue is going to be you mentioned the delays already with this congressman. but there is some talk it could take a couple of weeks to get the actual checks out there as they sort out some people get it electronically. there will be delays for people hurting right now. >> of course. i've talked to some small businessmen this week. people who own restaurants and barber shops and machine shops and this is life and death -- not literally life and death like the virus but economic life and death. can they keep their business open? do they keep people on payroll or fire them? how do they pay rent and overhead? two weeks can be the difference between being able to stay open

or close up shop and declare bankruptcy. when you talk about $2 trillion you are pouring a ton of money out. if you are a small business how do you get that sba loan and how quickly -- first you have to apply for it and it has to come to you. all of this will take some time. >> ed: in 30 seconds you have tony fauci saying the president set a goal. it's aspirational getting going by easter sunday and it may provide hope. that's a positive thing. axios is reporting this morning there are advisors to the president trying to pull him back saying wait a second. we aren't sure we are going to be ready. >> well, look, we're not doctors, we don't play them on tv. i would listen to the public health experts. as bad as this is and as much pain as we're all facing, the one thing that would be worse is if we loosen the reins and let some of the country come back and that only spreads the virus and we get a second

renewed wave. so follow the science. whatever they say, i'm all for that. >> ed: a lot of good advice from chris wallace. we'll be watching on sunday. stay well, my friend. >> you too. >> ed: steve mnuchin is among his guests this weekend. 2:00 and 7:00 eastern here on the fox news channel and check your local stations as well. >> sandra: we'll be watching that thanks to chris. british prime minister boris johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus. that news breaking this morning as confirmed cases rise in the u.k. we'll have a live report from london. plus doctors now warning about the strange symptom that could be an early indicator of the coronavirus. we'll tell you what it is next. and my pillow ceo mike lindell doing his part during that pandemic making masks for medical workers. he will join us live later this hour.

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>> ed: fox news alert with more than 550,000 covid-19 cases around the world. boris johnson is the latest to be die ago noesd. >> wednesday it was prince

charles would tested positive today boris johnson and also the health secretary hancock. boris johnson remains in charge and leading this country and only showing mild symptoms and he is in self-isolation in number 11 downing street where his private apartment is. we heard from him directly. >> i developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus, a temperature and a persistent cough and on the advice of the chief medical officer i have taken a test. that has come out positive. so i am working from home. i'm self-isolating and that's entirely the right thing to do. >> johnson was last seen in public yesterday evening when he joined the rest of the u.k. to applaud health workers. as with so many other countries at the moment hospitals in the u.k. are full and doctors and nurses on the front lines are

catching this virus. in italy the problem is having a devastating effect. 44 healthcare workers have already died from covid-19 and more than 5,000 have been infected. one of the reasons being that the essential protective equipment they so needed early on was missing. johnson received his positive test hours after he joined president trump and other g-20 leaders including vladimir putin and president xi via videoconference to discuss the global crisis. 500,000 people are infected around the world and nearly 3 billion are under orders to stay at home. president trump spoke directly with president xi after that videoconference and he told him -- president xi told president trump u.s. and china relations are at a critical juncture and hoped the u.s. would make actions in improving the relationship. he says china stands ready to provide support to the u.s. here in the u.k. downing street

announced should boris johnson's condition worsen and not able to carry on robb, the foreign secretary, would take over. >> sandra: doctors warning that the sudden loss of smell or taste could be a symptom of coronavirus. joining us now by phone is the executive vice president and ceo of a medical group that deals with ear, nose and throat and head injuries. what are we seeing as this being a symptom of the coronavirus, losing our ability to smell. >> thank you for having me on. this symptom of decreased smell or absence of smell has been known to be common in viral disease such as rhino virus and the previous coronaviruss. what we're seeing now in certain groups of these people that are having this as an

initial system with no other warning signs. i think that's an opportunity for us to identify some of the asymptomatic patients that may be out there to self-isolate before they are capable of spreading the disease. >> sandra: in germany it is reported that more than two in three confirmed cases have that loss of smell. what about the loss of taste? this is also being seen as a symptom. >> the loss of taste often goes hand in hand with a change in the smell. they work together and people with distorted taste often have a coincidental smell problem and it originates typically with the smell more than the taste first. >> sandra: it's a really interesting thing. it is also pointed out by this group that's making this observation that this could be

due to a different type of viral infection and also could be tied to seasonal allergies. but it is something to take into consideration if you are experiencing some of the marquee symptoms like a fever when it comes to the coronavirus. that being said, there is another -- there is something else that's being observed and looked at in these cases of confirmed coronavirus and that is the eyes. some doctors are noting that as part of the symptoms that people are coming in with red eyes, doctor, what have you seen and heard on that? >> i will give you the caveat i'm not an op -- there is a connection between the nasal cavity and the eye through the tear drainage system. oftentimes the eye gets the same exposure to virus as we see within the nose. >> sandra: okay.

that is something else to be on the lookout for. of course, that dry cough and fever still the big symptoms to watch out for. these are other things that some medical professionals are identifying as additional symptoms as well. thank you for your time this morning. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> ed: thanks. we've been trying to highlight american companies big and small stepping up right now in this time of crisis. our next guest is shifting his production to make facemasks and ease the critical shortage for healthcare workers. his company announced my pillow usa is proud to answer the president's call to action as we're producing much-needed facemasks to help protect our brave medical workers on the front lines of this invisible war. it the time for manufacturers across the usa to help donald trump keep america safe. that is mike lindell and founder and ceo of my pillow. what led you to this place and

how is it going so far? >> it led me three or four weeks ago i said the president put out all these things the private sector to get involved. my passion has always been to help people. what a better time. we started then to find out what we could make. we worked with the administration. they have a coalition, what kind of masks are needed out there. we specialize in cotton and we found out different materials that we have. latex and hospitals and stuff. we got the final prototype three days ago. took us three days to change over factory. we're making 10,000 masks a day and hope to get up to 50,000 a day very fast. >> it took three days to transition. it seems remarkable to me. start at 10,000 masks a day. you hope to get to 50,000 a day. what is the goal here? do you have a number that you are thinking of and how quickly can you get those masks to the

people who need it? it is one thing to be in a warehouse and another thing to get it to these hospitals. >> what i'm doing is working with both the small kind of forgotten little hospitals and companies on the front lines responders and i have some big ones i'm working with. i'm getting both covered at the same time. but right now we're in realtime with the smaller ones as we are reaching out. we're doing the shipping. i'm shipping them out. i'm very good at shipping. that's what we do at my pillow. a lot of us will fall in line with what we've done and i've switched over other companies. i want every other manufacturer see what you can do out there. i have factories in connecticut, massachusetts, north carolina, and northern minnesota where they make other products for my pillow. we're switching them over in this time of need. >> ed: you said you are good at shipping. are you good and fox viewers,

you are a familiar face. the president teased you about that. in the last 30 seconds they have. is there a goal? get to 500,000, a million? >> it takes one person eight hours a day. we have to do them by hand. you can only make 100 to 120. the bottleneck is getting people to do it. we have had to redo my factory, people six feet apart. as many as we can make. i want to continue into the future once this ends, we want like the president says, we want our manufacturers here in the usa especially we've learned from medical supplies. we don't want 90% coming in from overseas. we want to make them right here and we'll learn from this. our great president will have this taken care of where we have our supplies and we'll make america safe. >> ed: mike lindell making these masks right here in america and stepping up at a time of critical need. appreciate you coming in and salute you for jumping in here and helping the people that

need it most. thank you. >> thanks, ed, god bless you all. >> sandra: minutes from now new york governor andrew cuomo as we have seen in recent days will be having an update on the state's coronavirus response and his efforts to secure the equipment that medical workers so badly need in new york to save lives. we'll bring it to you live when he begins. the navy ship mercy about to dock in los angeles to provide some desperately-needed hospital beds there. how other cities are now preparing for a surge of patients. neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. with a relaxing commute. a nice long lunch. and how about those skyscrapers?

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>> ed: news alert. there she is, the usns mercy just reaching the port of los angeles. good news. navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds. it will be treating non-coronavirus patients so that coronavirus patients can be treated on shore freeing up space in existing hospitals. remember, the usns comfort will be heading from norfolk, virginia, to new york city on saturday to do much the same. president trump planning to see it off tomorrow. we'll be live for that as well no doubt. but what a wonderful picture right there of the usns mercy reaching the port of los angeles. we'll watch it. >> sandra: the u.s. coronavirus outbreak the biggest in the world confirmed cases surging

past 85,000 as the death toll rises to more than 1300. jonathan serrie has more on all this from atlanta for us this morning. hey, jonathan. >> hi. hospital space and supplies is going to be crucial as we go into the coming weeks as the coronavirus is expected to spike in various communities around the country. the need is especially pronounced in new york city which accounts for roughly a quarter of all the nation's coronavirus cases. in new orleans where many people have underlying health conditions covid-19 has already claimed the lives of roughly 1 out of every 10,000 residents. with cases doubling statewide every three days louisiana's governor says people must social distance or hospitals there will run out of beds and ventilators in less than two weeks. >> sandra: thank you to

jonathan serrie. we'll go to governor andrew cuomo in the state of new york with an update on the situation there. >> who i worked with for many years has been helpful on this mission. our commissioner of health, dr. howard zucker. to my left is general patrick murphy. and to his left is general raymond shields. thank you for being here today. this is an amazing accomplishment. it's transformive. in just one week the javits center looks different. it will save lives. let me go through some facts if i can on a daily update of where we are and i want to make some comments to all the women and men who are assembled and did such a great job on this facility. the increase in the number of

cases continues. we still see that trajectory going up. those are the dates from march 3 to march 25. strategy, plan of action all along, step one flatten the curve. step two increase hospital capacity. flatten the curve meaning the -- if you do it as well as you can do it, hopefully there is no high point of the curve. there is no apex. it is a flatter, lower curve. why? so the hospital capacity can keep up with it. that's what this is all about. not overwhelming hospital capacity. and at the same time, increasing the hospital capacity that we have so if it does exceed those numbers, which it will in most probability, that we have the additional capacity to deal with it.

flattening the curve, these are all sorts of measures we put in place barring non-essential workers, social distancing, closing bars and restaurants, all the things i did that made people very happy with me. but the way you make a decision is the benefit and the burden. the risk and the reward. we are battling a deadly virus. is there an intrusion on daily life? yes. is there an intrusion on movement? yes. is there an intrusion on the economy? yes. but what's on the other side of the scale is literally saving lives. that's not rhetorical. that's not drama, that's fact. public education is very important. important to all of us. on the other side of the

balance beam is public health. i decided to close the public schools because i believed it was safer to close the schools and reduce the spread. we did that on march 18th. we said we would do it for two weeks and then we would reassess the situation at the end of two weeks. two weeks ends on april 1. we also said that we would waive what's called the 180-day requirement that every school has to teach for 180 days. we would waive that but that we would close the schools until april 1 and then we would reassess. also we said that every school district before it closes had to come up with plans to continue functions that they were doing. because school districts do more than just educate, they provide childcare for essential workers, they provide schools,

they provide meals in the schools. so everything that they were doing they had to come up with a plan to mitigate the consequence of their closing including distance learning for their students. i have to reassess because april 1 is just in a couple of days and i believe the schools should remain closed. i don't do this joyfully, but i think when you look at where we are and you look at the number of cases still increasing, it only makes sense to keep the schools closed. they have to continue the programs they are doing. they have to continue the childcare, continue the meals, continue the distance learning programs. i'll continue the waiver on what's called the 180-day mandate that they have to be in operation but we are going to close the schools for another two weeks and then we'll reassess at that point. that is statewide. at the same time we're working

to increase hospital capacity. what is a possible apex of the curve? it changes a little bit depending on the day-to-day data. now we're looking at about 21 days for a possible apex. so we want to do everything we can to be ready for that increased capacity that could hit us in 21 days and ramp up the hospital capacity. we are doing everything we can. we're doing things that have never been done before. we're doing things that when we put them on the table people thought they were impossible. but we are now doing the impossible, as you know well here with what you did over the past week. all hospitals have to increase their capacity by 50%. we're asking hospitals to try to increase their capacity 100%. because we need that many beds.

we're also looking at converting dorms, looking at converting hotels. we've been gathering equipment from everywhere we can, ppe equipment, most important piece of equipment for us are ventilators and we're shopping literally around the globe to put it all in place. we're creating a stockpile of this equipment so that when and if the apex hits, we can deploy equipment from the stockpile to whatever region of the state or whatever hospital needs it. so we collect it, we hold it as a hospital needs it, a region needs it, then we deploy it. the n-95 masks, surgical masks, examination gloves, protective gowns, coverals and most importantly the ventilators. why ventilators? it's a respiratory illness. people need ventilators who

come in for acute care. and the people are on ventilators much longer than most patients are on ventilators. most people are on a ventilator for two, three, four days. these covid patients can come in and need a ventilator for up to 20 days. so you see why that need for ventilators is so important. and again, all of this is to make sure we're ready for that apex. when the entire system is stressed and under pressure. and that's what we're working on. for the hospital capacity, at the quote, unquote apex, we need 140,000 beds. we have 53,000 beds. that's why we're scrambling and that's why we're asking you to do as much work as you are

doing. we need 40,000 icu beds. the intensive care unit beds. they have ventilators. we have -- when we started we had 3,000 icu beds with 3,000 ventilators. so you see how monumental the task and how monumental the mountain we have to climb. of the 140,000, how do we get to the 140,000? as i said all hospitals increase by 50%, some hospitals will increase 100%. they'll get the gold star hospital award. i don't know exactly what that means but we'll figure it out later. fema and the army corps of engineers and national guard have been working to put up these emergency hospitals. so far we have planned for four. the one we're in today at the javits center. one in westchester county center and one at stony brook

and old westbury. 4,000 additional units. they are all underway as we speak. not as far along as your good work at javits but they're on their way. again, with all of these beds we still have a shortfall. so we are going to go to plan b. what is plan b? we are going to seek to build another four temporary emergency hospitals. which will get us another 4,000 beds. and we just have been scouting sites for a few days. we have settled on a few sites working with the army corps of engineers. and i'm going to ask the president today if he will authorize another four temporary hospitals for us. i want to have one in every

borough. one for all of them. so everybody knows down state which is where the essence of the density is right now, that everyone equally is being helped and is being protected. we look at a site in the bronx, at the new york expo center, a 90,000 square foot site. seeing what we did here we think it would work very well. again the army corps of engineers has worked with us and looked at all these sites and think these sites work. one in queens at the aqueduct racetrack site. one in brooklyn, the brooklyn cruise terminal owned by the port authority but it is a wide open space. we can convert it very easily,

182,000 square feet. and in staten island the college of staten island, 77,000 square feet. again, inside can be converted. it has power, it has climate control, etc. we could do the same thing we've done here successfully so we know it works and we know it is feasible. building the interior space, we have exterior space that we could put up a temporary tent for supplies, equipment, etc. that would give us coverage all across the down state area with to be on its way soon. it is going to be right here in new york harbor. it is a massive facility in and of itself. 1,000 beds, 1200 medical personnel, 12 operating rooms. a pharmacy, a laboratory. and it should be here on monday.

so that will also help us in this quest. and then we are looking at dormitories and converting dormitories down state and we're looking at city college dormitories, queens college. we have the dormitories because the colleges are closed and the students have left. so we actually have dormitories that we can convert. we are also looking at hotels and nursing homes. we're looking at the marriott brooklyn bridge hotel and a nursing home called brooklyn center. so as you can see, we're looking far and wide, very creative, aggressive and finding all the space that we can possibly find and converting it to be ready in case we have that overflow capacity. we also have it planned out so

that this will be coming online before we think the apex hits. and at the same time, we are trying to flatten the curve to delay and soften that apex, right? those are the two strategies. slow the spread, flatten the curve. in the meantime increase the hospital capacity so whatever that surge is that you have, you actually have the capacity to deal with it. and right now we have a plan where over the next three or four weeks, which is the same timeline as the apex possibly coming, we're going to have the capacity as high as we can we a numbers, we want to see what is happening and are we getting closer to the apex, are we

succeeding in flattening the curve? we've been testing. we test more in this state than any state in the united states. we test more per capita than china or south korea. so we ramped up very quickly on the testing. new tests, 16,000, total tested 138,000. number of positive cases total cases 44,000, new cases 7,377. it continues to spread all across the state. as it continues to spread all across the country. the number of deaths were up to 519 in new york up from 385. that is going to continue to go up and that is the worst news that i could possibly tell the people of the state of new york. the reason why the number is

going up is because some people came into the hospital 20 days, 25 days ago and have been on a ventilator for that long a period of time. the longer you are on a ventilator, the less likely you are going to come off that ventilator. and that's not just true with this virus. that's true with every illness. when somebody is on that ventilator for a prolonged period of time the outcome is usually not good. so we're seeing a significant increase in deaths because the length of time people are on the ventilator is increasing. and the more it increases, the higher the level of deaths will increase. and again, we expect that to continue to increase. it is bad news. it is tragic news. it is the worst news.

but it is not unexpected news, either. you talk to any healthcare professional they'll tell you if you are talking about a loved one, if they aren't off that ventilator in a relatively short period of time, it is not a good sign. overall 44,000 people have tested positive, 6,000 currently hospitalized, 1500 in intensive care units. that's up 290. those are the people who need the ventilators. 2,000 patients have been discharged. that's up 528. so you have people coming into the hospital, getting treatment and leaving the hospital. most people who get the virus will never even go into the hospital in the first place, right? so we keep this in focus. 80% of the people who get the virus will what they call self-resolve. you will feel ill, maybe you

won't feel that ill. you'll think you have the flu and you self-resolve. 80% of the people. 20% will go into a hospital. some of them will get short-term treatment and then they go home. a very small percentage, they the end to be older people, more vulnerable people, people with an underlying illness, this respiratory illness compounds the problem they have. they had a compromised immune system. they were fighting emphysema, battling cancer, and on top of that they now get pneumonia, which is what this coronavirus is. that's the population that is most vulnerable. they then go on to a ventilator, some percentage get off quickly, some percentage don't get off. the longer they're on, the

higher the mortality rate. new york is still by far the most affected state both in terms of number of cases and in terms of number of deaths. why? because we welcome people here from all over the globe so travelers came here, people from china came here, people from korea came here, people who were traveling around the country who stopped in china, south korea and italy came here. and because we're a very dense environment. social distancing, stay six feet away, that's hard in new york city, right? walk down the sidewalk and tell me that you can stay six feet away from someone. we're so dense, we're so together, which is what makes us special, gives us that new

york energy, gives us that new york mojo, that density also becomes the enemy in a situation like this. this is the total number of people who have been hospitalized and we've been watching these numbers every day. we are now compiling the numbers i think in what is a smarter way. before we were getting individual patient data. every hospital had to tell us about each individual patient, what their address was, where they came from, what the underlying illness was and they had to put all that information together which was very labor-intensive. it was erratic the way the information would come in. sometimes the hospital was just too busy to put all that information together so they didn't send it in until the next day or the day after. this is a more uniform set of

data. this is all the number of people in that -- the hard number of people in that hospital who have the covid virus. without getting into all the specifics of individual names and individual circumstances. so it's easier for them to get us this data. you see again the steady incline in the number. but -- this is good news -- early on, you see that the number was doubling every 2 1/2 days. then it was doubling every 3 days. now it is doubling about every four days. it's still doubling and that's

still bad news because it still means you are moving up towards an apex, right? that number still goes up. but there is good news in that the rate of the increase the slowing. so there are two separate facts. the rate of the increase is slowing. but the number of cases are still going up, all right? and those two points are consistent. and that's what we're seeing. we want to see the rate slowing. and then we want to see the number of actual cases coming down or flattening. that's the flattening of the curve. but this is where we are today. again to keep it all in perspective, people don't know what to make of the coronavirus, what is going to happen, what's going to happen. johns hopkins has studied every coronavirus since china. 542,000 cases they've studied. of all those cases there have been 24,000 deaths. that's a lot of deaths, yes, but compared to 542,000 cases,

it gives you a sense of this disease. if you look at the 24,000, they are going to be overwhelmingly older people, vulnerable people, people with underlying illnesses, etc. the amount of support that we have gotten from new yorkers in the midst of this crisis is just extraordinary. i am a born and bred new yorker if you can't tell my queens accent. i can tell all the different accents. but new yorkers never cease to amaze me, how big their heart is. they talk about how new yorkers are tough. we're tough, living in a place like this you have to be tough. but as tough as we are, is as

loving as we are. and is as big as our heart is. and when someone needs something, there is no place i would rather be than new york. and the number of people who are volunteering, who are coming forward. we put out a call for additional medical personnel because we have to staff all these additional beds. we put out a call, 62,000 volunteers. the number went up 10,000 in one day. how beautiful is that? these are people who are retired, who did their duty, who could just sit at home. but they are coming forward. same thing we ask for mental health professionals who could provide mental health services electronically, over the telephone, through skype, etc. many people are dealing with

mental health issues. this is a stressful, taxing situation on everyone. on everyone. and isolation at home. you are home -- you are home alone day after day after day, that is a stressful situation. you don't know what's going on. you are afraid to go out. you are isolated with your family. that's a stressful situation. not that we don't like to be with our family, we all do. but that can create stress. and there is no place to go. no one to talk to about that. so this mental health service over the telephone is very, very important. i want to speak to the most important people in the room for a moment. who are the people who are

responsible for this great construction behind me. first, i would like to introduce general patrick murphy to my left. general murphy is tested, smart, and he is tested tough. i have been with the general for nine years. i have seen him in hurricanes and super storm sandy, and floods. and everything mother nature could throw at us. i have seen him in attempted terrorist attacks. there is no one better. he leads from the front. he knows what he is doing. and you could not have a better commander at this time then general patrick murphy. and i want you to know that. i want to congratulate the army corps of engineers for what they did here.

i used to be in the federal government with the army corps of engineers all across the country. i worked with them on the pine ridge indian reservation building houses. and one of the officers of the army corps of engineers is still in service and reminded me of that. they are top shelf. and what they did here is top shelf. i want to thank the staff that has really stepped up. and i want to thank our national guard. because, you are the best of us. you are the best of us. and whenever we call on you, you are there. and what you did in this facility in one week creating a hospital is just incredible. i don't know how you did it. you did such a good job, that i am asking for four more from the

president. that is the downside of being as good as you are at what you did. but what you did is really incredible. and i want to make two points to you. and i want to make two promises to you. this is a different beast that we are dealing with. this is an invisible beast. it is an insidious beast. this is not going to be a short deployment. this is not going to be that you go out there for a few days, we