ba wnla. draw the line with the roundup brand. trusted for over 40 years. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> tucker: good evening, and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." we are beginning this hour the way we have every ninth last week or so. chief breaking news correspondent trace gallagher joins us now with the latest numbers on the spread of this pandemic. hey, trace. >> tucker, it appears the numbers have finally convinced florida governor ron desanti governor ron desantis -- the governor had been resistant to the idea, but the health department now reports that covid-19 cases in florida have doubled over the past four days. there are now 7,000 plus cases statewide, with 101 deaths. broward and miami-dade counties have the most infections, with hot pockets emerging in the

tampa and orlando areas. hears the governor. march. >> atre this point, even though there's a lot of place in florida with very low infection rates, it makes sense to make this move now, and i did consult with those in the white house, i did speak with the president about it. he agreed with the approach of focusing on the hot spots. >> in the meantime, surgeon general dr. jerome adams praising california's efforts, saying "we look at places like california that aggressively mitigated and social distance, they were able to level and fight in their curve." california has more than 9600 cases and 207te deaths, but over the past three days, the state's numbers have been very steady. but michigan is seeing the opposite effect with the curve getting steeper. today marks the single highest day increase of cases, pushing the totales to more than 9,000, with 337 total deaths. and finally, we should note that orleans ande jefferson parishes,

which are in and around new orleans, are now the counties with the highest number of cases per capita in the country. a hot spot to watch, tucker. >> tucker: interesting. trace gallagher, thanks so much for that. you're hearing an awful a lot of disease recently, and a lot are interesting and some are revealing. may be the most consistent headline in our news media recently has been this one: america has more infections in more deaths than china had. the u.s. and u.s. now leads the world and confirmed coronavirus cases, "the new york times" proclaimed, following a series of missteps, the nation is now the epicenter of the pandemic. the paper went on to contrast the inept leadership of american leadership, mainly donald trump, with the swift and effective action of the chinese communist party. in other words, the virus may have come fromom china, but they got it under control quickly, and we haven't. that was the i message. "the new york times," you saw the story everywhere last

weekend. china has this under control, we don't. as a public relations matter, thisis was a major win for the chinese government. that's not a small thing right now. in this pandemic finally receives, the global order likely will be reset. up for grabs will be control of the world, international financial systems, trade agreements, military alliances. china would love to run all of it, but at this point, it's not a prize the chinese can fight for, stead got to make a case to the rest of the world, and that's exactly what they are doing now. we are confident, they are saying, they are buffoons. the number proves it. time to knock america from its perch. that's the message from a chinese government. that's what they are saying. what's striking is how many in the west are helping them say it. at 10:00 a.m. on january 20 23r, chinese officials locked down wuhan, the side of the coronavirus outbreak, but it was too late. an estimated 5 million residents

of wuhan had fled the city and dispersed around the world, in many cases, brought the disease with them. within days, it was clear to anyone who is paying attention that the duplicity in the criminal incompetence of the chinese government was likely going to kill a lot of people. the world health organization took the opposite view. on february 3rd, the director general of w.h.o. announced that china was doing the best imaginal job writing front of iris. watch this. >> during mymywa visit to beijii was so impressed and my meeting with president xi. on his knowledge of the outbreak and for his personal leadership, and if it weren't for china's efforts, the number of cases outside china would have been very much higher. there is no reason for measures that interfered with international travel and trade. >> tucker: china is doing a great job. the messaging continued like that for weeks, as the pandemic

was building and spreading across the world, the world health organization busied itself casting china asza the ho of the story. if it weren't for the effort of the chinese government, many more would die. just six weeks later, as if by magic, china declared victory over the epidemic, not surprisingly, the director of the world health organizationy was there to celebrate and amplify the message. >> of course, we have good news today. yesterday, wuhan reported no new cases, fory, the first time sine the outbreak started. wuhan provides hope for the resv of the world that even the most terrible situation can be turned around. >> tucker: wuhan is the hope of the world, he said. the american media seemed highly impressed by this. they repeated china's message without skepticism and without independent verification.

march 18th, "bloomberg news" announced that china'smb virus cases reached zero. the global times, the chinese government's approved mouthpiece contrast of the chinese miracle with the american disaster. "u.s. cities such as new york are now the most risky places in the world," the paper tweeted on march 24th. for mindless partisans in the american media, this was an irresistible story, especially seven months before a presidential election, so they gleefully climbed aboard. speaker as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak t havoc around the world, the u.s. has now overtaken every other country to become the first country to report more than,0 100,000 confirmed cases. surpassing china and italy in the most perverse possible version of trump's signature slogan, america first. >> tucker: got that? trump is bad, trump runs america, america's humiliation must be good. that's their view. has there ever been a media

establishment easier ton contrl than ours? they lost their ability to think clearly years ago. it's all reflex now. whatever donald trump is for, they are against. they are like dogs, cook a cheeseburger and they drove. they can't help themselves. lost and is very familiar cycle was whether or not china's much touted health numbers are real. the short answer is, no, they are not real. like so much that comes out of china, from vinyl handbags to human rights reports, they are fake. the question is, how fake are they?? that's not clear. since january, chinese media have been under tighter than usual government control, and that's saying something. journalists have been arrested, social media platforms scrubbed. we don't have a lot of reliable information about what is happening there.ia we do know that totalitarian governments are far more efficient at controlling populations than unruly democracies like ours. once quarantine began in wuhan, for example, there were reports of police locking entire families in their apartments on the outside, only to be discovered dead, all of them,

weeks later. tactics like that willll definitely slow the spread of an epidemic, but by how much? that's the question.pi used common sense for a moment. roughly 5 million people fled the city of wuhan in january. china allowed them, all of them, to travel all over the world, where they turned and outbreak into a global pandemic. that happened. and yet, somehow, china claims, almost none of these people traveled to the biggest cities in their country and spread the disease they are. that is their position. the story in chinese state media last thursday, for example, claimed there was only one new case of coronavirus in the capital city, beijing. the infected patient, the press release said, came from the united states, not from china. overall, the report claimed, only 416 people in beijing had been infected domestically. of those, 394 had already been released from medical care. in other words, in a city of 22 billion people, only 22 hospital patients in beijing contracted the coronavirus in

china, the country where it started. so literally one out of every million people. it is not believable? western media outlets believed it. they repeated that claim as fact. the chinese government clearly knew better than that. for the very next day, china closed every movie theater in the country. this monday, two days ago, authorities in shanghai shut down the two most popular tourist attractions, for indefinite period. that is not the behavior of a government that believes it has a claim to the outbreak. no, it's an expression of fear. the rest of us should be afraid, too. china's largest country in the world. in the chinese distort critical data sets like how many people are infected or how many are dying, that directly affects how every other country in the world responds to the disease. we may have wasted months assuming things about the coronavirus that were not true. there's a cost to that. morena broadly, we should be worried about what comes after

that. the chinese government sees this as a battle for a struggle of control of the world. they are not distracted by impeachment or pronouns, they think in sweeping terms. that's their advantage. it could be our undoing. this is a propaganda war with historic, long-term consequences, and so far, we are losing badly. senator josh hawley represents misery and joins us tonight. senator, thanks so much for coming on. why do com you think health authorities in the west and our mindless media uncritically accept chinese health statistics and use them as a basis for decision-making here? >> well, you know, tucker, these people, the washington elites, the wall street types, and the media establishment, have all pushed closer ties with china for decades. people have been telling us this is great forte america and the world if we integrate our economy with china's. it'll be great if we have a global economy where we send jobs overseas. it won't really matter. turns out they weremy wrong abot all of that. they've been wrong about this whole bargain.

it's been terrible for america, and now we're living are living with the results. i think we are finally waking up to -- at least the d.c. elite are finally waking up to the bargain they've strapped and it's time we fundamentally rethink our relationship with china and the world. it's time to start puttingam american workers at the front, and not kowtowing any longer to the chinese government. >> tucker: we see this epidemic primarily in epidemiological terms. our screens are crowded with people in lab coats. how does china see this moment? what are the stakes, and their view? >>s they clearly see it as a geostrategic opportunity, the way they see everything. they have a plan. they want to be the central power. they want to be the dominant world power. they have a saying, that there can only be one son in the sky. that's the saying of chinese government officials, and they send that some to be china, to be beijing, and they see this

as an opportunity along the way, but here's the thing, talker, this is also an opportunity for us. sit's an opportunity for us to open our eyes. the american people have known this for decades -- they've known for partnering with china witis dangerous. now we have the opportunity to correct those mistakes. it's timere that we go all in on america, rather than all in on china, and we are going to have a chance to do that now. >> tucker: i hope so. i mean, we can start by ceasing the subsidizing of the education for the children chinese elites. i know this is off-topic but i can't resist. alls colleges and universities - almost everything the one supported by taxpayers in the end -- educate the children of the people who are trying to displace us. why are we doing that? >> yeah, and we also allow educational institutions to take money almost directly from the chinese government, confucius institutes, they are sometimes called, on campuses all across

the country, directly subsidized by beijing. you might ask, why do american campuses allow chinese government outposts on their own campuses? the reason is they get paid to. it's actually lucrative. so yes, we've got to stop this cozy dealing with beijing on our campuses, with our international trade, our financial institutions, and our multinational corporations. it's time to actually put the american worker and american families and american interest first. it's time toli put them on the front, and that's why i saye we thare going to have an opportuny now, and we need not miss it, to invest in this country, go all in on this country, and i hope that will be our focus. this pandemic should make clear to us that there is an urgent, urgent need that we do this going forward. >> tucker: i think you are exactly right. thank you for your clarity, and i marvel that there are people working against those goals, which are so clearly positive and overdue. senator, thank you, great to see you.ar >> thank you. >> tucker: well, for tens of

millions of americans, rent is due today, it's april 1st. how many won't be able to pay, andmi which of the country do to protect them? w w that's next. plus, we have more footage from new york city. ♪ ♪ ♪

as we work to get through these times together. you may not be thinking about blood donation, but blood is desperately needed now to save lives of people who are sick with a range of serious illnesses. it's easy, and safe to give. if you are in good health please donate, we need heroes now. visit redcrossblood.org to schedule an appointment.

♪ >> tucker: it's a new month, april, and for tens of millionsm of americans, rent is due today.

even before coronavirus, a lot of households are living paycheck to paycheck. now those paychecks are gone. what are different states doing to keep people in their homes in the face of inability to pay? fox news' rick leventhal joins us to take a look at what is happening. hey, rick. >> hey, tucker. with so many americans out of work and so many of them losing income, the first of the month could bring some hard choices: pay the rent or buy food or make a child support payment or handle some other critical expense. by some estimates, roughly 40% of new yorkers won't make rent payments this month and don't have to worry about getting kicked out of their homes. the governoror here has issued a 90 day moratorium on evictions, one of dozens of states passing laws banning or partially limiting evictions during the coronavirus outbreak. some states have barred evictions for the duration of emergency declarations. some require proof that a tenant is afflicted with the virus or lost their job because of it. in new york city, almost

5.5 million people rent their homes, and many landlords say if they don't collect rent, they may have to sell their properties risk bankruptcy, because they have their own bills to pay. so, tucker, it is a financial mess that could get a whole lot worsee. >> tucker: that's for sure. rick leventhal for us tonight. thank you. it's a mess because people are out of cash, and people are out of cash because they don't have jobs. more than 3 million americans filed formi unemployment benefis the last week of march. in a matter c months, numbers le that, 3 million, could look small by comparison. goldman sachs estimates later this year thehe employment rate could hit a 15%, highest figure since the 1930s, almost 25 million people out of work. and goldman's estimate is not even the highest, another projecting an appointment because high as 32%. that's 47 million people out of

work. in case you're wondering, that's worse than the worst year of the great depression, much worse, actually. at some point, coronavirus willt be gone, but we could live with the crushing unemployment numbers for much longer. that's a disaster for people, individuals, and families, and also a threat to the stability of our country. nothing makes a nation more volatile than hugeor numbers of people who don't have jobs. that's all that is true. we need to do whatever we can to prevent that from happening. but here's the amazing thing: the federal government is doing its best tonight to make it much worse. here's how. today, april 1st, that affirmative homeland security released 20,000 new h2b visas for seasonal guest workers to come into america and take jobs in industries like landscaping, food processing, and resorts. another 15,000 visas will become available next month, in may. these are bonus visas, by the way, by law, the united states y has to offer 66,000 h2b visas a year. homeland security secretary chad wallach has used his

discretionary powers to add 35,000 extra visas. that's a total of 100,000 workers coming to this country to take jobs during the single biggest t unemployment crisis ia century. it's demented, and it gets worse than not. yesterday, dhs notified it 85 new winners of the h1b visa lotteries, and they can begin filling out applications for jobs that begin in november -- october. that's one up on employment and be at its peak in front of virus could make a comeback. h1b visas are supposed to allow companiesk to hire foreigners with extraordinary skills that simply don't exist in the american workforce. it's a fraud, course, a well-documented front. in practice, the visas are used to import tens of thousands of tech workers from india so silicon valley can benefit. the big winners in this scheme are companies like apple,

google, andle ibm, which takes n hundreds of h1b workers every year. many companies, including at&t, as we chronicled recently on the show, american workers are traineforceto train their forein replacements and then fired. it's been going on for long time it has always been disgusting, but now is ang threat to our company. that's not an overstatement. in a year where tens of millions of americans could be looking mifor work, our government is importing more than 150,000 workers from abroad. that's without counting thousands of h2a agricultural workers who will be coming, as well. the presidents to stop this from happening, and he can. if president obama was able to ignore existing immigration law and create taco, and he did, and certainly the current president can cut legal immigration to protect the nation. american law gives him explicitly this right. here it is, section 1182f of title eight in the u.s. code. "whenever the president find the entry of any aliens are of any

class of aliens into the united states would be detrimental to the interests of the united states, t he made mae a proclamation and for such a period as he will deem necessa necessary, suspend aliens, any restrictions he may deem appropriate." it's very clear. the supreme court affirmed this law two years ago in the presidents travel ban. so it's real. that was levied to protect americans from terrorism, but now we are facing in a measurably greater than terrorism. we are facing a global calamity that could wreck our economy, fracture our society -- that's a byproduct of it -- erode our rights, chatter our institutions, transform this country into a poor country, has been an ex-superpower beholden to china. that could happen. preventing that from happening is the mostt important test this president or any president in our lifetime will face. the time to placate corporate

interest with low wages at all costs has passed. well, coronavirus has hit cruise ships really hard, and many of them are still afloat, and some headedoa for florida sports. will passengers be allowed off? we tell you next. plus, seattle avoids enforcing actual law as police are saying to call 911 of people say something bigoted. that's just ahead. ♪ - do you have a box of video tapes, film reels, or photos,

that are degrading? legacybox professionally converts them to dvds, thumb drive, or the cloud. legacybox is simple and safe, with over half a million satisfied customers. visit legacybox.com today, and get 40% off.

♪ >> my from america's news headquarters, and jackie ibanez a new york. president trump resistant calls to issue a national stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the coronavirus. the president says he wants governors to have flexibility to decide what is best for their state. currently more than 210,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 here in the u.s., and nearly 5,000 dead. wednesday, five more states added or extended their stay their stay at home meanwhile, los angeles train operator with you angwen sn mercy, the engineer was suspicious about the ship, and the locomotive's crashed through barriers before stopping 250 yards from the navy ship. i'm jackie ibanez. now back to "tucker carlson tonight" for all of your headlig on to foxnews.com.

>> tucker: the governor of florida, ron desantis, has ordered the residents to stay inside the car and tame the coronavirus, but now several cruise ships with sick passengers are headed to florida ports. what happens next? fox's matt finn is live on that. hey, matt. >> scheduled to arrive in thehi everglades tomorrow with at least 1 11 dead-end a lot of sik passengers, the least four children under the age of 12 on board. a short while ago, holland america released new details on what anticipates will happen with the more than 1200 passengers on the two ships part of the carnival corporation. holland america says secured local treatment for tenrp passengers thatme need immediate care. 45 passengers with corona symptoms will stay isolated on board. guests fit for travel will go from the ship to chartered oflights limited contact and extra caution. these plans so far have not been formally approved by the broward county commissioners. a final plan is expected soon

purely initially, governor desantis was reluctant to let the ships dock. yesterday, present from said he was going to do what is right for humanity. 300 americans are on board. the trip originated in argentina, bound for chile, and a couple of passengers are trying to now get back to countries that have closed quarters. tucker? >> tucker: amazing story. matt finn, thanks so much for that. one update on a story we did last night. we spoke with in arlington, virginia, shop owner. his employee had been imprisoned for defending the shop from burglars who showed up in the middle of the ninth. >> and the police came, we thought we were in the right. 4:30 a.m. on a sunday morning, maskedm.m. men, i was watching across the street with boxers on, with the tank top, and called -- that cops treating us like we're the ones who caused . this is very sad for america today.

to be an american citizen, standing up for your rights -- i can't believe it. dahe's been in jail for three ds already. >> tucker: we wanted to tell you where the story stands tonight. the man who was arrested is still behind bars, away from his children. he fainted in court because he has diabetes. we were told the judge was indifferent to this because he lacks medical records proving he has diabetes. he is still being denied bail. the prosecutor responsible for all of this is an elected democrat. we checked her website, and on it, she condemns cash bail, says it's cool to the poor. she also vows to treat illegal immigrants leniently to protect them from being deported. you would think she would be sympathetic to an immigrant, but you would be wrong. he did the one thing you are not allowed to do, which is defend yourself, so he rots in jail tonight, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, with diabetes come away from his children. so that's the update to that.

well, and king county, washington -- that's where seattle is -- more than 600 inmates have been released from county jails. the pretext is to can contain coronavirus. rethey also stopped arrests -- t one law will be strictly enforced: saying the long throwing. that is illegal in seattle. police chief morning residents to call 911 immediately if 9 thy think someone has said something racist. >> washington state is no place for hate. we will document and investigate every reported hate crime, even racist name-calling should be reported to police. we take this information very seriously. if you aren't sure if they hate crime occurred, call 911. we are here to help, and will respond to investigate. >> tucker: congressman adam switzer represents washington,

including parts of seattle, and we're happy to have him on. congressmen, thanks for coming on. i repeatedly heard democrats say the phrase "chinese coronavirus" is racist, for that several thousand times. if i lived in seattle and heard someone use that phrase, where i be encouraged to call 9112 reported it? >> look, the most important thinguc we can do is deal with e virus come pensively. what i'm concerned about is to get us back to work. right now, we don't have -- look, i think we can do this as a country, but the partisan back and forth, that's not going to get us there. right now -- >> tucker: i agree. >> socially distancing. as you just reported in florida, they've now issued a stay-at-home order. they are doing the social hedistancing. they are doing it because of the threat of the virus. what i really hope that you and other leaders at fox news and in the trump administration focus on is really marshaling the power of this country to get the testing that we need, to get the

production of ppe -- >> tucker: you know, i get it, we say this every night -- hold on. with respect, i want to ask you what is happening in our district right now, and one of the most important people in your district -- >> what's happening in my district right now -- >> tucker: hold on, wait, let me ask you a specific question. people are stuck at home, society isis fraying, they are letting criminals out of jail, not enforcing crimes, and the police chief of seattle essay and call 911 if you hear something you don't like. i'm asking point blank: how does that help? how does that help? it's not a partisan question. >> that doesn't help, but what is more important, in my view -- >> tucker: thank you. >> is how we respond to the virus. i want to get past this back-and-forth partisanship, who was wrong, who was right? i want to actually marshall the resources of this country to confront the problem. we started to do some things right, but the only way we get back to work, we get back to school, rescue the economy, and protect health, is by

comprehensively manufacturing all of the health care equipment that we needqu so we can handle whatever surge comes, and crucially, get the testing going forward. we have not ramped up the production of testing. to test people not just for whether or not they have the disease, but for whether or not they have had the disease. >> tucker: okay, i get it. every night of the show, i get it. >> it's so crucial. we don't get it. i watched the first part of your show. collectively, as a country -- >> tucker: let me -- >> we don't, right now, get it. the most important thing we are facing. >> tucker: i get it. i understand that. >> we are not getting it. >> tucker: okay. i agree with you. there are also 320 million americans in this country, a lot of them sitting at home, they don't want to see their neighborhood -- this is not a macro question, it's a micro-one. they don't want to see their neighborhoods fall apart, and

why are they taking this opportunity to release criminals back into the community and prevent people from defending themselves? in your state, you can't go to a gun p store. like, what is that? speaking of partisan behavior, that's partisan behavior. >> well, actually, what that is -- you can't go to any store right now, except to pick up food, basically. so i don't agree that his partisan behavior. but look -- f>> tucker: it is partisan behavior. >> social isolation. and i don't agree with every decision that has been made, right, left, blue cities, red cities, but what i want to focus onit is how we can come together to confront the problem and focus -- >> tucker: i'm with you there. >> and that is the real threat. look, decisions are being made about who should be -- we still come if it makes you feel better, tucker, even in king county in the state of washington, we still incarcerate more people on a per capita basis than just about any other place in the world, so we are not falling behind on locking people up -- >> tucker: that's not a

measure that tells me anything. look, i'm with you -- maybe we can agree on that -- >> well, then let's start -- >> tucker: every single day -- we push that message every day. >> and i hope you deliver that message to the president, because the president needs to hear it. >> tucker: got it. thank you, congressman. good to see you. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: just ahead, we talked to dr. siegel about new potential cures to treat the coronavirus, but first, if you are asking this question: when will these lockdowns come to an end? are they extending beyond their usefulness? how are these decisions being made? questions that aren't being asked enough, and we will answer them after the break. ♪ awesome internet.

it's more than just fast. it keeps all your devices running smoothly.

with built-in security that protects your kids... ...no matter what they're up to. it protects your info... ...and gives you 24/7 peace of mind... ...that if it's connected, it's protected. even that that pet-camera thingy. [ whines ] can your internet do that? xfinity xfi can because it's... ...simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ]

♪ >> tucker: well, the governor of new york andrew cuomo is getting an awful lot of positive press and rising approval ratings, and suddenly people are talking about him displacing joe biden as the nominee, all for handling the coronavirus pandemic in new york. it hard to see exactly why new york's death toll is higher than anywhere else, formal hasn't done a ton besides ordering stores to close, he's done a fine p job of that. meanwhile, the state hospitals in new york are crowded and undersupplied even before this crisis hit.s cuomo may look good by comparison, simply because he is not new york mayor bill de blasio, who looks appalling, even worse than you thought. even three weeks ago when epidemic was clearly on its way, de blasio was telling new yorkers to act totally normally. it's fine. >> we have 25 cases, as of this morning, and we care deeply about each of those individuals, but against a backdrop of

8.6 million people and for the vast majority of new yorkers, life is going on pretty normally right now and we want to encourage that. if you're under 50 and you're healthy, which is most new yorkers, there's very little yreat here. this disease, even if he were to get it, basically act like a common cold or flu, and transmission is not that easy. >> tucker: it's so funny, and msnbc was telling us everybody knew it was a threat in january. yeah. seth aaron is an associate editor at city journal and joins us tonight. thanks so much for coming on tonight. so,it de blasio clearly wasn't convinced this was a problem, he wasn't thinking about it. what was he thinking about? do we have any idea? >> he's definitely been preparing for a major emergency the last few years, but the emergency has been the rising coastal waters. he's been singularly focused on climate change over the last few years. he's banned plastic bags, tried to ban glass skyscrapers, and

initiated lawsuits against big oil for starting the industrial era. yeah, but, what's funny is both mayor de blasio -- >> tucker: ki because you there? >> sure. >> tucker: if thehema pressure e had risen and the hudson river submerged central park, he would have been prepared for that? >> no, he was thinking in terms of 75 or 100 years. >> tucker: [laughs] that's perfect. >> the mayor andhe governor for years have been urging new yorkers to prepare themselves for a major emergency. they've said get a survival kit, get a go bag together, because government won't be there if there is a major emergency. among the things they told us to prepare, to have on hand, were face masks and hand sanitizer. >> tucker: huh. >> i think it's great the government is admitting they're not going to be there necessarily -- must you.

>> but it makes you wonder, why weren't they stalking face mas face masks? >> tucker: you were doing it, great to see you tonight. >> thank you, tucker. a lo>> tucker: the country has been shut off close to three weeks now. top officials don't seem to be thinking about how this will end and how to get back to a normal life. they are trying to look tough by announcing longer and longer restrictions. everyone wants to be andrew cuomo. in virginia, the governor has ordered people to stay home until june 10th or face arrest, one day after the republican lot high mary. some are talking about lockdowns into the next year. it's also impossible, period, so i talking about it? dana perino hosts "the daily briefing within a pries with da"

hundreds of tonight. everyone is prepared to make sacrifices in the service of saving the country. but why would they be talking about lockdowns next year? that does not inspire confidence. >> it doesn't, for shorter, and of course, two weeks ago, we were under a differentre impression, and we have a different situation today. you just shall not mayor de blasio said the virus -- we now know that's not true. a lot of political leadership is having to make decisions based on information that is incomplete. >> tucker: right. >> i think we can all agree they are doing their best, but every plan is really good until the fired, and we saw that s first shot, of course -- well, there's been many first shot simultaneously, the health care system is getting overwhelmed, and i think eseveryone understands the need for healthy people to stay that way, try to prevent a problem

for the nurses and doctors, emts, et cetera. >> tucker: right, i agree. >> an economic one. when you have that many people filing for unemployment, we'll see more of that tomorrow. i did a show -- i did a story on "the daily briefing" today about food banks across america, and tucker, it is really overwhelming, what people are going to have to do, and what i would recommend is that the president take the idea of the pens-led task force and add a separate one made up of other people, including from the private sector, for them to be able to think ahead about how do we start getting back to normallish? how do we start opening up businesses? because i think the president and vice president are focused on the major, immediate crisis atat hand, there should be anotr group advising them that could look a little farther ahead for all of us. >> tucker: seems like there's an awful lot of social pressure

not to say anything like that out loud, and that's what concerns me, is people think -- >> well, i just did. >> tucker: well, you did and i'm grateful you did because i think it is rational and putting america's interests first, and i'm thankful you did that. great to see you. >> everyone is -- you too, bye-bye. >> i think is right, there thinking that. well, a lot of us have spent the last three weeks pretty much idle. one woman in washington launched a charitable effort to feed i first responders. an interesting way to do it, because it helps a lot of people. she joins us to explain after the break. but first, one famous position says he may have found a cure for coronavirus. we are going to run that one by dr. siegel in just a moment. ♪ or know that from our 450-degree oven, to box, to you, it's our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. and we're taking extra steps, like no contact delivery, to ensure it.

♪ >> tucker: one doctor featured in the popular netflix documentary claims he has found a working cure for coronavirus. fox medical contributor fox marc siegel has more tha on that another development from today. hey, doctor. >> hi, tucker. back in january, netflix ironically the state documentary called "pandemic," and they featured an immunologist and bio engineer from san francisco, jacob glanville, who has now gone on since that film to be working on an antibody -- several antibodies that he took from the other coronavirus,

sars, from 2003, and he's re-engineered these antibodies so they literally attack the virus by blocking its entry into the cell. what virus? of this virus, covid-19. blocking the entry of this virus into the human cell. he's got it to the point now where he's handing it over to army research, the army research laboratories are going to test and see how effective it is. and from there, go on to human trials. very interesting. >> tucker: wow. >> it's been used in the past using targeted antibodies to graft. and may not be a cure, but certainly decrease symptoms. another story, a british tobacco company -- i want to tell you, tucker, tobacco is actually a plant we used to grow vaccines and grow the proteins that we then useo to challenge the immue system to create an antibody. a tobacco plant is now being injected with a protein from this coronavirus to see if they can develop a vaccine.

so notee only are they making tobacco that puts our lungs at risk for this virus, but they're also working on a vaccine against the virus. third piece of news tonight that's very interesting is harvard has been looking at the symptoms we see from covid-19. they've discovered something we've been talking about recently, which is the sense of smell, called anosmia, when you lose your sense of smile, it's called and asked mia. it's because this virus seems to attack the skin inside the nose and gives you a loss of sense of smell and a loss of sense of taste. that's a characteristic finding that come if i see it with people who come in with a little bit different symptoms, may be cough of s breath, may be a fev, maybe not, but if they have lost the sense of smell, local, it could be covid-19. it's very helpful, diagnostically. >> tucker: interesting, so with a significant marker for the illness. people at home should probably atarn that -- people may be relieved to learn it.

dr. siegel, thank you for all of that. good to see you tonight. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: this pandemic is crushing restaurants in the united states, independent restaurants especially. meanwhile, doctors and nurses are putting in long hours at great risk to fight the disease. alina tompkins saw an opportunity in this disaster, she founded a charity called "feed the fight," delivers to health care workers at hospitals. she joins us tonight to explain exactly how it works. what a great idea this is, thanks a lot for coming on , tonight. tell us how this works and how it has been working. >> well, thanks, tucker, for having me. how it works is we are completely community funded and we use the money to purchase meals from our local restaurants, and they delivered them to area hospitals, and it serves a dual purpose of supporting our local restaurants and keeping them in business while also showing the love and support to health care workerswo who really need it right now. >> tucker: oh, i love that!

so you're helping -- one group is trying to save the country, and another group -- i think all of us kind of love, restaurants, whod are being really hurt by this, really hurt by this. it's for the response been? >> it's been insane. two weeks ago, started when emails are a couple dozen people and we started with a lunch for 30 on the first day, and by the end of the week, we had done 700 meals, antedate, we purchased over 4,000 meals and still growing. the response has been anywhere -- sorry, go ahead. >> tucker: well, i love the fact that there is no, kind of apparatus. unlike so many charities, we don't know where the money is going. this seems straightforward: take the money, go to restaurants, it goes to doctors and nurses. >> absolutely. there is no gift too small or too big. we've had some very generous donations,s antedate, we had a

wonderful donation, a 12-year-old boy had a birthday, and he said he wanted to give money to feed the fight. >> tucker: oh, i love that. nurses must be grateful when, you know, a box of doughnuts or lunch shows up. gh>> it's even great, too, is these local restaurants, amazing restaurants in this area, we are a big booty town. they are walking into the break room, and there is some seriously good meals waiting for them. they've been blown away, and they've just said that they can feel the virtual hug from all of us. it's meant a lot to everybody. it gives everybody something to be able to do at a socially distant rate. >> tucker:oc well, that's exactly right. elena tompkins, someone who is not wasted her time indoors at all. we are putting a link to your group up on our show facebook page, if our viewers want to get involved. thanks so much for coming on tonight. >> thanks for having me, tucker g >> tucker: that's it for us tonight. the obvious encouragement, great time to call the people you

love, check in with them. have a healthy and happy evening. sean hannity is standing by in new york city to take over the next hour. he will do that now. >> sean: great advice, hold those we love. national emergency, national pandemic, invisible enemy. great point, thanks, tucker, good show. as always, welcome to hannity. we start with straight news, the good, the bad, the scary, the ugly things that you and your family need to know. what is happening in washington, information medically that could protect you and your family. a ton of information out there today. we call facts without fear, we begin once again with an important message from the president as he gave his coronavirus his coronavirus task force opening statement today. >> as i said yesterday, difficult days are ahead for our nation. we are going to have a couple of weeks, starting pretty much now, but especially a few days from now that are going to be horrific. but even in the most challenging of times, americans do