be closed for the rest of the academic year. there you have it guys. pete: wow could be something to see across the country as well griff thanks for joining us you'll be back tomorrow for our easter edition listen to this tomorrow the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty. have a great saturday. jillian:bye. neil: you heard the news, in the big apple new york city schools will be closed for the rest of the year. we are still getting word now from florida governor ron desantis who will be addressing reporters shortly whether he will follow suit in the sunshine state. there are indications he might take a 180 and go the opposite way, and on a staggered school schedule resume there we just don't know but again all of this as a lot of governors and mayors deal with this idea of what do we do with the rest of the school year and what do we do whether we carry this through the end of this month or to the new month and again this four to eight week delay you've heard so much about that's really the conundrum a lot of these

leaders face welcome i'm neil cavuto so good to have you this very very busy saturday. let's get a read right now over at the white house, how they are digesting all of this , and the recommendations, so far, david from the white house, has been governors can do so far what they want to do. that's been pretty much the call , what changes or could change now? >> neil, good morning to you, president trump said that yesterday at his coronavirus task force briefing he's going to leave things up to governors and not going to overstep them however he feels if he does need to step in and give his counsel and his advice he will do so now president trump says that he is hopeful that the economy can be opened back up by may 1 but it's something he's going to listen to scientists and experts and see if that's going to happen however he is hopeful things will open up by may 1. the president said he will talk to airline executives this weekend, one of the hardest hit industries by covid-19, and now we've just come off with the

surgeon general said be our pearl harbor moment, neil when it comes to deaths. yesterday, 2,108 people died from this virus while officials say numbers are expected to go down, do not become complacent. >> it's really about the encouraging signs that we see , but as encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak. >> looking ahead to tuesday, the president said he will announce an opening back up the country task force, and he said he'll have econ omits, other advisors perhaps governors democratic governors he wants this to be bipartisan, talking about opening up the economy, and neil, president trump has said originally he said easter was something that he was shooting for to open up the economy. and also, we know that's not going to happen with that being tomorrow. he's saying may 1 is something he's thinking about but when asked if he would delay that if necessary, president trump said he will absolutely listen to the science. president trump: i don't know that i've had a bigger decision but i'm going to surround myself

with the greatest minds, not only the greatest minds but the greatest minds in numerous different businesses, including the business of politics, and reason, and we're going to make a decision and hopefully it's the right decision. i will say this , i want to get it open as soon as we can. we have to get our country open. no events on the president's schedule today that means no coronavirus task force briefing, and of course neil, if it changes i'll let you know. back to you. neil: all right, david, great reporting, thank you very much, david spunt at the white house just to update you in new york city, the largest school system in the country has decided to stay closed for the remainder of the year, we're awaiting word from ron desantis the governor in florida whether he would entertain doing the same there, indications are that he wanted to roll back some of these closures, so that at least some kids in the state could resume school that would include colleges there, but again, way too soon to say, when we get word on that we'll pass it

along. we are joined by the chief medical officer for the american medical response. doctor, different states different gates as i get that, but should we read anything to in a city like new york, of course the epicenter the mayor with the agreement of the governor decided the rest of the year they're closed versus florida, the rest of the year, some problems, maybe open them up or some of them up. what do you think? >> good morning, neil. this particular illness and its spread is such a different illness than we've ever seen in the u.s. , so what happens in florida, what happens in new york, what happens in arizona or california are very different, so when the decisions are made about opening business, opening schools, it's based on a whole host of factors. i think from a medical standpoint the most important component of all of this is that

social distancing, that physical distancing that's what stops this virus. that's what blocks it out and we have to be very cautious when we do open. we're in a different state, in all of these scenarios with the new norm, and that's really important for all of us moving forward. neil: you know, dr. fauci had talked about a glimmer of hope with some of the more positive hospitalization numbers that are showing a decline in the rate of increase in some parts, outright decline but he did caution that this strategy must be intensified, even as we wait out the end of this month. what be your definition of an improving scenario, where you , the widely respected doctor , would say all right, i would entertain rolling some of these lockdowns provisions, including maybe a decline in hospitalizations, a decline in the rate of cases, what would it be?

what be important to you? >> so i think it's a package deal, right? the decline in new cases is clearly important. i think as everyone has identified, the mortality rate trails the new case rate so as we start to see new cases decline, as we start to see the classic flattening of that curve, we can start to think about reopening this social kind of lockdown scenario but the caution here is as we've all talked about, the new normal has to be different for a period of time, and we've had a lot of discussions about there may be a time period where the handshake to a new stranger, that we just meet, do you know what maybe we forego that for a while. we've learned a lot through this , and we will continue to learn, but that concept of preventing this virus from spreading from person to person means we don't give them that

virus the opportunity to be close enough to be transmitted from one human to another, so all of us, all of us, ought to be working on how we live in this new world to keep this viral illness and this illness burden down. it's a different world after this. not a bad world at all. it just has to be different based on the virus. neil: yeah, to put it mildly. i hear you, doctor. thank you very very much. the florida governor right now ron desantis is addressing reporters right now, just a very big up-tick on that. we're waiting to hear what he says about schools in the sunshine state. if we hear anything on that particular aspect as cases are stabilizing there, we will pass that along, but it's something that i want to get into, with senator chuck grassley. senator, a lot of people are looking at what happens in these key states and cities, as a sign of what the nation might do.

if florida, for example, tries to send some kids back, or opens things up again, would that be something the federal government would or should consider on a national level? >> i think education more than anything else particularly if it's effected by a public health issue and we're a country so geographically vast, i think it's something that better be left up to each state or within the state if the state wants to do it up to the particular communities, i think that it's different from one state to another and i think it's okay for the president to give guidance but when it comes to what we call the police powers of the state, the federal health , welfare and safety of the people, i think under the constitution, that's something that should be reserved to the states, and is reserved to the states.

neil: it is indeed. let me get your take on this extra stimulus, relief, whatever you want to call it senator that they're kicking around, $250 billion to add a little bit more to the paycheck protection program, the small business loans, that are very very popular in fact the demand is such that the system has confused a lot of potential borrowers, but again, it's off to a strong start. is it your sense that the added moneys are going to be secured as soon as next week, or also, as soon as next week, as chuck schumer likes to say, there will be other funding attached to that. >> schumer and pelosi don't have a leg to stand on because it's very clear that the demand for the small business money is going to run out on the 17th of april, and congress didn't think big enough when we appropriated

that money to get people back to work or keep them off the unemployment roles and everything else that it seems like that pelosi and schumer want are things that we still got money in the pot, and that we ought to wait and see how this thing plays out before you appropriate any money and for sure, anything that's not related to the virus and the immediate pandemic and public health issues and the unemployment for the economy should not be thrown in. like for instance federalizing election laws, what does that have to do with the panic? neil: so what happens if you had to get us in it looks like at least this money will be provided but will republicans just say we don't want these add -ons, but we do want this $250 billion added on, and that you might just swallow that , and maybe entertain a lot of this other stuff.

>> well first of all, every republican including the president of the united states has stated very clearly the people like schumer and pelosi that there's probably going tv to be a phase iv and that we'll consider all of these issues at that time, but what they want to do is not as immediately as critical as getting more money for small business and getting people back to work in small business. neil: so is it your sense, senator, as things stand now, that there will indeed be follow -up spending, but it won't be part of this package? in other words get the 250 billion out the door , look at maybe some of the stage iv,v infrastructure, all that is still on the table, just not immediately. >> well the answer to that is clearly yes. even those of us that negotiated

the cares act, that is as a program, we went into it with our eyes open, that looking back three weeks, ahead three months, that we would not know for sure if the economy is going to turn around and if it didn't, then we understood both republicans and democrats, we would have to revisit it. now let's suppose things do even improve. the president is talking about an infrastructure program. that's something that's legitimate to talk about, not directly related to the economy the way it is right now, with the high unemployment, but that's something that needs to be done, and maybe we can expand a little bit at that time, but those things shouldn't be mixed up with times when you're in a crisis like we are right now. neil: all right, senator grassley we'll watch very very closely thank you for taking the time, sir, so we are following that back and forth

battle not only in the stimulus front which we'll get into a little bit later, but also, our offer to italy to help them out in any way we can, exactly what's being from the white house on that front and also listening to florida governor ron desantis, the number of cases that stabilized there, deaths have stabilized there, and that might might be a clue to telegraphing reopening certainly some schools, whether that applies to businesses, may be too premature but it occurs at the same time new york mayor bill deblasio has said kids in my city are not going back-to-school. it's finished as of now. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence... ...so we can spend a bit today, knowing we're prepared for tomorrow. wow, do you think you overdid it maybe? overdid what? well planned, well invested, well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

neil: it's worth pointing out while things have stabilized, we should still point out that in the united states, there are 2,000 more people who have died of the virus than there were

yesterday, at this time, so this is this tricky balance between looking at a stabilization of cases and cases that are still increasing so a lot of them look to things like hospitalizations, are they flat lining or already in an apex and in the case of new york, it certainly appears that they are well off the feared highs, for example, 18, 500 hospital beds are in use in new york state. remember, they had feared that it could get as high as 140,000 and that was one of the more positive developments that governor andrew cuomo had talked about yesterday, the hospitalizations are down, and there was a dramatic need for beds that were going to be required, and that might have led to this push, obviously, to get navy vessels into new york harbor, open up the javits center you want to be very very cautious with all of this and make sure those facilities are there and up and running and

they had not been needed as much they are still being utilized but not to the degree that some maybe feared might be, so we're watching that very very closely and we're also looking at the help of those who have been diagnosed with the virus in the past, and beaten it and keep in mind, 80% do, that they are a secret weapon in combating future cases, in other words their blood plasma can be used to combat this going forward in fact madeline connors happily volunteered to help out, she had the virus, survived the virus and now she's giving blood to help those who might have to combat the virus. she joins us right now. >> hi, thank you for having me. neil: how are you feeling? >> i'm much better. i'm 100% now, thank god. neil: i'm curious and i ask a lot of people who dealt with

this virus, how you knew you had it, what were some of the weird things going on? because a lot of people, they get nervous like i'm sniffling with fever and chills, so what were you experiencing? >> well i had just gotten back from europe, so two days after i got back, i had a fever and a really really bad headache, a slight cough. it really wasn't anything too concerning, but because i had just gotten back from italy, my doctor wanted me to get tested. so i got lucky in that it wasn't a severe case at all. neil: how long were you under treatment, or being quarantined while dealing with this? >> i was self-isolated in my room for 14 days. i was only sick for two of those days, thankfully but i had to stay in my room alone for 14.

neil: you know, apparently you didn't wait, or even debate whether it was necessary to give blood. you did. have they suggested you return again, offer more blood again, what are you going to do? >> i get to go on monday again, and donate more. i'm not sure what the steps are after that. there have been some talk before about being able to do it three times. i'm not sure if that's still the case, but yeah, there was no consideration in my mind, once the tests were available and the donation process was available to people who recovered i was obviously going to do it. neil: for something very bad you did a lot of good and i'm sure a lot of people appreciate that. feel well, feel strong, i hope you have a very nice easter. >> thank you, you too. neil: all right, madeline conner

s. we've been following these press conferences here and we want to update you, you know about the usns comfort right now in new york, remember it started out it be an overflow for non- coronavirus cases, so the area hospitals could deal with those cases. there were requests made by the governor and the mayor, can we make the ship available for coronavirus cases, they did, the commander of that vessel, is next. our members understand social distancing. being prepared and overcoming challenges. usaa has been standing with them for nearly a hundred years. and we'll be here to serve you for a hundred more. ♪

neil: let it be known this was the week the cdc made it very clear we think face masks are a good idea and now it is sort of across the country, you might

notice trying to step into a grocery store, almost any store even picking up food for delivery that they are now asking very strongly about demanding outright that you wear a face mask, and now the cdc had instituted that policy after going back and forth, thinking that that might be the best way to contain it and other health officials have echoed that. steve herrigan with the latest from the cdc in atlanta. steve? reporter: neil, it's a very tough numbers to deal with this week. 2,108 americans died, just yesterday, from the virus, and that is the largest single death toll since this crisis began more than 500,000 cases in the u.s. , 18,000 deaths, and almost that death toll has almost doubled in just the past week. new york state has about one- third of those cases and the economy too taking a tremendous hit, 16 million workers have lost their jobs since this crisis began, and president trump said yesterday, that the decision to possibly reopen the economy could be the

biggest decision he's ever made in his life, and currently, the stay-at-home orders will end on april 30 and finally a debate overture . services for easter tomorrow, here in georgia the governor is leaving it up to pastors to decide and in florida and texas those states have exempted religious organizations from any stay-at-home orders and finally in kansas they have made a reversal the governor issuing an executive order no gatherings more than 10 and then the republican lawmakers overturned that a move the democratic governor said was shockingly irresponsible, back to you, neil. neil: all right, steve herrigan thank you very very much that would make news certainly in california, as steve said where the democratic governor, was pushed to go ahead and have people celebrate or at their discretion, tomorrow for easter sunday, congressman eric swal

well joins us the democratic congressman, former presidential candidate. what do you think of that, congressman? well want to worship tomorrow, of any faith and doing so, whether it be a synagogue, whether it be a church, and they want to do it. what would you advise? >> well first, happy easter, or passover, and i'm sorry that's not the case. i wish i could be at church tomorrow celebrating easter as well, but i'm going to follow the guidelines and actually, the vice president is a person certainly of faith is telling church leaders to observe the cdc guidelines and the sooner we all observe them the sooner we all can get back to our houses of worship. neil: congressman, have you given much thought, i do want to get into the stimulus because i know that's what we're here to talk about but what would make you comfortable, unwinding some of these stay-at-home or shelter in place provisions? what would you want to look for in consultation with others in your state, the governor,

what have you, because there are a lot of different factors, what be something that would say all right, i could see loosening up a bit. >> yeah, i've given a lot of thought to this , neil because i want to get back to reopening america as soon as possible and so i think first and foremost, county-by-county, looking at the hospitalization cases, as soon as you start to see a steady decline, where on wednesday you had fewer cases than you did on tuesday, and so on, second, wider access to diagnostic testing that can tell us if people have antibodies so they are immune, i believe that areas that like the bay area, by the way, in alameda county my home county we have around 700 cases and that is remarkably low and we were the first to shelter in place so we should be able to shelter out of place very soon but that may mean having travel restrictions on any incoming to the bay area, from places with higher cases where they aren't starting to come down so just as

we go into a shelter in place , i think we can phase out or maybe restaurants being open at half capacity, non-essential workers going back to work but following physical distancing guidelines but wide access to testing not just knowing if you have covid but also if you had it in the past that would make me feel comfortable and some areas come out of it faster and have to protect against the areas that aren't out of it yet. neil: congressman there's been a big battle between republicans and democrats over this additional $250 billion in financing that would work to beef up the small business loans , and/or grants, and we had chuck grassley on a little earlier saying democrats should know there's going to be follow-up stimulus and relief, now is not the time to do it with this. where are you on that? >> well, i want more relief to come, whether it's 250 billion or more, i think we'll probably need more, but what we're saying right now is get the money out the door that we already voted

on. we spoke with secretary mnuchin on a house democratic call on wednesday, and he said of the 349 billion to go to small businesses, only 96 billion has gone out, as of wednesday so we're all for continuing to provide relief but we want to get the money out to authorities promised and want to make sure the next tranche of dollars goes to the areas that are hardest hit particularly in minority communities, particularly among african american communities where we are learning from cdc guidelines that they have been hit harder by this , so we want to do it right, but we want to get the money appropriated out now. neil: all right, well the figures up to about 125 billion right now, so they have contemplated demand is such , congressman maybe by the end of the week after next all that money will be gone. that's why they are hot to trot to get this additional money out there because the demand is overwhelming. would you consider holding it up

for any of these other requests that you're making? >> no again it's just to make sure it's going to the right places that will not, it's not give-aways to big businesses, who don't need it but look, i talked to small business owners every single day, every single hour, actually in my district. i know that they are applying and hearing from the banks that the loans are on hold and the money is not coming through, or at least not as much of it that they need. i want to make sure that as much as our small businesses need, to pay their employee, comes through and i also again want us to be able to reopen main street as soon as it's feasible. neil: all right, congressman, thank you for taking the time, continued good health to you. >> my pleasure, enjoy the holiday. neil: all right, you as well. in the meantime, it has been more than just a little comfort. the usns comfort in new york, it was celebrated as a rescue when new york needed it and now coronavirus patients can take

advantage of it. the commander, and what he's se.

neil: all right welcome back everybody. the usns comfort was brought up from norfolk, virginia to deal with what was expected to be cases originally was supposed to deal with non-covid-19 cases to sort of balance out the demand that be in the city and extended to places like the javits center in new york. right now, the javits center and the comfort are taking in coronavirus cases as well, and this next fellow is a guy leading that entire project, captain patrick. commander very good to have you thank you for taking the time. how are you holding up? >> i'm very well, thanks for

asking yes, sir, our mission has changed a bit but we do that every day in the military. we're ready so whether they were covid negative or covid positive we're going to projected outed standing care to whatever population we receive. neil: and commander, i understand that on the vessel itself, one of those work on the vessel contracted the virus. there could be others. can you update me on that? >> sure, so actually we have a total of three, all of them are separated from the rest of the crew, they are all doing very very well, and two of the three, no patient contact at all, so again, all i can say is that they are all doing very very well, and hopefully, within a few days or so and in accordance with cdc guidelines we'll get them back. neil: now, i guess, commander, you know far more about this than i do but in order to treat coronavirus patients you need more room, so the thousand beds that you have are actually technically now to deal with

that, is that right? >> that is correct. so of course we don't want to put the non-covid-19 with positive covid-19, but the configuration and we do have the ability to keep them separate from each other. the crews that are working in those environments, we have environmental control, that we've been able to put in place, to help reduce contamination or the potential spread from the virus. neil: so commander, how does it work if a hospital, let's say they enter the area in a new york hospital wants to send virus patients to you, do you have to pick them up? do they send them to you? you obviously won't take walk-in s but could you explain that? >> sure, absolutely so we're working with the javits center and communication center over there. we have liason teams comprised of physicians and nurses, or

actually moving throughout the city, communicating with the local hospitals directly to help ensure that those patients are going to come to the ship, or to the javits center are appropriate for those environments, so we've gone that extra mile to hopefully break down some of those barriers as far as communications are concerned, you know, potential restrictions related to who can go where, by getting those teams out there and having those face to face conversations. neil: there were also reports, commander, that you could update me of that respirators and equipment to help crew members, just in case. is that also the case? >> absolutely, so, when we went from a covid negative to covid positive, the protection posture has to change, so just like the city hospitals, a different level of protection if we're doing invasive procedures, are required and again, this is all

dod guidelines, for the care of those high risk patients, so when our mission changed, our equipment in some respects changed as well, so we had that sent up to us from norfolk. neil: commander, you have a lot of grateful people in the new york metropolitan area, that is an understatement and you and your men and women had very little sleep dealing with all of this this easter weekend it's much appreciated. i hope you can still have a happy easter yourself thank you, sir very much. >> absolutely thank you for having us. neil: in the meantime here, the president will be busy this weekend he's going to be meeting, i assume, virtually with a lot of airline ceo's. they are going to get help baked into that rescue package but a lot of it could be coming too late, already the seven premier airlines have taken 1,800 planes or about 30% of their available capacity, out of action. and we got some numbers that show them their business has crashed about 90% from where it was last year at this time,

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neil: all right the airline industry is about to get a lot of money we haven't seen too many takers just yet although it's probably inevitable down the road they will take advantage of the program that's meant to no fault of their own to address all of the business that they've lost, so many of their planes have been sidelined about a third of their combined fleets 1,800 planes by one industry analyst map, but now, the question is whether the stimulus package is out there to sort of protect them, it's coming at a good time, but maybe is it too late? let's go to the former spirit airlines ceo, and the industry

obviously needs the help then. i'm just wondering, given some of these staggering declines in business, and 90% or more, it seems to be just resting a further fall. what do you think? >> well that's possible, neil but airlines are doing what they need to in terms of preserving cash, again they brought as an industry, quite a bit of cash into this crisis, because the industry has been making money up until this time, and they've had pretty good balance sheets, but if you'll remember the cares program and i think that words really important in terms of what might be happening here, is really two things. it was $25 billion in grants to the industry, largely to keep employment up through this time, while there wasn't much air travel demand, and then another 25 billion in loans, a lot of uncertainty around all of that right now. i think your comment is directly related to the loans whether

those might be coming a bit late and whether they might have too many strings attached and we'll have to see. the grants, however we're all about keeping employment high and that's where i think most of the industry has been focused in the near term. neil: you're quite right to say the airlines are doing very very well making a lot of money more than a few months ago so that's why when americans are polled on the subject of this rescue, relief package, they wince at airlines getting out because they remember the crowded flight s and the rude service, not across-the-board i want to say but your industry doesn't get a sympathetic ear. does that bother you? >> well it's understandable, right? it's fun and it's easy to complain about airlines, when you have people, mother nature and machines, things go wrong every once in a while, and so it's an easy picking point, but the fact is the industry has done well over the last number of years financially, and it's invested in its product heavily

during that time, with lots of new airlines burning a lot less fuel than the industry used to which is great, and that's all really really good. the issue about the grants though is that while people are not flying, airlines do have to sit a lot of capacity just like you said. it doesn't make any sense to fly empty airplanes, right? that wastes fuel, that's bad for the economy, it's bad for the ecology too, and so while they're sitting there what are they going to do with all these people and the grants are about keeping the people employ ed. you know the economy, neil, you know better than most, is people making things and people buying things, and when they can't make the flights when there's not enough flights to happen what are these people going to do and the grants are about keeping them employed so that when airline demand comes back the industry can ramp up quickly the industry ramping up quickly and transportation ramping up quickly is going to be very important to bringing the economy back when the economy is ready to come

back. neil: but do you think that's going to happen? i suspect people are going to be very leary to get on to the planes certainly to travel abroad, possibly even domestic ally because they just don't feel like it, want to risk it, they are feeling prickly about it and the same applies to the cruise industry. we've already heard from the cruise industry they are putting off all future bookings until at least mid-summer, so will it be quick for airlines? >> well i don't know that it'll be quick but i think it'll happen. its happened in other times when there have been demand destruct ing kind of events that have happened. here is the thing, neil. airlines, for i think longer flights, are going to take longer to come back versus shorter flights. i think businesses need to travel and are antsy about getting some of their people on the road. i think individual consumers after maybe a summer where they've had to cancel vacations or are looking at canceling

vacations by next summer are looking to want to get out and travel again especially after being trapped at home for so long. the thing is when is it okay to be around other people again and when you're okay going to a restaurant again, i think that's when you should be okay getting on an airplane again. and i don't know when either of those things are going to happen but i don't think an airplane presents a greater risk than going out to a restaurant or going out to another sort of social gathering, especially if you're talking about a two to four hour kind of flight, and that's really what'll be happening. i don't think the summer is going to be a lot of air travel. i think by the fall and the end of the year, it's possible that some businesses are going to want to get their people back out on the road again. neil: yeah, you could be right. that third and fourth quarter hope that the things begin to pop then. we shall see , always good see ing you thank you again. >> thank you, neil and happy easter to you and your family. neil: same to you as well, my friend. all right, you see these face

masks everywhere right now and in some places they are highly recommended which means you better put one on and in other places, they are forced and it's still other places if you're not wearing one, well you get yanke d out of that establishment, after this. our members understand social distancing. being prepared and overcoming challenges. usaa has been standing with them for nearly a hundred years. and we'll be here to serve you for a hundred more. ♪

neil: all right, this happened in philadelphia where the bus driver was saying everyone has to wear a mask or you can't be on this bus. well, apparently one fellow ignored that. take a look.

anyway, ultimately they said the bus driver went too far, it's best to sort of just strong ly suggest, don't order this but depending on where you live and where you are, it's more than just a suggestion, it is the cdc recommendation that it all becomes sort of like law that you can't really trifle with right now and that is certainly the case at riverside county, california that county sheriff, chad bianca with us right now with cover your face or face a fine. that's essentially it, right, sheriff? >> that is where we're at right now. neil: so how do you enforce that , sheriff? if you see someone going around without a mask what do you do? >> well interestingly enough, the order was obviously given by our county health doctor, and through the executive office and it applies to everyone in the

county, but we in law enforcement, especially in this county, riverside county law enforcement even our surrounding counties are taking the same approach where we're trying to get voluntary compliance. the same as the picture with the bus driver i can imagine you'd want me back on the show if one o of my deputies was still fighting with someone and arresting someone simply because they didn't have a mask, so in riverside county, my deputies are not actively going out and searching for these people, not wearing masks or coming outside their home. we're taking more of the voluntary compliance approach. we're passing out some fliers if we see people, if we're contacting them normally, and for the most part, in riverside county we are getting compliance when we ask. neil: how are things going in your county? california seems, i wouldn't say around the bend, sheriff, but is well off the earlier fear and levels. it seems the crackdown, lockdown whatever you want to call it

worked. the mitigation efforts worked. >> yeah, i guess they have. we've been lucky that the number s that they projected in the beginning which to me were astro tammy bruce icily high, obviously we didn't hit those , in our county, we're two and a half million people, and we've got about 35 deaths, because of this virus, and so i mean, while there are deaths caused by it and it's not this number that everyone said, or everyone feared, so, i guess it's a little bit different and you get depending on different counties you go, it's a big state so we get a lot of different opinions. neil: well you're a busy man we appreciate you taking the time, sheriff. much success to you and your men and women. we are also following the significance of this day talking about this crisis because it was 50 years ago today that apollo 13 launches into space. we know what happened a couple of days later, the commander of

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>> all right. welcome back, everybody. we heard a little earlier that new york city mayor bill deblasio has already told parents of school kids in the city there's no school for the rest of the year. he's confident that he can see classes resuming in the fall, but for now, it is over. the governor of that state is going to be talking to the press in about a half an hour, no doubt zeroing in on some other developments that look very promising, not only for the city, but the state. cases are still significant, don't get me wrong and the deaths are still worrisome, but the trend is the friend. the hospitalizations stabilizing and the need for hospital beds, which was said to be across the state, more than 140,000 when

the governor was still worrying about capacity, right now a little over 18,000, so much less than feared. now, it's still very, very early in the process, but the latest now from jacqui heinrich on where it's going. >> and neil, the trend here, the positive news alongside some grim numbers. the institute for health metrics thinks the u.s. could hit its peak for deaths tomorrow. and yesterday more than 2100 deaths across the united states, the most in a single day. the data showing the last two weeks account for more than 83% of the deaths in this country. but several efforts are being made to mitt great the spread in the heart of new york city is seems to be making a difference. the icu dropped, the first since the outbreak took hold and the majority of field hospital beds are going unused. that does not mean that the new

yorkers can let up on social distancing. mayor deblasio announced that the schools will be closed. >> so many that got behind got a great opportunity. and that's what we've focused on for six years, lord knows, having to tell you we cannot bring our schools back for the remainder of this school year is painful. i can also tell you, it's the right thing to do. >> this week, new york state hit 7,884 deaths from the virus, more than 70% of them right here in new york city. and the state so far recorded more than 34% of all 500,000 plus cases in the country. now, while new york has tested nearly 400,000 people for the virus, governor cuomo says the federal government will have to get involved in bringing up testing, ramping testing into the millions before they can consider reopening the economy. neil. neil: thank you very, very much.

it's all a guessing game here, how you reopen an economy and how you get it to reopen. senator bill cassidy joins us right now and interesting in his case, he's a doctor as well, a gastroenterologist. and joining me. when is the time to ease up the lockdown. senator, how are you? >> i'm good, neil, how are you, man. neil: as a doctor, and you hear some of the numbers and the deaths are still high, too high. the number of cases still very, very high. but we keep hearing, it's a trend that's the friend, that they're not as high as they were, they're going down. the hospitalizations are not nearly as concerning as they were. what do you look at? >> there has to be a balance between what we do for someone's physical health and what we do for their financial health. we've been able to lower, to flatten the curve, the problem

is that we've really kind of put the weight on the physical health and now the financial health is suffering. we've got to figure out how to bring it back to balance. how do we, of course, always have this risk, but at the same time, give some people some relief from the financial pain they're going through?. neil: now, the president says he's going to weigh all this, it will be the toughest, hardest decision he's made as president. that's probably an understatement. if governors, let's say he decides, let's ease up on some of the lockdown provisions at the end of the month for those set to expire at the end of the month, he can always extend them, but governors are within their power to say, not in my state. how do you think this will all go down? >> i think that we need to have science guide what we do. if science tells us that some people are immune, then, because they've been previously exposed, they have greater freedom. if science tells us that there's some people who are at extremely

low risk of complications, thinking of children ages two through 28, if i may call a 28-year-old a child, a young adult. we know they're extremely low risk of complications. maybe if they're not immune, they can begin to circulate in the economy, in the economy. doing regular testing, very regular testing to make sure that those who are at risk, because they're older and have diabetes, high blood pressure, know they are at risk and some way socially-- excuse me, physically isolate them from disease, there has to be science that guides what we do, but science can give that guidance. neil: you know, we have dramatically proved our testing level, senator, far better than i, when all of this started it was at one out of every 400,000 americans and then 300,000 americans. i believe the latest figures are 1 out of every 130,000 americans. germany has a slightly better,

you know, testing rate, but it's a smaller country. still 1 out of 99,000. is there a level? i know these are arbitrary numbers in the scheme of things. is there a level at which you as a doctor says all right, i am confident the process of testing is going well enough we could make some firm conclusions? >> couple things, you're speaking of the test, the nasal pharangeal swab. and those who had the flu and checked for coronavirus, you don't have the flu, you have coronavirus, you're immune for a couple of years. and now because you're immune the bartender can go to work not searing to infect others. and the nurse can go back to care for the patient, not

fearing to be infected or to infect. with the call with the vice-president and others that they hope that 10 million such antibody tests available per week, within one to three months. that's the level of tests we need. voluntary, but that's the volume of testing we need to figure out as people become immune, they are immune and can return to society, if you will, more fully. neil: you mentioned those who-- that were stricken with the virus and recovered. there are more anecdotal reports, i don't know how factual they are, places like china and italy where people get the virus again. can that happen? >> so, what they're really measuring for rna. we don't know if that rna is able to infect. it may just be a little piece of the rna from a dead virus that's back in the nose. so we have to have more evidence, but if you look at the science on coronaviruses and other similar viruses, once

you've been infected there's an antibody response that gives you protection for as long as two years. the national academy of science just came out with a report on this. it's on their website, national academy of medicine, and it was posted april the 9th. and so folks can download it, the best evidence, once you've recovered from infection, there's always an exception, but once you've recovered from an infection for 99% of the people, you'll be immune for at least some period of time, probably at least two years. neil: senator, thank you. we've learned a lot and i appreciate that very, very much. be well, sir, be safe. all right. in the meantime, we're looking at the front line battles, you have the health care workers and all of our military personnel also making that possible. it's not an easy job. meet one who does it every day after this. ♪

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>> all right. on the front lines means a lot of people looking at health care workers, first responders and our military trying to coordinate all of that. so many that i talked to, from the military say, it's our job, it's what we do, but they are doing yeoman's work because it's a 24/7 responsibility. let's get the read on all of this from lieutenant general richard scobie from air command. commander, good to see you. right now, how would you say the battle is going and, you know, getting the support out there and the needed supplies out there, the personnel out there? it looks like you never want to say you hit an apex or hit our high point and things are getting better. you hope that's the case, but you're right there on the front lines. what do you see? >> i tell you, neil. thanks for having me on this

morning with your viewers. right now, we're in good shape and once the president gave the order for the national guard and the reserve to be called up, we've really been getting our folks out there to help protect americans and that's our ultimate goal. so getting supplies to where they need to go and nobody moves cargo around the world, let alone the united states better than the united states air force. so we've been doing that, as well as moving our medical professionals out to the point where they're needed. neil: yeah, it's moving them first of all, around that's stunned me. you have better than 40 doctors, more than 70 nurses, 13 respiratory technicians and i'm sure i left out quite a bit. how has that been going? >> that's been going well. so right now we have about 330 of the united states air force reserve personnel that are in the fight in new york city. so they're out there right now making sure that they're relieving any suffering that the american citizens are doing and getting doctors, nurses and therapists where they need to be in order to get that job done.

>> you know, commander, new york was seen as sort of like the epicenter of all of this, particularly new york city. do you think it still is? >> well, right now, that's where the level of effort that we have going in is into new york city. but i'll tell you, this is really the way it works is, we are in support of what our civilian and the local authorities need us to be, so that gets asked to the north com commander, and whatever that ask is, we're going to fill it. right now it's in new york city, but wherever that need arises, we'll be there, whether it's in denver, whether it's in chicago, whether it's in detroit. wherever it's needed we'll be there. neil: so looking at the landscape right now, you know, the governor of new york is supposed to talk to the press a little later this morning, commander. one of the things he has talked about, the good news is that hospitalizations are stable,

they're not going down. the bed capacity, a worry of his, also looks a lot more favorable. are you getting the same sense? >> right now we are getting the same sense. we're looking at how our health care is being inundated across our nation, not just in new york city, and that is being-- that's being relayed to the department of defense and then we're looking at what sourcing options would be available for the department of defense to call in support of what our civilian and local authorities are doing. so, really, that's what we're looking at. so, in new york it looks like they're doing a pretty good job of what he is-- what's going on right now and we're not being overrun by the effort there. as that goes on, we'll take a look around our country where the need is going to arise next. so as a hot spot would move up, we would move our level of effort there to help and try and take care of americans.

neil: general, i'm sure you have a legion behind you that want to thank you and commend your efforts and all of your men and women's efforts. continued strength and good health, sir. thank you very, very much. >> neil, thanks for having me today with your viewers. i appreciate it and wish all of your family and all of your viewers, a happy easter. neil: to you as well. timing is everything, we've listened to one incredible commander. there's a great commander coming up, apollo 13, jim lovell, do you remember? 50 years ago launched into space and a couple of days later it became an international sensation. would they ever get home from an explosion that had all of their lives on the line? the world was gripped, kind of like the world right now. some lessons from jim lovell, commander, after this. i'm your mother in law. and i like to question your every move. like this left turn. it's the next one.

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>> 55 hours, 47 minutes. apollo 13 presently at 177,861 nautical miles away. >> after the broadcast, just a quick pass before bed. >> 13, we've got one more item for you when we get a chance. we'd like you to stir up your cryo tank. neil: jack swigert was on it. >> okay, stand by. neil: out of nowhere, an explosion. >> okay, hussein-- houston we've had a problem here. >> say again. >> houston, we have a problem. neil: this was not a little distant. >> a way from earth.

so, it was touch and go, there was nothing we could do, and try to figure out what we had, be calm. >> is there any kind of leads we give them, or instrumentation or got a real problem or what? it was touch and go. leave it to jim lovell, the commander of apollo 13 to minimize that and to say very, very frankly with me at the time, i didn't know if we were going to get back. i was hopeful, but that was then, 50 years ago today, apollo 13 was launched into the heavens, it would be our third lunar mission in just a matter of months dating back to the first one of course july 20th, 1969, when the buzz aldrin at the surface. and just prior to the routine, jim lovell and a swarm of experts at houston control made it possible and this mission that never got jim to land on

the moon, made history and distinction by getting back alive. i'm honored to say the commander of that mission, jim lovell joins me right now. jim, very good to see you again. >> hi, neil, it's been a long time. neil: it has, indeed. and we're remembering it with a special fox nation on that incredible mission, your role in that and how it gripped the world, returned to earth the triumph apollo 13. i remember when we charted about it, at the time you look at it as a triumph. you were disappointed you didn't get to walk on the moon, something you had wanted to do. four other crews would get that chance, but not you. but you had more urgent concerns. tell me again, after that explosion, what you were thinking. >> well, when the explosion first-- we first heard it, i looked up

at fred haise to see if he knew what caused it, i could tell from his expression, he had no idea. i was going down into the command module so i looked down at jack swigert and his eyes were as wide as, you know, cupcakes or something, and i knew he didn't know what was going on. and then when i got down into the command module, i saw a warning light on and two of three of my fuel cells just died. i realized that we were in serious trouble. neil: did you think you'd make it back? >> pardon? >> did you think at that time, hey, we might not get back? >> i thought that it would damage-- would prevent the lunar landing, which at that time was something upper most in my mind, but i saw

that we still had a fuel cell and that would give us enough electrical power just to go around the moon and get home, but then, of course, i did something that i don't know why i did it today, but i looked out the window and saw escaping at a high rate of speed a gaseous substance and realized it was my oxygen and when i looked at the control panel and at the quantity gauges on my two fuel tanks, one of them read zero and the other one, the needle was going down and i realized very quickly that shortly i would be out of oxygen and, in the command module and then of course i would lose all of my electricity and things took a very drastic turn. neil: you know, i wasn't aware until going-- the tick-tock on this, jim, that to shut everything down and save

energy, you were in freezing temperatures. then you had the carbon dioxide issue where you guys cover suffocated. each one, you know, you batted down and solved, but it had to be like just crazy tense constantly. >> well, that's true. we had to solve one crisis right after the other and of course, getting rid of the carbon dioxide was a good piece of innovation of mission control. their crews system division found out how we could jury-rig a dead square cannister. neil: the lunar module and that of course saved us from being poisoned. neil: did you ever think, jim, looking back that, the timing 50 years later would be actually an interesting time? because the whole world was fixated on you three guys and

right now, the whole world is fixated on dealing with a virus, but i always say that your flight and what you proved shows that we can overcome anything. i know a virus is very different. i get that, but this was against all odds that you guys came back ali alive. >> well, that's true, but you know, whether it's a virus or coming back from apollo 13, it's a positive attitude. you have to have a positive attitude that, okay, we've got a problem, and how do we solve it. neil: you know what i also remember and there were reports on this, that your pulse rate, heart rate was very, very low as if there was nothing going on. if that were mine, it would be going at about like a thousand beats a minute. how did you maintain your composure? did you do it as much for your other astronauts and maybe your family watching nervously back

home? >> yes, that's true, i mean, if we were just in the command module like in apollo 8, we wouldn't be talking to each other, but we had the lunar module, so after we saw the command module was dying, and losing oxygen, electrical power, then we went into that lunar module and tried to see how and where and when we could use it to hopefully get back home. neil: you know, when i think about that, and it was just really, you think about it a few years earlier we had the apollo 1 fire, and had people thinking almost, we would never get to the moon and it would be 16 years after you dealt with this on apollo 13, we had the challenger disaster some years later, the columbia disaster. in each and every instance we came back. it does seem to show a unique

aspect, not of the space program, but maybe of american ingenuity. what do you think? >> well, i think it's true. i think the way that the country is operating and the way that i've grown up in this country, you have to think for yourself and if you meet a problem or a challenge, then can you get over it. and you must, you know, think forwa forward. neil: you know, jim, the one thing i remember most in our conversation, such a great special and you're so prominent in it, is when you did that ricochet thing where you had to go around the moon and use that bounce to get back to earth, hooked up to the lunar module to make it all happen. so you're looking at the moon, you were so close to walking on the moon. you'd passed up an opportunity to i believe the command module pilot on apollo 11 i believe, and it wasn't going to happen.

what was going through your head when you realized the dream wasn't going to be realized, but something far bigger was going on? >> well, that's true, neil. as we went around the moon and i realized that i was never going to land on the moon, but then of course, when i realized my position and where i was, that my concentration and all of my thoughts went back to, hey, how do i get back on the return course, how much fuel or how much oxygen do we have left and how do i get rid of the carbon dioxide which of course crews systems division came up very nicely for us. then of course, it was getting cold and we were running out of food, and fred was getting sick on the time coming down, and i had to put my arms around him to keep him warm, but then we kept charging and slowly, but surely, as we came back again, the thought that we'll actually make

it back, actually became more positive, you know, when we first had the explosion i wasn't too sure just where i'd be or whether this would be the end of the crew and the end of the mission. you know, i said briefly, i said, much to the consternation of nasa's pr, that this might be a long time before we go to the moon again. neil: but we did and because you got out safely, the lessons learned, we did. i think one said you weren't only just a commander, during that time you were almost like a god. jim lovell, thank you for that lesson, thank you for all you did and thank you for gettings us to remember times against enormous odds and you made the possible possible, a real honor, thank you, my friend. >> thank you, neil for talking to me. you're doing a great job to keep

that program going. neil: all right. thank you very, very much. jim lovell. again, i urge you, really, if you go back in time against all odds and we always see it in the face of disaster and in the face of very, very long odds, we overcome them, but this return to earth, apollo 13, a mission that began with great hope and fanfare 50 years ago today only to look like it was all over, as well as our lunar mission. they went on. jim lovell and those other crew members did not get to share that, but what they did was much, much bigger than that because this was not -- well, much bigger than them, much bigger.

>> all right. governor cuomo is talking to the press right now on some improving numbers in the empire state. let's listen. >> the hospitalization rate is down and that's important. we have more people getting infected still. we have more people going to the hospitals, but we have a lower number.

that's all this is saying is fewer people are going into the hospitals, still net positive. the three-day average, which is what we look at, because day-to-day can be somewhat deceiving, especially when you get towards the weekend because the weekend reporting gets a little different. but all the numbers are on the downward slope. still, people getting infected, still people going to the hospital, but again, a lower rate of increase. the number of icu admissions is down. the thee day average on icu admissions is down. this is a little deceptive because at one time, hospitals had discrete icu wards or icu beds. effectively now in the hospital all the beds are icu beds. it's like the entire hospital has turned into an icu facility

so this distinction is actually, i don't know how enlightening this is. this is, however, is still a discrete category. the increase in the number of intubations. and as we've discussed the intubations are a bad sign from a health diagnostic perspective and when we talk about the number of deaths, those tend to be people who have been intubated for the longest period of time. so while icu beds may not mean anything anymore in the hospital system, intubations are still intubations. and this is a very good sign that the intubations are down. we were worried about the spread from new york city to long island and upstate. if you look at the bar chart, you can see almost a wave where it did start to move.

we have been working very hard in nassau, suffolk, rockland, the suburbs to new york city, and so far, we've had hot spots, but we've attacked them aggressively and we believe that we have stabilized the situation upstate and in the suburbs, which is what you see in that chart. terrible news is the number of lives lost, 783 yesterday. that is not an all-time high and you can see that the number's somewhat stabilizing, but it's stabilizing at a horrific rate. 783 people, 777, 799, these are just incredible numbers depicting incredible loss and pain that we really, especially

this week, are all 783 individuals and their families are in our thoughts and in our prayers. total number of lives lost, 8600, that's up, people ask, well, when is it over, when is it over, when is it over? my children ask that every day. i'm sure that everyone is living with the same question every time you wake up, you say when does this nightmare end? and everybody wants to hear that it end in two weeks or three weeks or four weeks or here is the date that i can tell you that it's over. just give me some certainty, some closure, some control of my life back. but i also said from day one and when i raised my hand to take the oath originally, i would never tell you anything, but the truth, even if the truth is

inconvenient or painful. winston churchill is a hero of mine, his granddaughter edwina sands, sent me a portrait, a tribute to winston churchill and i thank her for that. but winston churchill said now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. just a great churchill quote, you know, it's precise and how he uses language. i think that's a fair statement of where we are now. this is the beginning that we are in. this was a beginning phase. we're all trying to figure it out. we're all trying to adjust, but it's the end of the beginning phase. what do we do now? we stay the course. what we're experiencing is a product of our actions, period.

we do something different, you will see a different reaction in those numbers. everyone wants to turn to the question of when do we reopen? i get it. i think the first caution for me is, as we enter this new phase of reopen, when do we do it, how do we do it? this person's opinion is here. this person's opinion is here. the best thing we have done to date is we have kept politics out of the discussion. even though this is a hyper partisan time, even though we are in the middle of a presidential election, even though it's one of the ugliest political periods i can recall, we've kept politics out of this crisis and i've worked very hard to do that, i've worked very hard to keep myself out of the politics. i have no personal politics, not running for anything.

i'm governor of new york, thank you and that's where i'm going to stay. i've worked very hard with the president of the united states. we've had our political differences in the past, no doubt. but there's also no doubt that i've worked hand in glove with the president here and he has been responsive to new york and responsive to new york's needs and he's done it quickly and he's done it efficiently. i've literally had conversations with him in the morning where he'd turned around a decision by that afternoon. i've been in the federal government, i know what it's like to make a decision and he has really responded to new york's needs. so keep politics out of it. focus on government and focus on policy and keep politics out of it. it's very hard, especially at this time and you start to hear this dialog on reopening and you start to hear people with

political theories on whether we should reopen faster, whether we should reopen sooner, why are people against reopening, why are people in favor of reopening. that is corrosive and destructive and if we don't stop it, it will feed on itself. there are no political conspiracies here. all the projection models have basically said the same thing. everyone has basically said the same thing, which is, first of all, no one has been here before. second of all, everyone, all the experts, i didn't have an opinion because i'm not an expert. all the experts had higher projection numbers that-- than we actually experienced and they all said caveat, government action could flatten the curve, but we don't know what governments will do and we don't

know if people will even listen to what government will do. but almost all the experts when you go back and look at it, had the same basic heightened fears, from the new york state projection point of view, columbia university, highly credible organization, 136,000 new york city only. mckenzie, great organization. 110,000 statewide, 55,000 on a moderate level. gates 73,000, gates funded, ihme, 73,000 statewide. the gates funded model, i think is the one that the white house most relies on now, currently. all of those models were projections. they all said depending on what people do.

not even government, what people wind up doing. but it wasn't just these academic private organizations. the white house task force was talking about 1.5 to 2.2 million deaths without mitigation. with mitigation, they were projecting 100 to 240,000 deaths as the best case scenario. this is the white house task force. the actual estimate has now been adjusted down, but they're still at 60,000 deaths that they're projecting. the peter navarro white house memo was talking about loss of life, 1 to 2 million souls. 1 to 2 million souls, infecting as many as 100 million

americans. c.d.c. was talking about 160 million to 240 million people infected, the whole population is only 328 million. so the c.d.c. was projecting that more than half the population would be infected. they were talking about 2.4 million to 21 million people being hospitalized. we only have 925,000 beds in the united states of america, how would you hospitalize 2.4 million to 21 million people? and that was the c.d.c. so, there was no political conspiracy theory. there is no political conspiracy theory. it's uncharted waters for all of us. so, let's focus on the facts. let's focus on the data and let's make decisions that way.

and also, if someone says, well, c.d.c. was wrong, and the white house task force is wrong, and peter navarro a wrong and columbia is wrong and cornell is wrong and mckenzie is wrong, gates, they were all wrong. if i'm representing them, i say it's too soon to tell. it's too soon for monday quarterbacking because the game isn't even over yet. what do you think we're in, sixth inning for baseball? you think we're halftime if it's a football game? you don't know yet what the actual issue is going to be and you don't know yet how this turns out because many decisions have to be made. you have to reopen. you have to decide how to reopen. you have to decide when it reopen and that is going to be impactful. we don't know if there's going to be a second wave or not.

all of these things are yet to come. so anyone who wants to say, well, here is the score at halftime, and i'm going to now claim that-- try to collect my bet because it's halftime. it doesn't work that way. the game has to be over. and this game isn't over. what do we do now? well, we need to do more testing and more advanced testing and we have to do it faster. that's both the diagnostic testing, that's the antibody testing, but we have to get better at both and we have to be able to create a higher volume faster. we have to be more prepared. we should never have -- we should never go through what we went through on this preparation drill. the federal stimulus bill is going to be key and that legislation, in my opinion, has

to be better than the past legislation, it has to be less political, less pork barrel and more targeted to the actual purpose. you want to help the places that were impacted. i'll tell you what the federal legislation should do, it should repeal salt, you want to help new york the most heavily impacted, by the way you think you're going to reopen without the engine of the new york mep area, you're kidding yourself. you want to help new york, help the places affected, repeal the salt provision, which was a gratuitous, offensive, illegal, in my opinion action to begin with, but which literally targeted new york and some of these places, michigan, detroit, california, repeal that if you really want to help places that are affected. and to my delegation, they know this issue very well, has does

the california delegation, as does the michigan delegation. that's what you've got to do stop the politics. in the meantime, you'll have many people struggling, many businesses struggling. we have government programs, but, yeah, trying to access a government program is like trying to break into a bank sometimes, it's not that easy. new york state system and our chief judge is going to organize lawyers statewide to do pro bono legal assistance to help people with issues they may have, housing issues, access to government program issues, et cetera, and many legal issues are going to stem from this and many places where people need help. so lawyers who have time on their hands, who are not working, they're looking for volunteers. and most of all, we have to think before we act.

these are all big decisions, reopening, reopening is both a public health question and an economic question, and i'm unwilling to divorce the two. there is no economic answer that does not attend to public hea h health, in my opinion. you can't ask the people of this state or this country to choose between lives lost and dollars gain gained. no one is going to make that quid pro quo. i understand the need to bring back the economy as quickly as possible. i had people need to work. i also know we need to save lives and we have and one cannot be at the expense of the other. as we look forward i'm still troubled by what we just went

through. if no one sounded the alarm in january and february, how do we know that it's safe to proceed now? there are stories and there is information that says some of these places that reopened too quickly are now seeing a growth in the number of cases. they're seeing a growth in the infection rate again, or they're saying the second wave. so there's troubling signs on the horizon. and i want to make sure that we know this time that we've learned from the other experiences and we're going to be putting together in new york a team of the best minds that look at what happened in wuhan, look at what happened in italy

on the reopening and making sure that what we're doing is based on all the science available internationally. and what is the probability, what is the possibility of a second wave happening, what is the possibility of people reexperiencing the virus. there's some reports from south korea. let's understand because it's fool me once-- one thing to make the mistake once, but this nation should not go through it again, and before we make these decisions, let them be informed by the experiences we're seeing all across the globe. but there's no doubt that what we're doing now is as impactful and as important as anything that has been done. this is a time where our actions literally will determine life

and death. i've been in government most of my adult life on many levels, through many circumstances. this is no doubt the most important period for government in my lifetime. there is no doubt about that. the decisions that we make now, also the potential for the decisions we make now, these are big questions and we should think about them, both in the short-term and the long-term. how do we reopen? what do we rebuild when we open? how do we do it? did we learn the lessons from the past? did we learn the lessons from what we just went through? and are we the better for it and do we take this moment-- >> we're monitoring new york governor andrew cuomo who did share some startling news and also uplifting news.

the startling news, deaths, remain fairly high and they're considered a lagging indicator encouraging for the governor and others going on in new york, the epicenter of all of this in this country is that hospitalizations are improving, they're not as bad as they were. the need for hospital beds, which was so strong, a little more than a week ago, when the governor was hoping to get tens of thousands of bed space opened up. right now all that's been required at this point is about 18,000 or so beds, not the hundreds of thousands that some were fearing ultimately would be the case. so you have the hospitalizations improving those-- stayed in the hospital and released. 80% remember of coronavirus cases end up with the person doing just fine, and then often case not even needing treatment at a hospital. so we're monitoring that closely and the governor encouraging these results and no way of forecasting where ultimately this goes as far as easing up on the lockdown not only in new

york, but what's happening across the country. the president of course will be addressing that as he meets with a variety of task force members looking at the economic and medical side of this. and a lot of people say what could solve this problem readily and get things moving is a vaccine and something to treat this. dr. gregory glen is research and development, the company behind giving clinical trials right now of a vaccine to address this very issue. doctor, good to have you. can you explain what's going on? >> yeah, thank you and that was a great privilege to listen to james lovell as i was waiting for the interview. the story of our space adventures and discovery there are so inspiring. my dad worked for jpl, the other side of the space mission with mars and jupiter. neil: oh, wow, very inspiring, doctor. >> yes, really so a lot of analogies where we're at today. you know, i think everything

we're doing they're bandaids. and bandaids can be good, helpful, but a vaccine would really solve the issue. and you know, james talked about optimism. we have every reason to be optimistic here about a vaccine because they work. they've changed human health over history, they work very well. i'm a pediatrician, i saw vaccines that came in from being tested and then licensed. they really are miracles. i'm very optimistic that we can get a vaccine to work, both our own company and others. we are aiming at-- >> and doctor, i know people ask you this, by when. how soon do you think something like that would happen? >> that's it, i'm just going to say we're aiming the full force of the biotech industry, the u.s. biotech industry to get this done. there are things we have to do. i can tell you, i spend sleepless nights talking about how to compress that time frame, but early on, and we just, you know, are seeing this now, we have very promising signs from the vaccines that we have from

covid. so very optimistic. the who-- you can't answer that question without talking a little about the steps. you need to develop some data early on what we call phase one. what the who is doing is leaping ahead into what we call efficacy studies. i think they're going to ask us to do efficacy studies right after phase one, that's really unusual and i think the regulators are going to look at that data if it works and allow that to be deployed under something called emergency use authorization, it's hang. it's coming together, the engine of the biotech field, a lot of experience with good experience with vaccines and there's alignment here and it's needed. so globally, you know, there are many, many products, i think we're going to see something come out here and address the covid disease. so imagine if you can walk out of your door without worrying that you'll get infected and that's what a vaccine will do. neil: doctor, that would be phenomenal news, my friend.

thank you very much. that's about as inspiring as jim lovell was a few minutes ago. best of luck. thank you very much. that will do it here. fox continues with the coronavirus coverage. won't be a new thing. and it won't be their first experience with social distancing. overcoming challenges is what defines the military community. usaa has been standing with them, for nearly a hundred years. and we'll be here to serve for a hundred more.

>> coronavirus infections are still on the rise this weekend and now americans are starting to weigh in. we've got brand new fox news polling that shows that 94% say they are concerned about the virus spreading. not a lot of surprise there, shall we say. welcome to america's news headquarters from washington d.c., great to be with all of you at home on this spring weekend. leland, it's great to be with you this weekend. i'm gillian turner. leland: there are 94%, 6% who are not. we're going to get into both sides of that.