>> we begin with an update on the latest coronavirus case count here in the united states. there are now more than 700,000 confirmed cases across the country, new york, new jersey, and massachusetts are now leading the nation,s at three states with the highest number of confirmed infections. welcome to america's news headquarters from washington, i'm kristin fisher just across the street from the u.s. capitol. leland: nice to be with you, you've had a busy week at the white house. i'll get to that later. and down in texas, governor

abbott is announcing a series of executive orders and laying out a plan to begin loosening certain restrictions there. governor abbott joining us now with more. governor, we were just listening to andrew cuomo of new york talking about that testing is key to reopening his state. do you agree with that? and if so, where is texas on testing? >> first, with regard to future strategies, testing is going to be so important. remembering this, however, leland and that is the situation happening in new york is far different than what is happening in texas and other places. for example, there will be unfortunately more people who pass away in one day in new york than we will have in texas in the entirety of this whole pandemic situation and as the president made clear, there are different strategies for different states. texas has not even come close to needing to use all of our

hospital beds, all of our ventilators. in fact, all the prognostications about the potential dire situation in texas didn't even come close to being true. as a result, the situation is far more contained in texas than they are in other states. however, going back to your question, and that is, we are working both with the trump administration, but also with our team in texas, i have a team of doctors including someone you may not, dr. mark mcclulen, under president trump, medicaid and medicare, and he and other doctors are working on the tracing and testing strategy that we'll set up across the state of texas to make sure that we will be able to spot-check any covid virus. leland: and you're looking at

contact and contain. and me me from the new york, he's becoming magnanimous about democrat democrats. mr. abbott says it's fine for people to mingle in rural in the country even though it's well-known. the question is this, do you worry about all of a sudden getting overwhelmed and the case count rising from what you talked about just now? >> sure. first, that's not the first time that mimi got the facts all wrong. mimi talks about certain things without understanding the real context and she kind of wants to ignore the real context. the way disaster declarations and response works in texas and the united states has been the same always like it was during hurricane harvey, and that is if the county judges that have the authority to make sure that they are able to respond to the unique situations on the ground

in their states and that's exactly the way that we did it this time as we have with other disasters like hurricane harvey. better luck next time, mimi. leland: and with-- >> leland, with regard to our ability to contain this going forward, we have the tools and strategies to make sure that we will be able to contain it as it begins to grow, which we know that it will, and with our medical doctors and with the resources that we have, and with the hospital availability that we have, we know that we will be able to contain this as we slowly in baby steps begin to open up our economy. leland: that's a shermanesque statement on your part. for our viewers not as well versed in the texas constitutional system. county judges are effectively county commissioners. texas is the 10th largest economy in the world taken as an isolated entity. a big part of that is oil and

oil prices are at historic lows. we haven't seen lows like this almost going back to the gulf war at times. how badly is texas' economy going to be hit by the double whammy of depressed oil prices and the shutdowns that occurred? >> understand this, leland, and that is as of earlier this year before the coronavirus broke out and as of last year, there were already challenges in the oil and gas sector, but despite those challenges, texas still ranked number one in the united states for most jobs created and we ranked number one in the united states for the fastest growing gdp despite already a down turn in the oil sector. the texas economy has grown far more diversified than it's ever been. that being said with oil being where it is, it's a challenge, but part what we know with the gas and oil sector, what happened with russia and saudi arabia. russia and saudi arabia are suffering more in their economy

due to oil prices and we'll see an increase in oil and gas and let me point this out real quick. when the immunization comes out for the coronavirus, you're going to see a rush to the gate economically in the united states because everything will suddenly be back to normal and you will see a skyrocketing price of oil. we'll be back with a very strong economy very soon. leland: rye skyrocket oil means skyrocketing skyscrapers in texas. and with the new order in texas the rules are different than dallas and what do you say to the protesters who say we want everything happen right now and we're not happy with you. >> and a correction, rules across the state of texas, the rules i will be issuing to open

up the state of economy will be statewide with, exception that if there is a flareup of the coronavirus in any particular county. there will be different rules. that said, listen, for these protesters, i sympathize with them. they're frustrated because all these forecasts about how, what a dire situation texas was going to be in have not come about and all of these people have been sidelined and people have been unemployed, more than a million people have filed for unemployment claims in the state of texas so they are rightfully frustrated about the way things are and my goal is it-- is to make sure that the people get back to work in a very safe way. leland: we've got to run, but as you point out the dire predictions from the health crisis may not have come true, but the dire predictions on the economy. we'll have you back, sir. >> thank you. leland: all the best. kristin. kristin: well, protesters are beginning to line the streets

outside the maryland capitol building. they're calling on governor larry hogan to reopen their state. our rich edson is live on the ground in annapolis. rich, what is it like out there? what are you seeing? >> good afternoon, kristin. if you look right at the shot, that's the annapolis mall about three miles from here. that's about noon, right now, the protest is suppose today begin and get started and drive their cars through downtown annapolis and circle the state capitol behind me and the governor's mansion. they're instructed to stay in their cars, fill up their gas tanks and be loud. and more than 1500 designed. we acknowledge the tragedy by covid-19 and appreciate it's a significant health concern, however, the economic, social and educational shutdown is guaranteed to cause significant

and greater harm, leading to deaths, economic disruption, and loss of livelihood for maryland and their families and the department of health that is about 12,000 cases in the case and 700 additional cases since yesterday alone and that's why governor larry hogan says now is not the time to reopen maryland. >> i'm as frustrated as anybody. i want to get businesses open yesterday, but as the president pointed out yesterday, a lot of the folks are big supporters of the president. his own plan says we shouldn't open up yet in our state or in some of the hot spots. in washington area, we doubled over the past week and so as soon as we can, we're going to get open safely. i had everybody's right to protest. >> no doubt. >> and i understand their frustration. >> now, the governor's closed schools here until may 15th. they're reevaluating the situation they say. they also say that they're devising a plan to reopen the

government gradually and they hope to share more details next week. for now, reopen is immediately out of the question as we're about a couple of miles away from those protests supposed to be at the state house shortly. kristin. kristin: yeah, it really is a whole new way of protesting in the middle of a pandemic, staying in your cars and whatnot. rich edson. thank you. the president is amplifying to roll out the country. a three-phase plan to guide states as they attempt to revive their economies. and we've got mark meredith on the lawn with more. >> hey, kristin. the white house is letting the governors decide how they want to move forward. the guidelines give the governors a better idea what to do after the number of cases declines over two weeks. the phase one, which so many are focused on. schools will remain closed and visits to senior living facilities and hospitals will be

off limits. but nonemergency surgeries, but with strict sanitation and distancing. >> in the coming weeks, you'll see some very, very dramatic steps taken, very first, we may be opening, but we're putting safety first. >> meantime, sources tell fox news, the origin of the virus remains ongoing. trying to piece a timeline what china's government new when and if the virus first started in a laboratory setting. secretary of state mike pompeo is demanding china become more forth coming. >> the chinese needs to come clean and the whole world can see what took place. there will be a time for accountability and determine who did what and we can move on from what is now an incident that has destroyed so much wealth, not

only here in the united states, but all across the world. >> now, fox is told not too far into the future, the finding of the investigation will be presented to the president. this week the president announced they'll halt funding to the world health organization over concerns they have not done enough to hold china accountable for this outbreak. as of now we're not expecting to see the president on camera for a briefing, but tweeted moments ago he's been speaking with the military as well as with leaders of fema. kristin. kristin: we may not be hearing from president trump today, least not now. but we'll hear from vice-president mike pence when he speaks at the air force graduation. leland: and we'll hear from the vice-president when he begins his commencement address. there's a growing number of americans, exponentially turning to food banks for their meals. farmers are feeling the results of the pandemic. steve harrigan from this, hi,

steve. >> good news for farmers on friday, a huge bailout, 19 million for them overnight. >> americans contend with record lines at food banks, american farmers plow vegetables back into the soil. leave fruit to rot in the field and dump nearly four million gallons of milk each day. with the schools, and others losing their markets. >> it's no longer a profitable year. it looks like it's going to be the worst in 10 years, we're definitely concerned about losing our farms. >> some is donated to those in need. farmers can't afford to give it all away. administration foreclosures say there is no need to panic. >> we're working hard at usda to

get that realigned and get it to where it needs to be. >> the good -- the food supply is good. >> and smithfield, tyson food and cargill have all closed plants in the u.s. due to outbreak among food workers. >> we have to operate these processing plants even when we have covid. if we don't, we simply won't have food. >> three billion dollars of that bailout will be used to buy food directly from farmers and give it to food banks across the country, leland. leland: such an important story and one to keep in mind no matter where you live across america. steve, thank you. kristin. kristin: well, joining us now are two local lawmakers who are on the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and in two key u.s. hot spots. we have the mayor of sioux falls, south dakota, and city of detroit city council president pro tem mary

sheffield. mary, i'll start with you. i had your father has just gotten a positive diagnosis, that he tested positive for the coronavirus. that accurate? and how is he doing? >> thank you for asking. you know, my father is very fortunate that he did test positive, but he is doing well. took him time to build up his strength, but he no longer has any symptoms and he's recovering well at home. and is urging people to continue to adhere to the measures and even if you are tested positive that there still is hope. we hear a lot about deaths reported with covid-19, but there is home on the other side for individuals that have been tested positive. thank you for asking, he's doing fine. kristin: mary, what do you make of protests happening in your state? obviously, your state has some of the more strict social distancing, self-isolation guidelines. what do you make of the protesters coming out and speaking out against what the governor in that state is doing?

>> you know, i understand the urgency of people, you know, wanting to open up the economy. i'm sure that it's having impacts on people in different ways, but i think that we have to be very, very serious about the times in which we're in and i really, really admire and i trust our current governor in other actions, in other executive orders that are in place to assure when we do open the economy we open it based on data, based on research, and based on having the appropriate amount of space within our hospitals to make sure that we are doing this in a way that all of the work that we put in thus far pays off. and so, i think everyone has a freedom to speech and to protest, but we have to do this in a way that we're not continuing to jeopardize other individuals. from my understanding, there was tons of people outside gathered at one time. we cannot continue that, we have to make sure that we adhere to the guidelines and entrust that our governor is doing the right thing with the current executive

orders. kristin: let's jump to south dakota. the mayor of sioux falls, you're in a much more rural area than mary is. but tell us what the conditions are like where you are in your city. >> well, you know, in sioux falls, south dakota, we have about a third almost of our state's population lives in the two counties here in sioux falls so we're kind of a dense populated base of south dakota and roughly about 90% of all the covid cases in our state right now are in sioux falls, south dakota. so we're in a little bit more of a high response position right now. the smithfield plant mentioned in your previous segment is here in sioux falls. we've been dealing with the outbreak there, the top hot spot in the country right now in terms of the employees there being affected. so it's really heightened the response and the concern amongst our residents, but most recently as of two days ago, we had data that showed us based on our projections, based on the

hospitalization rate and the capacity of our health care systems, we're still going to be very close to our health care capacity with the measures we've taken. so, we're in a good spot, but also very tense because we're in the first or second inning of this response right now. kristin: so, mayor, are those numbers part of the reason why you're stepping back from your initial calls from a statewide stay-at-home order? >> yeah, i never thought a stay-at-home statewide order was for south dakota, but we've seen the most dramatic numbers of covid in the country, i think the 15th most dense covid per capita msa right now. however, based on the data i nuss mentioned now we have the health care organization telling us, hey, if we continue with the social distancing that we've taken, we will be in a tough spot, but knocking on the ceiling, but we'll be close.

prior to this life i was a digital marketing and data analytics company founder so i rely on the data that these health care organizations providing us, the state is providing this, you have to pivot quickly in this fluid response. kristin: paul and mary, a question for you. mary, they say the states have enough tests to start the phase one of the white house recovery plan. is that accurate, mary and-- >> i don't think that we have the capacity yet, the full capacity that i would like to see for testing. we are blessed and privileged here in detroit to have 15 minute testing for all of our first responders and now moving to employees who work for essential services are going to see that rolled out on monday, all businesses that have employees working that are interfacing with the public, will now receive 15 minute testing so that we can create a

covid-free environment for our employees, but unfortunately, on the ground here, i still hear of the lack of testing, the lack of equipment, and so, i don't think we're fully at that point until anyone, no matter if you have a symptom or not, is able to readily access testing will we be in that position. so i think we have some ways to go. i did want to mention that i'm happy to see that we are flateening the curve, that the stay-home measures are working. we have a field hospital here at rts center in detroit that was originally intended to hold a thousand people. we have 979 beds available so we're making progress. kristin: mary, i'm sorry, i have to hospital hop in quickly. >> that's okay. kristin: mayor, what are you seeing on the ground in your city in terms of testing? >> yeah, you know, there's-- until there's more testing both here and statewide, we're not in the position where we're having the conversations with the economy reopening. we're in the very first stages

of our response right now. we're getting our surges here later than what you're seeing on the coast so that's important. we will i have-- live in a country where we're not real patient. kristin: mayor paul, i called you mayor pete. thank you very much. always dr? how did you make someone i love? that must be why you're always so late. i do not speed. and that's saving me cash with drivewise. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady? [tina] you're an old lady. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions.

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>> live pictures of a driving protest in annapolis, maryland. at the center of the circle there is the state house. we're told hundreds if not thousands of cars are going to drive around the circle of protest of maryland's stay-at-home order. the governor says it's way too early to open up in that state. this follows a similar protest in michigan that took place earlier this week. at least four sheriffs in that state, you can see there, people came out in the driving rain, they're saying they're not going to strictly enforce stay-at-home orders in their counties. one of those tim cole of mason county joins us. with those not familiar with michigan geography, put up our hand over here on the right side of the coast there on lake michigan. good to see you, sir. we appreciate it. what of governor whitmer's policies and orders do you find most offensive? >> so, i wouldn't say they're offensive, leland. i would say that if i could just

give you a short back history. you know, virginia passed those second amendment issues and laws down there and what happened when that took place is people in michigan kind of raised an eyebrow and said, boy, we hope that doesn't happen here. and then there was some chatter around lansing about some gun issues and all of a sudden second amendment sanctuary counties started popping up all over michigan and it really drew a large following and on the heels of that this covid matter hit and that is, of course, not our governor's fault, it's not anybody's fault, it just happened. and the governor issued some you know, some issues, some executive orders telling people to stay home and people are already on edge, you know, over the second amendment issue and it creates-- we heard the president tweet about the second amendment issues as well. when we go through some of the

governor's orders that are more controversial. you're allowed to fish in a canoe, but not your motorboat, for example. is that something that your sheriff and water officers would enforce or not? >> in our area, we would take it on a case by case basis. we-- it is an order the governor has that you can fish from a canoe or a kayak, but not in a 25 horse motored deep sea fishing boat. >> does that make sense to you as a sheriff? >> you know, it really doesn't to me. i mean, if i have my boat at a dock, but it's got a moert motor on it i can't go 40 feet off my dock, but i can go in a canoe in the water and potentially tip over. those are her orders, i think there's room from improvement and hope she'd understand.

your previous guest was speaking out of detroit. that's a beautiful area, but we're not detroit in northern michigan and the southeast part of the state you can drive for miles and never see a tree. in our area you can drive for miles and never see a house. it's two different dynamics. leland: as you point out, you're an elected official, you're to uphold the constitution of the united states and the state of michigan and enforce the laws and the voters can speak later. this headline caught my attention in "the washington post" which does not normally write about michigan, but here it is. almost everybody i know is out of work, how the coronavirus has unleashed economic havoc in michigan. do you see that economic havoc, number one. and number two, do you worry if things don't get back to normal and people aren't allowed to return to work, do you as a sheriff worry there are laws you'll have to enforced. >> michigan just passed the one million mark, unemployment.

and one of those was my brother, he he works construction, he was out of work because of the shutdown. i don't take issue with the shutdown, but, yeah, there's a lot of people hurting in our area. leland: potentially to be a problem going forward? >> before we went on i was looking at complaints since the order has been in place by the governor. we've actually taken eight criminal complaints related to the governor's order and we've taken 19 domestic violence calls and that's high for us in our area, the domestic violence calls. leland: gotcha. sheriff, we're going to have you back as this goes on. it's not over and certainly the economic havoc and catastrophe is not over. we appreciate it, sir, i know you're looking forward to summer up there where it becomes god's country rather than the bleakness of the gray. we appreciate it, sir, all the best. >> thank you, sir. leland: thanks,sheriff. we've got a lot more on how lawmakers are dealing with coronavirus. the pandemic on a federal level.

south carolina senator lindsey graham has been very outspoken about this and also what needs to happen with china and he's on with judge janine tonight 9 p.m. eastern, tomorrow on fox news sunday. chris wallace, mr. sunday himself, talks national correspondent only to vice-president mike pence, but also nancy pelosi. look for time and channel. media buzz, back with a look how the media is covering all of this and boy, has there been a lot of coverage. that's 11 a.m. eastern tomorrow. kristin: well, organizations across the country are working to help feed those in need. we're going to tell you about how one group is bringing communities together in a baseball stadium right here in d.c. right after the break.

>> new york state is now reporting its lowest overnight deaths since april 1st.

governor andrew cuomo says they're a long way from reopening that state and getting the testing they need. hi. >> hi there, leland. some signs of hope from the governor's news conference an hour ago. number of daily deaths is down and hospitalizations and intubations are also down. that's good news. governor cuomo is still very worried about what's happening in the state's nursing homes. listen. >> these are the single biggest fear in all of this. vulnerable people in one place. it is the feeding frenzy for this virus. >> and the numbers are startling. nearly 2700 people have died in new york nursing homes. 626 deaths in adult care facilities. the total almost 20% of all

covid-19 deaths in the state. that's more than 17,000 now, nearly double from just last weekend. now, some of those are probably covid-19 deaths previously unaccounted for. new jersey following with more than 3800 deaths now, and michigan, where they are publicly protesting at that stay-at-home order, it's their third deadliest state for coronavirus, more than 2200 deaths there. now, cuomo also hitting hard once again on testing, as you mentioned, leland. he said if you want to reopen new york, the federal government has to help the state bring testing up to scale. he called the top 50 labs in the state and they all have the equipment needed to make the test kits, but there's a lack of certain chemicals required for those kits. cuomo calling on the federal government for help with the supply chain. by the way, new york has received one million masks now from the federal government, those will be distributed to the public. and cuomo also signing an executive order today that will

allow people to obtain marriage licenses remotely if that's something that they want to do. leland. leland: a sign of the times there for sure. and as you've pointed out before, the governor has thanked president trump and the federal government for ventilators among other things. we'll see what happens with the test kits. thanks so much. kristin. kristin: the coronavirus is creating a spike in demand at food banks across the united states. now chefs around the country are pitching in to help feed those in need and one group is even partnering with the washington nationals philanthropies and turning the team's baseball stadium into a community kitchen. joining us now the ceo of world central kitchen, nate, you all have turned nats park, the home of the nationals, into a community kitchen and distributing thousands of meals. how did this idea come about? was it your idea or the baseball team's idea?

>> it was kind of a joint idea that came together. obviously we are headquartered here in washington d.c., we've got a great relationship with the nationals. our founder, chef jose andreas threw out a pitch at the world series last year, and we looked at the sporting facilities and in many ways they're kind of like giant restaurants, with entertainment in the form of sports. and so we were chatting with some of the folks of the nationals and with the season delayed, you know, we thought jointly, what could we do so this stadium could serve the people here in our community directly? and it's been an incredible partnership to activate the stadium and to start cooking. we've got a whole crew of chefs and volunteers there and as you've said, every day we're sending out thousands of meals going directly to communities, to seniors, to families, to schools, and even to front line workers that are working hard

for us right now. >> now, how do the meals get from nat's park to the people you're delivering to, older people and things of that nature? how are they getting there? >> so one of the most important things about our work is to work locally within communities, especially now. you know, this pandemic is everywhere. we hear a lot about new york city, but of course, it's hitting small towns across the country, and so, local leadership is so important and so we're engaging in working closely with city leaders. we're working with aarp. we're working with community organizations to identify those groups that really don't have access to fresh meals. what we do is very complementary to what the food banks are doing, which is distributing grocery kits of food. we can come in and provide fresh meals that people can eat right away that day. so, we're deploying a number of methods working with partners.

we're also activating the food delivery services. here in washington d.c. we're working with uber eats and activating those drivers to delivered meals to the destinations, apartment complexes where many seniors live or other community organizations that can then distribute them out to households. it's really a combination of things, but the key part is really engaging with the local community leaders in every place we're working across the united states right now. kristin: yeah, nate, so your group has quite a bit of experience feeding large groups of people. it started with victims of hurricane maria back in 2017. so, what were some lessons you learned back then that you're now putting into place now? >> well, i think using the stadium is a great lesson. we did this in san juan in puerto rico and we activated the big arena there. it's something to enable us to do what we're doing right now. the other key piece is

understanding how to distribute. cooking is one side of it, but if you can't get the meals to those who need them, then who are you cooking for? that's something we've learned through the years in all of our work. this is a very different situation, we've had to adapt and evolve. we started working on covid-19 with the cruiseship in february in japan. and our chefs have safety protocols. all meals are individually packaged. this is different for this crisis versus others. recognizing that it really takes an entire group. people. that this is not just our group of chefs, but really, who can we activate across the country to serve in their communities. this is such a huge scale of a problem and something that we've learned over all of our work in the last three years, how do we activate what resources are already there? communities have incredible resources and incredible chefs already working hard to serve their communities.

what we're doing is how can we also support that. kristin: it's amazing what you guys-- nate, i've got to go, but amazing to see what you guys have been able to do and i know a lot of folks at d.c. would love to see nats play at the park and i can't think of anything better. thanks. leland: jane hall first woman to be elected as governor in arizona has died of natural causes. inaugurated in 1989 part of the fab five, five women holding positions in the state. and she was in the legislature before being the first female speaker of the house and arizona secretary of state. and hall was 84 years old. she and her husband terry died within hours of each other on thursd thursday. this is our home.

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>> the u.s. army corps of engineers is building a large makeshift hospital in washington d.c. as they prepare for an up-tick and coronavirus patients. lucas, have they already started to build or preparing to build? what's the timeline for that. >> kristin, the head of the army corps of engineers says he's ready to build next week at the convention center located a mile from the white house, between 500 and 1500 hospital beds. across the country many of these military hospitals remained empty. >> we thought this would be a much steeper spike and down. we didn't think we'd have as much time. we have time and having the dialog and some mayors and governors who maybe thought i need about a thousand, but maybe let's only build 500 and we are bringing some of the numbers down. >> the corps of engineers are

building two makeshift hospitals including in a horse arena. dirt was removed and concrete poured. these arenas are moneymakers for cities and they have to cough up 25% of the coast and fema takes care of the rest. >> the real decision maker, that mayor or governor that's out there, we basically ask us to build what they ask us to build. we don't know how it's going to play out. a couple of these had a seven-month lease. the leadership in a particular city says we don't know whether theys coming back in the fall or not. let's make the investment to build it and at least we have it, it's almost like insurance, it's a good reserve. >> earlier today, the pentagon will expand the travel ban for the u.s. military and its families until the end of june. earlier it was set to expire in mid may, but officials say they'll be reexamining this policy every two weeks, kristin. kristin: lucas tomlinson at the

fog. thanks. president trump tweeted he will be holding another task force, coronavirus task force briefing at 5 p.m. today at the white house. leland: live coverage of that, of course, when the president and his team come out. the vice-president, meantime, as you can see, is just arriving in colorado springs. it says denver there, but we believe the air force academy is down in colorado springs at the commencement for the air force academy graduation ceremony. live coverage of the vice-president's speech and we'll break it down next. [ screaming ] ♪ tiny diamond is my name ♪ my whole body's made of glitter ♪ ♪ and i'll throw it in your face ♪ that's ensure max protein, with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist! i'm tryin'! keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa!

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>> welcome back. we're awaiting vice-president mike pence to deliver his commencement speech at the u.s. air force academy in colorado springs. the event usually attracts a large crowd, but this year it's going to be closed to the public, with cadets social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic. we'll take a live look at pictures out of colorado springs as they come. and in the meantime, retired general bob scales. in addition to a fine battlefield commander, you're also a military historian.

not exactly like graduating in war time, but-- >> those pictures are telling. not only is she is cadets, their graduation ceremony shaped by the coronavirus. the minute they get their diploma, the cadets are stepping out into an uncertain world. the threats are-- in my generation, we graduated from west point, airborne school, and then vietnam. and for these kids, it's any number of deployments against any number of bad guys they'll face down from china, russia, iran, north korea, isis, the list goes on. leland: we're watching the video from 2018-2019 and you have president trump speaking and you have the cadets shoulder to shoulder and throwing hats in the areas and you won't see that in terms of marching and families watching on, et cetera.

i guess the question would be this, how big of an issue is the coronavirus going to be for the u.s. military? we have the teddy roosevelt situation in guam, et cetera. this becomes a military readiness issue at some point, correct? >> yeah, but you know, the military, particularly the army, i think, is handling it very well. you may remember a couple of months ago, they cut often tri assignments to basic training at fort jackson. just a week ago, fort jackson reestablished the input of new recruits. army units are obviously, they're taking all the necessary precautions, but they're still continuing to train and readiness hasn't been affected. the navy's a unique case, leland, because they're quite literally all in the same boat, stacked on top of each other, so social distancing is a much more serious issue in the navy and on t the teddy roosevelt as compared

to the army or air force. >> we understand with the air force, they're doing two-week quarantine rotations before they're in cheyenne mountain, and the academy in colorado springs. general, we appreciate you being with us and your insight and analysis and we'll check with the general after the vice-president speaks. a live look to colorado springs. we don't have any live pictures. the popoll-- pool shot has not come up yet. kristin: they're getting ready to graduate and we have vice-president mike pence ready to speak at the ceremony any moment now and we'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens. you always drive this slow? how did you make someone i love? that must be why you're always so late. i do not speed. and that's saving me cash with drivewise. my son, he did say that you were the safe option. and that's the nicest thing you ever said to me.

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kristin: another grim milestone as the coronavirus spreads across the united states. there are now more than 700,000 cases confirmed across the country as several states weigh whether it's time to begin to reopen. welcome to our coronavirus pandemic special. i'm kristin fisher. leland: kristin, sounds like it's a little windy outside there in washington, d.c. from your location. kristin: it is. leland: it's quieter in the studio, same capitol behind both of us, we talked to governors on both sides of the debate. the air force academy has pushed up their graduation.

will be a very different graduation than what we're used to. we'll take you to his speech as it happens. first, an update on how the virus is spreading across the united states. steve harrigan outside the cdc in atlanta where they are tracking that. hi, steve. >> reporter: more than 37,000 americans have died from the coronavirus and there has been a revision in the projection for how many americans will die. yesterday that number stood at 68,000. now it is down to just 60,000. a number of states are pushing hard to try to reopen their economies, there's been demonstrations in at least six states so far with more happening today. jacksonville, florida has already reopened its beaches for about eight hours a day. texas is opening some pick-up shopping and some parks as well. the washington post is reporting that the delays in testing and getting out the tests by the cdc were in part caused by the cdc's

own failure to observe its lab procedures. dr. fauci of the white house task force says the failures of the cdc led to increased private sector involvement in the testing process. >> no doubt that early on we had a problem. i had publicly said that we had a problem early on. there was a problem that had to be corrected and it was corrected. it was a problem that was a technical problem from within that was corrected. and it was an issue of embracing the way we have now and should have the private sector. >> reporter: the testing rate now in the u.s. is about 150,000 americans each day. leland, back to you. leland: we've heard so much about testing in terms of what that means for opening up the rest of the country. steve, thanks so much. kristin. kristin: new details are emerging in the u.s. intelligence community's

investigation into the origins of covid-19 and we've got mark meredith to break it down for us live at the white house and mark, it sounds like we will be hearing from president trump today after all. >> reporter: kristin, that's right. the president announced a few moments ago that he will hold a task force press briefing at 5:00 p.m. in the press briefing room not far from where we are. it wasn't on the original schedule for today but the president tweeted that out moments ago. it may give us a chance to get more information into the investigation into how the virus started. there have been so many questions about where it originated. intelligence sources telling fox news this is something that will take a few weeks to figure out and the president says he's eagerly waiting to see what unfolds. >> a lot of strange things are happening, but there is a lot of investigation going on and we're going to find out. all i can say is wherever it came from, it came from china, in whatever form, 184 countries now are suffering because of it. and it's too bad, isn't it. and it could be van been solvey

easily. >> reporter: rick scott says china has been lying from the start. he's one of several lawmakers that are demanding more information from china and the world health organization over who knew what and when. >> congres.>> the chinese commuy is going to lie and try to cover for themselves. that goes without saying. that doesn't mean we can't seek out the truth. there are a lot of oppressed people in china and i bet they want the word to get out and the truth is coming out. >> reporter: former vice president joe biden is accusing president trump of acting too late and not holding china accountable from the start. in a campaign statement that was put out on friday, biden says, quote, now trump and his allies are scrambling to try to rewrite history about the months trump wasted, ignoring the clear warning signs about the virus

and taking the chinese government's word, trying to cover their ab; correc the abj. the president's approval numbers appear to be slipping. a new gallup poll shows the president down 6 points from mid-march. we expect to hear from the president coming up in the 5:00 hour. we'll let you know if anything changes between now and then. kristin. kristin: we've got the president coming up at 5:00 and the vice president coming up momentarily, live from colorado springs. mark meredith, thank you. leland. leland: and now we head to annapolis, live pictures there from protesters that are driving around. we've seen some of them have gotten out of their cars. but this is part of what they call operation gridlock, demonstrators sprouting up around the country with various demonstrations. the protesters are calling on their state officials to lift restrictions and reopen those states' economies. rich edson down on the ground where i guess truly is taking

the form of gridlock. hi, rich. >> reporter: it is literally gridlock here, leland and what we've got here at the maryland state capitol, they finally arrived here. they've been circling the capitol for about the last half hour, 45 minutes, staying in their cars, honking their horns, slowly progressing around, trying to make sure the governor hears them. they say it's time to reopen up maryland. they say that, look, they understand that covid-19 is a significant public health concern but they say that the social, educational, and the shutdowns are significant and are even worse for the state of maryland and so they want to reopen the government. now, larry hogan, the governor, he's taken to the air waves and he said, look, i understand that this is painful. i understand that it's difficult. he's talking to a lot of folks out there who are trump supporters, there's plenty of people with maga hats.

governor hogan says even president trump's plan doesn't have maryland opening up the economy yet. the governor says schools will be closed here until may 15th. they are trying to figure out a way to slowly reopen society here in maryland but it's going to be gradual and it's going to take time. meanwhile, through all of this, the state of maryland has reported between yesterday and today there are about 700 additional cases of covid-19 in the state for a total of about 12,000 total cases here in maryland. as folks behind me continue circling the capitol, they want the state back open again. leland. leland: you can imagine a number of the people who are circling are ones that are affected personally by the shut down. we saw a construction truck and work vehicles behind you. rick ed son there. thank you. kristin. kristin: china is not reporting

any new coronavirus deaths today. the country's roughly 83,000 reported cases are less than the total in the united kingdom. kitty logan live in london with more. kitty, i think a lot of people around the world questioning how accurate the numbers in china really are. >> reporter: yes, many questions raised about that. of course, china did raise its death toll slightly in the last couple of days but meanwhile, while the u.s., europe and the rest of the world debates lifting restrictions, in wuhan, china, that has already happened. but other countries are still concerned about managing increased cases. but in wuhan, china, where this outbreak began, authorities continue to carry out tests amid fears of new infections. 27 new cases were reported in china today, mainly near the border with russia. now, also in singapore we're seeing increased numbers. singapore had a tight grip on this outbreak at the start but

today reported 900 new infections. most of that increase is amongst migrant workers who are confined to crowded accommodation, sometimes 20 people in a room. the workers are quarantined but concerns continue. also in turkey, they're reporting an increased death toll, another 126 people have died from coronavirus there on saturday, bringing the total to over 1700. the country also under a strict weekend lockdown with a curfew in place, streets in istanbul are empty. turkey of course was very quick to react when this crisis started, preventing many foreign travelers from entering or traveling through the country but this outbreak has really impacted everything, everyday life around the world, even breaking long-standing traditions, now thousands of christian orthodox worshipers were prevented from marking a holy ceremony in jerusalem on saturday.

every country is dealing with this crisis differently. some countries are better placed to handle it than others but all are wondering how and when this will end. back to you. kristin: kitty logan, live in london. kitty, thank u leland. leland: live pictures from the air force academy in colorado springs. we're awaiting the vice president for what will be one of the most unusual graduation ceremonies in that military academy's history. his address, as it happens, when we come back. for many of our members, being prepared... 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.

leland: all right. welcome back. advocates for people who are disabled have now filed federal complaints challenging some states over their couped treatment plans. they say that plan discriminates against people with disabilities from receiving treatment like ventilators. colorado on the other hand has banned any discrimination. allysia kunez in denver with details. >> reporter: these complaints came about as states began to plan for the possibility of medical equipment shortages. disability advocates found a frightening level of allocations

for the disabled, for example, in kansas, hospitals would be allowed to take ventilators away from patients including the disabled who regularly use them. colorado governor signed an executive order ensuring crisis stand dooferredz care doesn't allow - ---based on whether a person was born with a disability, something one family i talked to was appalled to think of such differences being possible in other states. >> the americans with disabilities act is -- i'm somewhere between disgusted and scared for my daughter's life. thank goodness we live in call colorado where the governor understands that my beautiful daughter has an equal right to medical care during the crisis. >> reporter: as resources are pressed in hospitals all over the country, healthcare providers have not been faced with these decisions but disability advocates say without

protection it leaves too many vulnerable to unequal care even with federal laws on the books. this is what can happen if someone in that protected class tests positive for coronavirus. >> they could go from one state to another, obviously someone with the same disability in one state might get better or worse treatment and might get no treatment at all depending on what state they're in. >> reporter: some states have changed their plans in light of the complaints, advocates say this is a problem, leland, that needs to be addressed nationally and that it's urgent. leland: in terms of adoctorsing this, is there -- addressing this, is there any thought that people have already been denied ventilators or is this debating what happens in the worst case scenario. >> reporter: no one has been denied a ventilator yet because as we have seen the projections from the cdc and the federal government on the patient level has not been as high because of social distancing. and the way that people have been behaving. however, disability advocates

when they looked at the plans that each state had in place, that's when they became very concerned because should this happen again or if we get another round it could be very bad. leland. leland: thank you. allysia, thanks so much. kristin. kristin: well, one of our signature segments throughout this pandemic have been questions that have been submitted from all of you at home. we then get our medical panel to answer them and today we're joined by two doctors. we have the chief of infectious diseases at the university of maryland health system and fellow at the infectious disease society of america, doctor fahim unis and we have infectious diseases section chief, dr. diaz. he treated the first coronavirus face the united states. it is a plesh tour have you on the program today. this is one of my favorite segments. i learned so much. this first question, dr. unis, i'll ask you, it's something

that i've wondered quite a bit as the mother of a toddler. emily asks, with the need especially in new york to cover your face with a mask, how important is it for young children to wear and how would you approach attempting to get a young child to wear a mask once movement into the community is allowed. what is your answer. >> we believe 20% of the people are asymptomatic, including children. the cdc recommends anyone over the age of two should use a cloth mask. how we convince the children, you let them pick their own mask, you let them decorate it. we know it's important for the child and people around. that's the science of it. but i think i trust the mothers more than the doctors. mothers know to get it done. it will be hard. but that's the science of it and the art, as i said, i'll rely on our mothers. kristin: that's actually a great idea, getting your child to select and design their own mask. you probably just need a parent

to answer that, but i'll take any advice that i can get at this point. dr. diaz, erin is asking, we've known about the aids virus since the early ' '90s and still have no vaccine. why do experts expect a vaccine within 18 months for this virus. dr. diaz, can you explain why doctors are so much more confident about getting a covid-19 vaccine. >> one of the things about hiv is it has a really rapid propensity to mutate and develop resistance and evade the immune system and that's made finding a vavaccine for hiv very difficul. coronavirus, the mutation rate isn't nearly as high. we don't expect a lot of changes in the structure of the virus that would make it easy for a virus to escape the usual immune responses that can generate with a vaccine. we're hopeful with the trials that are going on now we will find a vaccine that is safe and effective as soon as possible. kristin: yeah. it really is amazing how fast

doctors have been able to move to at least get into these very early clinical stages, how fast they've been able to move to that point. all right. third question, dr. fahim, this is fro for you. todd writes i've had covid-19 and recovered. how long after symptoms are gone am i consisten contagious? >> excellent. so first of all, i think it's a minimum of seven days from the onset of symptoms. and then at least three days since the resolution of symptoms. so if you have been symptom-free for at least three days, and you have not been taking tylenol, motrin, stuff that will reduce your fever artificially, then typically you are not contagious. at the same time, we know the incubation period of this virus once you get exposed, it's anywhere from two to 14 days when you will start manifesting those symptoms. but to answer your question, seven days from the onset of symptoms and more than three days from the resolution of symptoms.

and that typically is a test of cure, for most patients we're not recommending a second test but some of our patients are going back to nursing homes, doctors that are coming back to work or nurses, in some cases we're doing a second test to make sure they are negative. kristin: all right. dr. diaz, i have one final question for you. this is from me. you treated the very first coronavirus case here in the united states. what has it been like to watch the pandemic evolve? what has surprised you the most? and what are some of your big outstanding questions in regards to covid-19? yeah, the thing that i think has surprised me the most is the effectiveness of social distancing, particularly my state. our governor was very active in getting a stay at home order in place relatively quickly. and we have seen quite dramatic effect from that in terms of reduced numbers of people coming into the hospital for admission.

these measures have worked as one would have predicted but it's amazing that our community has been able to maintain that and really save lives by doing that. the outstanding questions that we have at this point, we have clinical trials ongoing now within my health system and we are looking forward to data about effective therapeutics, at least until we have a vaccine available and we're hopeful the therapeutics will be effective and active against the disease. kristin: and dr. fahim, what is your big outstanding question that you still want to be answered about the virus? i think what's the end game. where it ends. because so far there's already damage, caused a lot of damage. we don't understand a lot about this virus and it's important for us to know that how all of us come together -- because the virus isn't going to care that i'm moving from one state to another. i think we are one large

country. my biggest worry is i don't want to see hot spots popping up for the next six months and how we come together to make sure we take care of this problem now once as for all. kristin: doctors, thank you both so much for taking the time to answer all of these questions. they're so interesting and so helpful and we really appreciate it. >> thank you. kristin: thank you. all right. you are looking at live pictures from the u.s. air force academy, vice president mike pence is on stage and he is going to be speaking at a graduation ceremony there very shortly. and he'll be joined by several key air force leaders. it is a graduation ceremony like these cadets will never see. no spectators are allowed in this year and cadets on-site there will be practicing social distancing and keep in mind, this ceremony was actually moved up six weeks ahead of schedule because of the coronavirus and, you know, leland, one of the

most fascinating things is just going to be the visuals of this, right. i mean, they have to march eight feet apart. they have to be seated six feet apart. and you've got to feel for these cadets who can't have their own friends and family there to cheer them on as they graduate. leland: for four years cadets at west point at annapolis and the air force academy look forward to commissioning week and they're not going to be able to have the celebrations, they're not going to be able to have the time with their families and those special moments. on top of that, it really gives you a sense of how unusual this is and the times we live in. we are now six weeks ahead of when graduation would normally take place and our colleague, lucas tomlinson, a proud graduate of the united states naval academy, pointed out that the naval academy graduated classes early in two other times, that being world war i

and world war ii and now during the coronavirus pandemic we see the air force academy, which wasn't around in world war i or world war ii graduating early. it shows how unusual this is and how much life has changed. kristin: it really does. and you know, unfortunately they can't have their friends and family there but at least they do get the vice president of the united states, mike pence, showing up in person. originally, this was just going to be a video speech, he was going to make via video. a few days ago the vice president announced that, no, he was going to be making the trip all the way to call roug coloras to be there. it's been some time since the vice president left washington, d.c. the last time he left the area was on march 7th, more than a month ago when he went to florida. the fact that he took the time and quite frankly the risk to travel there today has to mean a great deal to all of those cadets.

we've got 984 senior cadets set to receive their bachelor degrees and commission as second lieutenant in the air force today. leland: we've got a picture there of michael bennett, the senator from colorado. conceivably issuing his congratulations to the cadets. we understand there will be video messages mixed in from the feed that is coming from the united states air force academy. we're going to take a quick break and back with the vice president's remarks, if they begin. there will be parties again soon,

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subway is still serving the subs delicious subs made fresh and easy to get for takeout or delivery. and now, with our family takeout special, get a free footlong when you buy two. ♪ leland: welcome back to our coronavirus pandemic special. joined once again by our medical panel, here to answer some of the questions you submitted on facebook and instagram. keep those coming, with that we bring in chief of infectious diseases at the university of maryland health system, fellow at the infectious disease society of america, dr. unis and dr. george diaz who treated some of the very first coronavirus patients in america. gentlemen, appreciate it. this from the wall street

journal this morning. new data will suggest the coronavirus isn't as deadly as we first thought. dr. unis, they say in this article that a study finds 50 to 85 times as many infection as known cases, meaning a far lower fatality rate. what do we take from this? >> broadly speaking, that's always true for all new infections because you tend to see the most deadly, the tip of the iceberg and you tend to overestimate and i think that's why you saw who earlier estimating as high as 3.4% mortality rate. now, based on the early data that i've seen from santa clara, they are projecting the death rate or mortality rate somewhere around 0.1 to 0.2. my hunch is, i think the truth lies somewhere in the middle and this is why i say that. if you look at 0.1, 2, and you do basic math and you were to project that on new york city, based on that fatality rate and where we are in new york right

now, you would have a population size of 11 million of new york, to bring it down to 0.12 and we know new york is 8.4 million. so i don't think it's as low as 0.12. it has already killed three times the number of americans in three months compared to what h1n1 did in one year. so we know it's very serious. we know it's not like regular flu. leland: i don't think anybody is saying it isn't serious, but might lead us to believe we take some kind of different measures. dr. diaz, this brings up an important point. in a way, this would lead us to believe that perhaps the coronavirus was in united states before we really ou understood that, is that right? >> part of the issue is that we really didn't have adequate testing early on to really do the surveillance to really find out and know for sure. we didn't have tests in january to really know. so all that we saw coming was

patients that were admitted to the hospital the. heather, the icu, i wouldecho dt we saw the tip of the iceberg because of the absence of testing. leland: that brings up so many questions in terms of what we do going forward. i want to get to this question from janine on facebook, several vaccines are in the making, one will emerge as the gold standard or will there be several variations of vaccines for couped. dr. younus. >> i've never seen this kind of solidarity, this kind of aggressive development towards a vaccine. at the end of the day wit i'll be one vaccine as a gold standard or will it be three? we don't know. i hope we remain complementary and not become competitive because we will have to vaccinate a very large population in the u.s. and

globally. i'm worried about the access of this vaccine to everyone. so we have two or three, i think that's great news as long as we remain complementary. leland: dr. diaz, getting back to the issue of testing and you talk about surveillance testing, as we keep hearing about states reopening, et cetera, in washington state where you are boning now i -- boeing now is pg some of their production teams back to work, manufacturing planes, et cetera. is there enough testing now out in washington state to do this and if so, what's washington state's secret because so many other states say they don't have enough tests. >> the governor in our state has been very active in ensuring that we open our state safely. the infectious disease society of america recently put out very specific guidelines in the way we should open our states and economies. really based around appropriate testing and prevelance testing in the communities and identifying people that are infected so that we can isolate

them appropriately and prevent further hot spots from developing. given what we've seen in our state, we certainly have a lot of faith in our governor. leland: andrew cuomo was talking about how difficult that would be in terms of a state like new york state in terms of contact tracing and the number of experts you need. dr. younus, bonnie asks, once you test negative for covid-19 and have antibodies, how do we know they won't reactivate and become contagious again. to follow that out one more step, there are now these anecdotal reports out of south korea and other places of people becoming re-infected. >> great question. so i would at this stage i think the jury is still out. our experience shows that in the past you can have the components of an rna or the virus but that does not typically mean that you're still infected. what i have not seen from those 91 patients from south korea, are they really sick or were these just surveillance cultures

being done. we also know there are no secondary cases, meaning those people did not infect anybody else. all of that is reassuring sign. and going back to what dr. diaz was saying, i must add that i'm very happy to echo the same sentiments here for maryland, where our governor acted very quickly and we sense that top to bottom alignment from our healthcare system, to our public, to our governor. that is a very important point. that is a vaccine which is available today and that vaccine is the unified action against this virus because the virus is united against us. leland: governor hogan of maryland talked about that exact issue, dr. younus. i don't know if we have a live picture about the protest, saying they want to state of maryland to be reopened. governor hogan says there's too many case that's are expanding, not contracting on the curve in order to reopen. but second of all, they keep harking back to a place like maryland who doesn't have the testing capabilities. what's the difference,

dr. younus between what's available in maryland and what's available in, say, washington state. >> exactly. i think i completely agree and support the governor on that. we all know and i think the govern know knows that some state life has to become normal, at some state we have to move on. the critical question here is timing. i think we need to trust our leaders to pull that trigger when the time is right and that time will determine -- it will be determined by the number of tests we have, the number of personnel we have who can do contact tracing. we have to use the information coming from those tests in a positive way and then -- leland: an important perspective. so many now are saying you have to pull the trigger before the entire economy implodes. a conversation we will be having in the coming weeks and months. gentlemen, appreciate your time as always. thank you and we'll have you back as the -- as we continue to answer some of our viewers' questions. thank you. >> thank you for having us. leland: kristin. kristin: we are still awaiting

vice president mike pence's address to air force academy cadets at graduation ceremonies today. we'll dip in as soon as we get it, next.

leland: a fox news alert, live pictures from the u.s. air force academy in colorado springs. you can see the air force two-star there, about to introduce vice president mike pence. we'll carry his remarks as they happen live. kristin fisher and i here live with your coverage on this saturday afternoon, looks like a windy saturday in colorado springs for one of the most unusual graduation ceremonies at the u.s. military academy in history, in which cadets will sit six feet apart, march eight feet apart. not only are we six weeks early in this event, but the people who are being honored which is these cadets who dedicated four years and then the coming years of their lives to the united

states and to defending us, don't get to have their families there, don't get to have their friends there to go out and celebrate tonight with a great dinner. kristin: yeah, no high-fives or hugs either. those are all banned as well. and you know, as difficult as it must be for all of these cadets to not have their family members there, they do get the vice president, mike pence, in person. just a few days ago, the vice president was planning on delivering a video address at this graduation ceremony but a few days ago he decided to make the trip in person and he traveled there today, this morning, left with minimal staff, arriving there today and now he set to deliver this commencement speech and you have about 984 senior cadets receiving their bachelors degrees and commissions as second lieutenants in the air force. nearly 90 graduates are going to be serves in the new space force, that is something that is very near and dear to vice

president's heart and the president, the establishment of the space force, i'm sure that is going to be something that the vice president touches upon when he steps up to speak in just a few minutes, leland. leland: we're going to continue to watch there and in terms of how different this ceremony is going to be from past graduations and you have to think for a moment of all of the other life changing, altering moments, graduations, births, funerals, birthdays, et cetera that have now been changed by the coronavirus so we'll watch that and see if the vice president speaks to that as he addresses the cadets in colorado springs. we'll continue to watch the live feed from there and get bay to our coronavirus coverage as pharmacy are playing such an important role in the coronavirus crisis with chains ramping up testing capacity, opening drive-through testing sites around the country. joining us to talk about what the industry's doing, president and ceo of the national association of chain drugstores,

steven anderson. we appreciated your time -- appreciate your time, sir. interesting reporting from kristin fisher from the white house, that the two big chains, cvs and walgreens, that had both been at that rose garden ceremony with the president, both talked about how they were going to open up their parking lots, et cetera, to testing. that was six weeks ago or so. and now we learned there's only a handful of those stores, quite literally, that are offering drive-through testing. what's been the slowdown? >> thank you very much for having me, leland. there's two issues on the minds of all americans, that's covid-19 testing and covid-19 vaccination. pharmacists can play a huge role but we need to reduce the regulatory barriers that we're seeing, both at the federal and state level. we are overcoming those which is really good news for the american people. leland: give me an example of some of the red tape that you all are facing now and what it's keeping fro doing that you'd like to -- keeping you from

doing that you'd like to be. >> there's different issues at the federal and state level. we were very pleased when the trump administration announced recently from alex azar that it was guidance that would allow pharmacists to order and administer covid testing which is a huge game-changer. we're also getting bipartisan support. the democrats have come out with their own road map for covid testing which includes pharmacists. so we're overcoming those roadblocks. but at the same time we're seeing barriers at the state level that we have to overcome. they have restrictions in certain areas that we're working very hard on and we have about a dozen states that now allow pharmacists covid testing which i think will go a long way. initially -- go ahead. leland: from your understanding of what's happening on the ground, though, when people are being administered these tests, are they getting results? is there enough tests, et

cetera? because we seem to be getting very mixed messages on this. >> well, that's a very good question. it's taken a while to get the testing by the pharmacist up to speed because of the availability of the test and also the availability of ppe for those that are administering the tests. leland: that makes sense. >> ppe was going to those that were working on the frontlines in the hospitals. but, you know, we're working really hard on this. our membership, the national association of chain drugstores, includes traditional drugstores with pharmacies, groceries with pharmacies and mass merchants with pharmacies. there are 40,000 locations that we have. 91% of the american people live within five miles -- leland: we're watching video from walmart that obviously has a lot of pharmacies. >> they do. leland: there's a critical role you play in this, andrew cuomo tweeting to the nurses doctors, emts, the firefighters, pharmacists countless others, new york thanks you.

we thank you as well, as you head to buy whatever you need. that brings up an interesting question. in terms of supply, are you all finding that the supply chain has been able to refill the shelves that so many pharmacies of cold medicine and other things that there was a run on, so-to-speak? >> yeah, they are. the supply chain is stable eyeing which is really important -- stabilizing. which is really important. the pharmacist is the most trusted profession in the country. you come out of pharmacy school with a doctorate. you want to do the tests. america's pharmacists can play a huge role in the health of the american people, the health of the communities and the health of the economy as we open up and providing vaccines is extremely important. when we can provide immunizations for shingles, pneumonia and flu now and every state in the country and some states allow us to do more vaccines so having that vaccine available when it becomes available and having it

available to the american people will be absolutely huge. we had 30 million people that had flu shots in the last flu season. leland: i can speak from personal experience that there is a show on this network that ian cored that happened only because i was able to get a tetanus shot from a pharmacist in northern michigan amidst a little accident that happened. so my thanks and admiration to so many on the front lines that you represent indeed here and from so many others around the country are watching again. thanks for coming in, sir. we appreciate it. >> thanks, leland. leland: kristin. kristin: vice president mike pence is set to deliver a commencement address to air force academy cadets any minute now and this is the kind of graduation ceremony that you will only see in a pandemic. we will bring it to you live as soon as it starts. i don't add up the years. and i don't count the wrinkles. but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost women... with key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. all with great taste. new, boost women.

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kristin: lawmakers debate a second round of funding for the paycheck protection program, more than 1.6 million loans have already been approved and one of the first small businesses to benefit from that program is biddy and bows coffee and its founder, amy wright is with us now. amy, you were the first small business to receive a loan from the nation's number one sba lender in north carolina.

what have those loans allowed you to do for your business and for your employees? >> well, we are a chain of coffee shops that is operated by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and inspiration behind the shop is our two young children, biddy and bow who both have down's syndrome. onone of the difficulties is creating meaningful employment. that's why we created the coffee shops to give jobs to people with disabilities. when the pandemic hit, we unfortunately had to close our five shops and lay off 120 people who these jobs really meant a lot to. so we were very, very pleased to receive one of these first ppp loans and put our employees back on the payroll so they could save for their futures. kristin: so amy, walk me through the process of what it was like to apply for this loan and then to receive it.

how long from the moment you applied to the time that you received the loan? >> well, the bank is headquartered here in wilmington, they are known for empowering small businesses, they do this in innovative ways. i think they look at what we do as being very innovative. when they heard that we laid off our 120 employees they reached out to us and they told us about the ppp loans. we were poised to put in our application as soon as they became available. and within a day, we had received our first funding. kristin: and amy, what was it like telling all of your employees, all 120 of them, that they were going to get their jobs back? >> it was amazing. we hosted a zoom call. we told them they were all going to be getting a paycheck again, we told them about the creative ways we were going to keep them engaged as employees. they all write hand-written notes we include with online orders we ship across the country so they're back to work. they're feeling great about

their jobs and they're contributing to our success. kristin: amy, thank you so much. you have such an incredible story and we just are very happy and grateful that all of your employees were able to get back to work and hopefully it will stay that way. amy, thanks. >> thank you so much. leland: you can google bid ian and bows and order online. we are awaiting a commencement address, six weeks early with socially distanced a deaths and their families not -- cadets and their families not in attendance. we'll be right back.

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keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa! 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. ensure max protein. leland: there are now more than 700,000 coronavirus cases in the united states. 37,000 plus deaths. and governors across the country are trying to decide exactly when it is safe to reopen their states and try and restart the economy. welcome to america's news headquarters from washington. i'm leland vittert. we are still, kristin, a long way from being out of the woods yet as evidenced by the fact we have the same capitol behind us but aren't together. kristin: it is good to see you again, leland. we're still also waiting for the vice president because he's going to be delivering the commencement address in colorado springs to the air force

academy's class of 2020 and we're going to be bringing that to you live as soon as it happens. in the meantime, the number of coronavirus deaths across the country also on the rise, more than 37,000 americans have been killed by the virus and we have steve harrigan tracking it all, tracking the spread as he has been for weeks now from outside the cdc headquarters in atlanta, georgia. hey, steve? very tough numbers on the death toll but some signs of hope with the projections, the projection model that the white house task force was using was 68,000 total deaths for the u.s. as of yesterday, today that number is down to 60,000, this as the number of states continue to push to reopen their economies. we've seen demonstrations to reopen to ease restrictions in six different states with more happening today and jacksonville florida perhaps the most visible sign, the beaches there have opened up for eight hours a day. in the morning and the afternoon. officials are cautioning people to practice social distancing but not everyone on the beach is

listening. >> we can't stress enough how long this beach remains open is going to be 100% determined by the beach-goers. as long as everybody complies with the times, the guidelines, the social distancing, we'll be okay. >> reporter: farmers got a huge $19 billion bailout announced on friday, many farmers lost their main markets when schools, restaurants and the food service industry basically shut down overnight. kristin, back to you. kristin: steve harrigan, live in atlanta. steve, thank you. leland. leland: all right. there are new details emerging literally at this hour in the u.s. intelligence community's investigation into the origins of covid-19. mark meredith will be standing by at the white house to report on that. meantime, we head out to colorado springs where the vice president is speaking at the air force academy graduation.

>> lieutenant general savaria, big dee,distinguished faculty, y that are looking on, my fellow americans, it is an honor to be here at this historic institution. on what those who have spoken before have rightly said is a historic day. this is a place where since 1954 and through today we celebrate integrity first, service before self, excellence in all you do and today you will be graduates of the united states air force academy. congratulations to the class of 2020. [ cheering and applause ] >> i know we gather at a time

of great challenge in the life of our nation. and you all here in the pursuit of your commission and the service of this nation have been through a lot. and while we don't quite look like the usual graduation at the air force academy, let me tell you this is an awesome sight. and i wouldn't be anywhere else but with the 62nd class of the air force academy, the class of 2020. [ cheering and applause ] >> and as i begin, let me bring greetings from a friend of mine. who asked me to extend his great respect and congratulations. he is a champion of all the men and women of the armed forces of

the united states. and he is your commander in chief. i bring greetings and congratulations to the class of 2020 from the president of the united states, president donald trump. [ cheering and applause ] >> we gather at a time of national crisis. as the coronavirus epidemic impacts our nation and the wider world. for the first time in our history, every state and territory in our land are under disaster declarations. and as you well know, at the president's direction we've marshalled the full resources of the federal government and in partnership with governors and state and local health officials, we've launched a whole of government approach to

meet this moment. and like all of you have done throughout your time here, even in those difficult recent days that have passed, just like you, the american people have risen to the challenge. they, like you, have met this moment with courage, resilience, and strength. the same strength and love of country that carried each of you to this day and it is the strength that will carry our nation through these challenging times, to be stronger than ever before. [ cheering and applause ] >> as america contends with what president trump rightly calls the invisible enemy, through great hardship here at this historic place, you will

commence your duties to defend this nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. and for that, you have the thanks and admiration of the american people. america is the land of the free because we are the home of the brave. and are you the brave. from the moment the air force academy was established, great americans have stood here. trained here. and more than 51,000 air force officers have joined the long blue line as graduates of this academy. they include 35 rhodes scholars, 42 astronauts, medal of honor recipients and countless other heros. four years ago you stepped forward to join the ranks and we

rightly honor each and every one of you. those who are here and those who are not. some of the most talented young people in america apply to come here and yet only one out of every 10 nominees makes the cut. you made it through. you made the cut. you made it through five weeks of beast. you've run the rock. you had your hundreds night. and as america knows, you completed one of the most challenging semesters in the histories of the air force academy. you did it, class of 2020.

[cheers] >> you proved yourself and today you will graduate from the storied institution. and you will become officers in the united states armed forces. [ cheering and applause ] >> and all of you that will take on those new responsibilities, let me assure you, you will be entering a military that is better equipped and better financed and better supported than any military in american history. under your commander in chief's leadership we've made historic investments in our national defense. we've made the strongest military in the history of the world, stronger still. and you'll be joining that military. and making it even stronger. nearly half of you are going into pilot training, i'm told. you'll go on to fly some of the

most sophisticated aircraft ever known to man. 31 of you will fly unmanned aircraft. keeping watch and taking action on battlefields around the world. defending our troops and defending our freedom. and dozens of you will ensure that our military remains as dominant in space as we are on land and sea and air. you know, just two years ago president trump laid out a bold vision for american leadership in space. and last december the president made that vision a reality when he put his signature on a historic law that created the sixth branch of our armed forces, the united states space force. [ cheering and applause ] >> and i'm proud to stand here today, 86 members of the air

force academy class of 2020 -- [cheers] >> will commission at the first company grade officers of the space force. and i'm proud to report to all of you and all of you gathered here that nearly 10 years from the last time american astronauts launched into space from our native soil, thanks to the president's leadership, nasa just announced that next month american astronauts will return to space on american rockets from american soil. and some of you may be flying those rockets in the years ahead. [ cheering and applause ] >> you know, we live in a remarkable moment in the history of our armed forces. the class of 2020 --

[cheers] >> -- this is your day. you know you didn't get here on your own. back in indiana, we have an old saying, when you see a box turtle on a fence post, one thing you know for sure, he had help getting there. and i know each and every one of you know that's especially true with such accomplished men and women seated before me. you've been taught by some of the best military faculty anywhere in the world. you've been supported by your fellow cadets on those long days and late nights. but long before you arrived on campus, your families were there. your moms and dads, your brothers and sisters. and i know families he's person -- family is especially important for this class. this class of 2020.

[cheers] >> i was told on the way here, 51 of you had siblings who were already air force academy graduates, five of you have two sublinks who are alumni, 63 of you are children of air force academy graduates and i even heard that four of you, both of your parents are air force academy alum. you know, your families couldn't be here because of the extraordinary times in which we live, but we know they're watching from afar. and they couldn't be more proud of each and every one of you. and i know what i'm talking about. you see, i don't know what it's like to sit in that chair you're sitting in or to wear that uniform. my life didn't take me into the uniform of the united states.

but i am the proud father of a united states marine. and the father-in-law of a naval academy graduate. so i can testify firsthand, i know just how your parents are feeling right now. and they couldn't be more proud. so would you all mind just getting on your feet and showing your family and your friends and your loved ones how much you appreciate all they've done for you for all these years. [ cheering and applause ] >> they deserve it. [ cheering and applause ]

>> and your families should be proud of all you've accomplished. i had chance to spend some time with some of the members of the class of 2020. [cheers] >> and i couldn't be more impressed. it was little over a month ago, cadet first class from cleveland actually came to the white house. he had actually won a cyber security competition against more than 1,000 federal employees. [cheers] >> i met him. his dad, who is a retired army colonel, and his mom, kristin were with him. i know they're watching today. now, i asked him how he had won against 1,000 federal employees. and his answer was simple. i go to the air force academy. [ cheering and applause ] >> i'm told he has a scholarship to go to graduate school at carnegie melon but

today he becomes an officer in the united states air force. would you all just give a round of applause to a fellow cadet, the inaugural winner of the president's cup, cyber security competition, sears schultz. [ cheering and applause ] >> i also heard another inspiring story of a graduating cadet. i'm told he grew up in some tough circumstances in fort worth, texas. four years ago he became the first in his family to go graduate from high school. he's the former captain and mvp of the air force falcons basketball team. today, he becomes the first in his family to graduate from college and becomes an air force officer. would you please join me in congratulating cadet first class

lavel scotty. well done, lavell. [ cheering and applause ] >> i mention these two because they're really em bla emblematil of you and they show the caliber of this graduating class. you've come from the rest of us but you're the best of us. you're the elite. you stepped forward to serve your nation. you endured the rigors of training at the air force academy and you've done so under some of the most difficult circumstances in the history of the storied institution. cs lewis once wrote that courage is not just one of the virtues, it is the form of every virtue at the testing point. in this time of trial and testing for you, and for our

nation, you have demonstrated courage. and you're an inspiration to every american. and america is being tested. while there are signs that we are making progress and slowing the spread, as we stand here today more than 700,000 americans have contracted the coronavirus and tragically more than 37,000 of our countrymen have lost their lives. but as each of you has shown in your time here, and as the american people always show in challenging times, when hardship comes, americans come together.

we rise to the challenge. and the courage and compassion and generosity of the nation you will defend are shining through every day. you see it in the doctors and nurses on the frontlines. caring for the sick and the most vulnerable. you see it in first responders, from seattle to new york city, who have gone into harm's way and even after some became ill, went right back to work after they recovered. you see it in the farmers and the truckers and the grocers keeping food on the table and the auto workers making tens of thousands of invaluable pieces of medical equipment that will save american lives. you see it in businesses large and small, putting the health and safety of their workers and

their customers first. and you see it in the churches, synagogues and places of worship that every day have been coming alongside those in need and offering comfort and counsel to a sheltered nation. you see it in everyday america americans. but in these challenging times as we've seen on this campus, we also see it in the american military. like the thousands of active duty military medical personnel that are deployed in hot spots across the nation, like the citizen soldiers of the national guard that are active in states across the country, supporting our healthcare workers and first responders. and you see it in the response of the air force medical personnel, even at this hour, deployed in new york city,

relieving those devoted healthcare workers in their time of need. or the airman who literally flew millions of medical supplies from europe to the united states on c-17s. or the airmen who have actually been bringing americans stranded overseas home. america has shown like all of you that we are a nation of courage and with the courage, strength and compassion of the american people, we'll get through this. we'll protect the most vulnerable and we will heal our land. [ cheering and applause ] >> the american people are doing their duty. now comes your turn to do yours.

to defend the people of this nation and this we know you will do. for long after the coronavirus is defeated, your mission will go on. so take what you learned here and put it into practice. on behalf of your commander in chief, to all the new officers of the air force and the space force, in these challenging times at home and across the wider world, i admonish you, be vigilant. mind your mission. respect the unified chain of command. take care of each other. and all of those who report to you. and never doubt as officers that every decision you make matters to the american people and to the security of this nation. and remember to lead others you

must lead yourself first, be men and women of integrity. people follow people they trust. integrity of the upright has always guided us. be diligent to cultivate these virtue as you've done here at this great academy and you will lead those airmen with great distinction. give america your best every day. the american people are counting on you. and given the long and storied history of american air power, we know we can. as has been mentioned already, this day, april 18th, is a special day for you and for the history of american air power. it was on this day in 1942, just four months after the attack on

pearl harbor, an attack that was not just a day that lives in infamy, but it shocked the nation. pulled us into war. but on this day, lieutenant colonel jimmydoolittle led 16b52 bombers for an attack on tokyo 668 miles away. and they succeeded. that mission by american air power inspired the nation. it gave the american people confidence that we would preva prevail. and i believe with all my heart that for americans looking on from around the country at this

very hour, seeing you brave men and women, setting off on your mission to defend this nation, that on this day you'll also inspire confidence that we will prevail against the invisible enemy in our time as well. [ applause ] >> so whether your service takes you into the wild blue yonder or out into the stars, always remember that you're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, by heros who have passed through these halls, fought the good fight, defended freedom in their time as surely as you will in yours. like a fighter pilot named bob

hoover, the great exemplar of the class of 2020. [cheers. >> finally, as you take to the air, or space, i hope in my heart that you will know that you do not go alone. you go with confidence of your commander in chief, you will go with the support and prayers of the american people and i hope that you may ever know that he who brought you this far will never leave you or foresake you, for as the old book says, if you rise on the wings of the dawn, if you settle on the far side of the sea, even if you go up to the heavens, there his hand will guide you, his right hand will hold you fast.

so congratulations to the air force academy class of 2020. [cheers] >> new officers all in the united states air force and the united states space force. on behalf of your commander in chief and a grateful nation, thank you for your service, aim high, fly, fight and win and always keep that target in sight. god bless our air force. our space force. and god bless the united states of america. [ cheering and applause ] leland: vice president pence wrapping up his commencement address at the united states air force academy in a most unusual graduation ceremony as we look out at the cadets there, now spaced six feet apart, they marched in eight feet apart and not in the audience, because there isn't an audience, is there families or those who supported them during this time. it is striking as we are in week

six or so of the coronavirus crisis how many milestones and momentous events in people's lives are being changed by this, whether it's birthdays, anniversaries, weddings or graduations that we are heading into that won't happen and will be very different. kristin: that's right, and vice president mike pence he said while this does not look like a usual graduation, he said this is a an awesome sight and that he wouldn't be anywhere else and he also talked quite a bit about the space force. 86% of the cadets that graduated today will be joining the new force. he mentioned the fact that nasa just announced that it is going to be attempting to launch american astronauts on american made rockets from american soil next month and the vice president noted that some of you sitting here today, some of the cadets graduating today could some day be on those rockets. so i thought that was a pretty neat moment as well for those cadets. leland: ream quick, kristin -- real quick, kristin. you spent so much time covering the space force and the nasa

program in general, how are they going to try to launch this rocket with americans on-board, given the idea of quarantines and social distancing and the coronavirus? kristin: it is a fascinating question and i think it is still being worked outs. i mean, like everywhere else, it's going to be -- these astronauts are going to be launched on spacex rockets and whatnot. so social distancing is going to make things a bit of a challenge but they say they are going to give it a go and try to do it in the next few weeks. leland: they always quarantined astronauts before their launch. this will be no different. we'll be right back.

leland: the debate continues here in washington this weekend as lawmakers spar over a second wave of funding for the paycheck protection program that ran out of money at $350 billion. we have owner and president of capital management, fox news contributor, gary key kaye, wele back. jared, as i understand this, you

are the bridge essentially, a lot of times, between small businesses and capital they need. typically in the form of loans. where are you seeing from a small business the lack of this ppp funding being available coming in, how many are calling you saying we're closing if we don't get money? >> i can tell you that over the past few weeks we have been inundated with phone calls from small to mid-size business owners that, you know, really need either the ppp program or the eidl loan, what we're finding is that because there are light guardrails around these programs, most business owners are thinking that they qualify for both when in reality they may qualify for only one. leland: interesting distinction. gary, it seems to sort of defy logic, if you will, that we are in a time of incredible economic peril, much of the country is shut down, 22 million people have applied for unemployment

benefits and the dow had its best two weeks since 1930. >> first of all, the market is a forward-looking mechanism but something else is at work and that is a central bank that is basically in the midst of promised to inject $8 trillion, that's over two years of our taxes and just out of thin air to put in basically -- is heading into the markets, given the hedge funds and the big guys, the levered people some what i would call wind at their backs and that's what i think you are seeing. but of course, there is the confidence that we may get past this sooner rather than later and, look, i'm the biggest bull in history, longer term. i'm just not so sure shorter term and maybe the market's a little bit ahead of itself here but so farma far markets actig great. leland: you make a good point as to who is being -- big groups took enormous risks if you think

of some of the industries that are getting bailed out and the risks they took and didn't save for a rainy day. here's what president trump said yesterday about needing funding for the ppp. >> essentially, we're waiting for $250 billion and it's a small amount of money relative to what it represents because it represents small businesses, it represents them staying in business. you know, when you look at it, people don't know, small businesses represent approximately 50% of the power of our business enterprises. leland: jared, this is an important point. the ppp doesn't do a lot for small business. it's basically a pass-through from the government to the employees of small businesses. 25% or less is left around to be able to pay your rent and perhaps some utilities. but this is not bridging the capital that small business needs to pay off their other business loans, to buy new equipment, to deal with the spoiled inventory if they're a restaurant, et cetera. >> yeah, that's right. you know, we're seeing right now

that the ppp program is really based upon keeping employees working for another eight weeks so that unemployment really doesn't spike and continue to drive up, where working capital is really needed today to continue to run the business. we're seeing a lot of our business owners have become a lot smarter around running their business with reducing their fixed expenses but nevertheless, access to capital is very important and setting up a safety net now more than ever would be the most beneficial. leland: gentlemen, we're going to have to leave it there. we obviously got cut short in terms of the vice president's speech. for some reason i think these problems are going to stick around for a while so there will be lots to talk about in the coming weeks. appreciate it, guys. >> thanks for having us on. leland: kristin. kristin: the pro-democracy protest that disrupted hong kong last year picking back up this weekend. we'll explain why the activists are returning to the streets, next. i'm greg, i'm 68 years old.

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kristin: police in hong kong have arrested 15 pro-democracy activists, the move comes amid months of relative peace after the violent protests that rocked hong kong last year. christina coleman is live to explain why. hey, christina. >> reporter: kristin, these veteran pro-democracy activists were arrested in a high profile round-up. this went down as hong kong is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. hong kong's democratic party founder, 81-year-old martin lee, was arrested and driven to the police station as cameras swarmed around him today. lee was one of many activists who protested against a since withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed hong kong residents to be sent to mainland china to stand trial. the protests started last june and the demonstrations evolved into a broader call for democracy and an investigation

into alleged police brutality during the protests. pro-democratic heavy weight jimmy lai was also arrested today. the communist party is cracking down on the pro-democracy movement right now even though many demonstrators are staying home because of the coronavirus. carrie lam rejected claims this week of increased criticism of pro democracy amounts to interference. >> under one country, two systems, yes, through the system and through the basic law, the central authorities have given hong kong a high degree of autonomy but that doesn't mean that the central government has given up its power and authority on hong kong affairs. >> reporter: these high profile democratic activists arrested today are facing charges of joining unlawful protests but some pro-democracy demonstrators say the arrests are going to

lead to morallies and protests when they assemble in the streets again. kristin. kristin: christina, thank you. and as the world is staying home, the uncertainty and changes to routines is leading to anxiety, especially for kids. more on how parents can help their little ones manage the stress, coming up. at philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. the recipe we invented over 145 years ago and me...the world's best, and possibly only, schmelier. philadelphia. schmear perfection.

kristin: it's tough enough for adults to process how life changes in a pandemic but imagine what it's like for children. we're going to dig into it a little bit more with child development and parenting expert, denise daniels. she teamed up with! slat particulato write theworkb, a workbook to help kids cope during the coronavirus pandemic. denise, this is sofa so fascinating. i would like to start with the younger children and then go to the older children. when you're dealings with something as complex as a virus, how do you explain to a toddler, what's happening, how do you explain to them why they're not going to school, why they're not seeing their friends when they're not quite old enough perhaps to understand what a virus is? >> well, we talk about with young children, particularly

preschoolers, kids that don't have the verbal language skills or the cognitive capacity to be able to understand it, so with younger children we really want to limit how much screen time they're having. if they're watching television and they're hearing it on the news. sometimes very young children, they get a sense that something is happening and their parents are anxious or worried or concerned, even though we think it's not affecting young children, it very commonly is that children are experiencing those emotions as well. so with young kids we want to make sure that we know what they understand. and the first thing we want to do is to be able to say, you know, a lot of kids are talking about the coronavirus or the pandemic. what have you heard? and then begin your information and your reassurance with answering their questions. that's really key. because kids need age-appropriate, accurate information. mr. rogers used to say what's

mentionable is manageable. well, he was absolutely right because giving kids information helps them feel more comfortable and who better than to hear it from a grown-up that they trust. it makes that bond and staying connected really crucial in a time of crisis. kristin: you know, for parents, a lot of parents it's tough on them. their children are home from school, a lot of times they've lost child care and help. i think it's easy to often lose sight about just how tough and stressful this is for children. for those of us that may forget it, can you explain why this rocks so many children to their very core? >> well, it disrupts their schedules. they're used to having structure. they're used to having continuity and life is so uncertain right now. it's hard enough for adults to understand but for children it's very difficult for them. we're seeing children that have more emotional stress, more anxiety than ever before and

these are the times that we really have to be observing our children and listening very closely to what they're saying. experts always look at children's play because a lot of times kids will work out their feelings and things they're worried about or things that they're happy about through their play. so that's a really good time to keep an eye on your kids. and i think too that the more we can be together, i know it's really difficult, people are in apartments or they're in small settings or, you know, even working with homeless children right now and i think it's really good to remember that even though you're together, they still need frequent information. i always say to young kids, the reason this is on the news is because it's such an unusual occurrence. as adults we have a responsibility to put everything into context for kids. the information you give a preschooler is going to be different than a grade schooler. or somebody that's in high school, a teenager, for example.

but the social connection is absolutely crucial, whether it's a young child or it's a teenager. and even as an expert we always say, you know, only two hours of screen time a day. but the reality is, parents have to give themselves -- i'm sorry. go ahead. kristin: that's okay. you were making great points. great advice. we have to hop to our next segment. but thank you so much for all of the tips. i know i will certainly be using them myself as a parent. thank you. >> thanks for having me. leland: should china be held responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, if so what can the united states do, vice chair of the house foreign relations committee when we come back. ib-- chocolate would be good- snacking should be sweet and simple. the delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. glucerna. everyday progress

leland: the united states is investigating whether the coronavirus escaped from a lab in wuhan, china. our brett behr and gillian turner have been doing reporting on this. joining us now, francis rooney. good to see you. appreciate it. do you feel like we know enough to conclusively say the virus escaped from this lab or is there more work to be done? >> i don't know. i've heard conflicting reports but i don't think there's any doubt that this lab was deeply involved in trying to develop some bio-- dangerous biological weapons. leland: what do you make of the reports that there was american money that had been given to

this lab as recently as 2015 in terms of grants. it would appear as though our grants didn't buy us much. >> well, that's why i wrote that letter with some of my other colleagues yesterday to say, wait a minute, let's cut off nih funding our competitor here. one of the greatest things that president trump has done, and i don't agree with everything he's done, is that he has brought attention to the abusive nature of china in the world. and this is just one more example of how china's ruthless pursuit of itself interest has put america at risk. leland: a publication i know you read quite often is the economist. is china winning? is their cover with the implicit answer that yes, they are winning right now. how do we turn the tide on that. >> they exploited their member ship in the wto since they got in 1999 or 2000. the president has done some good things to stop that. i think we need to look at how they treat our companies. how about the fact that they made marriott and delta take a

map off of their website that showed taiwan. why would we stand up for that? leland: we're watching -- >> they're fouling up the south china sea like its their backyard. leland: we're watching anti-virus and anti-weapons folks walk around now. would you be for changing the foreign sovereign immunities act to allow lawsuits against the chinese communist party on this. >> i think i would. they're so insidious in their pursuit of their self interest. what's going to be interesting is to see if they can possess a dam or road in africa that's not going to be paid back. leland: we know they're spending a lot of money in africa and latin america as you point out. want to bring you back to your home state of florida right now where in jacksonville they opened the beaches and the video shows anything but social distancing going on. ron de santis, the governor there, pushed down local control to so many of these issues and we've seen the decisions made in

jacksonville. he caught a lot of fla flak fort closing parts of florida down earlier. your thoughts on this. >> i was one that said that he should have closed down in february and not had spring breaks. fox has done a public service by putting out the cell phone technology that showed where all the spring breakers from fort lauderdale migrated to. to open the beach in jacksonville and to see the people there is counter-productive trying get this things closed down and quarantined. leland: i know down in collier county and broward county, miami-dade, et cetera, this is a hot spot and it continues to be one. congressman, we appreciate your time as always. thank you. we'll talk when you get back up here to dc,. >> thanks for having me on. leland: it's been a long three hours, kristin. a few technical problems and you having to soldier on through the wind up there on the top of the balcony. kristin: hey, it is a nice view, though.

so we'll put up with the wind. leland: it is that. and we'll be back here tomorrow. the news continues with our colleagues from new york. we'll see you tomorrow. arthel: protestors from coast to coast are calling for their states to reopen in the face of stay at home orders. the protestors claim they are affecting freedom and this as they are fighting with coronavirus pandemic, welcome to america's news room, i'm arthel neville. eric: protestors around the country have become itchy and frustrated, they are calling on state governments and others to reopen but some critics say that is dangerous. they are misguided and