this is "nightline." tonight, put to the test. >> frankly, the testing has been going very smooth. >> where we really stand on diagnosing covid-19. >> it is a failure. let's admit it. >> who has the test? who needs the test? when can you get the test? >> people should not say they want a test and go get a test right now. that's coming. it's not here right now. >> and boots on the ground in america's first containment zone. >> they want to make sure families don't go hungry. >> broadway and amusement parks go dark, wide world of sports going dark. and an apology from the nba's patient zero. >> this special edition of

"nightline," covid-19 outbreak will be right back. ♪ do you recall, not long ago ♪ we would walk on the sidewalk ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun

♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ lease the volvo xc40 for $329 per month. at your local volvo retailer. good evening. thank you for joining us. covid-19 triggering a new closure culture. schools shutting down, sports season suspended. crowd control aimed at controlling the coronavirus, and still a big question tonight.

the state of testing in the u.s. when we haven't even reached the peak of infection. here's linsey davis. >> okay. i'm asking for a name. who is in charge of making sure that people who need to get tested who are indicated to be tested can get a test. who? >> reporter: the scramble for answers, outrage at the government response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic. >> the system does not, is not really geared to what we need right now. what you are asking for. that is a failing. >> a failing. yes. >> it is a failing. let's admit it. >> reporter: worldwide cases of covid-19 shooting past 125,000. in the u.s., more than 1600 cases, and at least 40 deaths. efforts to outbreak here sparking confusion and cancellations. >> end of a fabulous tournament. >> reporter: the ncaa shocking basketball fans. no tournaments, no championships

this year. the nba suspending the rest of the season. professional baseball, hockey, soccer, all postponed until further notice. new york's famous broadway, silenced. forget long lines at movie theaters. some of the hottest new film releases. delayed. the cascade of closures includes disneyland and disney world, which entertain tens of millions each year. in washington's halls of power, the same sign. closed, closed, closed. the chaos propelled wall street into its worst day in more than 30 years. >> with those closures, we know there's going to be a dramatic impact. we are not sure yet exactly what that number is going to look like. it's clear it's going to be significant. and it's very clear it will mean at least for this point

a contraction in the economy. >> to reduce the contagious environment, no gathering of 50 or more. >> we do have the ability to commandeer existing assets, including hotels and motels. >> reporter: at the white house, donald trump defending his decision to ban travelers from huge sections of europe. >> i'll have to do a lot of things people don't even know about. >> reporter: the new rules limit travel from 26 countries with the exception of the uk. >> it's a world problem. and you do need separation in some cases. you have some areas that are very heavily infected and some areas that aren't, frankly, but we do need separation for a little period of time in some cases. >> reporter: but there were questions on exactly what the president had proposed. >> the president is not providing clarity. he seems confused about his own

policy. he misstated his own travel ban. critics say the travel ban now is like locking your door after the killer's inside the house. but there are some who say it works. but he doesn't even seem to manage to articulate it in a speech to the nation clearly. the other thing the president is doing right now, from the beginning, president trump has attacked this problem with a lot of happy talk. stay calm, and it will go away, he said. >> reporter: the president also facing questions about whether he should be tested for covid-19. last week he was socializing with a delegation from brazil at mar-a-lago. one of the brazilians seen here in that hat to his left has now tested positive for the virus. across the country, hospitals are gearing up for influxes of patients. surge tents popping up around boston, san jose and salt lake city. >> i believe once testing becomes more widespread and available we might see a surge in patients. >> reporter: dr. alan caplan is

head of emergency services where they are seeing covid-19 patients. he gave us a behind the scenes look at his hospital's overflow zone, equipped with all the necessary tools. >> we have equipment to monitor vital signs and ventilators. >> reporter: nurses like stephen jones on the front lines. >> we go toward the disease while others run for the hills. ten patients came in today and mentioned coronavirus as part of their symptoms. >> reporter: they are now allowed to run their own tests. jones demonstrated how that's done with the help of a hospital employee. >> this test entails two different swabs. i'm going to hold the back of your hess ju your head just like this. >> reporter: he swabs the patient's nose and throat and sends it off. >> if they're not sick, sick enough to be admitted to the

hospital, we will send them home and give them instructions on how to self-quarantine. the only ones who should come to the emergency room are those having respiratory troubles and troubles breathing. stay home and it will resolve on its own. >> we treat these patients as if they are family members and it's game time. we get focussed and are ready to go. >> reporter: today in new rochelle, the national guard flooded into the nation's first containment zone, site of the largest cluster of cases. >> some of the people who live here call it the epicenter of the epicenter. just behind my is where the national guard has been activated. they're handing out meals today. if you're at home wondering why they are handing out meals, schools have been canceled and some students rely on schools for breakfast and lunches. some are trying to go to work and deal with children who no longer have school. health officials and the government, state government no

new york want to make sure people don't go hungry. >> helping everybody out, making sure everybody get what they need and keep moving, keep everybody happy, satisfied. >> reporter: people here are told not to gather in large groups. that pattern is being replicated nationwide, meaning it's game over for many sports. >> the game tonight has been postponed. you're all safe. >> reporter: a nba game abruptly canceled last night after two utah jazz players, donovan mitchell and rudy gobert tested positive for the virus. earlier this week, gobert poked fun and touched tape recorders and microphones. today he's apologizing saying at the time he had no idea he was infected. he says i hope my story serves as a warning and causes everyone to t i dallas were shocked when the nba

suspended the season. mark cuban, the owner, watching from the stands. >> it's just unbelievable. something you couldn't have anticipated. >> anything you can share with us about what the league plans to do next and do you see the season resuming at some point? >> i hope it resumes. nothing i can share other than the league's going to do what's necessary for the best for our of fans and customers. >> reporter: he told them to self-quarantine to be safe but worries about the impact on those who work at the nba arenas. >> they're not going to have that income. that just wasn't right to me. so we'll compensate them for, we'll compensate them in advance, even if the games might be played in the future, we'll still compensate them now so they can pay their bills. and we'll do that for arena o ghc impactavs games and those is already visible in washington state where covid-19 first hit heyo to seattle,

obviously, you come to the pike place market, and on a weekend or during a busy type, you're shoulder to shoulder with people. there's so much room here. one of the things we heard from a number of shop owners is that things are quieter. they've never seen it like this before. >> reporter: taking extreme measures now like cancellations and closures will help buy more time for a more effective response. so a colleague of mine was just saying we should be prepared that we're going to get it. do you think that's the promote attitud appropriate attitude? >> no, to do something about it, to throw up your hands and say we're not going to do anything to about it is not appropriate and not good public health. >> reporter: i'm linsey davis in new york. ochb up next, jen ashton answers your questions. and desperate cries from europe.

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♪ do you recall, not long ago ♪ we would walk on the sidewalk ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪ the covid-19 situation in europe is a few weeks more advanced than here in the u.s. death toll in italy now over a thousand. another continent under siege. here's abc's maggie rulli. >> reporter: the grief and

helplessness from coronavirus captured in this video of an italian actor. he says his sister, behind him, is dead. falling victim to the illness saturday. he says the authorities abandoned him, saying they refused to collect the body, only coming after his video went viral. she's one of the more than thousand italians who won't wake up from the nightmare. italy has been the epicenter of the pandemic in europe. the number of cases there reportedly jumping by more than 2400 in just the last 24 hours. and, as conditions worsen, glimpses of the heroic efforts to counter the pandemic. makeshift tents in place to treat the sick. hospitals completely crushed by the wave of cases. one hospital receiving a new patient every five minutes. health officials are urging the u.s. to act now. >> it will be a tsunami, eating all the country, unless you take

immediate action. otherwise it will be too little and too late. >> reporter: the italian government imposing a historic lockdown on its 60 million residents, ordering all shops and restaurants to close, allowing only essential businesses like pharmacies, banks and grocery stores to stay open in an attempt to slow the spread. the exact opposite of the deserted streets in italy, thousands of americans in airport lines trying to get out before the partial travel ban starts tomorrow. >> it's pand moan yum. we do not want to be stuck in barcelona. >> reporter: the virus not discriminating. even cristiano ronaldo is at home in isolation after a teammate tested positive for covid-19. french president emmanuel macron announce being t announcing the closure of all schools and universities, calling it the most serious

health crisis in a century. large events are canceled in scotland. >> many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time. >> reporter: boris johnson saying more extreme measures will be put in place in a number of weeks. other places taking similar measures, placing several towns under quarantine, and sophie trudeau now testing positive after a trip to the uk. the trudeaus now in isolation. it's not just the trudeaus waiting at home. christina higgins, an american living in italy has a dire warning for those in the u.s. >> my message to people is to not dismiss this and to take it seriously toon not underestimate it. and to be very, to make it very clear to them that this is coming and this is already in the united states. you're weeks behind us.

people need to take action now. >> reporter: for "nightline," maggie rulli. >> i'm now joined by chief medical correspondent jen ashton to answer your questions sent in on twitter. first, out of maggie's report, there are these shortages overseas. do you expect to see that here? >> that's concern, byron. the u.s. surge capacity for a public health crisis believe it or not is unknown. so you're hearing a lot of stats about there being 62,000 vent laters, 95,000 hospital beds. that's tip of the iceberg in terms of capacity. we have to think of the three ss. supplies, space and staff. and when you are talking about icu care, ventilators don't run themselves. they need respiratory therapists, critical care nurses. a lot of times, it's the staff. that's a concern. >> our first viewer question. i want to know the percentage of the patients that get intubated who fully recover and walk out

of the hospital. >> this is the most important question. there's no answer for it right now. the cdc has yet to release any clinical data on the u.s. patients. so we don't know what their average age is. we don't know what their pre-existing medical conditions are or were. we don't know how many went to the icu, how many developed soup infection with pneumonia. we don't have that data yet. we need that information. the data we do have came out of early days of the coronavirus outbreak out of china. less than a thousand patients, and looked like about 3% to 5% of patients required icu care, in some case up to 15%. the numbers are all over the place. the data is only as good as the collection method. right now we need the u.s. data badly. >> a few more questions. i have my groceries delivered and was wondering how long the coronavirus can live on food, on the plastic bags used for produce and paper bags used to hold groceries. >> they're looking at that right

now. a lot of the data about foe mites come from other human coronaviruses, and the verange massive. it goes from hours to nine days, depending on humidity, the surface, how porous it is. new data in the last day or so suggests it's a couple hours to a couple of days, depending on the surface, so bottom line, because we're still figuring that out in the lab setting. wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. >> exactly how close do you have to be to someone with the virus to get it yourself? >> the cdc was saying six feet, because if someone coughs or sneezes they can travel six feet. this is a large virus. it's heavy particles, tends to drop to the ground quickly. new study just out does suggest some of those particles can linger in the air for a little bit. so you want to watch that, and you want to keep your distance.

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and finally tonight, in these challenging times, we are reminded of the words of dr. king during another challenging time in our nation's history. we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. that's "nightline" this evening, thanks for the company, america. goodnight.