covid-19 and the out break. >> followed by jimmy kim el live.

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good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm byron pitts. what about our economy. tonight, in our nation's war against covid-19, a call to arms by some of the biggest companies on the planet. walmart, amazon, and other business behemoths announcing they need workers. but for the estimated 14 million jobs in jeopardy, those workers, their families, need help right now. >> hello. >> hey, man, this is byron pitts from "nightline." >> how are you doing? >> it's been just a few hours now since danny smiley got the news he'd been dreading. his job of 17 years gone. >> just found out today i was let go. no severance package, insurance benefits end at the end of the month. >> in the blink of an eye, the army veteran and father of two, an athletic trainer in kansas, now one of too many americans

left staring down an uncertain road. >> and i don't know how i'm going to pay my bills. >> we just don't know. i think not knowing is what the problem is. >> people are going to end up losing their homes, and, you know, we don't know if we might end up being one of them. >> the repercussions of covid-19 two-fold. the devastating number of deaths climbing every day. in the u.s. alone, claiming at least 700 lives with more than 51,000 diagnosed cases. but it's also upending lives in another way, hitting the lifeblood of this country, the economy. congress debating a sweeping $2 trillion stimulus package tonight. >> we have a bipartisan agreement on the largest rescue package in americanisry. >> enomionrns arees nd, eer for the shutdown to end in just weeks, not months. >> it's a very special day, easter is our timeline. what a great timeline that would be. >> health and state officials

have repeatedly cautioned against prematurely ending social distancing measures. >> you can't sacrifice human life to get the stock market up. that is a repugnant concept. >> it could be months before business open back up. meanwhile, unemployment numbers are at unprecedented levels. >> morgan stanley predicts in the last week we've seen 3.5 million americans file for unemployment insurance, that would be nearly five times the record high set ever in one week. >> my name is melanie martinez. i'm 29 years old. i am from houston, texas. >> melanie martinez, a single mom in texas is still coming to terms with losing her job as assistant restaurant manager. >> you've worked there five years. you're a manager there. did you see this coming? >> i felt safe in my job and lit railly the next day was loet go. >> how are you feeling?

>> i feel hurt. i spent a lot of time there. with my employees, we called them tribe. we were like a family unit. >> on top of that, melanie is at home recovering from symptoms her doctor believes may be covid-19. >> i think that one of the things that is getting to me the most is that i am alone in this apartment. >> and missing her daughter, 6-year-old coral, now staying with her father. >> i feel totally alone. i would give anything for my daughter to be here right now and to just have her hug >> what are you most worried about right now? what's most difficult for you right now? >> paying my that's what i'm most worried about right now. i have rent to pay, and i am the only income for my household, you know, me and my daughter.

it's totally up to me to provide for my home. >> if i may ask, how much longer can you go? how much longer can you sustain these things? >> for this month? i don't know. i'm not sure after this month. >> across the country, at least 24 states have now closed all non-essential businesses. asking people to stay at home. policies affecting millions, including here in wisconsin. where ryan of pilgrow coffee was busy growing his small business. >> the market was responding pretty well to us. we building out another cafe. >> sighieeing the writing on th wall he closed one of the locations and maid the diffic t locations and made the difficult decision to lay off many of his employees early on. >> i feel a little lost on what the right solution is. i think our government is lost, too. so i think right now, more than

ever, you need to support your spot, because they are in the fight of their lives. >> the stimulus bill's provisions would help small businesses like him and extend benefits to the self-employed. >> a lot of self-employed individuals can only supply their services or products if they have human contact, like a personal trainer or realtor. >> jafrida brown is hearing these concerns day after day from self-employed clients. >> completely, 100% remotely now, it's a big change. >> jafrida herself, self-employed says she can weather this storm a few more months, but for veteran danny smiley, he has no time to wait. he needs congress to act now. >> you served your country before. >> yes. >> do you think your country is serving you now? >> that's a tough question,

extremely disappointing that in our country, that our elected officials cannot put politics aside for a moment and think about those people. >> forgive me, it pisses you off? >> yes, it does. >> what will that money mean for you? >> for me it would be a lifesaver right there, it gives me a couple months' rent. >> here we go. >> earlier today he walked into a meeting that would determine the fate of his job as an athletic trainer. >> quick update on how the meeting went, apologize, i'm a little nervous and shaky from it. a little in shock still, but it went as expected. so there you have it. 17 years in a box. >> just a few months ago he took on a second job as a substitute teacher. that job now gone as well. >> you have twin boys. >> yes, with autism, yes. >> how are they doing?

have you told them yet? >> no, i have not. they're still trying to wrap their minds around school not being in session. >> okay, on to the next step for me, which is to file for unemployment in the state of kansas. >> with only about two months of savings to keep himself going he is now filing for unemployment as he figures out the next source of income. >> i'm all for the measures of social distancing. i got a kind of slap in the face today of the consequences of that. >> tonight, like so many across america, danny smiley feels under attack by a virus of many names. fear, uncertainty, covid-19. but for now, his vaccine of choice, courage. >> so, i'm having to kind of sacrifice, and i'm willing to sacrifice my, my job and my benefits if it's for the good of the people. and hopefully something will, good will come of it.

>> that's a courageous thing to say. >> thank you. i hope it, i hope it was worth it. i'll hopefully find another job, but you can't replace family members and loved ones. humans can't be replaced. jobs can at some point. >> love, courage, have many faces in battle. one american company familiar with war-time footing, adapting to the needs at hand is the ford motor company. earlier today i spoke with bill ford jr., executive chairman at ford. thank you for joining us tonight. ford is one of america's most iconic companies. in this new time and so-called new economy, you announced today that you will be working with 3m and ge to produce medical equipment. >> we'll be helping engineer and design a new ventilator that will be easier to produce in big numbers. with 3m, we're doing res spratd

irmasks that are so needed by first spopders and medical workers, and we aim to take their product up from six to ten times what they can currently do. with ourselves, we doing face shields, which we are testing a thousand this week with hospitals in the metro detroit area, and we can gear up to about 100,000 a week very soon. and finally, we are 3d printing n-95 masks as well. because hospitals have great need for that. >> how long before we can expect to see these products out and available to people? >> so we're laying our facilities out with the proper social distancing, and proper protection. but then we're just going to go like hell and get moving. one of the things that we do well is we know how to scale things quickly. we can really help 3m and ge in their facilities and also in ours crank up production, and we can go very quickly. >> today you announced you'll

not be reopening your factories on march 30th as you'd originally planned. how are the factories doing and the employees doing? >> in michigan for instance, we're under a three-week shutdown order. the biggest issue will be when the uaw and ourselves feel it's safe to reopen. our employees are doing well. they'd love to get back to work but only when it's safe. >> we know currently ford is paying its employees about 88% of their salaries during this shutdown. >> i think it's important that we all do our part to make sure that we do get through this in good shape. >> why did you feel the need to engage at this time in this way? >> we've actually gotten involved with disease before. we built iron lungs when the polio crisis hit after world war ii. we also built incubators for babies in rural areas, so, you know, whatever our country needs, whether it's first responder vehicles or respirators and ventilators and

masks, we'll be there for the country. >> bill ford jr., as a wise man once said, go like hell. >> thank you. >> sobering, encouraging words from detroit. when we come back, 40 years of "nightline" telling the truth and ted koppel with a message for today. descovy for prep. a once-daily prescription medicine that helps lower the chances of getting hiv through sex. it's not for everyone. descovy for prep has not been studied in people assigned female at birth. talk to your doctor to find out if it's right for you. step up. for health and body. prep up for your one and only love or many loves. for kings, this queen, and you royals in between. for my now. our now. and my future. our future. step up. prep up. descovy is the newest way to prep. descovy does not prevent other sexually transmitted infections, so it's important to use safer sex practices and get tested regularly. you must be hiv-negative to take descovy for prep. so you need to get tested for hiv immediately before

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our shores. back then, iran was ground zero. tonight the threat is much closer. much of the world held hostage by a virus that kills indiscriminately. my colleague, juju chang spoke with the man who anchored the broadcast solely. >> reporter: hello, ted, i'm so glad to see you looking so well and glad could you join us from your home office. >> well aren't you nice, thank you. good to be with you. >> it's a bit of nostalgia, perhaps, but you helped launch "nightline" during another critical moment in our nation's history, which was the prolonged iran hostage crisis. >> "nightline" began as something held hostage, day 30, day 100. well, there was a national obsession with that story. very similar, in a sense, to what we find now, except that american lives were not as

directly affected as three are now by the coronavirus. this is a much bigger crisis, and i hope it doesn't last as long. that one, as you may recall, lasted over a year, 444 days. >> you've also dedicated nearly two decades to another mission, which is fighting copd. which your wife, grace ann has struggled with. >> i don't think people understand how much of a national problem copd is and how relevant it is to what's going on right now. because coronavirus, as most of your viewers probably know, attacks the lungs. and copd is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. it kills 155,000 americans a year. and people with copd are probably more vulnerable to the

coronavirus than almost any other group. >> so during this time of crisis, how have you and grace ann been practicing social distancing and keeping yourselves safe. >> grace ann has been training me for quite some time. we have been doing elbow bumps, washing other hands constantly. >> when you look at the wider population, how do you calibrate that message? how do you get people to take it seriously, for those who are vulnerable? >> unfortunately, i think people only begin to take something like this seriously when someone in their circle becomes critically ill or even worse, tragically dies. we are going to see a great deal of that in this country over the next few weeks and months. wake up. i mean, it's, it really is too serious. it's going to be too damaging. >> ted, so much of your legacy here at "nightline" was to be a calming voice in the midst of

uncertainty, and this type of national crisis, what would you say to people who are having a hard time keeping perspective? >> i would say it is time more than ever in this country to come to the realization that what we need more than anything else is reliable, credible journalism. the fact that so much information is being conveyed by people who have no background in journalism whatsoever, but who do have the ability through the internet to communicate absolute nonsense and sometimes damaging nonsense over the internet. this is a time when rather than questioning the credibility of the media, we need to reenforce it. it's what we tried to do 40 years ago in a time of crisis, and what i know you're trying to do today. >> well, ted, that's indeed your legacy. that's "nightline's" legacy. i'm so glad could you join us tonight. this is certainly a time when

truth and science and facts matter. so thanks. be well and take care of yourself and grace ann. we'll see you on the other side. >> you too, you too. thank you. >> our thanks to juju and ted. we'll be right back. ype 2 diabes lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. i lost almost 12 pounds! oh! (announcer) for those also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. it lowers the risk. oh! and i only have to take it once a week. oh! ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) ozempic® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2,

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in' and finally tonight, 40 years ago, this broadcast was born out of crisis, america held hostage we were called then. context, comfort got us through. please know, we are working, many of us praying for the same results, far sooner of course. thanks for the company, america, and to ted koppel and his teams, thank you for showing us the way. goodnight. you for showing us the way. goodnight. >> dicky: from hollywood, it's "jimmy kimmel live." tonight -- elle fanning, comedian dave burd, and music from local natives. ialy, jimmy kimmel! [cheers and applause] >> jimmy: thank you for coming. there's so much going on with

the coronavirus, genesis reunite and on top of all that, joe biden has risen from the dead. super tuesday was like easter sunday for joe biden who staged the biggest come back since robert downey jr. he won ten states, including texas and massachusetts where he wasn't expected to do well. he now has more delegates than any democrat and biden revealed he is also the banana on the masked singer, so that's, it wasn't all great news for joe. the very first moment of his celebration speech was marred by this. >> they don't call it super