good morning. heartache and hope. more than 2,000 americans dead from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours. the worst day yet. breaking a worldwide record. but amid the despair, new signs of progress. intensive care admissions down in new york state and in california too. still, officials warn while the curve appears to be flattening, americans need to stay vigilant. back to business? >> i'm going to have to make a decision and i only hope to god it's the right decision. >> with the economy cratering amid the pandemic, president trump is considering when and where to ease restrictions.

so americans can get back to work. with social distancing guidelines set to expire at the end of this month, what will the country look like in may? >> virtual prayer. this easter, tens of millions of americans are now planning to stay home and pray as most houses of worship stay closed this weekend while florida's governor comes under fire for refusing to ban large religious gatherings. >> staying mindful. with so much unease and uncertainty, it's almost impossible to find time for ourselves. dr. deepak chopra tries to help us find spiritual balance. saturday night special. >> it's "saturday night live.." "saturday night live" with an unprecedented new show tonight, the performers performing remotely and will it really be live? fans cannot wait to find out today, saturday, april 11th, 2020.

>> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today," with peter alexandera kristen welker and dylan dreyer. i'm flying solo in our washington studio and kristen is at home. nice to see you, good morning. >> peter, nice to see you, too. good morning to you. miss being there in studio with you. of course, we're all taking our turns social distancing. so it's my turn to anchor from home today. of course, we're still together in spirit, peter. it has been another busy week. a lot of headlines. >> you definitely win the award for the most symmetrical living room this morning. we'll see you moments from now. we want to get right to the latest headlines, of course. on the coronavirus crisis, we begin with another grim milestone as the surpassed 100,000. here in the u.s., there are

nearly half a million cases with more than 18,000 deaths. more than a third of those are in new york state alone. that has more cases in that state than any other country in the world. >> there is some good news this morning as federal and state officials say it looks like those stay-at-home orders are working. but they're urging everyone to stay vigilant and stay safe, warning that if we don't continue to heed the warnings, the numbers could change. president trump tries to decide when he can start getting people back to work, he says he'll announce only next week the members what he's calling an opening our country council. the task force will advise on the best steps to get the economy going again. our team all across the country. we'll begin with kathy park at the national tennis center in queens new york. it's become a makeshift hospital. kathy, good morning. >> reporter: peter, good morning to you. when there was a growing call

for help in new york, health care workers were across the country responded, some even traveled as far away as anchorage, alaska. they're here at the national senn tis center. there are some signs of improvement. >> this morning, a new mission for the famous tennis courts that host the u.s. open. now serving as a field hospital treating coronavirus patients. >> the total number originally was going to be 350 beds, will now be 470 beds. >> in neighboring new jersey, fema dispatching dozens of out of state ambulances to metlife stadium in east rutherford to respond to the crisis, which could hit an all-time high this weekend. the worldwide death toll passed 100,000 and the u.s. broke a global record with more than 2,000 deaths in one day. the epicenter of the outbreak appears to be turning a corner. new york governor andrew cuomo

sharing cautious optimism with infection slowing. >> change in icu admissions is actually a negative number for the first time since we started this intense journey. >> and more encouraging news out west as california sees its first daily decrease in icu admissions. but to continue slowing the spread of the virus, officials in beverly hills now require residents to wear a face covering in public. on the front lines of this site, the battle is far from over as doctors and nurses document the struggles of saving lives. dr. patty at st. barnabas hospital in the bronx. >> it doesn't seem like it's slowing down. let's hope w point soon. or we flatten the curve. i'm hopeful. >> reporter: these haunting images show the reality of keeping up with the record breaking number of deaths.

bodies buried on heart island. this public cemetery averaged 24 burials a week, but it's per day according to the department of corrections. the invisible enemy hasn't won. even while separated, the show goes on. snl returns with a new episode produced remotely. a new jersey football coach found a way to go the extra mile delivering 88 championship rings to each member on the team just minus the hugs. >> reporter: here at the national tennis center, they were anticipating the arrival of about 100 patients yesterday. mostly from hard hit elmhurst hospital, which is a couple of miles away. moving forward, if they don't need all the beds in this temporary facility, they will transition to a quarantine center to treat patients with milder symptoms of the virus. kristen? >> kathy park, thank you. the question now on everyone's mind this morning, when will life get back to normal.

president trump says he hopes it will be sooner rather than later. but a difficult decision needs to be guided by the science. kelly o'donnell is live at the white house. good morning, kelly. >> reporter: good morning, kristen. president trump readily acknowledges the decision to reboost business life and get people out of their homes. it's the most consequential call he'll are have to make. keeping up mitigation against the virus and restarting the economy. >> the president promised to be guided by science. >> i will certainly listen. i will sister-in-law listen. >> while also relying on instinct. >> the metrics right here, that's my metrics. >> bearing the heavy responsibility of when and how to lift social distancing restrictions set to expir decision, and i only hope to god on it's the biggest decision i've

ever had to make. >> a new poll on the handling of the crisis for the president shows 47% of americans questioned say the president is doing a good job. but that's down four points since last week. >> should americans have to decide between staying healthy and going back to work sf. >> we're going to do both. we're going to go back to work and we're going to stay healthy. >> experts acknowledge returning to work without widespread testing to track the virus carries risk. >> when we're going to be relaxing some of the restrictions, there's no doubt you're going to see cases. i would be surprised if we did not see cases. the question is how you respond to them. >> the president clearly torn. >> you open up, could lead to death, you're right. but you know what, staying at home leads to death also. >> as economic hardships spiral, negotiations continue with capitol hill for another massive relief package. while president trump says today he will commission a bipartisan

council, elected officials, science and business experts to plan next steps. >> i call it the opening our country task force or opening our country council. >> but in this easter season, the president urged those determined to hold services to instead heed restrictions and stay home. >> we've got to get our country cured. let's get healed before we do this. >> reporter: president trump who usually celebrates easter with his family and church services in palm beach, florida, instead will be watching services on a laptop here at the white house. there's no coronavirus task force briefing scheduled, at least not yet, for this weekend. kristen? >> so kelly, the president we all heard him say yesterday that reopening for business will be his toughest decision yet. but i guess the question a lot of folks are asking this morning, is it really his decision? >> well, the president has been careful to defer to the authority of governors who make a lot of these decisions state by state. he does have some emergency powers based on the fact that he

has declared a national emergency to try to override governors at certain times if he thinks that's warranted. we've seen so far, he's given the governors the first step. kristen? >> all right. tough decision ahead, kelly o'donnell, thank you for that. pet peter, back to you. >> kristen, thank you. we want to bring in dr. john torr torres. good morning, dr. torres. >> good morning, peter. >> we saw that grim death toll, 2,000 americans losing their lives. from public health experts and others, we're hearing optimism now. new york appears to be either at a peak or a plateau. for most of the rest of the country right now, where are we in all of this? >> peter, what you're seeing is the coasts are doing better than the way we thate they'd be doing. you're hearing about the increase in death but that lags behind the cases. the cases are either staying steady or going down. that's including new york,

california, washington, the areas that got hit immediately. the concern now is what happens with the rest of the country. we're hearing about hotspots cropping up in other areas. this is something experts thought would probably happening. start from areas where there's a lot of airport travel and they can spread it, then it spreads to other areas. the lucky part, the -- or the good part is that the other parts of the country started shutting down early. hopefully it doesn't affect them as much. overall, it looks like we're tackling this, getting this under control and we're starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel, peter. >> dr. torres, yesterday the president announced a more than 2 million americans now have been tested. it's out of a country of 330 million americans. he said that the virus will soon be in retreat. but without widespread testing, how would we know? >> that's going to be the difficult part. like you said or like he said in the briefing, you want to make

sure they go back to work and stay healthy at the same time. you want both to happen. the realism, once people go out and get in crowds, close to each other, the numbers will pop up again. we want to make sure we have a good understanding of where the numbers are starting to increase so we can shut things down. that means testing. two different types of testing. one, do you have the virus right now? we have that test now. it's not as robust as we'd like but getting there. number two, the antibody test, who has immunities to it because they've had it and recovered from it. on top of that, cases in the hospital. see what's increasing in hospitals and keep a good understanding of that having hospitals report to the cdc saying we see more cases and start putting in task forces essential essentially. they're sending in essentially s.w.a.t. teams every time they crop up and keep it down. >> dr. torres, can we drill down on the antibody test right now. that would be a significant piece of progress in this effort across the country right now. it would tell people if they've

had the virus. some wouldn't realize it because they never showed symptoms. is that a game changer? would that allow us to accelerate the process of getting back to work? >> it is a game changer. the ultimate game changer is that vaccine. we're talking 12 to 18 months before we get that. in the interim, the big one is going to be getting that antibody test so we know who has been infected. part of the issue, once you get it, how will you identify people who have antibodies. we don't know much about the virus because it's new. these are questions experts have to figure out over the next few weeks. the tests will become available. the issue is are they readily available? it looks like a faster test, 5 to 15 minutes. not the cumbersome process that the other test was. but it's going to be something that takes a little bit of time to deploy. >> dr. torres, stay safe and healthy my friend. thank you very much. kristen? all right, peter, thank you.

people all across the country are urged to stay home this holiday weekend. florida's governor is coming under fire. he says he won't close down places of worship allowing parishioners to gather and pray in person. and that is raising serious concerns about the possible spread of covid-19. we want to turn now to sam brock in miami. sam, good morning to you. >> reporter: kristen, good morning. for more than a million catholic parishioners here in south florida, going in person isn't an option. that's because the archbishop of miami is only allowing cathedrals like these to stream online. but the governor has given them the green light across the state to come together soaking fears of more transmission. across the country, empty pews and online services. christianity's holiest weekend. >> most of th pastors aee ey're better off dng what they're doing. >> a presidential plea taking

root in many bigcities, like los angeles. >> weeel the physical distance. >> where easter services are moving online. at the vatican, pope francis will preside not over masses in st. peter's square but a live stam on easter sunday. yet in some ates, a diffent tune >> the state of florida is not going to, throughovernment coercion, close a church, synagogue or place of worship. but we have advocated that folks worship inay that' consistent with soal distancing guidelines. >> a path to pray in person. not sitting well with miami's archbishop whose 109 parishes are all offering services online. >> i'm the archbishop of miami, the governor is the governor of florida. i'll take care of the spiritual side of things and he'll take care of the state side. >> the arena i orlando, held in-person services on palm

sunday and plans t do it again on sunday. in louisiana, philadelphia, defiance on full display. a baton rouge pastor been arrested once already says he'll open his doors also. >> we should not be fearful. >> a philadelphia spiritual leader promising face masks will be provided to all who walk through the church doors on sunday. but in new orleans, boundaries not being tested but rather spirits lifted. >> the archbishop has been diagnosed with covid-19. >> archbishop gregory a men still recovering from coronavirus. flying over parishioners in a world war ii plane to soothe those who couldn't see him in person. in some states where there's not an explicit ban, they don't want people going in person. governor brian kemp pleading with people to stay inside as the state prohibited any

gatherings of ten or more people. peter back to you. >> sam brock reporting in miami. thank you very much. how about good news this morning. being cooped up inside is hard on everybody. but it's particularly hard on those with disabilities. check out what happened when firefighters in west palm beach paid a special visit to a very special person. >> ♪ >> that is cory soeder man being greeted by a firefighter on a cherry picker on the balcony of his family's apartment. cory has cerebral palsy and now that he's under a stay-at-home order, friends are worried he could use cheering up. the lieutenant, he's the guy in the cherry picker. he said they showed up because they wanted to bring a little sunshine to cory's day. what a great, good piece of news from those folks there in florida this morning. kristen, back to you. >> i love that, peter. that's what this moment is all

about. everyone coming together. all right, thanks for that. time now for some other news this morning. disgraced media mogul and convicted sex offender harvey weinstein is facing a new criminal charge thismorning. prosecutors announced they're addi a felony battery to their case. it includes multiple counts of forcible rape. the latest charge stems from an assault on a wan ten years ago. weinstein is currently serving 23 years in police on in new york faces -- prison in new york, is cvicted of all charges in cal -- if convicted of all charges in california. notre dame cathedral, the iconic landmark is finally showing signs of recovery. on friday, the special televised good friday service was held inside the cathedral. because paris is still under lockdown, only seven people were in attendance for the ceremony that included prayer and music and a presentation of the crown of thorns of christ a relic that

remarkably survived the fire. meantime, the race for president is looking much different in these new times. earlier this week, bernie sanders suspended his campaign making former vice president joe biden the democrat's apparent nominee. with america under lockdown, the big victory rallies and fundraisers are replaced by a simple online announcement. geoff bennett is following that part of our coverage. geoff, good morning to you. >> reporter: kristen, good morning to you. bernie sanders' exit from the race clears joe biden's path toward the democratic nomination and toward the ultimate showdown in november with president trump. first biden has to pick a running mate and set up ground operations in key battleground states and try to unite the democratic party after what has been a bruising primary. all of those tasks complicated by the coronavirus crisis.

>> joe biden now the apparent democratic presidential nominee, marking the moment this week during a virtual town hall. >> joe biden will be the democratic nominee and i could not think of a better leader for our country in this moment. >> compare that simple announcement to the full blown celebration four years ago. >> nearly 4,000 cheering supporters on hand as hillary clinton laid claim to the democratic presidential nomination. yet another striking example of how the coronavirus pandemic is up ending the race for the white house. biden faces three big burdens. chief among them winning over bernie sanders supporters. >> he's inspired and energized millions of supporters, especially young voters to join him in championing a progressive vision for our country. he didn't just run a political campaign, he created a movement. >> biden now courting the party's more progressive win by adopting some of his former competitor's policies. the former vp needs to quickly

close the cash gap as he readies for battle against president trump's money machine. the latest filings show president trump with a combined $225 million in the bank. compared to a combined $20 million in campaign cash for biden. team biden now reimagining ways to raise money during a pandemic and economic slowdown. biden also has to build a top notch campaign organization in key battleground states to get out the vote. a tough task with americans in at least 42 states right now being urged to stay home. >> meantime, i'm told the biden campaign is set to start the vetting process for his vice presidential pick. nbc news learned that former president barack obama has advised biden in this process and has told him to pick someone who can help balance his traits. biden has committed to picking a woman as his running mate and he's told donors that he might make that announcement earlier in the process than normal,

perhaps even before the convention which is pushed to august. peter? >> the campaign season like we've never seen before. geoff bennett, thanks very much. we want to get a check of the forecast from our friend dave price from w nbc in new york. he's filling in while dylan is on maternity leave. dave, nice to see you. >> good to see both of you. let's take a look at the weather and see what's happening across the country. big headlines. coastal showers for texas and louisiana. but that's just the beginning. snow showers and cold air in montana are more significant as they roll into michigan and wisconsin tomorrow. cold air sinks, collides with warm air from the gulf and that's the threat of severe weather. today that threat is in san antonio, austin, abilene, even watching dallas, houston and oklahoma city for intensifies. 66 million people affected. tornadoes the major issue. biggest concern for eastern louisiana to tennessee, jackson, tuscaloosa, atlanta, nashville, new orleans for hail, high winds

and that potential for long track tornadoes. shelter in place when necessary. listen to your it's saturday morning. 53 degrees in san jose right now. we will be drying out this weekend. the workweek brought some rain. it brought a drop in temperatures. but this weekend it's all about the warm-up. 51 degrees right now in san f n francis francisco. 70 degrees in san jose. 61 in san francisco and mid-70s up through the north bay and into the interior valleys. sunny weekend ahead. e, that's a look at today's weather. peter? >> house looks good. all cleaned up this morning. thank you very much. the unique way that americans nationwide are supporting medical workers in need. smiles on our faces

fremont )s dry-thru testing center. it opened last week at the city )s fire tactical training site. 715 people were tested. 348 of those people -- are first responders and healthcare workers. 37 - confirmed postive. coming up this morning, on today in the bay. a loca whiskey distillery... turning around their entire business model during this pandemic... to save their business and their staff... and to help you. we have the story behind their new hand sanitizer... that, plus all your top stories - coming up at seven. right now - back to the today show.

hi. how are you? >> oh, my goodness. my grandma is your wanted me to me to say, do you believe in love at first sight or would you like me to walk by again? >> that's sweet. that's chip and joanna gaines and the whole family doing a fake book signing for joanna's new book magnolia table volume 2. her book tour was recently canceled. the family decided to hold their own signing. you can see the whole thing on joanna's instagram page and willie geist will revisit his sunday sitdown with chip and joanna. you don't want to miss that. bring a lot of smiles to faces.

>> count on the hour. april 11, 2020. we want to begin this half an hour with a check of headlines. the worldwide death toll from coronavirus has surpassed 100,000 with the united states accounting for 2,000 of those deaths in the last 24 hours alone. that is the highest total here yet. but there is some good news. intensive care admissions are down in new york state and in california. though officials are still warning americans to stay vigilant. meanwhile, the president is mulling over when and where to ease social distancing restrictions so that americans can get back to business. >> organizers of the popnt for time ever in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. burning man, which draws 80,000 festival-goers and generates $60 million in revenue to nevada each year was set to begin in late august. organizers say they will offer an online alternative called the

multiburst. details are still being worked out. ben affleck is the latest celebrity to lend a helping hand. a hand of poker turns out. the a-lister is rounding up famous friends like tom brady, adam sandler, john hamm, saari silver man. it will be available to live stream on twitch with proceeds benefiting feeding america. >> nice idea there. this morning, as we honor today's american heroes, we're highlighting men and women who are lending a hand to make life a little better for our health care workers on the front lines. this morning, an incredible turn of events when one family's facebook post turned into an entire movement. nbc's morgan chesky is in texas to explain. morgan, good morning. >> reporter: kristen, good morning. this is an incredible effort. you see the photos of the doctors, nurses and paramedics

on the front lines. can't imagine how tough that is. when they come home, they face a brand new struggle, how to safely separate themselves from their own families. now, one texas group is bringing them homes on wheels to help those who need it most. >> i want to thank everyone. >> this morning videos from health care heroes are pouring in from everywhere. >> i'm cam ng out in hillsborough, north carolina. >> my name -- >> i'm a nurse practitioner in an all covid icu in atlanta, georgia. >> everyone facing the same fear at emily phillips. >> seeing 100 patients a day. i don't know what he's coming home with. >> when her husband started seeing patients for covid-19, emily's asthma plus a newborn brought a tough choice. >> i thought maybe we'll move out, i'll get an apartment, it was my mom's idea actually. emily, see if somebody can rent an rv or camper and put it in your driveway. that's when i put the post up.

>> they loaned her an rv. emily and kids safe in the house. dad jason in his new home on wheels. emily decided to represent lay indicate. >> fantastic. save me the money from a hotel. it exploded. i was shocked. >> emily's idea, rvs for mds. a group barely two weeks old, now thousands strong. matching health care workers with folks like the harden family. >> it is a 28-foot bunk house super slide. >> father kurt packing up the trailer to deliver to a it free. >> we found out that the doctor who needs it is for texas oncology. my mom is a patient of texas tech oncology. at that point it was pretty much a no-brainer for us. >> thanks for helping me protect them. >> from texas to california. >> thank you for allowing me to be part of my family. >> new york to georgia. >> we're so grateful to the

yeager family for lending us their rv. >> i cannot express how much this means to my family and myself. >> heartfelt thanks for a movement that's just getting started. >> hopefully we can flatten this curve and one day look back and say this was actually a great moment in time where people came back together. >> so many people coming together to help this group. help even more people. rv share essentially the airbnb for rvs has given their services. a a lot more first responders getting these very soon. >> what a glareat thing and a difference maker for so many families. morgan, thank you very much now we want a check of the forecast from our friend, dave price. good morning. >> all right. peter. we're holding down new york for you. let's look at the maps. we've got a lot to talk about. let's time out the weekend weather trouble. the warm air from the gulf surges into the plains and the area of low pressure connected to it is going to intensify. the colder air pushes to the

south and then to the east today and sunday. that means snow nor the rockies. strong storms through texas too. into sunday, that severe weather threat expands and gets more significant. it pushes east of the mississippi and again, that's through easter sunday afternoon. we expect some long track tornadoes. those are tornadoes that stay on the ground for a long time. listen to your authorities and stay weather aware. monday, gusty wind and thunderstorms into the northeast. high winds and snow in sections of wisconsin and michigan. and those know totals are impressive. 3 to 6 across the northern plains. wisconsin into northern michigan could see upwards of a and we're waking up with some mild temperatures. right now in san jose 53 degrees. winds are pretty much nonexist tent, pretty calm. in the afternoon we'll get a warm-up.

upper 60s, even some 70s in today's forecast. this will set us up for a beautiful, warm weekend. 61 degrees in san francisco. 70 for areas like livermore. that's a look at today's weather. peter, back to you in d.c. all right, dave. thank you very much. just ahead right here, finding calm and strength in this new normal. how you can balance your health and well-being while dealing with our new reality. we'll talk live to mindfulness guru, social distancing doesn't have to make us socially distant, right? i mean, humans need other humans. even if we can't stand closer than six feet, or touch each other. there's still ways to...touch each other. like picking up food, or supplies, or, dropping them off. after all, cars were invented to bring us closer together. so, carmax is doing everything we can to keep you going. and that's the way it should be.

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mindfulness expert and the author of meta human. he's been teaming up with oprah winfrey for a meditation experience. we know you woke up early for this conversation. we're so grateful. so many people want to hear your message and hear from you. talk to me first about some of the best ways to find calm because, as you know, so many people are feeling anxious right now. >> there are many ways to find calm. the most effective way, of course, is through mindful awareness which means being in the present m without interpretive necessities. when you can be aware of experience and choices that you're making in the present moment, you can become -- i call this the stop formula. s, stop, t, take three deep breath or observe your breath and -- stop when you're feeling stressed and observe your

stress. s-t-o-p. >> i think taking deep breaths will resonate with a lot of people right now. we did ask our viewers for some of their top questions. trina cobb asks, how do i motivate myself to be more productive with all this doom and despair? what would you tell her? >> this is the time you have the opportunity to work from home and even be more productive in whatever you do. you have to innovate, you have to improvise. but keep work hours the same. eight hours, if that's what you do. then focus work time at home and focus relationship time. focus sleep time, focus meditation time. focus eating time. and a little bit of focus breathing time. these are the pillars of well-being. sleep, meditation, movement, emotions, relationships, and a little bit of healthy nutrition

and maintaining your biological rhythms and being aware of your choices in the moment, you'll be productive. you'll manage stress. >> two more questions, dr. chopra on facebook. one viewer, jean stoker says i'm fine and happy at home but get anxious before leaving to go out. what advice do you have for gene. >> first of all, minimize your going out. secondly, take all the usual precautions. thirdly, any time you feel anxious, just focus on your breath or the sensations in your body. that's it. and if you do that, you take away the connection between what you're thinking and what you're feeling. any emotion, any anxiety, the thought and the sensation at the same time. feel the sensation and move away from the thought. >> dr. chopra, you've been teaming up with oprah. tell me about that. you have a meditation series called hope in uncertain times.

what do you hope people get from that? >> oprah and i have managed to reach 7 to 10 million people with meditation online. this new meditation, which is hope in uncertain times is available any time for anyone. it's free of charge. it's chopra center meditation.com. you can go there right now. download the meditation. hopefully, minimize inflammation, maximize your capacity for self-healing, self-regulation and home yoe stasis. >> such wonderful advice and thoughts. dr. deepak chopra, thank you so much for getting up early to join us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> by the way, the free meditation experience, hope in uncertain times, is available now. coming no problem. how people all around the world are dealing with getting their haircut whi le

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> with barber shops and salons closed, what do you do when your loved one needs a haircut. here's sara harmon. >> the joy of the home haircut. >> as kids, we didn't know any better. but these days, with salons and barber shops closing, some of us have no choice but to get back to our roots. >> this is probably not a very smart idea. >> drastic times call for drastic hair measures. >> this is a good time for a corona cut. >> the hash tags corona haircut, pandemic bangs and others, people around the world take matters into their own hands. >> with mixed results. >> oh, god. >> even celebs are getting in on

it. singer pink taking a diy approach. >> i can cut hair. why have i been paying people all this time? >> carson daly doing it, too. >> is that a bad idea? >> really bad. >> sympathetic pros have tried to help out as best they can. >> i advised against it. but i also know you guys are feeling a little crazy. >> but there's only so much you can do through a screen. >> so i'm practicing on my husband. >> usually i don't drink at work. but this is an exception. >> ready? >> i guess so. >> yeah. like that's not bad. >> it's not just haircuts that are going virtual. quarantine makeup tutorials are cropping up. in case you were eye shadow goes with sweatpants. >> whenever i'm bored, i always do my makeup. quarantine is very boring. >> safe to say, once this is over, some of us will be making

a beeline to the nail salon. >> right now, most of us are just trying to get by as best we can. >> and we can't all be pros. >> sorry. >> for today, sara harmon, nbc news. good effort all around. looking pretty good. peter, i know you got an at-home haircut. allison, your wife did a great job. >> a reminder to americans, no drinking while cutting. it goes a long way. still

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- [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. and they're counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. grubhuurants we love. it's saturday, april 11th. as we take a live look outside over oakland. little cloudy skies as we begin our easter weekend. thanks so much for joining us. good saturday morning. we're in the 50s right now. it's not too cold, mild. chelk out the skies. we are seeing some areas of local cloud cover, but overall the sun will be dominating today as we are expecting a very beautiful weekend. dry and warmer. 53 degrees in san jose.

53 in hayward. 53 in san francisco. and here is a little preview of what you can expect for the afternoon. areas like freemont will get a combination of sun and clouds early on. you can see it's all sunshine from there. we'll see similar conditions throughout the entire bay area as we set up for a warming trend this weekend. temperatures will be in the 70s. concord 72. napa 71. detalls on that coming up in a bit. >> all right. we'll see you at 7:00. thanks. with that beautiful weather expected, bay area leaders urge it is more important than ever to stay sheltered at home. at ocean beach in san francisco, plenty of signs reminding people of these ongoing shelter at home orders. where signs remind people to stay six feet apart. during the mayor's weekly briefing, the san francisco mayor reminded residents large

groups will still prohibited. across the bay in oakland, the mayor delivered a similar message. >> we recognize that it will be very difficult for people of faith to not go to church. but we have got to be clear with everyone. social distancing is the only vaccine we have to fight this deadly virus. >> easter sunday services will be made available online at many bay area services. both encouraging families to come up with new easter traditions just for this year. the latest from freemont's drive through testing center. in total, only 37 confirmed positive. coming up this morning on today in the bay, a local whisky distillery turning around their entire business model to save their business and keep their staff employed. and they're going to help you.

they're making new hand sanitizer. we'll take you there. we'll have that plus all your top stories and the forecast coming up at 7:00. we hope to see you then. right now, back to the today show. good morning. heartache and hope. more than 2,000 americans dead from the coronavirus in the last

24 hours. the worst day yet. breaking a worldwide record. but amid the despair, new signs of progress. intensive care admissions down in new york state and california, too. still officials warn, while the curve appears to be flattening, americans need to remain vigilant. and president trump weighs when the country should reopen for business to make a decision and i only hope to god that it's the right decision. >> tp, mia? what's behind the toilet paper shortage. from the psychological reasons to the genuine need for more paper products at home. we'll get to the bottom of it. and comic relief. late night comedians and comics around the world still working to make us laugh. late night shows figuring out new ways to put on their shows remotely to standup done without an audience. how comedians are working to put a smile on all of our faces.

today, saturday, april 11, 2020. good morning. welcome back to "today" on a saturday morning. peter so good to see you. of course, we're taking our turns with social distancing. it's my turn to anchor from home. i have my husband running the scripts. so far so good. i miss you there in studio. too. who knew he was such a good congratulations to john behind the scenes making things happen on a saturday morning. >> he gets the award for the tech manager today. well, peter as you know, it has been a busy week as well. we have a lot to get to. let's begin with today's news on the coronavirus. we saw another grim number as the worldwide death toll has now surpassed 100,000 here in the u.s. there are nearly half a million cases with more than 18,000 deaths. more than a third of those are in new york state alone. with a 30-day social distancing guidelines set to

expire at the end of the month, president trump says what comes next is the biggest decision he's ever had to make. on this holiday weekend, with most places of worship closed for in-person prayer, officials are urging people to stay inside and to celebrate at home. there's so much to get to this morning. and our team is covering all of it. let's begin with kathy park. she's outside of the national tennis center in queens, new york, which has just started accepting patients. kathy, good morning to you. what's the latest there? >> reporter: kristen, good morning to you. doctors and nursescr many at the national tennis centeronnue back, there are hope. this morning, a new mission for the famous tennis courts that host the u.s. open. now serving as a field hospital treating coronavirus patients. >> the total number originally was going to be 350 beds will now be 470 bed.

>> fema dispatching in new jersey, dozens of ambulances to metlife stadium in east rutherford to respond to the crisis. the worldwide death toll has passed 100,000. and the u.s. broke a global record with more than 2,000 deaths in one day. but the epicenter of the nation's outbreak appears to be turning a corner. new york governor andrew cuomo sharing cautious optimism with infections flowing. >> change in icu admissions is actually a negative number for the first time since we started this intense journey. >> more encouraging news out west as california sees its first daily decrease in icu admissions. but to continue slowing the spread of the virus, officials in beverly hills require residents to wear a face covering in public. on the front lines of this site, the battle is far from over. as doctors and nurses document the struggles of saving lives.

dr. patty at st. barnabas hospital in the bronx. >> it doesn't seem like it's slowing down. let's hope we reach that plateau at some point soon. or we flatten the curve. i'm hopeful. >> these haunting images show the reality of keeping up with the record breaking number of deaths. bodies being buried at new york city's heart island. the public cemetery averaged about 24 burials a week. now it's per day according to the department of corrections. but the invisible enemy hasn't won. even while separated the show must go on. snl returned tonight with a new episode produced remotely. a new jersey football coach still found a way to go the extra mile. delivering 88 championship rings to each member on the team. just minus the hugs. >> reporter: and we have learned that if all the beds here at the national tennis center aren't

filled with covid patients, it may actually transition into a quarantine center for those who have milder symptoms of the virus. it would be a safe space for them to get better and prevent further spread of this virus. peter? >> nice to celebrate the good moments, like the handing out of high school championship rings. kathy, thank you very much. the question on everybody's mind this morning. when will life finally get back to normal? president trump hopes it happens sooner than later but calls it a difficult decision trying to balance keeping americans healthy while getting them back to work. nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house this morning for us. kelly good morning. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the president praised the american people for following the federal guidelines to stay home to block the spread of the virus. he's also under a lot of pressure to figure out what comes next. getting people back to their normal work family lives could come with a painful price if the country reopens too soon. >> the president promised to be

guided by science. >> i will certainly listen. i will certainly listen. >> while also relying on instinct. >> the metrics right here. that's my metrics. >> bearing the heavy responsibility of when and how to lift social distancing restrictions set to expire april 30th. >> i'm going to have to make a decision and i only hope to god that it's the right decision. i would say, without question, it's the biggest decision i've ever had to make. >> a new cbs poll on the president's handling of the crisis shows 47% of americans questioned say the president is doing a good job. but that's down four points since last week. >> should americans have to decide between staying healthy and going back to work? >> we're going to do both. we're going to go back to work and we're going to stay healthy. >> experts acknowledge returning to work withou're going to be relaxing some of the

restrictions, there's no doubt you're going to see cases. i would be surprised if we did not see cases. the question is how you respond to them. >> the president clearly torn. >> you open up, could lead to death. you're right. you know what, staying at home leads to death also. >> as economic hardships spiral, negotiations continue with capitol hill for another massive relief package. while president trump says tuesday he will commission a bipartisan group of elected officials, science and business experts to plan next steps. >> i call it the opening our country task force or opening our country council. >> in this easter season, the president urged those determined to hold services to instead heed restrictions and stay home. >> we've got to get our country cured. let's get healed before we do this. >> reporter: for many years, president trump has gone to church in palm beach on easter sunday spending time with his family at mar-a-lago. this year, he'll be watching services on a laptop here at the

white house. kristen? >> easter celebration, right? kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you for that. how about a little bit of a morning boost now with hugs on hold for the time being, when will -- a louisiana woman got cree a to show her parents a little love. check this out. >> mom! >> that is so sweet. that is kathy embracing her mom through, yes, a plastic shower can you remember curtain. writing when your mom and dad say i don't know how much longer we can go without hugging our kids. you become desperate enough to invent the hug me curtain. we can't vouch for the safety of the curtain. she disinfects and washes and dries it after each meeting. incredible to see those hugs, peter. >> no doubt. everybody needs a good hug these days. hopefully we get back to those

days soon. ahead, a little bit of potty talk. what is the deal with the toilet paper shortage across the [car engine failing to start] [clicking of ignition] uh-- wha-- woof! eeh-- woof! wuh-- [silence] [engine roars to life] [dog howls] ♪ dramatic opera music swells from radio ♪ [howling continues] over time, you go noseblind to the odors in your home. (background music) but others smell this... and eliminate odors for 1200 hours. ♪breathe happy febreze... ♪la la la la la. -oh, pete!?! -c'mon man. what? we said pantyhose right?

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look. >> you've probably been hearing, talking and thinking about one particular bathroom item a little more than normal lately. >> 100 rolls of toilet paper. doesn't make a lot of sense. >> that's exactly what most americans are doing with toilet paper sales up more than 100% from this time last year. believe it or not, this isn't the first time a crisis created a tp frenzy. >> you know what else is disappearing from the supermarket shelves? toilet paper. you can laugh now. >> in 1973 that rumor sent panicked shoppers to, you guessed it, the toilet paper aisle. >> doctors say herd mentality could be to blame. >> we kind of don't really think about what we really need. it's what everybody else is doing. >> there's known as zero risk buying. >> in this situation, it's like i'm not going to have buyers remorse, there's zero risk to

buying all this tp. >> or even hoarding. >> we are actually fortunate we have quite a bit of toilet paper in stork, which makes me want to buy it since it's available. but i have some at home. so i'm not going to get it or hoard it. >> there is one other thing to consider. we actually do need more toilet paper. with nearly 95% of americans under stay-at-home orders, imagine all the bathroom breaks normally taken at offices, restaurants or stores now all happening under our own roofs. >> we have moved faster than i've seen us move back. >> oversees brands like scott and cottonelle. >> aren't people in your life saying how do i get toilet paper? >> they are. >> let me be one of those people. how can i get some if i need some? >> be patient. that product will be there soon. >> we're all reminded to think of others. that holds true here, too. >> we need to think about who

were we and are we helping or are we hurting? >> remember, keep for "today," savannah sellers, nbc news. coming out of the grocery store these days, the rare times you break out of your house, someone with a big old load of this and give them that look like you got the last toilet paper these days. it's the hottest commodity in the stores. >> it's the hottest commodity, peter. when that happens, you know you're driving to the very next store. no hoarding, people. that's the message. let's get one more check of weather with dave. hey, dave. >> hey, christen. nice to see you. could you send your designer my way. i could use improvements in the kitchen. let's look at what's happening in the country. shall we? we've got tough stuff to watch out for. let's get to t cold air from the northern plains. that meets up with moist air and warm air from the gulf. along that collision line, a real threat of severe weather. today it means we watch texas

into sections of oklahoma, hail, high winds and isolated tornadoes. they're all in the picture. now, tomorrow, 66 million people affected on easter sunday. the threat of severe weather is real. we're watching very carefully. eastern louisiana, tennessee, stay weather aware. watch the conditions and have a shelter plan in place. we're talking about areas around new orleans and nash vim, atlanta, tuscaloosa and jackson. elsewhere in the country on easter, dry in new england, nice along the west coast. could see record cold high temperatures in the northern rockies. and that's a quick loo good morning. since we can't head to the beach anymore at least temporary, i want to give you this view of san francisco. those clouds clear out. here is a look at your current temperatures right now. 53 in san jose. 54 in oakland.

we're talking about 50 degrees in santa cruz. but take a look at your afternoon highs. this is what's going to set us up for a much warmer weekend and week ahead. details coming up at 7:00 a.m. 96 in florida. 61 in flowerpot, arizona. and passover, missouri, 66 degrees. we'll send it back to you. happy holidays, guys. >> happy holidays. what a nice note to end that on. dave, thank you for that. coming up, comedians helping us make time for the

back on a saturday morning with pop start and even during these serious times, it's good to keep on laughing whenever possible. as nbc's joe fryer tells us, several comedians are making sure that happens even if they

change how they're telling jokes. >> welcome to the tonight show. i'm excited to be doing the show from my panic room, i mean living room. >> no audience but plenty of material. >> you think you drew this? >> yeah. >> that's really nice. >> for "the tonight show." >> it's you and me for the next hour. >> to the late, late show. >> this is the first time in two and a half weeks that i've not been wearing sweatpants. >> to jimmy kimmel live. >> jimmy kimmel live! >> from his house. >> late night comics are truly hosts, hosting from home. they're not the only ones keeping the comedy coming. each week the laugh factory in hollywood streams standup routines with comedians performing to an empty room. >> actually met a girl on tinder who looks nothing like her profile pick. what do you want to do? find the girl in the photo. >> created an instagram show called hip your weight -- >> i don't think it's fair to make a baby that's --

>> the famous funny folks testing jokes to raise money for comedy clubs shut down by the virus. >> comedians are resourceful. >> jim gaffigan is raising money for the world health organization's covid-19 fund. >> it's dinner with the gaffigans. >> by putting his family dinners on youtube. >> we can't sit in the reality of this crisis 24 hours a day. so there is something engaging and entertaining about humanity. >> who can name a city or a province in canada? katie. >> viewers can watch gaffigan, his wife and five kids enjoy a family meal for about 40 minutes each night. >> maybe we need it now more than ever. >> compared to the health care workers, we're not doing anything. but if it can provide a distraction, maybe bring

everyone's heart rate down a little bit, then that's good. >> because now is not the time to cut the funny stuff. for "today," joe fryer, nbc news. it sure isn't. thank goodness for comedians right now. peter, i know as a dad of two, you'll appreciate this. i love jimmy fallon incorporating his kids into his act. it's great. >> so much fun. i can't believe that jimmy has a slide in his house. i can promise my kids tonight, i will be wearing a baker's cap. be w ea i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. once weekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. it starts acting from the first dose. and it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known heart disease or multiple risk factors. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer,

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that's going to do it for us on a saturday morning. obviously, it can be a challeng distance. kristen, i'm glad that you and john are doing well. can't wait to see you in person. when i do, i want to find out how to buy the matching lamps behind you. >> i'll get you all the information you need. this was our greatest accomplishment so far. we're pretty proud we got the show on the air. it was a lot of fun. we want to remind you, you can always tune in to nbc news for more on the coronavirus crisis. >> we hope you enjoy your day. stay safe, stay healthy. for all those celebrating, from all of us at nbc news, we want to wish you a happy easter. have a great saturday everybody.

good morning. coming up next on today in the bay, a sacred weekend for those celebrating passover and easter. but a reminder, the only vaccine we have against coronavirus is social distancing. plus, if you are still hard

pressed to find paper goods or hand sanitizer, we have a story about a place you likely haven't looked. and a beautiful weekend ahead. plenty of sunshine on the way. a warming trend in your micro climate forecast. what we do now will forever change our tomorrow. so let's do the right thing, today.

let's stay at home. let's wash up. let's always keep our distance - please, six feet apart at least. let's look after ourselves, as well as others. it will all be worth it. we can all do our part. so those on the front line can do their part. and when this is over, we will all, continue, to thrive.

- [female vo] restaurants are our family. the cornerstone of our communities. and our family needs help. to help them through. because if we don't treat restaurants like family today.. they might not be around to treat us like family tomorrow. grubhub. together, we can help save the restaurants we love.

good morning. it is saturday, april 11th. we are taking a live look outside in downtown san jose. some cloudy skies there, but we know that the sunshine with us. i'm keira