go to census.gov. trump is halting funds to the world health organization accusing it of covering up china's coronavirus outbreak >> and we'll take you inside the testing crisis a process that's essential before anyone can get back to business >> and meet the 99-year-old world war ii veteran that managed to beat coronavirus. good to have you with us i'm frances rivera >> i'm phillip mena. >> the president has changed his

stance now pledging to cooperate with governors in reopening the country. the number of americans with coronavirus has now surpassed 608,000 as the fatalities near the 30,000 mark. in new york the death toll spiked by more than 3,700 after the state included people who have never tested positive but presumed to have died from it jooch residents will now be able to book the same day appointment. it is all thanks to increased testing and after being crippled by the pandemic major u.s. airlines are getting a $25 million bailout. carriers have grounded hundreds of jet liners because of the state at home orders dozens of masks have been donated. the staff got to thank her via face time. and employees will be the

subjects of a major coronavirus stud different nearly 10,000 workers will take part in an anti body study. it is the first national study of its kind. three churches are suing governor gavin newsom and others for banning religious gatherings the pastors claim religious services should be deemed essential because they are important to the spiritual health of the organization production is ahead of schedule for ventilators they've partnered with venntec life systems to produce a dozen ventilators by june 1st. the nebraska crossing outlets is planning a soft opening on april 24th during the same time officials predict the virus is supposed to be hitting its peak

from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. shoppers over 60 and those with disabilities will be able to pick up their groceries without stepping into the store. turning to the enor mus challenge of reoebing the country. president trump is talking about reopening sections of it within weeks but a number of governors say that's not his decision. >> reporter: in raleigh, north carolina, protesters anxious to get their lives back demanding an end to stay at home orders. and at the white house, president trump announcing some states may be reopening before his own target date of may 1st >> we're going to pick a date and get a date that's good but it's going to be very, very soon sooner than the end of the month. >> his presidential power is absolute, he seemed to backtrack and acknowledge individual states have the power to reopen or not >> and the governors are going to come out at a time when they're ready, some are going to

come out very, very shortly. >> but with a warning. >> governors are going to do a good job and if they don't do a good job we'll come down on them very hard. we'll have no other choice >> governors forming regional alliances and talking about what their cities will look like when they reopen. >> you may be having dinner with a waiter wearing gloves, maybe a face mask. >> though testing will be a key to reopening trump leaving that up to the states now test kits are a hot commodity. >> really painful lessons was all this crazy competing by states and cities for medical equipment. we're going to do that again >> as the president applauded his own response to the pandemic he blamed the world health organization for mishandling it and announced the u.s. will cut off funding pending an

investigation. controversial first, the president's name will appear on those much needed stimulus checks while it's not a signature, mr. trump's name is on the left side of the payment in the memo section. for more on this we go now to our capitol hill correspondent, tr tracie potts >> we're talking about those paper checks that people will get starting in may, not the direct deposits today, but after president trump originally said he wouldn't be signing the checks the treasury department did confirm that no, he won't sign the checks but his name will be on these checks on the left side in the memo section. now, critics of president trump accuse him of trying to take advantage of these payments during an election year to take credit for people getting these payments when it was actually congress that authorized them, but asked just a week and a half ago whether his name should be

on the checks, the president said no. >> no, there's millions of checks i'm going to sign them no it's a trump administration initiative but do i want to sign them, no >> i wish it were the only ecotrip. it seems almost every day this crisis revolves about him about his desires, his needs his enemies. >> so here's the timeline again for those $1,200 stimulus checks some people will get more if they're married. some will get less depending on their income but 80 million americans should see those payments or some version of them hit their accounts today if you have social security, ssdi those payments will go out later this month and again, the paper checks are expected to roll out in early may. back to you. >> much needed relief. a lot of people hitting the refresh button this morning. thank you. with no cure yet for the coronavirus and millions of

americans out of work due to national lockdowns experts say the country needs to ramp up virus testing before reopening according to the covid tracking project, roughly 150,000 people are tested every day but some say that's not near enough to collect data needed to begin lifting safety measures. >> reporter: some health experts say we need millions of tests a week some say millions a day before enough data is collected to begin letting people back out. but as some lines for drive through testing just get longer there is agreement on one thing. the country is not testing nearly enough. >> we have to develop that widespread testing capacity. >> according to the covid tracking project, roughly 150,000 people are tested every day. >> diagnostics are the key so let's keep pushing that forward to the point where anybody that needs to get a test in the country can get it that same day. >> so what is stand ng the way

supply shortages kits and nasal swabs infrastructure shortages, not enough machines and labs to run the tests and there aren't enough people from those who administer the test to those who process them right now there are an untolled number of americans suffering from covid like symptoms who simply can't get tested. sometimes it takes money she trustruggled for days to ge test >> soon as the doctor called and said hey, i have a patient, she's got all the symptoms, we need to get her tested i should have been tested >> reporter: widespread testing is just part of the equation getting a handle on transmission requires knowing who has it and who they exposed those at risk including anyone who came in roughly 6 feet of someone with covid-19 would have to self-isolate for 14 days. >> what we want to do on the offense of this, find, find,

find if people aren't very sick find them so they don't infect their family members or other close contacts >> but health departments don't have the staff needed to handle programs on this scale >> we need 100,000 people working on this in the coming year >> apple and google announced new technology that could help people who contract the virus report their diagnosis to the app and anyone who came close to them is notified but that raises another concern. privacy. and finally, the problem of enforcement. >> is there a sense that people have enough social responsibility to self-isolate without being compelled to self-isolate >> we believe that that is the case in this country, that most people -- the vast majority of people would willingly isolate themselves >> all of this while the world awaits a vaccine and faces the reality that even with one, our

lives will never been the same nbc news, new york >> as the coronavirus continue to spread around the globe, now approaching 2 million infections, some parts of europe are slowly lifting their covid-19 restrictions in areas where cases are starting to level off. this as a uk advisor expects britain's death curve to continue to rise this week for the latest on the global response we bring in chapman bell life for us in london good morning >> reporter: good morning, phillip. the medical director of the national health service here say it is main strategy of combatting the virus, that social distancing needs to continue but there's increasing evidence it's working and hospitalizations as well as deaths will plateau and then begin to decline the government here also addressing report that the economy could shrink by 35% in one scenario in the second quarter but they say while tough times are ahead, that it will

bounce back. meanwhile though, france has seen a reduction of cases in the icu, but the french president says it's still not under control and restrictions will continue it's one year, phillip, since that fire at notre dame cathedral. works have been postponed and another french icon is facing postponement and that is the tour de france this all while countries such as spain, austria and now denmark are relaxing restrictions in the country though there is some anxiety in the country and within the international community that these relaxings of restrictions could be too soon as we've seen an up tick in cases in some countries like china. >> all right thank you. wow, that fire at notre dame, that feels like five years ago. >> week by week it seems like everything that happened now is a long time ago. >> let's get a check of our forecast with some winter weather for some areas in mid april. >> yeah, we were just talking

about a two-day severe weather outbreak across the deep south into the mid-atlantic. this is that same cold front that is making its way across the northeast right now and we're seeing a quick burst of that rain and snow mixture 54 million under winter weather alerts with freeze watches, warnings, advisories in place. we are going to see temperatures that are about 10 to about 3 degrees below average for this time of year so the a.m. rain will continue for the northeast with that second wave entering the freezing mark. back in the mid-50s from new york city to boston this afternoon. so great news that we're over the severe weather but here comes winter once again.

>> that's okay it's fine. it is fine we can save all the warm weather so when we can go outside. >> perspective right? >> thanks. up next, joe biden picks up the biggest endorsement in the country. >> and bernie sanders has a chat >> and bernie sanders has a chat with c a range of innovative air fresheners with no heavy perfumes that you can feel good about using in your home to deliver a light, natural-smelling freshness. febreze one neutralizes stale, stuffy odors and releases a subtle hint of fragrance like bamboo or lavender & eucalyptus. to eliminate odors with no heavy perfumes, try febreze one. brand power. helping you buy better. ...crunchy oat clusters with a hotouch of honey...ombine... ...plump, juicy raisins... ...and tasty fiber... ...into one delicious cereal? it took a lot of branstorming. get it? kellogg's raisin bran crunch. two scoops of delicious.

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high protein. low sugar. tastes great! high protein. low sugar. so good. high protein. low sugar. mmm, birthday cake. pure protein. the best combination to help you stay fit. what i'm also trying to do right now cardi is to work with joe to see that he becomes a more progressive candidate >> senator bernie sanders sat down with cardi b on instagram live for 20 minutes. they talked about his endorsement for joe oobiden for president and what congress is working on during the coronavirus pandemic she joked that his nails looked very quarantined because they did a little chat today

together >> if they weren't so busy and they needed another show it would be widely watched. joe biden is picking up his bigges vice president saying that biden has all the qualities we need in a president right now. peter alexander has more. >> reporter: president obama after sitting out the democratic primary campaign breaking his silence. >> i'm so proud to endorse joe biden for president of the united states. choosing joe to be my vice president was one of the best decisions i ever made. >> the former president casting his close friend as the right person to leadthe country through the coronavirus crisis >> joe helped me handle h1n1 and prevent ebola from becoming the pandemic we're seeing now. >> the republicans running the u.s. senate are not interested in progress. they're interested in power. >> reporter: it comes a day after biden won bernie sanders'

backing, sanders telling the ap it would be irresponsible for his loyalists not to support biden. >> we have to look to the future bernie understands that. and joe understands that >> biden's regularly touted their relationship. >> i stand with president obama all eight years, good, bad and indifferent. that's where i stand >> the president's re-election campaign dismissing the endorsement saying obama has no other choice but to support biden. president trump will destroy him. biden now hoping obama's popularity that has not always translated to votes for others will benefit him this fall >> how major leaguers are stepping up to the plate in the coronavirus fight. >> and the faces of late night are joining forces for a good cause. we'll be right back.

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this saturday join jimmy fallon and his late night counter parts for an all star special to celebrate the heroic efforts of front line workers and support the global efforts to fight covid-19. it airs right here on nbc. the news of president trump is halting u.s. funding to the world health organization, reaction exploding around the globe. here with more from london

>> good morning. so this is pretty big news overnight. president trump planning to halt u.s. funding to the w.h.o. pending a review of its response to the initial coronavirus outbreak now, president trump has accused the organizations of quote, severely mismanaging and covering up the coronavirus crisis this comes after the organization criticized president trump's restrictions on china and has seen some backlash already with the bill gates weighing in saying that halting funding for the w.h.o. during a world crisis is as dangerous as it sounds i want to highlight major league baseball is stepping up to the plate. they are joining the intention to stop the virus. very helpful efforts from the

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living to do here's how >> oscar winning actor matthew mcconaughey aka bobby b showing fans how to make a homemade mask using just a bandana, coffee filter and a couple of rubber bands. he also reminded us to stay at home the entire video is on his

twitter page love the extra layer with the coffee filter. i've never heard that. >> i like it now to the story of triumph, a 99-year-old veteran got to leave a brazil hospital after overcoming the coronavirus >> he received a booming round of applause from hospital staff as he was discharged happy and healthy and hopefully he will stay happy and healthy and well. >> that's amazing. just too tough all right. big congratulations to sierra and her husband russell wilson they are having a boy. f revelation shared on social media for their fans, friends and family to experience all while staying safe in quarantine what a cool looking yard too >> the wilsons already have a daughter and a son but now they

get to add an player on to their squad. >> love it they can share so much joy here's nbc's kevin tibbles. >> reporter: pure florida sunshine when albert jones installing a gas line near a winter garden senior's home heard tfrs barbara's 94th birthday he poured out his heart >> her whole face lits up as if her soul knew his soul >> barbara's daughter has been troubled she can't visit mom up close during the pandemic. his gift bridged that gap. >> any time i can use the gift of god that's what i'm going to do >> he is an angel. he is our angel. >> a serenade so beautiful it must be heaven sent. >> thank you

>> wow well done. thing about it though is for her neighbors at that same home, they might get jealous >> that's sweet though >> have a great wednesday. i'm frances rivera >> i'm phillip mena. before we go we leav e ♪ ♪ don't feel like wearing pants? okay who drank all the milk? enjoy the great taste of dunkin' at home.

and a good morning to you. up headlines right now at 4:30. today is the day when california is expected to see its peak in deaths. yesterday the highest death toll at 71. >> the financial relief is starting to pour in to bank accounts. single tax filers may get up to $1,200 worth of stimulus cash, $2,400 for married taxpayers. good morning and thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington.