states while leaving the blame for anything that goes wrong to governors? panel is next. but first, we asked respondents to our poll for a word or phrase to describe what america is going through right now. here's the word cloud. at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. because our way works great for us! but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, this sunday, opening obligated to put clients first. arguments. so, what do you provide? >> we're opening up our country. cookie cutter portfolios? >> president trump releases nope. we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. broad frail guidelines for a phased in return to normal. but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, >> our national shutdown is not right? a sustainable long-term we don't have those. so, what's in it for you? solution. >> mr. trump leaves the decision our fees are structured so we do better but not money to governors. when our clients do better. >> you're going to say i'm providing no help. at fisher investments we're clearly different. no assistance, no financial money. >> and offers only limited plans for increased testing. >> today, we have sufficient amount of testing to meet the requirements of a phase-one reopening. >> but health care proeflgs are deeply skeptical.

>> i don't understand why they would even consider it. not until we're in the clear. >> this as the president encourages anti-shutdown protests. >> i don't think that the government really has any business telling us what we can and cannot do. >> plus, the economy in fr hold on one second... freefall. 22 million file for unemployment sure. in one month. okay... okay! >> the average working family is safe drivers save 40%!!! only comweeks away from not guys! guys! being able to pay bills. check it out. safe drivers save 40%!!! >> why some americans are faring safe drivers save 40%! so much worse than others. safe drivers save 40%!!! ply guests this morning, vice that's safe drivers save 40%. president mike pence and two it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. governors, republican mike - he's right there. - it's him! he's here. dewine of ohio, and democrat he's right here. gretchen whitmer of michigan. - hi! - hi. >> also, joe biden's big week. hey! - that's totally him. - it's him! three key endorsements. that's totally the guy. safe drivers do save 40%. >> i'm so proud to endorse joe click or call for a quote today. biden for president of the united states. >> democrats are unified this time. will it make a difference? we turn to the most certain thing there is. joining me for insight and analysis are nbc white house science. science can overcome diseases. create cures. correspondent peter alexander, and yes, beat pandemics.

it has before. it will again. danielle pletka, and jeh john n johnson. because when it's faced with a new opponent, welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press" and our continuing coverage of the it doesn't back down - it revs up. asking questions 'til it finds what it's looking for. coronavirus pandemic. >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running that's the power of science. show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck our research, experts and resources. todd. good sunday morning. a week that began with president all in an effort to advance potential therapies trump declaring that this and vaccines. authority was total ended with a other companies and academic institutions death toll in the united states topping 38,000 and mr. trump are doing the same. the entire global scientific community telling governors it's up to them to decide when to reopen is working together to beat this thing. for business. and we're using science to help make it happen. but the president's broad guidelines leave many issues unresolved like a lack of because when science wins, we all win. protective gear for health care work workers. plans to handle a likely resurgent in the pandemic, and how to vastly increase the testing needed to restart the economy. mr. trump is being squeezed by depressionlike numbers that prompt some to argue that losing lives may be an acceptable price to pay for getting the economy

going. he's encouraging anti-social distancing protests by tweeting states need to be liberated from his very own guidelines. we have a new poll on the federal government's handling of welcome back. the panel is with us from their the covid-19 crisis. by a 52/38 margin, registered remote locations. nbc news white house voters say they're more worries correspondent peter alexander, the u.s. will move too quickly to loosen restrictions than take danielle pletka, and former too long. homeland security secretary jeh 65% say president trump did not johnson. welcome. take the threat seriously enough i want to show the president's at the beginning of the crisis job approval rating trend in our while only 32% said he did. new nbc/"wall street journal" 42% approve of his handling of poll. here it is from april of 2019. the crisis while 52% disapprove. i want to show you thee numbers now 50 governors are toad to here. 46% approved. 51% disapproved. now think about what's happened, come up with 50 slolutis to a guys. we had an impeachment and a national testing problem. pandemic. he tells them i'll take the so an impeachment and a pandemic has happened between april of credit for opening the country while you take the blame for '19 and april of 2020 and the anything that goes wrong. president's job ratings are 46% president trump lurching between declaring power. >> when somebody is the approve, 51% disapprove. president of the united states, peter alexander, obviously, the the authority is total. >> and denying responsibility. durable nature of the president >> going to be up to the governors. >> after prompting on at times knows no bounds.

thursday -- >> we're not opening all at a pandemic, an impeachment, nothing seems to break through once. but one careful step at a time. there. >> on friday, the president that said, the president seems fueled reopening protests in a to be, and i'm curious, peter, he seems to have moved on to a handful of states with democratic governors tweeting new phase. he seems to believe he's got a liberate minnesota, michigan, big part of his job on the pandemic done. and virginia. >> yeah, chuck, i think you're >> i hope it's not encouraging exactly right. more protests. in my conversations with white >> i do not have time to involve house officials and those close myself in twitter wars. to the president, they agree. >> i like to know what they they say in the eyes of the think we could have done president, this is a transition to a new phase. differently because again, we're leading as we were asked. what's particularly striking here is you sort of have this me we flattened the curve, we built president and what is best up our ppe. described as a we crisis. >> mr. trump's tweets come as the president who as you said media on the right is amplifying earlier in your conversation the protests and in some cases with the vice president, is trying to sort of claim credit conservative groups are organizing and funding them. for the guidelines being out. 1 >> time, gentlemen deadline, saying he's trying to and ladies, fordisobedience. move the economy on, get things back to normal life, is now casting the blame for perceived failures on testing and other >> more than 22 million have issues if the economy isn't to come back quick enough, on the applies for unemploy 7 ploploym governors here. you just compare that, chuck, to last week. in a new poll, 22% say the what millions of americans watched last night with leaders economy is excellent or good, and artists together in this down from 53% in december.

concert that was watched around but even trump friendly the globe. right? this was something that focused republican governors have been on the sort of sense of slow to embrace the president's togetherness right now. call to lift state-wide acting selflessly, working stay-at-home orders. together with other nations, >> in opening texas, we must be including frankly the world guided by data and by doctors. health organization and the effort to stay inside. >> i wanted to come here today most presidents you would see really raise their numbers, they and announce that we can all would rise dramatically in ease up and reopen. moments of crisis like this. it hasn't been the case for this but we can't. president. >> no, there's been a temptation >> just 36% of voters trust what to engage politically. the president has said about the but jeh johnson, as a former coronavirus. compared to 66% who trust their own governors and 69% who trust head of dhs, how would a the cdc. national testing strategy work if you were told to put together and 64% are not satisfied with a national strategy? the federal government's actions >> two things. on testing. first, chuck, i do have to put after months of promises -- my public safety hat back on >> anybody that needs a test gets a test. here. they're there. the president, the vice >> only about 3.7 million tests president, the white house are have been conducted, an average so anxious to say the worst is of 146,000 per day, far short of over, we're on a downward whateshperts say is required for trajectory, we're flattening the reopening. curve. the president once promised a without delivering the equally national testing website and important accompanying message widespread testing in drugstore that governor cuomo and others parking lots. >> you'll be directed to one of have been so good at, which is these incredible companies that we're still in the depths of

this crisis and we still need to are going to give a little bit be vigilant and rigorous in our of their parking lot so that people can come by and do a social distancing and the like drive-by test. in order to get to where we all >> now, a months later -- want to be. >> federal government is now, that aside, the vice supposed to do testing of parking lots in the middle of a president in his interview with certain state, that's 2,000 you said three times we have the miles away. it's ridiculous. >> now, president trump is testing in place right now to go trying to shift the blame, tweeting, the states have to to phase one of the white house step up their testing. guidelines. but if you read the white house >> he said 11 times, i don't guidelines carefully, phase one want to get involved in testing. it's too complicated. is still social distancing, keep it's too hard. i know it's too complicated and the vulnerable population at it's too hard. home, no common areas, bars that's why we need you to help. >> and joining me now from the closed, nonessential travel should be banned, so phase one white house is vice president looks a lot like mid, early mike pence. mr. vice president, welcome back to "meet the press." march. >> morning, chuck. it's relatively easy to say we have testing adequate for that >> i want to start simply with right now. what some governors have had to to go back to normalcy, we need say on the issue of testing. way more than what we have right now, which is why there needs to take a listen, sir. be a national federal effort at >> there needs to be more getting what we need to do the testing infrtrtest kits, more c testing. test. >> we need some assistance from >> danielle pletka, wetient be surprised by the president's comes to swabs and reagents. eagerness to open.

>> one of our problems for our i get that, and that is to be -- hospitals who are doing testing is lack of reagents. to be charitable, one way to look at what he's doing. and this does lie with the fda. but he also seems to be desperate to engage politically >> they set the expectation very in this. in ways that feel like they're high, but then they didn't send unhelpful to him long term. >> you know, we have all been the cartridges to do the tests. having this conversation since >> we have put in seven to nine donald trump was elected. at the beginning, everybody orders to fema and not received anything. hoped that campaign don was not >> this is mayhem. we need a coordinated approach going to be president between the federal government and the states. >> i'm sure, mr. vice president, and at this point, i think we you probably can recognize the need to recognize that there is voice of all 50 governors these not going to be any personal days because of how often you're growth in office for donald on the phone with them, but trump. you know, he is going to be the those were three republicans and man who he was, and wetie shoult three democrats. i know you're hearing this, and it has to do with the new guidelines that seem to indicate be surprised he wants to take the credit where he can take the that states have to take the lead on testing. credit and shift the blame, it seems as if every governor is because that's who he is, and to be fair, most politicians are basically saying they would love to do that, but they need the going to be that way. on the other hand, i think he's federal government's help to do in an extraordinarily difficult it. why doesn't the president want the federal government to be the lead on testing? position. 22 million people have filed for >> well, chuck, thanks for unemployment.

having me on. when we talk about those and it really is remarkable to numbers, we're talking about think about the progress the people's lives. american people have made over we're talking about people's income. we're talking about their the last several months. wellbeing in ways that aren't when the president tapped me to about the coronavirus. lead the white house coronavirus and to want to give people hope task force, he gave us the first and the sight of a light at the objective is to save lives. end of the tunnel is something i think the president needs to do. and to focus on slowing the the problem is, of course, he also needs to be there helping to provide the tools necessary spread, bending the curve. and because of the extraordinary on a state-by-state level. efforts of the american people, that's where the government and we continue to see every day especially the fda, from my standpoint, is falling down on evidence that cases are declining, hospitalizations are the job. >> yeah. declining. that's a tribute to the american peter, the way this response has people. worked in the past is that they frankly, it's a tribute to all dig their heels in, they're not of those governors, governors in both parties across the country going to do something, not going to do something, and literally who put these mitigation efforts they'll do a 1 yathd. into effect. what's the likelihood they do a secondly, the president made it clear to us that we were to make 180 and say you're right, we sure that hospitals in impacted should take over testing? >> i think you saw them try to areas had the resources and equipment that they needed to be detail what they view as the able to save as many lives as national testing vatagy in your possible. and i have to tell you, the tens conversation with the vice president, but i'm struck by the of millions of personal protective equipment that we continued mixed messaging. have coordinated for delivery consider the president with the

around the country, especially liberate tweets about minnesota, michigan, and virginia, all in areas most impacted and the three states with democratic governors, all thee states are fact that ventilators have been battlegrounds. delivered in areas across the you have the president as the leader of the resistance against country so that no american who his own policies. right? needed a ventilator has ever the bottom line is, back and been denied a ventilator. forth once again on this issue. we're actually increasing the one day, he claimed total stockpile today. but testing has been a focus of authority. the next day, he's blaming the governors. ours as well, from the very they put out the guidelines, the day after that, he says, hey, we beginning. it's the reason why the need to remove the guidelines in president early on brought in effect in those places. consider his past mixed messages this vast array of commercial on issues like the masks, when labs that took us from 80,000 the cdc put out its guidelines and moments later, the president tests one month ago to now 4 said, i don't really plan to million tests as of yesterday. wear it, and back and forth on the dpa as well. and as we'll make clear again to this is an unprecedented moment, governors tomorrow in our weekly sxin fact, we don't know what conference call, we look forward the backlash, how this will to continuing to partner with backfire here. governors all across the country it's a test. we wait to see how americans as we continue to scale testing respond. >> hey, jeh johnson, just very because we really believe that quickly, do you think it looks while we're doing 150,000 tests odd that congress isn't working? that they're trying to do this a day now, that if states around remotely? look, at the end of the day, you the country will activate all of chose to be an elected official. the laboratories that are you chose to be in public available in their states, we service. you do probably have to risk could more than double that your life more than somebody who

overnight and literally be doing chose not to be. should they physically be here? hundreds of thousands of more maybe protect their staffs, but tests per day in a very short these individual members? period of time. >> well, in defense of the but chuck, just so we're very members of congress, the reality clear, when the president o is that most of them, just like we are right now, can do their jobs remotely. outlined his guidelines for they can't vote on the house opening up america, we laid out a plan for both when and how we floor or the senate floor, obviously, and maybe we need to look at how, you know, you can thought it was best according to make that members of our best scientists and advisers for states to be able to congress are pretty busy right responsibly and safely reopen. now even though they're not we believe today, as dr. birx physically in washington. >> i guess, but i have to say has said, as dr. fauci and others have said, is there is a part of me says that it does seem odd they're not here, the sufficient capacity of testing governors are on the job, across the country today for any everybody else is on the job. anyway, i'm going to pause it state in america to go to a here. when we come back, why some people are doing so much better phase-one level. than others economically during which contemplates testing this crisis. people that have symptoms of the >> but fi here's some new york city firefighters thanking coronavirus and also doing the health care workers in brooklyn. kind of monitoring of vulnerable (slow music plays) populations in our cities, in our nursing homes, that we ought to be watching very carefully

♪ for outbreaks of the coronavirus. we believe working with g (laughter) governors as we'll continue to partner with them, that we can ♪ activate labs around the country and states today, if the governor so chooses, have sufficient testing to be able to move into the testing ♪ contemplated in phase one. >> do you -- do you believe governors are not activating their testing capacity? i mean, these governors have ♪ said they would love to enhance their capacity. but they're missing swabs or they're missing the reagents. (baby coos) ♪ in one case, governor dewine (laughter) man on video chat: hey! told me there have been rations. that is what, i guess the man chasing dog: oh no no no no! question is this, why haven't (baby crying) you used the defense production ♪ act to basically get swabs and reagents prioritized? ? what we have done through fema ♪ and through u.s. public health services literally marshal the full resources of the american economy. we have been bringing medical supplies, including testing

supplies, in from all over the world. and we'll continue to do that. but look, as you said, chuck, i have been working almost daily over the last two months with [ aevery box has a mission: republican and democrat to protect everything inside from everything outside. governors across the country. and this vast and complex system of testing using the commercial that is where the true glory lies. labs around the country and when what's inside matters, using hospital and public labs [ doorbell rings ] ...count on boxes. is a new concept, so we have been working with governors paper and packaging. how life unfolds. around the country to make sure that they and their health officials know about all the resources in their states. and we also have deployed a team seeing the break in the clouds before anyone else. from walter reed that over the last two weeks has been calling together, we'll weather this storm. every single laboratory in the country that can do coronavirus testing, and tomorrow we'll be presenting all of those details to governors so that they can activate those tests in their states. >> mr. vice president, aren't you making the case of why this needs to b coordinated? you just said you have identified this capacity, you have identified this. this is why i think a lot of

governors have said the federal government has to play point on testing. is there even a single person who is so focused, is on what is happening with our testing strategy in this country and how are we going to expand it? >> chuck, we actually have [thunder] (mom) were you planning on mowing the lawn today? coordinated it at the federal (son) no. level. (burke) seen it. covered it. admiral brett girar of the u.s. at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. so get a quote at farmers-dot-com. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ public health service spends all of his time coordinating testing, deployment, and resources deployment from fema. what we're making clear to governors and i want the american people to know is that we will continue to do that. while the president has made it clear that we want the governors to implement testing and deploy testing where they deem it's most appropriate in their state, we're going to continue to fully partner with states around the country to to make sure that they have the welcome back. data download time. reagents and the test kits another week, another set of

necessary to perform those deeply disturbing unemployment numbers during this pandemic. tests. but i want to say, again, it's a but not all states are feeling this the same way. and nbc news analysis found tribute to the president's these five states have seen more leadership that early on in this process, he brought in the top than 19% of their labor force commercial labs in the country. file for unemployment since march 14th. they formed an alliance, and we none of them are new york, by the way. went from one month ago to these are the states where less than 7% of the work force has 80,000 tests being done to 4 filed for unemployment. million tests being completed as florida may change soon there. of yesterday. we'll continue to increase that. we'll continue to make governors beyond the state where you live, our latest poll finds your aware of that. socioeconomic status has a lot but our approach from the to do with how the pandemic is beginning, chuck, has been we impacting your job security. want in any health care crisis, 14% of poor or working class we want to pmake sure the healt americans say they have already care workers at the local level lost their jobs and the jobs have the resources they need because it's locally executed. it's state managed but federally that offer telecommuting and those that don't. 47% of americans say they could supported. and the federal gover work their jobs at home. continue to support governors as they deploy the testing that means what feels like a resources in the time and manner lifestyle headache for some is of their choosing. more of a tumultuous and life but we believe today, as changing events for others. >> when we come back, why this dr. deborah birx has confirmed, year's veep stakes, the is we have a sufficient capacity

♪ of testing today for any state in america to move into phase one and begin the process of open. reopening their state and their remember having that feeling for the first time? economy. >> who should pay for the the first day you opened. contact tracing? the first day you had a customer, is that going to be the states? the first day you taught a class, is it individual companies? had a client, a patient, a session. or should the federal government, since you're requiring contact tracing be a part of this, is the federal open... government going to pay for remember the night before you opened? that? >> the cdc has deployed across the country today, literally in who could ever sleep? every state. open... but at the president's direction, as we announced last but there's a different question week, the cdc is going to deploy we are being asked now. are you going to remain open? teams in every single state in even when your doors are closed? the country to do contact open. that's how we show who we are. tracing over the next 12 to 18 and there's another way to be open, to pull together - or push, depending on the door. months. the cdc is really the expert at and we are making it work and we will continue to make it work together. contact tracing, and it really is, chuck, the way that we because open we stand. typically control the outbreak of infectious disease. you identify someone who has symptoms. you test them, and then you immediately find out who they

have been in contact with. that's what the cdc does. and as we announced last week, we'll be deploying coronavirus cdc teams in every state in the country on top of the hundreds of cdc personnel that are already embedded in states today. >> is one of the reasons we're behind on testing because of the -- i saw the fda came out and said basically the cdc's initial test was faulty, that they found a lot of bad parameters that weren't -- guidelines that weren't followed that ended up having that. how much did that set us back as a country? how many lives unfortunately might have been lost due to the faulty test kit? >> i have seen that report in the papers this morning. i inquiries. but we believe those issues were resolved on that particular test by early february. but it's important for your viewers to know that that test, the slow lab-based test that is

typical for cdc and public health labs, would never have been able to meet the needs of testing in this coronavirus michael vasquez! come over here. epidemic. that's why president trump was so right when he brought i've heard such good things about you, your company. together these commercial labs and formed a consortium and well, i wouldn't have done any of it without you. literally took us from at that without this place. time in february, we had done this is for you. michael, you didn't have to... some 20,000 tests total across and, we're going to need some help with the rest. the country. >> right. you've worked so hard to achieve so much. but again -- >> we're doing 4 million. perhaps it's time to partner with someone we believe we'll have done more who knows you and your business well enough than 5 million tests before the to understand what your wealth is really for. end of this month. none of that would have been possible without the president's leadership, without the innovation, without the incredible efforts of companies like roush and abbott laboratories. the american people can be confident whether it's supplies, whether it's testing, we'll continue to make sure our governors, our state health care officials, and most especially, our health care workers have the resources and support they need. but i want the american people

to know that sitting here this morning, we really are seeing encouraging signs because of what the american people have done. we believe we're slowing the spread. there's a downward trajectory beginning in even some of the hot spots around the country. and now more than ever, it's important that each of us continue to do our part and i can assure the american people that at the president's direction, we'll continue to play our role. we'll have a full partnership with governors around the country. >> let me ask you about the president. >> some day in the near future, we'll put the coronavirus in the past. >> let me ask you about the president's tweets on friday, he wants to liberate minnesota, liberate michigan, liberate virginia. all three states have issued welcome back. here's a couple of the political guidelines that follow the items from our new nbc/"wall national advice that you have street journal" poll. been giving them. some of you want to see the big they're following the president's guidelines to the best of their ability. head-to-head, trump v. biden. biden continues to lead here. can you explain what the leads by seven in this new one. president is trying to liberate

49/42. minnesota from? he's essentially had about that kind of lead over the president i don't quite understand that throughout this calendar year. but here are some matchups on use of language. >> well, no one wants to reopen some specific issues. president trump leads biden on america more than president who best to handle the economy. donald trump. and i think the american people but it is biden that leads the have known that. from weeks ago when the president on handling a crisis, and biden that leads the president declared that president on responding to important balance, we have to make sure that the cure isn't coronavirus. danny pletka, we went back. worse than the disease. the last three incumbent because the reality is that for presidents when asked about who all of the sacrifice the best to handle a crisis, obama american people have made, sacrifices that literally have was picked over romney. bush was picked over kerry, saved lives, the truth is that clinton was picked over dole. there are real costs, including it's rare to see an incumbent the health and wellbeing of the president not seen as better american people, to continue to handling a crisis in the middle of a campaign. go through the shutdown that >> well, i mean, i think the we're in today. and so the president laid out evidence speaks for itself, doesn't it? we have seen donald trump handle new guidelines for every state in the country. this crisis, and that's where >> i understand that. his numbers are coming from. mr. vice president -- i think people hope, would hope >> if you see cases decline for 14 days, if you're in a position for more from their president, to do the kind of -- and they haven't gotten it. >> what's he tweeting? on donald trump's side, though, what's he tweeting? the numbers you showed at the >> we want to encourage -- head of the show were >> mr. vice president, i have given you a lot of leeway here. unbelievable. his approval ratings are exactly

the same now as they were a year >> that's the new guidance we're ago. giving. >> i understand that. what that tells us is that i have given you a lot of lieway. donald trump has what he has to i have not been wanting to assess as a very, very solid interrupt you. that's not true. i always want to jump in on some base of things. i have given you a lot of affected, not only not by the leeway. why is the president trying to economy that we see now but not undermine the guidance you have by the coronavirus or his been laying out? handling of it. and that he's been -- he laid >> and peter alexander, we now out this guidance on thursday. and undermined it on friday. have an idea of what the negative campaigns are going to >> chuck, i don't accept your look like between both premise, and i don't think most americans do either. the president's made it clear, candidates, with team trump he wants to reopen america. deciding to make china the and we laid out guidelines for bogeyman, with biden frankly it every state in the country to was something obama did to romney back in 2012, was to hit safely and responsibly reopen their economy at the time and him hard on china, and it was manner of their choosing. effective in the midwest. we laid out the criteria for when our best scientists believe doesn't the predundermine his that would be appropriate. own china attacks when he talks if it was 14 days of declining cases, and they had proper about his great relationship hospital capacity. with xi. and we laid out the means to >> that's what's striking when you hear the president speak move into phase one. about china. when you hear the president, when you see people across the he held back criticizing china in the early days. he attacked the w.h.o., the country, i'm talking about

world health organization, for reopening, every american and this president want to do that saying china was being in a safe and responsible way. transparent. early on, the president praised the guidelines for opening up china for its transparency america are a framework for there. doing that. and we'll work with governors it's because the president was trying to maintain the good across the country to implement relationship with president xi because he thought the those because we want to put relationship in terms of the america back to work as soon as trade deal on which he thought he would be judged when it came we responsibly can. to the political season would be and at the president's direction, we're going to so critical, but in continue to work to do that conversations i have with white house officials, they say it's every day. the president's effort to really >> it does seem as if the focus on this economic issue, president wants credit for that's what's driving him, is reopening the economy, and he wants the governors to get the very much a political calculation wth blame for not opening it fast they say, that americans will be enough. that's what the tweet seems to making up their minds on the imply, that he doesn't want to own the responsibility of these fact in their eyes that the country is going in the right or wrong direction. in late august or early necessary shutdowns. >> the american people can be september, which gives the president three or four months, which is motivating him to try confident that this president wants to reopen the american to push people back to work so economy as soon as we can safely aggressively. >> bashing china is pretty and responsibly do it. but we believe with the popular on a bipartisan basis, guidelines, open up america again, we have given governors jeh johnson, and joe biden is trying to respond saying you around the country our very best think i'm close to china, what about you?

counsel about how they can do what's the unintended consequence of that? just that. and we'll continue to work with >> the unintended consequence is governors to make sure that they it makes it much more difficult have -- that they have the guidance, that they have the to deal with a very large counsel, and they have the economic power on multiple resources to accomplish that. and to put the coronavirus in fronts. and we will get through this. the past some day and to put america back to work. the president's favorite tactic >> and i just want to clarify is to find somebody else to one other thing. blame in a crisis like this. you said that you believe 5 million tests by the end of you know, it's i can do whatever april is a success story. i want, but i have no the fact we have yet to -- that responsibility for anything. and i look for somebody else to will mean we have yet to test 2% of the population. blame. that is a success story on and for some, china is a convenient target. but we need to focus on what we testing? >> chuck, we believe that under need to do here o news this wee the phase one criteria that we have a sufficient amount of testing at that level to allow states to begin to responsibly dani pletka, was the veep stakes for joe biden. reopen. we're seeing some truth -- some literally doing more than 150,000 tests a day now, a actual honest responses. number that we believe we could we have got people asked about double once we activate all of it, and not pretending they the laboratories around the don't want the job. country. we're confident that that would stacey abrams says, yes, i would enable any governor who has love to do it. i'm ready. otherwise met the criteria of 14 and kamala harris, yes, i'm

days of declining cases to be ready. and elizabeth warren. able to have the testing capacity sufficient to monitor it's -- frankly, i look at it as people that may have symptoms so a pleasant change. we can identify them and do it used to be ridiculous when contact tracing, and also deploy all these people would pretend the resources to vulnerable they didn't want the job or weren't thinking about it. >> i agree with you. populations, nursing homes, and i think it's a completely particular vulnerable pleasant change. in this time of social populations in our city to distancing, people can't sidle insure that we don't see a up to the vice president, vice resurgence of the coronavirus. so yes, we think we have laid a president biden, and say hey, you know, i would love that job. strong foundation for testing, so they're being very frank. for phase one. and we're going to continue to frankness in politics is expand testing going forward for something to be appreciated. hey, you know, i want to add the nation in the weeks and months ahead. something about what my colleague said about china as >> mr. vice president, it was well. you know, this isn't just a nice to see some normalcy convenient target. yesterday at the graduation china is where this started. ceremony at the air force china is where lies were told academy. i think a lot of people are hoping for more and more normalcy when the time is right. that have cost lives. thank you for coming on and china is definitely something sharing the administration's we're going to need to talk perspective. when we come back, president about and talk about distancing from china. that's going to be a challenge trump has left the reopening of states to governors. for both joe biden and donald some of whom are being pressured trump once we're done withmeate by what appear to be coordinated anti-social distancing campaigns crisis. >> and it has a global impact. from the right. i'll talk to two of those

governors from michigan and ohio a definite global impact about sort of who is the leading light next. and as we go to break, numbers from our poll on the of the world. that's for sure. impact of coronavirus and how it's having an impact on anyway, thank you panel. americans. you guys were terrific under these social distancing circumstances. that's all i have for today. ♪ thank you for watching these let's read a book-don't come behind the teacher's desk days. please be careful and stay safe out there. this is going to be so hard. we'll leave you this morning ♪ with pictures of buildings lighting up blue in honor of health care workers. so what we're going to do we'll be back next week because is we're going to make our own hand sanitizer. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." i'm going to teach you how to give yourself a self-isolation haircut. (giggles) oh, no- i'm so sorry i'll be making my first birthday cake from scratch. happy birthday make two stitches all the way around. i'm going to show you how to properly soak your nails off. ew. ew. ew. today, were going to talk about how to groom your dogs. (laughing) he looks like a fried chicken leg. i have some key tips that will be helpful in working from home. dada! daddy's gotta work. today i'm going to show you how plant some seeds grow things you're going to eat you guys, ok? ok! how to make a simple loaf of sourdough bread.

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assisting customers with financial hardships, ♪ and our foundation is contributing millions of dollars to charities helping with covid-19 relief. keeping our promise to be on your side. ♪ welcome back. on both coasts and now in the midwest, governors are forming regional coalitions to figure out how and when to begip the tricky task of slowly reopening their states. at the same time, demonstrations have broken out across the country, particularly in the ken foreman: this is the day the lord has made. midwest, by protesters demanding states loosen their coronavirus restrictions and allow people to get back to work soon. two governors who have seen protests in their states are with us. democrat gretchen whitmer of michigan and republican mike dewine of ohio. welcome back to "meet the press." i want to start with something the vice president said and i want to confirm it with you en

testing capacity and enough equipment to begin enough testing to get through phase one. governor dewine, is that true in ohio? >> well, first of all, chuck, we had a great partnership with the president and vice president. three weekends ago, i called the president about a real problem we had about sterilizing masks, the n-95 masks. and that was an fda problem. and the president got that done. our big problem today, i could probably double, maybe even triple testing in ohio virtually overnight if the fda would prioritize companies that are putting a slightly different formula together for the extraction reagent kit. and if the fda would do that, we have a shortage worldwide shortage of some of the materials that go into this. so we really need help. watchin this would really take our

capacity up, literally, chuck, overnight. that's what we need to get moving in ohio. >> all right. there's the answer in ohio. you need more federal help. governor whitmer, do you have enough right now, testing both capacity and equipment, to have enough testing to do this phase one guideline? >> well, similar to ohio, i think part of the story in michigan is we have the capacity to double or triple the number of tests we're doing, but wi need some of these supplies. the reagents and the swabs are absolutely essential. you can't process all these tests if you can't take the sample and protect it and move forward through testing. so while our capabilities are there, these important supplies are not. and that's, i think, one points you were making in your interview, is that if the federal government would use the defense production act and say we're going to make every swab people need, and we're going to expedite creation of the governor whitmer, i want to reagents, we would be able to start you. you sprotests.

know how prevalent covid-19 is. so let me ask this. it would take down the risk you have any regrets on any of associated with taking actions to re-engage parts of our the restrictions that you have economy because we would have a put into place? lot more data about how >> i don't. and here's why. prevalent covid-19 still is in you know, michigan right now has the third highest number of deaths from covid-19. and yet we're the tenth largest state. we are having a disproportionate problem in the state of michigan. so we could take the same kinds of actions other states have, but it doesn't rise to the challenge we're confronted. and that's why we have to take a more aggressiveit's working. we are seeing the curve start to flatten. but as people come in from across the state and gather and congregate without masks, without standing six feet apart, without those important protections, it means that they might have gone back to these parts of our state and perhaps brought covid-19 along with them. our rural hospitals are not equipped to handle a big surge, and that's why this important step that we have taken are just critical to continuing to flatten that curve.

>> governor whitmer, i want to stay with you here a minute on this issue. i'm just curious, what have you learned about people's patience, i guess, and your citizenry's patience? and are you contemplating figuring out how to balance that a little bit? how do you essentially open a steam valve a little bit so that you don't -- so that these protests don't become distractions to the greater good? >> absolutely. you know, every executive order i have taken weighs heavily on me. i know when we pulled kids out of school, that means they're not getting the education they need. some of them aren't going to get the meals they have come to rely on. i know when we shut down bars and make restaurants dine-out only, there are businesses that may never open again and a lot of people are going to get laid out. these stay home orders weigh incredibly heavy because i know there's an economic cost, there's a mental health cost. people are struggling with this isolation we have on top of all the other stressors. but the fact of the matter is we

have to be really smart about how we proceed. i'm glad to see that the white house recommended opening in phases or waves or whatever terminology you want to use. the fact of the matter is we can't just turn back to what life was like before covid-19. we have to be strategic. we have to be careful. we have to look at different sectors of our economy, how often do they interact with the public, how close do they work together, are t outdoor? do they are share tools and machinery? all of these are factors that have to go into a really thoughtful situation where we start to phase back in sectors of our economy. but we're doing this calculation every day. and looking to when we can do that safely because the worst thing would be a second wave. >> governor dewine, congress is, as a former member of congress, certainly, you're not surprised congress is struggling here to do the second response financially. there's going to be some partisan back and forths. you may have personal views on this, but let me ask you this.

congress' priorities on the small business fund, unemployment insurance, help to the states, help to the hospitals, what do you want to see congress -- should they prioritize one or the other, or should all three, states, hospitals, and the small business fund be prioritized simultaneously? >> all of these are really important. what we really need at our local government level as well as at the state level is more flexibility. we're looking, as you can imagine, chuck, when we have a downturn in the economy, two things happen as far as the state is concerned or local government. your revenues go dramatically down and the costs go dramatically up. so just more flexibility so that we can fight this virus but at the same time be able to educate our children, be able to take care of people who have mental health challenges. that's really what we need. so flexibility would be the one word that i would ask from congress. >> let me ask you this, governor dewine, you had some protests.

we have seen that the president is egging on these protests. is this wise to politicize social distancing right now? >> you know, chuck, the only thing i have asked our protes r protesters to do is observe social distancing. we're all big believers in the first amendment. they were protesting against me yesterday, and that's just fine. they have every right to do that. we're going to do what we think is right, what i think is right, and that is try to open this economy, but do it very, very carefully so we don't get a lot of people killed, but we have to come back, and that's what we're aiming to do beginning on may 1st, and frankly, it's consistent. very, very consistent with the plan, the very thoughtful plan that the president has laid out. >> okay. governors whitmer, governors dewine, michigan and ohio respectively, thank you very much for coming on and sharing your t