>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pb statom viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: good evening, and welcome to tsps pbs newshour ial. i'm judy woodruff. and, we are just moments away from hearing from president trump, who is set to address the nation tonight from al office regarding the coronavirus crisis. earlier today, the world healthi ortion officially characterized the covid-19 outbreak as a global pandemi citing what it called "alarminga levels of spre severity, and alarming levels of inaction." the novel coronavirunow killed roughly 4,400 people wodwide, and infected abou 120,000,ncluding more than a

1,200 here in the u.s. 37 americans have ed from the virus so far. the "pandemic" label helped trigger another nosedive on wall street today, as the dow jones industrial average entered bear market territory. it has now fallen 20% below last month's record close-- and this may be one of the reasons for tonight's speech. with me, watching along with me r congressional correspondent lisa desjardins and white house correspoent yamiche alcindor. for now, we take you to the this is something we have been waiting for ever since the world health organization made the declaration that it is a pandem. president trump. >> my fellow americans, tonight i want to speak with you about our nation's unprecedented response to the coronavirus outbreak that started in china and is now spreading throughout the world. today, the world health organization officially announced that this is a global

pandemic. we have been in frequent contact withlur alies, and we are martialing the fu power of the federal government and private sector to protect t american people. this is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history. i am confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures, we will gnificantly reduce the threat to our citizens, and we will ultimatep and exeditiously defeat this virus. from the beginning of tim tions and people have faced unforeseen challenges, including large scale and very dangerous health threats. this is the way it always was and always will be. it only matters how you rpond, and we are responding with great speed and fessionalism. our team is the best anywhere in the world. at the very start to havth

outbreak -- athe start of the outbreak we instituted sweeping travel restrictions on china and put in the first federally mandated quarantine in 50 years. we delared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning on her countries as the virus spread its horrible infection. and taking early, intense action, we have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the unitestates than are now present in europe. the european union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from china and other hot spots. as a result, a large number of new clusters in the united states were seeded by travelers from europe. after consulting with our top government health professionals, i he decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and well to keep new cases from entering

our shores, we will be suspending all travel from europe to the united states for the next 30 days. effect friday at midnight. these restrictions will be adjusted subject to cditions on the ground. there will be exemptions for americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will not only apply to the temendous amount of trade and cargo but various other things as we get approval. anything coming from europe to the united states is what we are dirussing. thestrictions will also not at the same time, we are monitoring the situation in ina and south korea and, as their situation improves, we will reevaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening. earlier this week, i met with the leders of health insurance

industry who have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments, and to prevent we are cutting massive amounts of red tape to make anti-viral therapies available in record time. these tratments will significantly reduce the impact and reach of the virus. additionally, last week, i signed into law an $8.3 billion funding bilon to help c.d.c. and other government agencies fight the virus and support vaccines, treatments and distribution ofedical supplies, testing andsting capabilities aere t expandingy quickly. the vast majority of americans, e risk is very, very low. young and healthy people can expect to recover fully and quickly, if they should gethe

virus. the highest risk is for elderly s.pulation with underlying health conditi very, very careful.ion must be in particular, we are stronglysi ad that nursing homes for the elderly suspend all medically unnecessary visits. in general,der americans should also avoido nnwded areas. my administration is coordinating drectly with communities with largest outbreaks,nd we have hool closu, social distancing and reducing larg gatherings. smart action today will preverns tomorrow.mm every ity faces different risks, and it is critical for you to follothe guidelines of your local officials who are working closely with our feder health experts, and they are the best. for all americans, it is esntial that everyone ke

extra precautions and practice good hygiene. each of us has a role to play in defeating this virus. wash your hands. clean off the new surfaces. cover your face and mouth if you sneeze or cough.al most o if you are sick or not feeling well, stay home. to ensure that working americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, i will soon be tking emergency action which is unprecedented to prode financial relief. this will be targeted for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring foothers due to coronavirus. i will be asking congress to take legislative action to extend this relief.he because ofconomic policies over the last three years, we have the greatest economy anywhere in the world, by far. our banks and financial

instutions are fully capitalized and incredibly rong. our unemployment is at an historic low. this vast economic prosperity gives us flexibility, reserves and resources to handle any threat that comes our wayth is not a financial crisis. this is just aemporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world. support for american workers, families and businesses, tonight, i am announcing the following additional actions -- i am instructing the sll business administration to provide capital a liquidity too firms affected by the coronavirus. effective middle east, the sba will begin providing economic loans in affected states and territories. these low-interest loans will help small busin osesvercome

temporary economic disruptions cause bid the virus -- caused by the virus. to this end, i am asking congress to increase funding for this pamroby an additional $50 billion. , using emergency authori will be instructing the treasury department to defer tax payments without interest or penalties for certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted. this action will provide more than $200 billion of addlitio liquidity to the economy. finally, i am calling on ngress to provide americans with immediate payroll tax relief. hopefully, they will consider this very strongly. we are at a critical time in the fight against the virus. we made a life-saving move with early action on china. now we must take e same action with europe. we will not delay. i will never heannecessary stept the lives, heth and safety of

the american people. i will always put the wll being of america first. if we are vigailant and we reduce the chance of infection, which we will, we will significantly impede thesi transm of the virus. the virus will not have a chance against us. no nation is more prered or more resilient than the united states. weave the best ecnomy, the most advanced health care and the most talented doctors,nt scts and researchers anywhere in the world. we are all in this together. we must put politics aside, stop the partisanship and uni afy ndgeth one natan famiio. as history has provetime and time again, americans always rise to the challenge and oueeains brighter than anyone can imagine. acting with compassion and love, we will heal the sick, care

those in need, help our fellow citizens, and eerge frm this challenge stronger and more unified than ever before. god bless you, and god bless america. thank you. >> woodruff: and that was president trump speaking from the oval of as you just heard, he's calling for some travel restricalons, espe for those traveling from europe to the u.s. he's also calling for help tol smsinesses ando others who may be impacted by the in some, the president called on the -- in sum, the president ericans to be ued and hetes, on said this is just a temporary moment in time, we will get through this. that's president trump. us for this "pbs newshour"oining special. we returu now to regular pbs programming in progress. and for those tuning for the pbs newshour west edition, lisa desjardins and yamiche alcckdor will be ith me with analysis of the president's

remarks and the rest of today's news, afis brief break. >> this progralewas made possy the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank you. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> fidelity investments. >> bnsf railway. >> conmer cellular. >> american cruise lines.

>> supporting social entrepreneurs and their msolutions to the world'sost pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson fountetion. committo improving livesug thinvention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur fountion. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by thcorporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs yostation from viewers lik thank you. >> woodruff: welcome back to

this special edition of the pbs newshour west. president donald trump has just concluded his spch, and my colleagues lisa desjardins and yamiche alcindor are with me, for some analysis. so, hello to both of you. and yamiche, we heard from tte president an acknowledgment that this is a global pandemic, it is rious, something that is facing all the american people, but he also -- and he called for measures, we heard him speabak t restricting travel from europe. he advised americans to be careful in hygiene, to wash saying this is something we're going to get through. so, to me, it ws a combination of a message of seriousness and set, pulling togetr, we can handle this. >> that's right, and the president was making the case that he has a plan here, tt he has both plan that he's going to do through executive actions and he's saying he's going to work with congress to get some legislative action done, but he was also tryi to calm people's fierce and saying we can handle this. the president has run into sues where he has been

contradicting health offlsic him saying there's going to be a airacle, cases will go down, where helth officials say we can guarantee more people will likely die and get infected, but that saint the presias laying out spifically what the white house was going to do, and i have been told by white house sources he will use the stafford act, and e fford act is a disaster relief act where he's going to have about $42.6 billion to work with, to do several thegs including g small businesses loans that are affected by the corhaonavirus, tax deferrals so people can pay the government later, and also have some sort of relief to peoplepaho have misseychecks because they're impacted by this virus. >> woodruff: and we've heard him refer to some oft at the end of his remarks. how will that be received on capitol hill. >> the payroll tax cuts they feel now is not the time to talk about that kind of economic stimulus.r they're still ed about dealing with the virus itself,

but they also believe that is not gointo help the people most affected by the virus, the payroll tax cut, they believe, would he the wealthy more than the people at the bottom end of the payroll, and some republicans don't like itbe use the payroll tax cut would take money that would affect social security and medicare. they're worried about the fiscal bottom lies. that's not an easy sell for the it's fate is uknown. hill. the question of his other request to congress, $50 billion for small businesses. th it seems to me to be something on the table, a larger number than members of congress expected for that one piece to have the pie, but small business is high on their list ofer co. but now they have this other concern, this idea that now we rs seus.ng ne mor ights from very serious. i don't think this happened in this country since world war two. that's where we are at. this is going to heighten the concern and the pressure on congress to figure out what to

do neec. we ehouse democrats to unveil their plan in just a few hours in congrufs. >> woo and we'll be looking to see how much cooperation there is, yamiche,pa between the twies because, up until now, there has been very little of it, a very poor relationship between the president and speaker pelosi and other leading democrats. we'll see, we heard the president take a shot at europe and said the europeans didn't act quickly enough to shut down travel and h said we are ing to do that. is it your sense that the white house is willing to do some work, some negotiating with democrats? >> we know that the white house and capitol hill have been negotiating. vice president has been on the phone with leaders including nancy pelosi. the president said that partisan politics need to be put aside, but we must remember that the president has been blaming democrats and reporters for, he thinti, inflaming the sit around coronavirus, making it more thawhat it needs to be, when, of course, the numbers have been going up.

the other thg to note is the president himself sees his political future as tied to the economy. his argument for being reelected is the economy is doing wel this is a virus that is dhreatening people's lives anwhe very worried people wil miss paychecks and not be able to pay for childcare if tavhey'reg to stay home th their kids. the president is up against a challenge. >> woodruff: a lot of chconcerns. yaalcindor, lisa desjardins, we thank you both. >> thanks. >> woodruff: a new wave of cancellations and restrictions on large public gatherings have been announced today in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and in an unprecedented move, the n.c.a.a. college basketball tournament announced this afternn that its games will be held without fans in attendance. amna nawaz has more on the outbreak's impact, both at homen

d abroad.az >> naw: a new global milestone in the spread of the novel coronavirus, covid-19: the world health organization said the crisis has officially reached paemic proportions. use lightly or cary. a word to enwe cannot say this loudlgh or clearly enough or often enough-- all countries can still chan the course of this pandemic. >> nawaz: here in the u.s., dr. anthony fauci warned lawmakers on capitol hill about that course, saying the worst is yet to come. >> how much worse it will get, will depend on our ability to do two things: to contain the influx of people who are infected coming from the outside, and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country. bottom line: it's going to get worse.hi >> nawazassessment drew

crncern from democrats, who rnd. prepared for thiis, and it put lives at risk. american lives at risk! >> nawaz: national security advisor robert o'b ten, speaking heritage foundation today, blamed china for the virus, accusing them of hampering the global response. >> it probably cost the world community two months to respond. and those two months, if we' had the ceand be venir abl ae ne cooperation necessary from the chines i think we could haveur dramaticallyiled what happened both in china and what's now happening across the world. during a white houtingump, >> we're having to fix aroblem that, four weeks ago, nobody ever thought would be a problem. >> nawaz: members ofess, meanwhile, drilled down today on efforts to cushion the economicl t. >> we need an economic vaccine. i'd like to have an economic

paag >> nawaz: senateemocrats unveiled their proposal today, which included paid sick leave for workers impact by the >> tould be aimed atshp he h we believe the help should be targeted at the people who have suffered from this coronavirus problem. >> nawaz: and house democrats hope to bring their version up for a vote on the floor tomorrow. at least 39 states in the u.s. and the district of columbia ha so far reported confirm cases of the coronavirus. across the country, cities and institutions are grappling with how to contain the spread, and protect their communities, from lrgerllinegthe , catompgsuses. hard-hit countrie south korea continue with their own efforts-- day, sanitizing subway trains in seoul. infections there continue tobu fall, a new cluster of cases stemmi from a call center has

health officials on edge.at >> ( tran ): as of 7:00 a.m. today, 90 people were tested positive, and we are investigating how many people were in close contact. >> nawaz: in italy, where cases today soared beyond 10,000, allm stores, aside harmacies and supermarkets, closed in response to the crisis. in the vatican, the pope's weekly catechism, normally set among tens of ths in . peter's squarewas instead delivered from a private library via video link.ma in g, already facing some 1,300 cases, chancellor angela merkel warned of a wider spread. >> ( translated ): the population has no immunity y to this virus, there are no vaccines and no therapy so far, that a high percentage experts say 60% to 70% of the population will be infected as long as this situation continues. city where the virus first emerged, a different picture: supermarkets and other businesses resumed work. a sign that at least there, the

crisis has begun to subside. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, the world healthor nization today designated covid-19 a pandemic, a move that set off alarm bells globally. earlier this eveningoke with dr. margaret harris from rthe w.h.o., and i asked why the agency is now calling covid-19 a pandemic. >> it's really because we're agme we ssweere seg ndhe is "get ready," but now the message is "it's here. get serious." there's still a chance. many countries have a chance to slow things down, but this virus is going to be in most communities, and, so, we have to mobilize all our forces, mobilizeur people, mobilize our ideas, our innovations, to

so s, t,ithaw t systems and cause major suffering and death. >> woodruff: when you say "in every community," do you mean literally evercommunity, every city, every toyevwnneigerorhood? >> it has that potential to do that, so this is why we use a term like pandemic. it does instill fear and panic.be ou weapon is calm, sensible, rationale behavior and application of our genius. technological innovations in korea and in china, and we've seen them beat down epidemics, huge numbers of cases and bring them down. i we know we can do it, b really does take every human being on this planet taking it seriously, listening to what needs to be done and doing it. >> woodruff: that's sobering. and dr. harris, when you speak

mobilizing people to a what exactly are you asking governments, health systems to do, and can they do it >> so one of the things that every country, every community needs to do iso understand, if someone is infected, we need to find them. so, it's not that easy. you need to be tested. and then you also need toid tify everyone you have been in contact with, and they need to be comfortable and want to b tested andady to self-isolate. people also have to be ready not to crowd, not to go into spaces, into situations whe they're goe toin b cverylose for quite some time, because that is the opportunity for so that means you make changes. you work from home, you give up very important things like worship, you give upen entertaifor a period when

whe kis yo's in your community. e gs wpayo pll be beat it, but it is a ngtough thing tot a responsibility on individus. at the same time, you're asking governments, healthcare systems. to do thr pa what are you looking for them to do? i know the director geof w.s sh. gn.soaynmovmeenerts >> so, again, governments, we ask to really, really supp wt their healkers and their hospitals and look at their capacity. sot's not simply about the teams who are currently working in intensive care, you need backup, you need to think about how you can provide the next team, because this is going to take a tremendous ount of work. the severe form of this disease is-- it leads to respiratory

failure and, to survive it, you often need ventilation, and that ventilation can go on for weeks. if you are on that ventilator, help, where are they going tos go? meanwhile, also, to look after somebody in that-- at that level of critical care requires a team of nurses, doctors, othei people, ary workers, ambulance workers, peoplery working very, ard for very long periods of time in personal otective equipment. so youre-- we are asking an enormous amount of our health workers to get through thas. so to stop we need to slow the number of cases that develop tso that, when people do sick-- and there will be people who get very sick-- there will be the capacity to look after them. >>oodruff: and for people who are starting to panic, which some are, what is the message? >> well, the message is "don't

panic," but it's also it's understandab that you have a sense of fear. fear of plague, fear of disease is an innate human fea you know, we have fear to protect ourselves from the unknown, from somethinthat is a threat, but it also makes you make very bad decisions. so listen to the advice, go to trusted sources. you have some of the world's top brains in science in your country. you've got excellent advice from the c.d.c., from the n.i.h., also from the world health organization, also from excellent media that's like pbs. knowledged up and help everybody else in your community. look at the vulnerable and see what you can do for them as well. >> woodruff: dr. margaret harris with the world health organization, w.h.o., thank you very much. >> it's a pleasure. thank you very much for having me on your program. >>

oodruff: in the day's other news, disgraced movie mogul harv weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison.d the 67-year-ced a maximum convicted of rapinmaning in 2013, and sexually assaulting another in 2006. in the new york courtoday, weinstein said he was "genuinely confused." gloria ared, who represented senten s sce ag ds, said the and you are confused, all you ou he courage,remembers--hiit ao there will be consequences for the predators who hurt you. >> woodruff: weinstein's defense insisted the sentence was to harsh, and accused the judge ofc caving to puressure. >> that number was obnoxious.

there are murderers that will get out faster than harvey weinstein will. that number spoke to pressure of movements and the public. that number does not speak to the evidence that came out of trial. >> woodruf three more sexual assault cases against weinstein los angeles and beverly hills, raising the possibility that heo d face additional charges. democratic presidential idate bernie sanders sai today that he will remain in the race for the white house. that is despite suffering a series of losses in yesterday's primary ras to former vice president joe biden. sas'. now leads the delegate 86t t coun we will take a closelook at the state of the race, later in the program. the supreme court handed the trumadministration a win on its immigration policy today. it will allow asylum seekers to remain in mexico until their claims are adjudiced. the move overturned a lower

court order that put a partial block on the administration's been sent back to mexico to ait their u.s. court hearings. the u.s. house of representatives voted today to extend controversial surveillance tools. the bipartisan bill renews parts of t "foreign intelligence surveillance act," which authorizes monitoring of suspected spies anterrorists. expire march 15.ere set to the bill now goes to the senate, wherits fate is more uncertain. ro it happened northwest of baghdad, at a military camp in taji. u.s. officials say at least ten coalition members were injured. ere was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the base has en hit before by iranian backed militias. in afghanistan, the taliban rejected a plan by the afghan government to stagger the

release of prisoners ahead of potential peace talks. an initial deal signed by the u.s. and taliban last month called for 5,000 taliban prisoners to be freed. 1,500 of the prisoners as a goodwill measure, and urged the taliban to halt theifighting. >> ( translated ): the process and conditions for the taliban's prisoner release is ry clear in the deal, but the implementation depends on the actions the taliban and their visible commitment to reduce violence, and to negotiate directly with e afghan government. >> woodruff: the afghan government said th the remaining prisoners would be released after the negotiations begin. but, the taliban says it wants all the prisoners to be freed at once. and, the russian parliament today backed new constitutional vladimir putin in power beyond the year 2024. that would mean that putin could rule until he is 83 years old.

the bill easily passed through both chambers of parliament, bll it sust be approved by russia's constitutional court and a nationwide vote in april. >> woodruff: after tuesday democratic presidential primary contests, former vice president joe biden has a clear ad. he won four states: idaho, missouri, mississippi, and michigan. vermont senator rnie sanders won north dakota. there is no prected winner yet in washington state. our lisa desjardins s more. >> desjardins: today, bernie s, ers spoke in llsober ersetting thanmo usualr. the senator from vermont said mpat defeating president t was still his number-one goal--

and he'll keep challenging joe biden for the demoatic nomination, despite yesterday's primary night let-down. >> on sunday night, in the first one-on-one debate of this campaign, the american people ll he the opportunity to see which candidate is best positioned to accomplish that goal. there's no sugarcoating it. tonight's a tough night. >> desjardins: sanders supporter and new york congresswoman ooalexandria ocasio-cortezk to instagram to console supporters and congratulate biden. in a majority of yesterday's contests, moderate, suburban and black voters propelled the icrmer vice president to vry over sanders, leading to this moment last night inph philadelia, with biden making this aeal directly to sanders backers. >> i want to thank bernie sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion. we share a common go and together, we'll defeat

donald trump. >> desjard one major biden supporter-- long-time south carolina congressman jimto clyburn- npr that it might be time soon to wind down the primary fight. >> i think we wi be at a point where joe biden will be the prohibitive nominee of the party, and i think the d.n.c., the democratic nional committee, should then step in, make an assessment, andterme why ought to have any more debatesrd >> desjains: both scrapped planned events last night because of coronavirus concerns. and the planned tv debate onil sundaygo on, but without a live audnce. lisa desjardins.hour, i'm >> woodruff: to give us more insight on how the democratic rty is handling this changing primary race, i'm joined by democratic national committee chair, tom perez. ttom perez, welcome back newshour. first tion, does bernie sanders still have a chance to win the democratic nomination?

>> certainly. we're a little under 50% of the delegates havetheen located. magic number is 1991, and,pr soaries are often about-- they're always about math and they're often about momentum and, certainly, the vice momentum here in south carolina, super tuesday, and then this week, i coached enough sports d been around politics to know momentum shifts do occur. and our job is to make sure we continue to have a fair process and continue to work so that whoever our nominee is we can hit the ground running and be reunited as a party an confident we will. >> woodruff: how do you respond to congressman james clyburn saying it's time for this d.n.c., this primary process to be shut down? >> i think it's always up to the candidates to figure out when it's time to say when. and i respect the judgment of

senator sanders moving forward. we have four more very important races next tuesday. those will provide us with some more information and insight because they are big states-- biggest esprdaiz a weeks from yesterday, we then go and, so, that's bay what i think then, again, this is about math, this is about understanding where you are in a process, and i don't think it's my place as the d.n.c. chair to tell somebody when it's time to end your campaign. that's always up tthe .ates i didn't call amy klobuchar or any of the candidates who gotle out, i never canyone and said "i think it's really time for you to get out."

that was a judgment th made on their own based on their own analyysis. >> watoodruf tf: but it does sod as if other leaders in the party are either saying that outoud or privately. >> well, again, i can't stop others from doing what they're do everybody gets a fair shake. and one thing i know, because i've had the good fortune of working with both the vice president and with senator sanders, one thing i know is that whoever our nominee is, they are both going to work their tails off to defeat donal trump, andve seen an absolute explosion in turnout. and i credit not only the two of them who are still in the race, i credit all of the candates. the excitent that has been generated throughout thisde cratic primary, you look at yesterday, more record turnout, you look at super tuesday, record turnout.sh new hae, the numbers in 2008, south carolina same thing. heso, the energy is there, momentum is there and we will come together as a party. >> woodruff: i'm sure that you teheard senator sanders' snt

today, the questions that he said he wants to hea vice president biden respond to having to do with medicare for all, having to do with college debt, with climate change, suggesting pretty clearly that he wants, he expects joe biden to accommodate some of bnie sanders' positions. how fado you think joe biden should go in accommodating some of the more progressive ideas of bernie sanders? as move forwnk, again, one of inthd, judy, is that what unites us a a party far exceeds our what our differences are. everybody running for president understands the imperative of combating climate change and making sure that we makese decisions on the science. everybody understands that. everybody running for president understas it. we should make sure everyone has access to quality affordable health care, and thanks to

l.b.j. and barack obama, we're about 85%, 95% the way up the mountain of universal healthcare. they undeniably have differences of opinion on how to get the last 15%, 10% to the mountaintop, but the imperative of getting there to the top, enthey're in complete agre on, and the imperative of people with pre-existing conditions c maintain theerage they completely agree on, taking on the pharmaceutical industry they completely agree on, so thee voters will at. >> woodruff: two quick questions about coronavirus, given the severity of what we know is going on, it's a pandemic, should our two political parties find a way to work together that they haven't found before now this issue? >> well, i think there are a number oareas where i would have hoped we could have worked together. tione letter we sent a lon ago was, if either party obtains information that was a product of foreign interference, we

should never use that information. we sent a letter a while ago calling on the republicans to come together that. unfortunately, they said no. i would love to figure out ways to work together. we should be following our public health guidance, our public health professials. i have great respect for the doctors and other professionals at the national institutes of working with many of them in the obama administration, and iul think we sbe able to come together. coronavirus is not about, you know, ght versus left, it's about public health and it's about making sure that we as ana on can come together. it's ver-- very disappointingen to see the a of support preparedness. i saw how preparedness worked with ebola, you may recall, and your viewers may recall, when president obama took office, h1n1as very real and that preparedness helped. those shouldn't be partisan issues. we should be able to come together around principles of preparedness.

>> woodruff: very quickly, plans ill on for the democrati national convention in july? >> yes, they are, and we'll continue to workatith federal, and local officials to make sure we put no one in harm's way, so we can have a good convention. >> woodruff: tom perez, thank you very much. >> thank you.

hari sreenivasan in baltimore, maryland. >> the n.b.a. isfurther games tr usg ayer wit s allh the utah jazz test positive tonight for covid-19. in addition, president trump has canceled planned trips this week to nevada and colorado. and the publicist for actor tom hanks confirms he anf his wie

rita wilson have both tested positi for the coronavirus while staying in australia. we are going to let you hear now just a portion of what president trump had to say a little bit earlier tonight in people.ress to the american te to keep new cases from, wie o ngsuspenhded alurl tra svel froe to the united states for the next 30 days. the new rules will go intoda effect fat midnight. these restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground. there will be exemptions for americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will no only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and rgo, but various other things as we get approval. anything coming from europe to the united states is what we are discussing. these restrictions will also not apply to the united kingdom. at the same time, were monitoring the situation in

china and south korea and, as their situation improves, we will reevaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening. >> woodruff: that was president trump speaking withinr the o the american people. i'm here with my colleague lisa desjardins, who covers the u congress f lisa, so much to tk about. this coronavirus story moving very fast. >> yes. >> woodruff: we reported that the n.b.a., national basketballp association, sding the season. you were telling me it lavs about another month. >> yeah. >> woodruff: or so. havethis after a player camn,e w stdohe new about tom hanks and rita wilson, but, in a more serious -- 's all serious -- but tonight, in that speech, we heard the president talk about travel restrictions. he also spoke about the efforts he wants to make toake money available to people, to his first focus is smallrting. businesses in this country, but tonight the announcement is from a ry large business, te n.b.a.

that's an $8 billion a year business. the n.b.a. season was scheduled to end april 15th. has now been suspended indefinitely, as you said. this is after a player from the utah jazz tested positive for covid-19. that team has recently traveled to, just ithe last week, thronto, detroit, boston all for games. 's not a risk for fans in the stadium, but it is a risk that player, which includes all those teams. the game tonight that the utah jazz was going to play wasre suspended bet began because of this information. those players are now beingat quarantined. this is all happening right now. i think where we' at, jdy, is an incredible pivot point in significance in the history of this virus and perhaps in thisri countrt now as we're seeing kind of the news really just grow. >> woodruff: well, and in the hiory of the country, lia, because when you realize all travel, ith some exceptions,

from europe into the united states is halted.ha >>s right. >> woodruff: and the president made it clear some exceptions will be granted, but to make that sweeping an announcement. then he's talking about $50 billion is what he's asking for in emergency authorizati to help the businesses you were talking at. it's a lot of money. >> 27 countries in the european union, a huee amount of th travel business. but, you're right, $50 billion is a large amount of money. i do not believe congress was ready for that large of a request in that ara right now, but they will likely consider it because they are concerned about small businesses as well. i am talking to chuck schumer's office, the democratic leader of spoke to the vice president and anthony fauci earlier this evening and hat they are sti concerned about something the president did not mention, which is the availability of testing kits and that we still have not as it seems the healthvailable profession wants them. >> woodruff: it's interesting up tonight, at least i didn'that ause him bring that up, bec

there has been a controversy. at one point the president said there were plenty ilable if anyone wants one, they're there to be used, but, e, cou we've come to found out there are millions more -- and theyod are trying to e them and make them available, but, at this point, they aren't available. >> nor did he mention he was restricting his own travel. he had addressed his nation and finished. he's trying to instill confidence and telling people to be calm, but idn't say anything about his own preparations or decisions. >> woodff: no question, this development that now we know the coronavirus, global pandemic, having sweeping effects on the lives of ordinarpeople, on th people who make decisions for all of us. it is a story that is congnsu all of us in the news industry and consuming ordinaryic ams. lisa desjardins, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: for being was and that is the "our" for tonight.

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a passion for betterm is b♪oderstandinu in part by woour -bread for the world, an advocacy organization working to end hunger and poverty at home and abroad. -hi, i'm rick steves.nt i've she last 30 years exploring europe from every conceivable angle, and now it's time to check it out the way millions of people are. yep, we're on a cruise ship, and we're sailing the mediterranean. welcome aboard. ♪ ♪ ♪