captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, march 15: the latest on the coronavirus outbreak. what to know about "socialng dista" and how the coronavirus are is shaping the political playing field. next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: .bernard and irene schwar sue and edgar wachenheim iii.nd the cherylhilip milstein family. rosalind p. lter. barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to notiss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow

can lp you make the most of today. mutual of amera financial group, retirement services and investments. >> consumer cellular offers no contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more of the thin you enjoy, whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer or a bit of everything.-b our u.s.ased customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to wwconsumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the ameran people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet udios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining us. policies to prevent the corona virus are having effects worldwide. in the u.s. passengers on flights returning from europe a stood in lin crowds for hours as the federal government tried to institute new health screenings. states iued new restrictions

on public gatherings, even more closed schools and, some cities and added curfews.re layoffs anced hours ar starting to affect employees across a wide range of industries. the president tested negative for the virus yesterday. but the number of cod cases is rising. dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at n.i.h., warned that the country needs to stay ahead ofe sease even if it seems like an over-reaction at this stage. >> americans should be prepared that they'reoing to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing. tohink that right now everything's going to be okay if you don't do anything, that's absolutely incorrect. .e've got to really always be ahead of the cur i say now in a way i thinker people uand, i'd like to be criticized for being over- reactive. >> sreenivasan: as of sunday afternoon, there are nearly u.s. and 57 deaths from covid- 19, according to johns hopkins

university's coronavirus resource center. in italy today, pope fncis offered prayers to the sick and to health care workers battling the coronavirus by video. his remarks came as the vatica announced that holy week will move forward as planned-- but the public will only bable to follow the ceremonies via television, radio and online media. st. peter's square and the basilica remain closed to tourists. italy reported 3,497 new coronavirus cases and 175 deaths yesterday-- the most reported in a single day. in spain, the number of coronavirus-related deaths doubled overnight from 136 to almost 300. spain declared a state of emergency yesterday, closing restaurants, bars, most retail shops, and limiting travel except for work and emergencies. ritain officials said they will escalate emergency measures this we to combat thero virus-- including requiring the elderly to self- isolate and banning masser gags.

japan's prime minister shinzoes abe saidrday that tokyo will host the summer olympic games on schedule beginning this july. speaking to reporters,be insisted that declaring a state of emergency for japan isne ssary-- but that his government is closely monitoring the coronavirus. japan s reported 773 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 22 coronavirus-related deaths. getting home from europe was not easy at the 13 airports designated f screenings. in the u.s. last night passengers reported hos-long lines due to the new medical requirements. the trump administration announced yesterday that it is also restricting travel from the u.k. and ireland, in addition to most european countries. at chicago's o'hare airport, authorities asked passengers lturning from europe to f out questionnaires and undergo enhanced screening. paengers complained about being packed into crowded areas at a time when they artold to keep 6-10 feet apart to avoid spreading the coronavirus. the dertment of homeland security's acting secretary chad

wolf tweetedhat d.h.s. is" aware of the long lines" and" working to add additional screening capacity and working with the airlines to expedite the process." to help contain transmission ofc coronavirus, tters for disease control and prevention has issued guidelines for social distancing. for some, that has meant oumiting the number of people in a gathering or eging people to keep a distance of six feet from others. joining me now is crysta tson, senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security. let's get a kind of a basic understanding here. when we talk about social distancing, is it about the ofysical space just around ourselves or lotther behaviors? >> yeah, it's about ph space around ourselves, that's the fundamental. butoit's also about not goin places where either you could be exposed to many people or you could expose someone if you're ill and maybe even don't know it. we're seei some more indications that this might be transmitted pre-symptomaticallya or asympcally before people have symptoms.

and so sometimes we won't even know that we're infected with the virus.en >> sasan: you know, a lot of people will say, hey, listen, this, i understand how that shou work for the elderly or the frail. i'm healthy. i'm young. why shou i engage in this distancing? >> right. so we're taking some pretty big sts here to cancel schools, to work from home. those are all big things that are causing us tt sacrifice a llectively. but the reason we're doing that is becausent to protect those older individuals and those people with other underlying conditions that might be more susceptible to severe disease if they get infected with this virus. >> sreenivasan: and so far, we have heard that this is not a virus that's affecting children nearly as much as previous os. so the raging debate, at least c in ty of new york and other places, are should the school districts stay open? >> right. it's a really hard call, we always want more information than we have in these types of crises. but wh we've seen so far is that children in large part don't get as sick as other

people. but what we don't know enough about is whether they are tdrivers of transmission s virus, whether they are actually spreading it when they're asymptatic or mildly symptomatic. so it's a hard call to make. there are a t of downstream implications of closing schools. but i think in t places where they have been closed, it's it's a good thing to do to rely respond to this virus and be conservative here.re >>ivasan: so how does a society go on functioning in terms of, well, when we start to think about closing small, businessat's kind of the lifeblood of most economies. if you starto say, hey, if you're a restaurant, go ahead and space everybody three feet apart, it might not be profitable enough to stay open. so what are some, what are some things thawe cant o to try to rough this and have some semblance of access and keep people employed? >>ell, i think a big business through this crisis is going to deliveries at home. so if, if companies can change

their practices and be able to create deliveries instead of having people come to restaurants, that's gointo be hugely helpful. but this is going to be a time of sacrifice for all of us. and so we need to band together to really do what we can to limit the spread. and that way, hopefully we will get through this all together. and the damage won't be so bad. >> sreenivasan: so far, have wei learned thatis something if you have it, ifave mildem? symptoms, it's you're one and done? or if you have to be hospitalized, are you done then? is there a possibility of this thing recurrg in an individual's body? >> yeah, tt's another big scientific question that people are working on right n s. we have see, some recent research on this, but we really don't understand enough to be able to know if you're going to get reinfected with this virus. we do ve experience with other corona viruses where, that causl common and people do get reinfected with them.

this point. don't know enough at >> sreenivasan: one of the questions we had from viewersst day was, should we be going to non-emergency standing doctor's appointments? where, there's lots of things that could go wrong with our health besides this virus-- what's a balance between making sure tt i stay healthy for other reasons and trying to stop from getting this? >> yeah, that's an important balance. and i would suggest the best thing to do if you have an appointment and you're not sure if you should go to the doctor's office is to call youroctor, have a conversation with them. they can help you decide whether it's worth going to the doctor, ere there might be other people who are sick or whether it's better to stay home and reschedule for a later time. >> sreenivasan: i'm personally guilty of this. i went to the gym yesterday i showed up.f habit. i did what i did, and then i was thinking about what waspp ing in there. are gyms good places to spread this kind of thing? >> i think any place where you're gathering together in big grps and in close quarters

there is the possibility of spreadinthe virus. i understand the need to go to the gym. i think we need to keep both of our mental and physical health up if we're gonna gethrough this together. so if you do go to the gymwoi d say don't take part in those large classes. that's probably an area whcoe therd be more contact and spread. o and if you use equipmentpe it down before and after, wash your hands really well andlp that'll imit. >> sreenivasan: are you optimistic that this ig to reach some sort of peak in the next few wee for the united states based on the data that we're seeing country after country? >> yeah, based on the data we're seeing both outside of the u.s. and, and in the u.s. now, i think we're still seeing just the tip of the icebergn terms of cases he. so i think we should buckle in for, for a little while.ti

i'm not stic that it will just be a couple of weeks. >> sreenivasan: all right. crystal watson, senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: tonight the 11ti democratic pntial debate will feature only two candidates-- and this time there will be no ae. former vice president joe biden and senator bernie sanders will not have to fly to the location now that it's been moved from d.c.nix to washingto the coronavirus has shut down much of traditional politics-- virtual events are replacing public campaign rallies. louisiana and georgia have postponed their primaries and wyoming is spending in-person voting, and switching to vote- by-mail. for more on how the political landscape is changing, newshour political reporter dan bush joinus now. >> sreenivasan: this is unlike campaigns we have seen in the past. this iskind of the time where especially heading into the month or two before the

rty conventions it is full steam ahead, the leaders are really, we are down to o people but they are not having any events. >> that's right. this is unusual. nothing like we have seen in recent memory. as y said this is the momt where there are more rallies they are trying to reach as many voters as the can in prson, and yet here we are, we saw president biden strt cancelinge their events last week and pulling back and these campaignp are biations, it is like a coany, staffers are working from home in many cases now, so they are trying to, number one, reduce the exposure, obiously, rt of reduce the number of large crowd gatherings and 2 numbfind creative ways to reach voters virtually. >> sreenivasan: yes. ll what does that virtual ton hall campaign rlook like? >> so we are starting to see them last week, biden had his first virtual town hall, sort of like imagining l aarge teleconference with a lot of people where biden can speak even though she not in the room, that was in illinois. and we saw sanders do a kind o

online fireside chat, even ahead of the debate tonight the sanders campaign announced today they are doing a sort of live stream where they are sitting lownith campaign officials and some experts to about the coronavirus, talk about the campaign. so they are trying to find waysp to reaople even when the candidates themselves can't be out there taking to voters, doing all of this sort of general election year things we >> sreenivasan: i should also mention the trump campaign canceled some of its events as well so when you l aook l three of these gentlemen if they are the presumptive leaders of their parties and psibly could be competing to be president, they are smack-dab in thehi demogrthat is at greatest risk, right? they are officially the elderly. >> that'right. that's right. and we saw president trump just announce yesterday that he had been, the white house releases he had been tested for e ronavirus, the test camck negative. we are waiting to see sort of how bernie sanders and joe biden approach that, but you are exactly right and that's another reason why the campaign in addition to sort of following the gudelines, for example, joe

biden in canceling his election night in pson rally on the second super tuesday, just this past tuesday he cited official state guidelines, this was in ohio saying, reducing sort of large crowd, large gatherings bualso these candidates areth oure, you know, at a given rally shaking hundreds of hands, taking t selfies we seeo much and that's another reason why these campaigns are saying wait at minute, let's slos down, we do have to sort of adjust to this ne reality >> sreenivasan: and does the last lack ofr in peson campaigns give either joe biden or bernie sanders any kind of an edge, whether it is based on their kind of online infrastructure or who gets more from this stuff? >> it is a goquestion and sort of a double edged sword. on the one han bernie sanrs has built a following going all the way back to 2016 with these large rallies, with these large events, where sort of his g supporterst energized, where the media sees that, mr. sanders gets attention, tat's one of the strengths of his campaign,

it hurts him especially at thiis when she behind in the delegate count and trying to regain momentum, not being able to be out there is difficult for sarns, sanners, on the other hand we are seeing him break out his full arsenal of organizing tools, he has a robt online effort so he is well positioned to sort of take advantage of this virtual moment, rf you will, ch out to voters that way. biden, on the other hand, has struggled a little bit moe to adjust to this reality of the campaigning in 2020. he is catching up quickly, though, and a he actually depends a little bit less on the large crowds, usually doesle smevents, so arguably biden is actually slightly better positioned to sort of as they deal with this, with this moment in the campaign. >> sreenivasan: l right. newshour political reporter dan bush, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: for mre -- >> sreenivasan: for more of our coverage of tonight's democratic presidential debate, visit pbs.org/newshour

sreenivasan: coronavirus is not the only concern as the 2020 election takes shape. russian interference in th 2016 race still resonates today and could be a factor on owection day. i recently sat dn with richard hasen, a professor of law and political science at the university of cafornia, irvine, and author of "election and the threat to americanrust democracy." er>> well, so, i'm very cod. you know, based on recent polling, including an npr/pbs marist poll, there are large percentages of the public that don't believe that the electione is safe and sethat are worried about foreign interference. they don't think they can get the information they need in order to be able to vote. and that way, i think the russians actually won in 2016ca because they'ring us to doubt ourselves. and so i think we need to think about things that we can do between now and november to try and increase the resiliency of the process and ultimately assure the public that there's going to be a fair and secure vote going forward.we >> sreenivasanave different election security systems. we have different jurisdictions.

in some ways, that has been spun as, "hey, you know what? that's our failsafe, tckt nobody can ne centralized server or system and tamper with all of those vote" in another way, that's kind of inherently also r weakness. we can't deploy any kind of a security patch to fiall these systems at the same time. >> well, that's right. and d.h.s. is working with ste and local governments to try to help them. but, you know, there's a lot that needs to be done between now and november. and of course, infrastructure includes not just the election itself, but think about ther poid. if someone could come in power grid in a major democratic city, in a swing state, that would have a devastating effect on the outcome of our elections. and it wouldn't be attacking any voting equipment, but it would esill affect how the vote >> sreenivasan: are you concerned about perhaps a ripple effect from the coronavirus? would people, would there be a decreased turnout if people are concerned to go to places where lots of other people go andpe

possibly a sicon could be sneezing around me? >> right. well, you know, back in 1918, we td a flu epidemic and people stayed away fr polls in some places, campaign rallies were canceled. our conventions coulbe affected. i mean, there's lots of things that could be affected. officials need to do is engage in contingency planning so that they take into account, for example, that maybe many more people are goingo try to vote by absentee ballot than vote. and that creates its o of problems because it takes a lot longer to process those absentee ballots. so i think we're goingve to have plan b's in place, going to have to have patience. things m not go the way that they normally go in an election season. things can the pol parties themselves do to try to tocourage people not onl vote, but to have some faith in the process? well, i mean, one of the strengths of the fact that our election system is sont delized is that the public can get access to places where counted.e actually being can demand, you know, from

your local election officials to know what's the process by which votes, vote totals are collected, how are they reported? and these are the kind of things that the average citizen could pay attention to. there are a number of citizens who are concerned about: is there going to be a paper trail to make sure that there's no hacking of the voting machines? and at's the kind of thing where because it is a local issue, you can try to put political pressure on your elected officials to make sureki they're every step, to make sure that there's a system in place that people can have the confidence in novemb. >> sreenivasan: do you personally have confidence that this election will go off smoothly? >> i'm concerned. i'm concerned because i think that as we saw with the iowaus caebacle, when there's any kind of glitch, immeriately people to take political advantage of it. you know, there were calls byca the president'aign manager something was rigged.hat you had the phone number that wabeing put, that was bein used to report the votes in iowa, that that number was put

up on 4chan and people jamming the phone lines. so what i'm most concerned about are peoplehore going to try and make trouble. they're going to look for places where there's nothing nefarious going on but just a glitch and try and use that to try to spin it into so kind of political disadvantage. that's why i think we need to ki of harden our systems now so that when people try to make claims that there's a rigged or stolenlection, that the evidence will not back them up. >> sreenivasan: is there something that states should be doing to try to make sure that their servers, their, kind of on the hardware side and the software side of how they roll t elections are more secure between now and november? >> yes. and they're doing those kinds of things. i mean, i think there's not much that you or i can do about, you know, the security of the vote itself. but there are lots of other things. so, for example, the media has a major role to play here. one of the things we saw with the iowa debacle is that the media were very impatient in getting election results. and ink that's exactly the wrong message. 's not just about what

election officials can do. it's about what all different parts society can do. d the media has a really important role to play in educating the public about howar electionactually conducted and how long it takes to get a fair and accurate vote cnt. >> sreenivasan: yeah. it's better to be right than it is to be first. rick hasen joining us from california tonight. s thanmuch. thank you. >> sreenivasan: rly this evening, new york governor andrew cuomo said he wants schools in new yo city closed by wednesday a is giving city officials 24-hours to come up with a plan. in an interview with "the new york times" the governor said" the new york city schools should bclosed, period." w york is the nation's largest school system with 1.1-millionst ents. the governor also said he wants the plan to include child care for essential workers and a way to continue to provide food programs. this afternoon, illinois governor j.b. pritzker

announced that he will be shutting down all bars and restaurants from end of day thmorrow through the end o month, but kitchens will be open for food deliveries. ohio governor mike dewine said restaurants in that state would be closing this evening, except for take out and delivery. this thursday, newshour will present a one hour special report "confronting coronavirus." the program will address public and personal health and thegr ing economic impact of the virus and will include a virtual town hall. many stations will carry the broadcast at 8:00 p.m. check your local listings. and you caalso see it on our social platforms and online at pbs.org/newshour. that's all for this edition of" pbs newshour weend." i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet meptioned by a access group at wgbh acce.wgbh.org

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. addional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a privateo corporfunded by the

uand by contribns to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

steves: st. wenceslas, commemorated by this statue, is the "good king" of christmas carol fame. the statue is a popular meeting point. locals says, "i'll see ya under the horse's tail." the "good king" was actually an exceptionally educated and highly cultured 10th-century czech duke. ed stors of his enlighteign caused europeans to see czechs as civilized rather than barbarian. to this day, wenceslas is a symbol of czech nationalism. wenceslas square is the main square of the country an a natural assembly point we need to raise their collective voice for change. in the 19th century, the age of divine kings and ruling fs was coming to an end. here as in much of europe, nationalism was on the rise. by the endrld war i, the habsburgs were history, ndt czechoslovakia was celebrated on this square.

but independce lasted barely 20 years. in 1939, . the nazis marched in while pragueaped the bombs of world war ii, it couldn't avoid the communistsho came next and stay for 40 years. but with this square as the stage, people power ultimately prevailed. man: in the 20th century, my family lived history in this square. in 191 my grandma watched e habsburg eagles being pulled down in 1939, my aunt saw the nazis pulling in. in 1968, my dad stood here with his bare hands in 1989, it was my generation's turn. steves: so you wer. tell me what happened. -in november '89, a student march head for this square, kicked off two weeks of demonstrations. for 14 nights, this square filled with 300,000 people. each night, 300,000 people here.

and on the last thght, václav havelplaywright, who would become our next president, announced from that balcony the resignation of the communist government. -wow. -suddenly, we were free. t steves: and withshot, the communist era had ended for the czech people.

-happy bwherever you are.d. -raise a glass as we celebrate andrea bocelli's 60th birthday. -hapjoining andrea is family, -raise a glfriends,e celebrate and some famous fans, as he sings an array of opera arias and new songs from his latest recording, "si." "andrea bocelli at0" is next. ♪ "great performances" is brought to you by... the joseph and robert cornell memorial foundation, supporting the arts and education. ♪ ♪ ♪