captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sund on the coronavirus pandemic. in our signature segment: the complications of coronavirus fot incarc people. and welcoming a bundle of joy in next on "pbs ur weekend." >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue d edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter. rbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the mont, 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 today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. customers the choice. our no-contract plans give you as much or as little talk, text browser, photographer or a bit of everything.s. our ased customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has bee provided by: d by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining us. we are bringing you our broadcast tonight fromtiemote los across the country for the second weekend. here in new york, we are especially conscious of the risk each of fes and the risk we might create for others if we gather together. there are a lot of developments

in the coronavirus pc, let's get started with today's top news: the federal government's top r.fectious disease expert, anthony fauci, warned today that the coming sur of cases in the ronavirus pandemic could cause more than 100,000 deaths in the ited states. >> looking at what we're seeing now-- i would say beeen 100-200,000 cases, but i don't want to be hd to that because-- excuse me, deaths. because we will have millions of cases. but i just don't think we need toake a projection when it such a moving target that you could so easily be wrong and mislead people. >> sreenivasan: as of this afternoon in the united states, johns hopkins university tracked morehan 124,000 coronavirus cases and more than 2,100 deaths. new york city continues to be the epicenter of the country's outbreak. more than 670 people in the city have died from theoronavirus. and after threatening to impose

a "quarantine" on new york, new jersey and connecticut yesterday, president trump changed course late last night. in a twitter post shortly after 8:00 p.m., the president said hg consulted wiernors and decided "a quarantine will not be necessary." the centers for disease control evention then issued a strong travel advisory urging" connecticut and neey to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately."io restri on movement and coerce are bringing severe hardship across the country. this morning treasurary steven mnuchin said that the money promised to taxpayers in the more than $2-billion economic stimulus bill is coming soon. >> within three weekl have direct deposits into people's accounts. ver people where we don't their direct deposit information anere' be a web-based application theypload it. for people who don't do that, there'll be checks in the mail. but we're going to t get as much money in direct deposit as we can. that's the fastest way to get hard working americans their money. sreenivasan: at least 22 people suffered minor injuries yesterday after a tornado

slammed through parts of northeast arkansas. cellphone video captured the twister as it hit residential and commercial areas in the college town of jonesboro. the tornado hurled wreckage and derailed a train. officials said there were few injuries because many businesses were closed due to coronavirus restrictions. globally, the number of nfirmed covid-19 infections and deaths continues to rise. there are now more than 681,000 infections, and more than 31,000 de coronavirus pandemic according to the johns hopkins coronavirus resource center. today, spain and italy, the two called on the european union for more help in battling the virus. in italy, officials announcedea that the d toll had exceeded 10,000, with more than 92,000 people infected.ve in spain, the ment imposed new restrictions on non- essential work, including a ban it also reported 8eaths, a altogether, the of death toll in spain is more than

6,500. in britain, prime minister boris johnson remains quarantined atow 10ng street after testing positive for covid-19. he says his symptoms areild and in a letter that will be sent to all households wrote that "we know thingsill get worse before they get better." in india, thousands of migrant workers continued to flee major tcities after the governm declared a 21-day lockdo to prevent the spread of coronavirus. prime minister narendra modi asked for "forgiveness" in radio address today amid criticism that the country was unprepared for how the decisiowo d affect millions of poor indians. for more news from across the country and the latest on the growing paemic visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: this wednesday april 1. that's the day the nation's nearly 44 million households o that rent typically havey their landlords. even before the massive economic disruption caused by the

coronavirus pandemic, many renters were already stretching their budgets to afford housing. so, what will happen tthem now? i spoke earlier with jennyng schuetz, a houconomist at the brookings institution. o there are loconversations about how to protect people from defaulting on their mortgages. at about renters? >> well, the is some attempts, mostly by local governments, to y to protect people from being evicted. so local governments can pass a temporary moratorium or halt on evictions. that doesn't dismiss the rent altogether, it just pushes it down the line. so that can provide some temporary relief for rente come april 1 this is something that's appealing toocal governments because it doesn't directly cost them money and it sort opushes off the problem for a little while but it's not a long term solution unless we really give households enough money at they are going to be able to catch up on their debts at some point. >> sreenivasan: do you think that the individual payments of possibly $1,200, or if you're married, $2,400, a one time payment will do the trick? t t depends a lot on where

you live. so, in a metro area like dallas, $1,200 a month is about the rent on a two bedroom apartment. so that will at leascover a decent chunk of your expenses for the month. but in a place like, say, san jose, the median rent is double that, and so there are a lot of people in expensive places for whom this is really not going to cover that much of their cost. what we know is that there are a lot of people who were, in fact, in unstable housing situations even before the current crisis hit.bo so 20% of american households were already spending more than half of their monthly income on rent.do that realln't leave a lot left over for other things and there's essentially no financial cushion. so these are households who in the best of circumstces were just barely covering their housing costs each month. anrkind of disruption to th income: losing their job, losins hours orft is gog to mean that they can't pay all of their bills. erso next week on april 1 are a lot of people who are simply going to come up short.

>> sreenivasan: lay out the kind of ripple effects of what happens when that check doesn't gohrough. >> so, the check that you write to the landlord goes to pay for a bunch things that are kind of downstream from there. to go to the localnmentlly has for property taxes. so that even takes priority over the mortgageor landlords. and this is a time when we know that local governments are on the frontlines providing a lot of direct services. taking care of people with public health concerns, makingit sure that comms are still up and functioning. and local governments are seeing their venues drop. so it would really be a shame if their property taxes got cut even further. after that there's the mortgage payment, and congress is doing their best, and the federal agencies, to try to provide a little bit of cushioon mortgages. pays income, pays salaries for a lot of people who work in the real estate industry. so for instance, a large apartment building might have an onsite building super, have maintenance staff, housekeeping staff. it's really important that we keep buildings clean andze

saniand fix things when they break so that that's still a safe and clean place for peoplto be living. if rent checks stop then there are other people that e going to lose their income, and it just cascades on down. >>bereenivasan: this seems t exposing, kind of an inherent inequity in how housing works in the united states. >> yes. we have had a system for a long time that has anbunch of gaps, we are seeing what those look like now. so for those of us who study housing markete noticed that low income households have rda very difficult time afg basic quality housing and there's really not tt much direct federal assistance that goes to low income renters in particular. you know, we've seen also the number of homeless people has gone up over the last five to shelter-in-placuse they them don't have a home. so we are starting to come to grips with the social cost for not providing decent qualityab affo stable housing for everybody in society. >> sreenivasan: jenny schuetz b frokings. thanks so much for joining us.

>> thank you, hari. >> sreenivasan: yesterday, the first inmate in federal custody died from covid-19, a 49-year-old louisiana man named patrick jones. d at the same facility where at least two dozen inmates and staffers have tested positive. this follows weeks of advocatesi for thts of incarcerated people sounding the alarm aboute the potential of coronavirus in the nation's prisons and jails. pbs wshour weekend's ivette feliciano spoke with lawyers, activists and one mother with a ean in prison, all of whom a covid-19 disaster for those behind bars, and those who work withhem. >> reporter: at a time when americans are encouraged to practice social distancing for the foreseeable future, advocates for prisoners'ights note the majority of america's incarcerated are unable to do so.

>> this is a public health concern. are going to get sick and die out of rikers as soon as possible. >> reporter: staff attorneys working at new york's legal aid society in brooklyn say they're concerned for the health and safety of their clients after hearing stories about what is happening inside the city's detention centers. >> you can't get away from anyone. people are housed down with their beds. 100 people in a dorm. people are coughing. you can't t away. thers no soap. it's terrifying.or movie. >> reporter: as of today, more than 200 people have already tested positive for the 'sronavirus at new york ci detention facilities, including not only the incarcerated, but also corrections employees like other courts around the country, new york city's have indefinitely postponedll criminal and civil jury trials due to the threat from the virus. among other things, that means people who are being held before they've been tried or convicted of anything will have to waitow longer in d conditions. and most often, those people are poor.

>> well, i think it speaks to poverty and speaks to being able to afford bail. ana lot of our clients jus cannot afford to pay the bail. ol>> reporter: this 51-yea mother from the bronx says her 25-yr-old son has been kept a manhattan jail, convicted of nothing, since 2017. his trial date set for this indefinitely.ostponed she spoke to us thursday telling us what her son, who is diabetic and suffers from seizures, had told her. she asked us to keep both their identities and the dails of his case private. >> well he's in a housing unit where the first inmate tested positive for the coronavirus a couple of weeks ago. and i have to tell you, since then, every time he's called, there is quite a bit of confusion and panic and fear and anger.o absolutelynd sanitizer is allowed there, so they don't have that at all. they've been issued each a mask as of three days ago.

so they finally got masks. yesterday, as a matter of fact, three more inmates fell sick, got a fever and were removed and taken out. my son has not been proven they're simply awaiting trial. therefore, you can kill someone there. they can die there. and it would have been for no nason other than this per just hadn't gone to trial and gotten convicted yet. >> reporter: las dweek mayor biblasio announced that new york city would begin releasing some individuals who have been arrest for minor crimes but not yet tried, as we as those whose health problems make them most vulnerable to infection. but as of thursday, city officials said that fewer than 200 eligible prisoners hadeen released lawyers at legal aid say there people who fit the profile of those who should be released, and that the city is moving too slowly. >> what we're encountering in brooklyn is trying to get individu clients released. and there are so many cases being brought, and only one or

two judges to handle them. and so cases that were filed last week have still not been heard. >> you know, each attorney is, like, filing paperand calling this person, calling that person it can't be this iual case by case basis. eoat takes weeks and weeks. in the meantime,e are getting sick. people are going to die. it needs to happen much faster. >> reporter: attorneys at the legal aid society fevileral lawsuits on behalf of doze of incarcerated defendants over the last week. last thursday a manhattanem sucourt judge ordered the release of 16 additional people, ruling that the city and state violated their constitutional rights by detaining them during the covid-19 outbreak. dr. amanda klonsky i advocate for prisoners rights who has spent the last two decades teaching and running education programs in jails an prisons. >> it's almost as if we'ri designed a pish to spread

the pandemic and to heighten this crisis. ot reporter: she recently an op-ed for "the new york times" about the dangers the coronaviruposes to those behind bs, and those in contact with them. >> if there's an outbreak in a jail or a prison in a city like los angeles, chicago washington, d.c., it has the potential to overwhelm our hospitals, our medical care syems. right? how will corrections officers transport sick individuals from jails and prisons to local hospitals safely withoutlv infecting them and others? >> reporter: klonsky, who is based in illinois, has been tracking covid-19 infections in priss and jails around the country, and says, so far, the disease has entered detentio facilities in more than a dozen states. >> more than 40% of people in prisons already have a chronic health condition. medical care is in short supply. access to doctors mabe supply. impossible.'r

simply incapable right now of meeting the demand if there was a major outbreak or cluster. and public health officials and experts are telling us it's not if >> reporter: as of friday, 14 incarcerated people in federalve custody ested positive for the coronavirus and have been soolated. 13 pstaffers have tested positive as well. the federal bureau oons has implemented social facilities, and inated its people there won't be allowed vits from fami, friends or attorneys until mid-april. the b.o.p. is also quarantining all new inmates enteringts 122 correctional facilities for 14 days. cht klonsky worries that efforts such as these, whe admits are intended to mitigate the spread of coronavirus inside prisons and jails, could actually come at the cost of the rightsf incarcerated people. >> in some places, we're hearing that people are losing access to phone calls, to letters and to other kinds of communicaon

with the outside. prisons are already a black box. right? we often don't know, the public doesn't know what's happeningd at kinds of inhumane conditions are emerging on the inside. >> reporter: on thursday u.s. attorney geral william barr issued a directive to the bureau of prisons, urging the release of some elderly and chronically ill prisoners in b.o.p. custody. >> an outbreak in a jail or a prison will be a death sentence for many thousands of people. and so we're asking our statego and locarnments, the federal government, the trump administration, to take thisre seriously, to release as many people as possible. cait's the only way that w reduce the number of deaths. >> sreenivasan: it is estimated that at least 229 millio americans are now being asked to stay home. one of them, fulton leroy washingt, is a former prison

inmate turned celebrated artist. he goes professionally by the name "mr. wash he recently spoke with newshour riekend's christopher booker about what "shel in" means to someone who has already spent more than two decades doinit. >> reporter: we were planning on telling you the story of mr. wash and his extraordinary paintings under fferent circumstances. sentenced to serve life on a non-violent drug conviction-- a crime he says he didn't commit-- mr. wash was one of hundreds of thousands of black men sent away during america's war on drugs. it's a 1990's three-strikes-u're-out story, one that's uniquely american. but this mr. wash story isn't about his sentencing, it's about what he did during his 21 years in prison. >> i spent my time doing exactly what i'm doing right now, painting. >> reporter: mr. wash painted a lot, and he painted very, very well. so well, that when he applied for clemency and somehow it was granted, he wondered if his artwork had anything to do with it, but that is a story rme another >> let me close this window.

there's light coming in making this glaor. >> rr: like so many americans, mr. wash is now stuck at home, living under fornia's "shelter in place" order. >> this kind of reminds me of doing the time of being incarcerated, they call a lockdownow we go on loc when you're on lockdown in prison, yocan't shut your ears off. oihere i hear things, cars by, the sounds of the sirens, fire trucks. and it makes you wder, is somebody hurt, somebody injured? is that a fire truck? is that an ambulance? is that a police? in prison, you hear the guards running. and you wonder if it's a fight or a stabbing. you're just using your imaginion to figure out what's u ally going on. >> reporter: do ink your time in prison, strangely enough, gave you an ability to make it through this period in ways that, say, i'm not used too >> yes, i do. i think my time in prison, because i never waste time. see, we all get x amount of time

to live, to enjoy life. and what you do with it is your own. in prison, i didn't waste time. so i find myself back in a very familiar situation. i'm learning how to use a computer. this is my first time ever doing something like what we're doing. this is brand-new, this whole zoom thing. i'm learning new technology. i'm still working on my case to prove my innocce. d i'm still painting, creating what's going on in theorld today. reporter: do you have friends and family that haveerot been incaed that are callingsa you for adviceng, mr. wash what, what should i be doing? how should i be getting through this? >> yeah, i do. i do. i do get tho calls. people call me be like "man, man, what are you doing?" i say you ve to have a route. and the roine need to use the energy that you have. >> reporte mr. wash gave us a video demonstration of what he was talking about. >> let's get moving, l's do a

good morning workout. basic exercise. you want to exercise and strch your body in the morning because you're not going to get a chance to walk around and run and do all this stuff. set the coffee water on. get and take your shower, come back. drink a cup of coffee, and for me, i go to the paint brush and i start to paint. >> reporter: and this is what mrwash has been doing for nearly 12 hours a day, a process that he captures and shares on his instagram account. this piece is for an upcoming exhibit of l.a. artists to be he at the huntington and hammer museums in july. >> we have a little ways to go wi this. i have about three weeks to finihis piece. >> reporter: and who are the two faces that we see? >>h, this is mundane and h grandson. he's the owner of beas markets out of kansas city. he was an ex-inmate that was serving, i believe, a lifece sentt the time when i was. >> reporter: and is this changing your creative approach to your painting? e you having all kinds of new >> i'm having so many ideas, chris, that come to me that i would love to paint.

ecis is history. and it should beded no different than everying that haened back with picasso a rembrandt and all of them, they captured their history moments. that capture that moment.ists >> reporter: and whesocial past, we will be tith of the mr. wash to share with you what he came up with. >> sreenivasan: graduations, weddings, even memorial services can beostponed during a pandemic, as painful as that may be f those involved. but what about life-events that can't wait-- giving birth, for example. newshour weekend special correspondent karla murthy spoke to new mom, christina lewis halpern, aut what it's like to become a parent while so much feels like it's crumbling all around you. >> reporter: as the news was getting more dire. i mean, especially you're in the epicenter, you're in new york city. how did you cope? >> you know, it was really, really scary.

i'll say one thing wople would ask me how i'm doing. i'd say, you know, we're kind of great, you know, as a family. we really had something great to look forward to.s it dok like children are really not affected so badly by, you know, by covid. and so tt's really the most important thing. you know, like a hbypy, healthy t the end of it. a and so, we stiays have that, you know, reasonably to look forward to. like, i'm not conf ned about whatd to do. you know, we need to stay in the ndty near our doctors and, just ride this thing out. >> repter: tell me about that. you know, the moment you saw your daughter. they stopped me into the wheelchair at the door to check my temperature, even though was writhing in the throes of labor because it was happening really fast.d when she was born and it was over, i saw her for the first time and i mean was a little miracle.

i couldn't believe it. but there she was and it was done and she was healthy and i s healthy. we're all there. and i mean, i can't, i've never been more relieved in my ente life. yeah. she just woke up. and yeah, so, you know, one thing now is that we were always planning to nest, you know. so in the same way, our, no, my it was always plano be not. working. not really going that many places. not traveling too much.so e're really, really lucky and happy. and that's what i wish for everyone else. pregnant in the pandemic. it can be, you know, it can be. it will be, i hope, a source of joy, you know, in all this. in this terrible, terrible time we're living in.

>> sreenivasan: that's all for this edition of "pbs newshour weekd." i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. have a good night. captioning sponsor by wnet media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz.

e 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 today. mual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, arivate corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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in part by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. welcome toownton abbey returns! in just a moment, jim carter, who brilliantly portrayed . carson on downton abbe will guide us through the most memorable moments of this award-winning pbs series enjoyed by millions across the country and around the world. tompther, we followed a ling cast of characters through sweeping change, love, ambition, heartbreak, anhope. and now, the story will conn en the downton abbey feature film comes to theaters this fall. what will happen? jim carter and his guests may just share a raw crets in today's pr thank you for your support of all six seasons o