captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff.ou on the newtonight, the deaths from covid-pike inth e u.s., more than doubling in a matter of days, and president trump faces the reality of an extended shutdown. th, the ordeal of diagnosi coronarus testing in the u.s.: who gets seen, how long it takes, and what early mistakes mean for our understanding of the disease. plus, the pandemicbroad. to the greek island of lesbo where fears grow that a refugee waiting.a viral epicenter in >> god forbid that we actually have an outbreak in the camp because that would be a real disaster. that would be a humanitarian crisis on another level.

we are reall i think, sitting on a time bomb. >> woodruff: all that and mo on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50g ears, advanceas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individual >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pio stfrom viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a new week has dawned in the era of covid-19, and the pandemic keeps burning through the u.s. population. infections across the nation are at 160,000 and still rising, with some 3,000 deaths.w rk state remains the nation's number one hotspot for

the virus, and the governor is appealing for outsine help. we bwith this report from >> nawaz: at the eer of the u.s. coronavirus outbreak... >> new york undertakes new steps to care for the continuing tide of patients, as state health officials anticipate a peak in two to three weeks. new york governor andrew cuomo: >> you have to prepare before the storm hits and, in this case, the storm is when you hit the apex. how do you know when you're going to get there? you don't. there is no crystal ball, but there is science and there is data and there are health professionals who have studied this virus andits progress since china. >> nawaz: the death toll here has now exceeded 1,200, and known confirmed covid 19 cases surpassed 66,000, as new york's health care system overflows, help arrived today on the hudson river. the u.s. navy ship "comfort"

docked in manhattan, bringingt with000 hospital beds for non-covid-19 patients. part of new york city's central park, normally bustling in the white tents.is now crowded with a makeshift field hospital to handle an influx of patients. lines of empty hospids, a convention center is now a clinic in-waiting. new york is not alone in seeing a rapid increase in cases. across the country, surges in cities like new orleans, detroin san francisco are straining healthcare systems from coast to fiast. michigan health als say medical centers there are not yet equipped. >> we are ill in the early ages of spread in michigan and cases ha not yet peaked. >> washington dee see, virginia and maryland have been the latest to issue stay-at-home

>>maryland resident should orders. be leaving their home unless it is for an essential jo or for an essential reason such as obtaininfood or medicine, seeking urgenmedical attention, or for other necessary purposes. >> nawaz: it was days ago that president trump set a goal of cister to ease social dist guidelines. but now, he's changed his message, extending the lockdown advisories for at least another month. >> we think april 30 is a day where we can see some real progress. and we expect to see that, short of june 1, we think the death, it's a terrible thing to say, will be brought to a very low number. >> nawaz: that decision camea afim warning from health

>> russia is prohibiting any nonessential outside movement. in india, thg sweep 1.3 billion person lockdown continues. and in spain, where known case now top 85,000, a sign that social distancing is starting to work. >> from the day that >> ( translated ): f tm the day th general social distancing measures began throughout spain, from 15 to 25 march, the increase in average cases was about 20% and since that day it is 12%. >> the world health organization warned, worldwide, the most vulnerable communities will be the hardest hit. >> if we arclosing or ifwe're limiting movement, what is it going to happen to those people who have to work on daily basis and have to earn their bread on a daily basis? >> nawaz: back in the u.s., it's a concern that hits home, too. today, department storewe ouse macy's announced it will furlough most of its roughly 130,000 employees.

for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: wall street rallied again today, led by health care companies workg on potential coronavirus tests and vaccines. the dow jones industrial averagn 690 points to close at 22,327. r the nasde 271 points, and the s&p 500 added 85. despite recent progress, manyin experts say tefor covid-19 remains far too slow, and too low, in the u.s. as othis weekend, there had been more than 900,000 tests done. today, predent trump told governors that he had not about testing problem "for weeks." but many people with symptoms d concerns say just the opposite. here is a sample of what viewers experiences.d us about their

>> my name is kristina kat iama and i liseattle, washington. >> my name is aaron warner. i live in south burlinon, vermont. >> my name is alyson hinkie. i'm from magnolia, texas >> i had a shortness of breath, coughing of my fever, got up to about 101.5. >> i started to get a lot of pressure on my chest. kind of reminded me as if i was at the gym carrying like a heavy ball across the gym. except it was althe time. i had hard core fatigue like deep. oep fatigue, deep into my bones, all the w to my hair follicles. >> i left a message with the. doctor's nur they called me back, asked me a few questions, and they said i because i was under the age of 65 and my fever wasn't high enough. looks like a q-tipg what almost they told me to look up and theb put the own into my nose. was actually really painful.

it burned quite a bit. >> i wasn't able to actually get tested until three wfter symptom onset. sonce i did actually get t test, it took five days to get the results. and, you know, clearly i showed negative. >> i went get tested at the military hospital in san antonio. they had it coned off in a parking lot that's part of the and they were conducting they were using the nasals swabs. but before that, when i was actually sick and we were acally really concerned. that process, i guess because it was so early on initially, we didn't get any traction with anybody. >> i have, you know, confirmed positive covid test from my colleague, who i worked with.s i ld that i couldn't do testing because i didn't have the right insurance. i was able to get ahold of one of the clinics. i was told the same thing again, which is sorry, you don't have the right insurance. go home. so needless to say, 't get testing.

i put in a lot of effort to get and my mom is now sick. i couldn't get tested. the person on the phone who wasi quit was saying, i'm not saying you don't have this. it's just that we don't have. enough tes we have a service area of 87,000 people and we can do 50 tests a day. w >> the a lot of panic out there just and a lot of just lack of information of what this is like.no anbeing able to be tested really put a lot of scare into me. go>> i did not think it wag to be so difficult to get testing. u could have no symptoms at all and still be carrying and still be transmitting to other people who are very vulnerable and will get sick and may die. so if it when you know, that information has an impact and when you don't know that lack of information has an impact. >> i don't think i would be tested now if it hadn't been for

the military facility being set up, because being a veteran,i being retiren show my id and get on it. >> the way that it has been communicated here is on the local news and from ctor's offices is basically that if you are age and symptomatic, as long as you can breathe, that you are being selfish for getting a test because you're basically taking a test away from someone that really needs it >> we have family in korea. we were hearing from them how aggressiveorea had been. the country had fully financially sponsored the testing, the drive through testing facilities just being super, insanely aggressive. when i think about myself and those seven days before i becami symptomatias on four plane rides and i think i counted like 500-plus people that i was exposed to. >> woodruff: there was some important news on this front. otabbott laboratories just federal approval in the last few

days for a rapid test that can deliver resultright away, somewhere between 5 and 13 minutes. eventually it hopes ramp up so that medical clinics can do 50,000 of those tests a da but we're not there yet. let's look at this issue with dr. jennifer nuzzo, a senior scholar at the johns hopkins center for health securi. she joins me now from baltimore, maryland.er jennuzzo, we're getting a conflicting picture. president trump just mments ago told the country a million tests have beenn doe, 100,000 a day, other optimistic words from his administration, but then you hear from ordinary americans like these who describe the fficulties they had getting tests, getting results. whe's thetruth >> yeah, i mean, it's still been quite a hobbling of our's response to this pandemic that who has this virus and who doesn't. >> woodruf why is it s

important right now that there be a lot of tests? >> well, right now, what we need to do is to figure out how to test smartly. we need to come up with a strategy for testing, given theo fact tha testing is still so very constrained. right now, the bottlenecks aren't so much the initial things that we've heard about before, difficulty getting tets out of the labs. there are new tests that are coming online, but there are still bottlenecks upstream. one bottleneck is jt doctors and nurses are really busy and possibly too busy to administe tests to people who aren't sick enough to require hospitalization. theylso don't have personal protective equipment in enough quantities to wear so that they o n safely perform the tests. now there are alortages of the chemicals and the tools they euse to collect t specimens for testing that they would need in order to perform the tests. so, right now, the kind of ching telehealtmessa is that we don't have the resources to test widely.

thates the rality that we have right now. but if we are ever to get ahead of thiare going to have to test more widely and, in particular, there are certain categories o mpeople wh not be severely ill but very much need to be tested. key are doctors and nurses potentially exposed to patients hduring the course of tr work and we ne to know if they're infected or not. >> woodruff: you said strategy, meaning there needs to number one., healthcare workers, who after that? people who start to feel bad or at? and als's hashed to find a place to get to the place where you need to test. >> absolutely. there are other categories of ouople who i thr are important in. particular, i'm very worried about long-term care facilities because an outbreak in one of ilyse facilities could eas overwhelm a local health system. there are sometimes thousands of very vulnerable elderly residents living in these facilities, and an outbreak in one can tip the balance of what

is demanded of the health system. so possibly more fretequent ing in those facilities would be important. then, also, people whoive at home with medicly frail people, they should be tested to know if they're simplematic so they could better protect their relatives. >> woodruff: the rapid test was described from abbott lab how long will it takfrom that st or any other to make a difference to be rolled out and be available in communities around the country where it's able? >> right, no it's ry encouraging the number of companies that are stepping up to develop more rapid tests. we absolutely need that. the fact that th yetd -- abbott test can be done outside a laboratory and to be able to provide results in a relatively short time period, minutes asn oppose t we're hearing some people go ten or more days before they get eir test results. so that's clearly not workable.

having new tools like the abbot st is important. that said, we still are upstreah bottlenecks e to address like the fact that doctors and nurses or whoever will perform the test will need personal protective equipment to do it safely, we need the swabs for specimens for the tests, so we need to work on all the issues and not just focus on one particular test or device. need an overarching strategy. the larger problem is they're taking different approaches in terms of who they test and how many tests thy're doing. we he no visibility into that which makes it hard from a national per to understand how much covid 19 is in the country and whether the condition is tting better or worse. >> woodruff: a lot of people want to know why the uni'td states isn a better position. i know it's a complicated question, but some fingers pointed at the federal government. >> well, you know, nk there were some unanticipated glitches that, you know, weren't

foreseen. that said, as soon as some technical problems arose, i likely think there was a lack of urgency to expand the testing and i frankly don't understand why that was, but you can't argue that we lost a lot of yoound and time that we could have used to know, control cases to the point where we have now exceeded china. >> woodff: it's all a lot to try to understand. jennifer nuzzo, we thank you very much for joininus. >> woodruff: t spread of coronavirus is continuing to build in regions around the where it is putting a big strain on doctors, nurses, first responders and hospitals. william brangham gets a view from the front lines of health care there. >> brangham: illinoiis now another state dealing with a skyrocketing number of

coronavirus cases. this chart shows the sudden surge of diagnoses in the state, and with it, the rising number of people dying from the virus. most of those cases right now are in cook county, the region in and around chicago. dr. claudia fegan is the chief medical officer for cook county dr. fagan, thank you very much for being here. i wonder if you could just we've been seeing this dramatic spike in the number of cases in your region. how are things there right now? >> well, i think right now we're holding our own. we're looking at and we've been following the models, projecting that we're going in this direction and. have been trying to prepare on a gular basis. we're talking about the number of beds we have. how many staffnge have and tr to get our arms around. what we sehappening in new rk and try to prepare and hope of avoiding some of the difficulties that th encountering

>> brangham: i take it you're talking about just the lack of i.c.u. beds, the srtage of equipment, shortage of ventilators. you mean things like that? >> exactly. s what we see is that acr around the world that this virus is overwhelming health care systems, and to the extent that we have timeo prepare, we see the surge coming. it's allowed us to rally our forces. hospitals are talking to each other.e wet competing. we're collaborating and looking at if one hospital in the are and we all try to benefit from ea other in terms of what' going on and taking care of these patients. >> brangham: and do you have a good sense that you do feel you're well supplied with medical supplies, masks, face shields, ventilators, those kinds of things? >> it's a daily challenge. we keep a running log of our personal protective equipment and see where things are. we look at our burn rate, and we're ordering although there's a worldwide shortage currently. we've been able to maintain

enough equipment for all of our staff, but we are being frugal we are instructing staff on ways in which they can reuse the discard it and when it's ok too continue to use it. so currently we are adequatelywe supplied, bunow that that's dependent upon receiving and when we're notto continue to get those shipments, it will be very problematic. ly>> brangham: we've certa been seeing in new york and elsewhere, in other nations as onwell, an enormous anxiet behalf of the medical staff who have to gonto these cases where they're concerned not only with providing the best possible care for people who are very, very sick in many cases, but also protecting themselves. from staff? sense you're getting how are they handling this anxiety? >> no, rightfully . everyone is afraid. no one wants to have the virus. and so we see a lot of anxiety, and it manifests itself in all kinds of behavior, maybe excessive use of p.p.e., putting

on multiple gowns or multiple masks. we try to provide staff with reassurance with the information, or when us, a state member becomes positive, is diagnosed as bng positive, then everyone in that workspacee beconcerned about whether they are also going to get it. we have reached a point in terms spread that we're telling the staff that if you walk into the hospitu should also assume that you've been exposed. and putting on equipment, as soon as you leave your car to walk into nde hospital, we're asking everyone to maskveryone to use gloves in all contact. and that when you go home, you need to remove the items thatea you wereng at work so thatto you'd trvoid contamination in the home space as well. soould you can't not be afraid. i think fear is a natural reonse, but it's trying to cope with it and trying to

reassure people that there are ways, there are things they cath do to protecselves and that if we're mindful ofhat, we can we can all be safe. in that way, you can stay safe and use the appropriate uipment. >> brangham: that's got to be incredibly anxiety inducing. i mean, on some level, you want people to be conscious of it. and maybe that fear helps drive better precautions. but that fear has also got to be incredibly taxing inr people, dand day out. >> it is very stressful and we have an aging workforce at the county. and so folks are vouy concerned their own personal well- being. and sometimes that can be a tremendous distraction from doing what they normally would do in terms of taking care of patients. we also have a extremely large correctional health facility. and you can't practice social distancing in a correctional health facility. and so it is a tremendous stress for the staff who workhere, as

well as the detainees who we're trying to provide the best of care. and i think that the advantagesa that the is working as a team and they're very supportive of each other and we are trying kept safe.re our detaine >> brangham: all right, dr. claudia fagan, cook county health. thank you very much and good luck out there. >> tnk you. >> woodruff: human rights activists and medical non- profits are calling on the gre government to evacuate overcrowded refugee camps on islands in the aegean sea to prevent covid-19 causing a humanitarian disaster. they're particularly concerned about moria camp on the island of lesbo which special correspondent malcolm brabant has visited many times over the past five years; and he is in touch with people there. malcolm? >> reporter: judy, tonight i'm

repoing from home again. i'm in the english countryside, where i have space to breathe and want for nothing. d 00 miles away on the isl lesbos, in possibly the toughest cation in europe, living conditions could not be worse. they have fled wars, persecution but in moria they are stranded with no place to run, and no place to hide from covid 19. >> ( translated ): nobody care about us. nobody. we are waiting howe, sorry to tell you about that, but this is the truth. >> reporter: raid alabd is the unofcial leader of the arabi .speaking refugees in mor the camp was originally intended as a ansit camp for 3,000 people, when t refugee crisis began in 2015. but the influx has never stopped and the population in tents and hovels sprawling beyond th

razor wire is about 20,000. the whole of greece is on lockdown and the authorities are making sure the people of moria stay within what critics label an open prison. raid lives outside the official camp. there is no running water for essential self protection, as he told me via whatsapp. >> i should walk from this area around 500 meters to go to the bath a bring empty bottles, fill it with water and bring ire again from to here. in the line may be one hour to fill one bottle, two bottles so >> reporter: in february we went inside moria where afghans eke out a living making flat bread and met 13 year old mahtab moradi who was scared aboutn violencee camp. >> ( translated ): we need peace. >> reporter: now, she told me , via whatsapp, a different types of tensionsing. >> the people are scared because

when the virusome here nobody n save their life. >>eporter: lesbos has just registered its first vir related ath, an elderly greek woman who was apparently infected by her daughter, a as a result, two m centres have been closed. so far covid 19 has not reached moria, but volunteer docto there fear it's just a matter of time. >> god forbid that we actually have an outbreak in the camp because that would be a real disaster. at would be a humanitari crisis on another level. we are really sitting on a time bomb. >> reporter: dr jamilah sherally works inside moria with the boat refugee foundation, a dutch non prgrit. >> on thnd we are doing all we can but i am convinced that despite our best efforts this is a war we are going to lose if covid-19 actually breaks out in moira.

>> if you are trying to create a human petri di for virus and bacteria moira would be a good choice. >> reporter:ill frelick, of human rights watch, was in lesbos earlier this month, monitoring conditions aboard a greek navy ship where several hundred people from moria were placed befe being transported po a camp on the mainland. freelick has a ption for the greek authorities. >> the main thing real decongest the camp and one haggestion i would have is you have a tourist industry in greece that is suffering becse you have empty hotels throughout the country so as an emergency measure put some of these people in to thoselaces. >> reporter: today ilesbos municipal workers have been disinfecting streets, astr idation grows amongst the 86 thousand greeks on the island. local councilor despina gabriel doesn't believe the hotels should open. >> we have actually closed our hotels. we are not allowing anybody in

the island or off the island. >> reporter: we met despina gabriel in february when she and ewhers barricaded access roads to the site of aefugee camp to stop building work. she believes t government's current lock down strategy is thprotecting all 100,000 o island, greeks and refugees alike. >> as far as moira is concerned, as lg as they stay in their camp site they are okay. they are not having any interaction on the street, they are not having interaction with us, we are not having with them. >> reporter: but doctor jamilah sherally made this appeal to the european union. >> i think the only possible way in which this oulereak would not to a humanitarian disasteret is if wen evacuation of the people from moira and a re- location of the refugees in other e.u. states. >> reporter: but most of europe is locked down and it has ignored the plight of lesbos for years. so moria's residents have to hope the fortitude that enabled them to escape conflict and

other troubles, will continue througho the corona crisis. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, riotg broke out at a prison in southern iran, adding to a series of violent outbursts at prisons in the country. officials say no one escaped in the latest incent. iran has already furloughed some 100,000 inmates to curb the spread of covid-19. also today, afghanistan began eleasing some 10,000 prisoners. inmas lined up to have their temperature checked by men in protective suits. their relatives outside.ith taliban members were not released. afghan officials blamed the killed 27 soldiers and police. police in the nethernds are

searching for a vincent van gogh painting, "the parsonage garden at nuenen in spring 1884". investigators say thieves stole the artwork from the singer laren museum east of amsterdam rly today, after smashing a glass door and breaking in. a thing?nslated ): who does such that is a parallel world of crime and money that we do not belong to. re are of the world of culture, we are here to srt and culture, much needed for society, witthe people. >> woodruff: there is no word on the painting's value, but van gogh's can fetch millions at auction. back in this country, a deral judge today blocked texas from banning most abortions during the coronavirus crisis. the state's republican attorney general had included abortions in an order to postpone procedures deemed not medicallyr nece the judge ruled the state isa violatinndamental right. and, the coronavirus has claimed

two lives in the music world. york.merrill died sunday in new he co-wrote "i love rock and roll," a hit for joan jett in 1982. he was 69 years old. and, country singer joe diffie has died in nashville. his hits in the 1990's, included "home" and "pick-up man". joe diffie was 61 years old. still to ce on the newshour: the pandemic and the gig economy. the virus's toll on americans whoo don't work 9:0000. plus, amy walter and tamara keith on how covid-19 isol upending the pical landscape. in woodruff: more than 250

million american0 states, plus the district of columbia and puerto rico, have been asked or ordered to stay at home. twhile many people still stores in person for essentials, many people have relied on deliveries and those workers have become a crucial part of how the economy is working at the moment. but a growing number of those workers are concerned about the risks they may be taking. paul solman has that story. >> this is a billion dollar company, you guys need to provide us with masks, you need to provide us with gloves. >> reporter: at amazon's staten island new york fulfillment center, dozens of workers walked out today over safety concerns about the spread of virus, demanding the facility be closed for at least two weeks and sanitized.in they're also afor workers to be paid during this time, including back pay for those ready staying home out of fears for their health. >> we don't know who's diagnosed or not. it's too late. it's too late. what they should have did is

quarantine the bldo g two weeks t they didn't do it. was called at anotliverya strike giant: instacart, the grocery shopping and delivery service, where orders have surged from customers unwilling or unable to leave their homes. >> i had gone to the grocery store aftethe outbreak started and it was a madhouse and it was crowds of people and everybody coughing. and, you know, me probably being a little paranoid. >> reporter: i skyped with strike organizer vanessa bain last night. >> we called for an emergey walk-off of all shoppers to not report to work on monday, to not accept any orders, not fulfill any orders and not deliver any orders. we have a list of demands. and until those demands are met, we feel ke we can't shop fely and can't perform our job safely. >> reporter: so what's the danger now? >> grocery stores are a hotbed for this virus spreading. our work requires that we are in the grocery store a majority of the day.

and we're touching common surfaces like grocery carts and pin pads at the grocery store, again, arewhic surfaces that many, many people touch and cannot be properly ween each usin bet >> reporter: so what are you asking for? o demands are that we are provided with protective equipment like hand sanitizer, disinfectant spray, things thate an spray our cars down with, things that we can spray our phones down with. we're also demanding $5 per order hazard pay, plus a universal 10% tip defaultgh because now it defaults to 5%, which is falling far short of what it should be, especially in a time like this. >> reporter: are people saying thank you so much for coming to the house ving you a 20 or something like that? >> some customers are very mindful, very appreciative. c and sotomers are conditioned to tipping the absolute least.er it'sinly not adequate in times like these because, you know, shop an order takesta

suially longer than it used to. >> reporter: according to an extensive survey last year, says ms. bai"instacart "shoppers like her average less than $8 an hour after expenses. but income isn't their only concern.ng >> we are asor, or demanding the expansion of their covid-19 pay replacement policy. it requires a positive diagnosis of coronavirus, which, you know, if you can access a doctor, you can't access a test. and if you can access a test, your rests are in for, you know, anywhere between four to eleven days. and in the meantime, shoppers have no access to income ifth 're not working. >> reporter: moreover, professional shopping has become muchore difficult. >> if a customer wants let's san green beanthere's no green beans that are available that are fresh, i can't replace them with cans. i can't replace with fzen. it's just the stock is depleted. so a lot of a lot of what's been

happening has been stressful. and because our tips are contingent upon the receipt tota the less of the order that we can, the less we can fulfill the order, the less ouri p is as well. even though the amount of work we're doing actually increases.p >>ter: last night, instacart responded, saying it having hand sanitizer manufactured, which will ship next week, and that it will allow customers to set their own, higher default tip rates. but vanessa bain's group calls that response "simply not n that it clearly esn't address their paid sick leave or hazard pay demands. i had one last question. put yourself in the position of the c.e.o. of instacart for a moment, if you would. ldmean, what would you do differently or wt you feel >> if i were the c.e.o. of instacart, i would be very concerned with my company's reputation right now. we're touching everything that in order for, you know, a customer to get milk or eggs or,

or cereal, our hands are going on that packaging. and so if we're not, if we're t healthy and if we're not able to take proper safety precautions, then our customers risk are, are, are sky high. right. because we're in the grocery storesll day long. >> reporter: this is paul solman porting from my house outside boston. >> woodruff: now, we take our >> woodruff: instacart said it found no major impact because to have ts strike. workcread by more than 40% month over month and are seeing on average a 30% increase in customer's tips. >> woodruff: now, we take our latest look at president trump's response to the pandemic, with

white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. who minutes ago left today's briefing. yamiche, hello. we know that the pesident just yesterday announced that he's extending this period of social distancing. said he would try to end it in the next few weeks. now hsae'ng it goes through the end of april. what do we know about the thinking that went in to that? >> well, the prysident rea got this information andt that time -- a tom health officials who advised him iwas not wise to ease up guidelines on easter sunday, why is when the president originally wanted to ease u guidelines. so we hear a president who is sevolving on how seriously he' been thinking of the coronavirus. just a month ago, he's saying a miracle would wipe away some 15 cases e cases would go down to zero. now he goes saying this is aus very servirus. s 's also reiterating that up t

100,000 americuld die from the virus and said that's a good scenario. so we'rearing from a president who has done a 180 on this. he was asked about that in the rose garden moments ago. he said he didn't wat tpanic people and that's why he was saying the virus would go away and be dealt with very soon. e president is also talking about testing today. said that the testing has wrapped up. he was in the rose garden with a test kit that is supposed to now have a result for coronavirus for up to five minutes. so the president is stressing the united states is doing as much as it can at this moment. >> woodruff: yamiche, we kow this morning in an interview he gave the president was qutioning the state's request for some merge material. what do we know about the federal government providing to the states what they are asking for? >> that's right, the relationship between president trump and the goveors have gotten better over time, but the president is still in a real contentious

relationship when it comes to what states need. first, i want to y laund for people. this was president trump on thursday last week talking to sean hannity anduestioning opening whether or not governors needed the equipment they were requesting. >> i have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some are are just bigger than they're going to be. i don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. >> that was president trump just last week. sunday, i pressed him abut -- about that and said how is that ur thinking?act here's what he said. you said repeatedly that you governors are requesting theyh don't actually need. you said new york may not need 30,000. >> i didn't say that. you said it on sean ha'snni news. >> why don't you act in a little more positive? it's always trying to -- >> my question to you is. r -- -- get ya, get ya a tat's

why nobody trusts the media. that's why you used to work for the times and now you work for somebody else. let me tell you something, be nice. don't be threatening. be nice. >> so that was president trump, he was angry and lashic out a bit there.e but uestion of whether or not his thinking about whether ory ot governors actuaed the equipment they are asking for is still something that's unclear. we're not sure the president is going to se new york the 30 andrew quoam a says he needs or whether they will have a lower number because that's wheyt what he thinks governors need. >> woodruff: the "newsho" absolutely stands behind your questioning and work as a solid journalist. we're very proud ou. finally, yamiche, you just came from today's briefingn coronavirus. what new is the white house saying today? >> well, first of all, thank you so much, judy, for sail that. second of all, the president now in the rose garden was talking about ra tmping sting again. we again got into a little bit

of an exchange where i put the noquest to the president why is the united stateon par with other countries like south korea when it comes to pe capita testing, meaning you're testing as many residents as h your count. the president said that was really not an important thing to be focused on when, in fact, there are at least some gornors and some people with symptoms of the coronavirus who says testing is not as avilable as it could be. but as i noted, the f.d.a. did approve a new tesngt that's g to be getting people results within five minutes. so the president isaying, in the future, we will have more tests and more people will be able to have that. so that's what th predent was saying today at the rose garden mostly. >> woodruff: but bottom line ehey are saying more tests ar available, as we discussed earlier in the program, but there are a lot of complications around that. >> that's right, and little back and forth. the president had a number of c.e.o.s come uouand talking the fact they working on all sorts of equipment and inventory d resources toght the coronavirus.

a parade of. ce.o.s from procter & gamble and other s aces, but president was underscoring he ing what he could do to get testing widely avaleil the testing is saying testing is not as widely available as oth countries, including south korea. >> woodruff: yamiche at the whe house for us today thank you, yamiche.y >> thank you vch. i haven't we we want to look now at how voters responding to hisit leadershipour politics monday team, joining us via skype. that's amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npo tics podcast." we miss you and we're so glad you're with us. let's talk about first th president's approval rating. amy, there have been a number of polls out, a few polls out showing president trump's support among the american people is up over what it was

just a montago. there's these numbers from the latest "washington post"/abc hapoll conducted last wee his approval rating up to 48%, a5- int bump from the month before. what do you see as somebody who looks at polls all the time as behind this? >> yeah. well, judy, he is getng something of a bump in the last week or so. i spent last week looking at polls and calling pollsters on both sides and they saw te same thing in the own private polling. there is what they ca rally around the president. at a time of crisis, this isn't that unusual. obviously, really at dramatic times like right after e attacks on 9/11, we saw president bush's approval ratings jump up 35points. what we're seeing for this president is a bump. it's not quite as dramatic as we've seen for previous presidents at a time of crisis. we also see the majority of

americans anywhere from 50% t 60% think he's doing a good job on handling the coronavirus.o the issue, h, judy, for him is where we have been, i feel like we've had this conversation probably a thousand times on "politics monday," is he remains within ts narrow wand on hi approval rating. still in most of his polls, most of the president disapprove of the president overall than approve of him. he's narrower and at the hird ig his training range, his job approval rating has not broken above 49%. when you look and compare him to where governors are, one poll asked how dining the president is doing, 50% said we think he's doing a good job, what about governors, 72% said their governor was doing a good job. >> woodruff: tam, let me asku you thatstion. we know there has been controversy about the way the white house has handled coronavirus, the testing controversy is just one part of

it. how do you see the president's approval rting going up? wh's behind it? >> yeah, you know, th is, as amy says, sort o a rally around the flag, rally around the president phenomenon. what i've also heard is thre's not a sense that this is necessarily going to be durable. as yamiche was talking about, the president -- the ground has shifted under him repeatedly. he has gone from, as yamiche said, saying, well, maybehe cases will be down to zero, to now saying that 100,000 american deaths would be a good job. that's a remarkable shift, and this story has been moing so quickly, it is also hard to know what the polling is picking up from any given moment. are the polls we're looking at now reflectingis announcemen of the 15 days to slow the spread, are they reflectg his

wavering on it that came after they then reflect his new 30 more days to slow t spread? >> woodruff: and, of course, one of the reasons we're askingh about als, amy, is we are in a presidential election year. lot of attention to before the coronavirus pandemic, but, now, of course, it's righ rightfullye an back seat, butt's going to happen, there still will be anel tion, presumably, in november. so, amy, does the election, the contest with joe biden, bern sanders, is that just frozen for months? what do you think>> eah, in many ways, it is, judy. i think, when you look at these --they're called bot tests where you put the president up against one of the democrats, what you're saying is this is a reflexion on how people feel about presidentrump, not so muchow they feel about joe biden. biden, you're noing a lotre joe of attention because we're not

holding any primari we would be in the middle. you and i would be probably talking about promimariesg up and what the delegate account looks like, joe biden and bernie sanderwould be all over television. they're not. good news for joe biden would also be under a lot of scrutiny and attack from the -- trump campaign. that is put of for a little bit. what you're also seeing is a lot more attention on joe biden able to sort of control what he talks about and when he talks about is as o to being on the defensive. >> woodruff: so pick up on that, ta. what do you say as what does the campaign look like under the circumstances? >> yoyou know, i have been lookg into what the trumpampaign and the republican party has been up to and it has been fascinating. they had a bnch of in-person training for volunteers that were supposed to happen, they flipped a scritch, they made them all virtual training. they've also been doing virtual

eventslike a women's tmp event. but in terms of the messaging, what's really interesting is when they have been king calls to voters and the trump campaign and the rnc have made somkeethig million calls to voters over one weekend, the calls say, hey, how are you doing? let me direct you to coronavirus.gov. they are -- they have changed the message. they are essentially just working on making contts, practicing making those contacts, and then, later, whenk people cock on doors again, they will get back out knockingd ors, but they are communicating with people and, in some ways, trying to comte with the media narratives about what the prceesident's perform has been like on coronavirus, by going directly to their voters and telling them about what he's done and also, then, directing them to the resources. amy, this is one e thingsonds, that's almost impossible to

predict, isn't it? >> it absolutely is. i we've never be something like such a slow-moving disaster. we talked abo rally around the flag, that's usually when a disaster has already happened. this, as it continues to roll out, it's going to continue to change the calculus. >> woodruff: well, we are so glad the both of yo are staying safe. amy walter, tamera keith, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: the quarantine orders we live with now ar having impacts on all parts of our lives. restrictions on travel, group gatherings and hospital visitors mean families are often unable to gather and grieve as they normally would, even if coronovirus is not the specific cause of death. is just one of the many difficult consequences of our new normal. emgail grzybowski works atr station milwaukee pbs and made

this short piece on her family's recent experience. >> this is a story i n thought i uld have to tell or life.tually have occur in my so many of us are affected without ever being inflicted with this virus. i'm normally behind the scenes in the camera doing audio from milwaukee, pbs. now, uncomfortably, i'm in front of the camera telling my family's story. i live in wisconsin. my sisters live in florida. and my parents live in colorad springs. i was notified that my father of 89 years old in colorado had fallen in the use and broke his hip. a couple days into rehab, he got pneumonia. they then immediately sent him to the e.r.. they gave him a test for the

my mom was not allowed to see him in the hospital while he was i.c.u. until they got the tests back to confirm whether or itt he had the coronavirus. he was all alonetraveling. none of us felt safe to even goc to be with momse flying through any of the airports, the high likelihood of contact with somebody, you're in crowded planes in close quarters with people you don't know who are maybe carriers. he stayed in the i.c.u. for another four days. they did allow my mom to actually come into the room as long as she haall the protective gear on. at that point, my dad actually started perking up. it took seven days for the results to come back from the coronavirus test. they did come back negative

early, early sunday morning, the 22nd. ta got a call from the hos they were trying to get ahold of my momn colorado. my father was not breathing well. antibiotics ren't working. nothing was working. he was maybe down 113 pounds. dad was at such a frail point, not breathing well. they had moved my dad to i.c.u we were able to do a video chat between my two sisters in florida, me and milwaukee and my mom at the hospital with the hard decision of talking to my mom, knowing that this was not going to improve. it was time to say goodbye. and my mom was there all by meaning, you know, the family really wasn't there, nobody was there to hold her hand.

she shared with us the priest praying overad just as jesus had to love. then we were all thereith my mom by technology, witnessings hist breath. as we all. thanked my dad for being a human being that he was and telling him how much we loved him to not be able to psically be there has been very, very hard. in fact, we still can't be with my mom. there is now a statewide home quarantine until the end of april. we are all affected even iwe aren't inflicted with this virus. my father's name is dongas

boesky. loved and adored by many. >> woodruff: and our hearts go out to you, gail grzybowski, and your entire family and to all the families going through anything like this now. wee with you. that's the "newshou and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. ein us online and again h tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs and see you soon.ou, stay safe, >> major funding for the pbs neeewshour hasprovided by:

>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial21 literacy in th century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, ve world.d peaceful more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this progm was made porible by the corporation public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. pnewshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

coming up -- that i believe was very crucial. and that was to go bignd go fast. >> as governments around thhe world empty coffers to defeat the coronavus, den mark was there first. i speak to the dane i shall finance minister about lessons learned. then -- >> there wasn't a motel in the second hal ofshakespeare's career that wasn't working either under the threat of plag plague. >> shakespeare for our times. james shapiro on what the