captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, a cotry in the grip of the virus. the death toll in the u.s.as surges, ospitals grapple with a growing wave of patientsn health officials warn the then, as covid-19 dismantles the economy, many americans areor going hungryhe first time, and food banks struggle to meet >> there's no monee made. i'm down to like $4.00 in my bank account, and no foo for me it's worth it, waiting over an hour already, for this food bag. >> woodruff: plus, the schools are closed, but the classes go on. how parents, teachers, and students are re-making education

in the wake of the pandemic. htall that and more on ton pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choicet our no-contrans give you as much-- or as little-- talk, text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based customer service nsumeellular.tv to help. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of these ititutions: this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank you. >> woodruff: coronavirus deaths in the united states hav reached a new milestone: 3,700. that overtakes china's officially announced total of 3,300. italy and spain each have recorded many more deaths, while the u.s. has far and away the most cases of any country in the world, more than 180,000 so far. president trump warned tonight that the country faces "a vy tough two weeks," and and, everywhere, but especially in new york ate, officials are scrambling to keep up. amna nawaz begins our coverage. >> nawaz: across new york city,

local landmarks are joining the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus. the javits convention center, now a 1,000-bed hospittook last night.atoverflow patients thas new york, the epicenter of america's outbreak, saw knowa s in the state top 75,000. governor andrew cuomo announced he purchased 17,000 newor ventilfrom china. the need, he said, is desperate. >> know how you know? we are paying $25,000 per e.ventilator and we are br the st thing i want to do is y a single ventilator i don't need. >> the need is alsgreat in louisiana where 239ve died. governor bel edwards warned today with over 1300 hospitalized, the state may run out of venrstilahis weekend. he implored residents to do all they can to slow the spread.

>> stay at home, stop the spread and save lives.a there's noto see that number and not be startled. and, look, i'm tleelling peo expect things to get worse before they get better. >> and saw the number and i was startled. >> nawaz: hospital beds are filling up, but streets remain largely empty across the country. as of tonight, arizona and tennessee join the dozens of states limiting residents' activity outside their homes. all told, at least 32 states now have some sort of stay-at-home order in place, affecting more than three-quarters of the entire u.s. population. and those directives are unlikely to ease soon, according to projections from e white house this week. president trp extended the social-distancing guidelinesd until of april, after new models estimated that between 100 and 200,000s americuld die of the virus. white house lead coronavirusnt advisor, dr.ny fauci: >> if we pulled back on what we were doing and didn'nd them, there would be more

oidable suffering and avoidable death. at the data, that at the end of the day, if we try to push back prematurely, not only would we lose lives but it probably would even hurt the economy. >> nawaz: president trump, meanwhile, proposed that the government take advantage of rock-bottom interest rates, slashed to mitigate the paemic fallout, and move forward on a" very big and bold, $2 trillion" infrastructure bill. leaders in other countries, like chile and hungary, are taking advantage of the uncertainty with power grabs; cracking down on dissenters and consolidating power. officials at the european union expressed concern today.ee >> respect of m of expression and legal certainty are essential in these uncertain times. >> nawaz: but, in europe's hardest hit nationf italy, a glimmer of hope. a health official announcing the three-week-long national lockdown has led to a leveling- off of new infections. in memory of the thousands of

italian victims so far, a moment of silence tonight in rome. nearby in spain, nearly 850 deaths today made it the country's deadliest 24-hour- stretch so on the streets of madrid, in the pouring rain. police officers, ambulance drivers, and street cleaners, stood in silence to y their respects. in other cities, sounds of gratitude echoed in the streets, from singapore skyscrapers, to townhouses in england, residents worldwide stuck at home stepped outside to take part in a new pandemic tradition, applauding medical workers fiting the virus, as one shift ends, and another begins. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, wall street ended a brutal first quarter with fresh losses. the dow jones industrials average dropd 410 points today, to close at 21,917. it lost % for the quarter, the

most since 1987. the nasdaq fell 74 points day,an the s&p 500 slipped 42, ending its worst quarter since 2008. online retailing giant amazon hafired a worker who led a protest over covid-19 protections. christian smalls organized a walkout monday at a warehouse on staten island. the company says he had violated social distancing rules, and refused to stay home after coming into contact with an infected co-worker. smalls said his bosses ordered him home only to get him out of the way. senate majority leader mit mcconnell claimed today that president trump's impeachment trial diverted attention frome ronavirus. he appeared on a conservative radio show, and said the outbreak in china, during ounuary, came as the white and congress were distracted. >> it me up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial.

and i think diverted the attention of the governmytt, because evng every day was all about impeachment. >> woodruff: president trump's top aides did brief congress on the outbreak on january 24th, ring the impeachment trial, hed again on february 5th, day he was acquitted. but at the time, mr. trump maintain the risk was low. the trump administration today rolled back obama-era standards for auto mileage. a new rule drops a requirement for annual increases of 5% in fuel economy. environmental groups promised to challenge the change in court. we'll get the details, later in the program. the federal communications commission is taking new action against robo-calls. it ordered phone companies today to implement caller d. authentication againstlled "spoofing." that practice makes it appear that a robo-call is coming from a local number, so people will

answer. federal judges have blocked efforts by alabama and ohio to ban abortions during thetb coronavirus ak. abortions as non-ealified medical procedures. ilanwhile, texas officials appeal a federal judge's order that bcked a similar ban. and, the college sports governing body will grant another yearf eligibility to spring sport athletes, after their seasons were cut short by cod-19. the n.c.a.a.'s new policy coverl baseball, softnd lacrosse. it does not include sports that had finished most or all of their playing seasons. still to come on the newshour: food banks feel the strain as many americans go hungry for the first time. students and the pandemic-- the u.s. gets an education in distance learning. a doctor and writer on how covid-19 behaves in the body. the trump administration rol

back the rules on the climate impact of cars. and much more. >> woodruff: with unemploymentin so the covid-19 outbreak is taking a staggering toll on workers. as stephanie sy reports, food banks are ramping up their services to meet demand, even as donations, volunteers, and supplies are pressed. r story is also part of our chasing the dream series on poverty and opportunity in america >> so i'm in this lineaiting. there's over 2,000 people in this line here in mesa, arizona. >> reporter: matthew, who preferred we not use his last name, was in a long cue leading to the parking lotf the mesa convention center, waiting for a week's supply of food.

>> i'm here because i'm one of those gig workers. basically the business has dried up. there's no money to be made. i'm down to like $4.00 in my bank account, and no food. car payment's late, everything's late, for me it's worth it, waiting over an hour already, for this food bag. >> reporter: the distribution line is drive through only, one of many precautions dave richins, president and c.e.o. of united food bank has put in place in the wake of the outbreak. >> we're going to start temperature readings on every volunteer that comes. anybody that's not in the safe temperature range is going to om sent just can't risk it. >> reporter: richins told us by skype they are serving fouras timeany people as usual-- like many states-- enlisting tha help of thonal guard. >> so we're seeing the uber driver that has no more fares to

pick up. we're seeing the maid at the local hotel that is not working near as much as she used to. we're just seeing a lot more of the recently unemployed in our lines. but the elderly are still there. anso making sure those populations stay separated and safe is important. but the thing that breaks your heart the most are the families with the kids that come. >> reporter: the food bank saw s lot of new f >> student, just finished from pima and right now they're not hiring for dental assistantsbeo i'm on holuse of what's going on. so i heard on the news, i have to kids, and this would really helpe out a lot. >> reporter: heidi nitti was gettinfood for other people. >> i in need to help people, the disabled and also people that are retired, that can't get out, that are sick, and mostly all thisood is going to people on my property where i live. >> reporter: from los angeles,

california, to duquesne, pennsylvania, across the country, cars waiting in mile- long lines to receive food packages. since the coronavirus outbreak began, food banks have seen demand increase by as much as 50% in some places, biys claire aux-fontenot, c.e.o. of feeding america, the largest hunger-relief organization in the u.s. >> we've seen this before, justn never at this ude. the average americannot have $400 cash available to deal with a financial emergency. people started losing their jobs. people started missing checks. most people in this country are one check away from being in need of some new source of foodn and other that arefo necessarsustenance. >> reporter: what about the impacts on all of the many people that volunteer their time at food banks, many of whom i would guess are elderly?

>> our volunteers are inordinately elderly. consequently, we have a bit of a perfect storm going on right now, so we have increase in demand, decrease in supply and a significant decrease in our volunteer workforce. some of that decrease in workforce is us wanting to look out for the safety of the people where they are trying to help us and they're particularly vulnerable. >> reporter: the mad rush for supplies as families prepared and stockpiled for hometh lockdowns had e knock-on effect of limiting donations from major retail grocers ksat food bely on. the recently passed "cares act" directs more federal funds to food insecurity, including $300 millr purchases for the emergency food assistance program. but babineaux-fontenot is

worried about the needs gap. and her organition issued a statement criticizing lawmakers for not increasing snap benefits in the act, saying they "missed an opportunity to help familiese facing h and unfortunately, food banks will bear the burden of this oversight." >> it's not enough, thou. but we've made some good progress. our data shows us that the hole a lot bigger than the additional supplemental food toat we're going to be abl rely on from the federal government.eq contly, with the contracting amount of retail donations, wh a bigger population of people in need, we're having to go out and purchase more food and we're competing in the marketplace in an in a scarcity environment. >> reporter: back at the united food bank, dave richins says supplies from the u.s.d.a. will help him keep things going at this pace through august. trucks coming to our warehouseet and delivering food, there's

nothing that's going to stop us from filling our mission.p i'll krving until the last can of food is on the shelf. >> reporter: his biggest worry isn't keeping the food supplies coming, but keeping his own employees and volunteers safe for the pbs newsho, i'ms. stephanie sy in phoenix. >> woodruff: one of the many consequences oasking americans to stay home is what it's meant for schools, teaching and learning. for many, the normal school day has been halted, at least for now. we're gointo focus on the various aspects of this periodically. let's start with whateit means to bhing from a distance, learning from home and coping with children at home all day. this is one way teachers and students see each other in the age of coronavirus, organizing

parades in small towns where they wave from a distance. more than 55 million american students are now out of school and expected to learn from home. >> i'm dawn bishop mclin. o i'm the mothtwo girls. we start every morning about 8:30. we have a schedule. and that schedule is a blessing because it keeps us on track. >> it's beent. a tough adjustm my name is aaron warner. i'm from south burlington,on ve and i have a son who is nine years old >> my name is megan smith and id live in ia, alaska. i am a teacher and i teach sixth through 12th grade. and i have two kids, cecilia is in kindergarten and kaylee is in third grade and she is eight. it's challenging to not be able to sit one on one with students and really help them understand

what they're missing. and i think as a parent, my biggest challenge is going to is going to be the availability of me. teaching my own children that they're just going to have to bm a little be independent and do things on their own? >> with my son being autistic, it's lot of times there are these things where i can't just be like, hey, you know, here's a math worksheet from your teacher. spend minutes on this. i have to sit there with him and we go through it. and i mean, i probably only worked 15 hours last week at my regular job just because i was taking on all this stuff. and it was important to make sure that he had some consistency from as we make this transiti because it's hard for him. >> woodruff: that transition in by technology. been helped along play dates via ipad. classroom video conference calls on a technology called zoom. m name is sarah soliz and i live in albuquerque, new mexico.

i have two kids and they are eight and 11. one day we watched the life aucebook stream from the cincinnati zoo b they've been doing every day, they've been doing a, you know, sort of a show and tell with a different animal. so every hour i try to pick sondthing they can work on, then eventually, you know, i just give up and let them play minecraft >> my names ricky house. i am an 11th and 12th grade social studies teacher a h woodrow wilsh school in the district of columbia. my biggest thing for the past week and a half has juat been commun communicate, communicate. there are definily some students who the minute i post an assignment in the morning, they're going to get right to it and hand it in. yohave other students who there are some barriers. f nd out last week that a lot of students, 30% of the student population in think does not have access to technology. so they're preparing to give out devices to those students who are in need in the coming weeks.

>> woodruff: the technology gap is something school districts are grappling with from east to west, passing out laptops and tablets where possible. driving wifi buses to internet free zones... >> we do have a couple of students at the school that we put all paper book packets together and gave them work that y. >> i'm a professor of psychology at jacksontate university. know some challenges for my college students are some don't have adequfi. some live in rural areas here in gississippi. there's still a l divi among minority populations in their community. so i've had to adjust teach. >> woodruff: and as for the tallenges of being home a time: i feel like there are lots of

veert and kind of to do thewo , basically. so we're kind of working through that. >> not everything i do is, you know, academic per se. i feel like there are lots of things. you know, they can learn from. and so when we learned to make pretzels, for example, and that was reallybuun. yeah, i mean, it has been challenging. it's hard to get my work done, it's hard to, you know, not go crazy in your house and feel junk pile.e just living in a >> woodruff: and teacher and parent megan smith had one final note of advice for parents: >> we don't need to be totally solely focused on academics because at school that's not what the school day looks like. i would say don't beat up yourself as a parent if your kid is not engaged academilly all day long. they really are going to be fine.oo >>uff: for more on the challenges presented by distance learning, i am joined by kate gardoqui, she is a fo mer teacher w designs curriculum and trains other teachers.as she is a seniociate with the great schools partnership

and joins me via skype from maine. so, kate gardoqui, how big a for th millions of studentsout and teachers and parents? challenge. a tre there's just no way to overestimate it. if we think abouthsose gro one by one, for the teachers and the educatove, everyone inv in every school district, they have, some this cases, 24r 48 hours to prepare to completely like, and they diit with greats creativity. it's just-- it's monumental. and for our students, we asked them, also, to reenvision what learning looks like, to reenvision what their social lives look like. and for parents, as we jus heard, we're hearing from so many parents trying to educate their children, take care of their children, and do their own jobs at the same time. >> woodruff: it's just

remarkable.how different is it e teaching elementary, primary grade students, young studenus, veiddle schoolnd high school? is one or the other particularly harder, or is there a greatff ence? >> i think each of those age levels has wan its own chaghlle. the chool students may be able to learn more effectively on tneir ow, or they may be able to, you know, govern but the depth of what we ask of them is so huge, thre the really just great challenges all arou w. >> woodruft are the main things, kate gardoqui, that are lost when youon't have that person-to-person contact, that eye contract that you have in a classroom? >> you know, i've worked in schools all my life, and the thing that most chacterizes so many amazing teachers is the depth of love and caring that th give to students. and i think that's been one of

the hardest things for teahers is that they can't check in with those kids that really love and care about, look in their eyes, look at their body language, see how they're doing. and i know tht there are schools out there that have divided up their whole student population, and they're making sure that every kid has one teacher or one educator who is checking in on them on a rearg basis. and i think that's a great to try to fill that gap.e used >> woodruff: and is there some formula for what part of this is the-- is clearly-- it's the students' responsibility in this is the parents'lia responsi, and what part is the teachers'? >> i think right now, you know, in this unpredented moment, all we can ask is for everybody to do their best ed to kep the children first, to constantly rask, "howe the children

doing?" and so for parents, that means checng in as much as we can, setting up those scheduleds, also giving kids some freedom to just c destress. and for teachers and educators, it means setting up as many wys as we can to figureut wht kids might be falling through the cracks, what kids are missing out onhat we're tring to share with them, and how can we stop that from happening? how ca we reach out the kids ko node it the most. >> woodruff: andow there's no one piece of advice that fits every circumstance, but in general, wht advice do you have for parents who are watching and wondering if they're doing the right thing, what more can they be doing? >> well, i would say kids know how to learn.ds that's what re best at. and so, you know, in thitime, the most important things are to check in with their kids and give them lots of love and support, push them to think, and

sh them to read. you know, talk about what's happening in the world in ways that are age appropriate, and ask them good questions, and try to make sure that they're reading.e and those are ost important things that we can do to support >> woodruff: becaum thinking parents have to be out there who are juggling work and time that they think they should be spending with their children, and they have to be feeling guilty or worried. >> yeah, that's-- it's-- it's so all of ou teachers. parents, for and so the other thing as parents and as teachers that we have too is try to o our best, show our students love. let our students know that they-- that we know they're learning, and that we can see everything they're learning on their own. they may be dealing with stress by playing the itar for three hours, or by talking with friends and supporting them, or maybe they're reaching out to. grandparen

and so as farnt parents and tea, we wanto be recognizing those things that kids are doing and honoring tanhad asking how can that become what our students learn during this time? >> woodruff: kate gardoqui, thank you so much. we areciate it. >> woodruff: we witinue to report on this topic in coming days with a look at the particular challenges involved teaching children with learning disabilities and special needs. time looking at hoope withh covid-19, its tragic impact and worldwide disruption. tonight, we're going to try to understand a little more about novel coronavirus itself, and how it behaves. jeffrey brn has our conversation. >> brown: and for that, i'm joined by dr. siddartha mukherjee.

he's an oncologist, cancer researcher and pulitzer prize winning author, and he's just written a new article on covid 19 for the "new yorker." welcome. thank you for joining us. e you wrote that so far ween measuring the spread of the virus across people. m we need to stasuring within people. can you explain what you mean by that and why it's important? >> well, during a pandemic like this, the first thing that we want to do is to track h fast it's moving across populations, and that's what i mean by measuring virus across people. that's really an on off. zero one plus minus kind of assessment. are you infected? are you not infected? are you symptomatic? are you not symptomatic? but then there's a second phase of the pandemic when you need to of the virus within people,ami which is how much virus were yox sed to? how much virus does thatre expoead to an infection? and are you immune?

once you get the virus, do you get immune to the virus? t these are thint help us unrstand the dynamics of the epidemic as it moves across the population. >> brown: well, so there is still so much mystery what happens when it attacks one persons opposed to another. what have we learned so far? >> well, there's several things we've learned. first of all, we've arned that, a, that the virus is mainly transmitted thr respiratory droplets or so- lled foammites. that's the main mode of transmission. the send thing that we'vee' learned that trying to learn is that we're in the middle of learning. therare several people who a asymptomatic who may be shedding virus. that's a very, very important idea. that is to say that there may be a child or someone who doesn't have any symptoms, no fever, no diarrhea, no respiratory symptoms, but nonetheless is shedding the virus.

we need to identify those people and isolate and potentially quarantine them so that they don't keep spreading the virus. the third thing that we are learning, which we haven't learned for sure, is that there seemto be if you do the right kind of test, there seems to be a way to predict whether you're going to have very severese e versus a more mild form of the disease, and that helpsat because ill help us triaged patient to those who are either going to be sick and therefore requirurgent attention versus those who may become less sick and may be able to be managed more conservatively too. >> brown: do these individual fosponses have implication current contract, current discusons about, for example, wearing masks, whether all of us should wear masks? >> well, so absolutely. they have an enormous role in this. i think the general conclusion,o alough wt know this empirically, what one would

logically conclude from this information is that health care workers need full masks. and by that, i mean they need real protective masks. those are n-95 masks. if you are not a healthcare worker and you happen to have an in n-95 mask, please do a social service and donate it to a health care worker. so that's the first thing that we need that we know. the second thing that we know is that for most respiratory viruses. if the viral load isn't the kind of viral load that a health care worker is receiving, there is a suggests that a simple surgical mask is essential. it works. such a mask works income in conjunction with hand hygiene and social distancing.no this ito say you should stop practicing hand hygiene and social distancinay but it is tohat if you are if you are an essential worker and if you're being asked to

work during this time, i do think that wearing a simple surgical mask would be effective trickling down the amount of infection. if you happen to have an n-95 donating it to a hcaresider worker who desperately needs one. >> brown: you know, ote in your article that every virus d has its own personality wonder how different is covid 19. and how confident are you that we will come to understand it enough to help in time? >> i'm very confident that we will understand it in time. covid 19 is a uniq virus, but it belongs to a family of viruses, including sars and mers and other coronavises that we have been dealing with for a very long ti. it is not something ar and mysterious that is that is suddenly emerged.no wethis family of viruses well enough. we are in the midst as a medical community in the midst of

launching an extraordinary phase of drug trials to treat the sickest patients. so if i if there if there's one message i would say with regard to the virus is that you need the population, the public, everyone needs to buy us time. we need time to get these trials launched. we need time to get to ensure that they are done correctly so that when the full wave of the sickest patients hits us, we ll be prepared for them. >> brown: before we go, i want to ask you, there's a new documeary about to come out on pbs called "the gene." it's based on your book of a few years ago. and it makes us all, i think, wonder about the analogy or the connection, rather, beeen that history that you're documentneg about the c code and what's going on today with this virus, how we're ting to understand it, how we're trying to resnd. >> virtually every technology

that we're using to quantify, undersnd and deepen our understanding of covid 19, relies on genetics. viral load really is ae word quantification of the amount of virus in the body using genetic techniques. so and also the production of drugs such as antibodies depends on recombinant d.n.a.gy techno to understand how the last one hundred years of genetic medicine and genetic technologies have impacted our understanding of infectious diseases and pandemics such as covid, i would encourage you to watch it.ri >> brown: alt. so you and i will talk a little bit more about the documentarywe anl put that online in the coming days for now. you very much.mukherjee, thank >> my pleasure. hope you stay well. >> woodruff: and you can watch "the gene" on your pbs station

startingext week. airs in two parts, on april 7th and 14th. >> woodruff: it is hard to focus on anything aside from covid-19 these days, but it is remains important to keep an eye on ho the federal government is working in other ways.ad the trumnistration today moved to rolback another federal regulati intended to reduce global warming. as john yang reports, today's announcement targeted automobile mileage standards.ud >> yang: today's proposal would undercut obama administration fuel efficiency andards intended to comb climate change. it would require u.s. vehicles to improve mileage standards an average of 1.5% a year from 2021 through 2026 instead of 5% a year. juliet eilperin is senior national affaifo correspondent

the washington post and covers federal environmental policy.s she jo by skype. juliet, how big a deal is this?s >> this is qignificant. and s.u.v.s that anss, trucks will be driving fodes to and come. because while this affects, obviously, the kind of cars that are built over the next seven yes, people hold onto thos cars for some time. so it really will have a tremendous effect in tf what are the standards that auto manufacturers will meet and what's that kind of pollution and affordability of the cars that we'll be dring. >> yang: and what's the administration's rationale or justification for this change? >> they are arguing that the obama administration, who initially set carbon and fuel efficiency standards in 2009 and updated them in 2012, really set too stringent a target in the in

the years to come. and then, in other words, they're too expensive for manufacturers to meet. and as a result, they argue americans would actually hold on ratherer dirtier car than fine. >> yang: and who are the opponents ofoday's proposal d what are they saying in response? >> there's a slew of groups that are opposed to this, starting with the state of california and more than a dozen other states and the district of columbia who had adopted stringent standards with them, even though the ahead administration is trying to hold back. and they're joined by a coalition of environmental andou public health whorgue that for two reasons, you need to keep these standards place. one, b kind of traditional air pollution that kills people, and two, becse they curb the co2 that comes out of tailpipes and obviously contribus to climate change.

so for those reasons, they're adamantlopposed to making mileage standards. >> yang: and the ao industry is split on this, is that right? >> yeah, that's one of the things that's really interesting. it was the auto industry that initially asked president trump within a matter of days of taking office that they wanted to relax tse standards, but they in some ways had second thoughts because they thoughtld that there ce a compromise between the trump administration d, again, state officials in california and other states who did want to see cleaner carsnd trucks. and so they had assumed that they would meet somewhere in the middle. instead, what they saw was this split. and so you had a handful of major manufacturers, including, for example, ford and honda and bmw, who reached agreement last summer with california, saying t thy would go ahead and meet the stricter standards. and then you have others, such as gm and chrysler who said, no, we'll just abide by what the

what the trump administration is reing to do. this has caused dilemma for auto manufacturers because they may face competing standards and no matter what. there'll be an extended legal fight that will leav question unanswered for some time to co. >> yang: so, i mean, talking about the legal fight, who's fighting? it's the states and are some of the automakers joining that fight? >> it's a little unclear, although it is true that, for example, when some of these aut manufacturruck a deal in july with california, part of the agreement was that they would defend california's right, set its own standard. so you could easily see some of the auto manufacthrers siding he administration and some states who want stricter mileage standards. they'll certainly be joined by, as we said, almost every major environmental group and multiple attorneys general, particularly

from democratic states. you will see some of those ao arguing that they have a vested interest in. cutting the pollution from cars and trucks because it affects everything from climate impacts to their states to the air that their citizens breathe. >> yang: deregulation has been a big part of what the trump administration with president trump has wanted to accomplish.e is tny sense that they're moving things forward to get itl in before thtion? their deregulatorya on advancing this front. and many others, when i talk to rasome of the trump adminion officials, as well as the real folks who work with themy they are keeare of the fact that there is a provision called the congressioniew act, which allows a president and congress toverturn regulations if they are enacted within 60 days. and so this was, for example, a very effective tool thatus publican once trump came into office to overturn some of

the last rules that the obama administration took it put in place that trump officials are keenly aware if under some scenario they lose the white house and democrats gain control of the senate while holding on to the house, some of their policies could also be overturned. so what we're seeing rht now is a real pushed finalized some of their highest priority rollback so that they can stay in place. even if you have any. >> yang: juliet eilperin on the "washingst," thank you very much. >> very welcome. >> woodruff: president trump was at the podium again today taking questions on the pandemic. our yamiche alcindor joins me now from the white house for the latest. so, yamiche, we know that the e ficial death toll from coronavirus in tited states

has now moved past 3700.r whatthey saying at the white house about the pace of this outbreak? >> well,mudy, the nr of people who died from coronavirus hit a really grim total today. re people have died from the virus in america than on the 11.ning of 9 that sobering tone, that sadness was really apparent in today's white house briefing. there were models shown that showed even with the bst social distancing, something like 100,000 americans could still e of this virus. now, healthfficials and president trump said that they're doing all that they can to make that number eower. but, again, that figure is if people do all that they can around the country to social distance and try to combat this the thoing note is that virus. the white house is saying that the testing andventilators, all this equipment that governors are saying they need, are being given to them as soon as possible. but the message today comie from thite house was every american need to do what they have to do in der for this not

to be even more deadly. there was a figwne shohat said 2.2 million people could die if nothing had been donin the united states. so, really, today was a really sad day at the white house.e and esident's tone was markedly changed because of at. >> woodruff: those numbers areta breang. yamiche, and what are they saying about federal government efforts and what the federal government can do at this pint? >> well, we've heard governors over and over again say that they need medical equipment fom the federal government. and today, the president said that he's holding b sck onme, at least 10,000 ventilators in the federal stockpile, because he wants to see how bad the surge is going to get. and he said at's really emergency equipment that he wants to send out at a later date. governs are saying they need that equipment as soon as possible. the other thing to note the president made a pretty sobering statement when it camwhat's ahead. he said the peak is in about two weekte so let's lito what he said. >> i want every american to be prepared for t hard ds that

lie ahead. we're going to go through a very tough two weeks, and then, hopefully, as the eperts are predicting, as i think a lot oferous predicting, after having studied so ha we're going to start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel. few weeks as we approach that--t that really important day when we're going to see things get better, all of dea su and it's going to be like a burst of light. i really think, and i hope. >> that's a lot different from past.the president said in the in the past he said that coronavirus was like the flu. but today, he said it's not the, t's much more vicious. so the presidentat the white house, w really trying to tll americans to brace themselveses. and that was also the message health officials and p white house officials were giving today. >> woodruff: and, yamiche, fiwlly, it was just a feays ago that the congress passed and the president signed this emergencyus coronavrelief aid bill, $2.2 trillion in there.

but, already there's talk of more legislation. >> that's right. that legislationthat piece of legislation that you just mentioned, the $2.2 trillion hronavirus bill, it was largest single stimulus package ever signed into law but already we'rearing that another package is under way. i want to put upor people some of the thing people are talng about. they're talking about infrastructure, and that would maybe meanre clean water. more direct aid to americans and paid leave to workers, trying to help people get through thisge economic t that we're going through right now. and, also, more funds to states and localities. i should say that president trump and house speaker nancy pelosi have been out talking about what they want to seen the next bill. and there is thrs some overlap there. they're both talking abasout ucture. so we have been hearing for three years that this is a white to do something oncrats want infrastructure this this country. they might now be getting it ne because of this pandemic. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor,la

following this-day briefing at the white house. yamiche, thank you very much. >> thanks so much. >> woodruff: and now, how the virus is affecting the u.s. military, and in partilar one aircraft carrier based in the pacific. for that, we turn to foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin. so, nick, this is about the u.s. navy, the ship in the paific. they've just held a conference call. tell us what th're saying. >> yeah, judy, that conference call is ongoing. but the head of the u.s. navy in the pacific ocean, admiral jon aquino, was discussing the "theodore roosevelt", and he said they're taking extraordinary action to try to isolate soldiers on that ship, sting them while in quarantine. but i have to say what he just announced is not what the captain of the ship has been asking for. me number of hundreds, perhaps in the thousands, from the

u.s.s. "theodore roosevelt" are leaving the ship right now, but the admiral said they would not exceed, by the request of the captain, which was really a extraordinary one, take 90% of the ship off and keep 10% on the ship in to clean the ship and maintain the nuclear reactor and what theaptain said was basically, "we needed to do this because everne on this ship was working too closely together, and we couldn't keep the sailors safe.n there have bzens of cases of covid-19 on that ship. and he wrote a real plea to the pentagon in a letter yesterday, judy. leme reajust part of it: l

judy, admiuino from the u.s. navy in the pacific said that was not going to happen. he said, "there has never been an intent to take all the sailor offs that ship." >> woodruff: still a lot of questions and about this decision. but, quiockly, nick,w concerned is the military from your reporting about other ships that are out there around the world? >> well, the military says it's concerned about other ships. but i have to say, juhdy wtis decision they are clearly saying that they need to maintain readiness over maintaining the pure safety of all s thoilors on the ship. and that's yet message today is that that ship would not be evacuated. the experts i talo fear that a lot of these naval ships are like cruise shps. they're basically incubators for disease like covid-19, and the sailors simply are working too close together in order to keep them all safe.f: >> woodrt just raises the question, how can one have readiness if the sailorsre themselvesot healthy? >> right. that is the ort-term and long-term question.

you have deep the sailors safe, and you have to keep the sailors healthy short term in order to maintain long-term readiness. at least that's what the exrtpe are saying. >> woodruff: nick schifrin reporting for us. thank yo nick. >> woodruff: even amid allfehe curren and uncertainty, people are reading and we're uiaring of book clubs cont remotely. it's the same for us, and we wanted to continue our 'now read this' book club. as it happens, this month's book addresses moment.levant to the jeffrey brown is back and has that for our arts and culture series'canvas.' >> brown: our book club, pick for march is "inheri" a memoir by dani shapiro about her reckoning with an ancest test that revealed a life changing family secret: the beloved man who had raed her was not her biological father. shapiro's ok is a personal

exploration of genealogy, enduring love. and, above all, the author joins me from her home in bethlehem, connecticut, to answer some of your questions now. >> oh, it's such be with you, jeff. >> brown: so you learned that you're not exactly who you are, to put it in a nutshell. what was this book for you? >> this book was a reckoning with my very identity when i made the discovery about my dad. it was as if i had to reshuffle and re-remember and re- understand pretty much every at i had ever been told or every story that i had told about myself. >> bro: so readers had a lot of questions along those lines, of course. and one is about yr dad, how you came to think about him, how this changed. he had died years before all this, but your book is ptly looking at that relationship.

>> when i first made this discovery, i felt betrayed by my parents. but over the course of this y, i came to actually fe that my father was more of a father to me than i had ever even felt before. and he was, as you said, very beloved to me. >> brown: one of the remarkable aspects of this is how you neretrace exactly what hap how this happened and what exactly happened and who knew what when. >> i mean, it thrust me into the world of, you know, i made thisr into the of my parents in the early 1960s, the choices that they made, being an infertile couple, which was such a source of trauma and shame back then and the steps that they took, which i had t retrace. i mean, in a way, there was ak ticking cle entire time i was working on inheritance because anyone who might still truth of the storyf theythe were still living, was very old.

what i came to understand is my biological father had been a sperm donor as a young mm student. he had been ane anonymous srm donor. i didn't ask to be conceived or born this way or make this discovery, but i das so many people are. and the wle question of what is our moral responsibility to each other, which was and continues to be prfound. i did meet him. and i would say that we have a really lovely friendship now. he doesn't feel like my father, the man who raised me as my dad. >> brown: you know, you have told me before that since this book came out and when you're on book tr, you have so many people come up to you or write to you to tell you about their own experiences. >> it's an extraor snary time whcrets are tumbling out. and in the end, i haven't met anyone whoishes they hadn't found out. i hadn't met one person whoha wished then't known, because in some ways, when you even if it's shocking, it also

makes an incredible amount of sens >> brown: i also just can't help but think of this to set it in the moment that we're in your writing of family, of knowing yourself better, of realizingis yourry. so many people, so many of us a are thinkiut those things. now you? >> oh, yeah. now more than ever, and one of the things i've been thinking about is that when you make this kindf discovery that come kinds of families, the very rerst feeling often that people have is feeling ened, which is, i think, something that many of us are feeling right now. d in fact, one of the extraordinary things that's happened in my thinking as a result of my journey, my family who raised me have beenki unfailingl and compassionate in the wake of this discovery, the family that i discovered who are my genetic family, unfailingly kind. and i think that the antidote to that kind of threatened feeling

is kindness and compassion. and so iind myself thinking, i but we are actually all in this together. >> brown: all right, the book it "inhce." dani shapiro, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> brown: and before we go, i want to give our pick for april. it's called "disappearing earth," a novel by julia phillips about a communityde upby the sudden disappearance of two young girls set on russia's kamchatka peninsula. now, more than ever, we hope you'll read along with us, get involved with many oreer engage ers and members around the country, and join us on our facebook page and hear on the news hour.w for ad this, our book club partnership withhe "new york times." >> woodruff: and that's the newshour fju tonight. i' woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, sfe, and see you soon. >> major funding for hhe pbs newsho been provided by:

with financial planning and advice for today and tomorrow. >> carnegicorporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these instituons and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbr statio viewers like you. thank you.

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