captionining sponsored by newshour productions, llc uf >> woo good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newour tonight, deaths in the u.s. top 23,000, as the country wrestles with when to reopen and thehite house faces then, poverty and the pandemic. as coronavirus shatters lives and livelihoods, familiesmliving off a all single income fearxt for their eal. am it's pretty terrifying for just about everyy that we're working with. and they're trying so hard to keep their kids in a good place and stable and not worry theirki while their entire life is falling apart. >> woodruff: plus, how we got here e missed opportunities and mistakes that the trump administration made asn ovid-19 begas spread through the u.s. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >>

ajor funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org.

>> at with the ongoing suppor of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. c and tributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the coronavirus pandemic is showing more signs of leveling off in parts of the world, and there is alk tonight about easing restrictions. a that comthe global deathll,0inin n topped 10,000 today, but

officials pointed to other, more positive trend lines. we begin with th report from amna nawaz. >> nawazas the natiol death toll ticks higher, at theep enter in new york, a slowdown in the number of hospitalizations. governor andrew cuomo said today he's hopes to re-open e state as soon as possible, and is now developing a strategy to do so carefully, in coordination with neighboring states. >> if we do something stupid you will see those numbers go right back up tomorrow. period. the worst can be over and it is over unless we do something reckless. >> nawaz: in new york city, the health department warned of a looming shortage of test swabs,n and recod, to conserve supply that only hospitalized patients be tested. in massachusetts, a milar testing shortage. governor charl baker: >> if you said to any of us up here, are we doing enough testing?

we would say no. and if you talk to most other states, they would say the same thing. >> nawaz: experts say wider testing is a key factor in determining when and how statesa begin lifting social- distancing directives. governors and local leaders are charged with public health and safety. but toda the president tweeted that he ll decide when to re- open the u.s. economy, and he expects to make that decision" shortly." dr. anthony fauci, of the white house coronavirus task, raised yesterday a possible" ry" for the u.s. economy, meaning some regions could re-open as early as may. but it was this response that caught president trump's attention. >> i mean, obvusly, you could logically say that if you had ah proces was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives. deny that.e is going to >> nawaz: the president astweeted a reference to those remarks th theag, "#firefauci." the white house today denied the president isoing so, saying in a statement, "dr. fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to

president trump." but the virus continues tothe sg a devastating wake in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. according to an associated press analysis, deaths in these centers rose sharply, from 450, to more than 3,300, in just the last 10 days. cases in the u.s. ry has covid exceed 4500, a 50% increase in just five days.ho at least 15 of patients have died. one was a sailor with e u.s.s. "theodore roosevelt"-- the first death among some 600 crew members incted aboard the the ship's commander, captain brett crozier, was removed after sounding the alarm a.ut the outbre he later tested positive as well. and the pandemic has forced the supreme court to go re announcing today it will hold teleconference. around the world, countries weigh the risk of getting back

to business, with the threat of fueling a second-wave of infections. the head of the world health organization urged countries to preed with caution. >> while covid-19 accelerates very fast, it decelerates much more slowly. in other wor, the way down is much slower than the way up. that means control measures must lifted slowly and with contro >> nawaz: spain began easing restrictions today. essential industries like construction and manufacturing were back on the job. and in italy, once the european epicenter, new covid-19 cases have fallen to a three-week w. but infections continue to surge in japan, even as a month-long lockdown in tokyo and six other prefectures unfolds. japanese president shinzo abe has been criticized for doing too little too late.ut korean officials, citing the decline in covid cases since

march, are in talks to ropens pa the country. but that effort is tempered by growing fears of a new wave of infections, one that could push e possibility of our "new normal" even further away. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: wall streopes that the pandemic is turning a corner, gave way to new anxiety today, over the damage done to corporate earnings. the dow jos industrial average lost 328 points to close at the nasdaq rose nearly 39 points, but, the s&p 500 ge up 28. we turn now to the low-incomar americans whbearing the brunt of the coronavirus g llout. john yplains how the pandemic is hitting hard families already struggling. this reporting is part of chasing the dream, our ongoingve coverage of y and opportunity in america. >> yang: detroitalready facing

steep economic and racial inequalities, has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot. janine cain is a mother of five on the city's east side. >> my husband actually was laid off immediately as soon as the pandemic started because he works in a restaurant. and i was working two jobs and i was laid off from my second job. >> yang: cain's worried whether the family's only remainingjob, alth care worker. as a home >> we still have to operate as if we have the bare minimum.he >> yang:s concerned about her family's safety as tensions run high their neighborhood. >> the neighbors have been fighting each other, so it has not been easy to, you know, just explain to the children that a lot of people are coping with this pandemic in different ways. >> yang: the downtown ng program, delivers andool supplies twice a week. it's become a full-time crisis relief program for the community.it gym, i'd probably be in tears

every day trying to figure out how i was going toat or getes suppli >> yang: both emotional and economic support are needed says jessica hauser, head of the gym. >> it's pretty terriing for just about every family that we're working th. and they're trying so hard to keep their kids in a good pl ae kids while their entire life is falling apart. >> yang: the cain children still gather for the gym's nightly workout sessions, now held over zoom. >> it gives them a moment to connect with all their, you know, their friends and peers and see that everybody's oy and healthy. >> yang: but missing from the nightly check-ins-- some of their peers without internet or computers at home. in los angeles, families pick u mealtside their reteshd chicpu lisette bonilla says every day is a struggle. >> this happened from one day to the otr. i'm not prepared and it's scary

because we don't knohow long it's going to last. >> yang: meanwhile, bills are piling up. maria jorge is the mother of three. >> ( translated ): i'm cutting my spending as much as possible because i have to pay rent, bills and with everything that >> yang: not knowing how long the crisis could last adds stress for famies and for the schools they attend. b austtner is the superintendent of the l.a. unified school district. >> wn we started, we said it was two weeks and that we'll share more when we know what the th forward is. >> yang: in detroit, janine cain is struggling to provide a sense of normalcy for her family as the effects of the virus get closer and closer. t >> people neighrhood are coming up saying i just lost a cousin. and i got a few coworkers that actually lost some of their relatives to it. >> yang: she's noture how long will her family be able to endure their new reality. >> i'm also hoping that this won't last long so that we don't have to lose our job now.

because i don't know what the backup plan is. >> yang: even before the pandemic, it is estimated 44% of households in southeastern michigan could not meet their most basic needs. in the city of detroit, that figure is 74%. darienne hudson is c.e.o. of united way of southeastern michigan, and she joins us by sykpe. darienne, thank you so much for being with us.ta we heard on th sort of a snapshot of one family in detroit, what's going on in their househo. give ushe bigger picture. what is it like for people on the ground inst southn michigan right now. >> thank you for havinge here. this is a time of great uncertainty, frustratiy. i would shat there is an overload of information and, yet, you still have thousands of people who don't know how to access it. the numbers that you were sharing are from call center 211, and we have received over

20,000 calls just this last month, basenon the pademic. but the main call that we are still getting is for od. so, in spite of all the things we're hearing about the public, health cris is still the most basic needs that people are trying to attain. >> rorter: so it's still the basic problems they were having before this pandemic? >> absolutely. this pandemic has magnified the problems that people were already having, whether you tallty assistance, ren sistan, trying to obtain and sustain gainful employment. now many people are outo of work and it's jusexacerbating the problems we've had. >> reporter: you say it's ex is it sort of building on them? is it exposing problems that t already weere? how did this compounding putting this health crisis on top of this ongoing economic problems in these communities, how is at affecting it? >> sure. in a few ways.

one, i'll give you the example of the digital divide we're seeing in our schools, now that our schoe closed through the end of the year, it's revealing just how many families ere without intt access. connected places i the country about disparities. we are 41% of the deaths that have happened from covid 19. whenio compound poverty, systemic racism and you're looking at what's happening with the perching, it's not a surprise, unfortunately, that these things are happening for us. >> reporter: and th pandemic, how is it affecting the united way groups you work with, the organizations you work with, hows it affecting their ability to deliver services?pr >> nit organizations, governmental entities have been deeplyse impacted on this pandemic. we've actually galvanized with our corporate and philanthropic

community to rairse ove $8 million to help provide operational grants for many of our nonprofits. now we've funded over 220 in our community, but there are many people who are still on the p front lineviding food, providing shelter, providing resotyces for the communin spite of this setback, but the world as we know it in terms of nonprofits is going to be forever changed as a result of atlanta many of their main fundraisers have been canceled now, much of their work is service based, it's fee for service, face to face. now they're having to change to virtual ans to be able to deliver the services. so the landscape has changed drastically. we're galvanizing and working in ways that we never have before, but the needs are just continuing to grow, they are not going awy. >> reporter: as you think about the people who rely on the seices provided by organizations under the united way ubrella, what is your

greatest concern? what keeps you up at night? >> my greatest concern really is access. pethere are still too manple who don't have some of the most basic of internet services, thy dot have telephones, they don't have transportation. so even with, you know, hundreds of food distribution sites set up around the city with all of around the city of detroit now, access to thoesse resous still a challenge. many of our nonprofits deliver face-to-face services. we are all having to adapt to the y we provide those services. so knowing there are still just cthousands of people whan't access any of the resources that we're pulling together on their behalf at this tie is very unsettling. is why we get up in the morning to continue to do the good wrk. so as long as united way is standing, we will continue to fight forose who do not have at this time.

>> reeporter: der yen hassen, c.e.o. of the united way ofrn southeasmichigan, thank you very much. >> thank you, john. it's nice to meet you. >> woodruff: michigan governor gretchen whitmer had some encouraging news to share today. she said the rate of new cases in thetate may be starting to flatten. but already there have been more than 1600 deaths and 25,000-plus confirmed cases. the greater detroit area has been hit especially hard. william brangham has our latest dispatch from the fronines of healthcare there. >> brangham: and for a lk at how one major health system within detroit is dealing with this, i'm joined now by dr. steven kalkanis. he's the c.e.o. of the henry ford medical group. dr. kalkanis, thank you very much for being here. >> great to be with you. >> brangham: can you just give us a sense now of how things are?

we understand you have something of over 4,000 positive cases that you're dealing with. how are things at the hospital group now? >> well, you know, as of today,u this is ly the sixth consecutive day where i can say that we have more positive news than negative. than those who are beingtients admitted. we've taken more patients off of ventators than those who require going on ventilators toe ntubated. so we believe that we arero h the peak of this surge, but we're not ready to declare victory yet because we are being vigilant. we want to make sure that we have appropriate resources. but i will say as of today, thor our capacity.c.u.s and ventilators are at abo, which means that, you know, we ha plenty of capacity left should the need arise. >> brangham: i know broadly in michigan, african-americans,ut think, are a4% of the state's population but my understanding is thathey're

something like 40% of the positive cases. what is your sense of why that might be? many people have pointed to inequality, high rfral chronic diseases. what is your sense as to why that disparity exists? >> you know, we celebrate our diversity in the detroit area. certainly at henry ford health system, and we care very deeply about any concerns related to the perception of unequaler nuor understanding what might be driving some of that. i will tell you that o internal numbers are much less than 40% in terms of theca afriamerican population. but i can tell you that based on our early analytics now, these patients, these african- any worse than the average patient that we've admitted with covid. so we're very pleased at least about that. >> brangham: that obviously is some very good news to report, which we have unfortunately far too little of these days. i understand also yohad a large number of your own staff

who themsees were infected with the virus. and i'm curious as to why you think that happened.>> hat's a great question. i think we have to put it in context. so henry ford health system has about 34,000 employees and about 800 of them tested positive. and weid this because, again, we were very, very proactive at the beginninof this challenge p say if you are part of, you know, dealing wiients in any way, if you are cong into our centers, we want to know. and so thankfully, we develope an in-house test early on that gave same day results and this allowed, i think, for a very robust testing effort. and i think that we're thrilled th we did, because that allowed us to identify health care workers and employees who were positive so that we could immediately remove them from the thrkrce, thereby preventing the infections osands and we feel had we not done that early on, would have been a lot worse.ews at

you're starting to see that you're able to discharge more people than you're having to bring in. is it your sense, or is this too optimistic, that-- do you feel auke you have hit that pla have you peaked, or are you on the downward slope of the number of new cases, do you think? >> we're not ready yet to declare victory. but i will tell you that day, i am the most optimiic than i for us, this represents theks. start of the fifth week of this challenge. had five or six coive days we've where the numbers are trending in a good directiorrinstead of a ome one. it appears that we have at least plateaued or hit that peak and are now on the downslope. but weeed to grd against a resurgence. we can't relax ourrecautions yet until we understand how this works and how we can develop broader immunities don't want to go through this all over again. >> brangham: that's all positive news, we hope that trend continues.

dr. steven calacanis, the c.e.o. of the henry ford medical group. thank you very much for your time and good luck. thank you. >> thank you. f: >> woodrn the day's other news, the death toll reached at least 30 pple after severe storms swept across the deep south on easter sunday and overnight. tornadoes and thundersrms bl tted a path from texas to carolinas and moved up the atlantic coast today. one stor damaging up to 300 homes. the weather front also killed at least 11 people across mississippi, andix more in l rthwest georgia. in the presidentmpaign, vermont senator bernie sanders president joe biden for the democratic nomination. sanders dropped out of the race last week, and appeared with his

former rival today, via livestream. >> today i am asking all american i'm asking every democrat, i'm asking every independent, i asking a lot of republicans to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy. >> your endorsement means a great deal, it means a great deal to i think people are gonna be surprised that we are apart on so issues clt are awfully e on a whole bunch of others. >> woodruf sanders urged supporters to back biden, in a >> woodruff: in wisconsin, 14 voters filed a federal lawsuit to force a partial revote. they sawed thousands were disenfranchised by holdi the primary in the midst of the coronavirus. the trump administration is the 2020 census, citing theor covid-19 pandemic. the census bureau conft wants congress to let it wait until june first to resume field

peration the deadline for finishing would be pushed to october 31st. in pakistan, officials lodged a formal protestith india, after heavy artillery and mortar duels in kashmir over the weekend. the two countries accused each other of violating a 2003 cease- fire agreement in the disputed region. india and pakistan have fought three wars over kashmir, since 1947.hi ondate in 1970, an explosion in space crippled apollo 13. the ensuing drama transfixed the world, as nasa engineers labored frantically to get the crew home safely. four days later, the crippd spaceship made it home, and the three astronauts splashed down in the south pacific, emerging safely, as a global audience looked on. and, the white house south lawn was deserted todayfter the

annual easter egg roll was canceled due to the covid-19 pandemic. the tradition dates back towi 1878 the president and first lady welcoming children 13 and younger. the event has been called off before, for world wars and white house constrtion. still to come on the newshour: lockdown-- what are the risks of reopening too early? thpath to the pandemic-- t thre was in itinfancy. mad amy walter and tamith analyze the latest political headlines. plus, a single grocery store feeds a new orleans neighborhood stricken by covid-19.

>> woodruff: spain is one of the countries hardest hit by covid- 19. but after thsands of dead, and weeks of an intense lock down, in some nonessential industries began to return to their jobs today. duecial correspondent max an reports from madrid on how spain has been coping. >> reporter: at spain's biggest field hospital, there is an unfamiliar sense of order. this makeshift facility opened just over three weeks ago to support the city's hospitals overwhelmed by the rapid spread of covid-19. now, the 1300 beds at madrid's main convention center are close to full, and 16 intensive care units are fully operating. what now seems ordered, launched in chaosat this transfon reflects the pressure easing on the health system a month after spain launch one of europe's toughest lockdowns. >> ( translated ): the situation

at the start was much more complicated, disorgazed. i want to congratulate all my h colleagues f well we have have pushed forwarh the how we lack of means that we have at the beginning. >> repter: but the field hospitals' director antonio zapatero warned that it is far too early to celebrate: >> ( translated ): there are still a lot of patients. are still very busy, in a very difficult phase. yes, we see thathe pressure it easing, but we are a long way from saying it is controlled." >> reporter: the virus has brought weeks of horror across spain, but nowhere was worse hit than the capital, which has seen over a third of almost 17,500 deaths countrywide. the city's intensive care units these scenes captured inside one of madrid's main hospitals even showed patients lying on the floor. nce a strict lockdown was ordered in mid march, spain has

hibernated.ha resident only been allowed out to shop for food and medicine, visit hospitals or do essential work. those who break the mandatory confement face heavy fines and it has worked, if at a rrible cost. after peaking ten days ago at almost 1,000 deaths in one day, the curve has flattened andre rded new daily deaths have been below 700 for the past five days. in a controversial loosening of restrictions, some industries such as construction and manufacturing restarted today. this allows an estimated four million to return to work, despite the country still recording over 500 new deaths in the past 24 hours. with four weeks of tough quarantine measures finally taking effect, spain's overwhelmehealth system is grasping back control but with personal protective equipment an test kits still in short supply, health workers aretill at serious risk of infection.

in no other country hators and nurses been hit so hard. they make up around 14% all home to self-isolaciselyare sent when they are needed most. shortages led to a dire creativity: medical workers using plastic bags forpr ection. while supplies have improved significantly in the last two weeks, the damage has ale ady been don madrid's ill- prepared nursing homes. nearly 800 residents who tested positive have died. that almost 3,500 iths have said similar symptoms are not counted in official statistics. beatriz cano says more than 30nt resihave died at her retirement home, including in recent days, some bodies left b for hours befong t llected. two care workerse same home told us they also feared that their inadequate protectivt uipment was g residents

and themselves at risk. >> ( translated ): i'm terrified by the lack ofygiene, lack of materials, and a situation so chaotic that we have one single nurse attending to people with the covid-19 virus and to us as well. i feel like i'm in alife horror film. >> reporter: but while supplies are scarce, some healthcare workers are back on the job. doctor alejandro quiros became ill while working in his e.r. hepent 17 days in home quarantine after testing positive for the vir, whilehi few colleagues still standing have fought on. >> in our situation i think righnow we have more than 60% of us with positive tests for vid-19. ten days ago we had 450 patients in the e.r., so as you can suppose, 60% of us sick is very difficult. >> reporter: his isolation now over, he is able to return to work, and believes he is now

immune. >> this is my hospital. i'm happy to be able to be here and help. >> reporter: as new infections and deaths stabilize, but widespread testing still impossible, authorities are now launching an effort to map the virus with selective testing nationwide, in hopes o gradually lifting the lockdown. but despite these first tentative steps, nothing is normal in the time of 19. furals at the almudena cemetery, madrid's largest, are now drive-thru services. they last no more than seven minutes. no more than three people can attend and there is touching. the deacon sprinkles holy water and says a brief prayer. he and his colleagues now do this almost 30 times a day. >> ( translated ): in the four

years since i was ordained as a deacon, it's the first time i've seen anything like this. to have religious services every 10 to 20 minutes. it's constant.we eel that the families are grateful for the service. >> reporter: today, threee cousins saying goodbye to their aunt, manuela, who died io her eldercar. >> ( translated ): aunt, rest in peace. we all love you so muc >> reporter: juan antonio films with his smartphone as they throw on the flowers, to share with all the relatives that >> (dtranslated ): the hardest. part of this situation is that the whole fatoly can't be ther in this last goodbye to my aunt, and above all because shs,died in these circumstan when she was alone. d >> reporteth is hard enough. visited upon untold thousands, here, amid a crisis that might have been avoided.ws for the hour, i'm max duncan in madrid.

>> woodruff: new reporting from the "n york times" has revealed even more early warningsbout the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic. and raises questions about whether the president and his administration waited too long to take important steps. eric lipton is an investigative reporter at the times and joins us now.ic ipton, thank you so much for joining us. your reporting revealed the existence ofhese so-called red dawn e-mails between doc,to medical experts in the administration. they were obtained, in part, through the freedom of information act request. in one email i wanted to ask you about, dr. james loller, an

infectious disease expert, served in the george w. bush and obama adminions, wrote we have thrown 15 years of institutional learning out the window and areking decisions based on intuition. what were these e-mails, and what came out of your finding out about them? >> well, what was going on was there was a group of physicians d pandemic experts tht, from the department of homeland security, health and human services, the c.d.c., the verans administration that were consulting and comparing notes, and they were trying to make a really crtil decision, which was, at what point do we go from saying we are going to attempt to contain the infection, to which we have community spread and we now need to move to mitigate its spread through actions like social distancing. so at first the gal was just to contain it, but c at ertain point, we need to flip the switch and say schools and businesses ed to close, these guys were comparing notes to try

to figure out when washe moment we needed to flip the switch. the fire alarm had gone off, now we needed to mitigate it.uf >> woo from your reporting, what were some of the erliest warngs that the president goand how did h respond to those? >> i mean, the president's nationanational surity council,e were members to ha the national security council that inanuary were concerned about what was going on in china and were worried it was just a matiferme e un ited states. the health and human services secretary azar spoke in january this was almost assuredly coming to the united states andubould be a pc health emergency here. the president told him to, you know, calm down, thahe was too worried about it, and repeatedly, in that period, while it's tr that th president did limited travel by chinese citi states in late january, there were among many a belief that the united states need to be preparing for the next stage of long to get to that point.too

>> woodruff: opened january t erview with cnbc, president trump was asked about a pandemic and whether there were worried about it. totally r control. it was one person coming inmro children, and we have it under control. >> woodruff: so what did we know about the coronavirus at that point in late january? what did people know in thead nistration? >> they knew that it was already here in the united states, they knew that it was almost -- it was just a matter of time before it started to spread widely in the united states and that, while containmas still important to try to do contact tracing to limit the spread, that they needed to be preparing for despread illnesses. that was evident to any public health experat that point. >> woodruff: there is an audio i wanted to play for the audience because on february 25,

a doctor with the centers fom disease control, director for ese national cenr for immunization andpiratory diseases, she had a briefing call with news reporters in which she issued a warning. here's tha >> these measures might include missed work and loss ofe.inc i understanthis whole and that disruption to everyday life may be severe, but theset are things tople need to start thinking about now. >> woodruff: jusone day later, president trump said thi- >> and again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a dretty good job we've done. >> woof: so, eric, why was that a key moment in the administration's response? >> arguably, that was one of tho essential moments in the that was the momhen thereis. had been a consensus amonghis medical advisors that the united

states announced we needed to move to social distancing in hot spots, in particular, and thepr ident was unprepared and unready to do that and, in fact, he lashed out at theenlt human services secretary azar after nanct made tha statement when raceas in india and on his way re tthareangmore illnesses d deaths in the united states. >> woodruff: so we are now in -- eri inhat is called mitigation, these widespread closures, all about enforcing social distancing. first social distancing the initiative, 15 days to stop the spread, he called it, and that was on march 16th. but how early was this first proposed to the president as a solution and what is known abouh he waited to adopt it? >> it was a m onth prito that

that essentially a consensus was forming among medical experts in the united states government that we now needed to move to mitigation, and the thing is it's almost down to a science. once you have the first death from a contagious disease like this or you have a certain orc win odow to two weeks to tadok, ite's le waiting for a house fire to get from being, you kno on the stove in the kitchen to the roof is burning and the strtul elements to have the house are on fire and then you call the fire department. we raited until theoof was burning and the structure was on fire in new york state and new york city before we called the fire department, and that was a decision the president made was to not move ahead with those announcements. again, it's the governors' t,oices as to when to do tha but it's the federal government's role to play leadership and to help the governors make the choices by citting them know what the

needed.health ofs think is >> woodruff: we know, eric, , thethe lack of testing lack of personal protective equipment, all of that has also been significant and ongoing challenge. what did your reporting reveal about the delays in dealing with all of tat? >> again, there are two phases and the mitigation phase, but,nt during containment, it wasny evident toublic health expert that this was going to spread in the united states. so as of january, they knew pockets across the unitedesses states. they didn't know how many, but they should have known in january now is the time to send hundreds of my name is of dollars to buy face masks and protective equipment for hospitals. l in theirnew the materia pplies was expired and there wasn't enough of it. they didn't order that stuff till mach, but they could have started in january. they could have started theet process ofting ventilators built in january, knowing they likely would need them. and that has severe consequences

as well. >> woodruff: eric lipton withth "new york times," congratulations on some really extraordinary reporting. thank yo >> thank you. >> woodruff: and we turn now to our white horrespondent, yamiche alcindor for the latest. so, yamiche, what more do we know about the administration's response to allhis in the early days and, separately, what are you hearing about the president's desire to get things openedup? >> well, it's clear that the president and health officials were at least delayed in easing social distancing guidelines,nd and the president just now had a remarkable press biefing thas still going on where he is defending, point by point, his responr to the coonavirus, and, in doing so, he shows this kind of campan style vide wever seen at a white house briefing before. he was asked about it, he said white house aff put it together, but it's clear the president is feeling very

defensive because to have the reporting eric talked to you been doing on the "newshour"e that shows he was very eager to try to get through this without doing mitigation. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about something at came up earlier in the program and that was the president retweeting the statement that anthony fauci has been a critical in the administration's response to thh covid 19 he should be fired. the administration today said that he's not going anywhere, but what's the latest ad thatu ve been able to learn? >> well, today dr. fauci andid prt trump spoke about this right at the beginning of the white house briefing, and the president sa that he and really great and pareionship is making something out of nothing. he said he retweeted a tweet that said "fire fauci" without even thinking about it. he said he didn't know why he repeated it. he has 76 million twitter fouso

lorershis is a big megaphone. he said i didn't mean i would fire dr. fauci, i'm not firing dr. fauci. so they're both king it clar dr. fauci's job is secure, so for the critics of the president is will make them calm an comfortable that that's the way it's going forward as of now. >> woodruff: but yamiche, quickly, some fans to have the president have been cricaof dr. futurey. >> that's right. there has been a move on the conservative right t talk about dr. anthony fauci in a very criticizinway, to talk about the fact that he might be part of the reason why the president won't get reelectedbut the president is saying that he is not part of that and that he respects dr. fauci and that other people should, too. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor, thank you very much. >> woodruff: even wi serious social distancing underway, we

witnessed political unity todayh here to analyz sanders' endorsement means for biden's race against president trump is our regular politicsonday team. that's amy walter of the cookrt political rend host of public radio's "politics with amy walter."ta anra keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." hello to both of you. let me just -- here we are, boom, amy, we see the two men together. they have been going at it tooth and nail. i think you could say that, for a while. but since this pandemic, we really hven't seen as much of the competiy on. yester last week bernie sanders suspends the campaign, today he'rit there next to joe biden. how much real unity is there? >> yeah. it's a really amazing progress that we've made, judy. if you think about it this way, just how dynamic this democratic

primary has been. six weeks ago, were all honestly that yo talking about t that we might be looking at contested convention, that no candidate was going to be able to put together a purlity of delegates, and now here we are early april with the rac essentially over, well, it is over, and joe biden wrapping up the nomination. i think there's somethingllea important that happened in this endorsement which, by the way, was virtual, like everything these days. this was done over video with the two of them intaeracting t way. joe biden was very diplomatic, he was very gracious, he was very deferential to bernie thnders, bue was ao sle and even focus that i thought was important. if you remember, judy, when the race was relly hot and heavy in late february, early march, joe

biden saying we don't have a time for a revolution, we just need to figure out the here and now, there was really a sense joe biden was campaigning as a "let's return back to normal" versus the bernie sas ndet's structural changn and make big well, toad, joe biden said, you know, we can't just go back to business as usual. basically acknowledging not onlt he world has changed a great deal since these two winre very competitive race, with the conavirus and the damage that it's done to the health and also really giving a nod tot bernie sanders and his message about big structural change. i mean, the interesting piece of all of this, judy, to me, is we had a campaign where there was debate about making big structural change or kind of staying the course,taying in the status quo were the two

polls, and now it's not the candidates that have really upended life as we know it or made big suctural change. it's this coronavirus that's actually done it and the ideare that weoing to go back to "nmal" seems really unlikely. >> woodruff: and it also looks, tam, if they are world, new reality, newis new relationship. >> yeah, they are forming task forces to talk about policy and ways that maybe former vice psident biden could move closer to where bernie sanders is on various policy issues. i thall about trying to figure out how joe biden can win over bernie sanders' support, which is going to be criytica important. you kn, one thing is they have more time this time around. you know, sanders didn't endorse hillary clinton until july, and then almost middle east after that, the wikileaks, the

first tranche of wikileaks came out and completely undermines the efforts to repair thel reationship between sanders supporters and hilly clinton supporters. who knows what lays ahead but the's more time for them to come together and win over sanders' supporters. >> woodruff: amy, i want to ask you about that. does it look like sanders' supporters are going to go along with this? some are vocal saying that's not what we want. we don't know what percentage they makeup of the whole ber sanders crowd, but they're not being quiet. >> no, we're going to have to see ase move rough this campaign just what kind of support joe biden is getting om younger voters, especially younger voters of color who have been strong sanders supporters and who joe biden had a difficult time win over in the primary, so that will be important to watch. i do think that 2016, though it wasn't that long ailing ago, itn

wantirely different world we were looking at in 2016, not just becauset was a pre-covid 19 world, but because donald trump was not the president. he is now the sitting president. a very different calculation for mocratic vors or bernie sanders voters on who they're going to support today than in 2016 when the concept of donald trump being president was just that, a concept. >> woodruff: in the meantime, a tam, the as we have been hearing in the program crist criticisms of the trump administration not acting soon enoughs they were urged t report on the coronavirus. how much -- iit too early to know how much of an effect that's going to have on this campaign? the president is worried about it by how much the president responded that briefing today, as yamiche mentied. he basically took that briefing and, for probably 30 minutes, to do a point-pi-point rei

refutation of the "new yo times" article to boost his reputation and not allow thativ narrto take hold because, if it can take hold, then he has a problem. you know, this coronavirus, how he handled it and how many deaths there arend what th economic damage is, tt is going to determine how people perceive this success or failure of his presidency, and pretty much anything tht happened before this year doeatsn'tter. >> woodruff: and, amy, already, the administration trying to turn their criticism in the other direction, putting the blame on democrats for impeachment. much time on is this going to be something that we watch the two slidese slog tir way through? >> yes, and i think tam's right, this is af reerendum on donald trump and how he reacted to this. look, goverents rarely do a

good job of being proactive, reactive.uch better at bei so the fight is over should the administration have done more before, like, last year or the year before. don't know if those are as important as the reactive pieceq and hoickly and how wficiently and effectively they reacted and thatere the president was pushing back today saying i did it as quickly a ssible, even as the "new york times" reports that the month of february was essentially wasted. but voters are going to have to make this choice, and we are going to know a whole lot more in november about the damage health of americans and to thee economy and whether donald trump is sen as effective in moving us forward. but as we're seeing in the polls, judy, his approval rating is now basically back to where 's always been. voters remain as divided as eveu about donald. >> woodruff: well, l these questions being asked are ones that we need to keep pursuing, keep looking for answe, and we

are so glad to talk to the two of you, amy walter, tamera ith, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: as we close tonight, another perspective on the economic crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic. we first met burnell colton in 2015, reporting on new orleans ten years after hurricane katrina. the storm destroyed much of the lower ninth ward, a mixed community of working class and low-income families. d rebuilding there was long delayed, but burnell colton had a vision.n >> the reay this is such an important grocery store, i have to go back many, many years before hurricane katri had over 15,000 people here in a lor ninth ward. we had stores, we had houses, and hurrane katrina,

unfortunately, wiped everything off. e customers that come through these doors are phenomenal. they are beautiful, beautiful people. they are single mothers, families, you kn, kids. it's everybody. it's like a big family back here. it's a poor part of town. but i love all my customers. the closest grocery store that we have, it's wal-mart in the next city. you actually have to catch three city buses. when i first realized that money was getting tight was when the coronavirus had got started and unfortunately they had to shut everything down. i do understand why for you know health reasons, and i agree with it because it's about saving lives. but that hurt everything. because the people here in new orleans are a large percentageke of it's in houing or the seafood industry, hotelry

induthat's where the bulk of my customers work.y and when tut everything down, there's no more moneyg beincirculated. i have onecuf my favorite omers. she's a grandmother. she has thcae grandkids. me into my store. she had grandkids with her and she got. llll never forget this: a of milk, a loaf of bread, some baloneand a couple of candy bars. when she wento swipe her card, she didn't have enough and she broke into tears a cried. what i did, i know i shouldn't have. but i'm a go ahead and admit ite i came frond my cash register and went around. i gave a hug. i know i really got a notepad and i started a journal and i wrote down her name and the amount of money that she was short. so i started my ledger. and it hurts because it caused me to be a little bit hind on my

own personal bills. no, but i fond my purpose and my purpose is service. this is all out of my pocket. i ve here. this is my community. and my community was hurting. so i just went out and did it. i can't turn them down because go.here else for them to ill, if i had to compare what new orleans as a whole wentug thas hurricane katrina and20 now toda with th coronavirus, it's like it's liks the invisible r. the coronavirus is much, much worse, at least with a hurricanu we get notice. tou have a chance to evacuate. and i try my besell them if we caget through katrina, we can get through anything. we're going to be okay. and i try to tell that to all my customers that come in here.

>> woodruff: we'll be launching and a correction. we referred to japan's prime minister abe as its and that's the newshour for tonigh i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, techprlogy,

and imoved economic literacy in the 21tury.al >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a mored just, verdant aceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access gup at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ esoday on "america's tt kitchen," makes bridget a classic meat ravioli, jack challenges julia to a taste test of unswtened chocolate, and keith makes julia the ultima torta caprese.