captioning sponsored by newshour productionsllc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight:rm global con cases of covid-19 approach two million, as states in the u.solgrapple withng peaks of hospitalization and nursing home residents, and the danger fac by those in need of long term care. then, when to reopen. a disagreement between presiip trump and mu governors, as the question of how and when to restart the economy comes to the forefront. plus, college stents and coronavirus. how the pandemic is ing higher education, and why some

students' lives are upended more. >> everybody assumes that first generation, low-income students have the same access to resources, have everything that all the privileged ss have.th e second covid-19 hit eaks.s, you saw those you saw those gaps in access. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> when it comes to wireless, conser cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plans give you as much-- or as little-- talk,at text andas you want, and our u.s.-based customer service team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> fidelity investments. >> the john s. and james l.

knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporatiofor public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the covid-19 pandemic is pushing past new milestones tonight. some two million people have been infected worldwide, and 125,000 have died. the u.s. toll exceeds 26,000 dead. that includes 10,000 in new york city, where officials added hundreds of presumed victims, who never tested positive. all of this, as a struggle began over what hanext. stephanie sy begins our

coverage. >> reporter: a battle is brewing over who has the power to re-open tst country, the es or president trump? new york governor andrew cuomo t reject president's claim that he has "absolute" authoritc to make thation. country.t have a king in this we didn't want a king, so we have a constitution and we elect a president. >> reporter: president trump fired ck over twitter, writing, "cuomo's been begging for everything. i got it all done, and now he seems to want independence! that won't happen!" the democratic governor refused to take the bait in his daily briefing. >> the president is clearly spoiling for a fight on this issue. the worst thing we can do in all of this is start wittical division. the president will have no fight with me.

i will not engage in it. >> reporter: cuomo wasn't the only governor to speak out. on monday,aryland's republican governor larry hogan told cnn that president trump's claim of total authority was "not my understanding of the constitution." while the federal government does have broad constitutional authority, the 10th amendment grants states the powers not specifically delegated to shington. still, the trump administration is working to form its own team to determine how and when to g e nation's economy back up and running. california governor gavin newsom said today his state is moving forward with its own plan to lift restrictions. >> you may be having dinner a waiter wearing gloves maybe a face mask. dinner where the menu is disposable, where the tables, half of the tables in that restaurant no longerr. where your temperature is checked before you walk in to the establishment.

these are likely snarios as we start to process the next phase. >> reporter: that comes a day ter six northeastern states announced they'll work to coordinate their re-opening pls. today, the nation's top fectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, warned incread, quality testing is key to determining when to re-open. >> we have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we're not there yet. ultimately, the virus is going to determine when we really can safely reopen, not only in general, but in a particular location. >> reporter: some help is on the way. today, south korea sent a shipment of kits to the u.s. soat are capable of runnin 600,000 tests. >> we're winning our battle, we're winning our war. reporter: in the meantime, the president met with covid-19 survivors at the white house.ve >> they inimum numbers of 100,000, and i think we're goint to beat th. 100,000 deaths, can you believe that was a minimum. so we made the right moves. now we have to get our country

open again. >> reporter: but amid all the talk of re-openings, new closures have been ordered atce meat ping plants in south dakota and pennsylvania, after hundreds of workers tested positive for the virus. one of those plants in south dakota produces 5% of the u.s. pork supply, raising fea m about possibt shortages at supermarkets. with many t of work, foodnw pantries natioe are already seeing high demand.ub like others, ry's food pantry ro green bay, wisconsin has turned to drive-ugh distribution to ke staff and recipients at a safe distance. >> they'll just pull right on through, and we have volunteers that will bring it right out, and they just pop the trunk open, we set it right in their trunk for them, close the trunk and away they go. >> reporter: overseas, austria is one of the latest countries to ease its lockdowns, re-opening small retailers and garden stores. in spain, the number of covid-19 infections and deaths rose slightly, after several days of declines.

and, the world's largest lockdown, in india, has been extended two more weeks for the country's 1.3 billion people. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: also today, the u.s. treasury announced thate x largest u.s. airlines have agreed in principal to a payroll support package totaling $25 billion. fund warned that the pandemicry will very likely cause the worst worldwide wnturn since the great depression of the 1930s. predicd a partial rebound, but not until next year. even so, wall street rallied today on talk of re-opening businesses. the dow jones industrial average gained 559 points to close at49 23 the nasdaq rose 323 points, and the s&p 500 added 84. in the day's other news, former presint obama ended months of neutrality and

endorsed his former vice president, joe biden, for the democratic nomination. he saibiden has the character and experience to guide the nation through one of its darkest times and a long recovery. and, he appealed for an end to the trump era. >> we need americans of goodll o unite in a great awakening against a politics that too often has been characterized by corruption, carelessness, self-dealing, disinformation, ignorance, a just plain meanness. >> woodruff: the former president also urged action on addressing economic inequality, expanding the affordare act, and rejoining the fight ainst climate change. the pentagon is extending a halt to non-essential travel fortr ps, their families and civilians due to the pandemic. b it hn set to expire on may 11.et defense sey mark esper said today he hopes to announce a new target date for ending

some of the restrictions this week. the u.s. justice department sided today with a church that bssued over corona-virus c one of several such fights nationwide. greenwood, mississippi handing out $500 citations to worshippers attending drive-in services. in a statement, u.s. attornem general willrr supported health restrictions, but he said religious groups must not fa special burdens. federal appeals courts have weighed in against newbortion barriers related to the pandemic. on monday, one court upheld a ruling against oklahoma's ban abortis as non-essential procedures. a second court ruled that women in texas will still be allowed to take so-called abortion pills to terminate pregnancies. the u. senate joined the housees of representatoday in delaying its return to work until may 4, citing covid-19 concerns. that came amid a stalemate over

another $250 billion to aid small business. white house ad warnedhat the initial ec50 billion for the paycheck pron program is nearly gone. the run rate is-- they're going to be out of money. the program, the paycheck protection program is going to be out by this week, maybe by thursday or friday, so we could use the $250 to colete that program. >> woodruff: on the democratic side, house speaker nancy pelosi ain rejected the ministration's request, unless it also provides more aid for hospitals and for ate and local governments. in israel, primeinister benjamin netanyahu and his rival benny gantz reported significant progress toward forming a ity government. the country's president, reuven rivlin, extended their deadldae until wedn an agreement could end a year- long political deadlock. north korea has fired a barrage of short-range missiles, in a

new, high-profile weapons test. south korea's military says the missil were launched from both the ground and air, and landing at sea. north korea has fired off a series of weapons in recent months. back in this country, the death toll rose to 34 today after severe storms ravaged the south on easter. the national weather service said that it appears at least 27 tornadoes hit the regn. in alabama and half a dozen other states, crews began clearing debris and removingll trees. officials said social distancing and other coronavirus restrictions could complicate the effort.he and,nvironmental protection agency says that it will not tighten the air qualitp standard flution from soot. tougher regulationad recommended the auto and power industries p.opposed any change, and administrator andrew wheeler said tay that the existing

rule isufficient. still to come on the newshour: covid-19 comes to nursing homes. vulnerable patients, and the threat of the virus. when to reopen? the question that's beginning to dominate the u.s. dcollege students are for off campus and face an uncertain future amid social distancing. a swarm of locts, and the risk of starvation in east africa. plus, much more. >> woodruff: more than 3,600 deaths from covid-19 in this country are believed to be linked with nursing homes and assisted living centers.th that doll has shot up in the past two weeks, and the since it is just an estimate.unt

amna nawaz is going to look closer at some of the specific problems and challenges these facilities face, and how families are coping. >> nawaz: judy, we can only give an estimate because the federal eagovernment hast been rng a full count of what's happening io these facilities. more than one mipeople live in a nursing home or assisted living center. we're going to begin wme personal stories-- what families are encountering right now. we'll hear from a wife, an adult grandson, and from the head of a company that runs facilities i florida. >> i'm amy johnsonnd i am 38 years old, living in windom, minnesota. my husband, mark, has a rare form of dementia called the frontatemporal dementia, and he lives about an hour away from us in mankato, minnesota. he has been diagnosed for about three years now. so he's in assisted living. i've got four little kids under the age of eight, and so, they ar.used to going to see dad even if they don't go every week, it's usually every other week, so, they are definitely noticing the huge change. and they've asked repeatedly, "when are we going to go seey?

da >> my name is keith myers.de i am pre and c.e.o. of morselife health system in west palm beach, florida. we are one of the largest senior care organizations in the southeast. we offer the full continuum of care. we can no longer have communal activities, so we have to look at another way. but that was very hard at first, especially in our independent and assisted living facilities, because they enjoy eating with their friends.he we need to letesidents understand that if they want to go out of the campus, they will be quarantined, because i have no idea who they will meet. >> my name is jaime patino, councilman for the city of union city, california. my grandmother is emma patino. nursing home in hayward, california. she is curntly at kaiser, san leandro, in the i.c.u., with a very grim outlk.

we were only allowed to visit my grandmother througthe window of her room. she has dementia, so she didn't reallynderstand why we couldn't go inside and why we couldn't visit her. but that's what we did for about two weeks, until this past wednesday, when i got a ne alert via email from the "east bay times" saying that six people had passed away theret the gateway. on friday morning at 3:00 a.m., my dad received a phone call at she was being transported to kaiser hospital, san leandro, because her-- her oxygen levels had gone down. and when she got there, they found out that, not only was she covid-19-positive, that it had gone into her lungs, but her kidneys were starting to fail. her heart was being stressed because it was fighting the ptsease, and she also had shock. >> the pandemic has definitely influenced the way that we've beenble to interact with him

we did go up this last weekend and dropped him off some different clothes, because hiswe n't fitting right. and it was basically just, you know, drive an hour, drop it in the entryway, and walk acay, e we're not allowed to really be in contact with the staff there. >> i have to make sure i have the right amount of equipment to be able to get the resources to our employees, so they feel hecomfortable in providing quality of care that our residents and tients expect. at first they were making sks, they were bringing in bandanas, until i was able to procureem so now we're able to offer surgical masks. >> if god's going to take her, e-- she lived a great life, and we were all blessed to have her. and as for the future, one of the things i'm going to do is i'm going to use whatever platform i can to push for more transparency, so that people know exactly what's going on in these nursing homes. >> i can't be there.

if he did decline to the point where he would require, you know, end of life or hospice care, which is what the form of dementia he has, it's very possible that it could decline that quickly. ,d with that being the ca it, you know, that's hard to think about. nawaz: and before we go on, a sad update. jaime patino's grandmother passed away after we so him yesterday.ea she was 84 old. our condolences to him and his family. we reached out to the gateway care and reh center, but have not heage back from mant there. for more on what jaime and others have been dealing with, anhow this industry is grappling with the coronavirus, i'm joined by david grabowski. he's a professor of healthd policy at harvdical school.sk david grab thanks for being with us. people are going to look at those numbers that we reportedve earlier,3,600 deaths, up from just a few hundred in a matter of days. ites an alarming rise. what is behind that rise?

>> it's incredibly alarming. if you can believe it, it's actually an underestimate. what's behind it is just how deadly this virus is iun nrsing homes. we have older adults with high levels of chronic illness. when this gets started in a nursing home, it's incredibly harmful to the population there. >> woodruff: >> nawaz: you called it the perfect storm. explain to me why. >> well, you have oldderults living close together. you have staff members mov room the room, potentially spreading the virus. remember, we don't have testing. many of these workers don't havl perotective equipment like masks or gowns or glo so they're slowly spreading it throughout these buildings. it really is this perct sto of lots of older adults with chronic illness and staff slowly ving it around the building. >> nawaz: why do you believe that an undercount? do you think we have an accurate tracking facilities within the facilities? is there any mechanism at the federal level for tracking this? >> there is no mechani at the

federal level currently to track these number, so we're totally dependent on state departments of health. some states have done a great job. other states are doing nothing. that's first source of thisng underrepors just that we have a lot of missing data. a lot of states aren't reporting. within states, there's going to be a lot of undocumentedases, and then we know there's a lot of asymptomatic case, that means individuals who aren't showing any symptoms of the vius. so i think the number is much higher than the one you reported. >> woodruff: >> nawaz: we heard about nursing homes being locked down, no visitors allowed. they're barring all the communal activity, too. staff, of course, have to come and go, but what else could they be doing? could they ban new entries, newi ts from coming into the facility? >> that's one step. and i think many facilities have stopped taking new patients in from hospitals. hospitals are looking to

discharge patients into nursing homes, and many nursing homes have held the line and said, we can't safely care for these patients. e trying the keep the residents currently in the facile safe. y nawaz: what about whu facilities and aisted caresing facilities handled these things. you had the believe there was a plan if place the handle an infectious outbreak, right? >> unfortunately there wasn't a this has not been a strong suit of nursing homes or assisted ling. i think it's easy right now just assisted living facilities. the i also think we have to point the finger at how we pay for these services and how we regulate these rvices. we have often uderfunded nursing home services in this country. we have had poor models of oversight and acchentability. atnd of the day we get >> nawaz: a lot of families have loved ones in these facilities. they're reading e headlines, and they're worried. i want you to speak to them anh

tell themt you would advise. should people be pulling loved ones outf their facility? should they think twice before pulling someone into the facility?>> my heart goes out wh everyone with a loved one in a nursing home. this is an incredibly trying time. i don't know many us canull our loved ones out of a facility at this point. i think it maye too late actually. as we were just discussing, the virus is already ia number of nursing hopes around the country. if you do bring them into your house, you have to kep yor loved ones safe are. you able to sort of have a high le infection control to keep the virus out of your home? and then finally, remember, therewas a reason they in this nursing home to begin with. they need lots of assistance with activities of daily living like bathing and dressing. are you an you faily going to be able to provide those serv pes? you coultentially hire somebody into your home, but you are facing the same set of chclenges you might have f in the nursing home with staff bringing it into your house. i very much like the idea of

pulling family member out of a nursing home, but in practice i don't know how feasible it is for most families. >> nawaz: before i let you go, david, let us know, based on the steps you've seen so far, do you think the numbers are plateauing in these facilities, or do you expect them to go up? u fortunately they're not plateauing. i think they're really going to go up. i'm really scared for older adults here in the state of massachusetts where i lival st have of theovid-related fatalities to date have been nursing home resaridents. i'm as we see this go across the country what the numbers will ultimately lok like. nawaz: such a worrying time. david grabowski of harvard medical school, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: if you are not dealing with a critical family alth crisis, the central

question facing so manyic ams is, when will we begin to return to normal life? there are few, if any, easynd answers,he debate has pitted the president againstn some governorsth coasts. a number of those state leaders e now teamheg up. one ofis governor ned lamont of connecticut, who joinf us nm hartford. go -- governor lamont, thank you for talking to us. connecticut has a population of three million people. less than a month ago you announced first death in the state. right now ielieve it's 671 deaths, 14,000 people almost tested positive. ere are you in the fight against covid-19?o >>thern connecticut, fairfield county, was part of that whole new york pandemic. that part of our state was hit early, hilt -- hit hard. there the curve is beginning to bend as social distancing is

working, but the rest of the state, the virus is going right up the i-95 metro northco idor, new haven up to hartford. >> woodruff: in other words, rising in the rest of the state >> that's right. e have not bend the curve in the rest of thstate yet, but we are still thinking about the day after and the months after. >> woodruff: president trump has spoken, as you know, about may 1st as being a time to think about beginning to go back to normal. you have said the date shod be closer to may 20th. where do you come up with this date? what factors go into your thinking? >> what i said to or schools is we're not going to open before mao20th. i saidur small businesses, you're probably not going to open anything before may 20th. but by may 20th we're going to have a lot of testing in elace. we'll have an iof where the infections are. by may 20th we'll have a lot of the ppe and the gowns and the

masks that we don't have right now, an we'll be in a much better position to make a determination as to what we can open, how we can open, and when we can open. >> woodruff: how are you confident you will have all of those things? >> i'm not sure i'm confident. i know we have a much better chce to have it in theex few weeks than i've hait before. let's face it, aot of the ppe gets rerouted at the tarmac at t j.f.k. but riow it look like supply is catching up with defend. supply in.nning to get s we'll have masks. masks allow me to get peple back t work sooner. the testing protocols are room. ing up. i think within a week were to we'll be able to do a lot more of the antibody testing as well as the molecular test toee who >> we know you and other governors in the northeast are coordinating, beginning to talk among yourselves about how you might do this together. the president meanwhile has said he has total authority to decide

when restrictions are lifted. who is right? >> i think the governors workinh to. the governors were ahead of the curve on taking this virus seriously, and i thisty governors are ahead of the curve knowing how to get out of the pandemic and thoughtfully open up our states. ok, judy, i can't open up bars and restaurants in connecticut if andrew cuomo keeps them closed in new york and viceve a. you'll have a flow of traffic back and forth. some of these things we'll cotogether. >> woodruff: how do you make those decisions? one governor could have one set of factors he or she is looking at. another governor could have a different set. >> we all have very different situations, that's want to come up with a set of data. we want to set up protocols tht work. i have an amazing group, a task force that's going to be hlping us decide, including the lead epidemiologist from yale is cochairman of it along with the

head. together they put together a business ad scientific team that's going to help us come up with a strategy to slowly get our state back to wo >> woodruff: and what about coordinating, i'm goininto be talkin moment with the head of the chamber of commerce. what about talking to businesseu in state and big institutions in terms of how they begin to open up. tell us about how you're coordinating with them, the process of sharing ideas and views of all this with these other leaders. >> sure. we've got major dfense manufacturers with big factory floors that are required to be open, and i talked to them every day about the necessity of getting feer testing to mak sure nobody goes in there with a temperature. we said anybody with a temperature of 100.4, you cannot go to the factory floor. we're getting masks for everybody.

we're setting up social distancing. in i'm working with businesses, an i'm also wowith labor. let's face it. they're fighting for folks whome mes are fod service workers. they're at stop & shop. maybe they don't have the masks they need and the protection they need some they will all be at the table if we think about >> woodruff: quickly, governor, you have also mentioned july 1 as a key dat where did you come up with that? >> i camith that because at that point all of the federal programs run out. that's what makes me worry. we have two months ppppaycheck protection. that's too much. we have folks who get thei insurance forgiven for two months. you know, at that point even all of the state aid, the money we need to keep our government going, starts getting a little tighter. sonk the government's going to have the make up its gsnd, the federal government, if we don't get th opened up 1st, there will betherk by july

supplemental funding necessary to keep our hospitals going, our small businesses going, a lot of individuals on unemployment. that's a big date. >> woodruff: ad we know congress has just announced they will be away for several weeks coming back i believe in may. so we will see. about those deadlines. governor ned lamont of connecticut, we thank you verysh much and we wou the very best with everything you're dealing with. >> tha, nk youdy. >> woodruff: and now, hear from a leading voi in business about how and whether some economic activitshould resume again, and under what conditions. suzanne clark is the president of the u.s. chamber of commerce, it's a group with some three million membs across all seors of the economy. she presented a gradual plan to her members for returning to work, but it includes many issues that have yet to be

resolved. suzanne clark, thank you very much for talking with us toda tell us, as you think about all, this how big a allenge is the country facing, the private sector? it's not as simple as turning on a light switc? is it >> no, no, it isn't. thank you forving "me me today. our members represent all sectors and all sizes and all geographies. the idea of getting back to work and getting back tfe is so important to them. we know that there are experts, public officials, me tcal experlking about when it's safe to get back to work, so we think our job is to help business leaders to begin the plan for how to get back to work. >> woodruff: yr memo tht you sent out the your members, it starts out by saying that th returnork will be "gradual, fazed in, and will vary by several factors." what are the factors? >> i think we hit on them tonight on the show. different geographys have been hit in different ways.s

different sectill find it easier to ramp up than others. andwhen you look at everything you talked about from testingng and trao the availability of equip such as masks and thermometers and training on while care and transit.thr this is unpredented crisis in this country, and there is no playbook to take off the shelf and just execute. so it's why it's so important it's time to go back to work, people are really ready. we want tol hep both government leaders and business leaders anticipate what newio restri, what new equip, what new risks are out there so that they can really be ready. you can't underestimate what as job me a family or to a community, and once we return to health, we need to be ready to return to work. >> woodruff: when youhink about things like, and you include this in the memo, social hstancing, and when younk about having protective equip,

which may still be necessary months from now,k lie masks and perhaps other pa fa neyla, as well, are businesses prepared to do these things that you're talking about? >> you know, imagine being a small business owner right now and not only ving the financial stress and fear that you have in your community, bust ow trying to tackle a kinds of new learning, not only new acquisition equipment, but how to use it and how to train for it. again, it's so unpre hdened that ye to figure out new york a world that's going to have imfect information, the c.e.o.s are not going to have perfect equip, perfect information, or perfecttr ning, how can we help them take the right kind of risk, because it will be a little bit of a risk, right, one that people take going to their

businesses to work or as a customer. so i think a lot of that will typpen at a local commu level.>> woodruff: i'm asking y, because, for example, think about a business, whether it's haeware store or a rstaurant, they're not used to being in the business of asking ople the take their temperature when they walk in the dr or maing sure wear a facemask, but these arehe wht the kinds of things we normally expec we go out to a store, for example. and, in fac've kind ofright, trained businesses to be the opposite because of concerns discrimination or different types of liability. and so this is a real gray area that we're all going to have to confront. and this gets back to our goa which is what can we anticipate? we can try to find y firm ground for c.e.o.s to stand on, or all the way up to really big

companies. i thought the government made a good point when he tald about businesses have been deemed essential and how they are working. we talk about a return to work, but a number of peopldn leave work. what can we learn from the experieant that they've alr been through. >> woouff: and suzanne claro the other thing is wh pays for this? some of these businesses are going to b coming back. they're going to be turning the lights back on but with a much tighter payroll situation. how are -- i mean, how do you look at that question? >> it's really complicated. thow is it all goibe paid for?th ong we have been looking back goes back the childcare. if you're having social distancing, you is accept fewer children or you need more aults. does mean less revenue penses?more ex so how do we make that stretch? i think it's going to require moit aid. i thin going to require both at the federal level and at

see state level an assistance. some businwill get back to work faster than others. are comfortable going into big, crowded places again. numbers of people might needast more aid an more assiofance. a bi optimism, too. we're seeing a type of resilience and a coming together in this comunityhat's really a beautiful thing. so as mr. rogers used to say, look for the helpers. i think we're allooking for the innovators, the scientists, the doctors, but also the business leaders and how tcan innovate. whenever there is areat time of depression, there is a time of innovation. a harvard epidemiologist said one thing about getting through this surge and this peak is it will gi doctors and scientists a minute to look at the data and learn from it. whatid they say? were children transmitting the disease? what did the immunities look

like, et cetera. that gives me hope that there's more learning and maybe quileckr ning to come. >> woodruff: no question about it. hopefully 're all going to be learning a lot fr this experience. suzanne clark with the u.s. chamber commerce. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the lives of some 20 million college students, as campuses are shuttered across the nation. many of those young people are continuing their studies through online classes. but, as john yang reports, the shift has affected some more than others. its part of regulaeducation coverage called "making the grade." >> yang: stanford university senior michael ocon has been living here these days-- a tent in his parents' back yard. after his college closed because

of the coronavirus pandemic,s he moved to rents' two- bedroom house. moved out, and our parents kinds of ded, expecting, y know, we'd be gone forever.n >> yang: but ts mother, a drug counselor who's kept working, got sick with covid-19, like symptomo ocon moved his space outside as a precaution. >> we're havg issues in terms of looking for a new place, in terms of affording rent, in terms of food. d now we have to make su that our broadband and our internet's upgraded, tensure that we alhave access to zoom. and those are financial constraints that seem small, but, but translate to, again, serious burdens to a lot of people. >> yang: this has been a challenging time for college students. sudden moves... >> i packed, like, a backpack with fout-shirts and maybe clothes for, like, five or six days. and i expected to go back to my school. >> yang: ...online classes. >> my house is really loud, and the wi-fi connection, when

everyone is using and at the same time, it can be really slow. >> yang: even professors are adapting. >> there's a certain way in which i would jump into the conversation. now, i have to be much more self-conscious of the fact that there are delays inio communic >> yang: but this crisis has laid bare that there are significant inequalities on campuses. among the hardest hit? low income, international and wesleyan university senior melisa olgun, the first in her family to go to college, helped organize a fundraiser for students struggling withus g, food, and technology. >> when you go to an elite liberal arts unirsity withlo of financial aid, everybody assumes that first generation,me low-intudents have the same access to resources, have everything that all the privileged sd dents have. e second covid-19 hit campus, you saw those breaks. >> this public health crisis is likely going to exacerbate education equity issues that we >> yang: christophlum is as hit.

researcher at education trust west, a california group that advocates for equaty in higher education. >> i think there are a lot of assumptions made about college students, and the idea that udents can go home and still have access to the same types of technology. what is the environment these students are going home to? are their parents home? do they have siblings? do they have family members that they may live with? or are they returning to a situation where they may have work themselves? >> yang: some universities are refunding fees for housing and meal plans. at schools that aren't, some students are suing. and the congressional stimulus package, known as the "cares act," does throw students a lifeline. it suspends some federal student loan repayments until the end of september, and sets aside more than $6 billion in grants for students. but, that money will be distributed through individual schools, which will take time. what's more, students who are

claimed as dependents won't receive government stimulus checks, and their parents won't receive any extra money fordr ch older than 16. another major concern for graduating seniors? the job market just a few wks ago, it lookedf like the class20 would join the workforce in a strong economy with record low unemployment. >> my biggest fear was, was slally just a recession, where things started t down. >> yang: indiana university senior tommy lewis already had a job offer with o of the nation's largest airlines. >> that was actually sort of my dream job. i've always wanted to work in the airline industry, since i was a little kid. that now is up in the air. >> college graduates entering the labor market in a recession will see earnings losses tha last about ten years, depending on how deep the recession is. >> yang: u.c.l.a. economist ll vn wachter. >> the longer the crisis lasts or the deeper it is, the more likely it will be a lot of individuals looking for jobs and a lot of unemployed. and that is the environment

where sort of labor market entrants more generally end upat he bottom of the pile. >> yang: and colleges are facing financial concer of their own. the pandemic could cost some schools upwards of $100 million. those numbers will only go in the fall-- which is also art concern for high school seniors, like angel delich.s shill deciding between three schools in her home state of michigan. >> i don't know where we're going to be in september. n so i going to pay a lot of money to go to a more prestigious school and live on campus, if they're just going to be online. >> yang: meanwhile, universitiep have canceleostponed lcommencement ceremonies,oss that's especially poignant for students who will be the first in their family to graduate college. >> having that physical experience is so symbolic. it would mean th everyone i love would be in one area, celebrating this accomplishment with me.ea >> i wasy looking forward to the opportunity to attend because i want to be a roleally

model for my siblings. >> my parents both came from d turkey and my father pasay when i was six. and my mom made a decision essentially to stay in the u.s. because she wanted me to go to college. to have that ability to walk up the stage, and look around and be like, i did this. this system was not made for me, but i did it. for it to not have that that materialit it is frustrating. >> yang: but these seniors say they're still deteined to graduate, with or without a ceremony-- an achievement no pandemic can take away from them. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: it sounds biblical, but as the world grapples with the covid pandemic, africa is facing another plague:lo sts. as nick schifrin reports, the threat to food securityous

throughout the region. the air carries twagues. loassts-- swarms with as man 50 billion insects. covid-19 threatens the people, locusts threaten livestocand their food. >> ( translated ): they are being a menace, eating our grang and even getnto our homes. when we slaughter our livestock, we find locust fecesn their stomachs. without a doubt, they are affecting our health, ou animals' health, and the environment. >> schifrin: in february, eight east african cntries experienced an initial swarm, the largest for parts of the region in 70 years. and now, a new wave is 20 times larger that the first wave. >> there are swarms that are-- it's not uncommon to be, let's say, the size of manhattan in new york city. so-- so they can be a very big. in one day, that swarm can eat the same amount of food as

everybody in new york and california combined. >> schifrin: keith cressman is the food and agriculture organization's senior locast forecasting officer. struggling with food security,dy more than 33 million people ared now nsecure, and require assistance. vulnerable.ion is very, very for the past three years,d they've faoughts, on this year, they faced heavy rains and floods. so already, you know, they're living in a very precarious situation. >> schifrin: pesticides can fight the locusts, and the f.ioo. is appealing for mill of dollars of aid to deliver more, but bocaer closures e of covid-19 can slow gathering to combat the locusts, often without success, could spread the coronavirus.u. the is instead pushing for the use of bio-pesticides and remote data collection, and is working with governments to ensure the people who are fighting t locusts can travel,

despite travel restrictions. >> the governments realize, u know, not only covid-19 is serious, but also locusts are serious. so they have given waivers to all of those involved in the locust campaign, and they're considered as essential services. >> schifrin: the outbreak originated in the arabian peninsula, where heavy rains in 2018 and 2019 created the insects' ideal breading ground. climate change might only be making the problem worse. >> there's eight cyclones in 2019. usually there's none, or one. so, you know, obviously something's going on with the weather. it could be climate change. t, you know, whatever it is, i oian, if we see this trend continuing, it's to mean that there's going to be moroc desert lust upsurges like we're facing this year. >> schifrin: while the world fights the coronavirus, much i of east afribattling a second threat, with no reprieve in sight. for the pbs newshour, i'

nick schifrin. dr >> wf: there is news this evening from the daily white house briefing. president trp says the u.s. will halt funding to the world thealth organization duris global pandemic. the u.s. is the largest current contributor to the w.h. our white house correspondent yamcihe alcindor has been watching, and is here with the latest. yamiche, what is the white house saying? what's the presidentg? >> alcindor: well, there was big news, as you said, at the white house briefing today, to halt and is halting fundings to the world health organization. he lashed out at that organization and said it's a severely mismanaged the coronavirus pandemic. he said ey chose political correctness when they were opposing travel res that, of course, the president

and others were putting into place. he also says they wasted time and they should have talked about this pandemic, ben e serious about it. now, the president is accusing rld health organization what many of the president's critics are acusing the president of. many say the president was slow he react soin low slow to take this seriously was downplaying the virus. the resident also says the world health organization was prsing china's transparency, but the president also praiseda' chtransparency. the president is in ways blaming the world health organization for how bad this has gotten. >> woodruff: yamiche, we knp thsident has been saying he might do something like this. he's bn threatening, if you will, talking about the possibility.yo know what actually triggered the decision? >> alcindor: i think what triggered the decision was the lashing out that the psident did yesterday when he felt like he was being attacked and bei

accused of being slow to act. there are real questions about what the president was doing in february when he was downplarung the and when it was spreading across the united states and other countries. but there are also are things the president said. thhe said the big thingat were weighing on his mind were, one, that the who against travel restrictions, and the second thing is the organization was talking about not having human-to-human transmission when this was happening, ich i what china was saying at the time some the president is saying the who is sounding too money like china, but again, critics of the president say this is a really bae mov the middle of a world pandemic. >> woodruff: and just quickly, yamiche, we know the president has been saying and said againe' thatthe one with all the authority, in his words, totaly author make a decision about when to lift restrictions. is the white house saying any more about that today? >> alcindor: the white house and president trump are still as president he has total that

authority over states. but there are governors that ar speaking out pretty forcefully, the governor of new york, ani taj, -- of an degree -- andrew cuomo said that's the king and the united states does not have a king. there is an amendment that says the federal government has limits to its power and the states have their own rights. >> woodruff: yamiche, earlier in the program we interviewed the governor of connecticut who says he disagrees with the president. he and governors in theas nortare looking at coming up with their own coordinated plan. or following the white house briefing for us. thank you, yamiche. >> alcindor: thanks, judy.

>> woodruff: next tonight, ae hather look, and listen, to somof the music being posted across social media as part of hashtag "songs comfort," for a moment of diversion from difficult news. jeffrey brown has culledur selections forngoing arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ >> brown: two italian bo playing coldplay's "when i ruled the world" that defines the "songs ocomfort" project. fans of the young fiddlers offered this up: ♪ ♪: >> bwne artistic response to the coronavirus crisis was started by famed cellist yo-yo ma-- a way to try to s souls amidst such uncertain times. ma himself continues to post songs on social medih as this one he had originally performed for children whenpe ing on "mr. rogers:" ♪ ♪

>> brown: the response has been extraordinary. ♪ ♪ >> brown: a bit of blues from reie garrett in seattle. ♪ ♪ enter the roma, texas varsity mariachi band. there are many examples of" accentuating the positive" in these times. some sing it quite literally:tu ♪ ae the positive >> brown: sometimes,"t's not the"what" someone plays, as much as they're playing at all-- for others. this banjo-playing high schooler was posted by a neighbor, who

♪ ♪ "he couldn't be in school, so he took a musical break from online classes to lift my spirits."d anere are other acts of" being a good neighbor," such as these "sheltering in place" on a deck and one on a roof.ne their video is rough, but their music quite smooth. ♪ n and, in a fashat is becoming more popular, this toronto opera singer took to a balcy to sing an aria from "la boheme." ♪ ♪ ve songs came in various forms, including international chanteuse angelique kidjo petits riens"oustic "c'est ♪ ♪nd ..his man played "over the rainbow" by request of his "best friend," his wife.♪ ♪

there's also a growing kind of sentiment: love and respecfor alth care wo sers. dan erdmd his song," sunset," is for them. ♪ ♪ and on a final "note," lindon o beckford, erly at beth israel deaconess medical center in boston-- ♪ ♪ coworkers wrote how he has used his voice to comfort patients and colleagues for years. now, more than ever. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: we hope that if you >> woodruff: love all. this just be careful of playing that violin on the roof. we do hope if you have art thejo share, you wil us. upload your videos to twitter, instagram or facebook using the upload your videos to twitter, instagram or facebook using the

hashtag "songs of comfort." we will be watching, and may use them in thfuture, on air, and online at www.pbs.org/newshour. ewso, we'll be launching a segment on air and online tomorrow: "ask us," where we take your questions on t coronavirus to experts who can provide the answers you need. teu can learn more about it by visiting our web www.pbs.org/newshour, or checking our facebook, instagraa and twittes. later tonight on most pbs stations, "the definition of insanity," a documentary on the court to move the mentally ill out of the criminal justice system andnto programs toward medical recover. that is tonight at 10:00, 9:00 central, only on pbs. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe and see you

soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. fdelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> carnegie corporat new york. supporting innovations in education, democraticen gement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support and individuals.tions

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hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." gre's what's coming up. >> i'mng to have to make a decision and i only hope to god that it is the right decision. >> president trump under pressure for lking down too slowly and wanting to open up again too fast. i asked "new york times" columnist and nobel laureate paul krugman. how do youevise a dormant economy? then dr. robert gallo helped discover the hiv virus. nowe tells walter isaacson why he thinks the polio vaccine could give short term immunity against the coronaviru plus, genetics and the human female. does it give us the edge against