captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: on the "newshour" tonight, the latest on the toll of covid-19 as another week comes to a close. i speak with vice president mike pence about the white house's evolving response to the crisis. >> we really do believe that these guidelines will now enable governors and states across the country to craft plans for reopening their states either a state by state level or even on a county by county level. >> woodruff: then, plans to reopen the country hinge on testing-- but how many kits are there and how will they be deployed? plus, it's friday, mark shields and david brooks analyze american life at an uncertain and dangerous moment. all that and more on tonight's

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about plans to re-open the economy. but others are concerned aboutfi the rations of easing restrictions too soon. that comes as the pandemic's s. death toll topped 33,000 and the number of infections nationwide climbed to some 0.687, john yang begins our coverage.m >> our t experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war. >> reporr: president trump calls it a "roadmap to recovery." but some state and local officials say talk of lifting restrictions is too oimistic, as thousandsf new infections and deaths are reported daily. new york governor candrmo: >> how do you plan the reopening? nobody's ever done this befored w do you plan a reopening of the economy and at the same time be cognizant of the public health crisis that you're still in? >> reporter: the white house

outlined how the nation's governors could beg lifting restrictions in three phases once the number of infections in their states decline and the testing rate goes up. phase one recommends social distancing and discourages gatherings of more than ten people and nonessential travel. phase two limits gatherings to 50 peoe, and allows travel to resume. phase three proposes a return to normalcy, wle isolating any new cases. some governors say they will begin easing restrictions soon... governor gretchen whitmer said today michigan will take initial steps on may 1, just two weeks away... and maryland governor larry hogan is expected to release guidelines for his state next week. while the president said yesterday that governors would have the "freedom" make their own calls, today, he tweeted:" liberate minnesota," "liberate michigan" virginia," all states with democratic governngs who are fa growing conservative

backlash to measures aimed at limiting thspe read of covid-19. they are among 42 states plus the district of columbia under stay-at-home orders. and, a new report from new york state underscores the danger covid-19 poses to nursing homes. 20 of the state's homes have reported at least 20 deaths linked to the pandemic. s at least 6900 people living in or connected to nursing homes died to have the virus. as as scientists work to learn more about the coronavirus, a top world health organization expert said today otit'slear whether antibodies in the blood of covid-19 survivors protect them against reinfection. anwhile, the damage the pandemic is doing to the world's economic health is becoming more event. world bankpresident david malpass: >> covid-19 pandemic is causing deep economic harm and threatening to erase decades of

economic progress and poverty reduction. we're expecting a major global recession. our estimaes suggest a much deeper downturn than the great recession. >> reporter: germany's top economic official echoed that concern. >> ( translated the german economy is in a situation that is more serious than anything we period.n the post-war it will be probably more severe than what we've seen durid the banking stock market crisis. >> reporter: still,'sermany-- euroargest economy-- is poised to lift its partial lockdown.l schools wistart-- in stages-- beginning may 4. but a ban on large gatherings, like sporting events and concerts has been extended to august 31. and today t united nations warned that over the next three cases in africa could increase to 10 million. a u.n. report said the worst- case scenario would be 3.3 million deaths.

in kenya, doctors are already preparing. thinfection is still going through the community but we expect an inevitable surge and that should be happening in the next 2-4 weeks. >> reporter: and, an embrace of the new normal on this eastern orthodox good friday. pews were empty as pries broadcast orning services on television for those observing ty of their ow homes. for the pbsewour, i'm john yang. spoke with vice president mike pence, named by president trump to head his coronavirus task force, about the administration's new guidelines for governo testing and his message to frontline health care workers forced to re-use and share their protective gear. mr. vice president, thank you very much for joining us.id prt trump has been clear that he's eager for the country

to open back up again by mathe first. you rolled out these new guidelines yesterday. ho ldifferent do you thie is going to be on may 1? it'sust 14 days away. >> well, yesterday, by announcing r new guidelines for states across the country for reopening up america again, what president trump laidut were essenially the criteria and what we believe would bthe best preparations for states to be able to open up in a time and manner of their choosing. but as you can see, it is a phed approach and it's all based upon data and in the application of, of the best counsel of our scientists and our broader team. the president also consulted with, with leaders from businesses across the country and also with a bipartisan group of members of congress. and we really do believe that

these guidelines will now enable governors in states across the country to craft plans for reopening their states, either on a state by state level or even on a county by county level, because, judy, in every state it's different. and e guidelines that were issued yesterday were all about equipping outhgovernors and r health officials with our very best recothendations, all while assuring all of their citizens and the american peopli that we will ce to partner with our states to make sure that they have the equipment, the medical supplies and the testing to ter in to that reopening plan in an orderly and safe way. woodruff: you mention testing. the plan, though, does not include a broad testing strategy. thpresident continues to say there's plenty of testing available. and yet, as i'm sure you know, governors, medical experts are saying there sighly is not enesting going on 140,000 or some a day is nowhere

near t million or more that's needed. why isn't there, why isn't there more of a federal push for testing? >> judy, i'll tell you that now that we have established a literally an international air bridge, we're moving medical supplies into communities. now that-- we're very confident that that states have the critical veilors that they need. i can assure you at the president'sadirection, our nistration has no higher priority than continuing to dramatically expand testing. it was one month ago that we had we had only de 80,000 tests in the united states. but as i sit hereoday, more than 3.5 mis llion teve been performed. and as you say, we're, we're doing about t 120,0ts a day. but as we've communicated to gondrnors around the cntry will continue to reiterate, ually a significan amount of unused testing

capacity in those very same labs. >> woodruff>>: i-- hat we're going to look to stand up and activate. >> woodruff: and i-- >> we actua could double the amount of testing that's taking place every day. if we simply brought online all of the testing capabilities in all the labs, and that will continue to be our focus, even as the president is continuing to drive our team forward on identifying new forms of testing. in fact, very soon we anticipate a new antibody test to be approved that it could literally produce. >> woodruff: but if-- >> 40 million antibody tests a month. >> woodruff: but if i could-- >> so it'll remain a priority. >> woodruff: i, i do hear you, mr. ce president. but at the same time, we are hearing from governors, we're hearing from hospital c.e.o.'s, fro frontline workers, that they don't have access to testing. they're also saying they don't have access to the protective equipment that they need. nurse at a new yopital what a told us on the newshour last night. her name is maria lobifaro.

she's an i.c.u. nurse. she said, "i've worked on a weekend where we were reusing the same gown from nurse to nurse, the same proe gown." she said, "when my shift finishedi had to pass that gown on to the next nurse." she tabolked seeing pictures of nurses in other countries overseas who were protected, looked like a spacesuit. what do you say to individuals like miss lobifaro who want to know why the federal government hasn' done something to order that tndhis f gear, masks and testing be done? >> well, what i would say to marie and to every one of our courageous healthcare workers, especially in places like new york cit first and foremost, is thank you. thank you for what you've done to provide the level of care, even during this crisis, tha any american famy would, would hope for their loved ones they've truly done a remarkable job. but, but i can, i can assure

her, whether it whether it be gowns, whether it be face masks or, or protective equipment, that we, we have and will continue to flow millions of supplies from around the country anaround the world, particularly in hot spots like theae r new york city area. i was just informed by our half a million gowns were literally arriving. we were deploying those, i think 250,000 of those into the new york city area alone. but make no mistake about it, the fact that our health care syst has not been overwhelme is a tribute to our doctors and nurses, just like maria. but it's also a real tribute to the fact that the american people over the last mth and more have embraced those social distancing, those guidelines. we've slowed the spread so our health care workers can have what they need. anwe've created a vast arr

of resources, flowing millions t supplies into our hots areas around the country. health care worker to know that we're gonna continue to that even as we work with states, as they make decisions to responsibly reopen. >> woodruff: two other-- >> in the months ahead. >> woodruff: excuse me, two oouher things i want to ask about. we have been looking ahead, but i also would say it's important to look for a moment at how we t here the united states today has more cocaronavirus than the major countries in europe combined. mo dths than anywhere. in january, as you know, mr. vice president, there were pervive warnings from the intelligence community here, from top administration ofalfi there were mistakes made, no question aboutht, in china. ere were delays at the world health organization. but the president did stop travel to the u.s. on anuary 30. but for days and even weeks after that, he said the u.s. is in a good place. he s

everything is okay.ans how many lives do you believe were lost as a result of the delay by this administration? >> judy, i will tell you that we're, we're gonna get to the bo tttom of what happened wi world health organization and why the world was not inform by china about what was happing on the ground in wuh with the coronavirus. days ahead.ime for that in the and the president's made it clearhat we're going to hold e world health organization and china accounble for that. but iave to tell you, having, having been asked by t president to lead the white house coronavirus task force in late february, that the actions that our president took in january, where he suspended all travel from china-- the first time any american president had ever done that-- bought us an invaluable amount of time to

stand up the national response that has us here today at a time when our health care system has nt been overwhelmed. and while, while you cite statistics from europe, the reality is when you look at theu ropean union as a whole, which is roughly the size of the united states, thanks to the commitment of our health care woeers, thanks to the respo of the american people, while we grieve the loss of more than 33,000 aricans today, the truth is the mortality rate in the uniteds today is, is far less than halpeof that in eu it's a tribute to our, our system. it's a tribu to the american response. and frankly, it'e a tribute to ct that president trump suspended all travel from china, initiated efforts to get our c.d.c. into china by mid- february. and so by the time we, we

spread in late february in the united states, we were able to surge the resources in and raise up the kind of counter measures that have us in the place that we are today. >> woodruff: if i could just ask one question about the economy. as you know, the united states is experiencing now the worst job loss we've had since the great depression. and yet, there is a political stalemate on capitol hill with the administration over what to do to help small businesses. republicans say $250 billion. democrats are saying that's fine, but we also need money fot hos and for state and local governments. mr. vice president, why not do what both sides want at this moment of crisis for the american worker? >> judy, we're working very closely with members of congress in both parties. and i know president trump is truly grateful for the bidrtisan spirit that anima all three of the different bills thatgned into law.

we provided resources for our initial response to th coronavirus. we provided free testing for every american, freeaid family leave. but the economic relief in the third package has been speeding resources to american families. checks are already being received. the average family of four is receiving $3,400. but the paycheck protection program has been so successful that while the president and i were, were in a conversation yesterday with republicans and democrats on a conference call, we learned that the money is completely gone and the initial $250 billion. and it's absolutely imperative that democrats inongress come to the table and provide the additional $250 billion and do it now. the reality is that this fund was designed to make sure that small businesses deeply impacted

byepidemic could keep their employees on the payroll for a period of two months. >> woodruff: but why not take care of-- s i said, it's been incredibly popular. of money. w, though, it's out and it's unconscionable for democrats in congress to hold that funding up and si make small ss owners and most especially their hardworking ems, live with the uncertainty of whether they'll have the payroll support. >> woodruff: and with the need so urgent, why not do both? >> judy, i will tell you, the negotiations are underway. we'll continue to work with leaders in both parties. and as the president said last night, we, we believe that we will be able to reach an agreement. that's only going to happen if democrats in congress come to the table, make a deal and do it now to expand the paycheck >> woodruff: mr. vice president, we thank you very much for talking with us.

>>hank you, judy. >> woodruff: in the day's other >> woodruff: late this afternoon, republicans and democrats agreed federal money will go ward hospitals as part of that $250 billion plan to helpmall businesses. we'll have more on these developments a little later in the program. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, stocks surged higher on wall street, amid optimism about progress in the fight against the coronavirus. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 705 points to close at 24,242. the nasdaq rose more than 117 points and the s&p 500 added 75. president trump's former lawyer michael cohen will be released from federal prison, as part of coronavirus from spreading among inmates.

cohen will serve the resof his sentence in home confinement. he pleaded guilty to charges that include campaign finance fraud and lying to congress. cohen will be quarantined for 14 days befe he's released. in ukraine smo from wildfires outside kiev has elevated the capital city's air pollution levels to the highest in the world. the fires erupted earlier this month, around the defunc chernobyl nuclear plant. strong winds fanned the smoke toward kiev, but officials there dinot detect a spike in radiation. a u.s.-russian crew returning from the international space station was greeted today with extra precautions because of "covid-19." maed personnel helped the three-person team out of the capsule when it landed in khstan, after more than 200 days in space. the workers who met the crew had beenored for a month and tested for the virus.

and nasa announced today that it ll be launching astronau into space from u.s. soil for the first time in a decade. lift-off is set for marom the florida space coast. etired its space shuttle program in 2011. unlike previous launches, they using a rocket owned and operated by elon musk's private company spacex. still to come on the "newshour," can the u.s. develop a testing strategy to safely b americans back to work? nse sexual assault allegat against former vice president joe bin. mark shields and david brooks analyze another week under the specter of pandemic. plus, remembering the lives of some of those we've lost to covid-19. and much more.

>> woodruff: as states are mulling when to re-open parts of the country, the question of testing remains a central issue. in many places, testing capability has not kept up with the larger demand. and the most recent statistics seem to show that, if anything, the number of tests analyzed by commercial labs has dropped lately. william brangham has reporting on all of this and ins me now. william, hello. w, heard the vice president say, right testing capacity is00 about 12 per day. he said that that could be doubled. but does that come close to meeting the demand, what's needed? >> jn a word, no. there's no epidemiologist or public health officia ie spoken to who would say we're

testing anywhere near eugh people to really meet this moment that we are in. even the most generous assessment, we are off by hund pds of thousandhaps millions of tests that are still needed. the issue is we simply don't know the current scale of the epidemic a't be smart about fighting it until we test more people. we just don't know, right now, how many people are infected, where are they, who are they, and until you know those things -- let's see that you're a restaurant owner, a factory owner, the owner of an n.b.a. basketball team and your governor says, we want to start bringing people back together. how do you start to do that if you really can't tell who, in the general populion i infected and who is not? so it's a recipe for more outbreaks, according to all the public health officials i've spokeno, unless we get testing ramped up. testing is the way that you see an epidemic and get your eyes on it and, right now, are

la blind. >> woodruff: well, we've heard a lot of reasons for why this is. based on your reporting, what's the major holdup or holdups? why we have lagged behind onns testing. there was initially just this very slows federal response to urge manufacturers and testing companies to get kits togetr. the c.d.c. men rolled out its own test, that had major mechanical problems that delayed things. now the problem we have is a shortage of supplies, theal acphysical supplies that you need to conduct tests. so those are the swabs that youe people having put in the back of their throat or in their nose, ose are inhort supply. the chemical reagents -- these are the actual chemicals ingredients needed to run these supply.- those are also in sho i spoke earlier with dr. eric blank, with the association of public health laboratories, and he said that this supply chain problem has been ans enormou issue and that one week it's the

swabs are short of supy, the next week it's the reagents. he also pointed out, as, we that we simply don't have enough trained people to do these tests. you don't have to be a doctor to do it, but you or are not qualified to go out there and start testing people. so we need more of those people trained, and those people also need protective gear, and we know there's an incredible shortage of those. so, again, it' a compounding series of problems, and someoned refeo this that our inability to get testing right has be the original sin of this epidemic in america, and it continues to be a huge problem. >> woodruff: and, william, i did have the vice president about why alhe fed government hasn't been more aggressive in all of this, and i think one of the questions is why not push companies to address these shortages you're dcribing? >> that's exactly right, that's an argument many people are making. theyrgue that the president

could have used the defense producon act to push companies to manufacture some of the ingredients and testing suppliee righ in united states and, if they had done that, we might be facing far fewer shortages than we are right now. i saw the u.s., tcehe resident talked about that, and it seems the administration doesn't want to there have been a few occasions when the president has gotten volved, and those have unfortunately yielded broken promises. a we saw a monto the president said anyone who wants to get a test can get one. know that's not true. a week or so after that, he said google would set up a web site that would direct people to find tests. that has not happened. last month, the president coalso ened a group of retailers and drugstore owners and implied that there would be a hu network of drive-through testing sites across the country. right now, there are only about -- i think it's about a doze so, again, we're still lagging. >> woodruff: and just quickly,

william, we know there are se other countries that did do testing more aggressively. what do we know about the results? >> well, there are two -- the is many examples people point to. two nations in gener germany and south korea, both of those nations came on very strong wita y testing, and we're seeing the results of that. they have gotten their hands around eiepidemic earlier, they are further along, doing a better job of testing people and tracing who those i eected people were in contact with. eth worth noting both of those countries, those efforts were largely organized byheir federal governments and that, for the most part, has not been our approach here in the u.s. >> woodruff: william brangham, very, very helpful reporting, thank you so much. >> you're welcome, judy.

>> woodruff: now to the race for the white house. sformer u.s. senate aide come forward alleging former vice president joe biden sexually assaulted her in 1993. our amna nawaz has the story. >> nawaz: thanks judy. i'm joined now by lisa lerer, a reporter who has been covering this for "the new york times." lilcome wack to the -- back to the "newshour". we should note you have been reporting on the ben campaign. allegations over a year ago about inappropnriate touc him making women feel uncomfortable, that was over a year ago, and tara reed was amg the women you talked to back then. this am gages we're talking about now much more serious allegation. i'd like you to lay out what is the indent that she alleges ppened back in 1993? no>> so her allegatio is that, basically, when she was an staffer working in then senator biden's senate office in

the spring o 13993, she was asked by a supervisor to bring the senator an athle bag. she tracked him down in the capitol complex building, sh doesn't remember what day or exactly. >> where she hande him the bag, and biden pushed her up against the wall and basically started isssings her and sexually sawed her. s not something she talked about a year ago when i and other reporters talked about her and she spokebl ly, then i was more sexual harassme. so this is a new and quite serious allegation. >> reporter: we note in response to previous reporting, kate bettingfold from the biden campaign rponded to say the claim is absolutely untrue, it absolutelyid not happen and cited, of course, vice presin'dt bi record in serving women and women's causes. she also says women should be heard d heard respectfully. you said you interviewed tara. i want to play a quick clip of

the moment where you were asking her about that incident. >> it happened once, and that's what's so hard about telling the story. he's talking to me and his hands are everywhere, and everything is happening at oe very quickly. this happened in under two minutes. asse credibility,job is you corroborate the story. what were you able to confirm and not confirm about what tara reed told you. >> tara reed had a friend we spoke to at the time who confirmed most to have the details. she said she told her mother. heother is deceased. r e told a friend many, many years lame of the details and also told her brother some of the details. both of thse people confirmed what they heard which was not the full extent of the story but t me version. also texted dozens of people who worked in biden's fice both withara in 1992 and 1993 and the years around that period, and none of those

people recall seeing anything like thior even rumors of any kind of sexual assault. they said, infoation, the office was considered a really great place for women to work on capitol hill and at a time when not all offices were hos hospite to women and the were women in inferior roles and many wwaomen felt thiout of character with the joe biden they knew then and now. >> reporter: you'vepoken to her almost a year ago and she didn't share this allegation with you then. obviously, we know women don't come forward at e time of their assaults is to report them, but when you talked to her later did she say why she waited many many months before coming forward in another interview to share this incident? >> that was my question to her when i called she said the first set of allegations, which was presented only in a very vocal paper in california wre shlist. after that she had a wave of harassment online and death

threats and got scared. she didn't want to bring up the more serious allegation without having proteion, either security, lawyer, p.r. person, or someone to help manage the incoming flow of things on social media and other places. shreached out to many, man lawyers, and could not get anyone to take her case. as aesult, shended up talking to a woman who had a podcast on "rolling stone" who is a well knowner suppof bernie sanders and first started telling of her sexual assault on that podcast. >> ranorter: you andin the media faced criticism for dly not going after this claim as aggressively as maybe the claims against brett kavanaugh. we're looking at the man who looks like will be the democratic knoll knee. where does this go from here? >> i think we'll continue tee some atlets review this story, and then i think we have to wait and see what happens. notably, president trump has unlegations, though some athese

him have not, and they've sent out tweetsnd other messages about them. but i think, you know, everything is really overshadowed by the coronavirus right now, so the question will be, as we move into the fall campaign, these allegations get more traction, are there more accusations at come out, out i there?ort of all that's because there's no real pattern for joe biden in terms of sexual assault right now. generallyou look for that pattern. we're not seeing that here. unfolds which will have a lot to do with, in fact, how the virus unfolds. >> reporter: lisa lerer of the "new york times" joining us tonight. thanks, lisa. >> thanks. >> woodruff: after the pandemic a for small businesses, the so-callepaheck protection program ran out of

the allotted there were questions about when and if lawmakers could make a mdeal to fund moreey for small business loans. it now appears republicans and d democrats may be heanto the weekend with an agreement. lisa desjardins is here now to explain the latest. lisa, you have ben working on this. i know you have been talking to members of congress. what are you learning about how much progress they're making? >> reporter: there is progress, judy, but there's not an agreement yet. i don't know if we can say that weekend or not.n agreemen the progress is this,udy, democrats that this next round of funding extensions should include money f hospitals. that's somethig democrats have said was necessary and oneon rehey have not yet passed the increase for small businesses. hospitals will get somere ie money in this next deal. we donow how much. there is a sign republicans are considering another thing that's

important torats which is making some of the small business loan money specifically available to community lenders. ymocrats said some minornd also smaller banks were not able to get enough if yi of that publican leader in the house, kevin mccarthy, says he's on bond wit the idea of community lending money. we'll have to see if the white this is to say they're making progress, judy. this could be on track to a vote as soon as next week, but first we have to have a final deal and we don't have that yet. >> woodruff: and, lisa, we know the democrats were asking divertedhis money be or given to state and local governments with inanction they could make into the economy. where does u all that stand? >> republicans have a problem with that. they don't think that should be ded at this time. there are a few reasons for that, one is the formula, tnoy believe, i correct, and they also think states need more flexibility than demts may

be willi to agree to. that is still an issue that is unre solved. >> reporter: and, lisa, you've done additional reporting on other ways congress is trying to respond to this crisis. >> well, there was an extraordinary phone call today, judy, between senate democrats force team.sident pence and his god, the democrats had the same question you and william brangham had, testing. democrats in the senate asked again and again about testing and they say vice president pence did not give them direct answers on the availability and timing going ahead. this led to an extraordinary moment from angus king, governor.nt of maine, a former i want to read you a quote he said to vice president pence ont the phonay expressing the rising theory in washington. he said to theid vice prt, the president is trying to off-load on the vernors the responsibility of testing, and the governors are not in any position to take that on, to turn it over to the governors as if they mically can conjure

these things is an abdication oy federal something a president today, a sign ofhe growing an rp about the testing situation and the president is briefing right now talking about stesting, butll a lot of questions as you and william had this. >> woodruff: no questioning ques is something that continues to come up and, as you said, democrats andof member congress will continue to raise it. we'll see where goes. lisa desjardins, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: now we turn to the am gist of davi -- analogy f teields & brooks. david,ick up where we left off with lisa and that is off of the white house announcement yesterday basically that the president said we're turning it over to the governors toecide how and when to open up their states to try to begin to get back to normal. but a number of these democratic

senators and medical experts are saying we don't have the testing capacity to make good decisions. what d do you make of what the white house has done here? >> well, it's obviously too little too late. what you want is somebody to get up there like the c.e.o. and say here's where the tests are being made, here's when somebody is going to come in this week and next week and we need millions of them if we're going to do tracking in the near future. to the democratic senators, so it's lack of specificity that's comforting. as of getting it to the states, i have become a bit of a federalist. in an idea world, the virus spreadscross state lines so we have would have a national response, but given where the whithouse is and threfl of confidence they've displayed, i'm glad a lot of the power is resting with the governors. as this thick begins to bite

economically, i think it's good thatheeople that are making the crucial decisions are ourav governors who way higher levels of trust and approval ratings than the president who is so divisive. so i'm beginning to appreciate the wisdom of the founders who are putting so much powern the state government. >> woodruff: mark, good idea to give the power mainly into the hands of governors, even without the testing that many of them say they need and don't have. >> judy, i think david makes an interesting point. i'd just say the testing is a national responsibility. this is aatnal, national crisis, a national tragedy. we arat 14,000 tests a day. itm not a mathematician, but i figureut on the back of my hand, and that means that we americans would be tested just at 146,000 a day.' day of 2027, that's just unacceptable. i mean, it truly is.

i agree that the governors are ing rewarded with confidence and approval for tir leadership, by the irony is that mike dewine's job ratings in ohio up and andrew quoamos are up inew york while the president's are bogged down and slipping aec it's a reon of leadership. two out of three americans are frankly concerned that wre going to lift the rules too quickly and thatee t out of four herns are concerned that ahead rather than behind us.s so this is a time for national leadership. you can delte authority but not responsibility, and the president has to confront that reality. >> woodruff: well, david, at the same time, the me we're trusting the governorsg to make these decisions litelly at the same hour president trump was tweeting to the governors of michigan,

minnesota and virginia to llberate their states. and itas to do with protests, growing protests in some of these stas headed by democratic governors, people who want the restrictionsifted and lifted quickly. what sort of signal ds it send g this, the day after, he says ei trust governors. now he's saying to somef them, here's what u need to do? >> well, the tweets themselves were juadstss. fortunately, what the president tweets doesn't always have anything to do with what the administration is doi t,y seem to be two separate entities. but the tweets were undermining trust, they were a blatant if the to shift blame, is blame in the months ahead, for the economic paion to the democratic governors and not himself. so they were acts of selfish cynicism. i have to say as i wch th

stole thing unfold, to me it's a gigantic stress f our social solidarity. can we hang together as a people and do what we need to do forea other and that includes the companies and the the employers ud also just all of can we behave properly. and, the president has been an obvious negative force in dividing us with tweets like that. t i have to say so far we are hangng together. i think social trust and solidarity is reasonably high. mark, the statistics say three-quarters of americans think we have to fight the oisease before we worry about the ec, and that's bipartisan support, by and people do worry about liftin te quarantine too soon, not too late, and, sre's been a reasonable amount of social cohesion, and there's been a rising up of ug compaies talking to people in the healthcare industries, drug companies that never coorate are cooperating to get some sort they're getting the vaccines to the number of random drug trials

has been exponentially growing. so i don'tnow if leaderip is coming from the country, but i from the various s of ourming society which, you know, may save us. >> woodruff: yet, in part, mark, the president does seem to be responding and feeding, if e u will, into tse protests against vernors who -- many of whom are trying to hold the line and say we've got to keep social distancing weeks longer. >> judy, reckless, irresponsib irresponsible, i mean, this is a president who's not only inconsistent, he's contradictory. he told us he had total and absolute authority,nd yet he has no responsibility. you just can't have it both ways. >> woodruff: david, i want to come back to theme announ that joe biden got this week. h didn't know if it was going pen or not, but bernie

sanders did endorse joe biden this week, followed pretty quickly by former president obama and elizabeth warren, is the democratic race clear to you at bernie sanders' supporters are going to ep enthusiastically back joe biden? what does it lookike? >> well, bernie sanders is enthusiastically backing, which is noorn he did at this stage four years ago. his followers or supporters, some probably willarot. thera lot of people who voted for sanders in the primary and trump in theeneral election -- like michigan, mennsylvania, wisconsin, and no doubt there are f those -- but the d. j. party, when you have to say, even how manyyou people were in it, it was a rlatively bloodless primy. the guy in the front in the beginning ended up winning. it was over pretty quickly even before the virus hit. itople are always going to have anims in this race, but i wouldn't say they were super

high. i would say the democrats are going into the rest of the year in a pretty orderly, pretty unified state. >> woodruff: and, mark, what about the endorsements? were going to come eventually, but bernie sanders has moved quickly to endorse. today i saw he's raising money for the democratic national committee. does it mean that joe biden's t,t his act together at this po marching into the summary and into the fall? >> well, jonath martin of the "times" pointed out democrat i disunity whi a perennial story is no longer a story. it's a united party, judy. and i think give credit to joe biden, who's a popular figure himself and has good personal relations, but give prime credit to donald trump. this isn't is possibility it was in016 of dona trump, the inlikely possible, this is the reality of donald trump, and he is a cohesive agent for the

democrats, he is a uniting agent for the democrats. right now, i would say joe biden is in a golden position. this election, as of today, is a referendum on donald trump. it is not a binary choice with the way romney against obama was, bush against kerry was, there is a referendum. it's referendum election. new mexico '96, b a winner going in. in '84 with ronald reagan, it was a referendum on him. donald trump cannot have a referendum election. he is on unpopular figure and the majority don't want him for second term, therefore he needs to run against joe biden, but he can't as long as he's on television two hours every single night seeming petty, mean and vindictive, and that is not helping his candidacy, which has

to be terrible to tell a president who has a prime timete vision show of his own. >> woodruff: and when it comes to sheer air time, david, thees ent's got a lock on it. i mean, he's on television all the timehialking about pandemic. it's a terrible, terrible thing the country is ing through. but joe biden is not going to have as much exposure between now and november as the president. >> that's perfectly fine. peakle would like a brerom politics, and i don't think joe biden needs to really campaign. his campai understood from the start that this was another dold trump, and unlike sanders or warren who ran campaigns they could ve runfour years before or fm now, he ran a trump-centric campaign all through the primary season. he's still doing it. he had a video today how he laid out how trump was late owsponding to the crisis. that'se should be doing, sober, making these points.

as mark indicated, trump had a bump for support earlier on but that's faded. now his approval for handling the virus is underwater as mo people disapprove than approve. i think biden needs to do nothing now. inwill have plenty of time the summer and fall. >> woodruff: we leave it there. mark shields, proke david brook, thank you both. >> woodruff: we want to turn now from the essential workers to remember some of theof thousands of americans who have lost their lives in this pandemic. woe school teachers, health care ers, musicians, public servants and local leaders who've left a permanent mark on their communities. the coronavirus death ll is too large to recognize every one. but we'll return to this sers, to share more of the stories of those now gone, each and every

one precious to their friends and family. ♪ ♪ vincent lionti, a violist with the new york metropolitan opera for 33 years, was known for his quiet confidence, humility and vincent's first teacher was his father, victor, who conducted the westchester youth symphony before passing the baton to vincent in 1997. vincent met his wife kristin in the met cafeteria and their vincent would have turned 61 this month. judy wilson-griffin dedicated her life to helping high-risk mothers and babies as a perinatal nurse specialist in ca. louis, missouri. an er and a leader, judy addressed racial disparities in maternal health care and access to care. olleagues and patients, she was like a best frnd, a sister-- funny, humble, and

gracious. judy also served in the u.s. navy as a nurse. she was 63. thomas lopez was kno seattle-ites as the smiling face behind this faly-owned food thuck for almost two decades. born in mexicofather of five served in the military there before immigrating to the u.s. when he was 24. he made national headlines in 2017 for selling tacos to hungry drivers stranded in a massive interstateraffic jam. he was 44 years old. 74-year-old wayne reese senior was a quiet man anywhere but on the football field. he coached and mentored louisiana high school football players for five decades-- some went on to play in the n.f.l., including one hall of famer marshall faulk. from checking in on udents at home, driving them to 6:00 a.m. practice, and helping

hureds secure college scholarships, his fami says his shoulders were broad from always carrying the worries of cahers. ain douglas hickok was a member of the new jersey national guard medlial unit specng in emergency medicine. de "fearless," hickok had prepared spread before he wected.c's waoff-duty, the 57-year-olan avid outdoorsman, grillmaster and ther of two. a third generation service member, captain hickok was the u.s. military's first loss to the pandemic. ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: there is no way to truly mark the losses from covid-19, but we want to end the week on a high note.

it comesrom the tony award winning cast of "ain't too proud," the broadway show about the temptations. like so many of us they recently got online to connect and delivered this performance. let's have a listen for our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ she's got a smile so bright ♪ you know she hauld have could been a candle ♪ ♪ i'm holding you so tight ♪ you know you co auld have been handle ♪ ♪ the way you swept me off my feet ♪ ♪ you know you could have been broo♪ ♪ so when you smell so sweet ♪ you know ye could haveen some perfume ♪

♪ well, you could have been anything that you wanted to ♪ ♪ and i can telthe way you do the things you do ♪ do ♪e way you do the things you ♪ as pretty as you are ♪ you hnow you coue been a flower ♪ ♪ if good looks were a minute, you know you could have been an hour ♪ ♪ the way you smile, you could have been a school girl ♪ ♪ and baby you're so smart you should have been a school gi♪ ♪ well, you could have been anything that you wanted to ♪ ♪ but i can tell ♪ the way you do the things you do ♪ ♪ the way you do the things you do ♪ ♪ ♪ >> all right, brother. there you g >> woodruff: that young man in oue white t-shirt, the nephew of

director, a world director, mary lawrence. and that is oue "newsh for tonight. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great wee pnd. thank yoase stay safe and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> fidelity. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular .> the william and flora hewlett foundation d r more than 50 years, advancing ideas supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their

solutions t the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. t s program was made possible by the corporation for ieblic broadcasting.and by conts station from vrs like you. thank you. roaptioning sponsored by newshourctions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, welcome to kqed newsro. tonight we arcontinuing ongoing coverage of covid-19. it has be five weeks of sheltering in place here in the bay area. on wednesday, millions of americans received economic imct payments in the nk accounts, up to $1200 pe