captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, deaths here in the unitedtates from t covid-op 40,000, as the country continuethto grapple wihen to reopen for business. thenamy walter and tamara keith analyze the politics of the pandemic, and how the trump administraon is responding to the historic challenge. plus, a close look at american agriculture. why farm workers find themselvul especiallyrable, and what it means for the food supply. >> you've got families living together. so it makes social distancing hard. we know that often times they are traveling to work in aruck and they're all piling up together. >> woodrf: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting

institutions to omote a better rld. at www.hewtt.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contrutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. dr >> wf: there are forecasts tonight that the worst of the covid-19 pandemic is stillte ahead, even the current wave passes. the warnings come as deaths in the united states have nearly doubled from a week ago. but also at the same time momentum is building here and abroado lift restrictions.

william brangham begins our coverage. >> we are ready to reopen nnessee! >> brangham: more protestsay occurred ts debate heated up across the country, -- to reopen the economy. t from tennesswashington state today, opponents of shutdowns, some carrying weapons, blasted their governors' stay-at-home orders. >> 45 days with no pay. we've been affected by the virus ooveur family. he n titabanles isn't shra b bm:heha t "thonese demonstrations are int being orchestrated by pro-gun, far-right groups on social media. and recent public oplln inspo ow a strong majority of americans, or 80%, favormees to control the virus. at the same time, even though the protests are often in opposition to his own public health officials, the president

has urged them on, tweeting that states need to be "liberated."he >> are great pple. look, they want to get-- they call it "cabin fever." you've heard the term. they've got cabin fever. they want to get back. >> brangham: amid pressure to reopen, some manufacturers, like in washington state, ar getting ready to put thousands week.ople back to work ts gorng ga's governor announced he will let you, your salon and antenhony buss esreop fauci but dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top infecous disease expert, warned today that states could see a new outbreaks if restrictions are lifted tooso . >> if you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you're gonna set yourself back. >> brangham: that's what leaders in new yk emphasized today, even as the state's death toll dipped to its lowest point in tmo re>>ek wo e'n re going to be smt how we come back. we're ing to be smart about

how we turn the corner. we're not going to let our foot off the gas prematurely. >> brangham: local leaders say it's a decision that hinges on the capacity for much more widespread testing, which is ill lacking in much of the country.t the presidenargued again that, in his words," testing is a local thing,"y add not the onfedera sl government's responsibility. but maryland's governor, republican larry hogan rejects that idea. >> to try to push this off to say that the governors have plenty of testing and theysh ld just to get to work on testing, somehow we are not doing our job, is just absolutely false. >> brangham: and today, hogan struck a deal with suppliers in south korea to secure 500,000 tests. testing in the u.shas partially been delayed due to a shortage of the nasal swabs used to take samples. the president said sunday that he would use the "defense production act" to boost swab production.

w york officials today rolled ogt an antibody testing prm to see if people who've been infected have now developed antibodies which might offer some protection against the virus. itut another crucial test, b dr. fauci cautioned that many of the tests currently being r marketed are niable. >> point number two, that's important: is that we don't know exactly what antibody means. thne's an assumption that w you have an antibody that you are protected against re- infection. but that has not been proven for this particular virus. >> brangham: in geneva, the world health organization also warned today that the decision to ease restrictions should be weighed with extreme caution. >> trust us. the worst is yet ahead of us. >> brangham: meanwhile, some moving to regain a sense of normalcy. in germany, a nation that did t widespreting, small stores

opened theiroors to customers today, for the firste in nearly a month. for the pbs newshour, i'm m brangham. >> woodruff: economic damage from the pandemic knocked the bottom out of the oil mark today. the cost of benchmark u.s. crude fell below zero.y actually and, that drove down.he stock mark the dow jones industrial averagt lost 592 pto close at 23,650. the nasdaq fell 89 pnts, and, the s&p 500 gave up 51 points. the collapse in oil prices comes as some producers are literally running t of places to store unused oil. let's break down more abou at's behind these shocking numbers.l specrrespondent ryanr yes and je from london.ex so ryan, whatctly

happened toyed? -- today >> well, look,he price of oil was already cheap. just last week people were paying just $23 a barrel-- $2 a barr, prices nev before seen but the problem is people don't have anywhere to pt this oil. so if you are a trader on them oil futureket and you are looking to sell oil right now, whoever buys it from you has to physically receive, take deliveryf that oil and put it somewhere. and since they have nowhere to put it because everywhere youly could possant to put oil is already full, you have to pay that person to take the oil. so literally if you want to sell oil, if you want to sell oil today to someone in the united states you have to pay them as much ass 40 bua barrel. now this is a problem that ine part is cific to the united states because outside of the u.s. in many places you donal ac have to take physical solivery. inanou kd of kll there are fundamental problems

with the oil markets right now. >> well, tell us ab what are >> well, first off there was already a big problem in the oil market in the sense that there was too much oi and the russians and the saudis and the opec countries said saudi arab that saudi arabia leads, they had a production cut agreed. and then about a month ago the failed to agree to continue those cuts. and they went intoa price war. they started a battle for market share, you know, trying to outprice one another, undercut one another or prices that also undercut producers in the united states. the problem judy, is that then covid-19 hatched and demand for oil plummeted. and so even after prede trump encouraged them to come back to the table and do another deal which they did last we by agreeing to cut production by 10

million barrels a day, it was too little, too late. and there is just way too much oil out there. >> woodruff: so this sounds like something that will be very painful for a number of countries. what happens next? >> it is goes to be very painful and it's going to be painful right around the world and the united states. yo phave the shaoducers in laces places like eagle fort texas n north dakota, they are already pumping oil at prices,, you egative prices, well below they per used it. so that means they ove to st producing if they can and lay people off. that is one of the reasons why president trump in the last hour said the unitestates is actually going to buy oil on tha mark put it in the strategic reserve, 75 million els. but that will only lead to a short term bandaid to this long-term problem. outside of the united states, also big trouble.

sai arabia, tbalance their budget they need an oil price of about $80 a barrel. the global price for oilight now outside the united states is 125. they are in bigrouble. russia is in big trouble, nigeria is in big trouble,ve zuela is in big trouble. all that can really clang things is a, if the pandemic eases and we see some kind of recovery in the glbal economy or if some of sese oil-producing countr that need to sell that oil to fill their cough of coffers agree to cutre supply by mohan ey already have. t woodruff: so many repercussions fris pandemic. ryan chilcote, thank you. news, israeli prime ministerher benjamin netanyahu and rival benny gantz reached a three-year coalition deal, ending a year- long political standoff.

netanyahu will serve as prime minister for the first 18fo monthsowed by gantz. that leaves netanyahu in office trial. his upcoming corruption authorities in canada searchedfo answers today, after a gunman killed 18 people in novao scotr the weekend. it was the country's deadliest mass shooting everas the gunmanisguised as an d ficer, attacking some people in their homes, tting fire to other homes. today, prime minister justin trudeau said all of canada is grieving. >> how could this happen? we may never know why. but we do know this. no one man's action can build a wall betweens and a better day, no matter how evil, how thoughtless or howestructive. >> woodruff: the gunman so died, but police gave no details. in afghanistan, officials id taliban attacks killed at least 29 security officers on sunday.

the violence came as the two sides are negotiating a prisoner exchange. it's supposed to be part of a u.s.-brokered peace plan. back in this country, at least three people died after severewe storms the deep south, on hail rained down oton, and heavy rain in hattiesburg,us mississippi flash floods. in central alabama, cleanup began today after high winds and at least one tornado struck last night. a week ago, tornadoes killed 36 people in the region. today that state juries must be unanimous to convict criminal defendants. two states, louisiana and oregon, still allow divided juries to reach verdicts. the high court acted in the casa of a louisan serving a life sentence for murder. and, a federal appeals court says a texas ban on abortions during the panosmic includes induced by medication.

that overturns a lower court ruli. the state has temporarily barred procedures.ns as non-essential still to come on the newshour: how long will it te for america to reopen, and what will it look like once it ds? the pandemic abroad-- how brazil and afghanistan are coping with the crisis. amy walter and tamara keith on washington's latest response to coronavirus, and much more. >> woodruff: as offiaround topeeimmieerhoinwonsid there's great concern and debate ewing over how long shutdowns should last and whether re- dangerous.ld be

donald mcneil reported extensively on these questions for the "new york times" in a etece that explored how so could be profoundly affected and disrupted for the next two years.n he's bvering epidemics for close to t decades for thes times and jo now. pus. you do open your piece quoting iscientists as saying could last for some time. why? what do these that on? >> well, you know, basicallyey say that the notion that we're all going to be out of this in thtwo or stlee moand the football stadiums open in the fall and out together is a fantasy that right now somewhere north of 300 million americans are stinl iected and vulnerable to the virus. if we all go out again, things will look good for two or threee weeks and n suddenly the and then the emergency roomsk up will fill and we'll be back on

our way toards two million dead which we were when the lockdown started. so that can'tappen and we won't really get out of this until we have either a vaccine or a prove lactic pill that will let us o. >> and the vaccine, we are told dr. fauci says a year, a year and a half. whst do the scienyou talk to say about that why it takes so long. >> well, they say a year or 18 month is real optimistic.ma the record foking a vaccine in this country is the mumps vaccine we made the '50s and it took four years. now things have set up in modern times. we actually have vaccinese that part iup, you can make a vaccine candidate very quick leevment you can't speed up the immune system, you still have ts do the t in people. and ronaviruses have problems. they have a tendency to create a thing ll the antibody enhancement when other vaccines have been made. which means thvaccine can actually make you more likely to

get the disease rather than less which would be a disaster so you have to test carefully about that and then the production problem. most vaccines are made in batches of five to 10-- 5 to 10 million doses but if we need a vaccine every americds to take, that is either 300 million or 600 million disoases if you need two shots. so that is a whole different order of magnitude of vaccine production and getting factories working to do that. >> woodruff: a huge almost an unimaginable amount. what about treatment. you mentioned medicines. what about treatments for theco navirus. could that make a difference in how peod?ple resp >> it can. and we're in the clinical trials no and those are going to take probably at least a couple more mont depending how many more people get enrolled in the trials and how they go. most of the medicines we know something about tend to help people who were alrea hospitalized and in trouble rather than being something that you could pop and take as a pill

as you can the prep for hiv. so there has been informati from the whi house that hydroxychloroquine will work as a preventive. nobody really thinks that. it might help peoe who are likely to crash, because it st an imune suppress ant but st not an antiviral, most of the antivirals we know about are not lazarus drugs, they don't save, they aren't like anti-buy otics make people come back from near death. so it may be a long time beforel we have a that is prophy lactic and then we need to make 300 million es per day, as ubiquitous as asirin so that will take a while too. >> woodruff: and what about test, is there discussion about that now that there is just not the capacity for testing that is needed. but how much does that matr to getting us even close to back t? norm

>> it matters he nor newsen enormously. r. fauci said the virus will tell us, what he means is we have to gt a stable platform of the same number of testsne being ll across the country every day and then you, and they have to be raped, you can't have ithrheu want, you wah that level of testing to see how many positiv and neglect tifers you get once you have a base. and different people have diffent estimates as to how many tests we need. i mean i heard one estimate 750,000 per daivment i heard another estimate from harvard that came t that they think 5 to 10 million per day, per day in order to understand across the country where the virus is rising or is falling so you would know hey, we've got a hot spot. we have to go into something more like a lockdown in order to get those people out the path of the virus. so you will need a lot of testing to be able to pocess that. >> and so when people say once we bgin toy we're part of the way to normal, how much

worry there t we are going to see a resurgence of this. this is not a virus that is just going to go away, is it? >> no, and nobody really believes the virus is going to-- in the summer it is spreading in the india, the philippines, in spreadi happily in hot weather viuntries, that is typical of seth if eore, temperature doesn't reaelly mak a big difference. the worry is that as we are in lockdown, we may be the hmmer and the-- the hammer has come down and now we dance out of lockdown for a litle while an realize oh we are getting we go back int lockdown andg so wait a little while, it will drop. and on th ep beam-- epidemiological models it ike shark speed, death rising and falling, deaths rising and falling andt could go on are in the we get a vaccine. some people might deliberately decide toin effect them severe

to get out, young healthyng to do but people may just get really, really fed upf o being in lockdown while the rest of the world is out having fun and taking their job. there will be a lot of sychological changes in t country over the next couple of years. >> woodruff: and do we ever get back to a precovid normal, if we can remember what that was like? >> hopefully, hopefully there will be a va protected we are back to the way we are with flu shotand measle shots and everything else, life will go back on agfen. and maybe will become better. this is like going through a wamplet and you know, in thest ar period world war one and world war ii, people's attitude toward life changed. they wanted league nationed, they wanted the united nations, income equality changed. life was for people who lived through that generation, often ehey recognized it was mor precious. like living through the blitz. people began to know what was

important in life and whta wasn't. that is sort of how i stay hopeful through all of this. but we were not thet. ea have to go through some pain besth hang on tldo cneveeil witn york times," you so much. >> thank you for inviting me. >> woodruff: covid 19 isup ding the farming industry on many levels. the trump administnntion recentlynced it will spend $19 billion to help farmers, but as stephanie sy reports, they aren't the only ones who need help. >> reporter: the cows stl have to be milked, but iry farmers are dumping millions of gallons of their output. endless acres of lettuce remain unpickedt the peak of the spring harvest. >>t've dfiltnoju

for me on the economic side but the emotional side as well. >> reporter: and tractors ar destroying crops, plowing them back into the groun. >> you can see all these beautiful beans on these plants, that were scheduled to go to e restaurant industry. >> reporter: the clof restaurants and schools has shut forcing farmers to makendustry, difficult decisions. but if there's so much food, why are grocery store freezers so empty? supply is an involved process, says dave puglia, president and c.e.o. of the western growers association. >> if you think about a groceryy store,'re going to see ing on the shelf that's packaged for you as a consumer. you go to a restaurant, they're buying in bulk.fo so we can't unately flip that infrastructure over all th quickly. donating the food to charitables inod banks only have so much storage and gettg the surplus

to them also costs money. >> that farmer has to decidepe whether to the money to harvest it, which is the most expensive part of farming in the produce industry. so if you already ow you're taking on a percent loss, do you want to make it 160% by harvesting a product that doesn't have profitable home? >> reporter: meanwhile, the livestock industry is fang other problems. meat processing plants around the country have susnded operations due to outbreaks, including one of the nation's largest pork plants in south dakota. the smithfield foods plant in sioux falls had hundreds of employees test positive for covid-19, and at least one die. in rural georgia and iowa, the virus has aimed the lives of six employees of tyson foods and other tyson plants have dozens of cases. and in greely, colorado the j.b.s. beef plant has temporarily closed after at virut four workers died of the one of them was saul sanchez, who's daughter and co-s accuse the plant of not taking

precautionugh. >> now they have enovery ethingo they're spacing them, now they're putting pictures everywhere, buit's too late. i mean it's not too late for those employees, but it's too late for my dad. p >> reporter: tnt closures may be necessary to ensure worker's safety, but they also mean farmers are running out of places to take their livestock. and the potential for a meat shortage looms. thom petersen is minnesota's agriculture commissioner. >> it'been really vast. so it's really effectively just agriculture right w.f pork is probably the hardest, but also egg farmersrmour ethanol s, beef. and it's really across the board. things may get worse before they get better. >> reporter: that also may hold true for farmworkers. >> ( translated ): it's a bit complicated. but we work in the fields and we have to put in done so that families have food in their homes.he if are no workers doing this, there won't be food in the stores.

>> reporter: in the covid 19 pandemic, they're considered byt the governme "essential workers," but many are working without essential benefits. >> ( translated ): have >> reporter: like many other farmworkers, if be sick or stops working, she doesn't have a safety net.co ing to the u.s. department of labor, about half of farmworkers are undocumentedgr imts. >> ( translated ): i don't have papeve. i don't he same benefits as someone who has papers. >> reporter: dr. eva galvez is the daughter of farms from mexico and works at a community health center, outside portland, oregon. ll me what your greatest concerns are when it comes to farm workers health and covid, 19. in>> you've got families l together. so it makes social distancing hard. we know that often times they

are aveling to work in a truck and they're all piling together. you know, even something as simple as washing your hands often can be really difficult if your hand-washinstation is far from your station. >> reporter: and, farm workers that spoke to the wshour said they weren't getting adequate information. >> ( translated ): they've never spokeno us about the virus. everything we know, the care we take, the ecautions, we know thanks to the news, what we watch on television, on social networks. >> reporter: that's only part of what leaves these workers mores, vulnerable srmando elenes secretary trearer of the united farm workers. >> the stimulus bill excluded workers that undocumented so they can't collect unemployment. the additional $600 a week that other people are getting, they cat get that. >> reporter: and some farmers do have protections in place.ch jim n is the owner of swanton berry farms in

davenport, californinion grower with 25 workers who have benefits.no >> you i d't want so a way to assu that is to pay their wages or during any time that they might bck. >> reporter: but even farmworkers under a union (ntranslatedn): what would happen if one of my colleagues got sick with this virus? the company would automatilly close. they would send us home. what are we going to do without getting paid? >> reporter: in california, there may be some temporary relief after governor gavin newsom announced $75 million in state funding for undocumented errkers. from the crop pito farm owners, covid 19 is taking its toll. >> it was urgent before we had a covid 19. as i said, we've had five years of down prices. you know, we've had farmers that i know personally take their own lives. we we've had a lot of farmers with really high stress. >> reporter: pressures on

farming were compounded in recent years by the trump ministration's trade war wh china. bankruptcies for family farms shot up 20% last yr. >> and so i just ask people to as we go into this as well.hts >> reporter: the pandemic is making the already risky farmini ss even more unpredictable, not only for the people that make up the farming industry, but for the nation'sfo supply. part of the trp administration's plan to bail out farmers also includes the government buying $3 billion of products from farms and finding ways to get that fooood banks. for more on how the epidemic is affecting the way farmers do business amy mayer joins me. she's agriculture reporter for iowa public radio and harvest public media. amy, you have covered deadly disease outbreaks among farm

animals such as avian flu and rmers always seem to ve to adapt. how is this pandemic different? >> there are a cople of ways that are different, with one thing with a live stock disease outbreak is something that really impacts farmers first an the reste public may find out about it after they have been dealing with it fore s feel it has a direct impact on their liv. with this one the entire country was affecd pretty of allt the same time. and so in that sense farmers ari t alongside of the rest of the population. the other thing that is tainrtant is there are cer types of challenges that farmers can anticipate and they ken sure themselves against such as ave severe weather and to some extent livestock diseases, clearly this i something nobody saw coming or had preparation for. >> i want to tt lk about w coming about the meat processing in plants. when it comes to the covid-19 clusters, amy, are company's sponsibility at all or and are they doing anything differently now.

>> we are seeing a differents among the companies, in some cases temperatures are taken as workers enter the bilding each day. some of the companies may have given masks or face shields to employees, although in other to the employees to provide for themselves. we are getting scattered reports of plexiglass dividers going up in between the differentth stations oline, those are something that wouldn't normally be there. but there have not been specific required guide lines from any federal agency or even any of the state and local agencies about what the companies could or should be doing. >> and clearly a lot of employees are now being sent home at the meat processing plant, some are having to suspend operations. should consumers expt meat shortages to result from this? >> right now what we've been hearing is there won't actually picture, what consumers mayto staree is that the cuts of meat, the types of meat that are available atrocery stores

may be a little different thoon what they have been used to or may get refilled in those cases as they have become accustomed to. it is important also to remember that rentstau and other institutions that serve food have been shut down and that happened before we started seeing the problems at the processing plants. that meant a lot of the meat at you talked about redistributed to food banks may ultimately also be able to be repackaged and distributed and become available where supermarp kets might have some cuts that normally would just be at fine dining steanlts. >> amy mayer of iowa public joining us from iowa, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: how does a country fight covid-19 when its own president says it's not a serious matter?

brazil is finding out, as president jair bolsonaro prioritizes latin america's largest economy in the face of the pandemic. nick schifrin reports. >> schifrin: this weekend, the head of brazil's government, led a protest agait his own government. president jair bolsonaro rallied supporters, practicing no social-distancing, and invoked brazil's past military dictatorship, to disparage the government's covid-19 restrictions. >> ( translated ): i'm sure that all of us will one day swear to give our lives for our country,l and wedo whatever is possible to change the destiny of brazil. ough of the old policy. >> schifrin: bolsonaro has repeatedly called covid-19 "a little flu." his rhoric, has been as

dismissive as his actions. >> ( translated ): given my athletic history, if i was to be infected it would not necessarily concerme. i wouldn't feel anything other than at most a little ld. re schrin: echoing ptrump, he cs ordentred lockdown lungnc of rio's famous beaches. he>> ( translated ): >> schifrin: but manilians think there's something rotten in rio, and have spent their evenings protesting bolsonaro. >> we are in a dark situation. r how manyave a clue affected people we have in brazil. >> schifrin: ivan franca junior is an epidemioloigst at the university of sao paolth he sayofficial death toll is a vast underreporting. >> the federal governments have been very slow to buy and todi ribute new corona virus test, the p.c.r. test for >> schifrin: brazil has several communities at particular risk.d socitancing is impossible in the sprawling, low-income

neighborhoods known as favelas. the six confirmed cases in paraisopolis, with a population of 120,000. a former soccer star hired round-the-clock medical servicel the favela'shealth care, says ambulance company owner diego cabral. >> ( translated ): due to the deficiencies of the public esystem, the overload of public health system was direed all towards us. >> schrin: and brazil has 305 indigenous tbes whom bolsonaro has disparaged with racist language, and open their land to commercialining. now, indigenous leaders say bolsonaro's policies make them more vulnerable to covid-19. >> ( translated ): our soil is contaminated, we can't farm, we're here fearing that our people will die of hunger, and we don't know holong the coronavirus will last. >> schifrin: earlier this month, bolsonaro flaunted his own government's social distancing orders. those orders were implemented by health minister luiz henriquema etta, who criticized bolsonaro. >> ( translated ): when you see

people entering a bakery, entering a supermarket, lining up one after another, leaning against each other, this is clearly the wrong thing. >> schifrin: four days later, bolsono fired him. when bolsonaro announced a new izhealth minister, he emph the economy. >> ( translated ): life has no price but the economy. the employment has to go back to normal. >> schifrin: unemployment is growing, leading to growing crowds at vendors who give awayd unood. >> ( translated ): i have four and find food.ave to go out the government doesn't give us a >> schifrin: everyn rio, suffer. firefighter elielson silva adclimbs his ladder to ser the ty. he plays elegies for a time before corona, a time before tht govern disdain for its own policies, threatened its citizens lives. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.

>> woodruff: the scourge of covid-19 is even more severe in underdeveloped nations. add in an acve warzone, as in afghanistan, and fighting the virus is even harder. there are now thousands of cases there, including more than a dozen within the presidential palace alone. as special correspondent jane ferguson reports, fighting a war and the virus comeat a stark moment. >> reporter: combating the coronavirus is a sharp turn for the taliban, which has been against american and afghan forces for nearly 20 years. yet, in afghanistan the taliban want to be seen battling covid- 19oo. publ a this one have taken place in i recent weeareas they

ontrol; the group keen to showcase some fomedical preparedness. ordered our medicaams tonces and reach each and every house quickly and bring any suspectedn coronavirus pato a place for quarantine," says this taliban health official in rural wardak provinc afghan journalist d filmmaker naseer rahim travelled to the taliban-controlled tangialley, about 60 miles south of the capital kabul, for the newshour afghanistan.f the groupsacrossl much of these efforts are largely public relations, staged for the cameras. social distancing remains a foreign concept. officials meet in small rooms together, and mosques are open to large congregations, yet for a group that so often shows disregard to civilian lives in its bombing campaigns, there is a sense of growing concern.

in litifacirural afisanarghn ta basic, and if the virus rages rough here it could kill many. the taliban, long hostile to changed tack.say it has >> ( translated ): our health mmission has said any n.g.o.s that want help from us, we wlil ci we are trying to coordinatwith international n.g.o.s to bring. assistance>> eporter: the greatest ar here is people coming home from neighboring iran, where a massive outbreak of coronavirus has gripped the country. more than three million afghans live and work there. in march alone, 150,000 poured across the border, coming home, many of them to cities like herat, close to the border, and then on to rural provinces, bringing the disea with them. the taliban says it is forcing returnees to quarantin like this man. the truth is, testing for the virus out here in taliban territory is practically

nonexistent. they do not seem to understand how contagious the virus is. some fighters are taking if people get sick, they haven little optt to travel outside of taliban territory to cities controlled instead by the afghan government, hoping for treatment, yet those places are also woefully unprepared >> in herat we have around 20 veilators. around 20 ventilators. and once we purchase more ventilators we will provide them more. and in kabul we have around this number. reporter: afghanistan's health ministry spokesman gives a daily press conference on thet situation capital, kabul, where the lockdown has tightened in recent days. in a city where most people make a living from day labor, socially isolating means desperate times for mi. despite some food handouts b the government, food prices havr increased y, as borders shut and supply routes are out.s ted by efforts to keep the people are gng hungry, yet, authorities have little choice but to try to prevent the

spread. >> we have to start from somewhere, it's better than nothing, and day by day we intensifour efforts. >> reporter: the u.s. military has halted tro movement globally to contain the spread but says it is continuing to draw down troops in afghanistan in and out of the country, hoping to prevent mohe virus around. the commander of the us and nato mission here, general austin miller. says the disease can isly be controlled if ther peace. >> it's something that affects the entire world, and it will affect coalition forces and afghan security forces as well. the focus on this particular virus has to be on preventing the spread which is difficult under ev normal circumstances. but almost impossible if we have violence. >> reporter: president ashraf ghani's election win last september was contested by his rival, leading to in-fighting and uncertainty. now, rolling out washington's deal with the liban for a u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan has been delayed too. the kabul government was excluded from the talks between

the u.s. and the taliban and s still needs ike its own peace deal with the group. yet, ghani's government took months to formte negotiating and begin the release of taliban prisoners, something the group demanded before talks in march, secretary of statelo mike pompeo st patience and slashed $1 billion in aid to the laurel miller is a former us special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. currently the u.s. has 500 million a year in assistance to afghanistan and in the current year over 4 billion is allocated to support for those security so there is no way to cut a billion dollars without cutting sheinortoup sertcupority forces. >> reporter: with the white house losing patience and punishing the kabul government

with massive funding cuts, the ghani administration is losing its ability to negotiate a strong settlement. >> in the past the u.s. was, i wouldn't just say unwilling, i would say unable to make those u.s. had a strategy in placee ndss depended on the succe oivsualgh the fact that the u.s. now is willing to make those kinds of threats, i think credibly, suggests that the u.s. is turning towards a st that doesn't see the success and survival of the afghan governme as important to erican security interests. >> reporter: nmatter how soon erican troops will head home, it won't be before the country is fced to face a public health crisis for which it is not equipped. the vis is being called a great leveler, encircling nations and ople of all

socomes and ethnicities. but in reality, countries like afgt much t ahanirean more vulnerable than others. now, as well as survivingti fi and near-daily suicide attacks, its citizens are left to fight alone agast an invisible, frightening enemy. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson. >> woodruff: back in this country, president trump's coronavirus response, from social distancing to a ban on travel from ina, is being challenged from both sides of the political aisle. amna nawaz has more for "politics monday." >> nawaz: here to break down the political motivations hind those anti-"social distancing" otests and the state of the 2020 presidential race-- amy walter of the cook political report and host of public ra walter."itics with amy

and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." welme to you both. od to see you both from a safe distance. amy, i want to ask you about ose protests reported on earlier in the show, i'm certai people have beeing these across the headlines. people protest the stay at home andhelter at home directive that so many are under. they are modest demonstrations but they arpopping up across the country. when you look at where they are happening, what stands out to you? >>t not so much where they are actually prosting because it seems like it is popping up in all kinds of states, red states and blue states, democratic governors, republican governors. what stands out is some of the polling-- polling we have right now on how people feel about thd stay at homes and what it suggests is the folks who are out there protesting represent a pretty small element of the erican public opinion right

now. about 30% from a new nbc "the wall street journal" pom and pe-w poll saying that theare more worried that their governor or country won't open up soo enough than they are worried that we'll open up too soon and more people will get sick. a is whether the 30 athti% remnqupresenests g or whether that is the floor. will we see that start to grow especially if the president keeps focusing on this and focung his anger onertain governors. because what we saw in, for example in the pe-w poll, while democrats are united on the worry that government is going to allow businesses to open too so and maybe the spread will get trol that way, repuoublicant s arn ce oevenly d on this question. and so i'm going to be watchinge very closely othis next week or so to see how the president is responding. and some of these states are

saying they are going to open at the end of this week like georgia or starting in the first weekn may >> what about that, we saw the e mbers go by there. what we araring from the president lining up is where the concerns of the majority of the american public seems to be. >> well, the president has lined up on all sides in fact. he has expressed concerns that the cure being worse thant disease, he has expressed those concerns almost immediately after announcing social distancing measures. in the case last week heth announcee would be new guide lines to guide governors in their plans to reopen but he was sort of putting it the governors giving the governors the responsibility. of course the constitution also gives the governors the responsibility there. but as he did that, he sai, d yu kn want it to be slow, we want it to be responsible. and sthen within hours he was tweeting liberate virginia, lirate minnesota, lierate michigan tr sangdetamotitatwiic,

in some ways sort recommendations shortly after maki those recommendations. you know, it is a tough balance. the governors say that they are th bobu ty lsoe having to hav are putting health and safety first. and in some ways as we were talking about, it is a small part of the population thats doing theetion protests, but they are getting a lot of attention because it is some viand it is not unlike the tea party, th ely days of the tea party move. which ultimately did have a major influence on politics for a little while. thou that certainly has faded at this point. >> it is sure to b a key campaign issue in the months ahead leading up to the election another key issue was revealed in the form of new ads from both the trump and biden camps. this is going to be sort of a foreign policy look mov forward, how does the u.s. is go

both camps right now.sten to >> i believe in 1979 and i believe now that a rising china is a-- development. deadly epidemic but aer 40 years joe biden failed. >> trump praised th5e chinese times in january and february co thnavirus spread across the world. >> st a tough situation, i think they're doing a very good job. >> we just have a couple of minutes left, i want to make sure we have boft you. when you look at these dualing ads, what is your take away froh message? >> well, trump is the one that really started thisr wa of advertising on this issue of schiena. u know, there is nothi particularly new here and an fine his opponent as early as de possible. in 2 o 004 you will remember the swift boat ads, inm 2012 yoy remember the obama attack on

mitt romney and bin cap tavment this is all about setting the stage right now, the incumbent president trying to put his opponent on his heels, evean opponent as well-known as joe biden is not as well de fined as he will be com the fall. biden is pushing back, of course, with the worries of many democrats ringing in his ear, don't let youelf get cliff noted. >> what is notessable about that trump ad is that it's interest a the trump campaign itself.t from president trump has had this sort of weird thingng on where sometimes he is very critical of china, sometimes he is more critical of the who for not being critical enough of china but then when reporters have askedhat are you doing about chien coo-- china, he sort of backs f. he has a very mixed record of wanting to sort of promote the trade deal that he g with china and in doing so, he has been reluctant t go to hard on

china or on president . he sort of vas lated back and forth including a etweet at point praising the transparency of president xi in >> it an issue i'm sure we will be covering, it will come up in botaih cas. tamara keith and amy walter, good to talk to you both. good to talk to you. in woodruff: when yo pandemic, typically first responders and hospital workers come to mind. but a key function of society: picking up our garbage to keep our communities clean. pbs station wttw in chicago is producing a "firsthand" series of conversations with individuals affected by the paicnd sanitation worker, sammy dattulo says hisobs as

essential as ever. t >> fire departments are worried about catching this, no, they are not going do that. we can't stop, we have to do our job. just like the firwe responders. erve. and now we're protecting because if we don't get the garbage, they got all this bacteria d you know, people can get infected by that. >> i take pride in my job, i love my job. i can't wait to get up in the morning and go to work because i love my job. and what is great, the best part about my job is the day goes byu need to be, at 8--fu job. and i get paid for it. now all of a sudden you havthe virus, you have to be careful. it's not lie when you go out and had no care in the world.

now you have to rry about what yotouch.o mi slnerable because you have water, the fre is erksz ces, diapers, today i got splashed what watan, i had to ruget my clorox wipes and wipe my face. you get that spshed in youro face, you have sure you have hand sanitizer to wash your iface becauseou get it your mouth or eyes or ears, tht is why you have to ep washingur yo hands. when i'm working, i'm not realizing it, even though i havy i'm touching stuff with garbage and touching my-- i'm good but-- that is my face now i'm infected. you have to take etra precaution now because i could take this home to my family. i have a far year old grndson that is there. and i don't want to get him sick. i couldn't live witmyself.

my biggest fear is catching it, that is my biggest fear. bawlings i-- you know, i am up in age and i am working on my retiulment. cod t could affect me if i icouldn't work gerntion it affects my lungses a i can't breathe like i used to. it is scary. am i scared to go to work, yes, i am. i am not going to lie. but they don't have someone to taketheir garbage, what are they going to do with it, they really rely on us. just do my job. i got to do it. it is something i have to do. it is something i have to do. >> sammy dattulo, we appreciate you and every single sanitation worker out there. thank you. and that is the and that's the newshour for tonight. as you might have noticed, i am now doing the newshour from g me

and not goto the studio. it has taken a lot of work by many people behind the scenes to make this happen. we are all social distancing and doing our part. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here for all of us at t newshour, thank you, please stay safe and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur dation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made b possibthe corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers lu.e you. thank ecaptioning sponsy newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh acce.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitchen," we're cooking sous-vide. dan shows julia a perfect recipe for herb-crusted roast beef. adam reveals his top pick for handheld vacuum sealers. ne dan shows julia a perfect recipe for lisa reviews f,ast beef. and julia makes bridget the perfect crème brûlée.