captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: as the united states crosses one million confirmed cases, ans congries again to stem the economic pain, where is all of the recovery money going? i speak with senate minority leader chuck schumer about washington's response. then, faith in a pandemic. speaking with religious leaders about maintaining hope in a time of fear and uncertainty. plus, coronavirus and conspiracy. as covid-19 spreads across the globe, a wave of disinformation follows, making the pandemic deadlier and harder to fight. >> we are very poor at critical thinking. we are sources.s t evaluating

and that makesry vulnerable to the sheer amount of disinformation that is spreading online. >> woodruf all that and more, on tight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plans give you alas much-- or as little-- text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based customer service team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> fidelity investments. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> 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 corporation forc puroadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff:unarts of the y are moving ahead tonight with plans to get up andru ing. others are waiting and watching the pandemic's progress. meanwhile, the u.s. crosses another sobering markeer one million infections, and nearly 58,000 deaths. amna nawaz begins with this report. >> nawaz: signs along florida's beaches now warn people stay away. but those could soon change. just onehine state i of a growing number of states laying plans to re-open businesses, and easeri

reions. nine states across the country have already begun lifting lockdown measures, with even more set to expire soon-- all in a push to resuscitate stagnant economies. florida governor ron desantist th president trump at the white house today. >> i don't think it's going to happen overnight. i think we are going to have to be measured and thoughtful, but i think that as people see thatf dierenthings can happen safely, i think the confidence factor will go up. >> nawaz: later in the afternoon, the president delivered remarks on the federal paycheck protection program, or p.p.p., aimed at boosting small businesses with low-interest loans. >> wre processing loans at pace never achieved before, and so far we have processed an amazing 450,000 loans totaling over $50 billion. >> nawaz: the program's first round of funding of $349 billion quickly raweout within two s. and the second round, a $310 billion effort launched this week, has been plagued with technical probms.

leaving small business owners likeoe field, who owns a california comic book store, without critical funds he's been trying to gefor weeks. >> funding is going to help pay for some of the expenses that we've incurred through this, but it's not going to get anywhere close to paying for all the losses. >> nawazafter reports revealed that dozens of large, publicly- traded companies were granted funds, some have stepped forward to return the money-- inuding big-name brands like shake shack, ruth's chris steak house, , whohe los angeles lake received more than $4.5 million in loans. some state and local officials are saying, funding aside, comprehensivtesting access is the best insurance policy for successful recovery. new york city mayor bill de blasio. >> original sin here was the question of the federal government's role in testing. because we had a chance here-- we had a chance to contain this, e it.e couldn't we couldn't see it without testing. >> nawaz: testing for the novel

coronavirus remains low, even as the official list of symptoms expands. the c.d.c. first listed covidsy toms as high fever, shortness of breath, and cough. the agency has now added possible symptoms including chills, muscle pain, headaches, sore throat, and loss of taste ls smell. the c.d.c. has arecommended wearing masks inublic where social distancing is difficult, a guideline vice president pence ignored while touring the mayo clinic today. clinic, clarifying it had "informed the vice president of the masking policy prior to his arrival," a tweet they later deleted. the vice psident later addressed the issue. united states, i'md for the the coronavirus on a regular basis. coronavirus, i thought it would be a good opportunity for me to be here and be able to speak to these researchers, the incredible health care personnel. >> nawaz: meanwhile, europeange

leaders to reignite their economies began laying plans. france today announced a process to begin easing restrictions b first re-opening shops, starting may 11. in portugal, the prime minister signaled that their lockdown would end soon. but for many workers around e world, re-opened economies give little relief. in bangladesh today, garment workers, a pillar of the country's economy, were ba in d factories, making products for global brands like gap, zara, and h&m. employee masum billah says he does not feel safe. >> ( translated ): why are we working, and don't have any protection while working alongside hundreds of other workers? g can't some security? does our life have no value? >> naz: caught in the middle of a push to save economies, and a pandemic that continues to claim lives.ws for the pbs ur, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: also today, presidt trump said he will sign an executive order

classifying meat processors as an eential industry, to keep them open and avoid shortages. several major meat-packing plants have already sh down, and unions protested the president's move. in the day's other news, the u.s. house of representatis will not return to washington next week as planned. democratic leaders say the u.s. capitol physici is warning that coronavirus risks are still too great. the house currently has 429 members, with six vacancies.pu the ican-controlled senate, with 100 members, has been ordered back into session on monday. in lebon, violent new protests have broken out in the city of tripoli, as the pandemic intensifies economic desperation. rioting began overnight, with hundreds of people setting banks on fire and throwing stones at soldiers. this mngorcrowds mourned a man killed during the riots, on fire.r, more banks were set >> ( translated ): what stppened day was because people are hungry, and they are expressing their pain.rt

and unately, the government and the authoritieser accuse proteof being terrorists. people and their po hear the >> woodruff: protests began last october, across lebanon, ov corruption.d political back in this country, the 2016 democratic presidential nominee, hillary clinton, endorsed this joar's presumptive nominee biden. shis the latest party lead to take that step. anwhile, ohio held its presidential primary today, mostly by mail-in balloting. f it was delaym march, by the pandemic. the pandemic is also forcing a big change at the oscars. organizers announced today that movies that debut this year on a streaming service will be eligible for awards, even if they never screen in theaters. it is a one-year change only, forced by the closure of most theaters nationwide. a federal appeals court heard

arguments today over a congressional subpoena for former white house counsel don mcgahn. house democrats want his testimony on whether president trump tried to impede the russia investigation. the white house argues that the courts have no rin the dispute. and on wall street, stocks ngfailed to keep a rally g today. the dow jones industrial averagn lost 32 to close at the nasdaq fell 122 points, an hee s&p 500 slipped 15 points. still come onewshour: as americans reel from the financial fallout, where has all of the federal rec money gone? thpandemic abroad-- how new zealand was able to bring covid-19 under control.e keeping ith-- speaking with religious leaders during a time of shared fear. plus, the conspiracy theories that have followed covid-19, and what can be done to stop them.

>> woodruff: it is not a surprise, but the demand for loans and grants for smallerav businesses madlable through the federal paycheck protection program remains extremely high. even so, as president trump touted the program today, much of the distribution of that money has stirred up anger. and, as lisa desjardins tells us, the rollout of the program ofntinues to have its shar troubles. >> desjardins: judy, yesterday was the opening of a second round of applications for the money. but, it was marred by glitches, delays and missed opportunities. the first tch of funds was used up in just two weeks. now, some of the money went to larger companies, evennthough the inas to help smaller and medium-sized businesses.

we c business owners who were having strouble getting these lo through the paycheck protection program. we wanted to fngd out if anytas changed. >> i am jennifer myers pulidore, ani am the owner of myers keswick, and it is located in greenwich village in new york city. it is a specialty british food i did not get the loan the first round and was told to apply again in the second round, which i did on frida >> my name is justin moore. i am theeneral manager of uncle bobby's coffee and books in philadelphia. we were one of the lucky ones that were able to get our applications approved during that first round of funding, and we actually received our funds late last week. >> my name is chris goslin, and i have a small hair salon located in noank, connecticut. i have applied to three different lenders, and my

expectation is that i won't be approved, that maybe nobody will see my application, but i'm giving it another shot. >> my name is greg hunnicu. our company is here in houston, texas, it's hunnicutt construction and design. a lied for the first round and got nothing.ik i feelit's been kind of a mess and that i think that leads to a little bit more anxiety for small business owners like me. >> now that we've received thet money, wn we do with it? they say basically 25% of the money you received can go towards non-payroll costs. there's only a small list of categori that that could fall into, it's rent, it's utilities and interest on certain things. with us beg closed, utilities, may be $100 for the next eight weeks, because we're nt. using any of but we have other bills, like our insurance premiums, our security, monthly expenseshat don't necessarily fall in as an eligible expense. so we have to make the choices. do we pay this money? >> i am so frustrated that...

businesses who were out there in the stock market, they were trading publicly, companies that their c.e.o.s are making moreth mone i will probably ever see in my lifetime, took advantage of a program that was designed to help people like me. people who need the money so that we can survive and so that next week, when our taxes are due and our rent is due, that we won't have to worry what we have >> i don't have mue. we did apply, you know, with multiple banks. n toi-- we're making p go on without it. >> desjardins: while the release of the latest relief money wasn, bogged dome larger companies, as you heard, like shake shack and ruth's chris steak house, have re the loans they got. more than $2 billion was returned from companies, ay.er public out all told, the government has

commitd roughly $650 billion for this program so far. we turn to two leaders who advocate formall and independent businesses. amanda ballantyne is executive director of the main street alliance. and brad close. he's president of the national federationf independent businesses. brad, let's start with you. first of all, what exactly have he problems in the las day and a half as thousands of businesses were waiting for this money? >> thanks. i think biggest problems we hear from small businessesavs they're g a hard time getting to their bank to get their applications in. at the delays. very frustrated they keep reading media reports of publicly traded companies accessing signicant amounts of money. when you look at the size of money going to large businesses and publiy traded, that moneyul fund tens of thousands of small businesses help them keep their eloyees on the payroll, so those which haven't gotten loans, which is about 80% of small businesses that have applied right now, they're very frustrated. >> amman dark it's my

understanding that the small business administration was trying to make changes to make this more accessible to small banks, from what you understand, what kind of businesses actually are getting this help most, an where is this money missioning the mak? >> in the most recent legislation that put more money into this programthere was special money that was to be rmarked for smaller, mid-sized banks, credit unions and community financial development institutions that are really designed to work with underbanks and unbank business populations across the country. so in some ways that's very gooe loent in this program, but the programs in those banks are still having trouble and struggling processing thet thnecoanpuns te coming in, . uld system that s.bt in to try to process the backlog, because remeer they paused the program last week because there was tremendous backlog, has also led to disparities in terms of who

is getting access. i still think they're processing the backlog from the last program, and it's unlikely that businesses who were the ued away or failed to get in line in the last round of this are going to see loans come through. >> we've heard a lot of that frustration. as you talked about, brad, gerstration over lar companies getting money. but this was supposed to be -- the law says it's for companiesa with fewer n 500 work ers. how are these national giantge companieing this money to begin with? >> well, that's a good question. i think they have very god banking relationships, and probably this seems to beming mostly from large regional banks that are raching out to prably eeir besm these loans. when you read that the los lleans s million, that definitely has us concerned. there are tweets, -- tweaks that congress can make to this program right now that will make it a lotetter and wll prevent

these things from happening. one of the biggest concerns we he from small businesses i the requirement that 75% of the loan proceeds be used for payroll and benefit costs.u that's ae threshold for businesses that have two, four, six, eight employees. r high. >> that'what i want th talk about more. amman dark we heard in thaty, stome whizzes, especially restaurants and in some cases daycares say this prram rely is not helping them for different reasons. can you explain why that is, some businesses meeting ther payroll is not exactly wht they need to keep opean. >> sure. i think remember, this proam was designed initially before we had these tremendous waves of layoffs. so many businesses have already done significant -- i mean, stunning layoffs and are, inny fact, f them are applying for unemployment themselves. what they need is to kep the doors open, keep fixed costs flowing, paying their ren paying their utilities, their

mortgages, so they can continue to remain solvent and maintain them into bankruptcy. would pus it's also true that businesses need money to pivot to, retire so they can shift their operations and operate in theth ways tha are able to in a me so the ppp, you know, the ratios are incorrect, that's true, it could be made more flexible and also be pivoted to make it easier for businesses to startfi tore out how to open up and to retrofit to do so. >> i know some businesses are anrried about when theyet their revenue back, but brad, i want to ask you finally, i have heard from businesses who have waited for this money and now say they have run out of time and they areeginning to think about layoffs, maybe as soon as tomorrow if a loan doesn't come through. w many members are in that situation where they may be as>>g off workers right now? l w membl,ers t whree weeen w kso, f

them said that they couldn't make it more than one to two months under the current economic conditions. so if they're not getting access to loan program or grant program, that's a problem. and that's why these programs have got to be fixed to work for the smallest businesses. the s.b.a.m. needs the take that money publicly traded companies are returning and keep it until pool and get it out to the very smerl business own out there. we're concerned that there's just not many options there form l business owners, and i know the fed has announced their main street program, but whe a thounced it, they said it would have a minimum loan floor of $2 milliich is ludicrous for small businesses. they need to have that loan floor very, very small, so a typical small business has >> we know small business, a. retonder, they are so key ur economy. brad close, amanda ballantyne, thank you. >> th >> thank you.

>> woodruff: new york s perhaps the hardest hit area in the country, both in terms of death toll and economic loss. we turn now to the top democrat in the senate, he is minority leader chuck schumer, who joins us from his home in brooklyn. senator schumer, thank you very much for joining us. first abant the decision unced by the house of representatives today that they xt week after all on theession advice of theongressional physician, rising cases here in the washington area. the senate,er members, fe smaller chamber. how is it safe for the senate if >> well, leader mcconnell made the decision as i understand ith t even consulting the capitol physician, but i'll te'r you, if going to come back, if he's going to force us to come back, the decision iswe his, theught to be using the time productively. it seems what he wants to do i have us vote for or have

hearings on a judge who is sort of a crony ofis, someone who used to work on his staff who was rated unqualified by the a.b.a. people are hurting. people are dying. we ought to use this time to exercise our oversight authority and have hearings. they will be nationwide on tv or if not on tv certainly audio over these issues. why are we not dong a good job on this? we ought to have birx co by. we oughto have fauci come by president gets a qn fromn the the reporter and he can make fun ho the reporter. the senators cae in, ask a lot of questions, figure out what's wrong, and thse herings have often importuned an administration the act. we ought tdo the same thing with small business. we ought to do the thing with unemployment insurance. if we're going to come back, we should use the time the have hearings that will help solvet this crisis, n judge, or

irrelevant appointees. >> woodruff: i want to ask about, that t are you sayin you don't think it's safe for the senate to come back?>> the capitol hill physician, the chief doctor there, told the house it wasn't safe. i don't even know if mcconnell called him. so i don't know what he told mcconnell. if he talked to mcconnell at all. you about some of the things you just discussed. you are working in the congress on anoer round of emergency economic aid. and we have been listening to small business people who are basically saying, a lot of thims y didn't go where it was supposed to. one of the people we just heard from, herme is christine gosselin. she owns a hn,ai connecticut, in the villam gesod that businesses, publicly traded co manies, their c.e.oing more money than i will make in a lifetime took advantage of a program that was ded ig help people like me, people who

need the money so we can survive." what do you say to someone like miss gosselin? >> she's on the mone i agree with her. my dad was a small businessman. he was an exterminator. he had a rough time every day, and that was without covid. the bottom line is th instructed the banks to not go for big boys but the small, little businesses like miss gosselin, and what we did i covid 3.5, which is just happening now, we walled off $125 billion that can't go to the big boys that goes to minority banks, that goes to iothatoo rs, that goes to crit areas. we need to make sure the administration gets this money more point.st let me make one >> woodruff: can that happen, senator? >> yes. one of the big problems here is this administration -- we can make good laws, but the executivbranch, the president and his people are in charge of executing them. they're executing them poorly,

and that's w we need thewse hampshire -- i want mnuchin to come before the senate this week and say, why isn't the mon going to small business? why isn't the $60 billion, whito is direc s.b.a., not through a bank, not getting out? these are the questions that ve to be asked. >> woodruff: but senator, with all due respect, that legislation was passed the senate and by the house, so the language was in there. >> it just passed. this passed in covid 3.5. the original 3.0, which just had the p.p.p. program, they were supposed to celt up guidelines, the admistration, to tell the banks to represent small people. they didn't set up those 'sidelines. thhy we came back. and when mcconnell said and when thtreasury said just give us mormoney for p.p.p. where the money was going to the big boys, we said no. we want $125 billion to go to otheprograms that it has to go to small bu.siness now, they just got to get the money out quickly.

>> woodruf let me ask you about aid for state and local governments. >> yes. >> woodruff: the house majority leader steny hoyer said today he sees around $500 bition roughly the amounat he says governors want for state and cal governments does tht sound like the right aim to youo that state andal governments should get? >> yes, it does. rent me just say, thtis is no an abstract concept. some of our republican friends say we don't like local government. these are policemen and firemen and people who drives the buses. a lot of them are hospital work ers. they will be laid off, laid off, no job, no money, through no fault of their own if we don't give a stong, large infusion to the state and local government. and we also have to say that thg money ve can be used to make up for lost revenues. the stes and localities are not collecting much in taxes. they need to be able to do that. >> woodruff: what do you say,

though, secretary mnuchin, the president himself have saey are wary of sending money to states tihd at they aue wer fiscally irresponsible, their term, before this pandemic ever started. >> the reason the states are in trouble right now is because of sonsrea one, they have huge expenses. my city has huge new expenses because of covid. that has nothing to do wh fiscal responsibility or irresponsibility. and second, because no revenuesi are in. the federal government itself delayed taxes until june 30thr instead of a 15th. and the state taxes are key to the federal tax t. y need help. and this idea, oh, they're bad. and by what way? blue states, red states? a firefrhter who is working f a city doesn't look at whether he's in a blue state or a red state. in either state if he'sa lid off or she's laid off, they need help. this politicalization of this rml t aere kireisle ws areha helo h

vwe democrats want to gthem help now without all of the caveats, strings attached, criticisms. it makes no sense. and by the wayy,judvery republican governor signed a letter saying they need this money. so this is not a democratic or republican issue. >> woodruff: the other piece of this is the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell ay tyierod governments unless there is also some sort of liability protection for businesses. he says businesses are forecasting there's going to be, in his words, a pandemic of lawsuits. businesses have to be protected. would that be something democrats would go along with? >> look, i haven't even seen it, but i will tell you, if it's going to helbig c.e.o.s and not help the wkers, that's not going to happen. why does mcconnell have the keep drawing thse lines in the sand that he later retreats from. one day it's bany uptcy. one 's not going to

be-to-do anything with p.p.p.? why doesn't he sit down and wor with us because people are hurting. ideological, poliy driven lines in the saturday. itakes no sense. he ought to sit do, work us with, and get the money to those bus drivers, to those food safety workers, t those police officers and firefighters. we do nothing, they'll be laid off. >> woodruff: and senator, the other point senator mcconnell made today is there will not be funding in this neund for infrastructure. >> well, again, lines in the sand. without talking anybody, that's why y didn't get his wa first two bills, because he did what he wanted, didn't talk toen people, is own republican senators want state and local of them spoke out for that.in on infrastructure, we have huge economic hole. we have to get out of it. i wouldn't take anything off the table. i don't know, you ksiow, thee of infrastructure or what type

of infrastructure. think it should be green. should bit in covid 4 or another bill? to just take it off the table when the economy is hurting and infrastructure has been a time-tested way to get people back the work and get te economy going again makes no sense. mitch mcconnelltop drawing lines in the sand. work with us. get something de to help people. >> woodruff: but in just a few seconds, senator, the republicans have the clout. they're in the majority. >> well, thn ey're note majority in the house, and each time they had to come and do most of the things we wanted in cod 3 and covid 3.5 the last people were pressuring them to do it. it wasn't republicans drawing a sline in the sand, it basically mitch mcconnell. not even president trump drew such lines in the sand. >> woodruff: senator chuck schumer, the minority leader in the united states senate, thank you very much. ou, judy. >> woodruff: continue to stay safe.

>> likewise to you. be careful. pulitzer prize. please. >> woodruff: this week, new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern announced the country had eliminated the coronavirus, but warnedmu resident stay vigilant to keep it that way. next door, australia has seen comparable success in battlingth virus. nick schifrin reports on how the two pacific nations did it. >> amazing! it's never tasted better. of>> so stoked, first reale. >> honestly, it's so good to have a coffee. >> schifrin: for more than a month, new zealand endured onetr of the world'stest lockdowns. today, the government partially the lockdown d said i had "eliminated" the virus.

400,000 people went back to work. >> i've got bags of goodies that i'm dropping off to people's houses. >> schifrin: and new zealand researcher alex zuur filmed herself deliring some of this massive grocery haul to friends. >> whilst i can't physically make contactith them, it's nice to be able to have just a little bit more chances to leave your neighborhood and provide things to those who need them the most at the moment. >> schifrin: new zealand has less than 20 coroavirus deaths, and in the last week, single- digit newly diagsed infections. today, the reopening was announced by the country's symbol of success, and jacinda ardern.e minister >> there is not one point in time that this mission ends now. yes, we have done that in lockdown. the goal now is to keep up that work. so, we areow in the next phase of the battle, and we are not done. >> schifrin: ardern's known for a personal, empathetic touch, including after the 2019 christchurch mosque attack that killed 51 people.

during the c between press conferences, she took to facebook live. >> many of you, of course, will ve gotten the message froml ofense systems this evening, the blathe horn on your phone, and then some messages that we're really keen s for everyone to stick to go through the next several weeks at home. >> compassionate leadership based on good science and goodas adviceeally a very powerful combination here. >> schifrin: collin tukuitonga is an associate professor of public health at theniversity of auckland. he acknowledges new zealand's success comes in part from its small size and isolation, but also from elevatinpublic health over economic concerns. >> and in fact, our former prime minister, helen clark, was basically said that you can recover from a damaged enomy,

but you can't recover if you're dead from covid-19. >> schifrin: next door, australia has also had success. rrstralia's conservative pri minister, scott on, led with science and stark warnings. he issued an early stay-at-home order, movement restrictions, t re are no guarantees, i want to stress. this virus writes its own rules and we have to seek to try and understand them as best we can, the pressures that we face. >> schifrin: morrison's response was a political recovery, after he stumbled during australia'st woer brush fires. tukuitonga fears the u.s. is stumbling today. >> in terms of the leadership knrld, that the u.s., as we have n , isn't showth leadership required forll contg the pandemic at home, t obviously in terms of communicating to t rest of the world. >> schifrin: but the kiwis' stss clicked, so even touri

trapped in the country because of border closures werppily stuck. >> i actually fe like i'm in the safest country i could be in the world. it fls like a safe haven. it feels like they've done things really promptly.e' >> a small, small place, at the bottom of the world. but nonetheless, i think on this occasion we seem to have done something-- something right. >> schifrin: and maybe have some lessons for the rest of the world. >> yes, i think so. >> schifrin: for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: throughout the pandemic, restrictions on social gatherings have forced those who celebrate easter, passover and ramadan to find new ways toac ce their faith. and, we wanted to explore how the coronavirus is changing places of worship th three faith leaders. reverend tim cole serves as rector for christ church georgetown, and was the district coronavirus case.brigitte rosene

senior rabbi at united hebreon congregan st. louis, missouri. and imam khalid latif is the executive director of the islamic center at ne university. we welcome all three of you to the program. reverend tim cole, let me begin with you. way you worship?e changed the what is different? >> l, of course a huge amount is lost in the physical proximity ofeing together. worship as we understand it has two main dimensions, a horon dimension ere people are gathered i the community, and then there is the vetical dimension in the sense of our relationship with god. so what we' had to do is adapt. we've started to do as manyce virtual ser we have a daily morning prayer, which is read by different members of the congregation around the city from their own

living room. you can see family taking part in th daily church. and on sunday we have aimilar offering, but we have a sermon with music. our choir was able to absmeurd eautiful pieces of music to go with that. so we're doing the very best we can, as i'mure everyone else>> is. oodruff: imam latif, what about you? of course we're in holy month of ramadan. what's lost? what's diffe mnt now? >> sch about ramadan is communal as much as the fast that we have from dawn to dusk is an individual practice, much ritual in islam blends communal aspects and draws itself toward social equity, so where people traditionally would be breaking eir fast atsunset with family and friends or going to community gatherings or interfaith settings, city

officials hosting gatherings, now many are at home. if they have family or roommate, they high breakfast together, but many are doing it on their own some what we've done similar to the revend is do a lot of our programming online. g we are doings from 5:00 a.m. until about 10:00 or 11: p.m., scattered throughout the day to really meet the diverse needs of our cthommunity a time. what we've also done is created a lot of online campaigns to crowd fund to help people who have been financially impacted by this pandemic and to assure that especially in our mth of fasting, we can help individuals of whatever background. we'll do orart to be a source of healing at this time. >> rabbi rosenberg, april has been the month of pasr sor jewish, for jews in america. how has what you're doing and what you've done changed during this period?

>> you know, certainly as we just heard from my two colleagues that we have really things online and do them virtually. ertainly with regard to passover, there ch a communal aspect to passoverring just as there iso ramadan, especially the meals that are held together, and so many families could not do that and gather generationally. so many places brought the seder meals online and brought the opportunity for people to be together, and i would say that the virtual world has really become such a lifeline for so many people, especially those who are home by themselves and, you know, there isn't anybody else there, and being able tome nline, not just fo worship, but, you know, to offer study to, offer conversation, you know, just as we've heard.y we're finding to just bring the congregation and bring community and connection to

people in a variety of ways. >> woodruff: reverend cole, what is it that people g e seekght now in your congregation? are you finding they're asking, they're reaching out to you more? are they able to express the needs? >> yes, i think so, and it'stu wonderful ly. i have been sick, so my colleague has been holding court here, but it's wonderful what's happened. it's been a plowering ifou like, a blossoming of community throughout this peod where people have reached out to their neighbors and their felw parishioners, even more than they normally do. we have had networks across the parish. >> w said at the outset we are so glad to see you looking so well after what you went through. imam latif, what about you? are you finding people whore

part of, you know, who are part of islam who you work with who you know? arinthey reaout more? is it harder for them to reach out? what are youinding? >> every day we're getting contacted by muslims as well as people of other faiths who are just really trying the figure out how the make sense of it all. i think the challenges that experience ten to be quite diverse, and with difficulties like, this we see a lot of revelations of various kinds that can help us to be com to do our part, because even in mowrof fasting, ramadan, it' not a vacuum. there is a pandemic in the background, and the purpose of ritual in our tradition is to elevate consciousness and bring people to take on social ills. so where we see people on the frontlines or essoentialrkers who every day are meeting the virus and splaying real goodness and beauty. >> woodruff: and rab rosenberg, what are you hearing

from people who are part of your synagogue of the group of people who you would normally be reaching out to right now or who would reach out to you? >> you know, im defininitely hethat people are missing the physicality of bing together. and the virtual works, but everything.t doesn't work fo one of the things we're having to do is adapt and adjust. this is a time where there are rituals that wn't necessarily do, so funerals look different right now weddings look different. bar and bat mitzvah services look different because we canon quarter in -- gather in the ways that we once did.>> oodruff: finally, i want to ask each one of you, how do you offer hope to people at aw time like thin there is a lot of despair, and we're mourning people who were lost. reverend cole, what is your message to people who say, i

don't see the good in thi >> well, i think there is a lot of fear around, isn't there, fear of sickness, fear of loss of livelihood, fear of just an uncertain future, and i think there are three things that help us with fear, one is huor, and it's important to be able to keep a sense of hum about things as much as we can, but here importantly, there is from friendship and close ties that we have. when i was in hospital, the fact that people were prayingor me made it much harder to be afraid when i knew there were so many people standg beside me. and so reaching out to those us.ple who care for us and lo and finally, of course, that trust in the faithfulness of god l e to face.d to us all that so i think those are the things

that certainly help me in myfe me in hospital. and thinking of easter, you know, that is the pattern tt repeats again and again. we are in a dark place, a period of waiting, and then there is a new beginning and new life,nd i pray this whole country and the world will get to that point with this crisis and this virus. >> woodruff: words to remember. imam latif, what about you? what do you offer? what can you offer in the way of hope? >> you know, i think building ef of everything that reverend is saying, where individuals are looking for a sense of hope, manifest that first steof empathizing, being a mode of support, but then taking it to a level o helping to fulfill needs where people are struling in their day-to-day because they literally have no money. they have lost jobs. they have no benefits.

and they don't ow how the pu food on the table. we have people who are spreading hope to people of all backgrounds in new york city as muslim volunteers are oi and providing meals to people, delivering it to their homes, individuals to fe if they are not forgotten or lefdt beh by launching these campaigns that we have. we have already in e last three weeks as a university based islamic center, raised over $1 million to assist people in need, and going into our month of fasting, our most recent campaign has raised $300,000 in the last week or so has already sent checks to about 70 new yorkers in 25 homes of juvarious backgrounds, not of our faith, to not simply seek hope but to manifest hope, tof&

manifest love to, manifest mcy in actions that say in anen precedented time, stepping up means also stepping out and just doing for others what you can so that you are the reason they have he in this world and ner the reason they hidread it. >> wdruff: rabbi rosenberg, i'm hearing more that the three of you have in common, that your faiths have in commoitha think people might expect. >> the one thing that i would when i talk about hope is stopping and recognizing the little blessings or what i call the little silver linings tha come out of this, because there are those days whe, you know, we are so fearful or we feel lke this is never going to end, and yet there are these little moments of blessings when somebody reaches out to us or when when we reach t to somebody else or we just stop and recognize, we can take a breath, some of us new york this moment, in ways thawe never were able to do before.

so it'sing just stopping and finding those small blessings in life. >> woodruff: rabbi brigitte rosenberg, such wonderful note end on. imam khalid latif, and reverend tim cole, we thank you so much, all three of you. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: it turns out that misinformation and conspiracy theories about covid-19 are rapidly spreading online, creating what public health officials around the world are now calling an "infodemic." john yang charts the dangerous course of falsehoods during this global healtcrisis. >> this can help prevention infection of the coronavirus. >> yang:round the world,li journasts find themselves debunking wild claims: claims of miracle cures and prevtion methods.

>> you need to microwave your mail to kill the coronavirus. >> yang: ...stories on the origins of the virus...s >>e wuhan coronavirus a biological weapon? was it built in a lab by n scientists and unleashede masses? >> yang: ...theories about vaccines and billionaire bill gates. >> ...claiming that hely actureated the virus to trick people into getting microchipped. >> yang: they all have one thing in common: they're all not true. one particularly persistent falsehoo 5g mobile networks transmit covid-19 >> you know when they turn this on, it's going to kill everyone! >> yang: a woman in britain called wkers "killers" f laying 5g fiber-optic cables. >> when you turn that on, it's >> yang: across the united kingdom, arsonists have burned cell towers, and the claim has been shared online with millions around the world.o, >>he 5g story is complete and utter rubbish. it's the worst kind of fake the reality is thamobile phone networks are absolutely critical.

>> it's a nonstop hurricane of disinformation to debunk. >> yang: doreen marchionne is managing editor of snopes.com, a fact-checking website that's been inundated with tens of thousands of requests for the truth about coronavirus claims. one of the dumbest that encountered was, if you stick ur face in a hot blow-- hairdryer, hold a hairdryer to your face, you might blow covid out of your system. tonic water: if you drink a lot of it, it'llure you. no, it won't. but it's good in gin and tonics. >> yang: many experts call the steady stream of false information and conspiracy theories an "infodemic." epidemiologists at the world health organization are battling not just the virus, but also

bogus claims. >> a lot of the time they say to me, "oh, my goodness, i can't believe believing this.ally i can't believe i have to spend time debunking this myth and we have to look at it from a scientific point of view and have to spend time and resource doat. at the same time, these are valuable resources that could be spent giving and tailori messages to vulnerable >> yang: even present trump has touted false-- and, in some cases, dangerous-- treatment ideas. most recently: internal use of ultraviolet light and disinfectant it knocks it out iminute., where one minute. and, is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or-- or, almost a cleaning.t >> yang: lek, the president walked back some of those comments, saying he wassa beinastic and was taken out of context. >> hydroxychloroquine. try it, if you'd like. >>utang: and since talking a

the possible effectiveness of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, mr. trump's own food and drug administration has cautioned againsusing the drug for covid-19 ouide a hospital, due to potential heart problems. last month, a man in arizona died after ingesting an aquarium-cleaning chemical thatw he thoug the drug. >> as humans, we are far more likely to remember something frightening. >> yang: david robert grimes is a caer researcher and author of "the irrational ape," which looks at how people can be duped. >> we are very poor at critical thinking. we are very poor at evaluating sources. and that makes us very vuerable to the sheer amou of disinformation that is spreading online. >> yang: cristina tardáguila is the associate director of the international fact-checking network, which is leading an alliance of 89 organizations monitoring coronavirusontent in more than 70 countr so, like an epidemiologist who wahes a virus spread, you watch these hoaxes spread.

>> right. and they're spreading fast, john. we're getting misinformation from my uncle, from my cousin, and also from the esident or from the prime minister or even from bots. so, it is the first timehat we're hearing so much misinformation all arounthe planet.s >> yang: that'd to deadly consequences in countries like brazil, where president jair bolsonaro has repeatedly urged citizens to ignore public health warnings. he has compared the virus to a mild flu, even tugh the nation leads latin america in confirmed cases and deaths by large margins. and, the chaos of the pandemic has opened the door to misinformation techniques like russia's interference in the 2016 u.s. election. of that. seeing evidence the creation of fake facebook pages run by fake accounts and/or fake people, that are attempting to in someay ney off this crisis. makeiallyr

>> yang: u.s. intelligence agencies now also believe that false text messages sent last month to many americans about a nation-wide lockdown were pushed by chinese operatives aiming to sow discord. protests ) an there's the recent nationwide protests of stay-at-p home orders thsident trump has, at times, encouraged. the seemingly-organic movementor was in facnized and driven by far-right facebook groups that have become a hotbed for conspiracy theories. social media giants, including facebook, twitter and youtube, have all faced growing criticism about their role in the spread of misinformation. facebook, which is a funder of the newshour, now alerts users whenhey interact with false coronavirus content. on another popular platform, reddit, users have long policed

each other, to varying degrees of success. >> especially as a scientist, the way that i have to verify >> yang: emerson ailidh boggs, a virologist by training, moderates reddit's coronavirus page, which has more than twoll n subscribers. >> there's a lot of bad science that comes out during outbreaks, and there's a lot of good science that gets misinterpreted and editorialized, even when it's reported faithfully in the first place. if i can't prove it, i don't really wanto be associated th it. and i n't want to be llresponsible for now two n people seeing it and taking it as fact. t >> yang: despi flood of misinformation during this crisis, scientist david robe grimes believes it can be brought under control.me >> we have to er that social media and the internet, they are new technologies. and we've always had this problem of being bad at identifying sources of information. the internet has massively exacerbated it.

but i'm also optimisc that we can all collectively learn how much of a problem this is when we don't check our sources a overcome that together. >> yang: but for now, misinformation is spreadin faster than the virus itself, and could be with us long after the pandemic is over. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: that's af important report. thank you, john. and a reminder. we want hear from viewers like you. send us your questions for our new segment, "ask us." we take your questions on the pandemic to experts who can provide the answers you need. you casubmit yours by visiting our website. that's www.pbs.org/newshour. or our facebook, instagram and twitter pages. we'll be answering them each week, and sharing what we learn on air, on the website and across our social platforms. we hope u will join us. all that andore is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again rit here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the

pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll 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.de fity is here to he you work thrgh the uneanected, with fal planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> consumecellular. >> cnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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hello, everyone welcome to "amanpour & co." >> everyone on whom our economy depends, i understan your impatience. i share your anxiety.me >> pinister boris johnson back at work after battling ls coronavirus, t britain to today in lockdown. i speak to the editor-in-chief of the lancet. the renowned journal that first talked about coronavirus in januy. then the book saw a pandemic coming. pulitzer winning journalist lawrence writ talks about his new thriller. >> the only thing that will bring this to an end is science.