captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: es the united states cross one million confirmed cases, and congress tries againem the economic pain, where is all of the recovery money going? i speak with senate minorityhu leader schumer about washington's response. speaking with religious leaders about maintaining hope in a timf ear and uncertainty. plus, coronavirus andcy conspi as covid-19 spreads across theof globe, a wavisinformation follows, making the pandemic deadlier and harder to fight. >> we are very poor at critical thinking. we are very poor at s.aluating sour anthat makes us very

vulnerable to the sheer amount of disinformation that is spreadinonline. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. m >>or funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> when it comes to wireless, - ucumer cellular gives its litts leom--cu talk, 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. communities. engaged more at kf.org.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: s >> togram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributns to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: parts of the country are moving ahead tonight with pns to get up and running. others are wting and watching the pandemic's progress. meanwhile, the u.scrosses another sobering marker-- over one million infections, d nearly 58,000 deaths. amna nawaz begins with this report. >> nawaz: signs along florida's beaches now warn people to stay away. but those could so change. the sunshine state is just oneof growing number of states laying plans to re-open businesses, and ease restrictions. 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 desantis met with president trump at the white house today.'t >> i dhink it's going to be msureand oughul, t oii thi ink ngthatwe as pek ople different things can happen safely, i think the confidenceor faill go up. >> nawaz: later in the afternoon, the presidentma delivered s on the federal paycheck protection program, or p.p.p., aimed at boosting smalls busies with low-interest loans. >> we're processing loans atve pace never ach before, and so far we have processed an amazing 50,000 loans totaling over $50 billion. >> >> nawaz: the program's first round of funding of $349 billion quickly ran out within two weeks. and the second round, a 10 billion effort launched this week, has been plagued with technical problems. leaving small business owners like joe field, who owns a

to get for weeks.ook ste,yi thwi >> funding is going to help pay for some of the expenses that we've incurred through this, bus ot going to get anywhere close to paying for all the losses. at dozens of large, publicly-thd traded c ompanies were granted funds, some have stepped forward to return the money-- including big-name brands like shake shack, rh's chris steak house, anthe los angeles lakers, who received more than $4.5 million in loans. some state and local officials are saying, funding ide, comprehensive testing 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 ad a chance to contain this, but we couldn't see it. we couldn't see it without testing. >> nawaz: testing for the novel coronavirus remains low, even as the official list of symptomspa

s. the c.d.c. first listed covid symptoms as high fever, the agency has now added possible symptoms including chills, muscle pain, headaches, sore throat, and loss of taste or smell. the dd.c. has also recommende wearing masks in public where social distancing is difficult, a guideline vice president pence ignored while tourine mayo clinic today. that led to a tweet from the clinic, clarifying it had "informed the vice psident of the masking policy prior this arrival," a tweet they later deleted. the vice president later addressed the issue. >> as vice president of the united states, i'm tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis. since i don't have the coronavirus, i thought it would be a good opportunity for me toe be here anble to speak to these researchers, these incredible health care personnel. >> nawaz: meanwhile, european leaders eager to reignite their economies began laying plans.

france today announced a process to begin easing restrictions by first re-opening shops, starting may 11. in portugal, the prime ministerd signhat their lockdown would end soon. but for many workers around theo d, re-opened enomies give little relief. in bangladesh today, garment s, a pillar of the country's economy, were back in crowded factories, ming products for global brands like gap, zara, and h&m. >>etrslf wre w billah says he working, and don't havhiany protecti working alongside hundreds of other workers? can't we get some security?if does ourhave no value? >> nawaz: caughtn the middle of a push to save economies, and a pandemic that continues to claim lives. for the pbs newshour, i' amna nawaz. dr wdaoo ay,uff:tolso president trump said he will sign an ecutive order classifying meat processors as an essential industry, to keep

them open and avoid shortages. several major meat-packing and unions protested the down, president's move. in the day's other news, the u.s. house of representatives will not return to washington next week as planned. democratic leaders say the u.s. capitol physician is warning that coronavirus risks are still too great. the house currently has 429 members, with six vacancies. the republican-controlled senate, with 100 members, has been ordered back into session on monday. in lebanon, violennew protests have broken out in the city of icipoli, as the pandemic intensifies econ desperation. rioting began overnight, with hundreds of people setting banks on fire and throwing stones at soldiers. this mrnorning, crowds medn a lled during the riots, and later, more banks were set on fire. >> ( translated ): what happened yesterday was because people are thngry, and ey are expressing inr .nt

governnd the authorities accuse protesters of being terrorists they do not want to hear the people and their pain. >> woodruff:s te pnbestga over poverty and ponitical corrup back in this country, the 2016 democratic presidential nominee, hillary clinton, endorsed this biden. she is the latest party leader to take that step. meanwhile, ohio held its presidential primary today, mostly by mail-in balloting. it was delayed from 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 histestimot trump tried to impede the russia investigation. the white house argues that the the dispute. role in and on wall street, stocks failed to ke a rally going today. the dow jones industrial average lost 32 points to clos 24,101.aq the naell 122 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 15 points. still to come on the newshour: as americans reel from the financial fallout, where has all of t federal recovery money gone? the pandemic aoad-- how necovid d-19w under control. keeping the faith-- 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 smaller bunesses made available through the federal paycheck protection program remains extremely high. even so, as president trump uted the program today, much of the distribution of that money has stirred up anger. usd, as lisa desjardins tells rotrlloublofes.ou pt >> desjardins: judy, yesterdays e opening of a second round of applications for the money.t, t was marred by glitches, delays and missed opportunities. the first batch of funds was used up in just two weeks. now, some of the money went to larger companies, even though the intent was to heller and medium-sized businesses. we checked back wiss several busiwners who were having

trouble gettg these loansra anything has changout if >> i am jennifer myers pulidore, and i am the own of myers of keswick, and it is located in greenwich village in new york city. it is a specialty british food store.d i t get the loan the first round and was told to apply again in the second round, which i did on friday. >> my name is justin moore i am the general manag 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, conntit. 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 hunnicutt.an our cois here in houston, texas, it's hunnicutt construction and design.he we applied forirst round and got nothing. i feel like it's been kind of a ss and talhal t siinness oi wneh >> now that we've received the money, what can we do t? they say basically 25% of the money you received can gos towan-payroll costs. the problem with that is, there's only a small list of categories that that could fall into, it's rt, it's utilities and interest on certain things. with us being closed, utilities, may be $100 for the next eight any of it.ause we're not using but we have other bills, like our insurance premiums, our don't necessary fall in as anat 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 preir c.e.o.s are making more money than i wilably ever see in my lifetime, took advantage of a program that was designed to help people like me. that we can survive and so that next week, when our taxes are due and our rent is due, that w' have to worry what we have to pay first. >> ion't have much hope. we did apply, you know, with multiple banks. but i-- we're making a plan to >> desjardins: whi release of the latest relief money was bogged down, some larger anies, as you heard, lik shake shack and ruth's chris steak house, have returned the loans they got. t mon $2 billion was returned from companies, after public outcry. all told, the vernment has committed roughly $650 billion

for this program so far. we tn to two leaders who advocate for small and independent businesses. amanda ballantyne is executive director of the main street alliance and brad close. he's president of the national federation of independent businesses.t' brad, start with you. first of all, tlxatvey fac tbe businesses were waiting for this money? thanks. i think biggest problems we hear from small businesses is they'd having a hatime getting to their bank to get theirpl ations in. they have been very frustrated at the delays. they keereading media reports of publicly traded companies accessing gnificant amountof money. when you look at the size of money going to large businesses and pubd,licly tra that money would fund tens of thousands of small businesses to help them keep their employees on e 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 c

trying to manges to make this more accessible to small banks, from what you understand, what kind of besss actually are getting this help most, and where is this money missioning the mark? >> in the most recent legislation that put more money into this program, therwas special money that was to be earmarked fo smaller, mid-sized banks, credit unions and community financial developme initutions that are worak with s and un-bank business populations across the country. so in some ways that's very good development in this program, but the programs in those banks are still having trouble and struggling processing the inplications that are coin, sad i would y e th system that s.b.a. put in to try to process the backlog, because rememberhey paused the proam last week because there was tremendous backlog, has also led to disparities in terms of who is getting aess. i still think they're processing

the backlog from the last program, and it's unlikely that businesses who were the unked ay or failed to get in line in the last round of this are going to see loans come through. >> we'heard a lot of that frustration. as you talked about, d, frustration over larger companies getting money. but this was supposed tobe -- the law says it's for companies how are these national giant. companies getting this moneyo begin with? >> well, that's a good question. i think they have very goo banking relationships, and probably this seems to be coming mostly from large regional banks that are reaching out to probly their best customers and getting them these loans. when you read that theos angeles lakers professional million, that definitely has us concerned. there are tweeets, -- twaks that congress can make to this program right now that will make it a lot better anl wilevent these things from happening. one of the biggest concerns we

hear from smalbusinesses is the requirement that 75% of the loan protsceeds be used fo that's a huge threshold for businessfo that have twour, six, eight employees. their employee costs aren't that high. >> that's what i want the talk about more. amman dark we heard in thatzz story, some wh, especially restaurants and in some cases daycares say this program really is not helping them for different reasons. can you explain why that is, some businesses meeting their payroll is not exactly what they need to keep open. >> sure. i think remember, this program was designed initially before we had these tremendous waves of layoffs. so many businesses have already done significant -- i mean, stunning layoffs and are, in fact, many of them are applying for uneelmployment thes. what they need is to keep the doors open, keep fixed costs flowing, paying their rent,pa ng their utilities, their mortgages, so they can continue

to remain solvent and maintain e type of debt that would push them into bankruptcy. need money to pivot to, retire so they can shift their operations anoperate in the ways that they are able to in a somewhat limited environment. so the ppp, you know, the ratios are incorrect, that's true, it could be made more flexible and also be pivoted to make easier for businesses to start to figure out how to open up ano to rt to do so. >> know some businesses are worried about when they can get their revenue bac but brad, i want to ask you finally, i have heard from businesses who havede waor this money and now say they have run out of time and they are beginning to ink about layoffs, maybe as soon as tomorrow if a loan doesn't come through. how many members are in that situation where they may be laying off workers right now? >> well, when we asked our thaihahcoksuldn't ag

maoke it more than one to two months under the current economic conditions. so if they're not getting access to a loaprogram or a grant program, that's a problem. and that's why these programs have got to be fixed to work for the usallest of besses. the s.b.a.m. needs the take that money that pubcly traded it until pool an it out tokeep the very small business owners out there. we're concerned that thers just notny options there for small business owners, and i know the fed has announced their main street program, but when they announced it, they said it would have a l minimn floor of $2 million, which isfo ludicrousmall businesses. they need have that loan floor very, very small, sosm typical business has another place to go for help. >> we knosml business, a reminder, they e so key to our economy. brad close, amanda ballantyne, thank you. >> thank you.an >> tyou.

>> woodruff: new york remains 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 itobrooklyn. seschumer, thank you very much for joining us. first about the decision announced by the house of representatives today that they xt week after n the in sessln advice of the congressional physician, rising cases hee in e washington area. the senate, fewer members,le smchamber. how is it safe for the senate if it's not safe for the house? the decision as i understand it without even consulting the capitol physician, but i'll tell you, if we're going to come to come back, the decision isus his, then we ought to be using the time productively. it seems what he wants to do is have us vote forav or he hearings on a judge who is sort

of a crony of his,omeone used to work on his staff who was rated unqualified by the a.b.a. people are hurting. peoplere 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 ceriotainly aud over these issues. why are we not doing a good job on this? we ought to have birx come by. we ought to have fauci come by in hearing, not like when the president gets a question from the reporter and he can make fun of the reporter. the senators can hone in, ask a lot of questions, fiout what's wrong, and these hearings have often importuned an administration the ado. we ought tthe same thing with small business. we ought to do the same thing with unemployment insurance. if w wre going to come bac should use the time the have hearings that will help solve this crisis, not on judge, or

ntrelevant appointees. >> woodruff: i wo ask about, that but are you saying you don't think it's safe for the senate to coe 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. mcconnell. know what he told if he talked to mcconnell at all. >> woodruff: well, let me ask you about some of the things you cussed. you are working in the congress on another round of emergency economic aid. and we have been listening to small business people who are basically saying, a lot of this money didn't go where it was supposed to. one of the people just heard from, her name is christine gosselin she owns a hair salon in groton, connecticut, in theillage there. she said, "i'm so frustrated that businesses publicly traded companies, their c.e.o.s making more money than i will make in a time took advantage of a program that was designed to help people like me, people whh needmoney so we can

survive." what do you say to somne lik miss gosselin? >> she's on the money. 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 that we instructed the banks to not gobu for big boythe small, little businesses like miss gosselin, and what we did in covid 3.5, which is just happening now, we walled off $125 billion that can't go to t the big boat goes to minority banks, that goes to small banks, that goes to credit unions, that goes to rur areas. we need to make sure the administration gets this money t, and just let me make one more point. >> woodruff: can that happen, senator? yes. one of the big problems here is this administration -- we can make good laws, b the executive branch, the president and his people are in charge of executing them. they're executing them poorly, and that's why we need ese

kinds of hearings. i want university of new hampshire -- i want mnuchin to comeefore the sene this week and say, why isn't the money going to small business?'t why isnhe $60 billion, which is direct to s.b.a., not through a bank, not getting out? these are the questions that have to asked. >> woodruff: but senator, witre all duect, that legislation was passed by the senate and by the house, so the language was in there. >> it just passed. this passed in covid3.5 the original 3.0, which just had the p.p.p program, they wer supposed to celt up guidelines, the administration,o tell the banks to represent small pet le. they didet up those guidelines. that's why we came back. and when mcconnell said and when the treasurd just give us more money for p.p.p. where the money was goingo the big boys, we said no. we want $125 billion to go to other programs that it has to go to small businesses. w, they just got to get the money out quickly. >> woodruff: let me aok yu about aid for state and local

governments. >> yes. >> woodruff: the hou majority leader steny hoyer said today he sees around $500 billion roughly the amount that he says governors want fostate and local governments does that sound like the right aim to you that state and local governments shouldet? >> yes, it does. rent me just say, this is not an abstract concept. some of our republican friends cal we don't like lo government. these are policemen and firemen and people who drives the buses. a lot of tm are hospital work ers. they will be laid off,of laif, no job, no money, through no fault of tir own if we don't give a strong, large infusion to the state and local government. money we give c be ued tohat the make up for lost revenues. the states an 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 said they are wary of sending money to states that they argue were fiscally irresponsible, their term, before this pandemic ever started. >> the reason the stat are in trouble right now is because of two reaonsons. they have huge expenses. because of covid.new expense that has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility or irresponsindlity. and sebecause no revenues are coming in. the federal government itself delayed taxesntilne 30th instead of april 15th. and the state taxes are key tofe thral taxes. so they need help. and this idea, oh, they're bad. and by wh wtay? blue states, red states? a firefighter who i working for a city doesn't look at whether he's in a blue state or a red state. in either state if he's laid off or she's laid off, they need help. so this politicalization of this is just harmful to average people who are working hard and need our help. we democrats want to give them

help now without all of the caveats, strings attached, criticisms. it makes no sense. and by the way, judy, every republican governor signed a letter saying they need this money. this is not a deocratic or republican issue.f: >> woodrhe other piece of this is the senate majority leader mitch mcconne saying today there is not going to be help for states and local governments unless there is also some sort of liability protection for businesses. ee says businesses ar forecasting there's going to be, lawsuits.rds, a pandemic of businesses have to be protected. would that be something democrats would go aong with? >> look, i haven't even seen itl but i tell you, if it's going to help big c.e.o.s an not help the workers, that's not going to happen. why does mcconnell have the keep drawing these les in the sand that he later retreats from. tne day it's bankruptcy. one day he's no going to be-to-do anything with p.p.p.?t

why does sit down and work with us because people are hurting. he's always drawing se ideological, politically driven lines in the saturday. makes no sense. he ought to sit down, work us with, and get the money to those s drivers, to tse food safety workers, to those police officers and firefighters. they did nothing wrong. if we do nothing, they'll be >> woodruff: and senator, the other point senator mccon tll maay is there will not be funding in this next round for infrastructure. >> well, again, lines in the nd. without talking anybody, that's why he didn't get his way on first two bills, because he did what he wanted, didn't talk to people, even his o republican senators want state and local aid, by the way, eight or nin t m spoke out for that. on infrastruure, we have a huge economic hole. we have to get out of it. i wouldn't take anything off thl i don't know, you know, the size of infruraure or what type of infrastructure.

i think it should be green.ou 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 economy going again makes no sense. mih mcconnell, stop drawing lines in the sand. work with us. get something done to help people. >> woodruff: but in just a fewen seconds,or, the republicans have the clout. they're in the majority. >> well, theye not in the majority in the house, and each time they had to come and do most of the things we wanted in covid 3 and covid 3.5 the last two bills because their owner peoplepressuring them to do it. it wasn't republicans drawing a line in the nd, it was basically mitch mcconnell. not even president trump drew such lines in the sand. >> woodruff: snator chuck schumer, the minority leader in the united states senate, thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: continue to stay safe. >> likewise to you.

be careful. pulitz prize. please. >> woodruff: this week, new zealand prime minister jacinda ardern announced the country had eliminated the coronavirus, but warned residents must stay nt to keep it that way. next door, australia has seen mparable success in battling the virus. nick schifrin ports on how the o pacific nations did it. it's never tasted . >> so stoked, first real coffee. >> honestly, it's so good to have a coffee. >> schifrin: for more than a month, new zealand endured one ofhe world's strictest lockdowns. today, the government partially lifted the lockdhan and said it "eliminated" the virus. 400,000 people went back to work.

>> i've got bags of goodiengthat i'm dropff to people's houses. >> schifrin: and new zealand researcher alex zuur filmed herself delivering some ofhis massive grocery haul to friends. >> whilst i can't physically make contact with them, it's nice to be ae to have just a little bit more chances to leave your neighborhood and provideth things te 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 diagnosed infections. today, the reopening was announced by the country's symbol of success, and vigilance: prime minister jacindardern. >> 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 are now in the xt phase of the battle, and we are not done. evening, everyone! >> schifrin: ardern's known for a personal, empathetic touch, including after the 2019 killed 51 people.ue attack that during the coronavirus crisis, between press conferences, she

took to facebook live. >> many of you, of course, will have gotten the message fromst civil defense s this ing, the blast of the ho on your phone, and then some eessages that we're really for everyone to stick to as we go through the next several weeks at home. >> compassionate leadership gobased on good science an advice was really a very powerful combination here. >> schifrin: collin tukuitonga is an associate professor of public health at the university of auckland. he acknowledges new zealand's success comes in part from its small size and isolationbut also from elevating public health over economic concerns. >> and in fact, our former prime minister, helen clark, was basically said that you can recover from a damaged economy, but you can't recover if you're dead from covid-19.ch

>>rin: next door, australia has also had success. australia's conservative prime minister, scott morrison, led with science and stark warnings. he issued an early stay-at-home order, movement restrictions, >> there 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, and respond as best we can toe essures that we face. >> schifrin: morrison's response was a political recovery, afdur he stumbleng australia's worst ever brush fires. tukuitonga fears the u.s. is stumbling today. >> in terms of the leadership r the nation and for the world, that the u.s., as we have known it, isn't shing those ndadership required for controlling the ic at home, but obviously in terms of communicating to the rest of the world. >>chifrin: but theiwis' steps clicked, so even tourists trapped in the country because of borr closures were happily

stuck. >> i actually feel like i'm in the safest country i could be in the world. it feels like a safe haven. it feels like they've done things really promptly. >> we're 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 ramadan to find new ways toand practice their faith. and, we wanted to explore how the coronavirus is changing places of worship with three faith leaders. reverend tim cole serves as rector for christ churchan georgetownwas the district of columbia's first confirmed coronaitrus case. br rosenberg is the

senior rabbi at united hebrew congregation in st. lo missouri. executive director of the islamic nter at new york university. we welcome all three of you to the program. reverend tim cole, let me begin with you. how has this time changed the way yoworship? what is different? what's lost? >>f well,urse a huge amount is lost in the physical proximity of bei together. worship as we understand it has two main dimensions, a horizon dimension where people ae gathered in the community, and then there is the vertical dimension in the sensof our relationship with god. so what we've had to do is adapt. we've started to do as many viual services. have a daily morning prayer, which is read by differe t members e congregation around the city from their own living room.

you can see family taking part in the daily church. and on sunday we have a similar offering, but we have a sermon with music. our choir was able to absurdi some beautifuleces of music to go with that. so we're doing the very best we can,s i'm sur everyone else is >> woodruff: imam latif, what about you? of course we're in the hly month of ramadan. what's lost? >> so much abut ramadan is communal as much as the fast that we have from dawn to dusk is an inividual practice, much ritual in islam blends communal aspects and draws itself tosowad al equity, so where people traditionally would be breaking their fast at sunset 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 ooor rmmate, they high breakfast together, but many are doing it on their own some what we've done similar to the reverend is do a lot of our programming online. we areofring thingom 5:00 a.m. until about 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., scattered throughout the day to really meet the diverse time.y at thisom what we've also done is created a lot of online campans to crowd fund to help people who by this pandemic and to assure that especiallin our month of fasting, we can help individuals of whatever background. we'll do our part to be a source of healing at this time >> rabbi rosenberg, april has been the month of passover for jewish, for jews in america. how has what you're doi and what you've done changed during this period? >> you know, certainly a we

just heard from my two colleagues that we have really had to in the same way tanlke thingse and do them virtually. certainly with regard to passer, there is such a communal aspect to passoverring just as there is to 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 hasa relly become such a lifeline for so many people, especially those who are home by themselves and, you know, there isn't anelybody there, and being able to come online, not just for, worship, buu know, to offer study to, offer conversation, you know, just as we've heard. 're finding ways to just bring the congregation and bring communy and connection to people in a variety of ways.

>> woodruff: reverend cole, what is it that people are seeking right now in your congregation? are you finding they're asking, they're reaching out to you more? are they able to express theirs? ne >> yes, i think so, and it's wonderful actually. i have been sick, so my colleague has been holding court here, but it's wonrful what's happened. it's been a plowering if you like, a blooming of community throughout this period where people have reached out to thein ighbor their fellow parishioners, even more than they normally do. we have had tworks across the parish. >> woodruff: i s auld have sathe outset we are so glad to see you looking so well after what you went through. imam latif, what about you part of, you know, who are part

of islam who you work with who you know? are they reaching out more? is it harder for them to reach out? what are you finding? >> every day we're getting contacted by muslims as well as people of other faiths who are out how the make sense of it all. i think the challenges that experience tends to be quite like, this we seot officulties revelations of various kinds that can help us to be comlled to our part, because even in mowrn of fasting, madan, it's 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 essential workers who every day are t meetie virus and displaying real >> woodruff: and rabbi rosenberg, what are you hearing from people who are part of your

syplgogue of the group of p who you would normally be reaching out to right now or who would reach out to you? >> you know, i'm definitely hearing that people are missing the physicality of being together. and the virtual works, but sometimes it doesn't work foryt evng. one of the things we're having to do is adapt and adjust. this is a time where there are ritualthat we can't necessarily do, so funerals look different right now. weddings look different. bar and bat mitzvah serlovices different because we cannot qur ter in -- gat the ways that we once did. >> woodruff: finally, i want to ask each one of you, how d you offer hope to people at a time like this when there is alo of despair, and we're mourning people who were lost. reverend cole, what is your message to people who say, i >> 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 humor, d it's important to be able to keep a sense of humor about things as much as we can, but more importantly, there is from friendship and these close ties that we have. when i was in hostal, the fact that people were praying for me made it much harder to be afraid when i knew there were so many people standing besidme. and so reaching out to those people who care for us and love. and finally, of course, that who has promiseto us all that he will sees through whatever so i think those are the things that certainly help me in my

lifetime ihospital. and thinking of easter, you know, that is the pattern that repeats again and again. we are in a dar place, a period of waiting, and then there is a new beginning and new life, and i pray this whole country and e world will get to that point wi this crisis and this virus. >> woodruf words to remember. imam latif, what about you? what do yo yoffer? what cu offer in the way of hope? >> you know, i think building off of evething that the reverend is saying, where individuals are looking for a sense of hope, manifest that first step of empathizing, being a mode of, suppot then taking it to a level of helping to fulfill nee where people are struggling in their day-to-day because they literally have no money. they have lost jobs. they have no benefits. and they don't know how the put

food on the table. we have people who are spreading hope to people of all backgrounds in new york city s muslim volunteers are going out and providing meals to peoe, delivering it to their homes, making an opportunity for indiduals to feel as if ty are not forgotten or left hind by launching these campaigns that we have. we have already in thelast three weeks as a university based islamic center, raised overli1 mil to assist people in need, and going into ourh mo 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 various bakgrounds, not just of our faith, to not simply seek hope but to manist hope, tof& manifest love to, manifest mercy in actions that say in anen

precedented time, stepping up anmeans also stepping our hers s do inthat you are the reason they have hope in this world and never the reon they high drad it. >> woodruff:a rbbi rosenberg, i'm hearing more that the three of you have in comn, that your faiths have in common than i think people might expect. >> the one tng that i would say and that i often look to when i talk about hope isn stoppingd recognizing the little blessings or what i call e little silver linings that come out of this, because there are those days wheore, you w, 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 out to somebody else or we just stop and recognize, we can take aof breath, somes new york this moment, in ways that we never were able to do before. so it'sing just stopping and

finding those small blessings in life. >> woodruff: rabbi brigitte rosenberg, such a wonderful note tond on. imam khalid latif, and reverend tim cole, we thank you so much, all three of u. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: it turns out that misinformaon and conspiracy eories 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 health crisis. >> this can help prevention infection of the coronavirus. >> yang: around the wod, journalists find themselves debunking wild claims: claims of miracle cures and prevention methods... >> you need to microwave your

mail to kill the coronavirus. >> yang: ...stories on the origins ofhe virus... >> is the wuhan coronavirus a biological weapon? was it built in a lab by scientistsnd unleashed on the masses?an >> ...theories about vaccines and billionaire bill gates. >> ...claiming that he actually created the virus to trick people into getting microcpped. >> yang: they all have one thing in common: they're all not true. one particularly persistent falsehood? 5g mobile networks transmit covid-19. >> you know when they turn this on, it's >> yang: a woman in britain called workers "killers" for laying 5g fiber-optic cables. >> when you turn that on, ite, "bye, ommy!" >> yang: across the united kingdom, arsonists have burnednd cell towers,he claim has been shared online with millions around the world. >> so, the 5g story is complete and ter rubbish. it's nonsense. it's the worst kind of fake news. the reality is that the mobile phone networks are absolutely critical.

>> it's a nonstop hurricane of misinformatisi and ormation to debunk. >> yang: doreen marchionne i managing editor of snopes.com, a fact-checking website that been inundated with tens of thousands of requests for the truth about coronavirus claims. >> one of the dumbest that i encotered was, if you stickin your fac hot blow-- your face, you might blow covid out of your system. tonic water: if you drink a lot of it, it'll cure 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 organizatn are battling not just the virus, but also bogus claims. >> a lot of the time they say td

me, "oh, my ss, i can't believe these people actually believing this.e i can't belihave to spend time debunking this myth." scientific point of view andom a have to spend time and resources doing that. at the same time, these are valuable resources that could be spent givime and tailoring ages to vulnerable populations. p yang: even president tr has touted false-- and, in some cases, dangerous-- treatment ideas. most recently: internal use of ultraviolet ght and disinfectant. >> i see the disinctant, where it knocks it out in one minute. one minute. and, is there a way we c do something like that, by injection inside, or-- or, almost a cleaning. >> yang: last week, the president walked back some of being sarcastic antakenhe was out of context. >> hydroxychloroquine. try it, if you'd like. >> yang: and sce talking about the possible effectiness of

the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, mr. trump's own food and drug ministrationag has cautionenst using the drug for covid-19 outside a hospital, due to potential heart problems.on last, a man in arizona ed after ingesting an aquarium-cleaning chemical that he thought was the dru >> as humans, we are far more likely to remember something frightening.an >> david robert grimes is a cancer researcheand author of "the irrational ape," whichs lo how people can be duped. thinng.poor at critical we are very poor at evaluating sources.s and that makesry vulnerable to the sheer amount of disinformation that is spreading online.an >> cristina tardáguila is the associatdirector of the international fact-checking network, which is leading an alliance of 89 organizations monitoring coronavirus content in more than0 countries. , like an epidemiologist who watches a virus spread, youth watce hoaxes spread. >> right.

and they're spreading fast, john. we're getting misinformation om my uncle, from my cousin, and also from the president or from the prime minister or even from bots. so, it is the first time that we're hearing so much misinformation all around the planet. >>yang: that's led to deadl ke brazil, wheredenttries jair bolsonaro has repeatedly urged citizens to ignore public health warnings. he has compared the virus to a mild flu, even though 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. >> we're already seeing evidence of that. the creation of fake facebook pages run by fake accounts and/or fake people, th attempting to in some way ney off this crisis. makeplyly

>> yang: u.s. intelligence agcies now also believe th false text messages sent last month to nation-wide lockdown were pushed by chinese operatives aiming to sow discord. ( protests ) and, there's the rent nationwide protests of stay-at- home orders that president trump has, at times, encouraged. the seemingly-organic movement was in fact organized iven by far-right facebook groups that have become a hotbed for conspiracy theories. social media giants, including facebook, twitter and youtube, have all faced growingthriticism abour role in the spread of misinformation. facebook, which is funder of the newshour, now alerts users when they interact with false coronavirus content. on another popular platform, reddit, users have long policed each oer, to varying degrees of success.

>> especially as a scientist, the way that i have to verify things has changed entirely. y g: emerson ailidh boggs, a virologist by training, moderates reddit's coronavirus page, whichas more than two million subscribers. >> there's a l of bad science at comes out during outbreaks, and there's a lot of goode scieat gets misinterpreted and editorialized, even when it's reported faithfully in the first plac if i can't prove it, i don't really want to be associated with it. and i don't want to be responsible for notwo million people seeing it and taking it as fact. >> yang: despite the flood of misinformation during this crisisscientist david robert grimes believes it can be brought undecontrol. >> we have to remember that social media and the internet, they are new technologies. and we've always had this problem of being bad atso identifyinces of information. the internet has massively exacerbated it. but i'm also optimistic that we

can all collectively learn how much of a problem this is when we don't check our sources and overcome that together. >> yang: but for now, misinformation is spreading 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 afn important report. thank you, john. and a reminder. we want to hear from viewers like you. send us your questions for our new segment, "ask us."yo we tak questions on the pandemic to experts who can provide the answers you need. you can submit you by siting our website. that's www.pbs.org/newshour. or our facebook, instagram andte twpages. we'll be answering them each week, and sharing what we learn on air, on the website and s across oial platforms. we hope you will join us. all that and more is on our.o website, www.p/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll

see yosoon. >> 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. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial plannd advice for today, and tomorrow. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> consumer cellular. >> carnegie corporion of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic, engagemed the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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