captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the united states approaches 60,000 deaths, as the economy contracts at its steepest rate since the financial collapse of 2008. then, how secure is the food supply? a look at the meatpacking industry, and the cracks that are beginning to show in american agriculture. plus, medicines for covid. what to make of potentially hopeful signs of a treatment, while questions remain about the accuracy of tests for antibodies to neutralize the virus. and, the added challenges of serving students with

special needs-- when the classroom becomes the home. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pvided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> fidelity investments. >> fidelity investments.

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>> woodruff: a medicine to treat covid-19 and speed recovery from it is making headlines tonight. that development comes as u.s. deaths from vid-19 have reached 60,000, exceeding the 58,000 killed the vietnam war, and economic growth has suffered in this country its sharpest collapse in a dozen years. stephanie sy has our lead report. >> reporter: the glimmerings of hopeful news today in the battle to contain covid-1 there were positive results from the experimental drug remdesivir, made by the biotech firm gilead, in a international study run by the u.s. national institutes of health. the n.i.h.'s dr. anthony fauci voiced hope, at the white house. >> the data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing time to recovery. >> reporter: the study, among hospitalized covid-19 patients, showed those who took the drug

has a 31% fasterecovery time. the food and drug administration said it will permit emergency use of remdesivir. but, on the economic front, hope was harder to find. the pandemic has now officially stopped the u.s. economy's longest expansion on record. the nation's output of goods and services shrank at an annual rate of 4.8% in the first quarter. and, as white house economic adviser larry kudlow acknowledged, that's just the beginning. >> the next quarter is going to be much worse. but, you know, you close the economy down for two months- plus, and you know, we've done everything we can to provide liquidity and cash assistance and protect workers. >> reporter: a new pbs newshour/npr/marist poll finds that 50% of americans have been laid off, or have a household member who has either lost a job or had their hours cut. just today, boeing aounced it

will cut 10% of its workforce. in anoth bid to shore things up, the federal reserve announced it will keep a key interest rate near zero for the foreseeable future. jerome powell is the fed's chairman. >> what i'm trying to assure, really, is that thmarket is working. the market is assessing the risks. lenders are lending, borrowers are borrowing. >> reporter: the nation's food supply chain is also under new scrutiny. president trump last night signed an executive order telling meatpacking plants to remain open to avoid shortages. at least 17 plants he closed temporarily in recent weeks due to outbreaks of the coronavirus among workers, and unions quickly criticized the president's order. but in the oval office today, president trump pushed back, claiming workers will be kept safe. >> they're going to be very careful as to who's going into the plant, and the quarantine is going to be very strong, and we're going to make people better when they have a problem.

>> reporter: more states are pushing to reopen as well, allowing retailers and restaurants to open, and trying to reassure potential customers. >> welcomeo the cleburne! sit down and enjoy your meal like you did in the old days. >> reporter: this houston restaurant is providing hand sanitizer and taking customers' temperatures. but in areas that were hot spots, officials like new york governor andrew cuomo again counseled caution. >> make the decisions on the facts, make the decisions on the numbers. you can reopen if you don't increase hospitalizaons, and if you don't increase the infection rate. >> reporter: in europe, covid-19's spread across the continent has led to a slow start to a usually busy tourism season. in hard-hit italy, a beachfront near naples is deserted as hotels and beaches remain closed. and, greece's corfu island is bracing fothe worst. >> we don't know if our hotels will open, when will they open, so we are right now in the brink

of very hard times. >> reporter: in germany today, officials extended a travel warning until mid-june, despite protests from industry groups. and in japan, prime minister shinzo abe warned that the already-postponed tokyo summer olympics may not be held next year, either, unless there is a covid-19 vaccine by then. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: wall street surged today on hopes for a major medical advance in the pandemic. the dow jones industrial average gained 532 points to close at 24,663. the nasdaq rose 307 points-- 3.5% and the s&p 500 was up 76. now, the latest information on treating covid-19, and finding ways to tell who's been infected. as plans grow to re-open the economy, one key pre-requisite

will be testing for antibodies, to see who has already been exposed and theoretically is safe from further infection. there is now a flood of new tests on the market, but, not without controversy. we're going to look at that, as well as something else-- an anti-viral drug that was just today approved for emergency use. our science correspondent miles o'brien is here to help us sort things out. it is part of our regular look at "the leading edge" of scien and research. so miles, first, let's talk about this drug that seems to be showing real promise in slowing the march of covid-19. what have scientists learned? >> well, judy, the drug is called remdesivir. the first documented covid-19 patient in the united states in january in the seattle area was infused with the antiviral. and that patient, who was failing fast and showing signs of pneumonia, had a very abrupt turn-about for the good, and was

released from the hospital only a few days later. now, the details of the study announced today bear that out. it suggests that covid-19 patients who are infused with remdesivir can be released, as soon as four days earlier. the doctor who treated him, and dr. george diaz of the providence regional medical center in everett, washington, told us, this is making us more optimistic that we are headed down the right path with remdesivir. >> woodruff: but miles, this is not the final story, is it? the studies are still underway, after all. >> yes, it's a global study conducted at multiple sites all around the world. so, now that there's news that the drug can in fact block the progress of the virus, the trial rules can be changed-- no more patients receiving the placebo. in other words, everyone will

get the drug, to see if there's some effect. we still don't know if patients on remdezivir are less likely to die. that is still under review. there was a study in china earlier on that involved that particular issue, but it didn't come to any conclusion. it was flawed. the patients were sicker. it's a muddied study. and researchers were only able to test about half on the 450 subjects they hoped to study. >> woodruff: let's turn the corner and talk about something else. what are antibody tests? how do they differ from the testing used to identify the virus itself? >> yeah, it's sort of a question of tense. if you want to know if someone in the moment has the coronavirus in the system, the best way to do that is with a nasal swab and a test that finds the genetic fingerprint of the

germ. but, if you want to know if someone had it in the past, they way to go is with an antibody test. antibodies are the foot soldiers of our immune system. they are proteins created by white blood cells that are specifically tailored to identify and help attack invaders. most of us have all kinds of antibodies in our system to help ward off a whole host of infections. of course, the problem with this novel coronavirus is, it gets free reign: no antibodies to stop it. but, when our immune systems figures out what the threat looks like, our white blood cells get busy, producing new anti-virus foot soldiers. antibodies to the rescue. they are tailor-made, like puzzle pieces, to attach to the new invader and hopefully protect from it. in essence, a test puts a piece of the virus in contact with some blood. if the blood contains the antibodies designed to fight the

novel coronavirus, they will be activated, causing a detectable chemical reaction. >> woodruff: and miles, how do they know they're testing for the right antibody? this is new. and with so many tests coming online, how do we know what's accurate and what's not? >> you're right, judy, having a test that can pick out the right type of antibody in a sea of antibodies is the key. scientists at the university of california-san francisco and at u.c. berkeley have started testing all these antibody tests which are appearing on the market like mushrooms. none of the 12 tests their collaboration has tested so far make the grade. i repeat, none of the tests. all kinds of false positives and false negatives. >> woodruff: that's discouraging to hear, because miles, we know,

having an antibody test would be very important for a lot of reasons. not the least of which is helping people understand if they have immunity. we're going to have to know a lot more about who's been exposed and who's contagious. >> tests like these are really helpful, as epidemiologists really understand how widespread the virus is. ideally, antibody tests would tell us who beat an infection and may be able to go back to work. but that's a much bigger challenge, because scientists can't be certain that the antibodies that they identify in these tests-- assuming they're accurate-- are in fact protective, so, it gets even more complicated. so, for now theris no way to determine if anyone has immunity to sars-cov-2. immunologist alex rson is on that u.c.s.f. and u.c.-berkeley team. >> having a test that will tell us easily who's protected from reinfection, it's all of our hopes. there's a lot of work ahead to be done. but one message i want to get out there very, very clearly.

none of these tests should currently give anyone a feeling that they're safe from reinfection and modify their behavior to take on more risk. we are just not there yet. >> so those are really important words from a scientist. we hope everyone takes those to heart. you know, scientists say the experience they've had with other viruses, including other coronavirus like the common cold, makes them feel encouraged that humans who have antibodies to this novel coronavirus and will have some immunity for some period of time. no one thinks it will be different this time-- but it is not proven. >> woodruff: miles o'brien, bringing us up to date. miles, thank you. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. small business administration reserved eight hours-- until midnight-- f small banks to submit coronavirus relief loans for their customers. it's part of the paycheck protection program. there has been intense criticism that community lenders, and their small business clients, have been pushed aside in the process. the u.s. navy today widened its investigation of the covid-19 outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier "theodore roosevelt." in a statement, the acting navy secretary, james mcpherson, cited unanswered questions that he said need a deeper review. the announcement delays any re-instatement of brett crozier as the carrier's captain. he was fired after pleading for his crew to be evacuated. in the presidential race, the presumptive democratic nominee joe biden has won ohio's primary. tuesday's vote had been scheduled for mid-march, but

was delayed by the covid-19 pandemic. most of the voting was done by mail. and, the governing body for college sports, the n.c.a.a., is moving ahead with a plan to let athletes earn money from endorsements and the like. the organization's board of governors backed the rule change today. that paves the way for member schools to vote next january. we will discuss the implications later in the program. still to come on the newshour: the american meat industry in a moment of crisis, as covid-19 hits the processing plants. the vulnerability of special needs students, as millions of children are forced to learn from home. plus, much more.

>> woodruff: we're going to focus now on the questions around meat processing plants, worker safety and the food supply. while president trump has signed an executive order to keep the plants open, a number of processing facilities remain closed. in minnesota, a pork plant did re-open today, briefly-- not to resume processing hogs, but to euthanize a growing surplus of animals. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro begins our look with a report on how this is playing out for farmers. >> reporter: it's spring planting time in southern minnesota. soon, these vast prairies will sprout soy beans and corn destined for markets around the world. but the largest number of consumers they will fe are not human, and not far away. minnesota and neighboring iowa are among the largest pork-

producing regions in the world. mike patterson's family has been doing this for multiple generations. they are part of an elaborate food chain, that ends, in this case, at the smithfield plant 200 miles away, in sioux falls, south dakota. like more than two dozen meatpacking facilities that have seen closure across the country, this one has been shuttered since april 11 after a covid-19 outbreak. so has another nearby pork plant, j.b.s., in worthington, minnesota. patterson says he's looking at staggering losses. >> if we weren't able to harvest any of the hogs on our farm, we're looking at probably $450,000. and then we're, we're not a big operation. >> reporter: this barn is one of three on patterson farm, it holds 1,000 hogs, and it's here that you get a sense of the enormous scale of the industry that the pattersons are part of. the smithfield plant in south dakota, where these animals

would normally go, takes in 20,000 pigs every day! >> you know, i probably knew it, but i don't think i appreciated the efficiency of the whole system. and when one piece of that system goes down, you know, i knew it, but boy, i didn't. i don't think i appreciated it. >> reporter: while plant workers continue to receive 80% of their wages during the shutdown, it's hundreds of hog farmers like patterson who say they stand to lose the most. animals are brought to these so-called "finishing barns" from nurseries, where they are raised over 16 to 20 weeks to a nearly- exact weight required by slaughter and packing houses like smifield. as they're moved out, a new batch of young animals are ready to take their place. >> well, if we haven't been able to sell any hogs, obviously, those barns aren't empty. so where do those pigs go? >> reporter: so you have some ugly options. >> in the industry, there's been talk of euthanasia of swine, or

depopulation of harvest-ready hogs. that's something that we as farmers just absolutely don't want to happen. >> reporter: a couple of hours away, the much smaller sobocinski farm has just about 300 pigs, whose owner says they're really thriving. >> we're raising them in a natural system without antibiotics, and using bedding. >> reporter: paul sobocinski decided two decades ago to scale back from what he calls the industrialized system that now produces much of the nation's meat. has it been the right decision financially? >> financially, this isn't perfect. but overall, it's been a good decision. >> reporter: his animals are processed at a small nearby slaughterhouse, which has not reported any covid cases. no one has tested positive for covid-19. the meat is sold through a national network of independent producers called niman's ranch. sobocinski has long been an activist against a system that he says has concentrated power and profit in a few corporate hands, at the expense of both laborers and farmers.

>> meat prices have went down substantially because of the coronavirus. who's grabbed all that money? has food come down in the grocery store? no, it hasn't. >> i think it's important that we retool what we're doing out here and start creating more opportunity, more processing plants. so, more that's done here in the community. >> reporter: for patterson, however, it boils down to keeping pork prices as low as possible. >> i understand that local piece of it, and i appreciate that. but how do we feed the masses and do it cheaply? you can't do that on a smaller scale. you need this. you need the efficiencies of size and scale to be able to get that done. >> reporter: the debate is not new, and may well return, post-covid-19. just how much are american consumers willing to pay for their food, and has the pandemic changed attitudes? but more immediately, patterson and hundreds of fellow hog farmers are watching anxiously for word on when the two mega factories can re-open, tweaking the diet of their animals to slow their weight gain.

>> we've maybe bought a week to ten days, maybe two weeks. so we're trying everything we can to slow them down. >> reporter: when plants do reopen, however, workers could be farther apart on the production line to prevent the spread of covid-19. that would slow down the line, which would mean fewer animals at the plant-- and more, patterson says, in his barns, with nowhere to go. for the pbs newshour, this is fred de sam lazaro, in kenyon, minnesota. >> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the undertold stories project at the university of st. thomas, in minnesota. william brangham explores a number of the questions surrounding the executive order and what could change at the plants. >> brangham: and for that, i am joined by amy mayer of iowa public radio and harvest public media. amy, thanks for being on the "newshour" again. president trump said meat packing plants and meat processing plants are part of

the country's critical infrastructure. what does his executive order mean? what do we know? >> it means that these plants are expected to stay open. it means they fall into a category of employer that has certain responsibilities but also certain privileges for staying open. there are some unknowns. the plants obviously have to prioritize worker safety, and their employees' health and well being, but it does give them the obligation but also the opportunity to stay open and have, you know, the force of the federal government behind them in that decision. >> reporter: but it's not totally clear if the government could, if, say, one plant or one company was resistant to doing so, it's not clear if the federal government has the authority to force them to do so. >> it's the reopening that seems unclear. there are some plants that are currently closed because of

outbreaks of covid 19. most of those companies would prefer to be open. they've either closed because to have the sheer number of cases or, in some cases, pressure from local and state governments. with this federal order, certainly the local and state governments would not be able to pressure them to close because they would have this federal mandate to be open. what remai a little bit unclear now is for the ones that are currently in closure, would they have to speed up their reopenings because to have the order. >> reporter: we know tyson foods, one of the major meat manufacturers in the country, warned there might be millions and millions of pounds of meat that basically drops out of that supply chain. do you have a sense of the impact this might have on consumers? theoretically, that's what the president is acting on behalf of, to keep a steady supply of food in stores. >> that's right. i've heard some conflicting things abwhat the impact on consumers could be. we hear large numbers from the meat plants.

i don't think consumers really have a sense of how much meat goes out in a day anyway, so what might be lost is sort of a difficult number to process. we do know, for example, that there are millions of pounds of meat in cold storage. eth not the types of meat we're perhaps accustomed to buying at the grocery store. it might be more processed meat or cuts that are sent to export markets, but there's that. there was also aarge redirection of meat that was already in the supply chain because it's no longer going to restaurants and institutional settings. a lot of that government is buying to send to food banks and people in need. some of that could get diverted to the retail sector. there could be shortages and, in some communities, people at the grocery store have already seen meat cases emptying more quickly than usual. part of that is shopper behavior, going to the store less often and buying more as they go. >> reporter: thousands of workers at different plants have gotten sick and, if they're

forced to reopen, there's talk of can this work be done where there's more social distancing and workers can wear protective gear. do you know where that's possible? can you run a modern meat processing facility and protect workers from a virus like this? >> it's becoming increasingly clear to me that you cannot run your plant at your usual full capacity and meet the social distancing and other requirements to prevent virus spread. for example, i heard a worker describe today being on a break line in a beef plant. that's literally where workers are taking halves of cattle and thent cutting them into smaller pieces and then they get moved along to be made into the sorts of cuts we recognize. he said, in that environment, workers are typically one and a half to two feet away from each other, working hard, physically, constantly all day at chilled room temperatures. so they're sweating because they're working hard, but they're breathing into these face shields they have been given which causes fogging so

they can't see, so it's not practical to work in that p.p.e. you can see the domino effect here. but to change your operation so that those workers could be six feet apart would mean to process fewer animals than you would expect to process. so these are decisions the plants are going to have to evaluate. but if they can't shut down to rearrange their work structures, i don't see how thecould implement the dramatic changes in the workplace situation. on the other hand, there are lines from companies have been able to put up plexiglass shields between workers. that can help especially when workers are side by side that that could provide protection. >> reporter: may may, public radio and harvest public media. thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: in the u.s., roughly 14% of students enrolled

in public school receive special education services. as families across the nation are grappling with how to teach their students from home, we wanted to look at the particular challenges parents of these students are facing. here's what we heard. >> my name is erin croyle. i live in ithaca, new york. i have three children. i have a nine-year-old who has down syndrome and adhd, and some other medical complexities that make it really, really difficult right now. my son, my oldest, requires a team of anywhere between three to ten people at a time to help him learn. he's refusing to work. he's refusing to do any of the materials. >> my name is trishia bermudez, and i live in auburn, new york, which is on the rockaway peninsula. and my son is matthew.

he is seven, and he was born with a rare chromosome deletion. so, that puts him under a unique umbrella in the special education world, because he has, one of his diagnoses is learning disability and global developmental delay. for me, it's more about his regression and what that looks like, and how much more work he will need once we come out of this pandemic. >> my name is angela franco. i live in rockville, maryland. my son is matthew ulick. he's 11 years old. he has attended a special education program since he was five years old. i'm doing my best to keep it at home. you know, obviously it's not the same. being at the school, with a schedule, you know, with somebody that is not necessarily their parent, that he's an outsider, that can be more objective. >> my name is corinne ressler. i live in san carlos, california, and i teach second, third, fourth and fifth graders

with mild to moderate disabilities. the assignments are relatively similar to what we were doing in the classroom, but dialed back a little bit. we've been told that we don't have to be teaching anything new. >> i'm david perry. i live in short, minnesota, which is a suburb just north of the twin cities. and my son is 13. he's one of two kids. he's-- my daughter's 10. he has down syndrome and is autistic. he is, i guess what the professionals call functionally nonverbal. we try to do the assignments that we can do. we look for the ones that are well adapted, and that seem to make sense. and we let a lot of things go, and we are letting a lot of things slide. >> i try to do a schedule and i try to get something to happen every day, and every day, i feel like a failure. and i get emotional because i care so deeply about his education. but it's not possible. >> for physical therapy,

literally, i'm having to hold his arms to make sure he extends them, or, you know, kind of coaching him on the other end of some things, to kind of go on. but he's distracted, you know, because we're at home. >> they're doing things online, but i t together, like, a mini-maker in my house. so, he has the tools. he has the glue. he has a screwdriver. one day, he came out with a trash picker that he made with a shoe box and a piece of wood. so, he got it and he put it on top of the shoe box. and i think it looked amazing. i was like, wow, i'm impressed with my son. >> he often requires a set of highly specific and intensive supports. i am not a trained special ed teacher. i'm not trained in providing him those supports. if what i did all day was just

sit with him and work on education, i think we could really accomplish a lot. but i'm not able to do that because i'm working from home. >> i tell them every day that if they ever want to talk to me, that they can message me on the assroom and then we can have a one-on-one conversation. and i have done that with the student who was feeling very anxious and worried. and we talked about how she was feeling. and she was very sad that we weren't coming back to school. >> this is much bigger than just saying, let's open schools. what does that game plan look like for our kids? and the plan that comes out of this needs to include our children aggressively. >> we've been home for a month, and i think maybe i have sat him down and gotten him to engage, maybe three times. and it's a little bit heartbreaking, but it also is, i just chalk it up to a win, because you got to take what you can get, and hoping that will lead to more success.

>> woodruff: heartwarming and also hard to hear. we want to dig deeper at the challenges facing families with special need students right now with selene almazan. she is the legal director for the council of parent attorneys and advocates, a non-profit that aims to protect the legal and civil rights of children with disabilities. selene almazan, thank you very much. you have been doing this work for, what, more than 30 years. and you were telling us that one of the hardest things about what's going on right now is what these children are losing by not being in the classroom. >> yes, it's heartbreaking to listen to those families try to do what schools do every day with students with disabilities. so it really is heartbreaking, and i don't know what i would do, being in their situation. students with disabilities are losing out on an enormous amount

right now during this pandemic, and it is difficult to hear their struggles. >> woodruff: you pay a lot of attention to what school districts, what schools are required to do. tell us just in general, what are schools required to do in working with these children, and then how is it different, now that these children are out of the class? >> well, schools are required to provide free appropriate public education to children so they can make progress in their academic educational environment. they're supposed to address their -- the needs that the disabilities present, whether that's through academic, reading, writing, math, other students' needs, speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and some students need more than what public schools can offer them and require private placement at public expense, and those are special education schools. so schools throughout the

country pre-pandemic are providing many children with an appropriate education. the concern that we have had since the beginning to have the school closures was what our schools are going to do to address the needs of children with disabilities. >> woodruff: and realistically, how much of what these children were getting in the classroom -- we heard one mother say her son requires anywhere from three to ten people to work with him. how much of that can parents be realistically expected to do? >> well, i think it's hard because parents are also trying to work from home, if they remain employed, so that's a plus that they're still employed. but it is difficult for families. schools need to start where the i.e.p. is, the individual education program, which is the road map that schools have to follow in order to educate a child. many schools have implemented the distance learning plans. those distance learning plans

need to look at the goals on the i.e.p. and continue to work on some of those goals in the distance learning plan. so if a child has needs in reading, if a child has needs in math, they should continue to address those needs through the distance learning plan. if the child has speech language needs and needs speech and language therapy, then that needs to be addressed. i think one of the mothers said thater child was receiving physical therapy electronically, but it requires her to manipulate his arms in order to participate in the physical therapy. and it is a lot for families. it is a lot. >> woodruff: we heard one of the mothers say she feels like a failure. what is your advice to parents who are watching this, listening to this and feeling that this is more than they are capable of doing? >> well, from the outset, copa

has encouraged people to work together with their school districts. we're sort of all in this together, but also we've advised families to look at where a child was the day before school closed, what was the child able to do then academically with their speech or with physical therapy, what was the child able to do, and then keep track either through video, either through data collection, either through looking at the assignments the child was able to complete pre-closure, what the child is able to complete during the closure intruction, and document that so that when schools resume, they can come to the school and say, my child has regressed or my child has lost these skills, and this is where my child is now. we need to look at where he is now and start to program for him going forward either by revising the i.e.p., by looking at new evaluations to see where a child is presently when they come back

to school. it's hard when you're a parent of a child with a disability, i know that from my own experience, and what i do tell families is you just have to look at where you are on that day, and tomorrow is another day. what parents of children with disabilities, know what we know as parents of children that have needs is that every day is a new day, and we also know that we have to work really hard at documenting for schools so that schools will know exactly what a child is going t need. parents are a child's biggest advocate. you know your child the best. the only thing you can do between now and when school starts is continue to document, document, document what a child is doing now, what they were

able to do before, so that one school re-- so that, when school reconvenes, you can give that information to the school. >> woodruff: good advice, i am sure, for all these parents. we all need to give them as much support as we possibly can. selene almazan joining us from maryland. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: college athletics may be suspended right now, but when sports resume to a more regular routine, football and basketball remain big business, with billions of dollars at stake. there has long been a debate over whether athletes should be compensated in some right, or better able to access money made through these sports. the n.c.a.a. opened the door to a significant change on that front today. amna nawaz is here with more. >> nawaz: judy, the n.c.a.a.'s board of governors will finally allow college athletes to earn

money from endorsements, and to cash in on business made from their names, image and likeness. but, schools and athletic conferences won't be a part of it, and there will be no pay- for-play arrangement. i'm joined now by len elmore, former college and n.b.a. basketball player. he is also a member of the knight commission on intercollegiate athletics, which supports the educational mission of college sports. len elmore, welcome to the "newshour". thanks for being with us, and let's just start with the decision today. what was your reaction to the latest steps from the ncaa. >> well, i was very pleased to see that the ncaa is usheng in a new era for college sports, i mean, in an era where sn athletes will be treated fairly, they will have an opportunity to be able to capitalize on their name, image and likeness which is a natural right, something that can't be aggregated by any administrative body and, certainly, if they want to give i an opportunity, they should be compensated. it's different from place to

place. >> reporter: help us understand the details because even the ncaa said this is uncharted territory. if a player, sa wants to do an autograph signing for money or get a brand deal on instagram, it's okay. but does this mean nike can now sponr a college athlete or a local business in a college town can pay to put you on a billboard? >> i'm not sure those details have been expressly flushed out, but essentially that's the idea, to be able to capitalize on who you are as a college athlete which was here t heretofore for. there are some rules that help keep athletes from being exploited and making sure there are no under-table type payments made. institutions can't generate an endorsement deal for a student athlete. however, again, student athletes, in some instances, they can't represent sponsors thatre already sponsoring the

institution, and, you know, that's why we have state laws that have been inconsistent on that front. >> reporter: so institutions can't get in on the deal but, for example, say there's, you know, a college athlete who has already influence from an agent. we know there's corruption at every level, agents getting involved, even at the high school and certainly at the college level. are you worried this opens the door for more exploitation for many influences that are already a part of the system? >> i think allowing agents involved is something the ncaa is still discussing in the board of governors. i don't believe it's an good idea for that reason. they allow marketing tooghts generate opportunities for student athletes, but say you can't be involved in pursuing professional opportunities. well, good luck with that because once the agents are involved, they're going after the most lucrative opportunities

there are and that would be essentially from a pro opportunity situation, and agent -->> reporter: and when na rules were put into place to prioritize education, a lot of them are one and done. they use college to propel them into the pros. they're making millions off these kids. what's the rest argument we have for just not compensating them. >> playing college sports is a privilege, not a right, and there are many choices out there, if the intention is to make money for playing basketball, and the increased interest in international sports, as well as playing in the n.b.a.'s g league, provides more options for young people who go to college simply to become eligible for the draft. and i think that it's a fair tradeoff. once you sign on the dotted line to play college sports, you are now saying you are going to play within the regulations that are

provided, and if you don't want to do that, now you have an opportunity to make a choice to go someplace else. and, honestly, i think it's fair. >> that is len elmore, the knight commission on intercollegiate athletics. thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: on our "bookshelf" tonight, battling loneliness, and how we can come out of this global pandemic more connected to each other. >> yang: judy, the social distancing we are being asked to practice to try to slow the spread of the virus is also resulting in feelings of social isolation and loneliness for some. here's some of what viewers told us about their experiences. >> i can work from home, but my coworkers can, and do, so at any given time, i'm the only person at work. there are entire days when i don't speak, because there's

no one to talk to. i really miss having my coworkers around and being able to ask them questions or talk about random things, and we all need a break or sitting down to have lunch with them. it's pretty lonely when it's just you at your desk. i understand why it's necessary to social distance. and i completely support that, because the science behind it says that it helps. and i am a scientist, so i definitely understand that. but, it's been rough. >> i'm an introvert. i enjoy being alone and things like that. however, this being isolated from the real world, being able to go and visit friends and family in social settings, go into a restaurant, share a meal or a movie, has affected me more than i thought it would, actually. that being said, i miss the personal interaction. you get more-- you have an interaction with people when you

see them, you know, face to face. so, not being able to see someone's smirk or smile or if their eyebrows are furrowed or things like that, you just don't get the same connection. >> even though i get to talk to people virtually more at times, i really feel emptier than before. >> i really didn't realize how much just a simple interaction with the cashier or running into a neighbor at a store, or even going to grab the same item off of a shelf at the same time, really gave you that kind of peripheral sense of community and togetherness that really isn't happening now. >> yang: so, it is, perhaps, an opportune time for a new book about relationships and community. it's called "together: the healing power of human connection in a somemes lonely world." the author is dr. vivek murthy, who was u.s. surgeon general from 2014 to 2017.

he joins us from miami. dr. murthy, thank you so much for joining us. when you wri in the book that you game sueon general, you expected to be talking a lot about t opioid addiction, about obesity, about the importance of immunizations, but then you went on a listening tour around the country, and you heard a lot about loneliness. >> that's right, john. i was really taught about people i met all across america and really across the world about how behind so many of the stories of addiction and violence and chronic illness that exists in society, and there are deep threads of loneliness i was finding. this is true when i was talking to young or old people, talking to members of congress or farmers in theidwest, and it struck me, it reminded me of my own experience as a child struggling with loneliness, it reminded me as my experience as a doctor caring for so many patients who came into the hospital alone and had nobody

with them often at the time of death, and what i came to realize is loneliness is very common, with more than 20% of adults in the united states struggling with loneliness, but it was also very consequential for our health that people with loneliness have increased risk of heart disease, dementia, depression, anxiety and even pre-mature death. >> reporter: there's a correlation between loneliness and those conditions, but is there a more direct link? >> that's a good question. the research on loneliness is evolving but we have reason to believe loneliness may in fact have a direct impact on our health. one has to do with the physiologic impact that loneness has on the body. it places the body in a stress state. in a short term that can be okay because feeling lonely in a short term may nudge you to call a friend or drop by and visit family and, in that sense, it can be helpful as a signal like

hunger or thirst. the problem is when that stress state persist force a long period of time and like many other forms of stress, it can lead to inflammation in our body that can increase the risk of heart disease and other chronic illnesses. >> reporter: we heard from our viewer some real emotion about what's going on now. on the one hand, you were th top public health officer of the united states, and i assume you agree that we need to stay apart to try to fight this virus and slow its spread, but, on the other hand, you're saying that there is a problem -- that there are problems that come from isolation and loca and loneline. how do you balance and reconcile the two. >> this is an extraordinarily difficult moment for so many people whose lives have been turned upside down and one of the most painful parts of it is not being able to see people, not just our family or friends,

but also strangers in our lives. being able to sit next to strangers in a coffee shop, appreciate people who might be walking down the coffee shop with you. we evaluate these now perhaps more than ever before. when there are impacts on our health from loneliness, it is important to protect ourselves during covid 19 in this pandemic, but we shouldn't assume that since we have to be physically separated that we have to be socially distant. the way we can preserve our social connections in this time have to do with very simple steps we can take. we can, number one, ensure we're spending at least 15 minutes a day reachinout to people we love via video conference or phone. we can make sure that the quality of time we have with people is high, and we can do that by reducing the distraction we have when we talk to them, putting ouphone away and other technology. we can also reach out to people with an intention to serve. i learned when writing this book

that one of the most powerful anecdotes to loneliness is service. when we look around us, we recognize many of us are struggling, and service can be checking on a neighbor to make sure they're okay, calling a friend to see how they're doing, having good delivered to a work colleague who may be struggling while hem schooling their kids, there's a possible this experience with covid 19 could lead to a deepening of our loneliness and a social recession, but i believe we can take this as an opportunity to create a social revival, to refocus on our relationships, to recommit to the people in our lives, and if we do that, then i think we can come out of this pandemic stronger and more connected to each other, more healthier than ever before. >> reporter: the book is "together," the author dr. vivek murthy. doctor, thank you so much. >> thank you very much. good to be with you.

>> woodruff: one thing-- among many-- that covid has taught us is how we need re-calibrate our expectations and our imaginations. tonight, author kelly corrigan shares her "humble opinion," and projects what it will be like when a corner is turned. >> sometimes, when i feel outmatched by the thing in front of me, i do a little mental exercise. i tell myself the story of what happened, as if it's over and i nailed it. this morning, i waited for 54 minutes to check out from the safeway. the woman behind me, whose make-up was perfect, had seven bottles of martini and rossi. nothing else. the young man in front of her had a full-face double ventilator gas mask. i felt outmatched by the thing in front of me. so, right there, i told myself the story of the 2020 pandemic and how, in the end, we nailed

it. my success fantasy went like this: at first, it was awful. nothing but bad news. but, then, we rose up. we made stews and soups for old people, and dropped them off so they felt included and secure and nourished. we read books to children over the internet. we stepped outside our houses at the end of the day, and banged pots and pans and clapped so that each of us knew we were not alone. we sent pizzas and chinese food to e.r.s, to sustain both our hospitals and our restaurants. we called old friends and told each other things we had forgotten to say: "i miss you." "i think of you." "remember that time...?" all of us turned up in our screens to keep businesses afloat, and in so doing, discovered the tender sides of our colleagues. pets and children were, to our mutual benefit, now "in the frame." people figured out they don't

need fancy equipment to exercise. we stopped flying around and jumping in cars for no reason. everyone planted things they could eat. we played cards with our families. we had long conversations. we discovered what kind of learning can be delivered online. we discovered that teaching is the most complex, high-impact profession known to man and we started compensating our educators properly for their irreplaceable work. everyone voted, after coronavirus. kids who lived through the virus valued science above all, became researchers and doctors, kicking off the greatest period of world positive discovery and innovation the planet has ever seen. we came, finally and forever, to appreciate the profound fact of r shared humanity, and relish the full force of our love for one another.

>> woodruff: thank you. wouldn't that be wonderful. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. 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: >> consumer cellular offers no-contract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're a talker, texter, browser, photographer, or a bit of everything, our u.s.-based customer service team is here to find a plan that fits you. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> 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 planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation.

working with visionaries on the frontlines of socialhange worldwide. >> and with the ongoinsupport of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org lidia: buon giorno. i'm lidia bastianich,

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