newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'moo judyuff. on the newshour tonight, covid at a crossroads-- as states look to reopen, one new government model pricts three thousand daily u.s. deaths by j1. then, how contact tracing can mitigate the spread theco na virus and limit the pandemic. plus, the supreme court goes live for the first time, streaming oral arguments live as the court meets via telephone to comply with the soci distancing rules. and, the senate returns to washington.s the house stme. as protests around the country challenge governors on opening upon our politicsy team previews the week. all that and mpbe on tonht's newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> life isn't a std ight line, metimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice foroday, and tomorrow. >> the williamnd flora hewlett

for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutionso promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >>his program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the world begins a new week in the era of covid-19, with infections and dehs still rising. the official u.s. death toll has passed 68,000, amid new warnings that it could go much higher. meanwhile, state by state, the country is taking more steps toward reopening. stephae sy begins our coverage

tonight.>> eporter: barbers in omaha, nebraska were back at work today. >> financially it's been really bad, but i think i miss the atmosphere of being able to cut hair and being around people. further easing restrictions on some of the businesses shuttered by the pandemic. owners say it's a positive step toward a new normal. >> we'll be doing appointments,l appointmentsbecause we can only have 10 people in the shop at once.>> eporter: the new wave of reopenings has come amid a push and pull across the country on when and how to resume public resume doing buiness this week in south dakota, afield pork processing plant, formerly closed due to hundreds of covid- 19 infections, began partially reopening today. and boston was the scene of the latest protest demanding that officials drop restrictions, as hundreds ghered outside the

state capitol building. in the nation's capital, the senate gaveled in for the first time in more than five weeks. that wasn't the case aoss the capitol, where the house of representatives opted to stay away while washington, d.c., remains a virus hot spot. er the weekend, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker nancy pelosi declined the trump administration's offer to provide the rapid testing being used to screen visitors at the white house.in in a rare statement, they said those resources should go to front-linthworkers, where "can do the most good the most quickly." meanwhile, on sunday, in aox news town hall, president trump urged a broader return to rk, even as he upped his estimate on how many americans could die. >> look, we're going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people. shouldn't lose one person over this. >> reporter:nd the "new york times" reported today that internal administration

documents now project the toll could nearlywiouble by june, about 3,000 deaths a day.do the white housplayed the report, saying it had not gone througinteragency vetting. death toll of 135,000, due to relaxed sosal ditancing. at the townhall mr. trump also claimed at the townhall, mr. trump also claimed early briefings from hiw intelligenceommunity failed to depict the severity of the virus. >> on january 23 i was told that there could be a vus coming in but it was of no real import, >> reporter: meanwhile, europe's hardest-hit countries are moving to loosen restrictions. small businesses in spain openec their doors mers today, but owners like susana pbla, at thinail salon in madrid,sa it is far from business as usual. >> ( translated ): it is n's the same; ot the way it was before.

it's complicated now because we have to disinfect a lot more than before.py but we are ho be back. >> reporter: and in italy, nearly 4.5 million people industries as the country logged its lowest new death count since the lockdown began in march. it's a different story in russia where infections spiked by more than 10,000 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to double what it was last week. the world remains on guard, and amid a globahuannt foron a, joined a virtual summit to pledge billions for research.tr thp administration decided not to take part. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: let's talk about some of these new prrts about thected death tolls, how it may be worse than what the president and some oers had thought recently. and what can be done to slow the spread of covid.

laurie garrett is a pulitzer prize-winning science journalist and writer whose career has been devoted to tracking and reporting on infectious >> woodruff: thank you so much for joining us. we dve these apparently two new grim forecasts today. i want to ask about the cdc report yet. we haven't seen all the numbers, the white house is saying it's not their numbers but they are talking about by june 1st, 34,000 death-- 3,000 dits a day, up to 200,000 new cases a day, i th the wrong direction. >> absolutely, judy. and it's aug he explosive growth they're predicting. and st basically, if you look at the distribution they are imagining st really therair states, the mississippi valley and the deep south states. and it seems, i think, though we don't have access to te raw data that they are working with, but it does seem to coinside

with these outbreaks that have been occurring inside of meat-packk plants, nursing homes, veteran administration hospitals that have claimedo large numberf workers in those facilities, but haven't yeteneralized ino the larger community. and i think they're projecting that there will be general station-- generalization that ac infected meat ker, for example, might then infect their family members, some of those family members may infect local store keepers and so on. so i think ey're imagining a all in fairly small remote areas and in many cases rural counties. >> and do you think it's the same explanation for this new model that we where told is coming today from the university of washington where they are projecting the total number ofat in the u.s. as 135,000,

yeah beyond what it was befe. is your reading of it saying factor?a at work here >> again, we havet been given a lot of the details that are ed for the analyses yet. but i think they're also looking at higher than expected new infections and deaths in this swath of states that is the mississippi valley region all the way up to the canadianbo er. >> woodruff: i want to ask you to listen to some things that wm heard president trump in recent weeks. and ask you questions coming out of that, l listen. >> the data suggests that nationwide we are passed the peak on new cases. a minimum, if we didnock would have been 1.6, if you cut that in half, are you talking about 800,000, 900,000, a million people dying. but we did a lot of wrk. and i think right now we're hitting at probably around 60,

maybe 65,000. >> i think we've done a great job. were-- minimal numbers weres minimal numbers weng to be. 100,000 people and we're going to be hopefully far below that. >> woodruff: and laurie, i these projections could have been so off, if it turns out to be these new numbers are right? >> well, first of all, thiis not a stagnant situation. we have been trying to respond to the virus. so measures have been taken, in various key states, new yrk, washington state, california,tt massachu taking very strong steps to try and mitigate the spread by having people go into lockdown. con versely we have a mber of states that have decided to actually back off, the state ofh today just said that the governor wants companies to be required to report the names ofo

workers wh't go to the job. as they open up. but you know, the government is demanding that you must risk your life. you must go into a meat packing plant. so we have a lot of actions being taken that make the situation quite fluid. and whatever the snap shot of a moment is, that you make your projections off of, is by definition, going to be a differt snap shot tomorrow. and a different one the next day. >> they're working and yet the picture is more compli kailted than tha what is the message then laurie garrett to the american people ofll this, that clearly that they need to continue to practice taption distancing,-- social distancing, hand washing, just the basic element that we have been practicing. but what more can americans be doing? >> i think at this point if i these states that is projected

to see significant increases, io d be ordering a lot of testing that is targeted to give me some of policy guidance. i would test in meat packing plants. i would test in school settings, if there are schools still open. every nursing home. every assisted living center, any place where i still have people cohoused, veteran's administration ci nters. anuld want to know, do i have a trend, day by day that shows increased transmission and if i do, then that is a targeted community. that is where i direct my resources. i have to solve this problemat immey. if we don't take smart steps, guide our testing in wise ways, then we're just going to be flailing around racing behind the vius which would be consistently, judy, wayahead of us. thing laurie garrett, you have said for a long time that

americans never sufficiently invested in public health and that that is what is underlying so much of this. >> absolutely. i mean just look at one of the key markers that ind oicates whethenot ko yeluy to have a severe outcom if infected and potentially succumb to covid disease. it's hypertension. >> hypertensn is the cheapest, easiest interveion imaginable. u know, just flop the cuff on, check your blood pressure. and we have a raft of medications thatwill help you. we know how to bring down high ood pressure. that is a perfect marker for lack of access to con sition ent public health intersphrorm vengs and medical care.en ou look at the racial distribution andth ess driks distribution on who is dying of covid, you can see it isly exa the same as who is not getting lto isd for heir hypertens not a

wh g intervtions on an ongose is. but a huge percentage of american has noen consi health care, doesn't have a doctor by name. a situation, a crisis of tis scale hits, they have nowhere to turn. we have a pach work mosaic of public health systems, a patch work mosaic of guidances and government responses. you cross a county line and it is a whole different balgame. this is not the way to stop a national epidemic. this is chaos. >> no question, a lot of us are so much more fortunate thanot many, manyr americans. laurie garrett, thank you so much for putting it in perspective. sctnce, journalist and wer laurie garrett. thank you. >> thank you, judy. >>

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, the u.s. treasury said it will borroa record amount in this quarter to cover pandemic relief-- nearly $3 trillion. that's well over twice the total for all of last year. meanwhile, treasury secretary to tell if international travel can restart this year. he said americans should focus u.s. supreme court hrd oral arguments by phone today, due to the pandemic. and in another first, the audio was heard, live. i the caolved whether the travel website "booking.com" has the legal right to trademark its name. we'll return to today's hearinge later inrogram. the supreme court of israel heard legal challenges todayo prime minister benjamin netanyahu's governing coalition. he struck a deal last month with former rival benny gantz. among other things, it lets netanyahu remain in

office despite facing trial on corruption charges. his defense team argued today to a panel alof 11 judgesin face masks, that the governing bloc is legitimate. >> ( translated ): we are in a situation where in fact, inside this governmenare the two poles of the israeli public. it's not that the government is not formed the coalition and opposition were brought into the government and were given the possibility to serve together. >> woodruff: if the court cts the coalition deal, could trigger a forth election in a little more than a year.ju separately, thices are considering whether netanyahu can remain in office. back in this country, the secretary of tcl u.s. senate ed joe biden's request to release any potential records involving a sexual assault algation. the secretary cited confidentiality rules. former staffer tara reade saysen

thenor biden assaulted her in 1993, and that she filed a report. weis year's pulitzer prize announced today. and "p-publica" and the "anchorage daily news" took the public service prize, focusing on policing in alaskan villages. "the new york times" won for reporting on russian president investigative reporting and commentary. "the washington post" won foror explanreporting on the environment and extreme temperatures. a in ts, the prize for drama went to michael r. jackson for his musical "a strange loop." colson whitehead won his second fiction prize, this time for "the nickel boys," about reform school in florida. s waeet managed modest gains today, after recovering from initial losses. thgedow jones industrial ave added 26 points to close at 23,749.10 the nasdaq rosints to close at 8,710.71, and, the s&p

500 was up 12. and, the winningest coach in pro a,football history, don shas died at his home in south florida. he racked up 347 wins over 33th seasons he baltimore colts and then, the miami dolphins. in 1972, he led miami to the ean.f.l.'s only undefeatedn, winning the super bowl that year and the next. don shula was 90 years old. still to come on the newshour: the trump administraon tntinues to criticize china over the spread coronavirus. and capturing images of the pandemic: perspective from a photojournalist. >> woodruff: with the number of

cases expected to increase for the next several weeks, many experts say the next phase in the response will require aggressive contact tracing. amna nawaz reports on how the tracing works, why it could help, and the concerns over privacy.ys >> nawaz: cass' path to a west point grad,ervedrm. three tours of duty for the u.s. mearmy, then went on to be physician's assistant in boston. in mar, like many places during the pandemic, all eltive surgeries here were paused. >> we cat operate and replace hips and knees right now, i just kept thinking, what can i do? how can i help? how can i be involved in this public health crisis? >> nawaz: massachuses has nearly 70,000 confirmed cases of covid-19, and last month, governor charlie baker gave krysta her answer, announcing a new phasin the state's fight against the virus: aggressive contact tracing. o >> w of the first applicants. i could not wait to get my hands on this.

>> nawaz: krystaas hired by partners in health, a boston- based global health non-profit working with the state to hire, train and deploy a thousand new contact tracers at a cost of $44 million.s the proc straightforward but time-intensive: first, contact all new confirmed cases of covid 19, find out everyone they came into contact with while sick, then reach out to those people to tell them they may have been exposed, and will needarantine. what are the first lines you deliver to people? >> so i would say hi, i'm krista i'm calling from the community tracing collaborative for the department of health, working to so i'm calling to let you know that you've been exposed in the diagnosed recently with covid 19. and then i take a break, because that's a that's a lot to handle and a lot a lot to hear. >> nawaz: the work, she says, is ngout more than just infor people they might have been exposed. contact tracers explain how to arantine the right way. how people can protect their familiesget groceries and

medicine, pay their bills, even find help for domeic abuse. >> we are not just collecting data here. we're not just findi out how while we're doing that, we're doing more than that. we are becoming extensions of our client or of our ctact social support system, and we're connecting them with the resources they need. >> nawaz: used around the globe in response toiseases like cholera, h.i.v. and ebola, contact tracing has long been a critical public health tool to map and control outbreaks. >> this is how you stop running away from the virus and start >> nawaz: now with the center for global development, jeremy konyndyk hped manage the obama administration's ebola response in west africa, relying heavily on contact tracing. ramping up a national program here, he says, could not only help stop the spread, it could help avoid large-scale shutdowns.adeqte testing and because we don't have a national contact tracing infrastructure in place in the united states, we in effect havp

to prevely quarantine the whole population and slow the but with contact tracing at scale and testing at scale, then you have the ability to quarantine only those people who have actually beenvixposed to ths. >> nawaz: digital tools to track people's movements, he says, like those used in singapore, israel, south korea, and many soother countries could al helpk but tang the scale of infection here in the u.s., on top of years of slashite health budgets, means more federal leadership is needed. >> and so the estimates now from johns hopkins are that we may need somewhere around 100,000 contact trers across the united states. and i think that that's the sort of order of magnitude and we need to be thinking on here. that's a lot of people. but also, that's an achievable thing. >> nawaz: some estimate the u.s. will need nearly double that number of contact tracers, but so far states are largely rolling out their own, individual plans. north d south dakota are two of a handful of states which have not issued stay-at-home orders during covid-19. together they've so far seen around 3500 confirmed cases, with fewer than 50 deaths.al

offinow hope a new location-based app can aid their efforts to keep the virus at bay. >> it turns out that most people, including myself, can't remember on a good day where i was five days ago, let alone, if you're sick. >> nawaz: tim brookins is an app developer in fargo, north dakota. in 2014, he developed "bison tracker"-- an app that let north dakota state football fans track each other as they traveled t togethaway games. in april, he repurposed that app into this one, the care 19 app,c which and compiles users'if locations, shey do test positive, they can easily share that data wi a contact tracer. brookins says it will protect users' identities while making athe process more efficie accurate. but he acknowledges these efforts require buy in. people need to reake time to digest, you know, what is the and, you know, comerms with the idea of location tracng and whether it's a go thing or not. >> nawaz: google and apple recently announced they're

working on contact tracing technology too, to roll out in mid-may. but the rushed tech response has some privacy experts worried. >> we're essentially building the airplane while it's flying. >> nawaz: jon callas is a former security expert at apple, now with the american civil liberties union. they recently published a report outlining principles to protect privacy and civil rights in contact tracing technologies. among those principles: that the technology used should be voluntary; tracking information should be stored on a user's phone rather than a government or company server; the data should be routinely cleared out; when the pandemic does.ld end callas says these are necessary steps not only to protect the public from increased surveillance, as seen in china, fight the pandemic to be effective. >> we have to get tht of the people who are who are using this. if people don't trust that thiss is am that will benefit them and their community, they. won't use they'll balk.

they they'll push back. i mean, we already see people in the unitedtates who arepu ing back on things. >> nawaz: ultimately, though, experts agree the digital tools should complement human contact tracers, not replace them. >> while the app may be hficient, it's not familiar, nor does it havean voice on the other end of it saying,by he way, i know i'm telling you that you've been exposed, and the second thing i want you to know is i'm here for you through this process. >> nawaz: a process tolow the spread, save lives, and maybe even prevent future waves of the virus. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz in washington. >> woodruff: it was a supreme court argument unlike any other it had held before. less so because of the issue that the justices grappled with today, it was more because of argument happen, during aay's pandemic.

not only that, the pcould hear it all, live. yamiche alcindor begins there. >> alcindor: today, the supreme cot was in session, but you could hardly tell by the relative quiet outside the courthouse. instead, it was e voice of chief justice john roberts that kicked off today's oralme ars, over the phone. >> case number 19-46, patent and trademark office versus booking.com. ms. ross? chief justice, and may please the court. the supreme court.a first for justices normally hear arguments in a case together, and in person. the socially distanced justices, four of them in their 70s or 80s, took turns quesing attorneys over the phone. the arguments theyeard today had been rescheduled because of the pandemic. and, there were the occasional glites: for a few seconds, b audio rendered justice stephen >> thank you, counr: justice breyer?ou

>> thank >> alcindor: but any issues were minor, in an argument that also included questions from justice clarence thoma >> thank you, counsel.as? >> yes, ms. ross. >> alcindor: it was just his third time posing questions at degument, over at least a dea trademarsek , inlving the also this month: cases about religious exemptions to the affordable care act's birth control coverage mandate, disputes over subpoenas for president trump's financial records, and the issue of" faithless electors" in presidential elections. until now, for the public, following an argument live hast ving to get a seat inside the courtroom, wher electronics are bann for closely watched cases, long lines for ses are the norm. f but in anothst, the broader public could listen to today's arguments live. marcia coyle of "the national law journal": th>> the normal window int

operation of the court espeally during oral argumen is really through the reporters who cover the court, the stories they write. there are several courtroomti s who draw pictures of the action. thaudio of the argument is posted on the court's website, but not until the friday of the week in which a particular case was argued. >> alcindor: in the few times the court has done same-day audio releases, they were for arguments in the most extraordinary of cases. some lower federal courts allow news cameras in for some proceedings, or provide audio or video livestreams themselves. but the supreme court's operations have a hiof being slow to keep up with technology. for example, its opinions were printed using hot-metal pesetting until the 1980s when it moved to electronic printing. and over the years, someav justices hlet it be known diceo mee doubts about broader

almost a quarter-century aagoti- retired justices anthony kennedy and david souter about letting news cameras in.an >> iell you that the day you see a camera coming to our courtroom, it's going to roll b over my dey. am alcindor: as recently as last year, justices sl alito and elena kagan expressed their own concerns, also before a house >> allowing the arguments to be televised would undermine theirs value to u step in decision-making process. i think lawyers would find it irresistible to try to put in a little sound bite in the hope of beoxg that evening on cnn or or msnbc or one of the broadcast networks. >> i think we would filter ourselves in ways that would be unfortunate. in other words, the first time you see something on the evening news, which taken out of context, suggest something that

you never meant to suggest, suggests that you have an opinion on some issue that you, if fact,on't have. >> alcindor: but now that the court has adjusted to the times: at least for these first two weeks in may, will audioic livestreaming around, even after the pandemic has passed? for the pbs newshour, i'm >> woodruff: you can follow the supreme court oral arguments on our website at pbs.org/newshour. w druf the war of words between beijing and washington gets more aggressive by the day. now, the trump white house is boosting a theory that says the coronavirus was accidentallyro releaseda lab in wuhan, where the outbak began. here's nick schifrin on e tense international politics of the pandemic.n:

>> schifudy, that war of words accelerated yesterday with both the secretary of state and president trump laying blame for the pandemic on china,nd on that lab in wuhan. here's mr. trump at a fox ne townhall last night suggesting it was accidentally released by the lab.n mypinion themade a mistake, they tried to cover ity ried to put it out, it's like a fire. it's really like trying to put out a fire. they couldn't put out the fire. what they really treated the world badly on, they stopped people going into hina, but they didn't stop people go into the u.s.a. and allvnger the world. >> schifrin: so is the trump administration right to pointer the fit china for the coronavirus, and its spread around the world? or should the finger be pointed equally we get two views. antony blinken is a senior foreign policy advisor to presidential candiate joe biden he ser the obama administration. and rebeccah heinrichs is a

senior fellow at the hudson institute, a think tank in washington, d.c.ed she has wos foreign policy advisor to republicans on capitol hill. thank you very much, welcome both back to theks newshoony blinken, let me start with you. so has president trump been corrt inting out that china, at least locally covered up the virus in the early days and that lead to thspread of covid-19? >> so that's only half the story. clearlychina, the government of china has to be held accountable for failing to provi information in a timely fashion, failing to give access torn inional inspectors to get to the bottom of what happened. but the other half oisthe story this, unfortunately tragically, the trump administration took down orot undermined af defenses, the previous administration put in place, to be able to warn ofu a pandemic inng a pandemic emerging from china and then when the pandemic emerged in china, and the system was flashing red, the present did virt allly nothinabout it.

and unfortunately mislead the amrican people for e bet part of two months about th dangers he way. >> schreifrin:eccah heinrichs you heard the blaming of china buvment has president trump failed in his response over the last few months? >> throw, i think it is muh too early to give such a harsh grade to the trump administration wh we are just adapting to the data that comes in. the critical piece of y the trump administration is so counterthe narratit thet they chinese government may maybe made a mistake but isn't ultimately to blairnlings to counter that argument, you have to go out there d say what is true. the truth of the matter is it's not just that the chinese government covered up. they obfiscated, thelied, they didn't give the information they needed. but they continue to this dy to silence doctors, to censor related to the origins of the virus. the onus is on the chinese government because it originated in their country, to show the

world where this thing comes from. provide all of the data that individuals need. and even to this daye, 's still imprisoning people, disappearing people and sen surithem, which that is why there is a suspicion surroun all of this. if china wants to be a world to act like a responsible actor and demonstrate that they can be trusted on something so serio as this. >> schifrin: tony blinken, iten december there were doctors in wuhan trying to sound the alarm. those people were sigh lerchessed and it took china weeks at least publicly to admit that there was human to humanon transmis is the trump administration right to point all those things >> yw, i agree with out? china has greats a great nati responsibilities. and in this case the spobilityds are even more acute because the virus originated in china. but we have great responsibilities too, and our administration in particular does. so when we take down virtually all of the programs and personnel that were put in place by previous administrations to

predict, prevent and mte originating in china, that is a problem.and then when the pandec starts to emerge in china and yo ignore-- ignore your own intelligence community, not once, not twice but a dozen time remember before 9/11 there was a famous item in the president's daily brief saying bin ladentt determined to k united states that is based on post reporting. the equivalent of whap president trceived not once, not twice but a dozen times in annarjaot idny sist that china live up to its responsibilities by giving access to sectors, by makingre nformation was forth coming, instead at that very forth coming, what did he do?ng he praised the government in beijing for being transparent. he praised it for its cooperation. and i might point out at that very moment, joe biden wason callinhe president n to take the government's word for it in china. to hold them to account, insist on information, to get wuhan.spectors into labs in

>> schifrin: rebeccah heinrichs, the intelliconce ittee officials confirm they were trying to sound the alarm in janl. i talked to national ecity officials who also were trying to sound the alarm within the administration. they do fear that their responsibility wasn't quick enough what about that, was the administration's response quick enough, should the president have been more critical much china in january thahe really wa >> i think if you look at, there is a disconnect between the presidenugs rhetoric ththe early part of march and his policies thate implemented including the travel restrictions from schiena into the united states. i think part of that was becae he was trying to calibrate a response to instill trust in the market, not knowing exactly the effect this would have in the united states. i do think that was a mistake. that pales in comparison to i think a lot of the good the administration is doing with thn rmation they have. and again, it is not sigh to keep going back to china t is

the central isse, when president trump sentut in mid january, my understand sght administration is desperately trying to get americans countries to get ahold of the sequence.before covid-19 in ordt information. and so the president believes thal flatter xi jinping enough to smooth out that relationship to get americans from the country, that was his primary concern. question argue whether that was wise, question understand the motivation for him doing that. is he not confused about there na of the ppe. to this day there is a doctor in shanghai trying to sound at larm and give the genome sequence to other individuals outside the country and that lab w promptly shut down. the wet market with san advertise. the animals were destroyed rather than having lab work from the animals when the who went in country. all of these thing lead eric people to be suspicious about why the chinese government isn't being open and honest. >> schifrin: i want to turn to world leadership in the time

have i left. tony blinkeren, the world health organization repeated chinese claims which nownow to be incorrect, that the virus had no human ttro humannsmission through january and the trump administration has been crit calf the who has frozen funlds because of some of those mistakes early on. do you believe that reason could help create the reforms of the who that many believe are necessary. >> as to the who, it clearly fell short of the mark. the st ironic because president says is the woo woo was who was n tuick enouf going on in china and the was chinese government which are accusations much moshre directedded atnt trump himself. going forward, we need to make sure that the who can act effectively. my concern is this, as we pull out, who gos in? china. they will expand their infleuns in the who. they will expand their influence on all the places we are

retreatingfrom as a con sints manner in thiadministration ation is not a way show show american strength and influence. st a way to help the government in beijing expand its own influence. >> first of ale united states, government money combined with nongovernment money has given more than $6.5 biion to our allies and partners a product to fight coronavirus, that is 12 times the amounte chinese government has provided and the united states continues to be, i think at 40% to the world-- food organization, the wall street banks to make sheurt secondary affectness tronavirus is caution, the economic devastation to other vulnerable countries, so that there is still food. there the united states is still the world leader ern genity, ben ef lens and you can see it in the face of this global pandemic. the united states should do far more thanthe who even thoughes the who isentially acting like a moit piece, propaganda outlet for the chinese governs nt. so it t all about money.

sometimes money isn't the thing that will influence organizations like the who. so is i don't understand why people continue to say that we should be giving more money.so an think that e stump administration is absolutely right on to withhold fundi untirl we see reforms from the who. >> thank.: rebeccah thas. >> woodruff: in the absence of daily white house coronavirus briefings, president trump took to fox news last night to tout his achievements and ithat the econy is on its way to a speedy recover ore to analyze the politi the his response, amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." hello to both of you. d before i turn to yo, i want to let you listen some of what

president trump had tsao y at this fox townhall last night. ed also some of what biden townhall that had to do with helping essential workers,th particularly ilatino community. let's listen both of those and i will come back. you-- make more money, frankly, i think that will happen. i think we will have an incredible following y r. we will to a transition in the third quarter nd we're going to see things happen that look good, i really believe i have a good fee this stumplet have i done it for a long time. >> i have put out a detailed plan about what ik we should be doing right now to support our front line workers and address the disparities we're saying with covid-19 impacts all across the country. and i truly think that if we do this right, we have an incredible opportunity to not just dig out of this crisis but to fundamentally transform the country. >> woodruff: so amy, i'm going to come to you first. you have the president pivoting

to talk about the economy at a time when, frankly, the numbers, of cases and deaths on covd are not looking very good. the president acknowleed that in his heart last night. but he is talking about the economy, saying it will get better. joe biden on the other hand saying about how we need to protect these front lin worker what do you make of these two approaches. here we are in may of election year. >> that's right. you can hear it with president trump last night in thatll town he was so nostalgic for that time before covid when the onomy was strong, his numbers on handling the economyso strong. his focus was wing the election on the strength of a good economy. and now here we are, witthis pandemic that is not just obviously devastating thet economy. and he wants to, and he said over and over again, bring america back, we need to get america working. we need to get this economy

back.wi joe biden, what i find really interesting judy, especially that clip thatput in there was joe biden was attacken byin the progressive community for nt wanting to be prog-- for not being progressive enough. standing. really status and what he's doing is not just hetingg about bringing teconomyt a focus on the people who are looking to make more structure. what he is looking to do is make more structural change, focusing not just on the front lines,are talking about meat packing workers but who also are, were doing poorly in the economy before e covid-19 outbak and continue to struggle even now. >> and as you listen to this and you look at what the two candidates are saying, what does it tell you about where they see themselves in this ntest.

>> president trump wanted his campaign slogan it has been sort of rolling out to be keep america great. and now it's more like makea amerreat again, again. but you know, you have a situation where you have the president of the united states with all theadvantages of incumbency that a president of the united states ha and you have joe biden you know, sort ostuck in a basement doing these webcasts, trying his best to campaign. but it's very dif now obviously mt tt rump can'go to a rally. he is yearning to a day where he n ca 25,000 people. unclear when or if that will happen. but z, suddenly he still has the raility to, you know, getn o the president. >>oodruff: that's right,

amy, the president tomorrow is going to fly from washington to arizona to visit a company where they manufacture protective gear, masks, that people are wearing right now. how much ofgean advanoes the president have at a time like this? joe biden is at home?. >> rig and you can hear if that audio, he wasn't-- he was sngitti ssmgu could hear crickets or frogs or something in the background while the president gets to not only fly on air force one b sit at the lincoln memorial. the contrast couldn't be stronger. at the same time even with those is still looking at the approval ratings that are in some cases 20 to 30 points lowethan governors, in many of thesest es. red states, blue states, all these governors had used this opportunity in the spotlight under this crisis moment to meet that moment. this president has med it in the

same way hemeets every moment which is i a very polarizing, d uld be a bigso what so sdvantage of a bully pulpit ha not worked out that way. >> woodruff: and tam, go ahead. >> to trip to arizona is a official event t is not a campaign event but it is not a coincidence thatthe president going to arizona, a state he won in 2016. but the reality is it plays in 2020, i talked to someone from his campaign today. they have had people the ground there since 2015.'s but the real sense that this is a state that they're going to have to fight for. arizona used fob red arizona, isn't guaranteed and certainly under the current circumstances is not a guarantee. >> so amy, you brought up the governors. we are seeing right now a number of states, i guess what is it,

they're saying 20, 30 states go ahead and planning to ep up again teen with the forecast of rising cases and deaths. around the statat seem to be moving ahead, more of them the states that are saying no, let's wait. more of them have democratic governors. how part san-- partisan is it right now? >> it's really interesting, judy. the kaiser foundation has an interesting pullout this morning thatooked at, or soe data out this morning that looked at the rate of growth, especially over the last two weeks, in states that had democraticer govrs and states that had republican governors. while it is true that states at have democratic governors overall have more deaths even per capita than those who have red governors. when you look over the last two weeks at the rate of growth in both cases andth de it is the red states that are seeing anib incr yup tick. so the question and you are right to ask ts, judy, what if this is true that we will not only see more cases or more

deathsrin ed states. will that change the per septionz by people who live in those states and governors on this issue. what i found interesting was ir was digging gh some polls taken in michigan and florida, two battleground states. one mass a democratic governor, one has repuican governor. when you ask voters in those statab how worried are youut actually contracting coronavirus, a then ask specifically very worried or some what worried. the people who said they re very worried also happened to line up prty closely with whether you were a clinton voter or not. so in michigan s inmething like 52 percent of clinton voters said they were very worried about that, of gettingro virus. 57% in florida. but among voters who voted for trump 16, a quarter or a third said they were very worried about this issu so you can see at that moment, or whether they scraiered st or a blue state, governor is democrat, governor who is

republican, the voter themselves, the ideological lens through which they are looking also is impacting how serious they believe the threat of covird infection is. >> woodruff: pam, you have 30 seconds. >> yes, i was talking to a researcher about this and he was pointing out that up until this int there has been sort of a disproportionate weight of thes coronaviing borne by counties that were clinton counties. and there are also a lot of racial disparities that are underlying that. and it might elain why th politics are the way they are. but you know, that celmpl could change if the virus change its way it affects the country is. >> woodruff: so interesting. these numbers. state by state.se we'ring things we didn't see just a month or so ago. tamara keith, amy walter, we thank you both. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: for weeks, photographer john moore has been bringing his camera to the front s ne he pdoancudememint the new realf life in america. en's tagged along with eme medical workers and gone inside intensive care units. here's a look at what he's seen so far, it's part of our ongoing ars. and culture series, can >> getty images sent me first to seattle. it was early march. the disease had already spread to a nurking home and in land, washington, which is just outside of seattle.as and so ihotographing the empty city of seattle. and what was happening outside of nursing homes. and then i flew backnce the crisis really began to be obvious here on the east coast

of the u.s. and my flight back from seattle to new york city was virtually empty. and so i photographed really the emptiness which would become our society in general and public places. grhoved toepidic whether it is wrong island, the southern, souweern connecticut. everyone is affected in some way or another. i photographed testing siteds, i photographed schools that are empty, i i photraphed schools that are empty. i photographed many things that show the effect of this epidemif al immigrant families, because i think the immigrant community, especially the undocumented community, is really highly affectav. they don'tmany of them don't have health insurance and very few oprthem have any ections when they're unemployed.

like. on the other hand it is so important for me to protect the people i'm photographing. frirntion i will give you an example, there was one case where ems workersin yonkers workers in yonkers went to a house and had to intubate a mao s barely breathing when they arrived. and that situation was just incredible to see. you hear about intubation, but you almost never see it. and so i tried to photograph it in a way that gave respect to the gentleman that they were trying to save and they did and still show the drama of the moment. and when you talk to first responders, to paramedics, it's interesting. you know, yes, people are seeing them as heroes. they're doing heroic work. and it's amazing.t athe same tie doing their normal jobs.

went to me it is porntd that this story is told not only inf people died. but it is about humanei bs. .nd i want to show whaths tke what people can see what is happening to other human beingses that show the heroism, of the ems workers, doing it's important work. and the hospital w who are taking care of people on the other sievmentd and if i can ow that, and bring it to a human level, then i have done my job. >> woodruff: they truly are heroes and we thank you. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, libries across the country have closed their doors during the pandemic, but it doesn't mean their work stops. as summer reading season approaches, librarians share their book recommendations for kids of all ages.

find that list on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. before we go, "may the fourth" has become an unofficial holiday so we leave you tonight with an excerpt from composer and conductor john williams and the vienna philharmonic, playing "the imperial march," as we all look forward to the day when we go to concerts and movies again. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ and that's the newshour for henight. for all of us atbs newshour, stay safe, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> and by the alfred p. sloan fodation. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at nd.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institution >> this program was ibde po bthe corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored byne wshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "arica's test kitchen," we're going to thailand. becky lakes julia a thaiic, hot and sour noodle soup, the ultimate crispy thai eggplant salad. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."