captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, on this memorial day, as the covid 19 death toll climbs to nearly 100,000, we consider the enormity of loss and the push to return to normal. then, a summer like no other-- relaxing social restrictions spells relief for some and fear for others. plus, an outsized impact-- why the navajo nation and some other tribes are seeing some of the country's highest rates of covid-19 infections. >> a lot of native families, there are at least five or six to eight to 10 people living in one household, and it's really

disheartening to see that it can spread so easily. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support 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. >> woodruff: as our nation honored those who gave their lives in service to the country today, the u.s. death toll from the covid-19 pandemic rose to

some 98,000 americans. more areas loosened their coronavirus restrictions over the holiday weekend, and president trump ramped up his push to re-open the country even more. lisa desjardins has our report. >> desjardins: in many ways, it looked like memorial days past: president trump and vice president pence this morning laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns at arlington national cemetery. but it was different-- no crowd and no speech there. similarly many beaches looked just like the start of summer, but those crowds in a still uncontained national health crisis, felt very different. >> it's insane. i don't know how many people are out here today. i didn't expect this at all. we came over here and we were like, 'wow.' >> desjardins: all 50 states are re-opening in some way, with some, like georgia, moving more quickly, with others, like illino, moving more slowly, by region. the changes are bringing relief

and concern both. many pointed to this social media video from lake of the ozarks in missouri with scores of people jammed together at a pool party. in new york, governor andrew cuomo blasted efforts to re-open any place where covid-19 case numbers are still rising. >> it's not smart. it defies history, defies everything we know, defies common sense. >> desjardins: with a spectrum of different circumstances across the country, some u.s. health officials are issuing notes of caution. the commissioner for the food and drug administration, dr. stephen hahn, tweeted a warning yesterday, writing: "the coronavirus is not yet contained. a new careful step, the presumptive democratic nominee made his first public appearance outside in months laying a wreath at a veteran's park. something new for president trump too. he spoke not at arlington cemetery but at baltimore's fort mchenry today. he praised th military's

pandemic response. >> in >> in recent months, our nation and the world have been engaged in a new form of battle against an invisible enemy. once more the men and women of the united states military have answered the call to duty and raced into danger. >> desjardins: baltimore's mayor jack young had asked the president not to make the trip. earlier, the president tweeted urging all schools to re-open soon. he also said the republican national convention in august should still be held in north carolina, but also indicated the his comments come days after the state recorded its largest daily increase in cases yet. north carolina's democratic governor roy cooper said officials there are working with the g.o.p. all this comes amid new travel restrictions to the u.s.

sunday, the trump administration banned entry to foreigners leaving from brazil. that country now has the second highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, behind the u.s. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, top democrats slammed the trump administration's national covid-19 testing strategy, a day after it was sent congress. in a statement, house speaker nancy pelo and senate minority leader chuck schumer and others said the president's strategy is to "deny the truth that there aren't enough tests and supplies, reject responsibility and dump the burden onto the states." the british prime minister's closest aide defied calls to quit today over accusations that he ignored coronavirus lockdown measures. dominic cummings drove 250 miles from london to northern england in march with his wife, who was symptomatic, so his parents

could care for his young son. cummings said he was in an "exceptional situation" and acted "reasonably." >> i don't regret what i did. i think that the way that i dealt with it was the least risk to everybody concerned, if my wife and i had both been unable to look after our four-year old. >> woodruff: prime minister boris johnson also defended cummings' decision, saying he acted both legally and responsibly. back in this country, the republican national committee and two other republican groups filed a lawsuit to block california's move to voting by mail this november. democratic governor gavin newsom issued the order over concerns about the spread of covid-19. but republicans argued in sunday's filing that mail-in ballots would invite fraud. a federal judge ruled sunday night that a florida law requiring felons to pay legal fees before they can vote is

unconstitutional. that clears the way for hundreds of thousands of people to potentially regain the right to vote. florida passed an amendment restoring voter rights for felons in 2018. but governor ron desantis signed a bill limiting it to only those who had paid their court-related debts. officials in china today defended proposed national security legislation that would crack down on opposition activity in hong kong. that comes a day after more than 180 pro-democracy activists were arrested in the semi-autonomou territory, in the largest protests there since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. beijing's proposed laws would ban th demonstrations and classify them as "terrorism." >> ( translated ): the bill is targeted at a small number of behaviors that seriously harm the national security. it does not affect the rights and freedoms enjoyed by hong kong residents.

>> woodruff: pro-democracy protests began in hong kong last june, after beijing introduced a now-tabled bill that would have caused the semi-autonomous territory to lose its special status. and, former cbs washington bureau chief william small has died, after a brief illness not related to the coronavirus. under his leadership, the "cbs evening news wh walter cronkite" maintained its number one slot for 20 years. the veteran newsman was heralded for his no-nonsense approach to he helped to mold cbs news' iconic coverage during the vietnam and watergate eras, with new hires including dan rather william small was 93 years old. still to come on the newshour: the unofficial start of summer amid coronovirus-- perspectives on reopening. how the navajo nation is the political stakes of the pandemic and a preview of the week in politics. and much more.

>> woodruff: as states begin to reopen, john yang reports on how >> woodruff: as states continue to move toward re-opening, today the navajo nation emerged from a strict weekend lockdown and police-enforced curfew, its seventh so far. with native americans experiencing disproportionately high rates of infection and death from covid 19, in this race matters segment, stephanie sy reports that even smaller tribes consider the pandemic as an existential threat. >> reporter: ground zero for covid-19 cases in new mexico is the town of gallup on the edge of the navajo nation. >> i'm like, well, we live in gallup. it's not going to come here. >> reporter: navajo nurse kelly manuelito treated the first covid positive patient to arrive at rehoboth mckinley christian health care services. she works in the intensive care

unit. >> a lot of native families there are at least five or six to eight to 10 people living in one household. and it's really disheartening to see that it can spread so easily. >> reporter: the staff of the i.c.u. was overwhelmed when they saw a spike in covid patients in late april, tied to an outbreak among the homeless population. >> it's definitely scary. i don't know one single worker who is not scared to come up. we've been working extra hours, extra days, and it's just been it's been really rough. >> reporter: manuelito says she's been able to take a break in recent days. the new mexico governor lifted a week-long lockdown after fewer cases were recently reported. but the tollas been devastating on native peoples in new mexico. they account for 50% of covid 19 deaths, nearly 60% of all of the state's covid 19 cases, even though they make up only 11% of the population.

>> i grew up in the north western part of new mexico. >> reporter: jourdan bennett- begaye, a reporter for "indian country today" spends hours a day, compiling reports of native american covid cases and deaths. it's a stark spreadsheet that tells a sad, still unfolding story. >> i think there was a point where one day i saw i counted 60 people in the database. that night, after recording like 10 deaths in one day, i broke down. i did cry because then these are, you know, my relatives. >> reporter: "relative" has an expansive definition in indian country, and on april 23, valentina blackhorse, a former miss western navajo, was added to that list. blackhorse lived in kayenta and her boyfriend, a correctional officer had the virus. one day after testing positive, she died at 28 years old. >> i never thought she would get

sick because she kept telling us, you know, stay home, wash your hands, wear your mask. >> reporter: vanielle blackhorse spoke to us a week after her big sister was laid to rest. >> how a funeral should be? it wasn't like that. there was no chairs. my mom couldn't get comfort from her family. we had to stay in the vehicles until, you know, they covered her. i'm heartbroken. it seems like a part of me has been ripped away. >> reporter: in an effort to save native american lives, tribal leaders have taken strict measures, including curfews and roadblocks. and in washington state, the lummi nation has been uniquely proactive in testing its 5,300 members. springing into action after the first case in the u.s. was

announced at a locale one hour away from the reservation. >> then we start putting orders everywhere we could think of. >> reporter: dr. cristina toledo-cornell is the public health director for the tribe. besides ordering testing materials and medical equipment early on, they have been aggressively contact tracing. >> so to us was very important to find every single case because if we miss one or two of that could be catastrophic for a lot of people and that allows us to really be aggressive in terms of relaxing the testing criteria and test as many as we could. as a result, they've had dozens of confirmed cases, but no deaths. back in new mexico, there are significant clusters of cases in the state's pueblos. by one estimate, 11% of the zia reservation of only 646 members were infected. at that rate, leaders are concerned about the risk of extinction. >> we've been through this before with the spanish flu. the pueblo of pojoaque was

reduced to just a few individuals. >> reporter: joseph talachy s governor of the pueblo of pojoaque. >> our history is passed down through our language and through our spoken stories. and so any loss of our tribal elders would be a loss to our history. >> reporter: he shut down the pueblo early. >> i knew that there was going to be consequences as well. you know people were going to be upset. >> reporter: the buffalo thunder casino hotel is closed for business and instead being used to house covid-19 patients from other area tribes. casino closures since the pandemic are expected to directly affect basic services on tribal lands. >> it just takes a few mistakes to get this virus to peak back up, especially in indian country. >> economy doesn't mean anything if you don't have people. >> reporter: in northern michigan, bryan newland is the tribal chairperson of the bay mills indian community. >> this pandemic's impact on our community has been almost entirely economic at this point. i would estimate that right now

we have about two thirds of our tribal employees out of work. and then our tribe has a pretty sizable commercial fishing industry that's really been hit hard. >> reporter: back on the navajo nation, karen schell has felt that economic hit too. she runs a shop that's been in the family since 1948 and has been closed for months. >> i have just hundreds and ndreds of navajo people that sell to me. >> reporter: still, lost business for her means lost revenue for her local chapter house. >> those moneys go to our community here. i'm not making anything. they're not getting anything. >> reporter: but, she says just down the road from her shop fellow navajo have died. >> we know them by name. and we know people who are sick right now. so i think everybody on the reservation knows somebody who is sick. >> reporter: nurse kelly manuelito, while taking care of the sick, has been struggling herself. i understand you're a mother and you've had to distance from your child.

>> i have... it's been the hardest thing to be away from her. her name is hayden. she is five. for the past five years and nine months of her life, i have told her every day, come hug mommy, come kiss mommy. my mission as a nurse is i am here to protect. and my job as a mother is to keep my daughter safe, to keep her surrounded by family and love. >> reporter: many will say it's that kinship that has helped native peoples survive, throughout time and against all odds. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in phoenix.

>> woodruff: it's memorial day, and, as mentioned, the traditional kickoff to summer and the busy vacation season. as states begin to reopen, john yang reports on how beach towns and business owners are adjusting in the time of ccovid- 19. >> here at rehoboth beach, it's definitely a different memorial day. >> yang: nick caggiano has been selling pizza in rehoboth beach delaware for almost 50 years. >> last memorial day at this time, we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off and we were all like having a bunch of fun because it's our first big weekend. >> yang: this long holiday weekend, business has been half of what it was last year. he's been limited to curbside pickup and a smaller staff. and the coronavirus pandemic has meant fewer people on the beach outside his restaurant. but in other places, from texas to south carolina, beaches were packed for summer's firs weekend.

in daytona beach florida, large crowds and no social distancing. >> were there massive crowds? absolutely. did we get invaded? absolutely. >> yang: overall, travel this weekend and into the summer will likely be down. last year 43 million american traveled over the memorial day weekend, according to aaa. t.s.a. reported a staggering dr in airport screenings on friday: fewer than 350,000 people passed through checkpoints, down more than 87% from last year's record high. that's having a big impact on spending. the u.s. travel association projected that this memorial day weekend, americans would spend just a third of what they did last year. roger dow is the group's president. he and other tourism industry leaders joined vice president mike pence last week in florida. > when you talk about beach towns, i'm so worried about them, because if they don't make it during the summer, they don't make it. and i'm afraid many of them won't survive. >> our tourist season starts

today. you know, we have 10 weeks to make cash. >> yang: susan kelleher runs a gift store and ice cream shop on tybee island in georgia, one of the first states to reopen. >> it's kind of just been a trial and error. we just do what we feel, okay. we do what we feel is safe and comfortable because we need to have the tourists back. >> yang: but she worries that some of those tourists could bring the virus. so she's limiting capacity at the ice cream shop to just one family at a time and asking everyone to use hand sanitizer. >> it's a little bit of panic to believe that people are going to be coming in and bringing the virus with them in droves. >> yang: on cape cod, that's not a worry for andy murphy at his pub this weekend, bad weather combined with coronavirus and a restaurant that is currently take-out only, made for a less than perfect season opening weekend. >> i think you have to face the >> it's a risk.

but it might not be the doom and gloom that people who have been led to believe leave as they've been homebound for the last two months. >> yang: right now, he's thinking more about the economic future. >> i really have to face the storm and put people back to work. we have to regrow this economy here. >> yang: for local officials, reopening is a balancing act. in bradley beach, new jersey, face masks were encouraged, but not required. >> usually when i hear a beach is crammed, i'm psyched, i'm happy. now if i hear a beach is crammed, i'm concerned. >> yang: in the most recent pbs newshour-npr-marist poll, two- thirds of those questioned said life won't return to normal for at least six months. that could make for a long, slow summer for businesses in vacation havens all across the country. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: for a closer look at two of those vacation destinations, we're joined by two mayors. first, shirley sessions is mayor of tybee island, georgia, a coastal city with a population

of just over 3,000. recent it swells to over 30,000 a day during the summer. mayor sessions thank you so much for talking with us. so tell us what sort of crowds have you seen over this weekend? >> thank you for having me. we've had a large number, obviously as anticipated for memorial day weekend. it's always a popular holiday. but we saw more than we anticipated simply because of the covid-19, knowing that people would be coming out that didn't really know that we would have so many. we had probably an average of about 30,000 friday, saturday and sunday. today we've seen smaller crowds. i think it started off with a very somber, we had a fly over, the georgiaational guard flew over in honor of those who have died to give us the freedom that we enjoy. that kind of set the tone, i

think, for the day. the crowds were smaller but quieter. although clearly probably 20, 25,000 still. >> woodruff: that's a lot of people to manage. were people, mayor sessions, were they social distancing? what kinds of things did you see? were they wearing masks? >> you know, not many masks. our governor sent the department of natural resources to help with social distancing so that was a big plus. >> woodruff: did you feel that you had the public health safeguards in place that you needed? i was reading or we heard in the report earlier in the program that you had what, a gift shop owner saying this is when the businesses in tybee island need to be open. they need to be open for business. >> we have many restaurants who are open with limited seating. they are really doing a good job of social distancing. and when they do adviceit our

restaurant or our shop we're trying to encourage people to take responsibility for themselves and adhere to the guide lines that cdc and the health department has set forth. our restaurant and shop owners are dos a really good job of trying to keep their businesses safe. >> we know that when the governor opened up the beaches in georgia in early april, you did openly object to that. you told him you thought it was unsafe. do you think the situation has improved since then? >> i did not agree with the governor at that time. i think the mainly because we local municipalities had been instructed by the president and by the governor to decide what was best for their community. and we did that. so we were caught off guard as were other communities when that was overturned.

so it was a shock. we got passed tvmentd and again i don't know what-- who, his advisors or what decision he made. i respect his decision. doesn't mean that i agree with all of his decisions as i'm sure he don't agree with my decision. but judy, this was never a political situation, tybee, i'm bipartisanit has nothing to do with politics. it was-- and i have the deepest respect for our governor. but it was just a matter at the time, i saw that we were in a good place. we were really making progress. and we just had to kind of learn to start over. but again, we've moved on. and i think that his intention was to get the economy going again. i sni that that is-- i think that that is happening. and my goal is to keep our

residents, our businesses, and our visitors as safe as possible. that is still my goal. >> woodruff: well mayor shirley sessions we certainly wish you the best with that. and thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. >> thank you, judy. and you take care. come and >> woodruff: let's go to missouri and we're going to speak with the mayor of a city at the lake of the ozarks. osage beach is along the eastern edge of the lake, a popular it has a year-round population of about 4,000. but when summer comes, it swells. and as we saw earlier, there were pictures of crowded pools this week. john olivarri is the mayor and he joins me now. mayor olivarri, thank you very much for being with us. so tell us, what sort of turnouts are you seeing? we did see those pictures of a big crowd at least at one pool party over the weekend. >> well, memorial day weekend is

one of the three busiest times of the year for us. on the holiday weekend, memorial day, abe day and the fourth of july, we see normal crowds of this size. i wasn't expecting it as much this year. we didn't have a good forecast for weather and of course with the pandemic being what it is, i wasn't quite sure, you know, what the crowds were going to be like. but when the weather cleared up and i think people are ready to get out, reservations started coming in about five to seven days ago. and it lacked like we were going to have a full house and that's exactly what we have. >> woodruff: did you feel that your community was prepared for what might be crowds this size? what concerns did you have going in? >> you know, we expected again seeing that the numbers and hotel reservations, lodging reservations were coming in pretty strong, that we would expect a large number of folks.

now the issue of courses the pandemic and how to deal with it. we knew that if we had large crowds it was going to be hard to control the social distancing. and i think what most folks have seen from some of the social media is that some went way overboard. >> woodruff: how did you dea with that? once you were aware of that particular event where we saw looked like hundreds of people around a pool, what were you able to do about it? i meaning what kind of controls can you, do you have in place? >> well, actually, we have, we leave it to the responsibility of the business owners to control, you know, their guests. we don't have any enforcement that we were directly responsiblfor. we have a governor's order in place that puts the responsibility foreign fcement on our health department.

we have a county health department and while they are, i would say fairly understaffed to handle not only their day to day operations, but certainly to address all the pandemic responsibility that goes along with it, we are here to support them, you know, should we get requests from them to respond. >> so when you see an event like what we see in these social media pictures, the video, is there anything you can do about it. i mean to make sure it doesn't happen again is what i am askk. >> well, from an enforcement standpoint at the time, you know, again that responsibility is for the health department ,o notify us and ask for our assistance if they need it. as far as situations like this happening in the future for other again holiday weekend, we're certainly going to take a look at this, meet with the health department and find out,

you know, how we might better be able to control something like this. >> woodruff: mayor, if i could ask, why is it important to your community to be open right now for visitors? for tourists. >> well, quite frankly, i think it's important for our businesses to be open. if we were to allow our businesses, force our businesses to continue to be closed, we would be jech ardizing their ability to open up in the future. this also gives our workforce an opportunity to come back to work and to you know, earn a living and support their families and both of those are very, very important to us. >> woodruff: mayor john olivarri of osage beach in missourit the lake of the ozarks, we thank you very much and wish you the very best. >> thank you very much. i appreciate you having me today .

>> woodruff: the general election is nearly six months away. we examine how president trump and vice president biden are faring doing in some of the key battleground states with amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy walter." and tamara keith of npr. she co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." hello to both of you on this mem or yool day. and it is just a little more than five months unti election day. so never too soon to start talking about the general election. we've been looking at the polls. we know it's early. and y, i want to start with you. because i guess ia handful of the key battleground states that are going to be really hard fought we are seeing joe biden ahead in a number of states that donald trump ended up winning. pennsylvania, joe biden is up 7. michigan up 6, arizona up 4,

wisconsin up 3, florida up 3. now i know several of those are within what we call the par begin of error, amy, but is this a headache for donald trump at this point. and if so, i mean how much of a headache. >> well, judy from the very beginning of this reaction-- re-election campaign for the president we theu that there was going to be major question was what is president trump feeling. if you look at the polling throughout his presidency you can see that he has a pretty low ceiling. he has very rarely gotten above 45% job approval rating which suggests it will be hard for him to get above the level he got in the last election which was 46% was his popular vote total. the democrats are helping that that actually is his feeling and that democrats will win, joe biden will win because he is going to win over those candidates who didn't vote for donald trump but also didn't vote for hillary clinton. think about a place like

wisconsin. 22,000 votes, a very narrow margin that donald trump won that state. the number of people who voted for jill stein in wisconsin was 30,000. another 100,000 voted for gary johnson. so just getting some of those people back, the theory goes, there goes wisconsin. the president's team suggests though that his feeling is not as static as the pol look cause they're going to increase the pool of voters. they're not just going to win back or win over vote errs from 2016, ey're going to get more people to actually vote who didn't show up in 2016. and in places like wisconsin and pennsylvania and michigan those kinds of people who don't turn out and vote traditionally who didn't vote in 2016, look a lot like the president's supporters. they are overwhelmingly white. overwhelmingly they do not have a college degree, there are more of those types of voters in a place like wisconsin than voters of color orhite voters with a college degree.

that is really the battle right here which is if you look just at who can get the 50%, democrats argue that the president can't hit that number, but the president's team argued there will be a whole bunch of people who show up on election day that you are not counting on. i still would rather be in joe biden's position right now than the presidents. he is, the president is definitely playing defense a lot more than an incumbent president should be. but that is what we are going to be watching as we go through this cpaign. >> woodruff: so tam, is the white house, is what we see the president saying and doing and what the white house and campaign are doing, does it seem designed to add those voters that amy is3talking about? >> well, the voters amy is talking about are not going and finding women in the suburbs who were maybe turned off by trump. what the trump campaign is looking for are people who are

just like the people who voted for him in 2016 but who didn't show up. and so they are doing things that are designed to reach those people. and have this new app where they are trying to get people to share with their friends and they have gamified it. inside of that app president trump is sort of a perfect version of himself. and joe biden in that app and in other ways that the campaign communicates is no good, terrible and a puppet of china. so in terms of what they're doing to reach people, they're absolutely is one democratic control, as put it trying to keep them outraged so they stay engaged. then on the other side of the ledger they are going after former vice president biden. they've been running ads in swing states going after him on china. he's weak on china and really they have been outstanding him on social media ads as well.

includin jumping on his remarks on the breakfast club that offended some people, many people. jumping on those and already running facebook ads promoting it, t shutters based on those remarks and also putting video out there. showing people upset about what brideen said. >> woodruff: where he appeared to take the black vote for granted and later took it back and said he had made a mistake. didn't mean to say that. but amy, the president also is kind of venting over the weekend. i'ming who he is appealing to because he's tweet being joe scarborough, the msnbc television journalist who, there is nothing to this, it is completely uncould rob rated. the president refers to somebody who died on his staff. the president very critical of nancy pelosi and suggested she has a drinking problem. went after stacey abrams and her weight, the georgia governor,-- i'm sorry, the

former georgia legislature, are these the kinds of things that do keep his base riled up and do bring in those other voters that he needs? >> you know, there was a slogan on the trump campaign in 2016 which is still the case today which is sort of let trump be trump. he is who he is and i think voters have sort of rise priced that into their opinion of this president. but what he is doing that is really dangerous is he is putting out as you said these uncould rob rated stories and nspiracies which he has done for his entire career. but now he is doing it as president of the united states. and once they get out there and get picked up by tditional media outlets or people seen as more credible, it's hard for regular americans to decide well which of these is true and what's not. so the more he stirs the pot the more it makes it difficult for people to pick out what is true, what is fiction, what is a conspiracy versus something that

actually really happened. the easier it is for him to make the case as tasm pointed out about how the system is rigged against him or how joe biden is really the bad one in this case. and again i think sow much of this is trying to take it away from being a referendum on his handling of this pandemic, his handling of the job as president and puts the onus on to everybody else. and specifically on to joe bied everyone. make it a referendum on things that you don't like about joe biden instead of a referendum on the person who is actually sitting in the white house. >> woodruff: which is the question, tam, i mean this is a year if ever a president was going to be judged on his leadership in crisis, this has to be it. and yet this is what the president is making noise about. >> we're coming up op a really grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus. president trump doesn't want to talk about that.

he did lowered the flag to half-staff to honor those victims and families. but he doesn't want to talk about that. he wanters to move on. he wants to say all right, this is in the rearview mirror. let's talk about america is open for business. he's talking about the transition to greatness nohe has moved on. it's not clear that the rest of the country has moved on as the death toll continues to rise. but certanly these tweets don't set records actually in terms of the numbers. he was not off the charts in that way over the weekend. but he's clear just, you know, throwing spaghetti against the wall. >> these subjects seem to be thingsing that are far from what the is at the str of most voters minds right now. >> on this memorial day we want to thank both of you so much. very good as always to have you with us. amy walter, tamara keith, we

thank you. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: this memorial day as always we remember veterans who died in combat. since the end of world war ii nearly 75 years ago, many western societies have not had to face deaths at this scale. but covid 19 has changed all that. special correspondent malcolm brabant has been asking how the reality of the pandemic might change the way we deal with life and loss. >> reporter: insights from three survivors who witnessed slaughte norwegian bjorn ihler escaped the massacre of 69 young people by a right wing gunman on the island of utoya in 2011. >> we are all going to come out of this with our stories of loss. we are all going to be affected in some way or another. >> reporter: syrian dissident

omar alshogre withstood torture and murder in a notorious death camp of the assad regime. >> everybody's going to die. what you want, like in prison, prisoners want to die, but they want to sleep and now wake you know. they don't want to feel the pain ofying. >> reporter: world war ii medic ray lambert ved scores of lives on omaha beach on d day in 1944. >> the longer that a person has knowing that they're going to die, the more concerned they are of dying. >> death an incredibly taboo subject and very difficult for many people. and that makes us extremely ill informed. >> reporter: rosie inman cook runs a non profit that encourages people to discuss end of life wishes so they can better prepare for death. >> i think for the first time, this situation, this awful pandemic is bringing home to people that they are not immortal. for so long we've all lived in this glorious golden world in the western world haven't we,

where a lot of us haven't experienced any deaths of close relatives or friends until we're in middle age. and this is really bringing it home to a lot of people how vulnerable we are as humans. >> reporter: the ancient greeks believed the dead had to cross the river styx to enter the underworld or the afterlife. the concept of heaven sustained omar al shogre as he languished in syria's saydnaya prison, where more than 13,000 executions have taken place and al shogre was almost beaten to death. >> the belts are like a rainy day. the belts are just coming, coming, people are hitting me, like with metal and electricity and without stopping. just getting hurt of everything. >> reporter: is there some sort of inner strength that you tapped in to that perhaps other people have that can save them? >> during my time in prison we created this survival mechanism in our brain where you think about everything as the best moment of your life.

so when they torture me, i count the belts they hit me with. how many belts and the time they hit me with a belt i imagine a tree growing in my garden in paradise to make that concrete for myself. >> reporter: for the more secular or humanists, death is the very end. but according to rosie inman cook, that doesn't stop people from being irrational or superstitious. >> for many people they still can't make a will because they think they're tempting fate, they can't talk about their own death because they think they're going to induce it. there's a lot of fear. >> reporter: ray lambert is currently locked down in north carolina. we met in normandy a year ago by the rock on omaha beach where, despite being shot twice and having a broken back, he treated the wounded and won the medal of honor. >> g company, one of the infantry companies, the 27 men on that boat, when the ramp went down, every man was killed. not one man got off that. so they all had to be heroes. >> reporter: what about society

as a whole, how do we have to change our attitudes so that we're not overwhelmed with fea of other people dying, of people close to us dying? >> we knew that we had 15% of the troops going in, that day that would die but that wasn't on our minds so much, so the continuous talk about this, is causing people to be nervous and getting angry about things and if we could just stop that, then it would be a lot easier. >> reporter: unlike lambert, bjorn ihler had no training to prepare for his brush with death. six years ago we went to the place where ihler faced the gunman anders breivik. >> i stood up at one point and he aimed at me and fired. and i fell, but i wasn'tit. he was a terrible shot luckily. >> reporter: despite the growing pandemic death toll, ihler

believes some good can emerge. >> it's given people new connections to what they value and i think that might shape things how we deal with things after the lock down and we get back to some kind of new normal where we might hang on to some of those things that we value. >> reporter: are you saying that the proximity to death, night actually enhance our lives? >> yes, i'm saying botthat the proximity to death and the fact that life is fragile and life is short that we have right now enhances our appreciation of what we have right now. >> reporter: having survived syria, omar al shogre follows this mantra . >> accept walking on two different lines. the line of living, working on you life like you will never die, and the line where you work on your life like you are dying tomorrow. >> reporter: with the global death toll nearing 350,000, rosie inman cook made this

appeal. >> this recent pandemic has brought on the need to discuss it with our arest and dearest, if we don't talk about i it makes it more awkward, and more taboo and more disruptive, more distressing, more catastrophic when it happens. >> reporter: our existence now, may be less certain than before. but for centuries, thereas been consistent advice from giants such as leonardo da vinci who said a life well used brgs a happy death. so start living. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant. >> woodruff: people across the world have turned to the screening services during the quarantine period in record numbers.

last month netflix doubled the number of new subscribers. they can find new series like netflix's "never have i ever" from actor and producer mindy kaling. amna nawaz has this race matters report othese new stories being told by new voices. her report is also part of our ongoing series on arts and culture, canvas. >> nawaz: the coming of age series tracks the trials and tribulations of 15 year old devi , whose parents emigrated from india to los angeles in 2001. after a horrible freshman year, devi, played by maitreyi ramakrishnan, wants to change her social status, but friends, family, and feelings do not make it easy for her. when devi's father passes away,

she also has to deal with grief. >> goodbye my love. >> nawaz: one of the stars of the show, poorna jagannathan, known for roles in acclaimed dramas like the "the night of" and "big little lies," joins this cast, as nalini, devi's mother. >> the show is really built for the humor is built on top of an iceberg of grief. >> nawaz: jagannathan said watching the final episode in lockdown, even for her, was an intense experience. >> i had obviously shot the show, i read the script, i've done everything. but it was very-- a very emotional experience for me in the end when i was trying to unpack why it is. i think the series lets you grieve. lets you grieve, of course, for the people you may have lost. but i think it also is an opportunity to grieve our time, for a way of life, grief for the vast unknown in front of us. and i think that's why it may

have resonated. >> nawaz: but there is also humor which often comes from the unexpected narration of tennis legend john mcenroe, who, according to devi, held a special place in her late father's heart. >> this is john mcenroe. he is my favorite player of all time. look at him. giving it back to that umpire. he's a firecracker. just like you. >> nawaz: what drew you to want to be a part of this project in the first place? >> well, mindy kaling's sense of humor is very aligned with my sense of humor. and i had been doing, you know, and as i got deeper into the process, especially in retrospect, just the opportunity to play an immigrant mom. i'm an immigrant mom, i'm raising a child, a teenager in los angeles. the parallels were- the parallels were really something that i'm drawn to. >> nawaz: your family's originally from india, too. mindy kaling's family is also originally from india. how did all of that lived

experience inform how these stories were told and which stories were told in each episode? >> from day one, we entered a set and there was a sense of belonging that was immediate. and what that means is every single aspect is something that you can have input on, which i've never experienced. and there were a lot of asian- american there's a lot of indian writers on staff and a lot of writers with immigrant parents on staff. and that really, really showed up in the writing. and so everything feels very true, it feels very lived in. the fact that i-- there's a tic- toc video made and, you know, the mother pulls her and puts a t shirt with her dress. and, you know, it's an experience that one of the writers had and that we'll find to find its way in. >> nawaz: there's another constant thread throughout all of the narratives, this whole balancing of cultures that we've seen in other shows before, even in other comedies before. right. i'm thinking of like eddie wong's fresh off the boat. or margaret cho series all

american girl back in the '90s. there are scenes in the episodes like a hindu ceremony where devi is kind of trying to figure out where she fits in and how to balance those, those things. that's something that a lot of first generation and second generation americans can relate to. is that the intended audience for these kinds of stories? >> for the south asian audience. it feels amazing that this show is out there because they feel seen and they feel like they're experienced and reflected on a broader-- i don't think the show so, yes, it is amazing to see ourselves represented. would have done as well as it has if it's only appealing to a south asian audience, though. you know, there is there is something about the show, something about its themes around belonging and not belonging. but this show, i think, has very universal themes around which it's built. >> nawaz: some of those topics you just mentioned, though, those are very tough things to talk about. immigration is incredibly

divisive right now in america. are there lessons to be learned from the ways those kinds of difficult things are handled in this series? >> the way i think about it is who has agency right now to tell in the first generation, kids have the agency to write stories, right. and so immigrants, and particularly i can speak to the shs often submissive within a character of the south asian mother is often a caricature or she's often not given agency at all. an opportunity to give space and give a breath of air and life to an immigrant story is, is helpful for everyone. it helps humanize those around you. it helps humanize the stories of the grocery workers you see as the front line health care workers you see.

the show kind of fosters a sense of community, a sense of family, a sense of belonging, a sense of coming together that people are desperately looking for right now. >> nawaz: a sense of community when we can all really use it. that is poorna jagannathan, the star of the new netflix series. "never have i ever." thanks for being with us. >> thank you. i really appreciate it. >> woodruff: we end this memorial day with soldiers from the army's 3rd u. infantry regiment, known as the old guar, who have kept watch over the tomb of the unknown soldier around the clock for more than 70 years. now a quick look at how that tradition has endured, even through a pandemic. this march, arlington national cemetery closed to most visitors

as covid-19 hit the nation's capital. but at the tomb of the unknown soldier-the cemetery's most iconic memorial, the watch never stopped. >> if it's thunderstorms, if it's raining, if it's a hurricane or it's the coronavirus. we're always here; we're always guarding. >> woodruff: sentinels from the united states army have guarded this tomb 24 hours a day since 1948. >> it's a very unique time for us to be in arlington because there's no one in here. i think that's honestly when we feel closest to what we do. when we feel closest to the unknowns is when no one's here. >> woodruff: tomb guards now wear masks in their quarters, as they prepare for their watch. the changing of the guard ceremony has also been adjusted to allow for more distancing between personnel. while the pandemic has disrupted traditions for many across the country, the old guard see the importance of fulfilling this

duty. >> i think it's important for us to show to this country that we haven't forgotten, that we will never forget the sacrifices that these soldiers made. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made 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

kigo. hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> will the united states city be the sole super power in a post covid world? as the presidential election approaches, we get latest on what vision will win with the political report amy walter. then collective trauma and the coronavirus psycholist jack saul on the need for collective healing. plus, inequality's de stating toll on health. the ceo of the chicago community trust dr. hene gayle. and finally --