captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the persistent pandemic. as the u.s. approaches a grim milestone, signs of american life fighting to get back to some version of normal. then, when the caregivers need care. the impact of the pandemic on a critical health care role. and, plasma's potential. using blood from covid survivors to help build immunity among new patients and front line health care workers. >> this is literally a call to arms. i mean, literally, arms-- that we could, as a massive movement of survivors, do everything in our power to support the medical and scientific academic

community. >> woouff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> financial services firm raymond james. >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plans give you as much-- or as little-- talk, text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based customer service team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> fidelity investments. >> bnsf railway.

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by thcorporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the pace of covid-19 deaths across the united states is slowing tonight, but the total is nearing a new threshold-- 100,000. at the same time, the nation's reopening keeps moving ahead, led by a major american financial institution. stephanie sy begins our coverage ( applause ) >> reporter: an opening bell at

the new york stock exchange, that may go down in history. ( opening bell ) governor andrew cuomo did the honors, wearing a mask, the now tell-tale symbol of the pandemic. with that, the trading floor partially re-opened for the first time in two months. the normally buzzing space saw only a few brokers return in-person, and most employees will continue to work remotely, for now. cuomo said the opening after memorial day marked a critical moment. >> we're going to turn the page on covid-19, and we're going to start focusing on re-opening and how we reopen and how smart we are in reopening. >> reporter: but even as some new york suburbs entered the first phase of relaxed restrictions, cuomo also highlighted data that low-income and minority communities are still experiencing double the infection rates of the rest of the city. in california, churches are starting to open their doors. >> we reserve the right

ourselves to determine the things that we should do, that would be in the interest of our people. >> reporter: after heated debate, the state laid out a plan this week to let individual counties decide when houses of worship should re-open. meanwhile, at the white house today, the predent spoke at a rose garden event. one top white house staffer, katie miller, vice president pence's press secretary, returned to work today after a series of negative covid tests. she tested positive earlier this month, prompting the white house to mandate face masks for all staff. but, even as the slow march toward normal progresses, there are new fears over meat-packing facilities, where workers continue to get sick. the "washington post" reported today that there are 11,000

covid-19 cases linked to three major meat producers: tyson foods, smithfield foods, and j.b.s. each of those companies has taken steps to slow the spread of the virus. still, plant closures and woer shortages have strained the nation's meat supply. overseas, in india, the number of new infections climbed for the seventh straight day. cases have surged since the country lifted lockdown orders. despite that, limited domestic air travel resumes there this week, with employees disinfecting bags and some travelers wearing conspicuous safety gear. >> coronavirus is very dangerous. we have to accept it, and we have to take all those measures which the government is asking us to do. >> reporter: in russia today authorities reported the highest daily death toll there yet. the country has the third highest number of infections in the world, but the government has reported a relatively low mortality rate.

russian officials have denied that they are deliberately under-reporting covid deaths. on the global economic front, french president emmanuel macron unveiled an $8.8 billion plan to save the hard-hit french auto industry. and, in south america, the continent's largest air carrier, lat-am airlines, filed for u.s. bankruptcy protection, citing a collapse in demand. that, as a u.s. ban on foreign travelers from brazil took effect today. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: as wall street welcomed back traders to the floor of the stock exchange today, traders welcomed the moment. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 530 points to close at 24,995. the nasdaq rose 15 points, and the s&p 500 added 36. in the day's other news, the city of minneapolis fired four police officers in the death of an unarmed black man last night.

a bystander's video shows a white officer pressing his knee on the man's neck as he pleads that he cannot breathe. we will take a closer look, after the news summary. the government in afghanistan began releasing 900 taliban prisoners today, and it urged the militants to extend a three-day cease-fire. dozens of inmates walked out of the bagram jail near kabul. the release was part of a deal that the u.s. signed with the taliban back in february. hong kong's chief executive has dismissed fears that mainland china is moving to snuff out dissent. china's ceremonial legislature is considering a bill to rein in pro-democracy protests that rocked hong kong last year. but, carrie lam said today, it is for the greater good. >> we are a very free society. so for the time being, people have the freedom to say whever they want to say. but ultimately, what is to be

provided in this piece of legislation is for all of us to see, in order to be assured that hong kong's freedoms will be preserved. >> woodruff: the commander of the chinese army garrison in hong kong said today that his troops will firmly enforce beijing's orders. back in this country, the pentagon's deputy inspector general glenn fine resigned, weeks after he was removed as overseer of pandemic relief spending. in a brief statement, he praised the watchdog role of inspectors general. in recent weeks, president trump has fired the i.g.s for the state department and the intelligence community. the republican governor of georgia, brian kemp, is now ofring to host the party's national convention in august. the president threatened to pull the event from charlotte, north carolina over pandemic restrictions. another republican governor, ron desantis of florida, said

today he also isilling to host the convention. the white house announced medicare co-pays for insulin will be capped at $35. recipients who select drug plans with the new benefit could save about $450 a year. president trump announced it as he looks to shore up support among seniors, who have taken the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. and, costa rica is now the first central american country to legalize same-sex marriage. the country's supreme court had ruled in 2018 that a ban on gay unions was unconstitutional. that ruling formally took effect today, after the national congress failed to pass a law addressing the issue. still to come on the newshour: an unarmed black man dies, after a minneapolis police officer kneelsn his neck. the impact of the coronavirus on the caregivers taking care of the sick.

sending astronauts back into space from the u.s. for the first time in nearly a decade. and, much more. >> woodruff: there is a protest in minneapolis tonight following the death of an african american man. he died after a police officer kneeled on his neck while apprehending him last night. echoing the eric garner case from staten island, the man told the officer, "i can't breathe." the consequences have been building throughout the day. amna nawaz has a look at how the incident, captured on video, led to outrage in the twin cities area, and wider.

>> nawaz: the video shows george floyd on the street, hands cuffed behind his back, pinned down by a police officer's knee on his neck. floyd repeatedly says "i can't breathe." >> please, please, i can't breathe! >> nawaz: witnesses on the sidewalk are heard begging one officer to listen to floyd... >> you got him down. let him breathe. >> nawaz: ...then imploring the second officer to intervene. >> you're just going to stand there? so you call what he's doing okay? >> nawaz: minutes into the video, one bystander alerts the police that floyd is no longer moving. >> bro, he's not even ( bleep ) moving! >> nawaz: floyd was taken by ambulance to hennepin county medical center, and pronounced dead. minneapolis police said in a statement monday night that they were responding to a report of a forgery in progress, and that floyd physically resisted officers. >> he should not have died. >> nawaz: this morning, minneapolis mayor jacob frey addressed reporters after watching the video.

>> for five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man. for five minutes. when you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. this officer failed in the most basic human sense. >> nawaz: by this afternoon, mayor frey announced four minneapolis officers involved in floyd's death had been fired. some reaction to all of this, from one of the area's leaders. melvin carter is the mayor of st. paul, part of the twin thank you for being with us. that video is so hard for toe many people to watch, your heart just goes out to the friends and family of george floyd. when you first saw that video, you lead a community right next

door. what was your reaction? >> exactly that. thanks for having me on. we have a ten-minute video just as mayor frye just set of a man, george floyd, having his neck pressed in from behind. he's defenseless, he's helpless he's handcuffed the whole time. there couldn't be any distractions on this as we traditionally see folks blaming the victim there couldn't be any excuses. there's no argument that there was a heat of the moment, there's no weapon, no sustained 'depression, there's no argument. the officer could have been acting in self defense or with fear for his life. we just have a man, george floyd who should be still alive today. >> mayor carter, it's sad to say twin cities have been here before. you think back to the 2015 police shooting of jamar clark. the 2016 police shooting of philando castile. you cannot hear george floyd say the words "i can't breathe"

enough. think back to eric garner after new york city police officer put him in a chokehold. each time there are protests, there's calls for justice, months sometimes years go by. wh do you make of the reaction you have seen so far next door in minneapolis to what happed? >> i think juror exactly right. you can't pretend this is one time stand alone thing. i can tell you in garner "vox" so many of the videos we've en, certainly in the one we've one of the most disturbing thing to me is the other officers. thother officers who stand around. if it' jt one officer, aing by himlf then somebody might be able to make the argent that he's a bad apple or that he's a rogue officer or something like that. everyone knows the basic job of a police officer is to help when someone is being hurt. so for three officers to stand there not deem it in their job to intervene and stop this from happening right now, to george floyd, speaks to an undeniable

culture a culture of violence, a culture of abuse that somehow been normalized. that's been accepted. and that has to end right now. >> as we mentioned four police officers from minneapolis have alrey been fired. why do you think mayor frye reacted so swiftly? >> i tell you, mayor frye is a good friend, he and i work together closely on a number of thing. i appreciate him making a very strong statement this morning saying that this was unacceptable. for being black in america to be a life sentence, i appreciate seeing them take strong action and fire these officers. i assume the mayor, he watched this video like so many of us just can't live witness. can't sustain all of this. i tell you i appreciate him giving voice to that. i know it's a difficult situation for him because part of his job right now, too, is to make sure he doesn't do or say anything the minneapolis police

department's ability to hold these officers fully accountable. >> you mention the police department. i should point out their first statement, somearts of it were contradicted when the video surfaced and started becoming much more widely seen. there was no mention in the police statement of a neon the neck. or of gorge floyd losing consciousness it was said it was medical incident. those kind of states and stories can lead people to think the police are hiding something or not telling the full story. leads to mistrust. in the same communities they are sworn to protect. as an elected official, how do you fix that? >> you are so right. it's such a big problem. philando was my child's lunch guy. it wasn't the sainted paul police department. that video didn't happen in st. paul. it wasn't the st. paul police department ande've been working for years, we have fantastic police chief, my father is retired st. paul police officer. we worked for years to build t type of trust, to build the

credibility. to engage community and community leaders, when this happens whether it's in minneapolis or anywhere around the country, it sets us back years on that work that we've done to build trust. it puts every single officer in our country in a bad swage. that's one of the most tragic things about this. we know that the process of building trust is never complete. it's never done and so that just means we have to continue to double down on that work. i've spoken to my police chief this morning, he always talks about the bank of trust the needs that make deposit in that bank of trust before you ever have to make a withdrawal. that's what we're focused on in st. paul. >> mayor carter as we sithere are protests in minneapolis, people calling for justice. as we sit here there is the tric american truth that nationwide u.s. police disproportionately kill black people in america. when we're looking for what needs to happen next, tell me as an elected official, what would you like to see happen now, specifically.

so there's not just justice for mr. floyd's family but we can make sure this doesn't keep happening. >> i think you're absolutely right. unfortunately we have seen historically too many times that no one is held accountable for things like this. i can only pray that we have a legal system here in minnesota, here in america that is capable for holding these officers accountable. for taking george floyd's life in a way this they did. i don't think that we should send this to a grand jury. i'm looking to hennepin county attorney mike freeman to make a charging decision to make it soon so that we can healed these officers accountable. if we can't or if we won't hold these officers accountable then it will just be another painful reminder in a mountain of evidence that tells our young -- in particular our young african american men that their lives are not valued in the same way as other people's lives are. that has to be unacceptable. i'm speaking up loud and clear about this ever chance i can get to everyone who i can. but that's not surprising, i'm a

young african american man. we need everyone speaking up on this. we need our senior citizens, we need our white women, we need every member of our community who values life, who values humani who can look at a video like that, george floyd, there's no reason he shouldn't be going home to his family today. we need to all be speaking up so all of our families here, all of our co-workers hear us, our elected officials, judges, police officers, that we're all speaking up saying that is not the america that we want to live in. >> reporter: that is mayor melvin carter of st. paul, minnesota, joining you. thank you for your time, mr. mayor. >> woodruff: the number of americans who provide unpaid caregiving for their loved ones has been rising.

more than 50 million people now provide care for their loved ones. the pandemic and the shutdowns have made it that much harder, further isolating people in too many cases. we're going to begin with the voices of some of those people who contacted us, far more than we could even show. here's some of what they told us. ana warning: this segment contains sensitive suect material, particularly for younger viewers. >> my name is deanna ludwig, and i live in port washington, wisconsin. and i'm 50 years old. >> my name is stephanie campbell, and i live in ellenwood, georgia. >> my name is lydia giordano. i'm 61 years old, and my son is 20 years old. and i live in stamford, connecticut. >> my name is hector alvarado. i'm 37, and i live in san jose, california. >> my name is karen roed-rick. am 66 years old, and i live in farmington, minnesota, a suburb of the twin cities. >> my name is shawn moore. i am from kansas city, missouri, and i just turned the big 5-0 a few months ago.

>> i provide care for my 94-year-old father. this is a man who has lived through a couple of strokes and many heart attacks, but the covid situation really throws him off. he absolutely does not want to die alone in the hospital. and so, he restricts himself completely from seeing anyone else and having any other interaction other than with me. >> so, i live here with my grandma. i've taken care of her since i was a little kid, but, about three years ago, she went into a dementia-related psychosis. and ever since then, she's required, like, 'round the clock care. i haven't had a break since the middle of march. >> my caregiving began five years ago, actually, to my grandfather, who is 89.

he has dementia, and he has had it now for going on eight years. >> well, my husband, he had a massive bilateral stroke about 25 years ago. he does feed himself, but, other than that, he requires everything. >> so, i am a caregiver to my spouse, who is a 23-year army veteran who completed seven combat tours to afghanistan. and for the most part, with our caregiving, my husband has chronic p.t.s.d. and suicidality, as well as anxiety, major depression. >> he has adrenoleukodystrophy, and that happened at the age of seven. stevie stopped walking, talking and went blind in three months. he had to get trached at seven because he almost died, and he's

had a trach since he's seven, and now he's 20. so, constantly with this disease, you have to suction in order for them to breathe, to clear the airways. >> with the pandemic, it was really getting extremely difficult before. and then, any help that i was getting, whether it was someone coming in, that stopped. >> me having to remind him every day that there is a pandemic going on, it's repetitive to me but not so much him because, again, he has dementia. so, i have to make sure i tell him,granddad, we're not going anywhere today." so, for a minute, he'll take it, and he'll try to understand the concept of-- we're staying at home just like everybody else. but within the next hour, he's saying, "are we going somewhere today?" >> when they first started talking about the virus, i knew that i was going to, like, guard him like fort knox. i said, "he can't go to respite unless i'm laying here dead." do you know what i mean? like, "he will not go to a

facility. i'll do this. whatever." so, that's kind of changed over time. if they had an opening in a respite facility where there's some sort of like, "we don't have any cases, but there's a chance," i'd be like, "let's go." >> his mental health has been declining. he's been in a depressive episode here the last several weeks, and he had a trigger sunday morning. and he left the house, and he found himself purchasing a gun. so, i called the police, and we went into a situation of trying to find him, trying to track him down. but i'm going to get-- so, i've told this-- i told his therapist today and didn't cry. but i'm going to cry with you. so, i must be getting to the-- the stage of reality, right, of what really could have happened. >> this is one of the hardest jobs i've ever had in my entire

life. the emotional toll it's taken on me has been indescribable at times. >> and not getting enough sleep is my other issue, which is very hard because as soon as the sun goes down, it's dark. i try to keep the house as bright as possible, but the thoughts in my head is about the coronavirus and my son, if it's going to be the one that takes him away from me. that's my biggest fear. >> woodruff: so powerful. thank you all. let's talk more about the challenges andhat people need to know. c. grace whiting is the president and c.e.o. of the national alliance for caregiving, which just issued a report on the state of thank you very much. these stories take your breath away. what these people are going through, i think most americans don't realize.

>> i agree judy. thank you for showcasing those stories. i think to us what is most surprising is that the pandemic has really removed the veneer, now we can see what caregivers are going through. but so many millions of americans, 53 million americans have been going through this on a day-to-day basis. and now we're thinking about it but there's so much more that needs to be done. >> woodruff: talk about the toll this is taking especially now during the pandemic when these folks are isolated and they are not getting any of the outside help that they might have been getting before. >> caregivers are facing, even before the pandemic when study was conducted, mental health challenges, physical health challenges and financial health challenges. we know one out of five feel isolated and we know not from the data but from our community

that is something that has gotten worse. since the pandemic many don't have access to respite care, even before the pandemic, even though 40% of folks say they would find it helpful to have access to respite care. and we see caregivers reporting that they don't take care of themselves. they don't have enough time for self care. and that financial strain, merely half saying that they had some kind of financial impact like giving up savings or taking on debtor selling assets in order to cover the cost of care. now we don't know for sure from this research but we suspect that those issues are only magnified by the pressers we're receiving by the pandemic. >> woodruff: the young men, hector, he is taking care of his grandmother he hadn't had a break since the middle of march. so over two months and in some cases, they are facing situations that clearly cry out for professional help.

for psychiatrists or someone who has direct experience with this kind of severe condition. >> absolutely. and i think one of the scariest things that families are now facing is, when you look at the legislation that was passed following the pandemic and congressional action a lot of that legislation doesn't help caregivers in the type of situation, particularly if you're caring for someone who does not have covid-19, you may not have job protection. and your sick days, the paid sick day extension wouldn't count if you got covid and then still needed time off work to care for someone earl for any reason or for covid if you used all your days. there's a lot of gaps that i think people are feeling and to not have had a break or to have a place to go to get the support you're talking about, i think puts new and uncertain strains

on several families and threatens their own health and wellness and ability to have a career. >> woodruff: from your perspective, what is the most important thing that needs to be done now for these caregivers? >> we need to address their mental health, physical health and financial health. making sure caregivers are i were included in care delivery bless that new telehealth that's available. or conversations with providers. and the financial piece, making sure that the protections under covid-19 for paid sick day and paid family leave, that those are extended to caregivers who may no longer have actors to dependent care support because of all the shutdowns and quarantines. >> woodruff: grace whiting, president of the national alliance for caregiving. thank you so much for helping us tell their story and shine a light on what these caregivers do and why we owe them so much.

thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: it has been nearly a decade since an american space crew last lifted off from u.s. soil in a spacecraft built here. that is expected to change tomorrow afternoon, with the relaunch of manned space flight. but it will be very different in some ways, with the private sector leading the way and partnering with nasa. miles o'brien has the story, the latest in our series of reports on breakthroughs on the "leading edge of science." >> reporter: at the kennedy space center in florida, the stage is reset for nasa's next act in space. what's been envisioned for years is now becoming real, nearly nine years after the last shuttle flew. >> it's probably a dream of every test pilot school student to have the opportunity to fly

on a brand new spaceship. and i'm lucky enough to get that opportunity with my good fend here, doug hurley. >> reporter: veteran astronauts bob behnken d doug hurley will be sporting some stylish new space suits when they are strapped into a "dragon" capsule sitting atop a "falcon 9" rocket. all dressed up for a new way to go. it is the first crewed mission to the international space station on a vehicle designed and built by california based spacex, founded 18 years ago by elon musk. in the history of space exploration, how big a deal is this launch, do you think? >> well, i think it could be revolutionary. >> reporter: that's former space shuttle program nager wayne hale. >> if it works out the way that we all hope it does, and it starts a virtuous cycle of industry providing competitive transportation to low-earth orbit, i think it will be great. but we don't know how it's going to turn out. it's an experiment. >> announcer: liftoff!

the final liftoff of "atlantis." >> reporter: the space shuttle, and every piloted nasa spacecraft that preceded it, was designed by civil servants and built by big aerospace cpanies under close supervision, with lucrative cost-plus contracts. >> announcer: ignition, liftoff. >> reporter: spacex signed a different sort of deal. it is providing a service to nasa-- transportation to low earth orbit-- for a fixed price. and, the company retains ownership of its intellectual property. >> this type of procurement works best when the company is going to have a market beyond what they're actually bidding for. so, they are going to put in their own skin in the game, because they recognize, they're going to not only be able to service government requirements, bubeyond that. >> reporter: li garver was deputy nasa administrator during the obama administration, which cancelled nasa's constellation program. >> announcer: ignition and liftoff of "ares ix." >> reporter: it had already

begun testing a suite of spacecraft built in the traditional manner. the cancellation spun up a buzz saw of opposition from the contractors and allied politicians. >> there were all kinds of behind-the-scenes difficulties, companies just really trying to block this innovativway of doing things. unfortunately, a lot of people have come to nasa because they just want to build a rocket, and they don't want someone else building it. >> panel will be seated, please. >> reporter: current and former astronauts weren't happy either. in 2010, apollo legends neil armstrong and gene cernan, the first and last man to walk on the moon, testified in congress against this new way of doing business. >> i support the encouragement of newcomers towards the goal of lower-cost access to space, but having cut my teeth in rockets more than 50 years ago, i am not confident. >> reporter: former nasa astronaut garrett reisman is an advisor to spacex. >> the biggest fear, especially

in the astronaut office, was that we would be somewhat risky. that there would be reckless decisions made in the name of innovation. and they just didn't trust this culture that was very different from the culture that they had grown up with at nasa. >> reporter: many at the agency were leery in the wake of early efforts to commercialize space by the cash-strapped russians. they flew an inflatable pepsi can, made pizza hut es, and plugged a golf club with a shot off the space station. in 2001, california entrepreneur dennis tito paid the russians $20 million for a trip to the space station on a "soyuz" rocket. he was the first of seven well- heeled tourists to do the same. mike lopez-alegria is a former astronaut who later led the association that represents commercial space companies. why were astronauts skeptical? >> it's a natural response. i mean, most of us had dreamed about doing what we were doing for a long time, and worked very

hard to achieve it, ne through a lot of training. and to have somebody lay down some mon and be able to join you and do theame thing and have the same experience is a little disheartening at firs >> reporter: but spacex already had its nose in the nasa tent. in 2012, it began flying cargo to the space station using the "falcon 9 dragon" design. it's done that 2times, with one failure. and meanwhile, spacex rockets now dominate the commercial launch business, validating this public-private partnership. in all, "falcon 9" rockets have successfully flown to space more than 80 times. ( applause ) >> if nasa has done the exact same thing, it would have cost many times more. >> reporter: keith cowing is editor of nasawatch.com. >> they've done this many times with the exact same rocket, and after one accident, they fixed a few things and nasa's saying," yeah, it seems to be perfectly safe." and so now you have the ability

to launch things in "falcon 9s" that nasa may well now use in its trips back to the moon. >> reporter: nasa is building the rocket at the center of the artemis moon missions under a cost-plus contract with boeing. but, it is years late and billions over-budget. meanwhile, spacex is developing a "buck rogers"-like rocket called "starship" that nasa is considering as a vehicle to take astronauts to and from the lunar surface. the lessons learned and the savings accrued in low earth orbit are changing the way nasa thinks as it looks farther into space. for the pbs newshour, i'm miles o'brien in vero beach, florida. >> woodruff: and you can watch the launch live tomorrow at 4:33 p.m. eastern on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: president trump's

messages to his more than 80 million twitter followers often carry a lot of weight. twitter is putting a note on a tweet. yamiche alcindor reports on the controversy that has erupted when the president's words aren't based on facts. >> alcindor: an angry president. a murder conspiracy theory. and a pained family. today, it's a letter from a widower that is calling attention to president trump's open embrace of false theories. last week, timothy klausutis wrote to the c.e.o. of twitter, urging him to delete tweets by

president trump that suggested his wife, lori, was murdered. in the letter, obtained by the "new york times," klausutis says that "conspiracy theorists, including most recently the president of the united states, continue to spread their bile and misinformation on the platform, disparaging the memory of" his wife. lori klausutis died in 2001. president trump has repeatedly spread the baseless idea that her former boss, current cable news host joe scarborough, might have had something to do with her death. late todayt the white house, the president doubled down. >> you know, it's a very suspicious thing. and, i hope somebody gets to the bottom of it. >> alcindor: today, scarborough, who has been a frequent critic of president trump, said the claim compounds the family's grief. >> whether it's the president or whether it's people foowing the president, it is unspeakably cruel. >> alcindor: timothy klausutis wrote in his letter that lori had an undiagnosed heart condition. she "fell and hit her head on

her desk at work," and was "found dead the next morning." he wrote that he had a simple request for twitter. "please delete these tweets." president trump's actions have also drawn criticism from some republican congressman like adam kinzinger of illinois. president trump's actions have he wrote, "stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. it will destroy us." >> alcindor: the president's tweets raise questions about his political motivations, the responsibility of tech companies and the role of the media. to discuss all of that, i'm joined by craig silverman. he's doubling 2001 saying it's a sear use issue a basement claim. what do you make of that, craig? >> it's in character, he does not apologize. he does not correct for things. when he is pushed back on something he tends to double down on it. also i think we have to recognize dynamics here where he is kind of pushing this baseless claim into the news cycle. he is forcing media to cover it.

he is forcing people to talk about it on twitter and elsewhere. when you talk about this kind of claim, there's less time to talk about other things. so in a sense it's maybe not surprising that he's doubling down, not apologizings but trying to make this last for more news cycles and get more attention on this instead of other things that he may consider to be inconvenient for him. >> reporter: in other words, it's working for the president, you think? >> i think this is part of the dynamic that we've seen going on now really since he started his campaign five years ago. where he goes extreme, he says completely outlandish, crazy things that you would think would discounted and hurt anyone. but just gets him more and more attention. brings more and more people too him. in the end he'll take any kind of aention. he's been very savvy about hacking the media to get that attention. >> reporter: the family of the young woman who died, who was a former staffer of joe scarborough. they wrote a letter, wrote a letter to twitter asking that the company delete the president's tweets.

what do you make of that letter and fact that twitter is not going to be deletinghose tweets? >> first of all, clearly, it's a really powerful letter. it's him speaking very personally about the suffering that he and his late wife's family have gone through. and how they could be targeted with harassment. how this is bringing up the grieving process all over again. the second part of this is that twitter has been extremely hands off, extremely reticent to do anything in terms of restricting president trump's behavior on the platform. so as much as it's a very moving letter, i have to say i'm not surprised that twitter has held its line said we're not going to remove these tweets because he's the president. what he says is newsworthy. they basically given him and to a certain extent other world leaders a different standard than pretty much everyone else on the platform. >> reporter: f bigger picture is conspiracy theories and misinformation that they're spreading more in the middle of this pandemic? what are media companies 20 do

given fact that you cover them you're giving energy to conspiracy theories. >> i think we're absolutely seeing a really dangerous and concerning high water mark in terms of the spread of false and misleading. in the are in a sense that's been the case during pandemic if you look through history, they have always spread in this time. but of course we have this digital accelerant here in our environment. and it is so quick and so fast and things move and are organized to spread really, really quickly in this environment. in terms of the compani, i think it shows some of the weaknesses of their approach where they are very reactive. where they wait until things hit a certain tipping point. then by then potentially thousands, hundreds of thousands or millionsf people have already seen interacted with something, whether it's a conspiracy about bill gates or whether a conspiracy about 5g wireless. it's just spreading and pulling a lot of people in. i worry about that gravitational

pull of to that point of view as a result of what is going on in the pandemic. >> reporter: you talk about a digital accelerant. in this case you have world leaders, the president of the united states, using the digital accelerant. do you see any sort of change in policy here? >> so, twitter's response to the letter from the widower was that they are looking at introducing some new policy changes to address this. they weren't any more specific than that. it is possible that twitter is going to introduce and draw new line in the sand. but i think they know that it's also kind of a dangerous thing for them to come back and say okay, we've changed our mind. i don't think they're going to come back and delete trump's tweets. they may set new policy and draw that line in the sand. but to a certain extent they have let trump and to certain extent others on the platform get away with so much that they're trying to fix things once they have already gone really awry. it's hard to imagine twitter suddenly being able to not only come up with new rules but to

enforce them. because we have to remember that these platforms are so big that they can't actually monitor everything that's going on that's breaking their existing policies. >> thank you craig silverman of buzzfeed. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as researchers race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, attention is increasingly turning to a potential stop-gap measure called convalescent plasma. as john yang reports, this element of our blood is the focus of research in labs and hospitals, and shows early signs of promise. >> yang: donating plasma was the first thing professional photographer diana bernt wanted to do after she recovered from coronavirus in march. >> i think if you look at the pictures of me doing it, i had an ear-to-ear grin throughout the entire thing.

>> yang: now she does it every week. >> donating plasma, you know... i mean, no disrespect to my family, but i would put the experience up along with, you know, getting married and having children. there are very few opportunities in a lifetime to literally save another person's life. >> yang: berrent is one of a growing number of covid-19 survivors giving what's called" convalescent plasma:" plasma with coronavirus antibodies, the immune system's natural response to the infection. that's aiding researchers who are trying to find out whether those antibodies are effective in helping others fight the deadly disease. >> antibodies are one of the things your-- your body produces naturally to fight bugs. they help kill the bugs a variety of ways and so-called neutralize the virus. and if people have a high viral load and they're in the midst of infection, we can sort of jump- start their immune response by giving them antibodies we've harvested from others. >> yang: dr. michael joyner at minnesota's mayo clinic is

helping to coordinate a program at 2,000 sites across the country to harvest and distribute plasma. >> it allows really almost any hospitalized patient to be eligible. so really, anybody who's at risk for developing severe disease. i think the consensus is, based on past experience, that earlier is better, and that you're going to struggle with individuals who've been in the i.c.u. for a long, long time. >> yang: trying convalescent plasma is not a new idea. it was used with success in the 1918 influenza epidemic... >> asian influenza spreads rapidly. >> yang: ...in more recent flu outbreaks, and against infections like polio before vaccines were available. but, it failed during the 2014 ebola crisis. around the world, researchers believe it's worthwhile to try. >> i think you have to be objective and, again, kind of balance between being a hopeful physician and a cautious

scientist. >> yang: experts at johns hopkins hospital in baltimore recently launched a clinical trial design to introduce plasma to those at high-risk of exposure-- like frontline health care workers-- to see if it helps prevent infection. dr. evan bloch of the johns hopkins school of medicine. >> it would offer a-- you know, an intervention, which is readily available and set and scalable. i think, you know, in some ways, you know, the idea of prevention being better than the cure is what-- what really comes to the fore. >> yang: the process of giving plasma, called plasmapheresis, takes longer than blood donation and requires special equipment. a centrifuge separates the blood cells, which are returned to the donor, from the yellowish-gold plasma. some blood collection locations, like the new york blood center where diana berrent donates, test the plasma for covid-19 antibodies. but, not every donation site is required to be as rigorous. right now, plasma supply cannot

meet demand. enter the group berrent founde"" survivor corps." >> this is literally a call to arms. i mean, literally, arms-- that we could, as a massive movement of survivors, we could do everything in our power to support the medical and scientific academic community in every study that they are doing, every clinical trial, donate our convalescent plasma, that we could literally be part of the solution. in a month, we have over 40,000 members, and i am proud to say that we are flooding these programs with volunteers. >> yang: in suburban columbus, ohio, it was volunteer donors who gave hope to the family of high school senior nick butler. he has an immune disorder, so his body could not fight the coronavirus whene got sick. paul butler is nick's father. >> you know, his immune system is not like yours and mine. it does not have those

antibodies. the difference is, his body doesn't produce them. so we actually inject them. >> yang: nick was in columbus' nationwide children's hospital, with his father by his side, for 15 days-- much of it in intensive care. >> he lost 35 pounds, and he really hadn't eaten in three weeks. his cough had gotten really violent. his heart had arrhythmias. it got enlarged. the kidney's numbers went sky high. his liver had issues. so each one of those brings in another team of doctors to kind of evaluate. >> yang: doctors gave nick a litany of drugs, including remdesivir, the antiviral medication that has since been given emergency f.d.a. approval to treat covid-19. but his condition worsened, and he was put on a ventilator. >> they brought in, like, i don't know, 10 or 12 doctors, nurses. they're bringing equipment in and they're wheeling stuff out. i mean, it was just crazy how fast all this happened. and so they ask, you know, like, if his heart stops beating while he's on this ventilator, what's your plan?

and i'm like, we want to resuscitate. we want to bring him back. and i'm like, can i call my wife? so anyways, we got face time and we talked to him and, you know, basically we told him we loved him. i'm sorry. and that was it. >> yang: while nick clung to life, a family friend, erin galloway, launched a social media search for convalescent plasma donors. >> you are here. you are fighting for nick, just like we are. >> yang: galloway laid out the qualifications donors had to meet to be a match. >> you have tested positive for covid-19, and you are 14 days symptom-free. >> yang: around the same time, college junior paige fallon was coming out of quarantine. >> i have no idea what plasma is. i have-- i've never given blood in my life. like, i've no idea what's going on. but i'm like, okay... i mean, i'm in quarantine, i'm bored. if i can help save someone's

life? bonus. >> yang: fallon had been on her study-abroad in italy, making stops all over europe before it was clear just how bad the ndemic was. >> prague is where things kind of got a little iffy. i started having breathing problems and i just felt like i was in a room full of dust. >> yang: when she got home to columbus, ohio, her coronavirus test was positive. but there was a silver lining: she could try to be a donor for nick butler, a total stranger. an email confirmed she was a perfect match. >> just receiving that email and it's like, something positive coming out of something so negative, and so many people's lives? it's like... it's a very cool thing to get to experience. and i'm lucky i even got to experience that. how much more positive news can you get than the fact that you're going to help save somebody's life? >> yang: her plasma donation at an american red cross center became nick's fourth

transfusion. his doctors aren't sure whether it was the medications, the convalescent plasma, or both, that ultimately pulled nick through. he's now home, literally running on the road to recovery toward his next goal: starting college in the fall. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: as cities and states struggle to find the right balance between re-opening and keeping people safe, the weight of those decisions fall squarely on small business owners. according to a new survey that the census bureau is taking weekly, almost half of small business owners say that the coronavirus is having a lae negative impact on their business. shops that are not considered" essential" have had to close. anna kahoe owns a furniture d clothing store in washington, d.c. and tonight, she shares her "humble opinion" on determining when is the right time to open back up.

>> on march 15, i began tumbling down the staircase of grief. we closed our shop for what we thought would be two weeks, to" flatten the curve." i was in denial. i didn't know we'd lose our employees, that we would ask our landlord for help, that i would yell like a banshee at the bank because they ran out of funds before they reached our loan application. i bargained, "if we paint, move fixtures and dp clean the shop, we'd come back better than ever." now, while states lift stay-at- home orders, i am scared. we want to open, but at what cost? i'm now on the bottom step, known as acceptance, asking," why, in the throes of a global pandemic, does my business matter?" there is no model that illustrates the intimate ways small businesses form the backbone of our communities. see, it happens when someone comes out of the dressing room, twirling like a child at their first recital. finally they have a dress that allows them to see themselves as

they truly are." i can't believe how good this looks on me," they say. or the gentleman of a certain age who comes by daily. he always reports which art exhibits are a must-see. he recently had open heart surgery. he says our shop is a part of a ritual that keeps him healthy. these days i wake up traumatized. i know it's not going back to normal. it's unlikely i will be able to rehire our staff. best case scenario, it will be me and my husband, abbreviated hours and a handful of customers. i am not sure what happens when you go from full speed to full stop, then to puttering along? i don't have a job i can work from home. i want to look my customer in the eye, shake their hand, and even hug them. walking to my shop, i pass shops whose owners i know. i say a prayer, "see you on the other side." have to figure out how to climb back up the steps to my shuttered sh, because there is nothing small about small

business. >> woodruff: anna kahoe, thank you. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> life isn't a straight line, and sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with financial planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> consumer cellular. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security.

at carnegie.org. >> and witthe 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. captiong sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

(classical music) - [narrator] culinary creativity doesn't always come from the kitchen. these days, innovations in how and what we eat and drink cahappen in unexpected places, like silicon valley think tanks, suburban garages, and next gen fast casual canteens. in this episode of "lucky chow", we take a look into the future. we'll visit three pioneering women chefs in the pacific northwest, the founder of a game changing app that has revolutionized how restaurants hire staff, a hot shot new york chef bringing greater awareness