and that wraps up this hour of "msnbc live." "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," america closed as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold of the united states. schools, restaurants, businesses, and most large social events are canceled, as the cdc discourages all gatherings of 50 or more people. >> you know, i would prefer as much as we possibly could -- i think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for overreacting. stress test. with the number of sick and infected rising dramatically over the weekend, experts warn of the strain on hospitals. >> the looming crisis is that curve that everybody talks about is not a curve, it is a wave,

and wave is going to break on the hospital system. and flying blind. chaos and gridlock at the nation's airports as thousands, thousands of travelers returning from europe face new screenings, causing massive lines, leaving crowds crammed into hallways waiting their turn. >> it felt like a scary movie because of all the people wearing masks. >> no consistency in questioning. no temperature check. no swabs. nothing. >> so, just been a lot of confusion, to the point where i just wanted to come home because it's not even worth the stress. >> and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. as we all try to adjust in the new normal in america, we're here to provide all of the latest information about the coronavirus, the shutdowns, the medical facts, how this is impacting all of our daily lives

in unprecedented ways. as we have been warned by government medical experts, the numbers of cases across the nation continue to rise and will continue. at this hour, there are more than 3,600 confirmed cases in the united states and 68 virus-related deaths. it's another miserable day for financial markets around the world. we'll have a lot more on that later. at the start of the workweek, though, streets across america, especially in major cities, are no longer bustling with people heading to the office, to school, to gyms. newly mandated business and school closures ordered on sunday are clearly having a big impact with some local governments ordering citizens to immediately self-quarantine. the big question for millions of americans -- where are the tests? the answer coming from the white house is still muddled. our team is in place across the country. nbc's gabe gutierrez in newark, new jersey, nbc's joe fryer in southern california, and blayne

alexander at atlanta's hartsfield-jackson airport. first to you, gabe gutierrez. let's talk about what you're seeing in your area. >> reporter: hi there, andrea. well, the new normal is anything but normal yet. as you can see behind me, the streets here in newark are empty. we were just about to speak with a business owner here who says that this will be devastating. just a short time ago, the governors of new york, new jersey, and connecticut announced new restrictions, uniform restrictions on businesses, restaurants in this area. bars and restaurants will close tonight for dine-in customers. they will only be able to do take-out orders only. gyms will be closed and all gatherings of more than 50 people will be banned in this area. but new york governor andrew cuomo is blasting the federal government's response. take a listen. >> the federal government should put one position in place and

coordinate it with the states. we have set a template where our regional states work together. we are adopting the same policies, so there is no benefit to try to shop new york versus connecticut versus new jersey. you can't have one state taking actions that are different than other states. this is a national pandemic! and there are no national rules. >> reporter: and new jersey's governor, breaking news, has just announced that schools here in this state will be closed starting on the 18th until further notice. and andrea, we were just in another new jersey community where the local mayor had announced that 40,000 residents, teaneck, new jersey, 40,000 residents over the weekend should self-quarantine and then signed another executive order on sunday.

to governor cuomo's point, up until today, there had been a patchwork of rules from different communities in this area. now those governors are trying to put forward, form kind of stringent, new rules, uniform rules, i should say. but again, here in this area, in new jersey, bars and restaurants closing tonight. many businesses here worry what the long-term impact of this will be, andrea. >> thanks so much, gabe gutierrez, blayne at the airports. what we've seen is extraordinary, all of the people coming in from overseas. so, this was not tsa. this was customs and border control, this was passport control. are they beginning to get more people on duty? how are they handling that? >> reporter: so, yeah, let me walk you through exactly what we're seeing here in atlanta, andrea. right here behind me are the doors where passengers, thousands of passengers, in fact, are coming through after going through that enhanced screenings. we have seen this in 13 airports across the country, atlanta, of course, being one of them. now, here in atlanta's

hartsfield-jackson, every passenger that comes through is getting one of these. this is a flyer that essentially has information about covid-19, and it's saying, essentially, if you're coming from one of those high-impact areas, you need to go home, straight home, and self-quarantine for 14 days. so that's what people are being told to do here with these flyers. now, throughout the morning, andrea, i've been talking with cbp officials and learning more about exactly how this process is playing out. let me tell you about those enhanced screenings. what we're learning is that we're actually learning passengers, as they're coming from those areas that are considered high risk, we're talking about china, iran, and parts of europe, they are being met as they disembark from their plane, they're being met by cdc teams, a cdc doctor, other officials at the time where they're being given information about the coronavirus and they're asked about their travel history. they're asked how they're feeling right now. and then they continue to go through customs. now, we're told that if an officer at any point sees anything that's unusual or strange, perhaps a cough or something else, that passenger can then be pulled and taken for

more advanced screening. now, here in atlanta, there are actually some private areas, about 20 areas that the cdc has where they could do private screenings, so we're told that's being staffed around the clock for people to go and get their temperature checked for things like that. so, andrea, of course, that is what is leading to all of those massive lines that we saw over the weekend. we're talking about in chicago, dallas. now we're told that they've got that under control. the wait times here in atlanta, they were only about 10 or 15 minutes above average. but again, those enhanced screenings are going to be continuing for quite some time, andrea. >> but people are huddled together. you see them clustered together. these are people who are some coming from, as you point out, these high-risk areas. this is absolutely contradictory to all of the guidance. >> reporter: and that's exactly what passengers were pointed out and what they were so concerned about. as you heard some of the passengers talking about it. in fact, i asked a cbp official about that, what is the issue there. and he talked about the fact

that you, in some places, saw jets that were delayed, saw planes that were delayed, so this kind of critical mass of passengers landing around the same time led to a lot of the backup that you saw over the weekend, andrea. >> blayne alexander in atlanta, thank you, and joe fryer in california, there's a real crisis developing at hospitals. what are the shortages there? is it beds? is it equipment? is it staff? >> reporter: there's a lot of worries about what's to come. we are at providence st. joseph medical center in burbank right now, where they have already made some key changes. first change, if you come up to the emergency room here, right off the bat, you're going to be greeted by a triage nurse who's going to ask you some important questions. of course, what are your symptoms? but also some key questions -- have you been out of the country recently or been in touch with someone who has? and have you been exposed to anyone who has coronavirus? if you answer yes to any of those questions, first thing they're going to do is put a mask on you. instead of taking you inside, what they're going to do is actually take you outside here,

down the sidewalks to some tents that have been set up outside of the hospital here. they have stationed set up, each at least six feet apart. it's there you can meet with nurses and doctors and get a better idea of what your situation is, what your symptoms are, what type of treatment you might need. obviously, if someone has a serious condition, then yes, they would be admitted to the hospital to an area where, in case they had coronavirus, that's maybe separate from other people. but the biggest thing they're worried about right now is not so much capacity here -- perhaps down the road they're worried about a surge, but right now they have the station set up because of the so-called worried well, the people who are showing up here who maybe have mild symptoms, don't have serious symptoms but are still showing up at hospitals and ers. of course, the advice is, if you have mild symptoms, you don't need to be showing up at the hospital. rather, they want people here who have more serious conditions. andrea? >> joe fryer, thank you. thanks to gabe gutierrez, and of course, blayne alexander. and joining us now this hour, dr. peggy hamburg, former fda

commissioner and former new york city public health commissioner. and sylvia matthews burwell, president of american university here in washington, former hhs secretary, also the former head of omb. so, we've got so much experience here, and you had so many experience, we've enlarged our table so that we are sitting at a distance to keep safe distance, but also to take advantage of your expertise. first to you, dr. hamburg. you handled the new york city health issue before you became fda commissioner across the country. how do we explain the fda or cdc, tell us who, according to people i've spoken with, who are former colleagues of yours in the obama administration say that there's no way to explain the fda spending three months without fixing the test. >> well, it is hard to understand how we have gotten here when we had early warning of what this unfolding epidemic, now pandemic, could look like.

and we have developed plans. we have practiced those plans. there are great people in all of these agencies, but i think that, you know, unfortunately, there wasn't an adequate sense of alarm. there wasn't leadership saying we have to pull together as a team and defining roles and responsibilities and really making sure that progress was being made, that people were held accountable, and that we harnessed, you know, the great expertise and capabilities that our nation has for a response. >> and sylvia burwell -- sylvia matthews burwell, rather -- the whole question of the pandemic office in the white house. the president said on friday, well, he didn't know anything about closing down the pandemic office that i believe was created in response to ebola, or after ebola was already an issue. so, i think you were involved in that. and that -- wouldn't someone in that office have said to the fda, this is high priority? we're getting warnings from

china -- even though china was remiss in not warning soon enough. isn't that part of the -- potentially part of the breakdown? >> so, i think when we think about these issues, whether it was tommy thompson many years ago who actually created a center at the department of health and human services, mike levit, who continued that preparation, secretary sebelius, myself, we all focused on -- >> and that's bipartisan, because you just referenced -- >> yes, bipartisan -- >> republican and democratic cabinet members. >> the issue of global health security is why that office became permanent and set up. actually, right before i became secretary, the global health security initiative was launched, and it was an effort by the u.s. to make sure that we and other countries were prepared and that people had things in places. one of the things we know from our ebola experience and our zika experiences -- and we are cleari clearly seeing -- is you need an all-of-government approach to these things because it's the economy, all kinds of things, supply chains, everything, and having that focus in the white house is something that is an important part.

i think what's important now is we are now at a place and point where it's very important to get the tests. as peggy mentioned, getting those tests to people so that we can know and understand where we are. and then the second thing is, individuals and citizens now need to take action, and really do need to listen. the social distancing that we're doing here and staying in as much as possible. >> and what we're talking about now is playing catch-up, because it's here. so, as much as we can do travel bans and stop people, and that may be important for the european hotspots right now, may or may not be. but the virus is here. and when mike dewine, the ohio governor, said yesterday, we may have as many as 100,000 cases, he doesn't know that. he's just extrapolating from the modeling. we just don't know how big this is. >> well, that's right. and hopefully, the tests will be up and running in larger numbers soon, and i think new tests can be brought online, perhaps quicker, easier, and more

point-of-care tests as well. so, we need to really understand the contours of this epidemic and learn more about the nature of this virus, how it's transmitted. are there really asymptomatic transmitters? can kids not get sick and carry it? when we say at-risk populations, who do we really mean? is it just being over 60? i hope not, since i am now over 60, but -- >> welcome to the club. >> but you know, pre-existing conditions that particularly make you at risk. what do we know about transmission from surfaces as opposed to respiratory droplets? so, there's still a lot we need to understand about the fundamentals. then we also need to really be preparing for what you've been hearing about all morning, the surge required in our hospital care system. and this isn't going to be business as usual. >> what do we know about surfaces? >> about surfaces? >> about how long droplets can stay on surfaces? we think about cleaning airlines, if anyone is flying. and most people i know are not. but if you're forced to fly, how

long can the virus remain on hard surfaces? >> well, different surfaces are different. you know, cardboard is a little less, i think, than plastic surfaces. you know, we don't think that it's a major mode of transmission, that the respiratory droplets is much more prominent, but it makes sense to follow the simple hygiene procedures that we all are talking about now and preparing for of wiping off surfaces. you know, really, just go the extra mile. and hopefully, we'll continue to really learn more and be able to answer your question more directly. but right now we're dealing with a novel virus, and we just don't know for sure. >> and silver burwell, what about your role as university president and administrator, american university here? how prepared is any university

or most any universities for online learning? >> so, american university has gone online for the rest of the semester for our students. for us, we are fortunate in that all of our schools and our graduate work, we did graduate programs online, so we had a number of the tools in place to do that. our faculty has come together and left their spring break to come back, train for those who haven't, to be up and running, and so tomorrow we'll start that. we know there will be some bumps, and we're working through those challenges. one of the things these times, so important to hear from the community, and that's across the board. hearing from the community to understand, what are the challenges that are coming from the changes that they need to make? but moving our students online as of wednesday, and we will be completing the semester that was. . when we talk about populations, we're also asking our students to return to their homes as soon as possible because of the density issues. we are communities that are highly dense with students living -- >> and if possible -- >> we are working to make arrangements where it is not

possible. but you do want to reduce the density in a university community, because that's about how this gets spread. and as peggy was indicating, while we don't know all the details in terms of are there asymptomatic, how much of it is spread by people who don't show symptoms? and so, our communities are -- it's about their own safety, our faculty, our students, and our broader community. so, working with them each day to see what we can do to reduce that density and reduce the spread, and that's why the social distancing is so important. >> thanks to both of you. you're going to stay and come back later in the hour. for more information, more of your expertise. thanks so much. and coming up next, watching wall street. that could be bad for your health. despite an emergency response from the federal reserve, markets are plunging. next, a check on where things stand. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us here on msnbc. a mil reports. stay with us here on msnbc

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right after the stock market

opened today, trading was immediately suspended for 15 minutes after the s&p 500 plunged 8%, triggering a krishlcircuit breaker. despite the fed's emergency steps sunday of dropping interest rates to near zero in response to covid-19, in an effort to keep financial markets stable and making borrowing costs as low as possible, the fed also coordinated efforts to smooth out disruptions in overseas markets with five other central banks, including the european central bank and the bank of england, to supply dollars in their own financial systems. once again, the markets shrugged off the dramatic moves. and joining me now, nbc news senior business correspondent and msnbc anchor stephanie ruhle. steph, i know you've been working straight through every day and every night, so thanks for being with us. the fed's actions seem to be pushing on a string, if you will, and they have a meeting this week. i guess it was important -- perhaps you can't say what the markets would have been if they did nothing. >> well, that's what's really

important. there was a fed meeting scheduled for wednesday, so the fact that they had an emergency rate cut and it was coordinated with central banks around the world tells you that central bankers, much like medical experts, know how serious this is. so, while the president could do a press conference on friday and say, we're in great shape, even yesterday, again, talk about all of the different ceos that they're working with, you can see by what the central bankers have done here, they realize the economic impact is huge. if you want to truly tackle this and slow the spread of the coronavirus, it is going to push so hard on our economy. and while this is a start in terms of monetary policy, the reason you're not seeing the markets move up is because they are waiting for fiscal policy. congress has got to get something done to really inject cash into the pockets of the american people. >> and steph, of course, that means the senate finally doing something and the follow-on measures that we are expecting. we'll be talking more about that

in a bit. stephanie ruhle, thank you. and of course, we'll watch you every day at 9:00 eastern. and joining me now, former republican congressman david jolly and former republican national committee chair michael steele, also a former lieutenant governor of maryland. so, both of you have been involved in government. and michael steele, you've seen the way larry hogan, the governor of maryland, has stepped up to the plate, but when we watch the president's news conference on friday -- we'll talk a lot about that later -- but the failure of the government to even anticipate some of this. there has been reporting that the fed chair was actually at a conference in saudi arabia, saw a -- an international conference -- saw what was happening globally. he was getting better information out of china and warned the white house about this. >> right. >> some months earlier. >> yeah. >> and was told by the people in the white house it's not a problem. >> yeah. and i think that's a part of the big frustration that governors across the country are having. governor larry hogan is chairman

of the national governors association, and he has been at the tip of the spear and sort of coordinating, as you saw today, even with governor cuomo of new york, state efforts, because the states are really on the front lines, obviously. and so, it is important to note that the governors are the ones who have actually been setting the policy. >> mike dewine in ohio. >> mike dewine in ohio. >> pritzker in illinois. >> absolutely. so, you have the governors setting the policy, the federal government playing catch-up to them in so many respects. they can't sit back and wait until mitch mcconnell decides we're actually going to act on a fiscal bill, to stephanie's point, to get money into the hands of the community so they can do the testing and all the other things. they have to be proactive, and they have been. >> david jolly, i want to ask you about the president's press conference on friday. he seemed to take offense at two of the questioners in particular, both of them, kristen welker and yamiche

alcindor, both of them women of color, which has happened before. take a look at kristen's question. and by the way, both of them had their mics cut by the white house, which controls the microphones when they try to ask follow-up questions. >> dr. fauci said earlier this week that the lag in testing was, in fact, a failing. do you take responsibility for that? and when can you guarantee that every single american who needs a test will be able to have a test? what's the date of that? >> yeah, no, i don't take responsibility at all because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. it wasn't meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers that we're talking about. >> you said that you don't take responsibility, but you did disband the white house pandemic

office and the officials that were working in that office left this administration abruptly. so what responsibility do you take to that? and the officials that worked in that office said that the white house lost valuable time because that office was disbanded. what do you make of that? >> well, i guess it's a nasty question, because what we've done is -- and tony had said numerous times that we saved thousands of lives because of the quick closing. and when you say me, i didn't do it. >> "i didn't do it." of course, it was done by his national security adviser in the white house. david, he also promised inaccurately that there would be these wonderful drive-ins right away and that google was doing this -- >> that's right. >> -- immediate, you know, checklist, this new tool, which google didn't know about it. a subsidiary of google. and it's for the bay area only as a test run. >> yeah. andrea, the greatest impediment to responsibly addressing this crisis is donald trump's own

ego. he is on a single narrative, and that narrative from the president is we have it all under control. he said that when there was one case in january. he said that when there were 15 cases three weeks ago, then 300 cases, now 3,000 cases. he wants the american people to believe we all have it under control, but we know that we simply do not. and if you follow the modeling of other countries, as you've reported on, as dr. fauci has mentioned, we clearly are heading towards a policy decision that will involve a full shutdown of any social activity in the united states, including schools and churches, and also possibly a freezing of the financial markets until we get a handle around this. as michael said, we're seeing governors in new york and illinois and ohio have to make those decisions. donald trump has such a fear of failure that he refuses to make the responsible decisions now, and it will risk the health of americans for the weeks to come. >> david jolly, michael steele, thank you both so much. and coming up, california in crisis. democratic congressman ro khanna joining us to talk about the

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california's taking drastic measures as the coronavirus cases surge in the state. at least 365 cases and six deaths have been reported. more than 5 million senior citizens have been told to self-isolate. public schools are closed for about 85% of the public school students. bars and wineries have been told to shut down. joining me now is democratic congressman ro khanna of california. congressman, thank you very much. there's been praise from the white house for the governor of california, for the mayors, and for what they are doing. how well equipped is california, which seems to be on a leading edge of some of this? >> well, i believe our governor and our mayors are doing a very good job. first of all, there is a message of social isolation. the bars are shut down. the restaurants are shut down. but second, google, as you know, is doing testing in the bay area, so we're working on a technology solution, and we're working a telehealth so that people don't have to go to the hospitals. they can actually see doctors before they're overcrowding

hospitals. so it's a comprehensive approach. >> but how do we answer the question of how backed up the tests are? because governor dewine said, you know, there could be 100,000 cases here in ohio, and that's just modeling based on not knowing. >> absolutely. >> and we don't know until more people are tested. as of friday, i think it was 23,000 or 25,000 tests nationally. >> andrea, this is the problem. i mean, first, why we have not accepted the world health organization's tests that every other country has had is mind-boggling. we should have accepted them months ago. and then let's see what the administration's saying. they're saying that 500,000 tests are going to be available. i hope that's right. we haven't seen that yet. i'm waiting for walmart and cvs and others to have these tests. but that is the biggest road block in this entire pandemic. >> online learning really started before m.i.t., and i think it was core corsera at stanford.

>> you know the valley. >> i know it a little bit, but not as well as you. i know when you were first in congress, you were proposing code teaching to appalachian coal miners losing their jobs, industry transfers, working in kentucky, so you're an innovator on this. what can people in congress do? >> i think to engage community technology on telehealth medicine. and we've called for the national federal health telecenter, so it's a coordinated response, so that if you're sick, you don't just show up to a doctor or a hospital. you actually can have some of the treatment be done online. you can then go to a testing site, if you need to, and then only have the most critical folks actually use our resources. that would save a lot of lives and wouldn't burden our health care facilities. >> it's great to have people like you in congress. thank you so very much. >> thank you. >> congressman ro khanna. hours after vowing to keep the nation's largest school system open, new york city mayor

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and most importantly, to each other. after trying at all costs to keep new york city's schools open, the largest school district in the country, mayor bill de blasio announced late yesterday the closure of new york city public schools for at least five weeks. nbc's kathy park is in new york city. kathy, what are the reactions there? >> reporter: well, andrea, this is an extraordinary decision impacting more than a million students. and of course, you have to factor in the families who are scrambling to figure out what they do in child care and also what they do as far as offering guidance when eventually the instruction moves online, starting on monday. so, over the next couple of days, teachers will be coming together to come up with a plan to roll out this online instruction, this remote

learning effectively. but as you know, thousands of students here in the new york city area do not have access to laptops or tablets or even the internet, so they will come up with a plan to make sure that these students have access to the technology. and also, child care, as i mentioned, is a big issue. so, right now, health care providers, emergency responders, they will be dropping off their kids at the so-called learning centers, so that their parents can continue to do their work. we heard from governor cuomo not too long ago. he's asking all of the jurisdictions in the greater new york city area to come up with a plan by midnight to ensure that these kids are taken care of while they're out of school for the next several weeks. andrea? >> thanks so much, kathy park. and rejoining us now, dr. peggy hamburg and sylvia matthews burwell, both back with us. dr. hamburg, you know new york city so well. you were the new york city health commissioner before you were the fda commissioner. >> right. >> what about the meals? what about the health tests that

these kids get, immunizations? a lot of services are provided through the school system. >> no, it's a really big deal, and i think that's why, you know, the mayor took a measured approach and didn't immediately close down the schools. there's a lot of concerns. students go to new york city schools and get breakfast and lunches provided that they can't get at home. they have after-school programs in many instances. their parents, you know, will have to stay home, potentially, when they need to be out working, providing critical services. i mean, i think it's great they figured out a way to protect health care workers and other front-line, critical, essential providers, daycare support so that they don't have to worry about their kids being home alone. and then, you know, it is uncertain how much of a difference it will make. likely, it is an important step

to be taking, but as we know, kids don't appear to be as much at risk as other populations of becoming infected, but there's the concern that they could be infected and asymptomatic carriers and bringing the disease, spreading the disease at school and bringing it home, exposing others, including those most at risk. >> sylvia burwell, what about on campuses? young people we've seen in some of the communities -- and that's why bars and restaurants were closed down -- are still partying as though there's no virus. they do feel resilient. millennials as well. we're having st. patrick's day celebrations. >> we do, and that's why the communication is so important right now. strong, consistent communication. when we think about what we need to do as a nation to take care of this and get us to a different place. we're moving through, everybody says flattening the curve, making it so there are fewer cases over a period of time that we and our health system can

handle, but it is extremely important for people to hear and understand how important it is. and i think that's one of the things that's so hard about an epidemic or a pandemic. by the time you understand, it becomes too late in terms of behaviors. and so, it's so important for people to listen and understand. this is about trying to make sure we don't get to a situation where our health systems are overburdened. and if everyone takes the steps and we get the tests in place, we can, as tony fauci and others have said, flatten that curve, which means fewer cases over a period of time that the health system can handle it. >> well, as you've both pointed out, this is a global challenge in public health. i was told that we paid, that the united states paid through usaid, i guess, for a million vaccinations for ebola in liberia alone, to try to reduce the outbreak and limit it at that time, whereas we still have

in the house of representatives, they've passed immediate actions, and the senate hasn't taken it up yet. >> so, the issue of vaccinations, i think as you think about where we are, there's what's in front of us right now, there's the medium-term, and the long-term. and as we think about the issues of vaccinations and those -- >> which are not even going to be available -- >> it will be a while before we can get to vaccinations, which i think we're hopeful that we can, but i think that is a 12 to 18-month time frame. as we think about what needs to happen now, the tests are probably the front of what needs to happen and making sure our health care providers -- i think it's really important that places like new york and others learn from the japanese situation, where that was one of the first issues they faced in japan, which was, when kids are out of school, what happens to your health care workers who need to take care of those children? and so, us learning and taking those steps as quickly as we can to preserve that system and stop the spread, through testing and social distancing. >> dr. hamburg, there's some

suggestion that the summer heat might affect this virus, but we don't really know that, do we? >> we don't know that. this is a completely new coronavirus. and so, we're going to learn as we go. you know, there's some reason to hope that like some other viruses, both other coronaviruss and flu, it maybe will have some seasonal elements, but we've seen it, of course, be introduced and take hold in some communities where it's been plenty warm, like singapore. and likely, even if it does abate over the summer months, you know, we'll still have some infection, and we can see a resurgence, so we cannot drop our guard. we need to, you know, continue our work on developing a they are pudic, a drug treatment, as well as work on the vaccine that

ultimately will be so important in protecting health. and we also need to continue to watch and learn from, as sylvia was just saying, other countries and their experience as the epidemic unfolds. >> thank you so much. dr. peggy hamburg, sylvia burwell, thanks to both. and coming up, help needed. the house passed that emergency coronavirus bill early saturday morning after an all-night session. when is the senate going to get down to business? senator mark warner of virginia joining us next. stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. "andreal reports," only on msnbc.

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mcconnell says discussions are already under way about the next steps on coronavirus legislation. presumably bail out money for the travel industry, but he's not said when the senate will vote on the house bill sent up. joining me now is senator mark warner of virginia. thank you very much senator. have you heard anything more about the schedule? i know the fisa legislation was

up for a vote and final passage supposedly today. does that have to precede any senate action on this coronavirus emergency act? >> andrea, first of all, it's easier for me to say because i live so close, i don't think we should have gone out of session on friday. this is a national emergency. the congress needs to be here working. we needed to have passed that emergency relief. in terms of the fisa legislation, something that i think needs to be renewed, i think the real concern is that there may not be enough senators coming back. many fall into the targeted age group. it could be problematic. whether we take up fisa or not, i think it's important that we move on this emergency action the house took and that will do things like school lunches that we talked about earlier in your earlier segment.

it will support additional funds for medicaid. it will take the first step on employment, expanded unemployment benefits. i don't think the house bill is enough. i think we need to move on the unemployment issue to what's called disaster related unemployment relief where you don't have to wait seven days. the company does not have to severe its relationship with the employee. it could be a more furrowed relationship. we need to see some targeted assistance to certain industries. i can assure you -- i can say this as a pro business democrat, that assistance to these targeted industry, will airlines, hotels or others, we thie need to see the vast majority of those funds passed through to workers. nobody should lose their job, their pay or not have the flexibility to take care of their kid if they have to

quarantine or if their industry has dramatic shut downs. >> senator romney is calling for urgent action, the $1,000 per person. is that the relief you think needs done? >> i'm not taking anything off the table. my fear is that macro economic effort, you only get one shot on that. that's one of the reasons why i thought the president's payroll tax cut was ill-thought through. that doesn't do anything if you're an uber driver or independent contractor. that's not going to take care of things. when you're talking about this massive dollar amount per family, we might need to come to that. my fear is if we act before we've got other things in place, we may have shot all our

bullets. what we've seen is the fed take dramatic action yesterday. it did not calm the markets. the markets are down about 8%. what i would hope we do is take this targeted action towards those individuals quarantined, those industries hard hit. let's recognize the banks -- i was furious to hear that the banks as recently as last week were still using their balance sheets to buy back stock, rather than hold on to that cash so we could deploy it to small businesses and others. interest rates are at all time record lows. we need to have the financial institutions put out these loans at virtually low interest or no interest to get the capital into the market place. >> senator mark warner, thank you very much. to be continued. >> thank you, andrea. >> we'll be right back. be righk everything's stuck in the drawers! i'm sorry! oh, jeez. hi.

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we know these are trying times for all of us here in this country and around the world. before you go today, i want to leave you with this. this moment exemplifying the resiliency of the human spirit. [ singing in foreign language ] neighbors in italy under

lockdown singing from their balconies towards each other. a moment of togetherness in spite of all the restrictions. we should all take a lesson from that. we'll have updates online all day long. follow us on facebook and twitter. now here's joshua johnson in new york. >> welcome to a special of msnbc focused on the coronavirus pandemic. >> every day brings new questions about the outbreak. we're back to get you more answers. we've gotten thousands of emails and tweets with questions. we have an incredible team of experts to answer them. we want you to keep the questions coming. use