call now aag is working to make your retirement better. . welcome to monday. it is "meet the press daily." good evening. i'm katy tur in new york in for chuck todd. and you're looking at eerie, live pictures of an empty times square, during what would normally be a very busy rush hour in the heart of this city.

instead, is it the symbol of a country that is shutting down. earlier, the president announced new sweeping guidelines urging the public to effectively hunker down. public health officials now want everyone in the country, even healthy individuals, to avoid gatherings of more than ten people to avoid any unnecessary travel, and to avoid eating at bars and restaurants altogether. there is growing concern that the u.s. hospital system is going to be overwhelmed unless we all act with a sense of collective urgency not seen since world war ii. and public health officials are warning that these measures will not be effective unless everyone follows them. >> the guidelines, when you look at them carefully, i believe if the people in the united states take them seriously, because they were based on some rather serious consideration back and forth, some may look at them and say, they're going to be really inconvenient for people.

some will look and say, well, maybe we've gone a little bit too far. they were well thought out. and the thing that i want to reemphasize and i will say it over and over again, when you're dealing with an emerging infectious diseases outbreak, you are always behind where you think you are if you think that today reflects where you really are. >> well, here is where we are. the number of coronavirus cases has now rapidly begun to rise. it's more than doubled since we were on the air on friday and nearly every official believes that the actual number of cases is far higher than testing shows. but even if many of us do hunker down as the nation's top infectious disease doctor put it yesterday, there are still worries based on the experience of other countries like italy, which has effectively been on a total shutdown for a week, that it might not be enough. this comes as an increasing number of state and local

officials from new york to l.a., washington state to maryland, have already ordered restaurants and bars or other facilities like clubs and legitimacy to close. dozens of states have already closed schools. the mayor of san francisco just urged that residents effectively shelter in place starting at midnight, only to leave their house for essential needs. some state officials are warning that their health care systems will be overrun. that's because most states measure the number of available hospital beds in the thousands, but this virus could endanger the lives of millions. earlier today, new york state governor andrew cuomo said that 17% of cases in the state are requiring hospitalization. 17%. and pa whopping 40 to 60% of the state could be infected. >> so take 40% of 60% of 18 million, take a hospitalization

rate of our sample of about 17% and then compare that to 50,000 hospital beds. you will then break out in a sweat, maybe hooifives. you will feel great anxiety, panic attack, and you'll be right. >> folks, that will affect a lot of people. cuomo also urged the federal government to employ the army corps of engineers to start building temporary hospital facilities. in ohio, the governor this afternoon announced that he wants to cancel in-person voting for tomorrow's elections, which included the presidential primary. he's recommending that in-person voting be delayed to june 2nd. and alongside this global public health emergency is a very real economic emergency. it was one of the worst days for the markets in history. they tumbled 13%, despite emergency action by the federal

reserve and despite the promise of more action by the white house and congress. this is a scary moment in our history and if you're paying attention to what public health experts and local officials are saying, and frankly, it will be even scarier if you know people who are not paying attention to the warnings from public health officials and experts. joining me now from the white house with the latest from the coronavirus task force is my nbc news colleague hans nichols, also with us, joseph fair, a virologist and msnbc science contributor, and drew harris, population health expert at thomas jefferson university. so hans, today that white house briefing with the president of the united states, they gave us a lot more detail about the federal government's plans and their recommendations. and the president himself changed dramatically in tone. what happened? >> well, the details matter here and we'll get into those in a little bit. but i do think this press conference will be remembered for the change in tone from the president. he seemed to acknowledge that

coronavirus is going to be with us for some time, july, august, the specific provisions that they were announcing today, the guidelines are 15-day guidelines. but clearly, they are preserving their ability to extend those. the president talked about the prospect of a recession. he talked about how this virus is a challenge for everyone. even given the opportunity to go after some of his normal enemies, his normal adversaries, he declined. he even had something nice to say about jeff bezos, the owner of amazon, "the washington post," a frequent whipping boy for the president. so his tone was markedly different. they're getting new information in at all times. there are certain things that he didn't do. and he didn't extend this broad curfew that there had been some speculation about. the president made it very clear that what they're doing is offering guidelines, not directives. and the biggest of those guidelines that gives you a sense of what they're looking for is stay at home, but also gatherings that aren't bigger than ten. it was just yesterday that the cdc advised no gatherings bigger

than 50. the facts on the ground are changing and the white house, this entire task force seems to have made a dramatic shift, katy, and they are now treating this not as a political matter, not as an economic matter, but as a public health matter first and foremost. katy? >> hans, what else is on the table? because new york state governor andrew cuomo says he needs the army corps of engineers to come out and build hospital facilities, expand the number of beds that they have available to them. is that on the table? >> the president said they're considering it. they're looking at expanding capacity, using the army corps of engineers. they're also considering additional intraamerica travel bans, so you might have some restrictions on flights, although the president didn't go as far to say that there would be a blanket faa ban. and they're clearly looking at different restrictions for different localities. and overall, the president is suggesting that there could be more restrictions on americans to come. overall, the day was such that we were being warned to stay away from this idea of a curfew, of a blanket lockdown.

and i think the white house is aware, and you really heard this from dr. birx, is that there are things that they can compel and things that they can ask. and at this point, they're asking the american public for their cooperation. katy? >> well, let's put up what the white house is offering today in terms of their guidelines. dr. fair, i know that you were watching this as well. i know you've been listening to hans nichols' reporting. do you think this is enough? >> you know, i think frankly, we've been making these recommendations through the media for, you know, since we started reporting on this. you know, even ten people or more, i would even further say it needs to be your immediate circle. and i heard a colleague reference earlier that, you know, they have an agreement with the family next door, so that that family knows what their immediate circle is, the next family next door knows their immediate circle, so their kids can keep their play dates, to keep some sense of normalcy for their children. so i think that's going to be critical. is that you keep the gathering and the distancing to your

absolute core minimum of essential circle around you and that's it. >> so are you saying -- >> that's what we mean by social distancing. >> so are you saying this is not enough? >> i'm just saying that it's great that we have these guidelines, but we see everywhere people not following these guidelines. and so if everyone's not following the guidelines, then it's null and pointless. so we have to make sure that everyone is doing this. and right now, we're not there yet. >> drew, in terms of social distancing, explain to us why that helps flatten the curve. and explain to those out there who might look at the television and say, hey, i'm not in washington, i'm not in new york, i'm not in california, i don't feel like i need to pay attention to this. i just saw a video from florida's beaches and they are absolutely packed with people sitting side by side and playing in the ocean, as if this is not going on. >> yes, i saw similar images from disney world and from bars

that are celebrating in pre-st. patrick's day events. and it's a little scary to see that. baa recognize that a virus is going to spread within a crowd, and if the crowd is large, the more the virus is going to spread. we really need to think about making that size much smaller. if you are in a group of ten people and one person comes in with the virus and the rest of those ten people get it, then they go on to another group and another ten people, and over time, it will begin to spread, but it spreads much more slowly. if instead that one person walks into a room of a hundred or a thousand or 10,000 people in the stadium, then many, many more people are going to be exposed to that virus and the transmission will be that much quicker. and right now, we are fighting against time, running against the clock. and we really need to make sure that we get things under control early, otherwise, when it's out of control, that fire, the conflagration of the spreading of the virus is going to be overwhelming. and that's when we start to see the cases pile up in the hospital. and for anyone who's wondering whether this is serious, just

take a look at italy. and you can see what happens when you wait and delay. >> let me ask you about italy. because if you look at the trajectory of this, people think that we are on the same trajectory as italy. the surgeon general said as much earlier on a couple of the shows. so have we not done enough fast enough? is it okay? are we buying ourselves any comfort here by putting all of these practices into place, suddenly with raemeal emphasis of this weekend. for example, on friday, i was still planning on going to the doctor on monday. on saturday, the businesses in my area in new york city said they were doing gangbusters businesses. the bars were open. on sunday, my gym was still open. as of this morning, all of those things were shut down and the doctor's appointment was canceled. it seems like we've shifted in mentality in just the past three days. was it fast enough? >> well, only time will tell. i mean, really, this world, our

planet, everyone has suffered essentially a global heart attack. suddenly, everything stops when that occurs. and we need to figure out how do we get and begin to recover from it. but right now, we're in the midst of it. and whether these various mitigation strategies are sufficient, we won't know for a week or two, because as you heard, there's this tally lag, this time that we have to wait between when a virus is first transmitted and when people begin to come down with symptoms. and only when we see what the final result is in a week or two will we really know whether we intervened early enough or not. >> joseph, andrew cuomo said this morning or this afternoon said that new york state could have 17% of cases that require hospitalization. that is a really large number. what was your reaction? >> i think he's spot-on. i mean, you know, obviously, that's on the higher end of the projection, but we always plan for the worst. hopefully it won't be that bad, but planning for that projection, we won't have nearly

enough beds, nearly enough ventilators. we've known that almost for a decade, even more since 2001, h1n1 and exercises that were run after that. we have mechanisms in place right now from the united states government to ramp up the production of ventilators. for example, through agencies like barta, which falls under hhs. those need to be stood up now. if you wait until it's too late, lives will be lost for something that we could have already had. and ventilators, by the way, don't expire. it's a good investment and we know we need them. >> let's play a little bit more from andrew cuomo earlier today. >> we're doing everything we can to flatten the curve. i believe we've taken more dramatic actions than any state in the united states. i believe we've had the most effective response of any state in the united states. i don't believe we're going to be able to flatten the curve enough to meet the capacity of the health care system. >> that is a dramatic

prediction, joseph. is he calling for federal support? is that a cry for help? >> absolutely, it is. and i mean, calling out the national guard and the army corps of engineers, that's exactly what he was doing. and frankly, i completely agree with him. the one thing the military does better than -- other than fighting wars is logistics. and we need logistics. logistics wins wars. and it's the same when it comes to a public health war. we need those logistics now, we immediate to get field hospitals and isolation up and running in major urban centers, especially to where we can put people. we know we don't have the capacity. capacity was already stretched before this showed up, and now we're looking at completely overwhelming our system. >> if you look at estimates, we might need hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of ventilators. and i don't know that we have that many. we might have a couple hundred thought ventilators. >> indeed, we don't. we know that we don't have that many. and like i said, there are mechanisms in place, companies, phillips' health care is one that already have contracts in

place to produce them in a scenario just like this. so i haven't heard anything moving on that front. have we asked them to start ramping up production. have we even placed the order yet? it would be very reassuring in these press conferences to get specifics on, yes, we've initiated this action, and yes, we have this many that are being produced and they will be available by this time. specifics are what calm people down and panic and hysteria follow when you get mixed messages like 50 people. yesterday, ten people. today -- that causes panic because that indicates that you don't know what you're talking about. >> hans, it's interesting, because when ventilators have been asked about at these coronavirus briefings, the answer has been, we can't tell you how many are in the stockpile because of national security reasons. i'm curious why that is, number one. and number two, the president said today that he doesn't believe this is going to be the peak of it or the real problem of it isn't going to be over until july or august. >> reporter: yeah. well, i'll do the last part of your question first, and that is the president really extended the time horizon on this.

now, he was almost corrected there by dr. fauci, because the guidelines they're talking about now are 15-day guidelines as it relates to staying at home and no groups larger than 10. the president seemed to have a dual track approach and an answer to this idea of ventilators. at one time, he seemed to suggest that, yeah, the states are going to have to go ahead and get them privately through their own procurement methods. and in another moment, he seemed to suggest that there was going to be a big federal element and a big federal component to this, but that wouldn't come until after. and so, it seemed to be his message to the states, if you can get them, get them now, but we're working on a longer-term solution. so, still a little bit of clarity there. also a little bit of clarity on just how many tests are out there. it seems like they'll be at 5 million by the end of two weeks, but the testing numbers, by their own admission, have changed quite a bit and they've admitted to failings. that is, everyone but the president himself. katy? >> drew, just give us an idea. what exactly is okay for us to

do right now? can we go outside? can we go to a park? can i take my 11-month-old to the swings later this evening or tomorrow? what is acceptable behavior within social distancing and the, all but in name, the shutdown of a city. >> i can't imagine there's a problem with walking down the street. but you described taking your child to the park and on the playground equipment and we would be concerned about contact spread of the virus. the town that i came from in new jersey has banned people from actually going to the playgrounds, because they're afraid of the spread of the virus. so that would be a concern. but i can't imagine that's an issue if you're walking alone or with family down the street, as being an issue. we really want to tell people not to gather in larger crowds where the virus can be spread. and one of the challenges we have here is that it doesn't impact younger people as much as older people. the risk is really with the older people, people with chronic conditions, those are

the ones who are most at risk. so when we're asking people to protect themselves, we're actually asking them to protect others. because the life that you save may not be yourself, it may be someone you love. >> got to think of it this way. it is not about me, it is about we. it sound sophomoric, but in this scenario, it can save lives. >> sure. >> nbc's hans nichols, joseph, and drew harris. ahead, the situation in italy is grim. doctors say they're forced to triage patients like it's a war. could we be headed in that direction? and later, another brutal day on wall street as the dow plunges nearly 3,000 points. even the fed couldn't stop the meltdown. stay with us. ltdown stay with us

flatten the curve, slow the spread, so the health care system can handle it. when they say this, i don't

think of a curve, i think of a wave. and the wave is going to break and the wave is going to break on the hospital system. >> welcome back. that was new york governor andrew cuomo this morning, voicing a growing fear among elected firms, doctors, and citizens that our health care system will not be able to handle the volume of corona patients in the coming weeks. and we're already seeing this scenario play out in italy. you're looking at a viral video of a man flipping through seemingless endless pages of obituaries in an italian newspaper. italy reported 349 deaths today alone. and the number of cases is showing no signs of slowing, nearing 28,000, even as the country remains in lockdown. doctors in italy say they are being forced to decide who to treat, essentially who lives and who dies, as they prioritize treatment for younger, healthier patients who have a better chance of recovery. just imagine making that decision. joining me now is matt bradley,

nbc news foreign correspondent, on the ground in rome, and dr. aaron carroll, professor of pediatrics at indiana university school of medicine and a "new york times" contributor, who recently wrote about that -- i'm sorry, who recently wrote that the biggest thing to worry about with coronavirus is the overwhelming of our medical system. so matt, let's start with you. the deaths yesterday in italy, 368. deaths today, 349. what's the latest out there? >> reporter: yeah, well that 349, that's not much lower than the 368 you mentioned yesterday, which was the highest single-day death rate that italy has seen so far in this cataclysmic crisis that's been going on for several months here. you mentioned, italy is the second most afflicted country by the coronavirus after china. and it now accounts, according to a tally in the immediate, to about a third of the global deaths of the coronavirus.

so that means it's really fast taking over any other country and putting a lot of distance between itself and all of the other countries behind it. you know, the vast majority of these cases aren't just spread throughout all of italy. they're really concentrated in the north, in the region of lombardi, of which milan, a city all of us have heard of, is the capital, and bergamo, where they have just shut down one of the city's largest cemeteries. and now there's long lines waiting for the cremation of bodies, because they just can't keep pace with the number of deaths that are coming out there. now, italy does have a fairly old population, and that's one of the problems. it's one of the reasons why this crisis has been so incredibly devastating here. but, you know, a lot of -- we've been hearing from doctor who have been saying that, you know, these respirators that have been going around are actually, they've been treating them like gold, because they just don't have enough respirators to go around. hospital beds, there was a study in the lancet journal that came out a couple of days ago saying that this country and going to need 4,000 more hospital beds.

i think they're probably going to need more than 4,000 as this goes on and on. we heard from prime minister you sepp conte last night, and that this had not crested yet, and while the case load was not accelerating, it was flattening. >> so they are still in a situation where there are not enough hospital beds and they're still in a situation where doctors are triaging when patients come in, deciding who to treat and who to not treat based on their age and their underlying conditions and their prediction for how they'll recover? >> well, let me just specify that, katy. when i spoke to this doctor who was in lombardi earlier today, he said, okay, that triage something that all hospitals do -- >> of course. of course. >> reporter: -- under all circumstances. there is always a determination whether or not care is appropriate for a patient. he was important to say, this is ant death committee. doctors aren't saying, this

patient will die and this patient will live. this isn't like a wartime situation, and he did specify that really there are enough respirators, there are enough beds to go around, but he said that the hospital staff is being overwhelmed and really, the burial system is also breaking under this. as i mentioned, the cemetery is going to be closed down. the cremation system is under a lot of stress and taking a lot of time. and that's one of the main problems. but, yes, the stress on the hospital system is extraordinary and on the health workers themselves is a burden that is just too much for them to bear. and again, this is a glimpse, possibly, into what the united states has to wait for as this crisis continues. >> that is such an important clarification, so thank you for making that, matt. dr. carroll, the italian population is older, but they have more beds per person in italy than we have here in the united states. and we are a country with very many people who have underlying health issues. how prepared or not i appreciate it are we? >> well, we like to think that we're prepared, but it's also important to remember that

hospitals don't get by by keeping hospital beds empty and ventilators unused. it's already flu season. and hospitals were more busy before any of this began. so the concern is that all the cases coming down the pike might just exacerbate an already stressed system and completely overwhelm it. >> so what do you need to come from the federal government in order to make sure that if hospitals get to a point where they are starting to be overwhelmed, they're starting to see more patients, do you need the federal government to step in and create more hospital facilities, get more beds, as andrew cuomo asked for today? >> i think it's that and more. we need to be able to make sure that we can move equipment around when we need to, we need to make sure that we can move personnel around when we need to. we need to make sure that regulations are eased or lifted in places where we can do that more easily and need an accurate accounting of how bad things are in certain areas so we know exactly where stuff needs to go. >> we haven't had that many tests yet. we hope to get to a number or i think it's a million tests by the end of this week if not more. what numbers are we going to see

once more people get tested? >> we're going to see numbers go up in the next few weeks for a number of reasons. one is good in the sense that hopefully we'll see more tests. but the second thing to remember is that all of the infections we might see come out in the next week or two have already happened. the social distancing can't help that. they're already infected. it takes somewhere between two to four days, all the way up to 14 days for infections to appear. they've already happened and we're still seeing areas of the country that are not doing the physical distancing that is necessary yet. you mentioned florida. there are other areas all over the country. and until we really get that going, we can't possibly see a flattening of the curve until weeks to come. >> the measures that we have taken so far and they're ad hoc, as you just mentioned, because florida, people are still congregating at beaches and other places, people are still going to restaurants and bars. have we taken enough steps, even in washington, new york, and california, in order to get us off the same trajectory as

italy, or are we already going in that direction? >> well, remember, that we have a lot of infections already baked into the cake. so we're still on the trajectory, even if we did the best job we could right now, i think the problem is that we're taking steps, but not everybody is taking them. there are still too many people and too many people going on social media and too many politicians even not taking this seriously enough, still encouraging people to gather, go out to dinner or go out. that's really got to stop. >> you're talking about devin nunes, i presume? >> i wasn't even thinking that. i think i just saw another governor who was talking about, people could go out to eat if they like, still. there's just not clear messaging here. it's good to see it from the president today, but we need clear and consistent messaging across the board that these measures are incredibly important, we really need to do some social and physical distancing and we really need to do it now. >> i know it's hard to make these sort of predictions, but when do you expect there to be a flattening of the curve here in the united states? >> i don't know that anyone can make a prediction, but i think it's conservative to say, weeks

out. because, again, all the best measures can't have really a big effect for at least two weeks and we're not taking the measures that we need to. if we're looking at other countries that have taken big measures, it's going to take at least weeks, if not months. >> what about the president today was talking about july, august, for when this might be the worst of it might be over. is that a conservative prediction? is that a extreme prediction? >> i don't think anybody knows. i think that the more we engage right now, the shorter that this could potentially be, but i think we better get used to the idea that this is going to be at least weeks, if not months. but hopefully in the next two months, we might be able to see that, if we all really do our part. >> are you more optimistic today than you were last week? >> i'm more optimistic in a sense that i think that more politicians and more of the people making policy are starting to take this seriously, but i'm still concerned by a lot of the images that i see on tv and on social media of significant groups of people not

taking this seriously. there was a tweet last night from wallet disney world that looked like a sea of people all next to each other watching the fireworks. all of those people are now going to disband and go all over the country back to where they came from. that's a horrifying prospect. we have to really stop that. >> they are closing, but again, it was horrifying to see the same sort of crowds at the airports, as well. nbc's matt bradley and dr. aaron carroll, thank you very much for joining us. ahead, the latest from wall street as markets take an historic plunge. fromal wl street as markets take an historic plunge. derate derate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some... rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack.

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welcome back. the dow plunged 13% today, its worst decline in three decades, despite the fed's emergency rate cut yesterday. for more, i'm joined by msnbc's david gura from the floor of the new york stock exchange. so david, what happened today. >> the fed had this emergency action late last night. there was a press conference that followed, the fed reducing rates and instituting new bond buying program. investors reacted kind of negatively to that very soon after. and you saw in the future markets an indication that we were going to see a big drop this morning. no one expected, i think, to drop as quickly as it did and that circuit breaker, that stop on trading happened just a few seconds into the trading day. there was a 15-minute pause, trading began again, things recalibrated a bit and we had a repeat of what we saw on friday, and this is to me what is so extraordinary.

the president on friday scheduled a news conference to take place in the run-up to the closing bell on wall street, and the markets rose very quickly and very high as a result of that. same thing played out today, but it had the opposite effect on the markets. they began dropping almost as soon as the president spoke. he seemed chastened. he was talking a lot about the virus itself. not gloating about the stock market as he had been doing over the course of the weekend. and there was this phenomenal drop that you described. the largest point drop that we've seen, the largest percentage drop that we've seen for the dow since 1987. in fact, the worst day in nasdaq's history, katy. >> the fed has now twice tried to juice the market by cutting rates and it hasn't bounced back. should we be concerned? >> the fed has this tool kit, things that it can do, and the fed chairman yesterday on that emergency conference call talked a lot about what's in his tool kit and expressed some confidence that he has confidence in what's available to him. but rates are cut incredibly low now. there's a limit to what he can do. and he addressed that during that conference call yesterday. he nodded to the fact that in a

crisis like this, and i say that kind of reluctantly, we are kind of in unprecedented territory here, congress is supposed to step in. there is supposed to be fiscal policy that works in complement with monetary policy. so the fed's hands aren't tied completely here, but there's a limit to what they can do. they're buying more bonds, there's a question about can they buy other securities. the fed chairman yesterday saying he's not at that point yet. he and his fellow policy makers aren't at the point yet to ask permission from congress to buy more securities. but there is a limit, that's what we learned yesterday, a limit to what monetary policy can do in a crisis. >> david, thank you for fighting with the guy next to you to see whose voice can speak louder. are we going to see a change in the markets once congress decides on whatever their stimulus package for this crisis is? is part of it because we're seeing not squabbling so much as disagreements in congress about how best to go ahead? >> yeah, i think that's what investors were hoping to hear

more about today. and over the course of the weekend, starting on friday, the president was there at that podium surrounded by executives. the fact that he called for a national emergency then really cheer eed investors and showed new level of seriousness. to an extent, we saw some of that this weekend. he was there with a team of advisers around him. but he focused on the virus today and not so much on that fiscal policy plan. and as you know, over the course of the day, the conversation was whether or not that bill that was passed by the house of representatives was even on the senate's desk was going to be occupy for a vote. so there wasn't much ground for optimism there on the part of investors that were any closer to getting that fiscal policy plan passed. there was talk from senators of growing it further. of course, we go back to what the treasury secretary said on friday, that we're in the second inning of this. but fundamentally, it doesn't seem like we're that much closer to that package being passed. and for investors, there was little reason to cheer where we are at this point, katy. >> david gura, thank you very much. and ahead, cities and towns nationwide are taking unprecedented steps to respond to the crisis. i'll talk with one mayor who's

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welcome back. the white house says a nationwide lockdown is not under consideration right now, but governors and mayors across the country are taking drastic measures to protect their residents from coronavirus. residents in six counties in the san francisco area have been ordered to stay at home. the order affects about 7 million people and the order does not impact residents with essential jobs, like health care workers and first responders. and on the east coast, the mayor of hoboken, new jersey, announced a citywide curfew from 10:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. joining me now by phone is the mayor of hoboken, rabialbala. why the citywide curfew? >> the citywide curfew was made on a lot of thought relying on the best science and data we had

available at the time with the pure purpose of saving lives and affecting the health and safety of the public. what we observed, katy, on saturday evening was an atmosphere in downtown hoboken that was like spring break. people were simply not following our policy of social distancing. they were out in the bars and the restaurants and as a pure matter of saving lives, we felt we had to act quick. we were the first city in the country to take this measure. and it's refreshing to see that other mayors and other governors around the country are taking similar measures, so that we cannot be in isolation in hoboken, but be joined together by a region and as a country, to try to negate this health care crisis. >> tomorrow is st. patrick's day, if i'm not mistaken, correct? and that's usually a pretty big time in hoboken. >> st. patrick's day was -- it's

typically -- it was a parade. that was canceled in 2011 or thereabouts. so it is not going to be a big day from a festivities standpoint. so that is not something that we anticipate to be a problem in hoboken. >> well, given that, and if people do not follow these curfew orders, which is going to be from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., are you considering in the future an all-out lockdown of the city akin to what's happening in san francisco? >> we're not taking any options off the table. every town and every city, every jurisdiction is different, so we are looking at the circumstances that relate directly to the city of hoboken. we are doing that on an hourly and daily basis. so if that type of action is necessary, we are not afraid to

take that measure. our primary focus is making sure that we can save as many lives as possible by containing this virus and taking as many proactive and preemptive measures for the public benefit of our residents. we understand the detrimental impact that this will have on small businesses and the people that employ them. and we're taking active measures to address that issue, as well. >> mr. bhalla, this virus is not respecting city lines, county lines, state lines, international lines. if other places are not taking the same drastic measures, what does it matter what you do? >> well, luckily the state of new jersey has taken substantial action with respect to bars and restaurants. the purpose of the actions on saturday night in hoboken was to protect the residents of hoboken, but also to encourage other mayors and other governors

around the region and the country to act together, act in unison, because we can't be in isolation taking action in hoboken and contain this crisis on a regional or national basis. so it's refreshing to see that on multiple levels of government, drastic measures are being taken, and they seem harsh, but they're necessary to protect the public interest. and protect public safety. >> leading by example. mayor bhalla, thank you very much for joining us and dplugoo luck. >> thanks for having me. still ahead, the drastic measures communities are taking to protect children. the latest on the school shutdowns happening nationwide, next. n the school shutdowns happening nationwide, next as a doctor, i agree with cdc guidance. i recommend topical pain relievers first...

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staying engaged - in life. oh, thank you, thank you. you're welcome. are you ready to go? oh, i sure am. we can provide the right care, right at home. welcome back. millions of students across the country are out of school this week. at least 33 states and d.c. have canceled classes for k through 12 for a period of time. in california governor gavin newsom has not issued a statewide mandate, but many districts, including the second largest in the country, have made the decision to shutdown. l.a. unified school district served nearly 700,000 students, 80% of whom rely on free or reduced-price meals. austin butteener is the superintendent of the l.a. unified school district. austin, thanks stop for joining us, or mr. superintendent, i should say. the decision to, to cancel schools in los angeles is a really big one when you consider

how many of those students go to school to get their meals. how are you mitigating that concern? >> so, first of all, katy, thanks for having me. the decision to close any school let alone all of 0 you are skeelz has real consequence, and we know that. as we continued our conversations we had every day with health authorities, we asked the same three questions. what's the occurrence in los angeles, any connection to our schools and is it appropriate for school to remain open? we couldn't answer all three so we felt the right thing to do for our students, staff, and school campuses was to close schools. now, school being closed doesn't mean students won't continue to learn. it doesn't mean we're not going to do our best to provide support for students and families. and you we have to take care of those who work in our schools. those are our three priorities. make sure students can continue to learn, support students and families as best we can, and make sure our work force is safe and focused on the task at hand supporting students and families. a >> what are you doing to make

sure all those people are being helped? >> well, so, let's start with the couldn't nult ntinuity of l. we set up a dual track approach. those who had a digital advice where the student and classroom teacher were trained, we've continued that. we also had to address the needs of all of our students. more than a quarter of our students don't have access to broadband at home, no internet. so we and pbs provide programming from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. age appropriate elementary to high school, so that provides for the continuity of learning. to support families and students, we're working to provide nutrition for students in the communities we serve, and if we have the support of state and local health authorities, we're trying to find a way to also provide child care. we're confident together with red cross we're going to be able to deliver on the promise around

nutrition. we're not yet there in terms of the ability to provide child care. obviously the local, state and even national authorities have an ever changing set of issues or prescriptions as to how to keep people safe. and we can only do that if we can keep people safe. >> you experienced a prolonged strike last year between an disagreement between the teachers and the district. this is obviously going to affect l.a.u.s.d. from the amount of money they are able to get from taxes -- not from taxes, but from just the economic impact that's going to feel -- that's going to ripple around the country. are you concerned about the solvency and your ability to honor the negotiations that you had with teachers last year? >> so, what came out of last year was absolute alignment between those who work in our schools and all of us at the district that we have an adequacy issue.

in new york, schools receive about $30,000 a year to invest in students. in los angeles we're asked to make do with $17,000. we and all our partners are asked to rectify that. as far as this issue of the moment is concerned, we're going to do what's right for our students. we're going to do what's right nor our employees and we'll figure out the money stuff later. >> what about the parents who need child care? >> so, we're trying to find a way to provide that, but we need support at the state level, the federal level and the local level to be able to do that. so many of the issues that we face in society, public education being the foundation, is the common ground on which we all stabbed. b stand. but it's going to take the entire community to do this. schools can't do it alone. we need the county, state and federal government to help us. if child care is to be

delivered, it's going to be with trained professionals. it's going to be in a situation that health authorities can tell us it will be safe for all involved. >> l.a.u.s.d. superintendent austin butteener. thank you very much. ahead, business as unusual. ok everyone! our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition... for strength and energy! whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-seven vitamins and minerals. ensure, for strength and energy.

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public transportation is transporting very few members of the public. rush hours are not rushing at any hour. some are come parparing this mo to what it was like during wartime. a number of you remember what it was like in this nation during world war ii. some of you at least. seemingly they shifted from the bottom line to the front line. manufacturers instead of automobiles, general motors workers made tanks and machine guns. the ford motor company started producing war planes. chrysler got into the business of bullet making. that was a moment of national unity and we're starting to see it again. but this time it's international. now the french company that owns luxury brands like louis vuitton is shifting its focus. instead of making perfume, it's going to use its factories to make hand sanitizer. and it's going to get it to french health care providers for free. and in china, the company that makes iphones is going to start making face masks. it hopes to make 2 million a day

by the end of the month. surely more businesses will step up as the crisis expands, but at this moment it is gratifying to see businesses taking action. indeed, we are at war against a common enemy, one that cannot be seen, but whose presence is undoubtedly felt. and to win this time, it's going to take absolutely all of us. that's all for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press" daily. the beat with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, katy. thank you very much. i'm ari melber. you're watching a special edition of "the beat." we want to cover the latest developments in the coronavirus outbreak. the last time something shook the entire nation, this week begins a new and clear phase of intensity across basically every measure we have, the public health impact, the market reaction, the government response. and while this is certainly a harrowing time for