my thanks to david jolly and kimberly atkins and everyone else who was here today. it's been a rough week for america. thank you for hanging in there with me this week. nicolle will be back this weekend. walk your dog this weekend. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts right now. ♪ welcome to friday. it's "meet the press daily." we've got a packed show for you. a series of stay-at-home orders are blanketing states and cities. chicago, new york and l.a. all in some form of this. moments ago, the governor of illinois ordered that state's 13 million residents to stay at

home and warned his state's hospital system would be overwhelmed unless drastic measures were taken. just hours before that, andrew cuomo issued an executive order that virtually shut down the state requiring 100% of new york's nonessential workforce to stay home. he called it the most drastic action they could take. >> i said from day one, this is science and math. watch the number. watch the trajectory. you have the density control valve. the number starts to go up. tighten the valve. if the number doesn't slow down, tighten the valve more. if the number doesn't slow down, tighten the valve more. if the number doesn't slow down, close the valve. we're closing the valve. >> in a moment i'm going to speak with governor cuomo about what new yorkers can expect next. i'll also speak with phil murphy

whose state oeptd its first major testing site today and quickly hit capacity by lunchtime. and we're expecting new york city mayor bill de blasio to hold a press conference about the city's latest plans and how it plans to enforce the executive order. governor gavin newsom issued an open-ended stay at home order after sending the president a letter that the state expects 56% of its population, which translates to 25 million people, to be infected with this virus over the next eight weeks. florida's governor today banned all restaurant dining, closed gyms and ordered the closing of beaches in two of the largest counties but not all beaches statewide yet. but it's not just the big states. washington, d.c., extended school closures. montana, add them to the list that have closed dine novemb-in restaurants, bars and gyms. the number of confirmed cases starts to rise as more people contract the disease.

and public health officials warned this virtual shutdown of public life is going to last awhile and likely several weeks. twhen comes to the race to find some kind of treatment, president trump today was pressed by my colleague peter alexand or what has been some inaccurate statements the president made yesterday that there was a drug to treat ma area that was going to be available almost immediately. the president also suggested it was already fda approved to do so. today the infectious disease expert said in so many words that the president wasn't quite right. >> the information that you are referring to is anecdotal. it was not done in a controlled clinical trial. >> is it possible your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving americans a false sense of hope and misrepresenting the preparedness right now? >> no, i think it's got -- >> not yet approved drug? >> such a lovely question. look, it may work and it may not

work. and i agree with the doctor what he said. may work. may not work. i feel good about it. that's all it is. just a feeling. >> what do you say to americans who are scared. nearly 200 dead. 14,000 who are sick. millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now. what do you say to americans watching you right now who are scared? >> i say that you're a terrible reporter. that's what i say. >> mr. president -- >> i think that's a very nasty question, and it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the american people. let me tell you something. that's really bad reporting. and you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism. let's see if it works. it might and it might not. i happen to feel good about it but who knows. i've been right a lot. let's see what happens. >> dr. fauci also seemed to be on a different page than the president when it came to the problems surrounding testing. fauci acknowledged the demand is still far exceeding supply. president trump claimed again they've somehow fixed this

problem and it's just one area where states are scrambling to find the resources to fight this pandemic and to try to map it. to try to map it out. joining me from albany is new york state governor andrew cuomo. governor cuomo, thanks for doing this. let me start with your executive order. i just thought it was a very interesting way that you put it, that you've been trying to tighten the valve, tighten the valve and now you felt you had no choice but to close it. if this doesn't work, then what? >> chuck, we are where we are. there are only two variables, right? we are trying to stop the overwhelming of our health care system. that's what this is all about. that's what the country is trying to do, what every state is trying to do. you can only do two things. increase the capacity of your health care system which we're trying to do. more beds in existing hospitals, building more beds, et cetera. or slow the rate coming into the hospital system and that's by reducing the density.

i call it a density control valve, right? and it's dictated by science. the more the trajectory is going up, you are reducing density. if you can't stop the trajectory, close the valve and that's what we did today. >> you're new york. not just any old city in any old state. can you do this in isolation or do you need the country to be in concert with new york state and new york city on this? >> can i do it? yes. it's better if we do it regionally and i've been working with new jersey. governor phil murphy and connecticut governor ned lamont. also now pennsylvania, delaware. if we can do it as a region, even better. if you can do it as a country, even better still. >> the issue you've got a lot of things that make the essential list on your executive order. there's also now a rise in price gouging and, frankly, i'm sure

you've had this concern as well. there's only so much you can police, okay, when it comes to the orders you're trying to do and the focus you have at keeping folks healthy. what can be done about this price gouging issue so that it doesn't get out of hand? >> look, it's a real problem. i was the former attorney general in the state of new york. it's a crime. we've made that clear. we've increased the price gouging investigations, state police, the attorney general, et cetera. but you're right. it's a function of the market. we tried some novel things, hand sanitizer, for example. the new york state now makes hand sanitizer. but it's a function of the market. we're seeing it with medical supplies, with surgical masks all across the board. and that's one of the reason yes, chuck, you want to have essential services function. god forbid we get into a situation where people think they don't have food or they

can't get medicine or they can't get gasoline for their car. that would be a real panic, right, because we're fighting two things. the virus and we're fighting the panic. the price gouging is a symptom of the panic. so keeping people calm, realistically, is very, very important. and knowing that those essential services will continue, i think is very important just to keep the peace and basic civility. >> right. one of, i think, the challenges that you and other government leaders are going to have on the peace and stability front is this feeling we don't know when this ends. it's very hard. this invisible storm. invisible enemy, however we want to describe this. it's hard because, look, i get the question from people that think i might have some insider access. i just can talk to you and to others. how do you reassure people this will end without being able to give an end date? that's a very hard thing to deal

with as a citizen. >> i think, chuck, you tell them the truth. especially in new york. they have a good truth index. you tell them the truth. we don't know when it's going to end. you can get a projection of four weeks. you can get a projection of four months. we don't know. but i think as long as they know you're being honest and straightforward with them, that in and of itself is reassuring. you want to see anxiety. anxiety is when people think they're not getting the information or it's bad information or they've been lied to, and that's why i work very hard to look right in the camera lens to new yorkers and say here's everything i know. here are the facts. >> well, tell me what the -- we heard from the president today that he is now not just giving himself the power to -- on the -- on being able to get other manufacturers to retool

their factories for ventilators and things like this. he says it's been put into motion. what do you know about this? >> i know what he sai earlier today. he basically said the same thing. i am on the ground. i have hospitals saying we need this, we need this by this date. these are the numbers that were going through, so i'm trying to purchase these supplies globally, right, and you talk about price gouging. everybody is trying to buy ventilators. everyone is trying to buy surgical masks. so i'm buying them wherever i can. and as many as i can. i am even working at ways to go into the surgical mask manufacturing business now so as creative as we can be, but we're

all scrambling. >> what is the -- it does seem as if there's some positive news on the ventilator front in that some older ventilators can get reformatted, retooled, that we keep finding, is there some optimism on that grofront that older ventilators might be helpful here? >> the optimism is the president said there are major manufacturers that will increase production. some major manufacturers that will start making them. but again, from the ground, it's the specifics that matter. how many, by when. this is what i need. and the ventilators are key. beds you can come up with. staffing you can come up with. but most of these patients will need a ventilator. it's a respiratory illness. and that is the limiting factor here, how many ventilators you could get. and that is unique.

every emergency has its own twist, right? superstorm sandy was one thing. floods are something else. this one, it's ventilators. >> and one final question here on the larger -- supposedly now fema is going to be running the response going forward. what does that mean for you? >> well, i was in the federal government, as you remember. i was housing and urban development secretary. i am a big believer, and hud did exactly this, disaster recovery with fema. the federal government does this very well. i was there for the clinton administration, and we did do this very well. that's where the resources are. that's where you have the military, the workforce, the supplies. you have the purchasing power. fema doing it, if the federal government really empowers them, that is a game changer. but then they have to do it, and

we've seen it done well. and we've seen it done poorly. but i can't tell a company you must manufacture ventilators. if i could, i would have. >> but fema can, right? >> i can't do that as a governor. >> but the president's power -- with the power of the presidency can order a company to do this? >> yes. and they should. they should. yesterday. >> all right. well, i will leave you and leave the end of the interview with that. governor cuomo, thanks for your blunt talk with us. you're right. that's all people want right now. straightforward truth no matter how bad it is. thank you, sir. good luck. let's go across state lines. joining me is the governor of new jersey, phil murphy. governor murphy, thanks for coming on. let me start with the testing issue you encountered today. you started to try to open up more access to testing and immediately hit capacity within just a couple of hours. what does this mean going forward and are you -- what kind

of hope do you have of expanding your testing capacity this weekend? >> chuck, good to be on. i don't think there's even a comma that andrew cuomo just spoke that i don't agree with. he's been an extraordinarily good partner and he mentioned this, but working with connecticut, ned lamont, ted wolf in pennsylvania and john carney in delaware. we can do more when we harmonize and do it together. we opened up our first drive-through testing today with the very good help from fema region two. and it was, frankly, a big success. now there was pent-up demand, not surprising, and we've never done this before. we got 600 tests done. they'll be open again for business tomorrow morning at 8:00. we're opening a second site with fema on monday in monmouth county, and then other county level and working with the private sector, drive-through testings that will open up over the course of the next week or

two. we're not where we need to be but we're in a better place in terms of collection and testing than we were even a week ago. >> are you ready to issue an order similar to governor cuomo that essentially shuts down all nonessential businesses? >> the fact of the matter is we've been at this since january. i think we formed our first whole of government task force on february 2nd. we've been aggressively doing everything we can to get out ahead of this beast. and so without in name only, we're as aggressive on flattening the curve as any state in america. having said that, andrew and i spoke this morning. we're going to be in a very similar place. i'm going to have a significant announcement probably tomorrow morning to make, a whole series of new steps that will take effect tomorrow night. we have no choice. andrew said it, and i agree. we have two weapons and two levers. one is to flatten the curve, enforce social distancing at all

costs and the other to expand capacity in the health care system, and we're doing both. >> talk to me about the expansion of capacity. what do you feel as if you're not -- where is the biggest disconnect with the federal government? >> well, i'm not sure where the biggest disconnect is but we need a lot more -- two things. a lot more personal protective equipment. the president knows that. the vice president, we were on with the secretary of defense earlier today making that point. chief of staff mark meadows last night. we got some of our ask, but we need a lot more. we're doing everything that you would imagine would be doing turning over every stone. again, not surprisingly, we're not the only people looking for masks and n95s, et cetera. the army corps of engineers, as it relates to hospital bed, has been really terrific over the past couple of days. they are touring sites with our team as we speak to look at reopening closed hospitals,

reopening wings of hospitals, repurposing other facilities. we're going to need every single bed we can get, and so far, they have been very good partners. >> the hardest part of dealing with this, i think, as a citizen is simply waiting for this to hit and then what this is, waiting for it to pass. and i say it because i think we don't know fully what all of this is going to look like in the next couple of weeks. but what are your science experts telling you that this -- that your hospital system is going to start to get -- not start to but be over capacity. when do they tell you that it's going to start to get bad? >> yeah, i mean, first of aushlgs i have to give a shout out to our hospital systems. extraordinary health care workers who are doing extraordinary job right now, day in and day out along with our first responders. we're going to be up against capacity sooner than later. i'm not sure i can give you an

exact day or week, but as the numbers go up, and they will go up dramatically for two reasons, one of which is not a bad reason. one is community spread. the other is we're aggressively testing, so a lot more people are going to be able to be tested. we're trying to preach to folks, you know what? that should lessen your anxiety. the more we know about this, the better equipped we are to deal with it. it's going to be sooner rather than later which is why we're aggressively trying to get the beds ready to go, and it's why we'll not relent either on flattening that curve and expanding our capacity on the other hand. >> all right. governor phil murphy of new jersey, i'm sure residents will be looking to see what you have to say tomorrow. it sounds like you'll be issuing another set of directives, and we'll all be paying attention. good luck with this, and stay healthy. >> thanks, chuck. you, too. up ahead, you just heard it there, the governors are working to contain the coronavirus in

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we reiterated to all of the governors that the president, by putting fema in the lead, will continue to implement a plan that's locally executed, state managed and federally supported that puts the health of america first. >> welcome back. locally executed, state managed, federally supported. that's vice president mike pence's vision for the coronavirus response fema is quarterbacking from washington. but what does that mean and how will it get the states what they are saying they desperately need. you just heard from two governors, pretty enthusiastic about the idea that fema is leading this response. joining me, someone who knows a lot about federal disaster response, former fema director craig fugate. i'm sure you caught the enthusiasm from both governors when it comes to fema. explain what is it that fema, by leading the response now, rather than, i guess, this hodgepodge if you want to call it, maybe hhs at one point, cdc.

what does this do for the states in particular? >> well, this working the way it's supposed to, it gives the governors one point in the federal government to reach out to and work. the thing i want to caution is, there's only so much the federal government has to bring to bear. this is why it's so critical that the governors, as you saw the two governors of new jersey and new york taking this leadership role. this will be led by state and local government. the federal government will be supporting it and really funding a lot of the things they'll have to do. >> let's take the issue of ventilators here for a second. here's one fear that i sort of could hear. on one hand i heard governor cuomo saying i'm going to get into the manufacturing business when it comes to the res pirator mask, but this fight to find ventilators. you don't want states competing against each other for them. i assume that's fema's got to then sort it out. how do you prevent a situation like that where somehow the states are competing against eaching t other for resources w

you want fema to -- whoa, hang on, guys. we'll manage this. >> well, what we're seeing is, different parts of the country are going to see the first waves of these patients. you have to prioritize where this goes. it's so important. we cannot treat with ventilators everybody getting sick at the same time. that's why social distancing is not something that's just an inconvenience to you. it's about making sure that people that could be saved, the equipment is available to them. if everybody is getting sick at the same time, there's just not enough ventilators. part of this will be working with cdc, with state health, with the governors and making decisions about where to send limited resources but also when resources can be freed up and go somewhere nels the country where the greater need is occurring. >> the president today at the coronavirus task force press conference was talking about -- and it's the issue, obviously, the initial error in this response has been the lack of

testing. and he said our previous system was terrible, at one point is how he described it. you're very familiar with whatever this previous system is. is he right that it was -- that it could never have been able to be the early warning system that we needed it to be, or was this a big blunder by cdc? >> i'm going to give you my standard response to this. in the middle of a crisis, we need to talk about what we're going to do next. and i think what i would recommend is congress, when this gets to the point, we need a 9/11 commission to look at what worked, what didn't work and what we need to do differently. we have to stay focused on what's coming next. this is nowhere near stable. talking about what we didn't do yesterday isn't going to help anybody tomorrow. >> i'm asking that because it's frustrating to read that they did pandemic testing. they basically did a test run on what would happen.

not that long ago. >> i was there. >> and i know the government does this multiple times. i'm glood hear it happens but it sounds like these scenarios don't make it up the chain of command. that seems to be the problem. >> well, we did the hand-off exercises at the transition. you know, i was there for 2009 when we were dealing with h1n1. we made a lot of planning assumptions and put a lot of things in place. h1n1 never got to this level. in some cases we planned for what we knew then. we learned so much now. and again, there are going to be plenty of opportunities to go what we didn't do right. what we should have done right. i'm more focused on what are you going to do for tomorrow because that's all that matters. >> speaking of tomorrow, craig, here's my other concern about fema right now. fema's directing this response. what happens when tornadoes hit? what happens when a storm hits? you get my drift here. does fema have the capacity to do all of this right now?

>> not doing business as usual. i'm pretty sure fema has to make decisions. things they'll have to focus on. those other disasters, going to be life safety and immediate response. we're going to probably see fema having to stop doing permanent recovery work as they get more engaged in this. this is a crisis of the moment. the next tornado will be the crisis of the moment. you stay focused on keeping people safe and alive. we'll get back to rebuilding after these disasters. but that won't be the priority until we get through this crisis. >> rebuilding and recovery and it's going to be hard for people to get, but you're going to have to realize that health and safety have to come first. craig fugate, thanks for coming on and sharing your expertise. >> thanks for having me. let's turn to capitol hill to combat this crisis. mitch mcconnell wants the senate to van agreement on this phase three massive stimulus package tonight which would then tee up the bill to be passed as soon as monday. that kind of speed is nearly unheard of on capitol hill.

final package is expected to be priced at more than a trillion dollars. the plan unveiled yesterday calls for a one-time payment of up to $1200 for some americans based on income and would direct billions more to businesses. mcconnell will also need democrats on board. let me talk to democratic senator chris coons from delaware. senator coons, good see you. let me start first with, where we are on negotiations? it's 5:29 right now. if you want to agree upon it this evening, are we going to see an agreement before midnight tonight? >> chuck, let me start by extending my condolences to crystal and to everyone who knew and worked with larry at nbc news. that is just a bracing reminder of how many are facing illness and loss in this context and how seriously we all need to take this. and i couldn't agree more with what former fema director fugate

just said which is we could spend time bickering or spend time figuring out how we're moving forward together. i have seen the senate and the house. the democrats and republican leadership work together at lightning speed to pass the $104 billion supplemental that was just signed into law monday. and i'm optimistic we're making real progress. but there are different values at the core of the proposal that mitch mcconnell laid out last night after developing it with his colleagues and his caucus only. and there's different values that democrats bring to the table. in terms of putting workers and families and public health and public employees first. i just want to remind you, as many of us are sheltering in place at home, as many have children home from school, every morning public employees like paramedics and nurses, doctors, folks who are first responders are going out the door and putting themselves at real risk to keep us safe.

and to respond to this. so i'm optimistic. on the small business committee where i'm both on the authorizing and the appropriating committees, i am very proud of a bipartisan bill that i think is going to be in this package that would push back for six months small business loans. and i'm optimistic we'll come together over a new proposal to put $300 billion out the door for small businesses and nonprofits to help them pay their payrolls and to help them keep people employed. >> all right. look, i think where there seems to be real agreement is getting some direct cash into those that are essentially having to isolate at home through no fault of their own. and to get that out the door. is there some -- what i'm trying to figure out is why are you trying to do all of this at once? should the money, the idea of checks out the door since that's the biggest need immediately, i think people -- we're asking

people basically to be out of work for the month of april. do you separate that out from the industry bailouts now since that is going to be politically trickier, take -- and, frankly, we don't know how much these industries need. we do know the money that people need now. >> that's right. well, chuck, i have been on conference calls all day. much of the week with small businesses, with nonprofits, but also with companies and organizations like amtrak and american airlines. and part of the challenge is from small restaurants and neighborhood coffee shops to nonprofits like goodwill or boys and girls club up to the largest airlines in north america, they're all seeing their revenue drop precipitously and so saying let's do this piece today and then recess and come back in a week or two or three and do the next piece, we may not have that time. chuck, we also don't have provisions to vote as a senate

remotely. that's one of the things that was discussed after 9/11, but never really solved. and we don't have provisions for vote by mail. one of the things i'm pushing and senator klobuchar and senator wyden are working with me on is, we just saw five states delay their elections. we need to make sure that in this package we push out money so that states are ready to vote in november, even if this pandemic is still roaring along. >> senator coons, you are concerned that this may be your one shot for a few weeks if not a month to pass some legislation. it sounds like you think this should be even bigger and broader because we don't know if the senate will have a quorum? >> well, that is a concern, frankly, because you've got two members of the house who have tested positive and you have two dozen members of the house who are self -- who are in

quarantine. that hasn't happened to members of the senate yet, but frankly, we should be practicing social distancing. and that makes it hard for you to bring together from all over the country 435 members of the house. and so once we go into recess, we need to figure out how we're going to do a fourth and a fifth round. let me get back to your core point. yes, we need to get resources out to people promptly. but the bill we just passed and the president signed provided for two weeks of paid sick leave, and another ten weeks of family medical leave, but what was put out on the table by majority leader mcconnell yesterday would weaken that. would reduce the benefit. would cut into that. and i don't think sending one check of $1,000 replaces strengthening unemployment insurance and strengthening paid sick leave. we've got to get our values right and we've got to fight for families and workers in this bill. >> are we going to assume you --

that this will end up probably -- americans will see multiple checks, maybe one check a month for six months, some people at some point, because of this? is that what you want democrats to fight for? >> when it comes to the direct support for families, i do think if folks know they can count on not just one check but a series, if this continues for months, i think that would provide a floor under the anxiety that i'm hearing from lots of folks who are either about to be out of work or already out of work. strengthen unemployment insurance, strengthen public health, strengthens paid sick leave and provides some repeat support to individuals and families, yes. >> if you're going to ask people to stay -- what we're asking them to do, you've got to cover that financial anxiety. anyway, senator chris coons, democrat from delaware, thank you. we are awaiting a press conference right now from the

mayor of new york city, bill de blasio. and i think we are going to take you to that press conference live. we believe it will have at least something to do with how he plans to help implement the new orders from governor cuomo. here it is. >> try and give you a quick updates and then we're going to hear from our police commissioner and our schools chancellor and then open it up to media questions. we're going to talk today, of course, about the new measures taken by state. we're going to talk about what is still not happening with the federal government and what we need from the federal government and, obviously, the overall situation in terms of what's happening with the people of this city. i do want to start by saying that we had a very, very important announcement by governor cuomo. i want to thank him and commend him for the decision that he made. i think it is the right decision. it's going to be a new reality

in this city. and we have to understand that this is something that's absolutely necessary. i want to say to my fellow new yorkers, none of us asked for the coronavirus, to say the least. none of us expected the coronavirus. we are in a whole new dynamic. we're all learning every day how to make sense of it. and when i give you these briefings, just like my colleagues, we'll try and be as blunt and straightforward as we possibly can be, but some of the time, the answer will be, we don't know, because we still don't know. there are so many things we're trying to sort out in a brand-new reality. what i can say is, a lot of the pieces are coming together to make sure that we do everything humanly possible to slow the spread of this disease. to give us a chance to prepare for the weeks ahead when wooefr going to see a lot more cases to make sure our health care system will be as strong as it possibly can be. and that's why the governor's decision was so important. to make sure that all

nonessential workers go home. that only people who are working are people who are doing something absolutely necessary for our city and our state. to make sure that people had some clear rules about what you can and cannot do. and we want to be clear about how we're going to enforce those rules. you'll hear from our police commissioner in a moment. and clearly the nypd will play a major role in enforcement, along with other agencies that we depend on like the fdny, the sheriff's office. many other agencies will be involved. but, really, we want to emphasize from the beginning, i want to be clear that we're in a brand-new reality. we have not gone through something like this across our whole city in generations. and our goal will be every single day to try what we think makes sense to see how it goes, to listen to new yorkers, to best understand what's going to work and what doesn't. i constantly am listening for

the feedback i'm getting. people are reaching me from all parts of the city. giving me updates. i know my colleagues are, too, and we're getting a real sense of what people need and how best we can serve them. but we are all trying to catch up with the new reality. so we will be enforcing the governor's order. the governor's order is the right thing to do. to protect us all. and particularly to protect those who are most vulnerable. the folks over 50 with those pre-existing health conditions and particularly folks over 70, even if they're pretty healthy. those are the people most vulnerable. our loved ones, friends, neighbors, the people we worship with that we need to take care. so acting on the state's order, we're going to do all we can to educate people, to help them understand how to live with this new reality. how to work together. how to support each other. it's not going to happen overnight. it's not going to be perfect the first time. but we do know that we're going to be able to help people

understand how to make it work and that we all have to make it work. we all have to do this together. so you'll see folks from your city government led by the nypd out there reminding people, educating people, warning people to make sure we get this right. so let me go over a few other matters starting again with the state order. again, starts to take full effect on sunday night at 8:00. 100% of nonessential workers must stay home but there are a number of industries and businesses that are essential. those that provide food, groceries, food delivery, pharma pharmacies, mass transit, health care. those are the areas that, of course, will be protected, will keep going. but i think it's as simple as this. if you don't need to be out, you shnlt be out. if you can be home, you should be home. that's what it comes down to, especially for those folks most

vulnerable. folks who at this moment are vulnerable to this disease. let's just think about it. we don't want them to take any chances whatsoever. if anyone in those categories wants to go outside for a little bit, i get it, but, please, absolutely distance from anyone around you and as briefly as possible. really, really limit the people who come in contact with you. no one should come in contact with anyone over 50 with those pre-existing conditions or over 70 in general without checking first to see if you have a temperature. use a thermometer. if you have a temperature over 100, you should not be in contact with anyone in those vulnerable categories. people have to be really, really smart about it and always, always practice social distancing. that's six feet apart. wherever you are, except when you're right among your own family members, you go out for a walk, stay six feet apart from people. you go to the grocery store, stay six feet apart from people.

anything you're doing, keep to that rule. does anyone think it's going to be perfect? no. but if you keep thinking all the time and acting all the time, you'll be able to protect yourself. for folks who, you know, were planning gatherings, obviously, we're quite clear. that's tough to say. so many gatherings we look forward to each year. anything nonessential should not happen at this point. just has to be postponed. the core of this crisis will certainly go on for weeks, most likely months. if you have to postpone, you'll be postponing for a while. but it is the right thing to do to keep people safe. and i remind people that's true outside as well as inside. that six-foot apart matters in either situation. we want to make sure people remember, even when you're doing those basic things, going to the grocery store, going to the pharmacy, you still need to keep six feet apart. and again, we're going to ask the nypd and other agencies to

keep an eye on places where people are getting a little too crowded and to go in and remind people to separate and spread out. i don't think most new yorkers need a lot of reminding about this pandemic and the dangers it brings. we're all human beings. we're close to being close together, especially in the city. the nypd and others will do a great job making sure we're reminded to do the smart thing and healthy thing and the safe thing. okay. let me now talk to you about the overall situation. and this is the part of each briefing that i really hate to give because it's just astounding, and it gets worse each time. but my job is to tell you the truth, and my job is to tell you the facts that you need to know. here we go. as of 10:00 a.m. today, we can confirm, in new york city, 5,151 cases confirmed of coronavirus. and to give you perspective, that is now about one-third of

all the coronavirus cases in the united states of america. it is about two-thirds of the cases in the state of new york. i hate to say this, but it's true. we are now the epicenter of this crisis. right here in the nation's largest city. and we have so much we have to do. the city, we are doing everything that we possibly can. people are giving us ideas every day. we're running with those ideas. we're trying to create new things to help people. we're -- our public servants are doing amazing job. a lot of people are coming forward from the private sector offering help, from the philanthropic sector. there are so many people offering help from individuals like those amazing medical professionals who have come forward. over 2,000. those retirees who have volunteered to come back to help. business people big and small offering to give anything they

have to help this city. so many amazing, positive stories. and that reminds me just how good new yorkers are and how much we're going to find a way to get through this together. so the city government is doing everything it knows how. new yorkers, businesses, nonprofit organizations, community groups, houses of wor shrn ship, everyone is stepping in. state of new york doing the right thing. the right policy to protect us all and taking the right moves to make sure we all get through this. everything makes sense until you get to the federal government. and i still can't understand it. every day that i talk to you, i cannot understand what's going on here. there was another big press conference by the president and his key officials. they were talking about what is undoubtedly one of the biggest crises in this country in generations. one of the biggest threats to our national security in generations. and, yet, essentially today the

president offered no new evidence of action. i don't understand why he won't do the single, simplest thing that could help us mobilize our armed forces. we need their ability, their logistical ability, their operational ability, their extraordinary personnel, including their extraordinary medical personnel. we need them here. we need them now. it's as simple as that and the order still has not been given. the same with the defense production act. we have been waiting and waiting. the president said today he would utilize it, but there's no specific evidence of that confirming to us any specific supplies or equipment being built, manufactured, distributed. we have nothing yet to tell us when we're going to get help, and we need it. i continue to appeal to our congressional delegation, which has been very supportive. i'm reaching out to cabinet secretaries, to the vice president. anyone who will listen.

but we need the president's full authority utilized under the defense production act so it will turn into thousands of ventilators, millions of surgical masks, all the things new york needs. and i've warned people in two or three weeks at this rate, we're going to run out. but that's the beginning of the crisis. later in april, into may, it gets worse. so we need the federal government to act. senator schumer, to his credit, is playing extraordinary role. he has offered this marshall plan for hospitals. that's exactly what we need to give our health care community what they need. the supplies, the equipment, everything they need. but listen, it also, to his great credit, recognizes states and localities are right now bearing massive new expenses and are stressed in huge ways and we need the financial relief, too, so we can help our people. and our people need money back in their pockets, and the federal government can do that.

thank you to senator schumer for all you are doing. i want to give a number of updates about actions quickly that the city is taking, and then i'll turn to our police commissioner and then our schools chancellor. let me just say, i mentioned earlier the sheer number of cases. again, 5,151, an astounding number. 29 people in this city have passed away because of coronavirus. we've lost 29 new yorkers, and that number is sure to keep growing very, very sadly. in terms of the boroughs, we have 1406 cases as of 10:00 a.m. this morning. 1406 cases in queens. 1518 cases in brooklyn. 1314 cases in manhattan. 667 cases in the bronx and 242 cases in staten island.

let me tell you about some of the things we're going to do and the chancellor will go into more detail on the question of our enrichment centers. these are the new centers we've never had them before. this is a brand-new thing. i want to thank everyone at the department of education, every one of our educators uour staff, senior leadership. these folks have been working nonstop to get this ready. these are the enrichment centers to provide education and to give a safe place to the kids of our absolutely essential workers, our health care workers, our first responders, our transit workers. we know we need all those workers at the front where they're needed most, and they need their kids some place safe. so they'll open up on monday morning. there will be 93 to begin, but we could well be adding more. 76 of those will be k to 12 education centers. 17 will be early childhood grades only. and these sites can handle well over -- >> we're going to dip out of

this right now. we'll bring you more if there's information we think we should share with viewers nationally there. we wanted to get a better understanding of how new york city is going to try to enforce this new order by the governor because, because frankly, how new york city enforces it will likely be how other cities, including chicago and l.a. i want to bring in tom winter, our nbc news correspondent for investigations who has a little more insight and how new york plans to enforce this order of essential businesses -- of nonessential businesses shutting down. tom, i heard at one point, you know, governor cuomo say i'm not going to outlaw pickup basketball, but boy, i don't think you can be six feet apart and do it. how does this get enforced? >> exactly. what gets enforced is using 36,000 uniformed cops which new york has. 19,000 nypd civilians which are also part of the department. the department itself going through its own coronavirus

issues, at least 40 people, 40 members of the nypd have the virus. but what the nypd is going to do is they're going to post police officers at supermarkets. now for folks that have never live in new york city, our supermarkets are not the same as yours. they're a lot more cramped. they're a lot more crowded. they tend to be in basements of buildings. you obviously don't have huge parking lots. so this idea of social distancing becomes really difficult in new york city grocery stores and supermarkets. so what you're going to have here, chuck, police regulating how many people are inside. according to senior police officials, and then on top of that, you're also going to have police outside making sure that you don't have long lines and queues of people that are going to be closely packed together to be able to get inside of those supermarkets. the one good thing here, chuck, is that the city still has its restaurants and pubs open for takeout and delivery. so hopefully that relieves a

little bit of the pressure on people needing to get food and need to get groceries. and on top of that, obviously we've known that these type of measures or similar measures have been coming for a while. hopefully people have their supplies. >> how are seniors, who are being told basically don't go outside, how are seniors supposed to get groceries? are they're going to be senior only hours? i know there have been talk about that in other communities. >> it's a great question, chuck, and it's one of the things i'm hoping we're going to get a little more details from the mayor as he delivers this briefing here today. right now there is not a defined plan for that. i know that is of concern. i suspect we'll get more details if not today, then by sunday at 8:00 p.m. when this order in fact goes into place. so hopefully, that will be the case. people are taking it upon themselves and other city nonprofit agencies that are obviously trying to do this outreach. >> there is. and i know there is some growing local movements of trying to create senior only hours at pharmacies and things like that. perhaps this becomes a

nationwide thing. tom winter, thank you. we'll be right back. i want to check in with another city that is shutting down and find out how they're enforcing this. but first, connecticut and indiana are now the latest two states to push back their primary days as a result of the coronavirus. those states now join ohio, louisiana, maryland and kentucky who have all rescheduled voting for some in either late may or june. and we'll be right back. is that net carbs or total?... eh, not enough fiber- chocolate would be good-

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to avoid the loss of potentially tens of thousands of lives, we must enact an immediate stay-at-home order for the state of illinois. so that is the action that i'm announcing today. i don't come to this decision easily. i fully recognize that in some cases i am choosing between saving people's lives and saving people's livelihoods. but ultimately, you can't have a livelihood if you don't have your life. >> welcome back. that was illinois governor jb pritzker. joining me is garrett haake who i think originally was out there to cover the illinois primary, and now you're covering the shutdown of america's third largest city. an unbelievable visual to think new york, l.a. and chicago all suddenly in this order. tell me what you've seen in chicago as it prepares to abide

by the governor's new mandate. >> yeah, chuck, chicago's been walking towards this full shelter in place mandate over the last couple days. i'm in the heart as oprah would say chicago's magnificent mile on michigan avenue. everything here is closed unless you're selling food. that's been the case for a couple of days. just last night the city of chicago's mayor announced she would go above and beyond in what the state would require in keeping schools closed here until almost the end of april. so the city has been moving towards this broader shutdown over the last couple of day, even though comparatively speaking there are relatively few cases here compared to new york city. here you saw the governor take this dramatic move which i think doesn't come as a surprise to anyone here who has been watching the city slowly shut down over the last couple of days. frankly, we saw when i got here for primary coverage on tuesday morning when turnout started very low in the first part of the day, it seemed increasingly clear throughout the course of the week this was the direction we were headed.

>> have you gotten a sense of how they're enforcing this? we got some sense from tom winter that they're going to have police officers at grocery stores, because they're worried about density, people density in the stores and waiting in line. do you have a sense of how chicago pd is going the manage this? >> well, it's interesting. the text of the executive order itself says it's enforceable by state and local law enforcement but doesn't put any penalties in place. look, they're not trying to go out and write tickets. they're not trying to write people up. chicago as of yesterday stopped writing parking tickets. the goal here is to not put people in jail or to write tickets or collect fines, it's to get people moving. i do think you'll see state and local law enforcement on the streets and in some of these places when that order comes into effect tomorrow evening. but, you know, this is not -- this is not a law enforcement action. it's a get people to take this seriously action, chuck. >> now that is a great way of putting it. it's like the parents taking away the cell phone? no, i mean it.

you got to stay off the streets. anyway -- >> it's for your own good. >> exactly. garrett haake in chicago for us, thank you. please stay safe and healthy, sir. that's all we have for tonight. obviously on sunday we'll have "meet the press" on nbc as america shuts down, we're going to be covering the covid-19 story from various angles. among my guest will be two governors who are on the front lines of this coronavirus crisis. we'll also hear as well from the task force at the federal level. "the beat with ari melber" starts right now. good evening, ari. >> good evening, chuck. thank you very much. and thanks for joining us at home. we have more reporting on this pandemic on decisions you make for safety. we begin with the fax and the latest numbers to try to cut through any rhetoric and potential panic out there to focus on what we know at this hour. there are more than 16,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the united states, and 211 total fatalities. cases soaring upward right now, partially from the way this infection spreads,