staff, who has really stepped up. and i want to thank our national guard. because you are the best of us. you are the best of us. and whenever we call on you, you are there, and what you did in this facility in one week, creating a hospital is just incredible. i don't know how you did it. now, you did such a good job that i'm asking for four more from the president, that's the downside of being as good as you are and what you did. but what when you did is really incredible. i want to make two points to you. and i want to make two promises to you. this is a different beast that we're dealing with. this is an invisible beast. it is an insidious beast. this is not going to be a short deployment. this is not going to be that you go out there for a few days, we

work hard and we go home. this is going to be weeks and weeks and weeks. this is going to be a long day. and it's going to be a hard day. and it's going to be an ugly day, and it's going to be a sad day. this is a rescue mission that you're on. the mission is to save lives. that's what you're doing. the rescue mission is to save lives. and as hard as we work, we're not going to be able to save everyone. and what's even more cruel is this enemy doesn't attack the strongest of us. it attacks the weakest of us. it attacks our most vulnerable, which makes it even worse in many ways. because these are the people

that every instinct tells us we're supposed to protect. these are our parents and our grandparents. these are our aunts, our uncles. these are our relative who is sick. and every instinct says protect them, help them because they need us. and those are the exact people that this enemy attacks. every time i have called out the national guard, i've said the same thing to you, i promise you i will not ask you to do anything that i will not do myself, and i will never ask you to go anywhere that i won't go myself. and the same is true here. we're going to do this and we're going to do this together. my second point is, you are living a moment in history.

this is going to be one of those moments they're going to write about and they're going to talk about for generations. this is a moment that is going to change this nation. this is a moment that forges character. forges people. changes people. make them stronger, make them weaker. but this is a moment that will change character. in ten years from now, you'll be talking about today for your children or grandchildren, and you will shed a tear because you will remember the lives lost, and you will remember the faces and you will remember the names, and you'll remember how hard we

worked, and that we still lost loved ones. and you'll shed a tear, and you should, because it will be sad. but you will also be proud. you will be proud of what you did. you'll be proud that you showed up, you showed up when other people played it safe. you had the courage to show up, and you had the skill and the professionalism to make a difference and save lives. that's what you will have done. and at the end of the day, nobody can ask anything more from you. that is your duty to do what you can when you can.

and you would have shown skill and courage and talent. you'll be there with your mind. you'll be there with your heart. and you'll serve with honor. and that will give you pride, and you should be proud. i know that i am proud of you. and every time the national guard has been called out, they have made every new yorker proud. and i am proud to be with you yet again. and i'm proud to fight this fight with you. and i bring you thanks from all new yorkers, who are just so appreciative of the sacrifice that you are making, the skill that you're bringing, the talent that you're bringing, and you give many new yorkers

confidence. so i say, my friends, that we go out there today and we kick coronavirus' ass! that's what i say. and we're going to save lives, and new york is going to thank you. god bless each and every one of you. [ applause ] good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in new york. governor andrew cuomo has been briefing from the javits convention center, now being converted by the army corps of engineers as a field hospital for non-coronavirus patients. the governor announcing now 519 deaths from new york from covid-19, up from 385 just yesterday. more than 44,000 people have now tested positive for coronavirus. schools will remain closed in new york through at least another two weeks, through april

15th, an extension of the previous deadline. the governor now says the state is predicting what he calls an apex of need in 21 days. he's trying to ramp up capacity before them. all hospitals are being told increase capacity by 50% but encouraged to increase, if they can, to 100%. the governor also new york is looking to build four new hospitals and will speak to president trump about constructing a new hospital in each of five new york city boroughs later this afternoon. the government said the state is shopping literally around the globe to try to buy and stockpile equipment to deploy to any hospital that needs it around the state. once again, governor cuomo said the state is most in need of ventilators. meanwhile here in washington house members, many driving overnight from around the country, from as far away as kalamazoo, michigan, to get back to the nation's capitol, are expected to vote on the $2 trillion economic package after one republican congressman, thomas massie's tweet,

announcing he would force that action instead of allowing a voice vote. at least he will if he can avoid procedural efforts by both sides to try to stop him from doing that. moments ago the d.c. mayor announced at a press conference, george valentine, deputy director of the mayor's office of legal counsel, died after he was hospitalized wednesday. in a few moments we'll have a report from london on the first world leader to test positive, britain's prime minister boris johnson. joining me now though, nbc's ron allen outside elmhurst hospital in new york and nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill. before we get to the drama playing out, tell us the situation at elmhurst, which the borough of queens, the borough home for andrew cuomo and the whole cuomo family for several decades, tell us about elmhurst, which has been so severely hit. >> well, they will be glad to hear in elmhurst and queens

generally the governor is trying to put an emergency hospital in each of the five boroughs. that was one of the concerns here in recent days. they didn't want to see these emergency centers built at the javits center in manhattan, places that were far away from here and, frankly, places that were wealthier than here. this has been called the center of the epicenter. behind me you can see what's left of a line of people here from 6:00 this morning coming in for coronavirus testing. the line is kind of dwindling now. they've been going at it for hours. some of the people here have been waiting for hours. some we talked to in life said they felt feverish, cold-like symptoms. they were worried for their family so they came here. one person told us he spent time with someone who tested positive and he wasn't feeling well. it just goes on and on and on. it's almost like where the

disaster is unfolding in slow motion. these people waiting hour after hour to get tested. further down the street there is the emergency room where there is -- has been just a parade of ambulances arriving over the past few days. the hospital, we believe, is at 125% of capacity. the icu, as the mayor said, has been operating three times its capacity for the last couple of days. they resupplied this place a number of times. upped the staff by dozens of people, but they're still overwhelmed. that gives you a sense of what's happening here. and we're not even at the apex. we're 21 days away, according to the governor. here they're already holding on. one of the point about the ambulance workers, emts, fdny who staff those ambulances, we've heard stories they've been hit too. there's about 10% absentee, sickout rate, amongst the emts or firefighters, including civilians who work there.

so this is really taxing the capacity of everyone, especially here. and this is for everyone. the governor's family is from here. more recent immigrants are it from other parts of the country. it's a low-income neighborhood for the most part. the hospital is 60 years old, not the newest here. this is really where people are vulnerable and they will be glad to hear help is coming. andrea? >> indeed. we should point out fred trump and his family grew up in queens originally as well. thank you very much, ron allen. i know you will be staying there. garrett haake, the drama on the house floor, the president called on a republican from the kentucky to be removed from the gop for saying now he's going to block this vote. the president yesterday at a briefing didn't call him out by name but called him a grandstander by implication as

well. that is, of course, massie named later by colleagues. what has happened there? do they need the roll call vote that has prompted members to drive from all over the country? >> and the president tweeted even further calling him a third rate grandstander and appears massie will do whatever he can to force a third vote here. let me be clear, this is not going to stop the passage of the bill. the most it will do is delay it. the bill will have overwhelming bipartisan support. louis gomer, governor of texas who spent a few reservations, just said on the floor he will ultimately vote for it. without getting too bogged down, what it appears he can do is force a vote or row core up call that will do the same thing, require at least half of the

members of house are here, 216 will be required. perhaps they will get through a recorded vote but they have to have number people to have a quorum. how we will do this is a little uncertain. we never tried to do something like this before. the house planned, if they had to do a recorded vote, bring in members of small groups. 16 different groups of members across a period of time to make sure you didn't have the whole body or large group of them in the chamber at the same time. i have been out of the chamber all morning. there's probably been 80 people on the floor all told at any given time. but as we get closer to the vote, that number may go up. we do expect to see massie try to delay this with one of the other moves here, calling for a recorded vote for quorum call. we will see if there are any procedural tools in the speaker's kit to deny that but it looks likely we will see the count of members before the vote. i guess the only real drama is if we can't hit that 216-count

threshold and we have to sit and wait for members to get here from the rest of the country. >> to re-emphasize, this is bipartisan. i was watching the number three in the leadership calling out for support for this. people on both sides are calling for this compromise, where every side had to give up something. this is what the senate passed. the house has to pass it before it can get to the president's desk. >> it's clear, massie can't get this changed. there won't be amendments. there won't be changes to this bill. he's trying to delay it out of principles he says he has with the bill and the way it's put together. he's gotten some cover from some republicans who defended him on twitter, including texan chip roy who in an extraordinary tweet told the president to back off in his criticism. but he's probably not going to be here to vote because he can't get back from texas. an interesting arm chair stance for someone to take from halfway across the country.

>> garrett haake, thanks so much. thank you for being there. joining us now, new jersey congresswoman and michigan congresswoman debra dingell, co-chair of the white house policy and communications committee. debbie dingell, congresswoman, you're in michigan because people were told to go home and it would be a voice vote. we will talk to you from there. mikie sherrill, where are you coming in from? >> i'm here in washington. >> you're a military veteran as well. let's talk about the need to get this done quickly. people need the relief. >> we have so much need for relief in new jersey. we have the second highest number of cases. they're rising every day. we don't have enough personal protective equipment. we have people losing their jobs at an alarming rate. we need direct checks and support from the hospitals. we need to get relief out to people immediately. >> debbie dingell, there's fear

of a major spread now from detroit and the area around detroit. that's becoming one of the hotspots, that and chicago in the midwest. talk to me, i know one of your close colleagues and friends, fred upton, a republican from michigan was driving in from kalamazoo. he was one of the closest friends of your late husband, john close. he's getting in his car and driving ten hours to get here for this possible vote. >> oh, he was coming to get me. unfortunately one of my staff people who tested on st. patrick's day for coronavirus and we still do not have the test results back. this is how stressed our hospital systems are. i called yesterday not asking for any special treatment but just checking and they were unable to give us the result yous. out of an abundance of caution, i'm not there. we all need to do our part to mitigate the spread of this disease, which means we need to stay home. >> talk to me about also what's

happening in detroit. because you're district, the areas around detroit and michigan are now seeing a very sharp rise. >> detroit is now number -- detroit is now number three in terms of cities in the country. i'm in wade county, which by cook county, is one of the counties becoming similar. we will be like new york is now. a week ago, it's hard to believe a week ago, the very first death in coronavirus was last friday from my district and three deaths by the end of the day friday and we're now at 60 and we're almost at 3,000 cases. the governor did issue a stay-at-home order. unfortunately, too many people did not take it seriously at first. my mantra has become, stay home, stay safe, stay alive. people don't understand that each of us have a responsibility to stop the mitigation.

we don't have much. everything she said was correct. my biggest concern and investor member of congress's biggest concern is the lack of ppe for these hospitals. i'm talking doctors and nurses about their fear of being on the frontline, not having masks, gowns, respirators, ventilators. we have to get that to them. and the president, quite frankly, has to use the defense production act to start to get a plan to get this equipment to where it needs to go. >> i just want to to point out that aoc, congresswoman oscasio-cortez was on the floor, and she's also speaking about the need for ventilators. she represents queens and parts of the bronx. let's watch. >> i represent one of the hardest-hit communities in the hardest-hit city in this country, queens, new york. 13 dead in a night in elmhurst hospital alone. our community's reality is this country's future if we don't do anything. hospital workers do not have

protective equipment. we don't have the necessary ventilators. but we have to go into this vote eyes wide open. what did the senate majority fight for? one of the largest corporate bailouts with as few strings as possible in american history. shameful! >> oscasio-cortez talking about exactly what's happening in queens, where ron allen is. mikie sherrill, this issue of ventilators, the president was suggesting last night, i think on fox, that governor cuomo is calling for ventilators and they really aren't needed. he's gone to hospitals where there are two ventilators and all of a sudden asking for 40,000. when you have the leader of the country disputing the facts that come from the governor of new york and coming from the ground and from the people you're talking to there where you live, your district, how do you -- the public is confused. >> who do they believe? if you can find personal

protective equipment, invite the president to come to new jersey and see what things look like on the ground. i'm on the phone with health care providers in our hospital systems every morning. our morgues are full. i'm in montclair, new jersey, much smaller than queens, and we've had nine deaths so far. we've had people that are wearing trash bags because they don't have the personal protective gear they need. our hospital workers are scared because they're treating people and yet they're not sure they're safe themselves. we have first responders who can't get the personal protective gear they need, as they're transporting people with coronavirus through the hospital system. this is critical. we have to have the defense production act working for us. i have spoken personally to manufacturers in my district who want to manufacture the ppe who need some help with the supply change. i have spoken to some of our large corporations to figure out how we're going to get ppe here and they're weeks off. we need to speed up the production line. it's not soon enough. i have been calling the michigan delegation and debbie has been

fantastic about trying to get our auto manufacturers to produce as quickly as possible the ventilators we need across the country. i can tell you, it's a desperate need. we're already talking in new jersey, we're getting to the point of capacity with our ventilators and we haven't hit the height of this yet. we're talking about what comes next. >> debbie dingell, i know you used to work before you were in congress for -- many years past, for general motors for the foundation at least. i believe it's a nonprofit foundation. i'm not precise about that. >> i worked at gm for 30 years. >> i just want to point out the president was tweeting this morning against general motors. he can order under the defense protection act, like mikie sherrill said, tell them what to do. and then now tweeting, as usual, things with general motors, things don't work out. at first they were giving us 40,000 quicker. now 6,000 late april. they want top dollar.

always a mess. talking about ford motor company as well. he with a stroke of a pen can just tell them you do this, you do that. and tell fema and fema will divvy the stuff up. >> so i have been talking to the auto industry every single day. i talk to the ceos every single day. there's clearly a lack of direct communication between the president and general motors. they are trying to produce ventilators in their kokomo, indiana, plant. they are working with somebody who produces it but not made the commitment. so i wish the president would do something to get them up. ford looked at it, it was too difficult to get the ventilators produced quickly. so they're now producing other ppe equipment and trying to find out exactly where it needs to go. chrysler is making masks. all three companies -- and as mikie said, we're all talking to other suppliers and manufacturers who want to do their part but we have to connect them. we have to have governors -- and

they were told last week by the president. this is not democratic or republican governorers, it's all governors, they were told last week by the president to go out and get your own supplies. yet, when they have gotten supplies and had them being shipped this week, suddenly the supplier said we can't ship them to you because the federal government is taking over distribution. and yet the federal government isn't getting to the apex centers. we don't want to play partisan games. this is the a partisan game. but we all have to work together. but we need equipment, as everybody understands, and have to get the equipment where it needs to go. >> and as debbie dingell said, she was going to ride-share with a republican colleague but can't because she had contact with a friend and is self-isolating and still can't get the test. you can't make it up. meanwhile, in los angeles

with "uss naval hospital ship mercy" just arrived. this is needed relief. some beds can provide a pop-up hont hospital that could take non-coronavirus patients and take up residence here in the city and county of l.a. >> that's right, andrea. the "uns mercy" arrived just under an hour ago. it was an impressive sight. spent san diego monday, spent the majority of the week out at sea sanitizing and preparing for this mission. that mission, as you mentioned, supporting l.a. hospitals but this represents just a fraction of the overall strategy, especially when you consider it has around 80 icu beds, 1,000 regular beds. i was just speaking to an l.a. city official yesterday who told me that they estimate they need 3,000 icu beds and 11,000 regular beds to deal with what they expect to be a surge of

covid cases. already the number is climbing. over 1,200 as of yesterday. andrea? >> of course, the sister ship, "uns comfort" will leaving from newark, virginia, to come to new york and the president has scheduled a trip to go and see her off. thank you very much, erin mcglockton from l.a. four days after issuing a stay-at-home order for britain, after criticism he was slow to act, today prime minister boris johnson revealed he tested positive for covid-19. >> i developed mile symptoms of the coronavirus, that is to say a temperature and a persistent cough. and on the advice of the chief medical officer, i had taken a test. that has come out positive. so i'm working from home. i'm self-isolating. and that's entirely the right thing to do. >> importantly, the government's

health minister in charge of the overall response to the pandemic also testing positive today. this, of course, follows a diagnosis two days ago of prince charles, heir to the throne, seen last night applauding britain's national health service while he remains self-isolating in scotland, along with other members of the royal family. the palace said the queen has not been with the prime minister since march 11th or with her son since march 12th. nbc news senior international correspondent keir simmons joins us from london. this is pretty shocking news. a lot of criticism, as you well know. we've been reporting boris johnson for being so slow to accept britain had to start shutting down. and now he becomes -- well, the first world leader we know of to test positive. >> yeah, in boris johnson's story, really, you see the arc, andrea, of disbelieving that the virus is really going to be this bad to coming to grips with it and bringing in this lockdown and now himself being tested positive.

andrea, talk about unprecedented. let me describe for you what's happening right now. the british prime minister is locked in a separate space in downey street. his staff are having to bring him food and papers to his door, and he then collects them. he's having to conduct all of his meetings by video conference. what we just learned, andrea, to bring you this news is the chief medical officer of england, a man called professor chris witty, also believes he's now suffering symptoms of coronavirus. he said he's now self-isolating at home. this is the man who you will have seen alongside the prime minister every day giving briefings. he's the scientist who is leading the fight against coronavirus. so for him too to potentially have the illness as well as another member of the british government, as you mentioned, the health secretary, that has to be pretty serious despite the prime minister trying to reassure people. andrea, if you think about this, as people said, as a war, one of

the aims of an adversary war is take out the leadership of the opposing side. if you think about coronavirus as our enemy, it has scored quite a number of victories in the past few days here. >> indeed. of course, in the british government, the foreign secretary would succeed if for some reason the prime minister was just too little to function. but it's very close quarters, as you point out, having been on downing street, residences and officers very close quarter so i can imagine the deep cleaning going on with the staff. thank you, keir simmons. coming up -- 1.1 million people in the streets for mardi gras may have made new orleans the longest incubator for coronavirus in the country. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." to schedule an appointment to give. during this corona virus outbreak, patients are counting on lifesaving transfusions. visit redcrossblood.org

patients are counting on lifesaving transfusions. accoshe spends too much time on the internet. according to the census, she just needs a few minutes more. the census is now online. and by answering a few simple questions, you'll help inform where public funding will get distributed for things like medicare, community centers, public transit and more. then you can get back to whatever you were doing in no time at all. shape your future. start here. complete the census at 2020census.gov.

breathe freely fast, with vicks sinex. my congestion's gone. i can breathe again! ahhhh! i can breathe again! ughh! vicks sinex. breathe on. >> tech: don't wait for a chip like this to crack your whole windshield. with safelite's exclusive resin, you get a strong repair that you can trust. plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. >> customer: really?! >> singers: safelite repair, safelite replace.

shbecause xfinity mobilehen ygives you more flexible data.. you can choose to share data between lines, mix with unlimited, or switch it up at any time. all on the most reliable wireless network. which means you can save money without compromising on coverage. get more flexible data, the most reliable network, and more savings. plus, get $300 off when you buy a new samsung galaxy s20 ultra. that's simple. easy. awesome. go to xfinitymobile.com today.

this was the scene at mardi gras about a month ago when nearly a million people flooded the french quarter forethe annual celebration. now four weeks later coronavirus cases exploding across louisiana at one of the fastest rates in the world. according to a new study similar to the surges seen in italy and spain, already there are more than 2,300 cases in louisiana,

at least 83 deaths. >> what we had here was the perfect storm, perfect conditions for virus spread. so not only were people catching beads during mardi gras, they were catching the coronavirus. >> nbc's blayne alexander is in new orleans and conducted that interview by a very safe distance. bla it's an extraordinary situation there. >> it absolutely, andrea. you don't have to go further to see the impact this is having on bourbon street. business is usually busy and bustling but with few exceptions, ghost town. all businesses bordered up. so of course they're looking at concern with the high numbers but the true source of the concern, andrea, is the fact the numbers are increasing as quickly as they are. that's why you're seeing the governor in very strong, very raw and emotional terms talking about the fact they're going to run out of hospital beds in less

than two weeks. they're outfitting the convention center to accept some of the overflow, take some of the patients. andrea, i have to say one thing that's striking reporting on the ground for the better part of this week, with the number so high and this amount of people is so many people are touched. it seems to be escapes it. i spoke with one man who said he lost three friends in a single day. i talked with a widow who said her husband was on the mardi gras float about a month ago and started feeling sick two weeks later. soon after that, he passed away. andrea, you're starting to see the human toll it's taking here in new orleans. one final thing from dr. gee, she's telling people, listen, the test, the reality of it is there are not nearly enough tests to go around. the vast majority of the people here will not be able to get a test and will never know whether they do in fact have covid-19. so she and other officials are advising everybody to act as though you or someone else has it and to stay inside, andrea. >> really important advice.

blayne alexander, thank you there on bourbon street. joining us now from new orleans, walter isaacman, professor of history at tulane university, distinguished fellow from the aspen institute and "time" magazine and friend, of course, and colleague. great to see you. walter, you had written in "the wall street journal" today about the scientific era and advances in technology. we've gone from the high-tech revolution, of course, einstein to high tech. and now we're talking about biotech and gene editing with crisper and how this can help us more quickly reach vaccines and potential cures. >> yes, you see every half century a new scientific revolution. the first half of the 20th century was about physics, leading from the atom bomb to space travel to semi conductors. our generation, andrea, very much the information technology, the digital revolution.

most students in the past 40, 50 years have wanted, if they wanted to be entrepreneurs, to be part of that revolution. speaking of tulane, my students are thinking of moving towards public health, biotech and bioindustry, understanding the code of life, not just a digital code. i think it will affect a generation and we will see the 21st century be a century of biotechnology, especially when we learn to fight off cancer and viruses, are two biggest threats. >> one of the people who's really been at the forefront of this all is bill gates, not surprisingly. he was talking last night about this. the bill and melinda gates foundation, we should point out, are pouring $100 million into the search for a vaccine for this pandemic, covid-19. this is some of what he had to say last night --

>> innovation, some we could have done in advance, but innovation is happening. you look at the numbers, u.s. now with the most cases, there is no state that has gotten to the point where their numbers are flat and are going down. and the testing capacity means we're quite blind to a lot of these cases right now. so it can be done, but we're not -- the light is not at the end of the tunnel in terms of a mid-april reopening. >> walter, that was on cnn at their town hall about the president's idea of going county by county, and rating counties whether they were high, medium or low risk and beginning to let some counties reopen as early as a decision this weekend, according to the vice president last night. >> i think what you need to do is have very good testing and two types of testing. you need to have the current test, which unfortunately takes a day or two or three to get the results, which tell you whether

or not you have the virus in your blood. you also need the antibody test to tell you have you ever been exposed, do you have the antibodies now? are you protected from it? it should be possible in the next month or so to scale up and be doing hundreds of thousands of these tests and do it quickly and easily, so people can do it at home the way you can do a home pregnancy test. i think once you've got testing weeks, six weeks, seven weeks, we can start figuring out the waves in which we allow people to go back to work and go about their business, whether they've been immune or the community is flattening the new curve of cases. but it's just insane to me, it seems, to try to do this before you have a clear-cut regiment of doing both virus test and antibody test so we know we're

not flying blind. >> walter isaacson, professor at tulane university, great university in louisiana. thank you, in new orleans. we end the week for good news at least for now. senator amy klobuchar's husband, who was hospitalized with the coronavirus earlier this week, has been released from the hospital. he was released yesterday and recovering at home. the minnesota democratic senator joining us now from the senate. so great to see you. >> hi, andrea. >> i was on an emotional roller coaster with you. i know your husband, and what a wonderful extraordinary person he is and partner in life and throughout the campaign. so glad he's better. i think he's 52 and he had eye severe challenge there for a while. he was on a ventilator. >> yes, he did. he was on oxygen. and a lot of that was because he had pneumonia and he had really low oxygen. he ended up going in when he

started coughing up blood, and that's when he got the test, and he just got out of the hospital. he's recovering. and he would love to go back to remotely teaching his classes. i'm not sure that they're quite ready for that. but i get to wave to him out the window today. just as walter isaacson was just saying in that important segment, there's just not enough information out there yet, and i agree, and in five to six weeks we will know a lot more when people are not contagious. they think he still could be because he's still coughing. of all of these things. people need this information. but right now as you know they need ventilators, they need help. that is why that vote is going on in the house. i find it frustrating the one member from kentucky, congress pl man massie, can hold up this whole process. i'm very pleased in the u.s. senate we had a unanimous voep to get help for people for unemployment and help for small businesses and, of course, the

equipment that should have been there a long time ago but the planning was not done with this first struck in china. >> you cast your vote in the senate while your husband was in the hospital and while you were so worried about him. at this stage, what are the doctors telling you about how can they test him to make sure it's safe for you to go home and be with him? >> no one really knows. they're just waiting to let some time pass so he's not showing the symptoms. you just wait. i really do want to stress though that our problem is so small right now compared to everyone else's who have people that are in the hospital, who like me, cannot visit those loved ones, some of them much sicker and getting sicker than he was. the people, the seniors who are in their houses and can only have their friends and loved ones visit them through a window. all of this is happening right now, andrea. i think it is important to put things in per spegtive, to get the help out there we need federally. my story, if anything, i hope

it's helpful for people to realize, follow the rules. and we did but at least he didn't get me sick or other people sicker. why? because he followed the rules. and i think the more people that do that, it's really, really important. you're going to save lives. >> of course, one of your colleagues did not follow the rules, as far as we can tell, because rand paul tested positive last sunday, i think it was sunday, after being in the senate gym. >> yeah, well, you know, i'm not going to comment on his situation. i just know that every time you don't follow the rules, you're putting someone else's life in danger. whether it is the health care workers on the frontline who need that equipment, whether it's the grocery store clerk who's sitting there just getting food out to people. this has got to be a team effort. i think leadership means making that really clear. it's a tough, tough time. and it's hard for everyone.

but if we do this together, we're going to save lives. we're going to get through this together. that's what we are doing right now. i'm glad all of those house members are coming in there to take that vote. we need to get the relief out to the american people. >> i was very struck in watching the house floor debate and seeing oscasio-cortez and liz cheney, two very disparate wings, one conservative republican and one progressive democrat, all calling for a vote in passing a bill, a lot of which they didn't like. they saw the need to compromise. i think that is the message. what is your message now? i know you just mentioned congressman massie, but what would you say to him about his resistance today? >> well, i would probably first tell the story about my husband and how close it was and how scary it was this can happen to anyone. and it's going to happen to people that he knows. the second thing i would say is this didn't have everything that i wanted.

i wanted more funding for voting at home and mail-in ballots. that's what we're going to need in november. i got some but not what i wanted. but was i going to turn away and vote against that bill because of that? absolutely not. our cities still need more help. we need more equipment out there. but we have to respond. we know people are, through no fault of their own, being uprooted from their jobs every single day. this is a country that has each other's backs. we have come through horrible crisises before. we will come through this. but not if we play politics with it. i think that's why you saw liberal democrats and conservative republicans i would say joining hands -- not quite, that would be against the rules -- but joining to support this bill. one of the things that's also bothered me through this process, of course, is some of the donald trump's rhetoric and the blame and not always getting the facts out. i think people have to step back, listen to their governors, look at how we can make regional

responses if we're not going to get the testing out like we should and be the great country that we are. >> do you have some concerns that the president now is going to be pressuring the scientific advisers? there seems to be a change in posture from dr. deborah birx last night. a lot of people were concerned about some of the things she said about new modeling. the vice president said he was going to get a report from the medical advisers this weekend, as the 15 days draw to a close, as to whether some parts of the country can go back to business. >> i think we have to listen to the doctors and the scientists. clearly, some parts are hit more than others. but what we've seen right now nationally, not just in what city, right now we're on the ramp-up on the number of cases, ramp-up to the number of deaths. this isn't a time where you send this mixed message. stay in your house but don't stay in your house. i think we need a federal message. of course, at some point certain industry in areas, you start

figuring out how they can go back to work. of course you do. but it feels to me it is much more one of his let me say something out at the spur of the moment without consulting people than it is actually a plan moving forward. and that has been the whole problem from the beginning. this is a global pandemic, andrea. it is. but a lot of these error that's were made early on, not getting ready and the tests, those are manmade errors but we'll have plenty of time to talk about that later. >> senator amy klobuchar, our best to you and your husband and daughter and your whole family. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. you bet. coming up next -- staggering projections on how many americans could even die from covid-19 in the next four months alone. that's next. of course, we're watching the house floor and will bring you the latest as we come back on msnbc. yes. yes. yeah sure. yes. yes. yeah, yeah no problem. yes yes, yes a thousand times yes!

disover. accepted at 99% of places in the u.s. iare covered by both medicare and your state's medicaid, yes, yes a thousand times yes! here's something important to know. now you could get even more health benefits than you already have. it's the unitedhealthcare dual complete plan. to find out if you or someone you care about is eligible, it's easy. call now to talk with us. we can explain it all and answer any questions. medicaid gives you benefits and medicare gives you some, too. but a dual complete plan can add even more benefits and features compared to original medicare. you'll have lots of doctors and hospitals to choose from. plus, prescription drug coverage. and depending on where you live, you could enjoy other benefits, too. like dental care, vision coverage and rides to and from your doctor or hospital. you can even get credits you can use to shop for everyday things,

like vitamins, oral health items and first aid kits. and best of all, with this plan, there's no additional cost to you. remember, if you have medicare and medicaid, chances are, you could get a dual complete plan. so call now to talk with us and learn more. or ask to have a licensed agent visit your home and take you through everything, step by step. we know healthcare can be confusing. unitedhealthcare can straighten things out. with 40 years of experience, you can count on us to be there all along the way. with a dual complete plan you could have a wide choice of doctors to choose from, better prescription drug coverage, dental and vision coverage, too. all at no additional cost. you have medicare. you have medicaid. you may be eligible for dual complete. so call the number on your screen now to see if you're eligible or to enroll in a dual complete plan from unitedhealthcare.

♪ alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice. and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! better days are ahead. ♪ i know that there'll be better days ♪ we are all one jeep community and we can help. so we're offering payment assistance, 24/7 support and the option to shop at jeep.com. we're offering 0% financing for 84 months with no payments for 90 days. because better days are just down the road. ♪ better days jeep, helping you drive forward. ♪ better days you can't always stop for a fingerstick.betes with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you don't have to.

with a painless, one-second scan you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestylelibre.us. and welcome back. let's check in with nbc news correspondent garrett haake on capitol hill. garrett, are we getting closer to a vote? >> reporter: we are getting closer, andrea. here is how it will go. we are toward the end of the

debate time. kevin mccarthy is speaking now. he can take advantage of magic minutes, where they yield the floor to leaders of both parties for a minute, but they can speak as long as they want. i expect a long speech from kevin mccarthy and from speaker pelosi, then we'll have a vote. the way the democratic aides decided to get around thomas massey's objections, calling for recorded vote, they think they have a quorum. rather than mash them into the house chamber proper, they'll call them into the room, have them seated in press and guest galleries around the chamber. if you have ever been, you know what i am talking about, stadium seating for the united states house. if massey calls for a recorded vote, he won't get a second. he can then ask if there's a quorum. the chair will go and make sure the count, all those folks that have come into the room, if in fact there are 216 of them, they can voice vote and be done and

this package will be passed and ready to be enrolled and sent to president before the close of business today. that's the plan, andrea. >> that's the plan. i wish i had a few magic minutes. could use a few magic minutes. >> reporter: those are popular in cable news. >> exactly. thank you, garrett. i know you'll have the latest. meanwhile, the number of positive covid-19 cases rises, we are staggering news from university of washington. 80,000 could die in the next four months from covid-19. joining me, dr. ben gupta, from washington medical center, nbc news medical contributor happily. put this into context. is this a prediction, a forecast, a guess? >> i think my colleagues at the institute of metrics and evaluation have done us a great service and the government should feel the same way an act accordingly. these are forecasts, best

predictions using the latest modeling techniques from an organization that models this day in, day out. other types of population statistics. they're the definitive source. if i was the trump administration, i would look at the projections and say these are the places i need to put ventilators, they give the estimates at the state level. as an icu doc, caring for patients last night, if i was a hospital administrator, i would want visibility on these types of numbers. if we don't fill this shortfall soon through the defense production act and other potential avenues, we're going to see 81,000 death number become a reality pretty quickly. and that's from university of washington, showed we'll see icu bed capacity filled up. surge capacity all but engineers

continuing wished by middle of april. >> new york presbyterian hospital, they're splitting ventilators. how risky is that? are people getting enough oxygen when you split a ventilator? dr. gupta? >> they've done us a great service. >> could you repeat that answer? i think we may have your audio back. i don't know if you heard me. i think we have you back. i was asking about the risk of splitting a ventilator. how safe is that? >> that's not safe. the technology is not something that we in the practice of pulmonary and critical care medicine want to be pursuing. >> i think i don't have the audio, our apologies to him. let's go to the house floor and

listen to the republican leader, kevin mccarthy. >> our top priority is to keep americans at work. so we aim the efforts to keep americans employed through two measures. for small businesses and nonprofits, the bill provides 100% federally guaranteed loans for eight weeks. if that loan is used to pay your employees or pay your rent or pay your utilities, it is no longer a loan, it is a grant, because we know what government has asked you to do. other business gets a retention credit to keep employees on. if unfortunately american workers find themselves out of work, this bill offers an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance. and dramatically expands eligibility. it also makes benefits more generous by adding another $600 across the board payment through

the end of july. the care act extends unemployment insurance to cover gig workers, self-employed, nonprofit employees. additionally, for american families that might need a little extra support, you will start receiving and seeing those checks in three weeks. you won't have to wait for months for financial help. payments will be as much as $1200 for an individual taxpayer, and $500 per child. finally, the legislation provides critical resources. >> and kevin mccarthy, just watching the republican leader making the case for the bipartisan package. after he concludes, nancy pelosi will take the floor, then they will as garrett haake described it try to have the vote, despite the opposition from one republican congressman, congressman massey of kentucky. that does it for this week. it has been a really hard time for all of us, for all of you.

thanks for sharing it with us. we hope we brought you factual information. that's it for today. stephanie ruhle continues coverage after this quick break. sleep. our gummies contain a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no next-day grogginess. zzzquil pure zzzs. naturally superior sleep. what do we wburger...inner? i want a sugar cookie... wait... i want a bucket of chicken... i want... ♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. when youyou spend lessfair, and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com - [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. and they're counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. grubhub. together we can help save the restaurants we love. (aurelia) i was just frustrated i almost gave up. company. with miracle-ear, it's all about service. they're personable, they're friendly. i'm very happy with them. (vo) we provide you with a free lifetime of aftercare, meaning free check-ups, cleanings and adjustments. (wiley) i see someone new. someone happy. it's really made a difference. (vo) call 1-800-miracle to start your 30-day risk-free trial and

schedule your free hearing evaluation at your locally owned miracle ear today. my age-related macular degenso today i made a plan with my doctor, which includes preservision... because he said a multi- vitamin alone may not be enough. and it's my vision, my morning walk, my sunday drive, my grandson's beautiful face. only preservision areds2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. it's how i see my life. because it's my vision... preservision.

good afternoon. i am stephanie ruhle. right now on your screen, you're looking at house speaker nancy pelosi, the last to take the floor as they prepare to vote on the economic