well, hey there. i'm joshua johnson. good to be with you today from msnbc headquarters in new york. welcome to a special hour of msnbc live. the coronavirus pandemic across america. the u.s. has more than 131,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 and nearly 2,300 deaths. but it's really easy for numbers that big to kind of lose their meaning. it's just a big statistic rather than thousands of individual lives that are shaken or taken by this virus. in this hour, we want to humanize those numbers with a deeper look at the cities and states that are fighting this

pandemic. our correspondents across the country are ready to share those stories. and we'll find out how some of the nation's mayors are trying to help their residents. we begin with a quarantine quandary. a comment from president trump that could have dramatically affected 32 million people in the epicenter of the pandemic. yesterday, president trump claimed that he was considering a federally mandated quarantine of new york, new jersey, and connecticut. last night, he tweeted some clarification. the president wrote that the quarantine will not be necessary. instead, the cdc issued a strong 14-day travel advisory. the tri-state area is already under stay-at-home orders coordinated by all three governors. as for that initial claim, connecticut governor ned lamont said he believed the president was, in his words, thinking out loud. connecticut has more than 1,500 confirmed cases and 33 known deaths. new jersey's governor, phil murphy, says he has spoken with

the white house about his state's desperate need for ventilators. jersey reported more than 140 deaths. new york still leads the country in cases. its health care system is stretched thin and governor andrew cuomo says the worst is yet to come. that overstretched system includes mt. sinai west in manhattan, and that is where we find nbc's corey coughen joining us live. a nurse at mt. sinai died from covid-19 this week. corey, what's the situation there now? >> reporter: yeah, joshua, i think 48-year-old kyas kelly's death was one that cut deeply to this community this week. not just here to the hospital but to the medical community as a whole and it's a reminder for all of us as well as how much risk these first responders are taking on. governor cuomo also acknowledged kelly's death and spoke about the other first responders out there. take a listen. >> we lost a nurse. we lost a couple of other

nurses. kyas kelly. 48 years old. who was the assistant nurse manager at mt. sinai west. we wish his family the best. these public people, i don't even have the words to express my admiration for them. >> reporter: now, cuomo in his press conference earlier was reflective. he was candid. at times he was forceful. saying he would not be deterred in getting the state the life-saving supplies that he needs. he also said, "we were more prepared than any state for this." but the emergency is testing the state's limits now. we're hearing that the 911 system is becoming overburdened. ems officials are saying that calls are up by some 40%. joshua, average number of calls that the city gets is about 3,2500 to 4,000. they're now reporti ining 6,000

7,000, sometimes 8,000 according to fdny. workers aren't going home for fear of infecting their families and loved ones. instead, they're sleeping in their cars, they're pulling double, triple, shifts sometimes and governor cuomo also said they had put out an all-call for any volunteers who could help out anywhere possible, he said, just get in where you fit in. whether it's medical staff here or if you have any background, help with first responding or if you don't have any skills in any of those ranges you can help out when it comes to food delivery or volunteer at local non-pro t non-profits that are helping. he said he just needs people to come out and he's happy that about 12,000 people have volunteered so far. >> thank you, cori. nbc's cori coffin not far from here at mt. sinai west in manhattan. coronavirus does not stop at state lines. that's what has folks concerned in texas. it borders four states and mexico. some texans are worried about a

rising case load within their borders an about spillover from neighboring states like louisiana. texas has more than 2,000 cases and 27 known deaths. nbc's priscilla thompson joins us live from butler stadium in houston. the city's only testing site. priscilla, how's houston preparing for a possible spillover from other states, particularly louisiana? >> reporter: well, both state and local officials are monitoring what's happening in louisiana very carefully. joshua, in 2005 when hurricane katrina hit, there were a number of folks who were displaced from new orleans who actually moved to texas and houston specifically and so there's always been a deep community ties between these states. and so this week, the governor of texas actually issued an executive order calling on anyone who was flying in from louisiana or the new york tri-state area to self-quarantine for 14 days. and so, and this is part of an

ongoing effort as officials expect that the number of cases here will continue to rise. i want to point out that in houston, yesterday, alone, saw the single largest increase in the number of cases here. the number of cases actually tripled. so houston now has more than 200 cases of coronavirus here in the city. >> priscilla, we had also -- just a moment, priscilla. we should also talk about houston's mayor and what he had to say about how the city is bracing for a possible spike in cases. let's listen to that. >> whether you're flying, driving, boating, walking, jogging, if you go outside of the state of texas, louisiana included, then when you come back to the city of houston, if you're an employee, you will self-quarantine. >> so, mayor turner is saying something similar to what other state and city leaders have been saying around the country. what's the mood like in houston right now?

not only because of the potential for interstate infections but also just that industry is shut down and universities are closed. min i mean, what's it like around houston right now? >> reporter: yeah, so what you heard there was the mayor talking about the advice that he's giving to his city employees and he hopes that going into this second week of the citywide shutdown that residents of houston will follow that advice as well. if folks are coming back from anywhere that they self-quarantine, the mayor was actually out this weekend evaluating some of those places that are still open to the public, like the parks and the restaurants where they can pick up to-go orders to make sure people were practicing that safe distancing extent or whether he needs to implement more measures this week. he told me that he was happy with what he saw out there. we were out at a park recently and saw kids riding their bikes by themselves. some of them saying they hadn't seen their friends in a few

weeks since school let out. i think it's a testament to the fact that folks here are taking this very seriously. >> all right. thank, priscilla. that's nbc's priscilla thompson in houston. hospitals are struggling not just on their frontlines but in their bottom lines. revenue is way down with routine visits and elective procedures postponed. so you can imagine how much worse it can be for rural hospitals. those include facilities in virginia with cases there nearing 900. they are bracing for a major surge in covid-19 patients. hospital administrators are fearing shortages in staffing, in supplies, and in cash. deepa, how prepared are these rural hospitals for what could be a surge if patients? >> that's a great question, joshua. this is a really unique problem for some of these facilities and rural hospitals here in virginia and other rural parts of the country.

been speaking to folks in idaho, wyoming, the crisis they're bracing for has led to creative problem solving, you could say. i spoke with a hospital ceo in wise county, virginia. they only have about 40,000 people living in their county and of their three hospitals, they've actually decided to just pick one as the designated covid-19 hospital. and that's in an earth to keffo the other two hospitals running normally and trying to see as many patients otherwise as they can. some creative problem solvings, increasing pella health, increasing those services, are what people in rural areas are aiming for. i actually want to play you a pea piece of sound from a ceo from a very rural hospital i spoke with in idaho and he describes the situation they're facing so take a listen to that. >> hospitals, they may have 15 to 20 days' cash on hand. they're trying to make a payroll when things are good. and being asked to lay out all this additional expense while at the same time enacting infection

control measures limit a regular operation. hospitals of our size are in jeopardy of closing but this coronavirus is taxing us to the absolute limit. >> reporter: joshua, you can hear right there how dire the situations are for some of these rural facilities. talking about how, you know, they're making their paychecks on a good day. so it really speaks to the larger question here, the rural health crisis that we face in this country, you know, there's over 100 rural hospitals that have closed in the last 10 years. i spoke with a number of folks who told me, no, it's not an exaggeration to say only of these facilities will shut down at the end of this public health crisis. they really face a shortage of cash, a shortage of supplies and in addition a shortage of doctors as with el. >> yeah, deepa, as if rural hospitals didn't already have enough to worry about before coronavirus and heaven knows what this is going to do to them after this outbreak is over. thank you, deepa. nbc's deepa shivaram.

let's head now to pennsylvania. a troubling trend, cases there have spiked and now approaching about 3,400, 3,500, with a big jump among young people. nbc's mora barrett is in philadelphia with more and pennsylvania's department of health says that the bulk of its cases are now among people between 25 and 49 years old. what's going on there? >> reporter: exactly, joshua. that's what's really interesting here in pennsylvania because as we started talking about this coronavirus pandemic, officials had emphasized that the elderly were going to be some of the most affected but what like you just said, nearly half of the 3,400 cases here in pennsylvania are age range between 19 and 49. and that's the younger to middle age group. and i wanted to note, these are people that are showing symptoms. these are not asymptomatic people who aren't having coughs or high fooef eevers. they're displaying symptoms and getting tested because here in pennsylvania they're only testing people who are showing symptoms and that brings us here to citizens bank park which is

home to the philadelphia phillies. they're not playing baseball here this weekend. it's the site of a drivethrough testing site. there's been at least 1 shurks cshurks 100 cars who have gone through in the past hour. roll their window down, get a quick test and should be getting results within 24 hours to a couple days here and we got the latest number just in the last hour or so from the pennsylvania secretary of health, dr. rachel levine. there have been spikes of 500 to 600 new cases a day over the past couple of days and she basically said this is not going to stop any time soon. they're really tracking the trend, but the university of pennsylvania's model shows that this -- the peak here in pennsylvania will not be until at least mid-may. and so there's still at least about a month and a half here to go. when you look at the praise that governors from across the country have been getting for their early action, governor tom wolf here in pennsylvania is one of those. hi started their coronavirus operations center here in p.a. in the beginning of february. even before they had their first

positive case of coronavirus on march 6th. since then, he's acted quickly. closing schools. as cases spiked. and also has issued a stay-at-home order as about a third to a half of the counties here in pennsylvania. also new today, joshua, he asked the president for a major disaster deck laration. fema would give pennsylvania extra funds to provide support here. joshua? >> nbc's maura barrett in philadelphia. thanks very much. our trip across america is just getting started on msnbc. north carolina is our next stop. it's seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. specifically in its largest city, charlotte. one big problem is getting care for the uninsured. charlotte's mayor, vi lyles, will tell us how her city is dealing with the epidemic, just ahead. an rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis

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north carolina is seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. by our count, there are more

than a thousand. more people are relying on the health care systems there. about the 30 million americans who are also uninsured? msnbc's trymaine lee focused on this in one episode of his new podcast "into america." trymaine, what's the situation for the uninsured in north carolina? >> joshua, what we're seeing in north carolina is just a taste of what we're seeing all across the country especially in the 14 states including north carolina that so far have refused to expand medicaid under the affordable care act. as the pandemic continues to spread across the country, there are many people who found themselves sliding between the health care gaps. where they make too much to qualify for medicaid, but not enough to afford their own insurance. so, this week on "into america" i team up with our colleague, phil, who was an nbcnews.com reporter. he takes us to charlotte, north carolina, where we meet some folks on the frontlines of this issue including a woman named penny winguard. penny, joshua, has had a string of bad health luck.

had breast cancer then a brain aneurism. now she's immunocompromised. you can imagine what she's dealing with confronted with this very deadly, very serious virus, but for at least penny who needs to make ends meet, she continues to work. so she works driving lyft and also as a caretaker for an elderly woman. in the only putting herself at risk but also everyone she comes in contact with. but like millions of people, especially working poor who are uninsured, they have no choice but to press on. fortunately for penny's sake, she's able to get some health care from community health centers that really try to help those without insurance but, again, as the pandemic continues to spread, this stress, the vulnerability, it's really weighing on penny, but penny is one, as you mentioned, of 30 million people without insurance who found themselves really in this really, really seriously unfortunate situation, joshua. >> it's interesting, trymaine, you know, the federal government has made covid-19 testing free, but if you are uninsured or

underinsured, there are all kinds of costs that go along with being able to get to the doct doctor. so i imagine that creates a different kind of health gap. where even just the surveillance of where the disease is is compromised by the fact that there are people who are otherwise locked out of the system in a larger sense. >> o, certainly, welling if you're an hourly wage worker, you don't have the benefit of paid time off. paid leave. let alone can you get to where the testing is. do you have a vehicle, do you have a license. just getting there is an issue. so people might say, you know, i'll forego seeking treatment because i'd rather try to make some money to put some food on the table. but then the testing is free, but the actual care isn't. so someone like penny, you know, could face upward of 20,000 or more costs just to take care of coronavirus treatment. so to your point, there are many marginalized communities. not just those living in abject poverty who are kind of forgotten and left along the side, anyway. but all the people who are in the service industry who are

working delivering food. the cashiers, people like penny who are driving lyft and taking care of folks, many of them won't be counted. as the days tick by, are they infecting other people, are they getting infected? they're still off the grid let alone being pushed aside because they simply can't afford it. >> last ten seconds, trymaine, what's the biggest question you thinks you've spoken to have for their elected leaders? what can they ask if they can ask face to face? last five seconds. >> i imagine they want to put people over politics and people over profit and that's it. put the lives of the american people, put the lives of the people in their community and their constituents ahead of any other agenda because the time to act is now. joshua, thank you. >> thank you, trymaine. msnbc's trymaine lee, host of the podcast "into america." please do subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. speaking to talking to elected officials let's continue in north carolina with the mayor of its largest city. joining us now is vi lyles, mayor of charlotte. mayor lyles, welcome. >> thank you for having me, josh

qua. >> apologies for viewers, vi lyles. sorry about that. the question trymaine said the folks he spoke to would like to ask elected leaders like you, people over politics. people over profits. how well do you think north carolina, your region, charlotte, mecklenburg county, are doing, putting people over politics or profits? >> well, first, we're the largest county in mecklenburg. mecklenburg county is the largest county in our state. and we have put people first. if you could imagine, we're feeding every student that's no longer in school and there's no requirement or no -- no requirement that you have to come with letters or paper or how much you can have. we want to feed our families first and foremost. then we also have a community response fund. but i have to say, you're exactly right on the health care issue. what it means for us is that people -- when we closed or restaurants and our hourly

workers, when we closed our schools and our teaching assistants and bus drivers, we know that this is going to be a crises in health care. testing may be free, but can you get there? is it something that's convenient to do? and what happens if you are tested? in a way that's -- you have a positive test then how do you pay for it? it is time and we're fortunate in charlotte to have two great health care systems and they are working with us with the community to make sure anyone that's tested has the appropriate level of care as we go through this crises. >> we did get another question from a viewer. i want to put that viewer question up on the screen now. make sure we get to that before our time is up with you. the viewer, rachel, asked, "north carolina's governor issued a stay-at-home order effective monday and i'm unclear what that means. my husband and i are over 70 and unsure if we can or even should go to places like the grocery store." mayor lyles, what would you tell folks like rachel?

>> i say that stay-at-home order is the most important way we have to take seriously to flatten the curve. when we start talking about this virus and what we need to do. so, yes, we do want you to stay at home, but, of course, grocery shopping, medicine shopping, all of those things are eligible and considered essential services. so, please go and get your medicines if you have to. get your groceries. but stay at home. today is a beautiful north carolina day and i am so concerned about the number of people that are out in our parks and our open spaces. our messaging on this has been very difficult. we said, well, if you're young, you're not going to get sick. it's only for the vulnerable populations. and now we know that's not true. it's such a fluid situation. but first and foremost, get your groceries. get your medicines. please stay at home. so that we can zedeal with this issue before it becomes a place we're having more loss of life. >> mayor vi lyles of charlotte, north carolina.

mayor lyl serks, thaes, thanks time for us. >> thank you, joshua. we continue our trip across america in louisiana. coronavirus hit the new orleans area especially hard. what's being done there to slow the spread. plus, the outbreak is forcing many people of faith away from their houses of worship. how religious leaders are making spiritual contact while socially distancing. next. my age-related macular degeneration could lead to vision loss. so 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. i wanted more from my copd medicine that's why i've got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved once-daily 3-in-1 copd treatment.

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it's msnbc coverage of coronavirus across america. experts say louisiana would become one of the next end centers of the pandemic. it currently has more than 3,300 confirmed cases and 137 known deaths. more than 1,200 cases are in and around new orleans. and the timing of the outbreak could not have been worse. mardi gras made it easy for the virus to spread. joining us now is jeff adelson, a staff writer for the "times picayune" in new orleans. jeff, tell us what louisiana is doing right now to try to flatten the curve, as they say.

flatten the curve of new infecti infections. >> well, right now, louisiana as with most other states has instituted a lot of restrictions on all sorts of gatherings. large gatherings over just a couple people are prohibited. the number of -- bars have been shut down. restaurants have been ordered to takeout only. and across the state, they're trying to enforce these measures. we actually had an incident yesterday where about 100 people gathered for a second line parade which is a common thing usually around here on weekends. the police had to go and shut that down on the orders of the mayor. they're trying to take a very aggressive attitude toward stopping a lot of these gatherings, these events and really enforce social distancing all across the state and particularly here in new orleans. >> yeah, jeff, i was just going

to ask you, how is that going? i mean, i think trying to get people in new orleans to stop having a party is like getting people in key west to go inside during a hurricane. if there's one thing that people don't like to do socially in new orleans, it's distance. are people even paying attention to these orders at all? especially in parts of the city that kind of depend on tourism and on nightlife? >> actually, i'd say for the most part people are really paying attention. they're really taking this seriously. we've been all working from home and social distancing, ourselves, the last wek ek or s. but the few times we've been out it's actually eerie how few people are on the streets. french quarter has been largely deserted, as most people know, is sort of the epicenter of tourism in the city. all of the bars, all of the restaurants, do seem to be complying with the order. now, of course, that's had

pretty huge impacts on tourism, which is new orleans' major industry. we've had thousands and thousandsfurloughs. hotels are basically empty. so we're dealing with some pretty serious economic effects of this as well. >> well, in a way it's obvious to see why they're complying. glad to hear that they are because a louisiana's governor john bell edwards painted a grim picture of what it would look like if new orleans and louisianians did not comply. here's what he said. >> while the hotspot is down around new orleans, it is statewide. we know if we don't flatten the curve, we're on a trajectory currently to exceed our capacity in the new orleans area for vent la ventilators by about april the 4th and all beds available in ut april the 10th. >> so where does louisiana stand in terms of getting what it needs, especially in more critical and sensitive areas? we found out today that the first coronavirus-related death

of a prison inmate was a 47-year-old man at a federal prison in louisiana. sounds like there are a lot of different fronts on which louisiana has to fight this war. >> that's correct. i mean, we are dealing with certainly major problems here in the new orleans area. we are still the epicenter of the state. seeing pretty significant growth. one thing the governor did say yesterday was that the new orleans area is down to about 192 available ventilators. they're projecting that all of those ventilators are going to be needed by some time early next week. and there won't be any more available for any additional patients that need them. there's currently about 380 people on ventilators within the new orleans area. so he's been pretty aggressively trying to get more ventilators. the state has said they need at least 5,000. those efforts have been somewhat slow, though.

right now, the state government says they place orders for a few hundred but haven't really heard back about getting more ventilators from the federal government or from other agencies that would be payable to help them out. >> that's jeff adelson of the "new orleans times picayune." jeff, thanks for talking with us. >> thanks for having me. america's religious communities are also feeling the impact of covid-19 with employees being furloughed and charitable giving on hold. the nation has more than 400,000 churches. by some accounts, up to a fifth of them are holding or held services today. despite being urged to shut down or at the very least reduce capacity. msnbc's lindsay reiser is at the seat at the st. diocese of new york. lindsay, how is st. patrick's adapting to this shutdown or at the very least to this slowdown? >> reporter: well, i can tell you one thing they did not hold service today. they were not one of the one-fifth.

you know, they are called america's parish church. in 140 years they've only close the their doors during the day once and that was tragically in 1988 when an usher was murdered. since then, every day their doors have been open except for who weeks ago they decided they're going to heed all of the warnings. they're going to move services virtually. digitally. and you know what, it's really catching on. before coronavirus, only about 600 people tuned in for web streams. now last weekend, for example, 26,000 people tuned in. and really, there's no more powerful image of the way that these houses of worships are adapting. pope francis, alone, in st. peters square delivering a blessing on friday. other houses of worship around the country are trying to get creative as well. there's a catholic priest in minnesota doing curbside confession. there's a church in d.c. that's doing drivethrough services. but you know what, you mentioned it, there are still some who are holding services. there's a church in louisiana and despite warnings from governors, and specifically,

their governor, not to have large gatherings, they said we're still going to do service today and i asked -- i asked monsignor richie about that here at st. patrick's cathedral, what he thinks about other houses of worship still having services. this is what he said. >> they say, well, you know, we're god's people so god will take care of us, which is true, but doesn't mean he's not going to -- he's going to save us from the virus. i think it's foolish because it puts in jeopardy not only the people that are coming and the people next to them and behind them, but also the families back home. >> reporter: well, new york city mayor bill de blasio, he believes that it's more than foolish. he has been addressing this and this is what he had to say to houses of worship that still hold service. >> if you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not

to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services. >> reporter: and so you mentioned this is a trying time for everybody, but these houses of worship are included in that. they don't have parishioners coming. nobody is tithing. so they're unable to do normal charitable work. also maybe keep people on payroll. but monsignor richie here at st. patrick's did tell me new yorkers are new yorkers, we will pull through this and he also said if there's any silver lining, it's that people are still finding ways to come together, albeit distantly. >> yeah, lindsay, i've been hearing a lot of pastors repeat the verse from the book of matthew, jesus says where two or three people are gathered together, there also shall i be. you don't have to be gathered physically to be gathered spirit chi. this . lindsey reiser at st. patrick's cathedral in new york. coming up, two coastal

places that are being hit hard. this should be a great time for seafood from maryland. the peak of the season is demic on its head? plus the mayor of pensacola, florida. that help includes taking money out of his own pocket. that's ahead. stay close. your mission:

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1,200 cases and 5 known deaths. the rise in cases includes a new outbreak at a nursing home in mt. airy. a town west of baltimore. 66 residents tested positive. 11 of those were hospitalized. on top of the human toll, there's the economic toll. some business owners and employees are not sure how they'll get by. normally, we'd be gearing up for maryland crab season, but restaurant closures have hurt demand badly. especially with more places moving to carryout only. from our nbc affiliate wbal, lowell melzer has the story from kent county on maryland's eastern shore. >> reporter: well, there are a limited number of coronavirus cases here on the eastern shore, the virus does seem to be having an impact on catching oysters, fishing, and crabbing. watermen telling us that because of the virus, the whole seafood industry may collapse. >> we were in full production right now, what we were two weeks ago, this room would be completely full of people all day, eight to ten hours a day. >> reporter: jason ruth, owner

of harris' seafood company in graysonville says usually during oyster season he's processing hundreds of bushels a day. now virtually nothing. >> all we have is just a couple little 8-ounce cups to go to some retail locations. >> reporter: after restaurants were forced to close their dining rooms, demand for seafood dropped dramatically. >> right now the climate in the seafood business is absolutely horrific. ever since the announcements that eat. eat-in restaurants were shut down. we really took it on the chin and virtually shut down the last two weeks on the oyster season. >> reporter: out on the water those who catch the oysters are feeling the pain as well, ironically on what was saet to e one of the better oyster seasons on record. >> kind of put us out of business and now we're looking at spring fishing and going into summer fishing. the markets are slowed. and to almost no a standstill for that. and now we're worried about the crabs. >> reporter: worried about crabs, not a good thing for marylanders to hear. with social distancing, crab

feasts would be out as well. >> it's not good. i mean, virtually, we're shut down. >> reporter: crabbers like chuckie white aren't sure if they're going to set traps on april 1st which is when the season starts. if there's little or no demand, there will be no way to make up those costs. >> got money out in gear and equipment that -- and your boats and you're hoping to get it back but there's no guarantee we're going to do that this year. >> that was lowell melser reporting. seafood businesses say they're hoping for some sort of relief from the state or federal government. now let's focus on florida. where more than 4,000 people are known to be infected with coronavirus. new yorkers are key to the tourist base. now, there's a push to keep them away in hopes of reducing the spread. grover robinson is the mayor of pensacola, florida. he's announced he will donate his salary to help his residents fight the spread of coronavirus. mayor robinson, welcome. >> joshua, thank you for having me on and we're certainly the proud home of morning joe

scarborough. glad to be on here with you. >> yes, indeed. i'm glad to talk to you about pensacola partly, of course, we have our own joe scarborough from there but also because there's so much going on in pensacola. not only is it a tourist hub, not only are you an hour drive from mobile, alabama, across i-10. there's a pensacola naval station. it feels like there's a lot that pensacola stands to be affected by with regard to coronavirus. how are things going right now? >> well, we are right now, we're working with -- we have three great hospitals here. we've been working with part of them, all of them, and working to make sure that we're keeping our medical capacity going. i really think the social distancing has worked. we are seeing our numbers go up as testing is happening, but overall, we've seen a very flat kind of consistent rate and positive rate. so, you know, a lot of things that we're doing, i think we're doing the right thing to keep containment. today is my mother-in-law's 82nd birthday. we can't go visit her because

she's in an assisted living facility contained there. going to stop by the window and wave at her. that's about all we can do at this particular time. i think people are taking it seriously. we're taking measures that are trying to keep that capacity going. we are very fearful of what's happening only 200 miles away in new orleans. if individuals are leaving th e there, coming to the state of florida and bringing to vid h e here, we are concerned about that. >> yeah. i wonder how you feel about the way that the state has responded. i know governor ron desantis has not issued a statewide stay-at-home order. kind of described that as not quite surgical enough an instrument. here's part of what governor desantis had to say about that. listen. >> it would be a very blunt instrument. when you're ortering people to shelter in place, you are consigning a number probably hundreds of thousands of floridians to lose their jobs, you're throwing their lives into potential disarray. and if that were something that were necessary statewide because the health comes first, you know, that would be one thing, but if you look at florida's

situation right now, this is not a viruss that's impacting every corner of the state. >> we should clarify, a shelter-in-place order is what happens when there's a hurricane. when there's an emergency. we're talking about a stay-at-home order. mayor, what do you think of the governor's approach so far for pensaco pensacola? >> one of the things about florida, so unique, so diverse. we're much different. we certainly share common bonds and statehood together with a number of people. 20 million people across this area. we are much different than where things are happening right now in miami and south florida. we certainly are with them in spirit, but we haven't yet experienced those kind of -- those keeind of numbers or thos kind of rates coming into our hospitals yet. so -- >> are you concerned at all, though -- i hate to interrupt you. i know our time is short. are you concerned at all, though, by the time cities like pensacola close the beaches, shut down the seaside, it may be too late? >> we have shutdown our beaches.

>> cities along the rest of the coast i mean. >> yeah, we have closed our beaches. we are working at that. we're working to maintain pensacola to be as safe as possible because we obviously don't want this contamination here. but, again, i think florida's a little -- it's fairly significant in size. we're all trying to meet this. i think what is happening right now from mayors across this country, they're at the front line of this. we're trying to do as best we can for our communities. >> last few seconds, your salary, how much you donating and where's it going. >> again, i told them, i said, listen, i'm not going to ask you to lose your job. i'm not going to take a salary. as soon as we closed restaurants, heavy tourism area, i said i'd donate my salary, donate it to paying natural gas bills and also sanitation bills here at the city of pensacola. those out of work workers who can't afford their pay, i'm going to pay their bill. there's nothing to fear here. we are going to get through this together. >> right. >> we have a viral situation. we have an economic situation. we need to contain the virus first. >> that's mayor grover robinson

of pensacola, florida. mr. mayor, thanks very much for talking to us. >> joshua, thanks for having me on. coming up, we'll see how robots are helping keep some nursing home patients connected to their families. stay close. it's tough to quit smoking cold turkey. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions.

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minnesota's health care system is preparing for a rush of coronavirus patients. confirmed cases there have now topped 500. nine people have died in minnesota. most over the age of 70. three have been living in group care facilities. america's nursing homes have been scrambling to increase safety procedures in recent weeks. limiting family visits and testing the staff daily. health care experts warn that the elderly still face the highest risk, but here's how one facility in minnesota is connecting its residents with their loved ones. from nbc affiliate kare-11 in the twin cities, boyd huppert has more. >> the changing seasons are

right on time, but so much else is wrong. >> it is feeling very strange. >> karla smith ten minutes from her parent's nursing home yet she can't go in to see them. >> it was a big change for them. >> but this afternoon, she virtually did. >> i'm heading to the lobby where my parents are sitting. that bow-tied robot, with karla at the wheel was hastily put into service at haven homes in maple plains. >> hi there, how are you? >> isn't this amazing? >> families are trained to use it when they can't visit in person. >> they have quickly become a fan of the robot designed not for nursing homes but office use. >> we have been waiting for the call all day long. >> all day you have been excited? >> very excited. >> we have to be patient. >> mary's hearing and jim's stroke make phone use difficult.

>> with the iphone or the ipad, they rely on staff to be there to answer it. this is something they can do on their own and when they're done, the family members can go back and park it. >> they have taken delivery of nine of the robots with the california manufacturer offering to send more. problem identified. and technology spreading. >> it is a great day to be alive. >> well, that's a good attitude. >> that is boyd huppert reporting from kare 11 in the twin cities. that's the trip across america. thank you very much for joining us on this trip. i'm joshua johnson. the coverage of the coronavirus pandemic continues after the break on msnbc. so to breathe better i started once-daily anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say go this way i say i'll go my own way with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators that work together to significantly improve

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good evening, and thanks for joining us for our extended coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. i'm ali velshi. we have 140,000 cases here in the united states. more than 2400 americans have now died. the president spoke earlier tonight in the rose garden and admitted what we all suspected. that the country's not going to be up and running by easter. instead, he extended guidelines for social distancing to at least april the 30th, and after dr. anthony fauci said the united states could see 100,000 to