>> meanwhile, new jersey has more than 34,000 cases. that's the second highest total in the country. connecticut has more than 5,000 cases. connecticut's governor says the apex of the curve in parts of his state seems to be more than a month away. it is all kept first responders very busy, including here in new york. nbc's alexa lioto joins us from an ems station in manhattan's chelsea neighborhood. alexa, a quarter of new york's ems staff called out sick as they're getting more calls for help than ever. how are they dealing with this there? >> reporter: hey, joshua. good to be with you. this is a constant fight for resources on the front lines here. this is -- you mentioned those numbers. i spoke with ems -- an emt this morning who was out sick and had been quarantining himself and was worried about his own station, mentioning that 12 out of the 55 people that he worked with were also out sick. the way they've been dealing

with this is, again, in multiple ways. first is repeated call for personnel. mayor de blasio calling for an additional 45,000 additional health care professionals to bolster the city's medical capacity. we received an alert on our phones yesterday, calling for licensed health care professionals, again to help the city's fight on the front lines and alleviate some pressure from the frontline workers. fdny also mentioned earlier this week that 500emts and paramedics were traveling from around the country and volunteering themselves to help with this fight. again, speaking with some of the emts, some of the ems workers here in new york, they're not only worried about their capacity and wanting to protect new yorkers, but also making sure that they don't get infected and ultimately infect their families, which will inhibit them from doing their job. just a lot of different angles there, joshua, but really making sure there's not only replenishing the ranks but that they also have the resources to continue the work as this apex looms. >> one of the big themes over

the last few weeks has had to do with resources. new york's governor andrew cuomo has said that the federal government should be coordinating the entire effort to get resources for all 50 states. add to that, new jersey having to bid against new york and connecticut and california and illinois and everywhere else. the mayor of newark, new jersey, said that his city can't compete with new york city for resources. so how is that going in terms of making sure that everyone gets the help they need or are some places just kind of getting used to the idea that they won't get the help they need? >> reporter: joshua, it does seem as though there are states that are sort of on their own here, and new york specifically being the epicenter of the pandemic right now, again, has been putting out this call for resources. the governor earlier this morning, the press briefing that we heard, just highlights the variety of players that new york state is working with in order to get the resources, in order to take on this pandemic as it hits the region. we keep hearing about the need

again and again for more ventilators. today it looked like the state was able to get its hands on some. here is governor cuomo. >> we got really good news today that the chinese government is going to facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will come into jfk today. also, the state of oregon contacted us and is going to send 140 ventilators, which is -- i tell you, just astonishing and unexpected. >> reporter: president trump also mentioning in his briefing that 1,000 additional military personnel would also be deployed to new york. we are also hearing that the nba contributing with several other partners a million surgical masks to essential workers here

in new york. again, just highlighting the number of players that the state and the city are working with in order to gather these resources. i think just in that briefing earlier this morning, governor cuomo saying that when oregon or when other states do hit that -- their apex, the return -- the favor will be returned. so, again, talking about how other states will ultimately potentially benefit from the lessons that new york is learning here and will potentially learn very seriously this coming week. joshua. >> yes, and he also made the point this is exactly what fdr did back in 1940 when he was trying to get the lend-lease program started, to try to explain to people that, yes, i may need this resource now, but once my need is met i will give it back to you. even if i break it, i'll pay you for it. we will see how that argument goes in terms of getting more states to share resources. thank you, alexa. let's go from the nation's largest city to its largest state, california. los angeles county just saw its biggest one-day spike in deaths

so far. california has more than 12,000 cases statewide. at least 287 people have died from covid-19. one of the state's big problems is getting people tested. today governor gavin newsom described the low testing rates as frustrating and said he takes responsibility for that. newsom announced a new public/private task force to tackle these delays. >> we are now in a position where i can confidently say it is a new day, and we are turning the page on our old approach to how we coordinate, how we collaborate, how we organize, and how we distribute information to you and the public around the issue of testing. >> let's dig a little deeper with nbc's steve patterson who joins us now from los angeles. steve, what more can you tell us about this task force, particularly if it even knows the reason why these delays existed in the first place and if it knows what to tackle? >> reporter: well, i mean so far in this crisis, joshua,

california has been praised by managing its curve, by being one of the first states in the country to have set true guidelines on social distancing. it is the reason why so many people say they haven't seen a crisis on the level of, say, a state like new york. but looking at the numbers, particularly today, we're starting to see that big jump which is really signifying that we're entering in possibly to this new phase that so many have long predicted of seeing the virus's true potential, and this is happening while the state lags behind in testing. as you just heard, the governor has admitted essentially that they are -- that there is a big lag, that they are lagging behind on testing. so, you know, this is state of 40 million people. you have fewer than 130,000 people so far tested for the coronavirus. of that number, the number of people who have been tested, 13,000 people are still waiting on their results. this is big for a number of reasons. this is like trying to fight a war and not knowing where the

frontline of the battle is. so they have to improve this. that's what the governor's task force is now set up to do. he says they're going to address this by partnering with local hospitals, local lab clinics, you know, local testing facilities and universities to try to determine and figure out where exactly these locations of spread are happening, to increase the number of testing locations. that's a big sig anifier across the state. hopefully in doing so to eliminate the big backups that have built up, improving the accuracy and the data we are getting, and answering those questions that you asked. i think they need to build up in order to do that. the governor said the task force will eventually create a system which will increase daily testing almost five fold. so this is good news and it is crucial news, but we're looking at this as we're entering a new phase again where we are seeing a bigger jump in the number of cases, a bigger jump in the

number of hospitalizations, a bigger jump in the number of deaths, signifying that the true storm here in california is still to come. this is a state in which we need at least 50,000 more hospital beds by mid-may in order to accurately fight this if all of the models and predictions are correct. so we're still in a phase in which it is not our state leaders trying to get us out of the woods, it is still them a month on preparing us to go into the woods. it is really tough to hear and it is going to require some strong leadership in order for us to get through it. >> thus, plus the fact california is a giant state with different regions with different needs and still has issues with income inequality and the homeless. heaven forbid there's an earthquake or another fire. it will be interesting to see how california deals with its version of the fight against coronavirus. thank you, steve. that's nbc's steve patterson reporting from los angeles. now let's head to michigan. it has more than 14,000 confirmed cases and more than 500 deaths.

among the communities that seem to be suffering most are communities of color. according to "propublica" michigan is 14% black. 1-4 percent. as of yesterday, african-americans made up 35% of coronavirus cases and 40% of the deaths. joining us now is democratic senator debbie stabenow from michigan. senator, welcome. >> joshua, it is good to be with you this evening. let me just start by thanking everybody who's doing their part to stay home and, most importantly, everybody who is doing their part to be on the front lines who can't stay home because they're a doctor, a nurse, a grocery store clerk, mail carrier, somebody working in corrections or in deliveries. there are a lot of folks that are out there on the frontlines that are doing that for us, and the whole fight for us right now in getting the protective equipment right now is to

protect them. that should be what our whole country, our government, our national government is doing together. >> let me follow you on that before i ask you about the health disparities. how do you feel that michigan is doing right now in terms of being able to get what it needs? president trump has kind of sparred somewhat publicly with michigan's governor for the last few days. but is michigan -- setting the politics aside. setting aside what we're hearing at some of the press briefings, is michigan getting what it needs? are parts of the state doing better than others? >> no, we are not getting what we need at this point, joshua. i will tell you after being involved in putting together the c.a.r.e.s. act, i have been home now the last ten days, and i have spent almost all of my time on the phone working with our governor and her team, our koun congressional delegation on a bipartisan basis, reaching out to our manufacturers. i want to thank every single one of our three automakers and the autoworkers for retooling their plants to make ventilators and

masks and other businesses retooling. but i have to tell you, i have been on the phone and over and over again with fema, with health and human services. the most hopeful a call i had today was pulling together our metro detroit hospital ceos, six of them, with health and human services, and it sounded like we might finally, finally get some things in the next few days. but we have been promised a lot and it has not been showing up. i will say another thing after going around and around and spinning on this the last ten days, it is very clear that the whole philosophy of anti-government organization philosophy that everything should to the private sector and then governors and hospitals should have to bid each other up soy that a 50 cent mask is now a good price, is $4 a mask. we're now seeing $5, $6, $7 a

mask. >> yes. >> so that philosophy is crazy. it does not work when our country needs to be coming together in a health pandemic. >> one of the things that's so fascinating about michigan is how one side of one region can be very different from another side of the same region. i mean you go around metro detroit and wayne county and oakland county and mccomb county, they're slightly different from one another and the needs are quite different. with regards to health disparity that "propublica" reported on, obviously michigan is not unique in health disparities between blacks and whites, but how do you see fighting that aspect of coronavirus? it almost feels like there are two fights in one. there's the virus and then there's this legacy of inequality that is virulent in itself. what do you do with that? >> you know, joshua, this is so important because what we're seeing now is what happened when we have that disparity, and it has not been addressed. it has not been addressed in the underlying health care system,

in our jobs, who our low-wage jobs who are getting on the public bus and still having to go to work and not being able to socially distance as they should. i mean the whole question of economic disparity, health care disparity, plays itself out in the most tragic ways when we are in the middle of this kind of pandemic. i would hope that we -- as we look at what we are going to do next that we are addressing those inequalities at this time, because it is not right. >> before we have to wrap, senator, what is top of your list? last ten seconds, if you could ask for anything to help address this disparity, last ten seconds, what would you ask for? >> well, right now i have to tell you we need swabs and tests in detroit to be able to protect people. we've got hospitals two days away from being able to do any

testing. we've got too many nurses and doctors and folks working in our jails and at correctional facilities and grocery store clerks and on and on that do not have basic protective gear. they are being required to work on our behalf and they should get that. by the way, i think in the next package we should be giving hazard pay to these folks because it is -- it is frightening for people. i know in my own family, i have many people in those roles and it is very scary for them. >> yes. >> very scary for the family. we need to be not only lifting them up in thoughts and prayers, but we need to be doing everything we can to protect them. >> well, my thoughts are certainly with your family and every family. i have first responders in my family, too, so i can certainly relate to what you are talking about. that's democratic senator debbie stabenow of michigan. senator, thanks for talking to us. well, our trip across america is just getting started

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now we focus on arizona. that state has more than 2,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 52 known deaths from the disease. state officials there are focusing on one of their most vulnerable populations, seniors. residents who are age 55 or older, that's 70% of its population. nbc's von hilliard joins us now. how is that preparing for a potential outbreak, especially with so many seniors who we know are statistically more vulnerable to coronavirus? >> reporter: seniors that are more vulnerable, and i think we are talking about something greater than those that are even

potentially will contract covid-19. we are talking about essentially the shutdown of these communities. you are looking at the greater sun city area here in the west valley of the greater phoenix area, and in the greater sun city area you are dealing with a population of retirees of more than 80,000. 80,000 older folks in this one confined area. just one block down from here is a grocery store. you can't find toilet paper. for most folks watching at home, you know, they're struggling to find basic resources in even their own marketplaces, but when you are going into the grocery store down the road, i mean i'm one of the older ones that walks in there, but you are dealing with a population that are trying to get their basic goods. their pharmaceuticals, their foods, their toilet papers, paper towels, and they're struggling to do so. while arizona you could say is lucky right now for having just 2,000 positive tests, you could say just 52 deaths, you are dealing with the concern that could be paramount here over the

next weeks. you know, arizona governor officials are expecting the peak to hit here by end of late april, early may. i want you to hear from clint hickman, board of chairman here which is the local jurisdiction over seeing the greater sun city area. i want you to hear from him and our conversation earlier what his hope and concern here in the sun city area is. >> they've lived through the depression. they've lived through world war ii quite possibly, vietnam, korea. they're self-motivated to keep themselves safe. i also have some great worries about the assisted care homes that are scattered through this community and sun city west, and actually valley wide. i am troubled by it. that is concentrated living of people that are in those -- in those golden years, but also those very susceptible years to catching this. >> reporter: it is two fold,

joshua. you have at the government level, not only at the county level but also at the state level, the national guard, fema that are working, and the u.s. army corps of engineers which are actively looking at sites around the valley to open up as potential field hospitals, kind of what you have seen in new york city. here in phoenix and here in tucson. but you are dealing with the second element, and that is to the extent in which the local communities and places like sun city will stand up and take accountability and look out after their neighbors. rye now i think that's where the concern is. i was talking with a gentleman mo is 78 years old, steve hess, who is currently staying at a -- i should say staying at a hotel down the road while his wife, who also is in her 70s, has covid-19 here in sun city, is at her home. he said it is serious. he has been talking with his friends here in the community, and they need toilet paper. folks, there's not some big semi driving down the road tossing toilet paper out to people. what they're having to do is literally go down to the grocery store and wait in line in the early morning hours with the

hope that toilet paper is there. that reality is that that is not the case. while the government is focused on the mass production, the building up of hospital facilities, i think by and large we are getting a true sense that it is going to take a lot of community activism in order to truly look after folks and their neighbors next door. joshua. >> that's nbc's vaughn hillyard reporting from sun city arizona. arizonians have probably the same concerns you have wherever you live. let's unpack what we heard at the daily white house briefing. joining us to discuss us, the white house policy director under president obama and an msnbc contributor. good evening, doctor. >> good evening. thanks for having me. >> what's your sense of where we sit in the curve of the outbreak? one message from the task force today was that this week is important. it was said that new york, new orleans could hit their peak of

cases. what is your sense of where we are in this crisis and how much longer this might last? >> yes, joshua. it is concerning all of us, and i am tracking most of the major cities across the country. all of us are looking at what we're calling doubling rates to see how quickly new cases double, and in detroit, dallas, nashville, we are seeing very concerning -- you know, anywhere from three to four days for cases to literally double. so the white house and other experts and even my own colleagues on the frontlines are all telling me they're kind of bracing for this tsunami. now, having said that, we also see glimmers of hope. there are parts of california, boston, we know that if we can actually do aggressive social distancing and wash our hands and on top of that nonmedical cloth-based masks, then we can actually try to bend this curve

a little bit. but it is going to be -- and i hate to say this, joshua, but you brought up some important points around vulnerable populations. we are going to see hot spots continuing until we actually acknowledge as a country that we need to breach some of these large brand disparities that we don't want to acknowledge. >> let me ask you about something the president talked a lot about this afternoon, which is a drug called hydroxychloroquine. it is a malaria medication that is being investigated as a possible treatment for coronavirus. here is what the president said today. >> it has been out for a long time. it is a malaria drug. it is also a drug for lupus. there's a study out that people with lupus aren't catching this horrible virus. they're not -- they're not affected so much by it. now, maybe that's correct, maybe it is false. you are going to have to check it out. >> well, i did check it out. the lupus foundation of america says that if you have lupus, you

are at higher risk for infections like the coronavirus, also known as covid-19. some people with lupus may also be at risk for more serious complications from catching coronavirus. so some of us did check that out. that does not appear to be true. but hydroxychloroquine is being investigated. what do you think about its prospects? >> yes, look, i think that we need to take any ability to, you know, deal with this virus and actually pursue it. having said that, joshua, all of it is investigational and, in fact, hydroxychloroquine as well as the antibiotic people have been talking about, zigt row ar having mild benefits in cases of covid-19. i will tell you as an actual internal medicine physician i

can't prescribe hydroxychloroquine for my lupus patients because so many other people have gotten prescriptions who don't need them. you can see how the misinformation actually leads to pretty bad consequences for patients that have days ease for which we know we need that treatment. it is pretty bad. >> there was push and pull between dr. anthony fauci and president trump in terms of how long the social distancing needs to last. we will see how long that push and pull continues and how it affects the way we fight this pandemic. dr. patel is former policy director under president obama. coming up, it is still an election year. we are having an election this year. how will coronavirus affect the way we vote? republican lawmakers in wisconsin rejected the democratic governor's call to delay this week's primary for safety reasons. that's ahead. stay close. family gatherings. there will be parades and sporting events

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welcome back. i'm joshua johnson. officials in wisconsin are urging people to stay home with just three days to go until wisconsin's presidential primary. efforts to push back the date failed even though wisconsin is under a stay-at-home order. it has more than 2,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. nearby illinois has more than 10,000 cases, and that is where we find nbc's shaquille brewster, joining us from chicago. now, shaq, more than a dozen states have delayed their upcoming primaries due to coronavirus. wisconsin did not. what happened? >> reporter: that's right. it is really just political dysfunction that you are seeing there in wisconsin. as things currently stand right now there will be an election on april 7th in wisconsin, an in-person election. polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. but there also have been many court cases that are affecting what exactly happens and what we will see from that election

night. absentee voting, that by-mail absentee voting has been extended to april 13th. now, republicans in the state are currently appealing that decision, trying to bring back and have just one final election day on april 7th, but right now people can still give their absentee ballots and submit those ballots up until april 13th by court order. the effect of that is despite there being that voting day, that election day on april 7th, we won't know the results of the wisconsin election until the 13th as things currently stand right now. as you mentioned, the governor of the state, governor tony he was, he called for a special session on friday. he tried to get the legislature back in session and tried to get them to act on his proposals which included shifting this election date and shifting the entire election to an all-mail system where it is all vote by mail. the legislature came in. they gavelled in for about ten seconds, gavelled out and moved on. they said it was not a serious proposal and said that the time

for proposals like that was several weeks ago when the crisis began. joshua. >> yes, president trump was asked about all mail-in elections yesterday during the briefing. he was very stridently against them. really kind of went on a tear against all absentee voting. he also raised some eyebrows with regards to wisconsin when he talked about an endorsement that he made. here is what the president said. >> in wisconsin what happened is i through social media put out a very strong endorsement of a republican conservative judge who is an excellent, brilliant judge. he is a justice. and i hear what happened is his poll numbers went through the roof. because of that, i think they delayed the election. >> are you concerned about people going to in person -- >> i don't know. why didn't he do it before. he is doing it right before the election. >> do you think -- >> excuse me. all of a sudden an election which is taking place very soon

gets delayed. >> now, shaq, if there has been a poll reflecting the impact of this endorsement, we have not yet found it. i wonder what your sense is of what will prevail here. are politics going to prevail? is public health going to prevail? i'm not sure which way this is going to go. >> reporter: it is just not clear what will ultimately happen. i can tell you that the local election officials and local leaders on the ground, they're expecting there to still be an election despite many of them, many democratic leaders -- i just got off the phone with one earlier. they're furious at the prospect of there being elections. an election official there said they're bending the curve. that's what you're hearing, instead of flattening the curve. you're hearing certain republicans bring up and saying they're making sure hand sanitizers will be at the polling locations, they have procedures that have been given to poll workers to wipe down equipment. there's one pen for every voter that will be allocated so voters

can sign the voting roll and keep the pen so people are not sharing them. what you're seeing is a true impact on elections. milwaukee, the largest city in the state of wisconsin, in that city alone they normally have about 180 voting locations. yesterday we learned that that number will be down to five. that's five voting locations in a major city in wisconsin. what will happen? that can lead to people crowding. that can lead to people who weren't able to get their absentee ballot in or don't want to vote by mail, prefer going in and voting on election day. that will lead to that crowding that you are going to see in the polling locations, and that definitely is not conforming with their own guidelines you are hearing from the cdc and the white house itself. we still don't know what's ultimately going to happen, but as things stand right now there will be an election, an in-person election on april 7th in wisconsin. >> we will be seeing lines of people standing at least six feet apart, possibly wrapped around the block to vote. by the way, a quick reminder of your rights, if you are in line

when the polls close, do not get out of line. the law says you have the right to vote. >> that's right. >> thank you, shaq. that's nbc's shaquille brewster in chicago. it is not the way that 1900 people wanted to end their cruise, but eventually they just wanted it to end. their ship docked today at the port of miami. it left south america last month. the ship's owner confirms that two people have died, at least 11 others are in hospital with coronavirus symptoms. nbc's sam brock has the latest from miami. >> reporter: tonight news of another tragedy striking at sea. >> two of our guests passed away last evening while being treated in the medical center. >> reporter: that recording comes from peter and grace na, two of the 1,900 on board. their son paul telling us he learned his dad tested positive for covid-19 and didn't know for weeks when his parents would make it to port. >> they got sick about two weeks ago. they were having symptoms of

cold, fever, absolute nightmare. >> reporter: this afternoon that nightmare finally ended when the "coral princess" pulled into miami with passengers carried out on stretchers. the ship's parent company, princess cruises, saying it is deeply saddened by the deaths and guests requiring shoreside medical care will be prioritized to diss embark first. two days earlier two holland america ships carrying 1,200 passengers, four dead and dozens sick, docked miles away. those passengers like these launched on a south american voyage at a time of only a handful of coronavirus cases were confirmed on that continent. >> it seemed like the only safe place to actually take a safe vacation in the whole world, and our own government that day was telling us that it was safe to travel and safe to live your life normally. >> reporter: after four weeks of uncertainty, the couple reunited with their son thursday night, something paul na and other

"coral princess" families also want. >> sad, anally. there were times where we were happy to know that they were okay on the ship, but once we got the positive test result it's -- it's been heartbreaking. >> reporter: everybody has to undergo a health screening and this disembarkation process is expected to last a couple of days, 330 passengers are getting on domestic flights and some 600 foreign nationals returning on chartered plane. back to you. >> thank you. that's sack brock reporting from miami. up next, working from home is way up. that might be here to stay long after coronavirus is gone. how can novice telecommuters make working from homework for them? that is next. rom homework for them that is next so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. them? that is next. it's more treatable. work them that is next i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. tell me more.

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♪ coronavirus has forced many companies to ramp up working from home. that includes us. rockefeller center is almost deserted these days. telecommuting helps keep employees safe, but it can also complicate getting things done. how can companies endure this outbreak without sacrificing productivity, passion or perspective? good questions for simon cynic. his ted talk on inspired leadership is among the most watched ever. his latest book is called "the infinite game." welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm sure a lot of businesses l looking forward to getting back to normal, but this may be a more permanent shift than some would like. our colleagues over at cnbc have

reported on how some workers hope that telecommuting stops being a perk, and researchers at the university of chicago who estimate that a third of all jobs in the u.s. could be done remotely. so for businesspeople who are shaking their heads or maybe shaking their fists and saying, i didn't sign up for this, what is the best thing they can do to adapt to this change? >> so we have to remember that the fundamentals of leadership still remain the same whether you are working from home or whether you are working at an office. leadership is fundamentally a human thing. the best kind of leadership is eyeball leadership, where you roam around the office, you can make eye contact with somebody and have that physical proximity. of course, we can't do that anymore but we still have to remember the human side of it. we actually have to work harder telecommuting because we have to remember that people have that physical distance. so checking in on people when we're not on zoom calls, for example, just to find out how they are, not just simply to drive work, is really, really important.

not just from our leaders but from any of us, just to call our friends, call our colleagues and find out how they're doing helps keep spirits up. >> let's talk about your book "the infinite game." i have been enjoying reading it and it centers around finite games like baseball, known players, clear rules, fixed objective, and infinite can games. business as you put it is an infinite game because you can't know the players, there's no one set of rules. you don't win business, you just endure. we hope coronavirus will not be infinite but it can be hard to think beyond the next few days with this outbreak. how do you balance short-term survival thinking with your vision for your business? >> well, this is a theory put forward by james carson in the 1980s and i embraced it entirely. it is essential for companies to maintain that infinite mindset. in other words to think about beyond right now. at the end of the day, we're not going to win this. there's going to be other viruses in the future, there's going to be other setbacks, other technological changes that will shake a business at its

core. granted, this is more sudden than we're used to, and though we may get through this virus there will be other things. so for an organization to maintain an infinite mindset, meaning to understand that this is just a speed bump, imagine if we lived for 1,000 years as opposed to 70 or 80 years right now. think about it. this would be our sixth or seventh pandemic. in other words we would know how to deal with it and understand even though it is difficult, like a hurricane, we are used to it. we've had it before. companies need to think of themselves the same way. they need to think of themselves in a very, very long journey of which this is a very difficult part, and it is an amazing opportunity for reinvention. that's the best thing that can come out of this pandemic. >> you have frequently talked about companies that make their employees feel safe, whether it is safe to make a suggestion or safe to make a mistake or whatever. these can feel like very unsafe times, especially here in new york. for workers and businesses and managers and executives who feel like nothing is safe, that they all just need to hunker down and

pray for daylight, what would you say to them? >> we cannot -- we have to recommend -- remember that everybody feels stress and emotions differently. so you may be in a great mood, in go-mode today, but somebody else may be setback and stressed out. i go back to what i said before. the most important thing is to check in on people, and the more that people feel like somebody cares about them as human beings, the more likely we are to rally as a team and focus on what we need to get done. >> that's simon sinek. his latest book is called "the infinite game." do yourself a favor, google the ted talk. it is worth watching. simon, good to talk with you. thanks for spending time with us. >> thanks, joshua. before we go we will look inside one of the nation's top hospitals. doctors are scrambling to keep people alive and keep themselves safe. stay tuned.

do me a favor. when you and i are done with this, go set your dvr for tomorrow night at 10:00 eastern.

msnbc will have an incredible documentary from our partner sky news in london. special correspondent stuart ramsey takes a look at the devastating impact of coronavirus in one of the hardest-hit cities on the planet. burgamo, italy. sky news takes us inside italian hospitals and you will hear a critical warning their medical first responders want the rest of the world to hear. do not miss it. it's called "special report coronavirus into the red zone" go set your dvr for tomorrow at 10 eastern here on msnbc. the president said that states should have prepared better for a pandemic. that is exactly what massachusetts general hospital did. mass general is harvard's primary teaching hospital. contrast that preparation with this landing at boston's logan airport. the new england patriots team plane brought 1.2 million n95 masks from china. it's the kind of lifesaving

equipment that hospitals desperately need. including mass general. nbc's stephanie gosk has the story. >> boston's mass general. one of the nation's leading hospitals. a month ago, nbc news was given an inside look as their emergency command team was gearing up for a possible pandemic. >> i think there's no question that we are better prepared than we ever have been. >> on saturday, the first death was reported in the united states. >> just four weeks later, the change at mass general is stark. >> i would say this is following our worst-case scenario in terms of pace, in terms of how fast that is evolving. >> leaders at the 200-year-old institution have been preparing for a pandemic since the sars outbreak in 2003. including an emergency stockpile in a secret location. >> this looks like a lot of stuff to me. but how long is this going to last? >> the goal was to give us about a two-week buffer. >> two weeks? >> two weeks. >> that's not a lot of time. >> it's not a lot of time.

>> and now, the frightening reality. with coronavirus cases doubling, roughly, every two to three days here, mass general has already tapped into its emergency supplies. masks, sanitizers, face shields. >> we're trying, of course, not to use it all right now. we think we are still several weeks away from the potential peak of the outbreak. >> the hospital has 150 critical care beds. they are scrambling to increase capacity. turning other units into icus. >> we can get up to about 300 or so with the extraordinary efforts we've taken. >> and there are other shortages. like the swabs needed for testing. the hospital pulling supplies from nearby research labs. in the pharmacy, shortages of drugs to treat covid-19 patients. including asthma medication. >> we've struggled to get some of what we call dose inhalers of al beauty roll. >> and concerns about drugs being tested as potential treatments like hydroxychloroquine. an essential medication for

patients with lupus and arthritis. and then there are the ventilators. >> we have identified more than 200 additional ventilators that we are looking to bring on board. >> but if they run out, the hospital has a last-resort plan. >> we can actually take the tip of this and put it on a t piece to connect it to two people, if we had to. >> people can actually share this? >> they can share it, in a very rare circumstance. now, it's very hard to do. you and i breathe at different rates right now and to put us on a ventilator, we have to breathe at the same rate. that requires us to be sedated, paralyzed. requires other interventions we wouldn't normally do. >> but nothing is normal anymore. last week, a new york hospital made headlines when it began sharing ventilators. mass general is not there, yet. but they are bracing for it. meanwhile, their staff remains committed as ever. >> it's not to say people aren't tired. it's not to say people aren't scared but i have yet to hear a single person say i can't get through this. i think people are just putting their heads down doing what they need to do. >> that's nbc's stephanie gosk

reporting. as of this morning, massachusetts general says at least 189 employees, clinical and nonclinical, have tested positive for covid-19. and that is our look at coronavirus across america. i'll see you back here tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern. before that special report from sky news at 10:00. so until we meet again, i'm joshua johnson. thank you for making time for us on msnbc. stay safe. and stay sharp. we'll get through this. good night. as a caricature artist, i appreciate what makes each person unique. that's why i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need.

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happy to have you with us this friday night. the united states now has more than 273,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. and that, be mindful, that is with millions of americans who would like to be tested, who have reason to be tested. but they are, still, unable to access testing. still, though, with millions of americans unable to access testing, we've got 273,000 confirmed cases. and that is the largest in the world, by far. the second-largest number of cases in the world is in italy. but they're way behind us. we're 273,000. they're at, basically, 120,000.