[ barking ] welcome to msnbc special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. the total number of confirmed cases in the united states has surpassed 300,000 and more than 8,000 people have died.

at the press conference we saw a stark tone between dr. fauci who said social distancing is the best weapon against the virus and president trump expressed his desire to see american goes back to work. here are two entz comments about one minute apart. >> every place, everybody should be doing some degree of this physical separation. if we do that, again, i have confidence what we'll see is the turning around of the curve. >> and mitigation does work, but, again, we're not going to destroy our country. we have to get back because, you know, at a certain point you lose more people this way through all of the problems caused than you will with what we're doing right now. we cannot let this continue. so at a certain point some hard decisions are going to have to be made. >> it's like whiplash watching him. meanwhile new york governor

andrew cuomo is warning the fire is spreading. more hot spots popping up outside new york city including long island and across the river in new jersey. that's the heat map of cases. it is so heavily concentrated around new york. there are 3,565 deaths in new york, and of those deaths 2,600 of them have been in new york city. the reality is that the peak of the outbreak still isn't here. >> we're not yet at the apex. we're getting closer depending on whose model you'll look at, they'll say 4, 5, 6, 7 days. some people go out 14 days. but our reading of the projections is where somewhere -- we're somewhere in the 7-day range. so we're not yet at the apex. part of me would like to be at the apex and just let's do it.

but there's part of me that says it's good we're not at the apex because we're not yet ready for the apex either. >> joining me now nbc's alexa liato live here in new york city at an ems station. what is situation where you are alexa? >> reporter: ali, we just heard governor cuomo talking about this apex. nobody wants to know what this apex is going to look like and when it's going to hit more than these first responders. we're at this ems station. a ass, you ass, you as you see behind me we've been seeing ambulances coming in and out all evening, just highlighting the toll this pandemic is taking on first responders. we know that nearly 1 in 4 fdny ems workers are out sick, and some are coming back to work, but again that's a significant number when we know about the total number of emts and paramedics currently working here in new york city. we know new york is repeatedly calling for help. governor cuomo calling for help

this morning, but also making an announcement later in the afternoon he was signing an executive order allowing medical students graduating in the is spring to start practicing now. and that follows new york city mayor de blasio saying an additional 45,000 workers are needed to help fight this pandemic and alleviate the pressure on current health care works. i spoke to an emt this morning, joe mcwilliams. he's spent 26 years so far working for the fdny. he called out sick sunday last week and has been quarantining himself. take a listen to what he had to say. >> this is completely different animal. i mean, how many people am i going to potentially contaminate with this by going to work? the last number i heard we had from one station was approximately 12 people.

that's 12 out of 55. that's a significant number. >> reporter: and ali, we know the situation is similar for the nypd as well with thousands of nypd uniforms out on sick leave everyone just wondering when the city is about to get? relief. of course the governor this morning announcing some good news with additional ventilators from oregon and china as well as the president announcing additional military personnel. but the question is whether these additional resources are going to help fill the gap when this apex does hit this region. ali? >> alexa, thank you and stay safe out there. in new york city for us as an ems station. i want to talk more about what's going on in new york and across the country. joining me now dr. natalie azar and dr. ven gupta. both both are nbc medical contributors, they've been with us talking about this. natalie, it has been a long time

since we first discussed someone in the united states would get this and there's been something called community spread. and we've been describing how that was going to work. it's been 2 1/2 months, maybe 3 months we've been talking about that. i'm fascinated we still haven't mastered the idea this is the controllable part of this disease, but we still don't have a national consensus how to control it. >> yeah, ali. you know, what was interesting today i thought in the presser with dr. fauci is that everyone talks about what's going to happen on the other side of the curve and when we can pull back from the mitigation strategy. i even remember having conversations at our own medical unit about being careful not to use the term mitigation because wave given up on the pillars of the public health isolation, identification, isolation and containment. but i was certainly -- at least i'm always encouraged when i hear dr. fauci speak as i think a lot of americans are that we will get to the other side of the curve. and when we do pull back from that mitigation we're hoping we

have the testing in place which we didn't have a few months ago so we can go back to those basic steps and be able to identify, isolate and go back to contact tracing, which, you know, again are sort of the abcs of stopping an outbreak. >> dr. gupta, you and i have spent a lot of time talking about the ventilators that we need because this is something you know a great deal about, specifically both of you from your work. and again lack of consistency about this information. there continues to be a message from the president that the states say they are desperately short of these ventilators, don't need as many as they do and that there are some around, and that they can't have as many as everybody needs. what's your best understanding with where we are with ventilators? >> you know, my best understanding, ali, we don't know what the true shortfall is because we're operating with numbers that aren't accurate. we actually don't know how many functional ventilators exist in the united states.

we know there's a shortfall. in states like new york, we know there's a shortfall, it's obvious. but can other states actually back fill that, we don't know that. here's the thing, one of the issues we just glaze over is sending more doctors in or medical students in to fill the gap is not the solution. we need the right doctors who know how to operate ventilators to be there, be on the ground. in new york city. the medical reserves have an entire medical corp. i'm one of them. i'm anis u doc for the u.s. medical corp we need to be mobilizing. that's why need a federal response so we get the right people in place to supervise the care of these critically ill patients. if we had the military at disposal in new york city we'd be able to leverage those capacities. the let's get these resources where they need to be now. >> natalie, earlier in the

presser we heard about hydroxychloroquine -- i never say this right. the president continues to be touting this as some kind of a remedy for coronavirus. it is not an fda approved remedy. what's your thought on this? >> so here i think are the facts, and you can all interpret them as you like. we have multiple clinical trials in the united states right now that are testing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as preexposure prophylaxis, post, as well as mild illness and severe illness. we have multiple studies from china and france. some look more encouraging than others. what we also have, however, and the other, you know, back story to all of this is that hidroxychloroquine is now on the short list. and there was a joint letter from the american academy of dermatology and the arthritis

foundation last week that urged the white house to ensure there was adequate access of hydroxychloroquine for the lupus patients is certainly for the malaria patients also urging there was global need to find a treatment. so i'm giving you the facts that are up-to-date from today. i think i'm going to echo dr. fauci's, you know, wisdom and commentary on this that, you know, we do need to have these clinical trials to see whether or not this medicine actually works. it's also notable the fda six days ago did issue an emergency use authorization so doctors could prescribe it outside a clinical trial. this is all encouraging but again the shortage for particularly lupus patients has been very real. my patients have experienced it. my colleague's patients has experienced it, so there is a bit of collateral damage there. >> dr. gupta, i want to talk

about the president who really goes hot and cold on lockdowns, stay inside versus the cure can't be worse than the problem, we have to get back to work. the truth lies in between. there's no american who thinks this is sustainable for the long-term, but it needs to be more symptomatic than what seems to go with these press conferences where one day we're all about locking down and the next day we're all about getting back to work. how do you think we should be thinking about the fact america will have to get back to work at some point but we need to do so without causing more damage. >> well, you o it's a step wise approach, and the way to get to the president's goal, which is all of our goals is we all want normal life as soon as possible. and here's the thing we would have gotten there sooner if he had just done what he should have done 4 to 6 weeks ago which is lock down the country. having ten states in the heartland just do what they want to do while the rest of the 40 other are complying with shelter

in place laws doesn't make any sense. a case in missouri or a case in kansas can still cause an outbreak, and a patchwork approach is just not going to get the job done. to really get people back to work is we need good testing and excellent testing and accessibility of these things that right now that swabs are a bottleneck just for the type of test we need, pcr swabs. we don't have enough swabs. so the reality here is testing is not going great. we have bottlenecks on supply, and until that changes we're not going to get people back to work safely. it's going to be a large unknown here. so that's the best way. we need supply bottles to be rectified now. >> thank you both for joining me who have been keeping us informed for weeks. coming up i'll be joined by congressman joe neguse of colorado for a look how coronavirus is having an impact around the united states and what congress is doing to help. p crisis comes to every presidency.

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we've got a lot of focus on the so-called hot spots throughout the united states including new york city and new orleans, but there are also a number of rural communities that have seen a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases, and some of them are in popular tourist destinations. usa today reports, quote, rural counties in colorado, utah and idaho where hordes of visitors flock each year to ski or hike are experiencing some of the highest visitors per capita in the nation challenging perceptions of the virus' reach. joining me now is congressman joe neguse of california, representing eagle county where the popular tourist destination of vale is located. vale is one of those places that people go late in the season because there is still skiing to be had.

it's a place that a lot of people think they can go to sort of get out from the places they're in, the more populated urban centers. what's the situation there? >> well, it's good to be with you, ali, and good evening to your viewers. look, what we know is that the covid-19 virus does not discriminate. it doesn't matter whether you're young or old, what political party you affiliate with or if you live in urban america or rural america. as you said the virus has hit rural america particularly hard, and that's certainly the case here in colorado. we're now exception. eagle county the united states congress has been hit especially hard with some of the highest per capita rates of infection in the united states. as you mentioned some of the most iconic places in our country like vale and avon communities resilient and strong have been hit very hard. the good news is we have leaders

that have stepped up to the plate, state leadership in place that has done a terrific job. my predecessor who continues to provide in my view steady, sober leadership that is evidence based and science based. and the delegation as well, eagle county i happen to share that with a republican member of congress and we happen to be working closely to get our community and the communities across our state the resources they need. unfortunately the partner we're missing is the federal government. clearly the federal government was asleep at the wheel early on during this pandemic and unfortunately they have yet in my view to provide the kind of coordinated response that my constituents need and deserve. but we're going to keep pushing. >> let me ask you about a bill that you tweeted you're looking to introduce or three bills you've introduced to end price gouging, to ease restrictions on food security programs like snap and wick and prohibit debt reporting on covid-19 reporting costs.

to ease restrictions on food security programs like snap and wick, there are a number of restrictions. we have 34 million people food insecure before we entered the pandemic. there were a lot of kids getting their meals at school who are not getting those meals at school. we've seen 470 million meals lost, and there are restrictions for people who get money from the federal government for sustenance for how they can spend that money that may need to be loosened. >> i share your concerns, ali. as you know these programs are critical bedrock programs that provide food security to millions of millions of americans and certainly my constituents here in colorado. we were able to take significant steps as part of the care act to increase funding for food security like snap, but the reality is there are a number of food restrictions in place that limit the effectiveness of these programs. the example is the fact folks can't access snap with respect to delivery of grocery goods.

you can imagine families that are trying to do their best to respect the stay at home orders that have been issued by localities and governors here in our state with which ultimately is necessary to protect public health. you can imagine a family that is sick and unfortunately is unable to be go to the grocery store to be able to get their needed groceries. but yet because they rely on the snap program are unable to do so, unable to engage in online delivery. our bill seeks to fix that along with a number of other technical fixes we think are necessary to make the program more robust including the ability to expand the use of snap benefits for things like infant products. i have a 20-month old daughter myself and can imagine the difficulties in accessing diapers and similar products of that nature during this economic crisis that so many of our constituents and the most vulnerable are experiencing. so we ought to be willing to step up to the plate and ensure

they're not vulnerable to this crisis and we should protect consumers from the price gouging that has become so prevalent in the communities across our country and you guys have done a good job of covering during the last few weeks of this pandemic. >> i want to talk about health care. yesterday i talked to senator sanders about a move, not his medicare for all pitch but about a move to cover costs for covid-19. listen to what he told me. >> does the current fear of being unemployed and uninsured enough to turn people who have never taken this conversation that you live by about universal health care seriously, is it enough to turn people including some conservatives around this point of view? >> well, ali, i've seen some polls that would suggest that is exactly what is happening because the weakness of the employer based health insurance program, concept is very apparent right now, and you lose your job and you're losing your

health care. under a medicare for all system similar to what canada and other countries have, if you lose your job, you still have your health care because it is guaranteed to you as a right of citizenship. >> congressman, there's polling that indicates a number of independents, a majority of americans and now some republicans, more than a third of republicans are now interested in some version of a universal health care in this country because they're seeing what these kind of things can do to americans. >> i agree with the senator. i mean, i've long supported universal health care. there's strong support for that across the political spectrum in my view. i have no fear that the united states of america, should a loved one get sick go bankrupt. but we wouldn't go a step further and ensure that out-of-pocket expenses are covered for folks who are

needing this health care to be able to survive to me is unconscionable. so there are a number of us going to continue to beat that drum over the coming weeks as we work on a potential next relief package for the american public. >> congressman, good to see you. thank you for joining me. and after the break the president fires had inspector general who setoff the impeachment trial as the administration faces criticism for the response to a global pandemic. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. from anyone else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms which most pills don't. get all-in-one allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase.

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skoo late last night president trump informed congress he is firing the intelligence community's inspector general michael atkinson whose reported whistle-blower complaint last september led to the president emphasis impeachment. at his press briefing earlier today the president called atkinson a disgrace.

joining me now anita kumar, katrina mulligan, managing director for security and international policy at the center for american policy, policy director for preparedness response at the department of justice. thank you to all three of you for joining us. anita, let me just start with you. michael atkinson, a disgrace. michael atkinson did what his job required him to do. he went to the congressional intelligence committee to report that there was a whistle-blower complaint he didn't think was being followed properly. totally understand why donald trump would think that's a bad thing, but it doesn't actually imply any wrongdoing on michael atkinson's part. >> no, i think what the president was saying today was that whistle-blower complaint was unfounded, which of course was not true. that a majority of what the whistle-blower was saying was actually other people corroborated. i think it's not surprising this happened.

i guess what's been surprising it's been all these many months later. if you'll recall in february after the impeachment trial he did dismiss two other people as well that were involved in the case that testified. so the question is really about the timing of this sort of thing as opposed to anything else really. he has indicated -- the president has indicated that those were against him, those he couldn't trust anymore he would fire and dismiss. >> let's talk, annie, about what this means. there's a deeper issue here. the president had started a purge right after he was acquitted by the senate of various people he thought were involved in this. but the inspector general of the intelligence community, that's a role that's supposed to be a little bit different than the operations of the intelligence community. it's meant to make sure inspector generals in all the department are meant to make sure people within are following the rules they're supposed to be. so there's actually an insidious

national security concern here with firing michael atkinson. >> there is. but he's made it clear, you know, he cares about loyalty and he hasn't forgotten about impeachment even though we're in the midst of a global pandemic. and i think looking ahead as anita said his aides have been talking about firing atkinson for months. it did take people by surprise that it happened in the middle of the coronavirus. but trump has made it clear he doesn't want a special i.g. looking into how the money of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is being spent. he doesn't like these checks that are making sure government functions approximately. he cares about loyalty to him, and this was one more reminder that he hasn't forgotten about the wrongs he thinks were more done to him. he hasn't forgotten about the impeachment and the question is of course who's next, who's still in the government? the whistle-blower is still

there. what else is he going to do, you know, under the cover of night and pandemic? >> katrina, let's talk about what recourse there is for this sort of thing. it is within the president's purview to fire michael atkinson. he said he serves at his pleasure and he's lost confidence in him. but when you look around the government there are a whole lot of the people the president has appointed as acting allowing him the freedom to do what he wants with them. many of them are not even approved by the senate. >> i think that's right. i mean, we're now -- it's hard to be outraged anymore because there's been so many things we've seen that have been really crossed the boundaries of what's normal. this is clearly one of those times. miket atkinson is career civil servant first, 15 years at doj, spent 2 years at odni. i spent 10 years in the office of director of national

intelligence where michael atkinson served. the thing i think is important for people to understand when you become a civil servant, in particular when you join the intelligence community, you don't swear an oath to the president of the united states or this president. you swear an oath to the constitution, and, you know, at this point i think the president's demands of loyalty, they really have crossed the boundaries of what he's entitled to expect with people because their win of what he views as loyal to him conflicts with what the constitution requires of people. you know, they really have an obligation. they work for the american people, too. and he doesn't seem to care about that or about the precedent he's setting. >> katrina, i talked to you the other day about this. you actually when you were in government you had this literal play book for what to do in the

event of a pandemic, and some of this is actually related to intelligence. that was not used. why? >> that's a million dollar question. i mean, you know, the president was handed a gift by out going administration they weighed all out exactly what the issues were going to be. you look at that play book and it really identifies the issues we're being confronted with. why we didn't use that tool as you said because the government was acting, maybe the people who originally handed off this play book are no longer in government. that's one theory. but, you know, to be totally honest with you i think this president, he continues to say nobody could have seen this coming, you know, this is totally unprecedented, you know, nobody could have conceived of something like this. and yet they actually did conceive of something like this,

and in fact they mapped out exactly what steps should be taken and he chose not to follow it, i don't know why. >> it is remarkable. anita kumar is the white house correspondent for politico. annie carny for "the new york times," and katrina mulligan. another look at a part of the country being hit hard, connecticut. you're watching msnbc. (woman) somebody would ask her something and she would just walk right past them because she didn't know they were talking to her. (deborah) i just could not hear. i was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. (avo) our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason we've been the brand leader for over 70 years. (deborah) when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. i could hear everything. (avo) call 1-800-miracle to start your

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in connecticut the number oaf confirmed coronavirus cases is continuing to surge. there are now more than 5,000 cases in the state. 165 people have died. officials say connecticut could be one of the next coronavirus hot spots in the country with the apex of the outbreak still several weeks away. joining me now democratic congressman jim himes of connecticut. and of course connecticut for those of us who live in new york city it's parts of our area. it's not a separate place. many, many -- you know, some very large percentage of people who work in new york sleep-in connecticut. >> yeah, that's exactly, right, ali. >> and i've spent a lot of time in the last week speaking with administrators of fema and the vice president saying don't think of this as a new york crisis and oh, by the way you've got connecticut.

we are from where i sit right here it's about 4 miles to the new york state line and of course we're showing, you put the numbers up, we have 165 fatalities. almost all right -- well, i should say we've got 20% of the population down here in parts of southwestern connecticut, we've got half the fatalities and half the confirmed cases. yeah, we're spending a lot of time pointing out we have as serious a problem as new york and it's moving. it's moving north and it's moving east. >> the one thing -- with the movement east into long island, you know, governor cuomo of new york was sort of saying they do not have the medical infrastructure that new york city has, and it's a similar situation going north. you've got good medical infrastructure, very good medical infrastructure in connecticut, but you don't have the sheer volume new york has. obviously you don't have the sheer volume of population, but if your percentages keep ongoing at the rate they're going, are you equipped to handle this or do you need more federal

assistance? >> ali, i don't think there's anywhere in the country equipped to handle this. when we look back how we were so unprepared. of course not. i can't tell you how frustrating it is every single day to listen to the soothing tone tones of the president telling america how much gear is on its way. it's not getting here to stanford connecticut, bridge port, connecticut, to cities where we're pretty close to being overwhelmed. i have nurses and doctors very literally calling me frantic about the lack of ppe, about the fact their icu capacity and ventilators are almost used up, and we are nowhere near the peak of what we're going to see. so we're very, very concerned here. look, if there's a silver lining to this cloud is that we have had the opportunity because we're sort of on the soert side of the wave that started in new york, we have had the opportunity to learn from what new york has been able to do. the people who live here, a little late but started taking this really seriously in time hopefully to reduce the intensity of what we're about to see. >> congressman, i want to speak to you because you're on the

house intel committee about the firing of michael atkinson, the hopefully to reduce the intensity of what we're about to see. >> congressman, i want to speak to you because you're on the house intel committee about the firing of michael atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community for the fact he brought to the attention of your committee, your chairman, the whistle-blower complaint about the ukraine phone call. here's what donald trump had to say about it a few hours ago. >> i thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible. he took a whistle-blower report which turned out to be a fake report, it was fake. it was totally wrong. it was about my conversation with the president of ukraine. he took a fake report and he brought it to congress with an emergency, okay, not a big trump

fan that i can tell you. that man is a disgrace to i.g.s. >> congressman, not a big trump fan, disgraced as i.g. and said someone needs to sue him. donald trump may have valid reasons for not liking michael atkinson but as a member of the intel community is there any wrongdoing on the part of michael atkinson at all. >> of course not, ali. i remember the day atkinson came to us, he was a tortured man. he did not do this happily. it just, frankly, disgusts me as i think of mr. atkinson testifying before us, you know, with a shaky voice, understanding what the implications of what he was doing was. with a shaky voice, understanding what the implications of what he was doing was. look, you know, the president's use of language, terrible, not a trump fan. i would be surprised if donald trump has ever met mr. atkinson. donald trump defines terrible and not a good man and not doing

his job and a disgrace as somebody 100% who doesn't support me, who doesn't break the law, betray their oath in service of my political interests. that's what donald trump means, and what he always means when he calls someone terrible. what troubles me most about this, most of my job is oversight, oversight of an $80 billion a year intelligence opation to keep america safe. and in the krs of keeping america safe does very dangerous things, does lethal things, does surveillance. congressional oversight is absolutely essential, ali. i've seen that for years. and if we don't have executive branch officials being true to congressional oversight is absolutely essential, ali. i've seen that for years. and if we don't have executive branch officials being true to their oaths, being true to the law, and atkinson followed the law when the department of justice ignored the law, there's no way for us to do oversight. and what the president has basically said to the

intelligence community is your job performance ratings will be based on your loyalty to me. and love or hate donald trump that is the end of divided government in which powers are fragmented and we have checks and balances on each other. >> congressman, good to see you as all. please stay safe. my best to you and the people of connecticut. congressman jim himes of connecticut's first district and he is a member of the intel and financial services committees. coming up president trump yet again calling himself a wartime president. i'm going to ask presidential historian michael beschloss what he could learn from past presidents and the unique circumstances of this pandemic. and be sure to check out msnbc tomorrow night 10:00 eastern for an incredible documentary from our partners sky news in london. special correspondent stewart ramsey takes a compelling look at the devastating impact of coronavirus on the hardest hit city in the hardest hit country in the world, italy.

sky news gets amazing access into italian hospitals and you'll hear the critical warning those on the front lines want the rest of the world to heed. don't miss it. it's called "special report coronavirus into the red zone." again, it airs tomorrow 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. we'll be right back.

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♪ president donald trump has compared the coronavirus pandemic to fighting a war with the projection that 100,000 to 240,000 lives could be lost. this outbreak could end up killing more americans that some wars that have been waged by the united states, including vietnam, korea and world war i. joining me now is nbc news president historian, michael beschloss. thank you for being with us. the president does refer to himself as a wartime president and there are criticisms about whether those analogies should

be used or not, but the bottom line is this is a global and national crisis that is killing people, in which we all have to make sacrifices so it bears some relationship to how people act during war and certainly more so than we have acted during the most recent wars that we've been in where so many americans have not actually felt the connection to the war. >> that's exactly right. and if by that he means he's going to use the full federal government and resources to conquer this pandemic, that's a good thing, but not every wartime president has been great. woodrow was a wartime president in 1918, world war i. there was that horrible flu pandemic that as we now know killed 675,000 americans. the government lied. wilson didn't give a single speech on the subject, didn't give people what they needed to protect themselves. but if what trump is saying is i'm going to use the federal

government to try to protect americans, that's a good things. but he keeps on saying things like, you know, the fault lies for mistakes with mayors and the governors -- americans have said, we depend on the president of the united states to protect our safety whether in war or also in terms of health. so if he thinks that future historians are going to look back on mistakes that were made and blame -- some governor -- >> all right. i think we're losing michael beschloss's signal. we will try to reestablish. he is an nbc news presidential historian and author of "the presidents of war." i do want to tell you about the special that we've got on tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. it is called "into the red zone." it is about the coronavirus and how it attacked italy, which is the hardest hit country.

our partner, sky news, had remarkable access to that italian city and speaking to doctors and people in the city about the lessons that the world can learn about the coronavirus as it attacks america in a way that is very similar to the way it attacked italy. will be speaking tomorrow morning to italian prime minister who is now an italian senator. we will be talking about what lessons we can learn from italy which seems to be on the other side of its apex. remember, we have not hit our apex in the united states. in places like seattle it looks like we're on the other side of it, but in new york, which is now the epicenter of this thing, governor cuomo says we are still possibly a few days away from being at the apex. so what does it look like at the apex when there aren't enough supplies, there isn't enough material, there isn't enough -- there aren't enough doctors and nurses, there aren't enough masks and gloves and ventilators?

what does it look when you start to get to the other side of it? how do you resume something that looks like normalcy? that does it for me for tonight. i will, as you know, now be back with you a couple of times tomorrow. i will be back tomorrow from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. for "velshi." my partner picks up with a look across the country to see how they're coping with the real and growing threat of coronavirus. i've always been fascinated by what's next. and still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin... i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both.

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hey there. i'm joshua johnson at msnbc world headquarters in new york. good to be with you tonight as we continue our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. across america the nation now has more than 300,000 confirmed cases and more than 8,000 known deaths. today president trump and the white house's coronavirus task force warned us that the next week will be very tough. the president remains impatient for the country to get back to work. >> we have to get back to work. we have to get -- we have to open our country again. we have to open our country again. we don't want to be doing this for months and months and months.

we're going to open our country again. this country wasn't meant for this. >> now, a big reason this week will be so significant is because of what we might see here in the tri-state area, new york, new jersey and connecticut. new york has more than 113,000 cases. no nation in the world has more cases than new york state except for italy and spain. governor andrew cuomo says things will get worse here before they get better. >> we're not yet at the apex. we are getting closer, depending on whose model you look at. they will say four, five, six, seven days. some people go out 14 days. but our reading of the projections is we're somewhere in the seven-day range. it is good that we're not at the apex because we're not yet ready for the apex. >> 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. 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

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