temporary field headquarters. good morning, everybody. it is friday, april 10th. we have a lot to cover this morning. we're going to begin with the trump administration's reported push to reopen much of the country by next week. a lot happening here. next month, excuse me. raising concerns among both medical experts and economists. people familiar with these discussions telling "the washington post" that behind closed doors, president trump has been looking for a strategy to resume business activity by may 1st. according to the "post" in phone calls with outside advisors, trump has floated trying to reopen much of the country before the end of the month when

the current recommendations to avoid social gatherings and work from home expire. here's what the president said during yesterday's briefing. >> i think we can say we have to be on that downside of that slope and heading to a very strong direction that this thing is gone. we could do it in phases. we can go to some areas which are much less affected than others but it would be nice to be able to open with a big bang and open up our country, certainly most of our country, and i think we'll do that soon. i would say we're ahead of schedule. you hate to say it too loudly because all of a sudden things don't happen, but i think we will be sooner rather than later. >> while the president is pushing to reopen the economy, the federal reserve chair, jerome powell, is expressing caution. watch this. >> we need to have a plan nationally for reopening the economy. what we all want it to happen as quickly as possible, we all want

to avoid a false start where we partially reopen and that results in a spike in coronaviruses cases and then we have to go back again to go to square one. we all want to avoid that. >> the president dismissed the idea that mass testing is needed before allowing people ton to work. >> how could the administration discuss the possibility of reopening the country when the administration does not have an adequate nationwide testing system for this virus? don't you need a nationwide testing system for the virus before you reopen? >> no. we have a great testing system. we have right now the best testing system in the world. but there are certain sections in the country that are in phenomenal shape already. other sections are coming on-line. other sections are going down. >> don't you need that, mr. president, to make sure people are safe going back to work? you don't want to send people

back to the workplace -- >> we want to have it. we are going to see if we can have it. we're talking about 325 million people and that's not going to happen, as you can imagine, and it would never happen with anyone else either. other countries do it, but they do it in a limited form. we will probably be the leader of the pact. >> it appears the trump administration has reversed its diagnosis to end funding for community based coronavirus testing sites. federal funding was supposed to end today, but npr, first to report the news, reports that the department of health and human services says local officials can choose whether to continue with federal oversight and help or run the programs themselves. officials in the hard hit philly suburb of montgomery county said their only testing site would have closed if the administration wept through with its plans.

the trump administration reversed its decision after bipartisan pushback from pennsylvania's congressional delegation. joining us southeastern health care reporter for "business insider" kimberly leonard. good to have you this morning. president trump keeping his focus on the economy. how is this going to impact states which are continuing to press for the federal government for help? >> well, ultimately it's going to be up to governors whether to reopen their states. a lot of them are the ones who are telling states they need to, you know, stay at home, tellings the residents that they need to shut down certain businesses and so ultimately they will be the ones to decide. >> you have a new piece out about the economic impact, kimberly, on the frontline health care workers. what challenges are facing doctors and nurses and other health care responders across the country? >> well, doctors, nurses and

other health care workers are probably the last that you would expect to suffer from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but, in fact, we found the opposite. because so many states are asking doctors and nurses and hospitals to stop procedures that are not emergency procedures, that means that hospitals are taking a direct thoi hit to their bottom lines. not only are some hospitals overwhelmed but others are actually facing a more desserted situation which they have fewer patients coming through their doors. we're seeing health care workers being laid off, furloughed, seeing their hours cut and that's having a direct impact to their paychecks. >> all right. "business insider's" kimberly leonard, appreciate you joining us. after nearly a month of strict lockdown measures, the curve of new coronavirus cases is finally starting to flatten in italy.

italian prime minister conte says that the country will gradually start to lift the restrictions if the spread of the virus continues to slow. speaking to the bbc prime minister conte said quote this, we need to pick sectors that can restart their activity. if scientists confirm it, we might begin to relax some measures already by the end of this month. businesses in italy's hard hit region have urgeds the government to provide a, quote, road map to return to work which could require workers to have the right antibodies, a marker of immuneny to the coronavirus. at the vatican pope francis is holding virtual services for holy week today, including good friday. joining me from rome, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley for us. matt, good morning to you. great to see you today. italys a prime minister cautiously hinting that he could relax some restrictions by the end of this month. what more are you hearing about that? >> yeah. it's a sign of how well things are going now, well into the

fifth week of this nationwide lockdown, but the fact is, is that this was supposed to be lifted the day after easter on monday, april 13th. they will be extending that almost -- i'm almost certain will be extending that, they haven't made that announcement, we will probably hear that this weekend, but that's the smart thing to do, of course, because one of the things they're worried about isn't just that numbers are declining, and they really aren't declining -- it's not some precipitous drop, and so they -- the numbers are there, but what they're really worried about is a secondary wave of infections. if you look at spain, france, britain, those people could bring in the virus once again or there could be latent cases, non -- asymptomatic cases here in italy that could respark the savagery of the virus that this country has experienced for the last several weeks. that's a real concern and exactly what we're seeing in places like china and other

countries. we could see that again here, too. extending this lockdown really is where the smart money is at here. >> matt, pope francis expect to hold good friday services today without crowds, as i was mentioning a bit earlier. tell us more about that. >> yeah. well, we're going to be seeing today on good friday the stations of the cross, which normally would be at the coliseum in public in huge -- in view of thousands and thousands of faithful, of pilgrims, tourists. now it's going to be quite a sad sight. it's going to be pope francis alone doing this ceremony in front of st. peter's basilica in st. peter's square. this is how this has been going the last several weeks. the pope has been taking advantage of social media to beam his daily masses from his home to the world and that's exactly what's going to be done this weekend when we start to see the easter celebration. i've been speaking with some

people at the vatican, they were saying this is for them something of an opportunity because we're seeing the entire world going in to their homes, staying there, speaking to their families and friendsi, having moments of meditation, contemplation and prayer. they're hoping there could be for this easter a resurrection of faith that goes along with this and that's something that when all of this is said and done, the catholic church might be in a position now to go back to the faithful and see, you know, a renewed affinity for this institution. >> i think a lot of people are having moments of faith across the world, whatever their faith may be. matt bradley, thank you for that. want to mention, by the way, we've been having some technical difficulties at the top of the show. i believe we are back on track but i apologize for that. still ahead, what attorney general bill barr has to say about trump's firing of the intelligence community's chief

watchdog. joe biden is out with some new policy proposals that might help win over some of bernie sanders' s supporters. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. ♪

you should be mad they gave this guy a promotion. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade, who's tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad. get e*trade's simplified technical analysis. new crest pro/active defense. you're doing more to keep your body healthy for the future. shouldn't your toothpaste do the same for your mouth? now with crest pro/active defense, future proof your whole mouth. its active defense technology neutralizes bacteria to shield against potential issues. crest.

welcome back. some republican lawmakers believe the white house press briefings may be hurting the president and the party. "the new york times" reporting a gop lawmaker and administration officials want the president to limit his briefing appearances an concentrate on both economic recovery and his re-election. mr. trump, quote, sometimes drowns out his own message says senator lindsey graham of south carolina, also telling him, quote, a once a week show could be more effective. senator shelly moore caputo of west virginia said the briefings were, quote, going off the rails a little bit and suggested that he should let the health professionals guide where we're going to go.

now reports from multiple outlets showing mounting republican frustration over the president's inaccuracies and rally-like performances during the national health crisis. a top adviser told the "times" the briefings are giving former vice president joe biden ammunition each night by sending the president out to the cameras. in an interview on fox news last night, attorney general bill barr defended the president's decision to fire intel community inspector general michael atkinson who flagged the whistleblower claim that led to trump's impeachment. watch this. >> i think the president did the right thing in removing atkinson from the vantage point from the department of justice, he had interpreted his statute, a fairly narrow statute, that gave him jurisdiction over wrong doing by intelligence people and tried to turn it in to a commission to explore anything in the government and immediately report it to

congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem. he was told this in a letter from the department of justice and he is obliged to follow the interis pretation of the department of justice and he ignored it. i think the president was correct in firing him. >> joining me now msnbc legal analyst danny sa valleys. let's talk about what we heard from the attorney general saying the inspector general with was required to follow justice department interpretation of a narrow statute. is that statute, danny, as narrow as barr is saying? you heard the attorney general there basically saying he thinks it was okay or that he supported the president's firing of the inspector general. >> respectfully to general better he's got the law wrong, i believe. the statute speaks of the inspector general of the

intelligence community having i guess you would call it jurisdiction over anything that would fall within the purview of the director of national intelligence. perhaps the interpretation is that president cannot be within the director of national intelligence because he's above the director of national intelligence. but the statute speaks very broadly of anything that is within the dni's authority. so the jurisdictional element is satisfied. the second part, generale barr says that the i.c. of the i.g. opened a commission into the president and that's not really accurate. under the statute the inspector general is essentially a robot, like a triage doctor. he receives the complaint, he forwards it. if he disagrees with the director of national intelligence the statute authorizes him to report it to some committees, the intelligence subcommittees, of congress. that appears to be what he did. so respectfully to general barr, he may have gotten the law wrong on this one. >> does congress have any

effective oversight here? >> senator grassley issued a letter condemning the firing of the inspector general, but respectfully to senator grassley, i think they got the law wrong too. here's why. they cited a prior firing by the obama administration of an inspector general and said that stood for the proposition that the president needs to give more information about why he fires or dismisses an inspector general but the d.c. court of appeals in that exact same case said that as long as you use the magic words "lost confidence in" which is exactly what trump did, somebody who is clearly in trump's sphere, that alone will satisfy the statute. while the senator grassley letter may have gotten the sentiment correct that the norm over the years that the presidents don't dismiss inspectors general, but senator

grassley in the law didn't quite get right. >> danny, thank you as always, my friend. coming up, everybody, we have a lot more ahead. the latest news from the uk as brish prime minister boris johnson gets moved out intensive care. y me? absolutely. they are both very much hand in hand. so you should really be focusing on both and definitely at the same time. the new sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. by brushing with sensodyne sensitivity & gum at home it's giving you the relief that you need and the control that you need to take care of your oral health. and it creates a healthier environment. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently.

with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated... ...with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression... ...or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. 450-degree oven, to box, to you, know that from our it's our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. and we're taking extra steps, like no contact delivery, to ensure it. new tide power pods one up the can it one up spaghetti night? it sure can. really? can it one up breakfast in bed? yeah, for sure. thanks, boys. what about that? uhh, yep!

it can? yeah, even that! i would very much like to see that. me too. introducing new tide power pods. one up the toughest stains with 50% more cleaning power than liquid detergent. any further questions? uh uh! nope! one up the power of liquid with new tide power pods.

welcome back. there are major developments out of london where british prime minister boris johnson has been moved out of the intensive care unit. johnson tested positive for covid-19 two weeks ago on sunday. he was admitted to london's st. thomas' hospital after his symptoms worse nd. he spent two nights in the icu and was moved out last night. according to johnson's office he received oxygen treatment but did not need to be put on a ventilator. the number of coronavirus cases in the uk continues to tick up, as britons brace for several more weeks in lockdown. as of thursday over 65,000 cases

have been recorded and nearly 8,000 people have died. want to bring in meteorologist bill karins who is standing by for us. >> staggering. >> always tracking the weather. it is incredibly staggering, bill, bring us up to date as to what has happened here in the u.s. over the last 24 hours or so. >> i will. just commenting on that, that's a 12% fatality rate in the uk per positive case. to put it in perspective we're at 4%. maybe they're not doing as wide spread of testing as they need to be, but let's get to our numbers here. yesterday, talk about staggering, what happened in new york was just, you know, the record number of fatalities in a 24-hour period, almost 800, tno over 6,000 and michigan with 117. today michigan will go over 1,000 fatalities and massachusetts that snuck up on this list with 70 reported yesterday and now over 500 and

yesterday was the most news cases ever reported in one day in massachusetts too. we're not done there. as far as the total deaths went yesterday, 1,900, not the record, the record is 1,970 for a one-day period so we're still kind of at this apex or hopefully a platto. but from what we know they think probably in the next week or two weeks will come the fatality plateau. right now we're about 16,700. by the end of today we will be over 18,000 fatalities in the country. let me jump to the weather because we have very dangerous weather conditions. last night we had the horrific snowstorm in maine. we have 200,000 people without power. that's one out of every five people in the state of maine is in the dark right now and they're going to go through a quarantine with no power for days because there's a ton of trees that are down throughout the state. we also have dangerous weather this weekend. we are going to see a severe weather outbreak, likely a tornado outbreak into areas of

the south. this could be one of the long track strong tornado scenarios that unfortunately can go through towns and lose lives. texas mostly gets large hail, damaging winds. this is the weather map that jumps out when you see the bright red popping up that's the area of greatest concern already a moderate risk of severe weather from louisiana, mississippi, alabama. these areas, make sure for easter sunday you could wake up to tornado sirens and it could continue through the day in the southeast. a very dangerous scenario for about 56 million people as we go throughout your easter sunday. we'll talk more about that later on in the show. >> not necessarily good news for the southeast that got to heed the warnings over the holiday weekend. >> they just issued new guide lines, when you have tornado warnings people gather together and are sheltered. when you have new guidelines for apartment buildings when there's tornado warnings it's wild.

>> complicates things a lot more. thanks, bill. still ahead, the latest on new york's coronavirus crisis, the state has more cases than any other country in the world. governor andrew cuomo is saying about flattening the curve. plus florida governor ron desantis makes inaccurate claims about deaths from the coronavirus. we have a fact check coming up next. or for hospitals to get back to normal again. that's why, at cancer treatment centers of america, we aren't waiting. we're right here, still focused on the only thing we do, providing world-class cancer care, all under one roof. because cancer isn't just what we do, it's all we do. cancer treatment centers of america. call now for an appointment. but when allergies attack,f any the excitement fades. allegra helps you say yes with the fastest non-drowsy allergy relief and turning a half hearted yes,

into an all in yes. allegra. live your life, not your allergies. and they're actually pulling out the minerals from the enamel. i like to recommend pronamel to my patients. pronamel will help push the minerals back into the enamel, to keep the enamel strong. i know it works. and i hear nothing but great things from my patients that have switched to it. i know it works. and i hear nothing but great things ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion,♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea. try pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultra-coating. ♪nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea.♪ get powerful relief with pepto bismol liquicaps. yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy.

almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

wif we're like techno.he world, we n♪ one more time the trolls. k-pop. ♪ yodelin'. ♪ and hip-hop. ♪ my body's made of glitter and i'll throw it in your face ♪ well, we're doomed. the world premiere is now in your home. a smooth jazz troll? i don't care for smooth jazz. ♪ welcome back, everybody. we begin this half hour with the state of new york, which is now

the global epicenter for total number of coronavirus cases. the empire state's more than 162,000 cases outranks both hard-hit countries of spain and italy. the death toll continue to spike. yesterday saws the highest uptick yesterday with 799 deaths. now more than 7,000 new yorkers have died from the virus. the number of new hospitalizations rose by only 200, the smallest one-day increase since restrictions began. governor andrew cuomo who is coming up on "morning joe" by the way reiterated while this is a positive sign, new yorkers must continue to be cautious. >> we should all be concerned, especially new yorkers, while we're flattening the curve, that's good news, it is good news. well now i can relax. no, you can't relax. the flattening of the curve last night happened because of what we did yesterday and the day before and the day before that.

if we stop acting the way we're acting you will see those numbers go up. >> and overwhelmed by the growing number of dead, new york city morgues are changed their policies to keep unclaimed remains for two weeks before buried in a public cemetery. according to officials burials have increased from one day a week to five days a week on the island. contracted workers are burying at least 24 people per day. for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak ignited, california saw its first daily decrease in icu hospitalizations. governor gavin newsom announced yesterday that the virus is spreading at a slower rate and that the number of icu patients dropped 1.9%, totalling just over 1100 patients across the state. while this offer signs of hope they prepare for the worst case scenario. >> one data point is not a

trend. one data point is not a headline. so i caution anybody to read too much in to that one point of data. nonetheless, it is encouraging and it just, again, reinforces the incredible work that all of you are doing to practice physical distancing. >> so far california has more than 20,000 confirmed covid-19 cases and has recorded at least 550 deaths there, leaving open the possibility of resuming the school year next month florida governor ron desantis yesterday falsely claimed the coronavirus does not affect the young. >> this particular pandemic is one where i don't think nationwide there's been a single fatality under 25. for whatever reason, it just doesn't seem to threaten kids and we lose in florida between five and ten kids a year for the flu. this one for whatever reason, much more dangerous if you're 65

and plus for the flu, no doubt about that, if you're younger it hasn't had an impact. that should factor in to how we're viewing this. i think the data has been 100% consistent. there's second and third order effects you have to do in terms of how kids interact and what not but we'll look at it and make a decision in due time. i think most parents, if they're confident we're on the other side of this and they're confident it could be safe, if they had that option, i think they would choose to have them go back to school. >> let's fact check this for a moment. while the risk posed by the coronavirus appears to increase with every decade of age, yes, a "washington post" analysis of state data has found at least 45 deaths among americans in their 20s and at least 9 cases involving people under the age of 20. let's get into this a bit. joining me infectious disease doctor and senior scholar at the johns hopkins for health

security, dr. adulsha. can i just get your reaction to the florida governor's comments with regards to the effects on younger people? >> well, it's true that young people don't make up the bulk of deaths or hospitalizations. it isn't true they don't get infected or have the tendency to get severe disease. do they have preexisting conditions, asthma, immu no suppressing conditions that can occur in young people as well. while true in general children are spared from the most severe affects it's not true it's completely ironclad. >> let's talk about getting back to normal, shall we say, and what is going to allow the country to get back to normal. the antibody thaeesting that ha been talked about a lot, the new york governor saying we have antibody testing and waiting for

approval here, is it a game changer in helping folks get back to life, to get a sense as to who has actually been infected by the coronavirus? >> i do think it is probably one of the more important tools that we will have. you will know who had it and didn't have it, what the prevalence is in a certain community, allow those people who have antibodies to relack their social distancing because they are presumably protected from getting severe infection and i think it will helps us understand what the true hospitalization rate is and true case fatality ratio is. we've seen that in germany where the case fatality rate may drop to 0.3% when you understand how many people had it in the community but didn't know about it or weren't tested. >> the president has basically said we don't necessarily need widespread testing in order to get back to normal. do you agree or disagree with that sentiment? >> we do need to have more testing than we have now. i don't know that we need to test every american but we have to get some idea of what's going

on in every metropolitan area and every town in the country so that you can actually right size the response and understand which social distancing measures are impactful in certain places and which ones are not. do that you have to have some idea of what happened in that community with this outbreak and how some way of knowing that but you don't necessarily have to test everybody, but we need to test a lot more than we are testing now. >> all right. doctor, thank you as always. appreciate you joining us this morning. so in a push for party unity joe biden announced that he will adopt some of the ideas championed by his former opponent senator bernie sanders. the former vice president revealed yesterday his platform will include lowerings the medicare eligibility age to 60 and forgiving student debt for low-income and middle class americans who attended public colleges and universities. the "new york times" reports that the move came after top senator aides had been intensified talks with the biden campaign to find common ground on policies.

biden's willingness to move in sanders' direction was a key factor in the decision to drop out of the primary race. also senator sander, meanwhile, has committed to covering the health care cost for everyone on his campaign staff through the end of october. sanders will pay for the health care of approximately 500 staffers who lost their jobs after he suspended his presidential bid on wednesday and the campaign explained that staffers will not be paid for their salaries along with their health care, but will receive severance checks on may 1st. still ahead, everybody, we have a lot more. new proions for -- projections for the u.s. coronavirus death toll reflect the effectiveness of social distancing. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment.

hey allergy muddlers... achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec muddle no more. when in your gut,dent you feel confident to take on anything. with benefiber, you'll feel the power of gut health confidence every day. benefiber is a 100% natural prebiotic fiber. good morning mrs. johnson. benefiber. trust your gut.

and i don't count the wrinkles. but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost women... with key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. all with great taste. new, boost women. designed just for you. new, boost women. ♪ here's a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard. you can't always stop for a fingerstick.betes with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you don't have to. with a painless, one-second scan you can check your glucose with a smart phone or reader so you can stay in the moment. no matter where you are or what you're doing. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system.

you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestylelibre.us. 450-degree oven, to box, to you, know that from our it's our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. and we're taking extra steps, like no contact delivery, to ensure it. and this is their land. they grew their first tomatoes right here. and when the first snow fell, the kids went sledding right there. this used to be a shed. now, it's where they get breakfast. and when dad leaves for work, the kids wave goodbye right here. this is more than just land. it's home. the frels family runs with us on a john deere 1 series tractor because land isn't the only thing that you live on for generations. nothing runs like a deere search "john deere 1 series" for more. what we were predicting with

the increase and the real adherens to the physical separation, the guidelines that the vice president talks about, the physical separation, at the same time as we're seeing the increase in deaths, we're seeing rather dramatic decrease in the need for hospitalizations like i think yesterday was something like 200 new hospitalizations and it's been as high as 1400 at any given time. so that is going in the right direction. i say that and i always remind myself when i say that, that means that what we are doing is working and, therefore, we need to continue to do it. i get questions a lot, dr. birx and i, about these numbers, the projections that you went from 100,000, 200,000 to 60,000, that's a sign that when, as i keep saying, you take the data you have and you reinsert it into the model, the model modifies. data is real. model is hypothesis. okay.

so that's what you have to do. that's what i think we're seeing. >> that was dr. anthony fauci at yesterday's white house briefing explaining a revised projection for deaths in the united states from the coronavirus that is dramatically lower than the previous estimate. let's get a check now once again on your weather and those numbers throughout the country with regards to the pandemic with nbc meteorologist bill karins. hey, bill. >> yeah. weather people, we deal with models all the time so i understand the public's frustration with looking at these and how they change all the time and we get that. what you have to remember when we take a look at all these new cases, right now the fatality rate is approaching 4% in our country. every time we say there's new cases remember in your head 4% of those people are going to perish. that's what the math tells us right now. let's go to what happened yesterday. we had over 10,000 new cases yesterday in new york alone. that was only 500 off the record. massachusetts, pennsylvania, texas make the top six list and this is the first time texas has

been up there. i mentioned massachusetts last half hour. this was a huge number for massachusetts and a big jump for them too. these are the states yesterday that had their most new cases reported. massachusetts, pennsylvania, texas, colorado, alabama, mississippi, rhode island, iowa and minnesota. although some areas have already possibly hit the apex, other states we're still getting there. new cases yesterday, 33,500. the record is around 34,000. so we're still close to the apex. what's going to happen later on today, we will go over 500,000 cases, a half a million americans will have tested positive by the end of today. that growth rate is about 8%, which means we double the total number about every eight to nine days and you can see how we went up with the steps there and now we've kind of plateaued over the last six days. we're not really rising anymore. that's good. now the question is how long will we be plateauing? still a lot of lives that will be lost. all right. let's get to the forecast for this weekend. we have dangerous conditions today, fine, no problem whatsoever on good friday.

as we go into saturday, the severe storm threat starts in areas of texas. a little nasty snowstorm in wyoming and montana and then on easter sunday, this will be a big storm, this will be a powerful storm, and possibly even deadly. we have a large tornado threat in the southeast. our friends from louisiana, mississippi, alabama, georgia, possibly even tennessee, keep an eye on this threat. all our friends down there, we'll be thinking of you and watching you closely this weekend. >> the sooner that thing can move through and spare folks the better. thanks, bill. still ahead, the impact on the record number of americans now out a job amid the coronavirus pandemic. as we go to break, we wanted to share a little uplifting news heading into the weekend. 16-year-old pilot in training t.j. kim may not have a driver's license, but that hasn't stopped him from helping frontline workers.

kim is using his training flights to deliver critically needed masks, gloves and gowns to rural virginia hospitals, a plan that he is calling "operation s.o.s." also in cincinnati, another teen was inspired to do something to help others during this crisis. trip wright developed a free grocery and delivery service for senior citizens. in the two weeks since its launched wright has recruited 70 volunteers and fulfilled 30 orders and those numbers are expected to grow. also, residents of a senior living facility in texas had an extra special guest at their virtual bingo. watch this. >> we got an i 24. i 24. >> i 24. >> oh! richard waving the hammer up high! we got charles king in the ipad up high. we have two winners. look at this. >> a game you want to be a part

of. actor matthew mcconaughey surprised the residents hosting a round of bingo with a little help of his family. we are back in a moment. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job 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.

welcome back. the coronavirus continues to usher in huge waves of unemployment numbers as yesterday the department of labor announced 6.6 million jobless claims. that puts the last three weeks total at over 16.5 million. the numbers from last week were revised from 6.6 million up to 6.9 million, while the week before posted 3.3 million jobless claims. this latest report now puts 10%, 10% of the total american workforce out of a job. here's the real-life impact to those numbers. 10,000 people showed up to the san antonio food bank yesterday. this marked the largest single day distribution ever for the food bank. its ceo eric cooper telling is the the san antonio express

news", quote, we have never executed on as large of a demand as we are now. cars started filing into the parking lot as early as 6 p.m. the day before in preparation for the 10:00 a.m. start. the food bank had 6,000 people register on-line but at least 4,000 more showed up. cooper said, quote, this there were few folks who showed up that didn't qualify but there were those who showed up and said i heard this was happening, i didn't know i had to register but i need food. i'm a hotel worker and i was laid off. those are the stories we heard from a lot of people who showed up. thursday's event was with the fourth distribution put on by the food bank since march 31st where they had fed more than 15,000 households. they are planning two more events next week but resources are running low. they say quote this, our staff and our volunteers, i don't know if we can keep up the pace that the demand is requiring, cooper has said. we have to debrief and figure things out, but we just can't feed this many people at one time without probably the

national guard or somebody helping us. the san antonio food bank is requesting $12 million worth of help from the state to meet their demands. also moments after the department of labor posted that devastating jobless claims report, the fed report, the fed unveiled new programs with economic release. this time, adding $2.3 trillion. the fed detailed new initiatives aimed at supporting the economy. among them, payroll protection, and a lending program. loans would be tailored to businesses with up to 10,000 employees with less than $2.5 billion in revenue for 2019. principle and interest payments would be deferred for a year under this program. fed chair jerome powell released a statement saying, quote, the fed's role is to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity, and our actions today will help ensure the eventual recovkovcov

as vigorous as possible. the senate adjourned yesterday with no deal on additional coronavirus aid. it comes after democrats blocked republican attempts to unanimously push through a white house-sponsored bill for an additional $250 billion for small businesses. democrats argue that majority leader mitch mcconnell refused to negotiate, and the money would be better suited elsewhere. mcconnell blocked democrats' attempts to pass a revised bill, which included more money for hospitals and local governments. despite the ongoing bad blood between the parties, "politico" is reporting mcconnell indicated on a conference call with top administration officials that he is open to working with democrats but has not ruled out bringing his small business only bill to the floor once again and daring democrats to block it. coming up, we have a lot more ahead. a look at axios' one big thing. also on "morning joe," as the new york state coronavirus daily death toll reaches a third

straight record high, governor andrew cuomo will be our guest. plus, with joe biden likely the democratic nominee, we'll speak to dnc chairman tom perez with the path to election day. "morning joe" is moments away. at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. because our way works great for us! but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? nope. we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? we don't have those. so, what's in it for you? our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different. frustrated that clean clothes you want to wear always seem to need an iron?

try bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets. the bounce wrinkle guard shorts have fewer wrinkles and static, and more softness. it's the world's first mega sheet that does the job of three dryer sheets! bounce out wrinkles. (burke) atthat can happen to your wehome...or car.t everything and we covered it all. ah, memory lane sure has a lot of accidents. we know a thing or two about bundling and saving. so get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

joining us from washington with a look at axios am, co-founder and ceo of axios, jim vandehei. good morning to you. talk to us about axios' one big thing today. >> good morning. the thing we're looking at is a topic you talked a little bit about earlier in the show, which is this rising fear among republicans. you were focused more on the concern that briefings are doing political damage. some ways, it is an easily fixing one. do fewer briefings, be more disciplined behind the podium. the bigger concern we're hearing from republican s is that the president only has four to eight weeks to get america back to work plan right. to make it work. there's deep fears among conservatives and republicans on the hill that when the dust

settles, you'll have 10% to 15% unemployment, deficits that are $3.5 trillion, $3.6 trillion, tons of small businesses that weren't able to get money quick enough to be able to survive. so the concern that republicans have that worries them most is about the next four to eight weeks. steven moore, who has done advising for the president in the past, said the next four to eight weeks will determine whether the president can get re-elected. you talk to conservative economists, and they feel the government is way behind in the things that need to be done to make sure when things do return, they return robustly. >> so as we have seen, the outbreak has completely upended lives for millions of americans, as you laid out. how soon do you actually think everything could get back to this new sense of normal? >> that's the -- probably the most important debate, other than figuring out a cure and

figuring out how to help people stricken by this virus. inside the white house, there's a pretty robust debate. some think you can start to put the economy back to work as early as may 1st. most think it'll probably be mid-may, late-may, before you have different parts of the economy, different parts of the country returning. it's not going to be, as our health care editor points out in a piece today, it is not going to be a switch goes back on, like the switch went off. it'll be a flicker, and it'll be a flicker in different parts of the economy, different parts of the country. i think that's what's going to frustrate people. you'll look around and see some states returning to work, some industries starting to bounce back, and others not bouncing back. we also have to have an honest conversation. there's some conversations, some industries, and it'll be hard for these people to bounce back. if you're a small business opener, a restaurant owner, if you're a sole proprietor of a relatively small company, and you've already lost employees, you've already lost market share, and you're in a business

that requires people to be close together, it's going to be really tough for those companies. a lot of the companies that needed the infusion of cash right away to keep people on the payroll didn't get it. a lot of the programs are well-intentioned. they're really hard to carry out at scale, especially when it hasn't had to be done before. that's why you see so few of these loans directed at small businesses actually getting done, underwritten, and sent to people to be able to keep their businesses afloat. the truth is, we just don't know. we don't know how much of the economy is gone that won't return. when you talk about 16 million, and the number getting to 30 million, 35 million americans out of work, even if it is temporary, we've never dealt with something like that, at that scale, with that ferociousness. even during the great depression, even during the financial crisis in '08. it's interesting to watch the markets because the markets are bouncing back, seeming pretty optimistic, but they're optimistic based on a lot of

known unknowns. >> you've got 6.6 million americans filing for unemployment last week. what more do you think is going to come from this pandemic? >> a lot more. you look at some of the studies. i think goldman sachs had one out the last 48 hours. unemployment rate could get up to 13%, 14%, 15%. by election day, it is still hovering around 10%. remember, we've been blessed for the last several years with unemployment about as low as it can go, if you think about the transition that takes place naturally in a work force, when you're in the 3% or 4%. it's pretty healthy. that means most people are getting a job. when it is that low, wages tend to ultimately. 10% unemployment, it's back to the drawing board. how do you get those people back to work? how do you help people who are sitting there with stagnant w g wages, get the wages rising so they're more active consumers?

these are big things. we're not digging out of this mess in one or two months, the way it came in. it'll take years. by the end of the year, we could have a $3.6 trillion deficit. i mean, it's not that long ago, it was unfathomable you'd have a $1 trillion deficit. yes, interest rates are low. sure, maybe we can handle the corporate debt burden we have, the federal debt burden we have. that's a lot of debt. when you have that much debt, it makes recovery with speed harder. >> thinking about unemployment in the double figures, jim vandehei, it is not something you associate with the united states of america, but unbelievable to think we could have an unemployment rate of 15%, 16%. jim vandehei, thank you, as always. going to be reading axios am in a little bit. sign up at signup.axios.com. that does it for me on this friday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. what we were predicting with