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welcome to friday. it is "meet the press daily." good evening i am chuck todd continuing msnbc's breaking news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. we are closing out a week many would have thought unimaginable a few short weeks ago. the u.s. is now closing in on 500,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. more than 16,000 americans have died at this point. the country has been essentially shut down for weeks now. roughly 10% of the workforce so far has lost their jobs. there are, however, some encouraging signs that the drastic social distancing measures instituted around the country are starting to slow the spread of the virus. they're doing exactly what it was intended to do. the number of new cases is showing signs of plateauing nationally and the latest data out of the epicenter in new york especially the data of new

hospitalizations are encouraging as well. which has ignited a fierce debate about what post peak america will and should look like. president trump is reportedly pushing his team to figure out a way to reopen some parts of the country soon, by may 1st, but if today's extraordinarily lengthy briefing at the white house, public health officials emphasized now is not the time to even start thinking about easing up. >> it's really about the encouraging signs that we see but as encouraging as they are we have not reached the peak. so every day we need to continue to do what we did yesterday and the week before and the week before that. because that is what in the end is going to take us up across the peak and down the other side. >> it's important to remember that this is not the time to feel that since we have made such important advances in the sense of success of the mitigation that we need to be

pulling back at all. >> it's like winning a battle. just because you've won a battle doesn't mean we've won the war yet. at this briefing president trump once again downplayed the need to ramp up testing in the country which is a head scratcher. he seemed to simultaneously suggest the u.s. doesn't need wide scale testing, which experts disagree with. they think it does. he also seemed to claim the current testing system is working, which experts agree it isn't. the epicenter of this country's outbreak in new york, governor cuomo today said that the number of tests they're going to need to perform is mind boggling in order to give health officials and workers confidence that it is safe to think about easing restrictions. >> the key to reopening is going to be testing. we need a tremendous mind boggling increase in volume quickly. >> we have 19 million people in the state of new york.

you'd want to start by testing everyone, right? you'd want to test people who would be going back to work, test people going into nursing homes. test health care workers. but, yeah, i mean in new york, what, 30 million tests you could use, as many as you can make you can use. that's just new york. that's without new jersey. that's without connecticut. that is just the tri-state area. then you have california. i mean, just think of the numbers. >> and we haven't even tested 1% of our population. we haven't even tested 3 million and he is talking about 30 million. here's the current data on testing. we've tested so little less than 1% of the country to see who has the virus and are still working on a test to reliably determine how many people actually had this virus and if they also have some level of immunity from getting sick again. we don't even know for sure whether getting this virus gives you that immunity. some scary stuff out of south korea. health officials there have seen indications that the virus can

react investiga re-activate in some patients who thought they had gotten over it. president trump said the decision about when and how to reopen the economy is going to be perhaps the biggest decision he has ever made. that is something and i think everybody would agree is truthful there. to be sure there will be enormous consequences not just in terms of human lives but economically, socially, politically. the federal government in partnership with the states doesn't get it right, it could be ugly for everybody. joining me now is our msnbc white house reporter kristen welker and the white house correspondent for the pbs newshour and an msnbc contributor. i want to start with you, kristen. i get the sense of the following. the president, that we're in the same place we were a couple weeks ago when the president wanted to reopen at easter and everybody on the task force was trying to figure out a way to pull the president back. are we in the same instance? didn't seem like an accident that the "new york times" ends up with government data from hhs and dhs that indicates, don't

ease up yet. >> i think you're absolutely right. that's exactly what's happening right now. president trump is feeling the pressure to get the economy back open. of course we had more devastating news on the economic front this week and so that is fueling his sense that he's got to do something about this and, remember, chuck, it was a couple weeks ago that he tweeted that he doesn't want the cure to be worse than the actual problem, but just as we saw a few weeks ago when the president said he wanted to start reopening the economy by easter, top health officials and experts were saying, if you do that, it could not only cause this virus to start up and spread again, essentially a renewed outbreak, but it could have more lasting economic devastation. so president trump is trying to weigh those two factors and those two competing ideas in trying to figure out what exactly is the best move here. i think a couple of things to

point out. one, peter asked him, is he going to essentially name an economic task force? he said it is going to go way beyond that. this is going to be focused on essentially reopening the government. and i just want to underscore what you just said, chuck. the fact that you have president trump acknowledging this is essentially the biggest decision he will make as president, that is true because of its implications first and foremost for american lives, for the american economy, and then of course because of his re-election. if you talk to those close to him they say it is this, his response to this crisis that will likely determine whether or not he is re-elected. >> the original sin of the failed federal response is on the testing front. and that is the part of this that still seems like a head scratcher and what i can't figure out is that others on the task force gently seem to indicate that they acknowledge we need more testing but they're almost trying to find a way out of this box that we're in,

because it doesn't seem like we have the ability to ramp up testing any time soon. while the president seems to try to indicate, don't worry about it. >> right. >> is this because they just don't think they can ramp up the amount of testing that is necessary? >> it seems pretty clear that they understand that they can't ramp up testing to the level that they need to in the time the president twoonts start leaning nah reopening the economy and easing social distancing guidelines. today i posed a question to the president about the fact that he said on march 6th, anyone who wants a test will be able to get a test. that wasn't true then. it's not true now. he said, well, in fact, i don't think everybody kneads to get a test. in some ways he was walking back his initial promise to the american people that if they wanted a test and were sick that they could get one. i think what we're seeing now is these health officials around the president really trying to thread this needle between pushing for scientific based decisions and understanding that the president says this is going

to be the biggest decision of his life and the underscoring there is his decision. there was an interesting part here where dr. anthony fauci was saying, when we decide to ease guidelines, it is going to be a big decision, and the president just a few minutes later said, actually, it is what's up here. this is going to determine whether or not i want to reopen the government. he made it very clear it is his decision not the scientist, not the people around him. it is solely based on his mind and his, and the people around him but also on his political instincts. >> look, in fairness, that's why we elect political leaders, right? they are supposed to take in their economic advisers say one thing, their science advisers, and they are supposed to process that information. but kristen welker, there is one thing that the president doesn't have control over and that is when to reopen things, because it isn't his decision. he can recommend things. and then we have the states that will make this decision, and what i wonder is, what kind of influence will this have on the task force if it's pretty clear

the blue states are going to do one thing and the red states another? >> right. we've seen that in the reverse as it comes to the social distancing guidelines. not every state is adhering to them. and ultimately he can't mandate that states take certain actions. he can suggest it. he can say that it is strongly advised by the cdc, but ultimately, it is up to thaes governors to enact thaes policies. there is no doubt that is going to loom large over the task force but i think what you'll see once this is officially announced and gets going is essentially again their plan to open up the country in phases. and so you would think that once they have that plan they're going to have to be in very close contact with these governors that have already enacted these social distancing guidelines.

ultimately if the governors feel their state is in a different place that has to impact the final decision you would think. again, president trump saying today, yes, he is going to listen to his advisers and experts before he makes that final decision but ultimately it's up to his gut. chuck? >> i want to get on the economic rescue front here. the president said quickly hey we get along better with democrats than you think. i actually think there is some truth there right now. it does seem as if democrats seem to be able to -- congressional democrats have more of an open dialogue with steve mnuchin than with mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy. >> that's right. steve mnuchin is also talking to nancy pelosi who we know the president hasn't talked to in months ever since she oversaw him being impeached. so there is this feeling that the president and house democrats especially are interested in making some sort of deal and that mitch mcconnell will likely have to jump on the

band wagon. there was this robust debate, robust conversation between republicans and democrats about the role that the federal government should play. republicans have always said it's about the private sector. it's about philanthropy. that's how you help people. democrats are saying well the government has a responsibility to take care of its people. that debate is kind of over. both parties believe the federal government is the one that has to come to the rescue of people so it is really just how is that going to happen? >> look, i could go deeper here but when you think about sherrod brown and josh howly, republican and democrat on the same page and how you try to rescue workers it shows you the conversation has changed on that front big tame. thank you both. joining me now is nbc news medical contributor and former special adviser for health policy in the obama administration and also a cohost of the podcast "making the call" about making medical decisions in the midst of a pandemic and

the director of the national center for disease preparedness at columbia university. he is also an msnbc news public health analyst. thank you both. i want to start with the basic issue of this testing thing. you have and drew cuomo saying we need 30 million tests, donald trump saying i don't know if we need any more testing. what i can't figure out here is it does seem as if the task force is sort of dancing around the testing issue and i wonder if it is simply, do they really think it is too late for us to ramp up testing? >> no. i think they're exceedingly frustrated by how long it's taken, how many mistakes have been made, and how difficult it is. so let's start with the basics, chuck. we're doing about a hundred to 130,000 tests a day in the

united states. all of the estimates, and by that i mean all the estimates, the minimum is 500,000 a day. that estimate comes from harvard and morgan stanley says we need 500,000. some other people i think at hopkins say 750,000 a day. i put the number closer to a million. a lot of that variability is depending which populations you think should get priority. whatever it is, it's at least four times what we're doing now. we need at least four times the number of tests we're doing now. this idea we don't need more tests, wrong. we need a lot more tests going forward. because if you're going to ease up the economy just imagine. you want to be sure whether all the workers at a site are negative. you're going to want to be sure if someone gets it that all of their people who they come in contact with are negative. the idea that we're fain is simply false and if the president opens up the economy or urges states to without

adequate testing, that is a definite recipe for an explosion again of covid because we won't know who's got it, who doesn't have it. someone will go into a crowded place or anywhere and begin really spreading it. so i think it's very dangerous. you have sounded the alarm consistently and just not understood why the president seems to be satisfied with the current situation where no public health person is satisfied and even businesses like morgan stanley looking at this and saying, no. this isn't adequate. >> not only that, i've heard there's plenty of businesses that would pay for the tests. if it meant they could open up. they're willing to help fund the testing program if it helps open up their offices anlt to do business. so it does seem as if the private sector is all in. i want to ask this question. if we had a choice to ramp up,

which testing do we need to ramp up faster, the antibodies testing, which i know we still aren't sure we have the right test yet, or just the basic test of the diagnostic test? >> so, chuck, unfortunately, the answer is we have to do both and especially if we're talking about opening up the economy and getting people out of their homes and into, you know, the social settings people have been used to and really want to get back to. the problem is going to be first of all the president should beware of over promising some sort of magic date that we'll get back to business. i think there is almost no doubt whatsoever that we'll have a resurgence of this disease no matter what we do that will occur late summer, in the fall, maybe the winter. almost every single pandemic like situation we've had including now we're starting to see in other parts of the world, a second wave. so to promise or somehow indicate that things are going

to be fine at a date certain is wrong. and, second of all, it is totally wrong to say that we can even think about doing this properly and safely without having both the ability to make a diagnosis, that is with the regular testing, and we need the rapid test available everywhere. and the second thing is we need to know who may have immunity, who may have resistance to getting this disease. i mean, i have a foundation and a center that i run. i wouldn't even think about having people come back to the workplace without having testing done, without being really, really sure. the president actually risks several things by over promising. one is he'll lose even more confidence than he has lost among many people if we do have a resurgence which i think is almost inevitable. the second thing is he'll endanger a lot of people who may not be protected and will get sick when they go back out to enter society. the third thing, the economic promise that he's making for

bringing our economy back may back fire because if we have a second wave on the bases of promises made by president trump this could be a complete disaster again for the american economy. >> you're basically reiterating what the fed chair said yesterday. he was warning, doing it too soon then pulling back could be more catastrophic. what can we learn from italy's announcement today? and i guess in some ways we'll be able to follow this over the next two weeks. on one hand italy extended the stay-at-home order but slowly added a number of businesses to their list of what can open up. some book stores, stationery stores, things like that. i guess they're the canary in our coal mine now? >> well, china and singapore and south korea and taiwan were ahead of us. italy is a few weeks ahead of us.

yes, it does, you know, when you get the transmission down to about 20 per million you can probably begin to slowly open up, assuming you have a good testing regimen and you can identify new cases and isolate them rapidly, so that is the paradigm i think everyone is talking about. italy is going to try it. we're going to see about the resurgence. i would remind you, chuck, what erwin said. we're almost inevitably going to have a second wave. you have to prepare people for that. singapore had opening and on last friday a week ago had to close schools for another month and close nonessential businesses. so i think you are seeing, you. >> people recognizing that second wave, preparing the country, their countries for it, but easing up. i think what debby birx and anthony fauci said really kneads to be clear. you know, lots of people were saying, oh, you're being over pessimistic. you'll have a hundred thousand,

250,000 deaths. that's really wrong. and then i am worried that they'll say, listen. we'll have fewer deaths and, you know, that shows that you guys were -- the predictions were wrong. no. what that shows is physical distancing, wearing masks in public, washing your hands, all the public health measures we've taken actually work. that is i think a message that has to be taken into account. we know this is working because we're seeing it in the new data. you showed a very nice graph from new york about hospitalizations. while we're in the worst week for deaths we are going to soon see better times. this is no time to ease up because it's working. we're going to have to be in this mode for another probably four weeks to really get down low. that is, you know, is not may 1st but into may and maybe closer to june 1st before we can really begin this easing up. and doing it prematurely really risks a big flare in the number of cases. and that just doesn't seem to

have sunk in listening to the president and that could be worrisome for his decision making. >> what's the likelihood that the -- the idea of an immunity passport, is that feasible and is it pretty much, if it is, is that the safest way for the public to perhaps feel comfortable going back to work? >> oh, you know, chuck, there is so much we don't know about this virus. and the immunity that might be associated with it. it will be associated with it but for a month, six months, a year, we don't really know that. so if you are deemed to have antibodies that protect you from a recurrence let's say of covid-19, we don't know how long they're going to last. i actually think we're going to need not only a single test for immunity as well as status of disease, we may need multiple on the same individual if we're going to keep track of this and, frankly, this idea of slowly

going back, i just don't get. maybe people are smarter than me and understand that but i don't see how we do this partially and sort of wait to see what happens. what sector gets chosen, when do we open theaters, what businesses, and what would be the rationale for what we're doing. but everything about the immunity related to covid-19 remains a mystery. we need a lot more information. we need a lot more testing. so we can actually know data to drive our decisions about whether a passport or something will actually make you in some way permanently safe to go outside again. we desperately want to get back to normal and whatever the new normal is going to be. but we have to be very careful. slow and deliberate and evidence based. >> i get it. trust me. i'm well aware. everybody wants to get out of this but i think we all want to not have to do it again. i have to leave it there. but you've both made me wonder if we're struggling ramping up our testing ability, when we get

a vaccine, how are we going to get that to 330 million people? anyway, i'm just leaving it out there. that would be a good problem to have if we get that vaccine but i'm wondering how this government pulls that off. thank you both. up ahead medical workers on the front lines. >> that would be easier probably. >> i hope you're right. medical workers on the front lines of this fight share their experiences in their own words. later, how do you solve a ventilator shortage? one doctor has a good old fashioned macgyver solution, apologies for the macgyver reference but those of you of a certain age know what i'm talking about. a do it yourself ventilator and he'll show us how on this program. this piece is talking to me.

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now in theaters and at home on demand. rated pg. let's party people! ♪ one more time welcome back. we are all feeling the pain and struggle of this pandemic but let's be honest, no one is feeling it more than the people on the front lines, the doctors, the nurses, the paramedics, the people that clean the hospitals. the people who are putting themselves and their families at risk to help those most at risk

right now. some of them told us their stories first hand. >> when i first became a nurse i could have never imagined working during a pandemic. >> it's scary working in the covid intensive care unit. >> the humanity is just horrible. horrible. some people didn't make it today. >> it's very hard to lose a patient that you've been fighting for. >> despite doing everything we can for these patients, sometimes it's just not enough. >> we were all going through something so emotional, so mentally taxing. >> sometimes not leaving the operating room to take a bathroom break because we don't want to waste our gowns. >> we have roughly 90 ventilators running and only a few left to spare. >> we have limited staff in these rural areas. most of the rural hospitals don't have an icu. they do not have a ventilator. >> in order to keep everyone

safe we don't have visitors in the hospital let alone in the intensive care unit where people are at their sickest and they want to be with their loved ones. >> she's like, do you have a child? i said, i do. i have an 8-year-old. she's like, so then you know. i said, i know. >> however small patients improve after having contact with someone that they love -- >> there is a sense of relief that comes when you know you're not alone. >> we kind of always get through it supporting each other. >> it's easy to get anxious and depressed out there. but we have to keep in mind the larger purpose. >> once i walked through the doors of the icu i knew exactly where i was supposed to be. >> coming together as a team trying to figure out what's best. >> i think it is that whatever it takes spirit that is getting us through right now. >> we all support each other. i am so proud to be a nurse. >> it's sort of a reminder of the resilience that we have as

human beings. and that together we're going to overcome this. >> our thanks to everyone on the front lines of this fight. i know it's actually -- some of those cases just speaking to us can get you in trouble and we appreciate you sharing some of those stories. up ahead what to do to protect americans' health and their right to vote. senator amy klobuchar joins us live. this is my body of proof. proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira. proof of less joint pain... ...and clearer skin in psa. humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,

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welcome back. turning now to the action on capitol hill to combat the coronavirus negotiations could resume next week on legislation to provide more relief to small businesses devastated by the coronavirus. senate minority leader chuck schumer says he spoke with treasury secretary steve mnuchin this morning and is optimistic a bipartisan deal could be reached within days to provide an additional $250 billion for small businesses stalled in the senate yesterday and while those talks are ongoing lawmakers are also discussing proposals to protect voters this november and prevent what we saw three days ago in wisconsin as folks were forced to cast primary ballots while trying to social distance and by the way the after action reports in wisconsin are even more alarming with the absentee ballot mistakes and all of this stuff. it looks like it's a full fledged debacle as far as the wisconsin situation is concerned. senator amy klobuchar of minnesota is one of those lawmakers with a proposal to get more people voting by mail this november and she joins me now. senator klobuchar, i feel like

it hasn't been that long and yet the last time we talked was prepandemic. a lot has changed in 40 days and 40 nats. >> the world has changed. >> first of all i'm glad to hear that your husband, is he now fully recovered from covid? >> he is. we're in minnesota and i was thinking the beautiful piece you just ran of the workers, one of the hardest things about this disease and i think every american is going to know this from a friend or someone in the family is you can't be at the bed side and hold the hand of the person that you love but you also can't hug those nurses and doctors and the people that were getting them better. and you can't say thank you. and the thought that those are the ones, those doctors talking about, and nurses, losing patients, holding up the phones when people are on ventilators is one of the hardest things. thank you for showing those incredible workers. >> do you think this has changed your mindset about how you plan to be a senator going forward?

do you think this has changed the mindset of your colleagues? before i get to specifics, you know, it's impacted a lot of us in different ways. do you think it is going to change the fundamental mindset of your colleagues? >> i think it makes the role of the congress as hard as it is to do that when we aren't there right now and you want to be there every day voting on amendments, passing things, actually getting things done for people, getting those tests out like the serum test that can tell you if you had it before. but, still, i think it has really shed light on the need for a congress that performs oversight and holds this administration accountable when it comes to how this money is going to be spent. is it really getting out there to the small businesses that need it? and i certainly go back there when we do and am doing my work now with new found devotion because you simply can't have a pandemic like this and let this administration get away with

what we saw in the last few months where they didn't plan, they didn't get the tests out, they didn't get the equipment and splaz ready and look where we are now trying to make up for lost time with lost lives. >> well, look. i have to ask on the rescue front here, you know, you guys can appropriate all the money you want. if you can't use the infrastructure that we have in this country to actually physically get the cash into the accounts of the small businesses or the individuals, i am just trying to figure out and i don't know if there is any role. can you trust the states' infrastructure on unemployment to get the money out in time? >> first of all, we all know there's governors valiantly trying to step in for this administration. when the president blatantly says he is nothing but backup to the governors, so they are trying to do it. we are doing everything we can

to push them using the leverage that we have, that democrats in the senate right now, to push to say let's make sure if we're going to give more money to this program, which we should, that it is going out to the small businesses that need it and that you fix these problems that have clearly become apparent in the last week with the calls that everyone is getting across the country and let's make sure the money goes to the front line workers and the unemployed and the people that need it. that's what we're in the middle of right now. >> i know you're fighting hard to try to expand mail-in voting in some form or another basically to put more money in the pockets of states for the intention of expanding ballot access or access to voting for this november whether all mail or whatever it needs to be done in order to improve that. but you have a president who clearly philosophically doesn't believe it and he is not alone. a lot of republicans don't believe in the mindset. and while i want to set aside some of the president's

incorrect arguments about why, is there a compromise that you can come up with that gets enough support to get more funding for mail-in balloting or does it not exist? >> of course there is. i just did a call yesterday with secretary of states from across the country, democrats and republicans, and let's be honest. there are varying degrees of mail-in balloting right now. some are 98%, some states, some are at 2%. by the way, it's red, purple, blue states that do a lot of it. utah does nearly all mail-in. then you have some -- it's mixed, which is good for the argument. maryland's governor, republican, just ordered their primary be all mail-in balloting. so there are plenty of republican elected official supporting it because they tn's safer. the issue is the agreement, i would say yes is get more money out to the states to do it. some will enhance what they have. some will be building new infrastructure. a number of them have to change the rules in a big way.

to make for early voting. but let me make one thing clear, chuck. we're not going to have all mail-in voting because you'll still have states where you want to have early voting as well as the voting at home. and that means keeping polls open not just one day but 20 days back. making sure we're training poll workers so we are able to practically have a combination of things across the country because the travesty in wisconsin, where health care workers stood in line with their masks on next to ordinary citizens waiting and waiting and putting their health at risk just to exercise their right to vote, predominantly hurting the african-american community while donald trump and the first lady get to order their mail-in ballots which are absentee but mail-in from palm beach, florida? that is an outrage. we cannot let that be replicated across the country. >> senator amy klobuchar

democrat from minnesota. glad to hear the news about john, your husband. >> yes. it's good. >> thank you for sharing your views. >> thank you. >> nice to have a little good news every now and then. >> yes. >> up next we'll talk to a republican governor who is also opening the door on the issue of mail-in ballots for november despite the president's objections. stick around. we'll talk about that after the break. more than ever, your home is your sanctuary. that's why lincoln offers you the ability to purchase a new vehicle remotely with participating dealers. an effortless transaction-all without leaving the comfort- and safety-of your home. thats the power of sanctuary. and for a little extra help, receive 0% apr financing and defer your first payment up to 120 days on the purchase of a new lincoln.

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mail ballots are very dangerous for this country because they're cheaters. they go and collect them. they're fraudulent in many cases. >> welcome back. days after president trump condemned all mail voting, republican governor sununu of new hampshire announced that because of the coronavirus his state would allow residents to cast mail-in ballots this november. that's what a lot of people are talking about here a sort of one-time issue for now and obviously a debate going

forward. governor sununu joins me now. governor, thanks for coming on. is this in your mind a one election change or something that if it is successful you'd be open to keeping in perpetuity? >> well, new hampshire has a great success story if you will with absentee voting. we have maybe 10% in any given year during presidential years. all we're doing this time around is expanding it a little so, you know, if folks want to vote from home if they feel safer in terms of participating in an absentee process we already have an expansive ability to do that. we have opened it up a little more. you don't ever want public safety to come in the way of an individual casting the ballot. that is the wrong message to send and given that this is a unique crisis we're taking some unique steps. our attorney general and secretary of state who have done a great job over the years agree with that so we'll take those steps for this election. >> what kind of -- explain the -- obviously the president has concerns about the ability

of voter fraud happening. what does it take to get an absentee ballot in new hampshire and what does it take for it to be considered valid? >> sure. so it is a very easy process here in new hampshire. it always has been. folks can just ask for the absentee ballot. it's for this case in the case of health that's always been an option on the absentee ballot so they would just check that box. like i said it was about 10% last year. we anticipate a little more this year. it is not an all absentee process. new hampshire still has the kind of town meeting everyone likes to go in and we suspect the vast majority of voters will still walk in. we'll have guidance for the polling places to ensure physical distancing is there. there is a process to manage the lines. there is no sense of over crowding in managing the potential for a large gathering so with that guidance as well we want to ensure people's safety. we've already had our primary. we did a great job with our first in the nation primary in february so the integrity of our

process is utmost here in new hampshire. our next major primary is september and then november. who knows what the world looks like at that point? hopefully we're in a much better place and people have a lot more comfort coming in but we'll be prepared either way. >> drive through voting. is that something you're open to? it seems to me if that is a place we dog that mean it's inevitable we create an election week or two weeks if that is possibly the process we go down? >> so there are some areas that have experimented with what they call drive through voting. you still have to present your i.d., certify who you are. you get to fill out your ballot in the car and here in new hampshire it is all pen and paper. you use your optical scanners and check out on the way out the door. it is a very similar process. you are just basically filling the ballot out in your car. it wouldn't work for every polling place obviously because you'd have lines going up the road but in some areas where it is possible, that's something we are exploring to see if that option is there. but integrity of the process is

maintained. we'll make sure one vote one ballot and we have to make sure we're counting them on election night. it is very important folks get their results and get them accurately here in new hampshire. we have a hundred-year success story we don't want to kind of blow it at this point and because we know what we're doing we feel like we have some options and flexibility to make sure we're dealing with this crisis and ensuring people can cast that vote one way or the other. >> everybody's having -- we'll have a larger debate in this country possibly in the next couple of weeks. how do we reopen? what does that look like? let me ask you. what metrics are you going to use to decide when to lift stay-at-home orders, stay in place, reopen schools, things like that. what metrics are you looking at and what are your advisers telling you is realistic? >> being the governor of a live state, hardest decisions anyone could ever imagine making. it is tough because we're in a state of emergency and making those decisions on the run.

they've been the right decisions. they'll be even harder to open things up. your question is very valid. how do you balance the messaging of making sure people keep physical distancing, keep disciplined, have that stamina not for a couple weeks but months until we get down to zero. it just takes one person to flare this up again. as a governor you have to operationalize that flexibility with the messaging. we think we can do it but it probably means rolling things out, giving people lead time to prepare, creating new guidance. golfing right? i had 8,000 people asking me to open golf courses at the same time i had 8,000 people telling mae to close parks. you have to walk that line but maybe it means new guidance and norms for things we take for granted. >> you are describing what i think is the reality. every state is going to have to do this incrementally, a step at a time, and it is almost going to be little tests. our friends in italy are opening things up a little bit. think we'll all learn lessons from them.

new hampshire governor chris sununu republican governor from new hampshire, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. >> thank you. >> stay healthy and safe. in the midst of so much bad news we have something of a good news story to share. how a little ingenuity might be able to fix a big problem. ♪

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welcome back. as hospitals all over the country are faced with the prospect of running out of the ventilators used to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors and engineers are

confronting the problem head-on. for instance, doctors at mt. sinai hospital in new york have had initial success reconfiguring a machine usually used for sleep apnea. my next guest has done do it yourself ventilators out of items at a home improvement store. joining me dr. charles peterson at the university of mississippi medical center. and he is with us now. not only you going to tell us about it, you're going demonstrate. let me just ask a simple question. what motivated you to figure this, to crack this code? was it simply this nationwide scare over finding them? >> you know, chuck, i saw this developing in china weeks ago, and they were short of a lot of resources, but one of them was clearly ventilators. i got to think how can we expand our supply in a crisis if we needed to. >> well, i understand you can do it pretty quick here. so you're set up to give us a

demonstration. show us. everything you got here you could get at a lowe's or a home depot, right? >> got it from lowe's and home depot, lamp timer from amazon. and so this is the ventilator that i built. you start over here where oxygen flows into the ventilator. comes back behind in this garden hose, goes into the patient, and there is an electronic valve right here that opens every couple of seconds, controlled by the lamp timer. the air goes in, the air goes out. so it's a lamp timer. one garden hose, and a little bit of an electrical switch, and that's it? >> that's it. lt also, this is a bag we would usually normally use to ventilate a child squeezing with our hands. but it can from a wall outlet in the hospital.

that will blow and this valve releases the pressure and lets them exhale. >> all right. how -- how drastic of a situation do you need to be in to use a ventilator like this, or do you feel confident it would work under any circumstance? >> i feel quite confident that it would work, but i hope we never get to the point of having to use ventilators like this. we have anesthesia machines that are normally used to put patients to sleep, even veterinary ventilators would be an option. but this is something really, if you find yourself overwhelmed, that somebody could go down to the store and make some ventilators overnight. >> how long did it take you to do that? and obviously, you had some knowledge. did you mold it after a ventilator? or you just sort of knew what you were doing on your own? >> i tried to think of the absolute minimum requirements and parts and construction that

would move air into a patient and let it out. it's not like most ventilators. most ventilators are better than this. >> of course. >> it took me about a week to develop the prototype. but we've gotten the manufacturing down to the point that it takes about 20 or 30 minutes to build one once we have the supplies at hand. >> well, you know, for those that are always worrying about the worst case scenarios, it's good to know that we can do something in a worst case scenario. dr. charles robertson, thank you for giving us your time and putting this together. and more importantly, thanks for reminding us that we all have a little ingenuity in us. we just have to go find it. thank you, sir. stay safe and healthy, and we'll be right back. turn on my tv and boom,

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thank you for being with us this hour. thank you for being with us all week long. i know it's tough for everybody out there. we'll be back monday. we'll have more "meet the press daily" then. we'll look at how we've begun bending the coronavirus curve. we're going talk about what needs to be done before we

reopen the economy. trust me, a big focus on testing, testing, testing. that's what we're going to look at on sunday. msnbc's breaking news coverage cons right now with my colleague and friend ari melber. good evening, ari. >> good evening, chuck, thank you. have a good weekend. we'll be watching on sunday. we have a lot of important news tonight. we begin, as we like to do around here during this era with the facts and the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. here is what you need to know. the u.s. now has 487,000 confirmed cases. 18,000 deaths from this pandemic. new federal projections warning these numbers could spike if the country does ease up on many of the precaution, including social distancing in too hasty a manner. it is not time yet to ease up that is the implication. this afternoon at the white house coronavirus briefing, trump tried to sound optimistic. >> heading of the downward curve. we had a