that's not bad news either. >> that's not bad news either. art laffer, former member of president reagan's advisory policy board and chairman and founder of laffer associates, co-author of "trumponomics." this evening at 5:00, a member of the current coronavirus task force, dr. anthony fauci joins the reverend al sharpton on "politics nation". that's it for me this morning. "am joy" begins right now. i stress, a lot of concern about keeping ourselves safe, keeping the patient safe. people are scared. people are sick. people are very sick. no matter what happens, we're a phone call away and we'll come for them no matter what and provide the best care that we can. >> good morning.

and welcome to "am joy." happy easter to those of you who are celebrating. this is a tough easter to be sure. what you just saw was merely a snapshot of what new york city's first responders are encountering during the peak of this pandemic. the new york fire department has never before turned over its social media accounts to allow its emergency medical technicians and their firefighters to speak about their experiences. their stories from the epicenter of this crisis marked yet another chilling milestone for the entire country. more than half a million americans are infected with the virus. and we have now surpassed italy's death toll, with more than 20,000 covid-19 fatalities. 20,000. and for the first time ever, all 50 states and the district of columbia are all under a disaster declaration. more than 20,000 americans have been killed by covid-19. more than 20,000. i have to say that again.

and yet donald trump still hasn't answered for why he ignored early warnings, which we're now learning were even earlier than previously reported. the new york times has this damning headline this morning, he could have seen what was coming, behind trump's failure on the virus. incredible. it is an incredible and chilling read, which details how the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic. but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response. abc news was the first to report that intelligence officials started raising concerns in november about a contagion sweeping china's wuhan region. the pentagon released a statement pushing back saying no such report or, quote, intelligence product from november of 2019 exists. my colleagues at nbc news suggests this could be a matter of semantics.

current and former officials told them that while no former assess was produced in november, and hence no intelligence product, in the jargon of spy agencies, there was intelligence that caught the attention of public health analysts and field formal assessments written in december. that material and other information including some from news and social media reports ultimately found its way into donald trump's intelligence briefing book in january. it is unknown whether he read the information and early in the administration you'll recall the accounts leaking out of the administration about whether trump always reads his intel briefings as he should. this week, trump reminded us of the other touch stone of his administration, his resist ens to oversight. what he fired the top pentagon official who was supposed to oversee how the $2 trillion package -- relief package will be implemented.

my next guest predicted trump's recklessness would continue even after his impeachment. here is house intelligence chairman adam schiff during his closing argument two months ago. >> you can't trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute. not for one election. not for the sake of our country. you just can't. he will not change. and you know it. he has not changed. he will not change. he made that clear himself without self-awareness or hesitation. a man without character or ethical compass will never find his way. >> joining any now is house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff. good morning and happy easter. thank you for taking the time to speak with us this morning. i want to show you a tweet by ned price, you know, a former intelligence official himself. he said this reporting that u.s. intel collected raw information

in november but didn't issue a formal assessment makes sense of the conflicting reports and denials. it also underscores why we will need an after the fact commission to understand the timeline and the follow -- the policy failings. i know yourself, senator dianne feinstein, senator kamala harris, introduced legislation to establish a bipartisan coronavirus commission to examine the u.s. response. what would be the timeline for that and what your assessment of what you heard so far about what is clearly sounds like intelligence failures from the white house? >> the timing of the legislation, that commission wouldn't get started until early next year. it is designed to be an apolitical process, not caught up in november. those commissioners would be appointed at first of the year. but it is important to point out that is not the substitute for doing real time eversight on the intelligence issues. we are right now going through our intelligence holdings, what did the intelligence community

make us aware of at the end of last year or earlier this year. other committees are doing like analyses, and it is very important, i think, in reviewing the intelligence component to this to realize the intelligence piece is just one piece of the warnings coming to the administration. a lot of those warnings were in the public domain, they came from public health organizations, like w.h.o. or cdc or own national security council and ignored those warnings. but diving deeply into what does the intelligence community know, what resources we would bring there and what do we need to do prospectively to better protect the country in the future. that last piece, how do we protect the country in the future, is really the mission of that independent commission we based on -- we used the model the 9/11 commission. >> and the other issue, of course, is testing. which is not happening in any

significant respect around the country, at least not to the robust nature it should, right, if we were going to try to stop the spread of this and try to get a handle on it. do you have an understanding of why it is that the administration rejected the w.h.o. certified test, the test the rest of the world is using that came out of germany? >> it looks like an excuse of hubris and arrogance that the w.h.o. couldn't possibly produce as good or as reliable test we could do on ourselves. i think it shows the lack of appreciation for just how bad this could get and how quickly that we would reject the use of those tests. and these are precisely the kind of issues frankly that we want the commission to examine, that is why didn't we have the testing capacity immediately ramped up the way other countries did, we're supposed to be the most scientific and technologically advanced nation in the world. so why even today are we so far behind in testing?

is it still such a mystery to us all over the country just how many americans are infected? we really have little or no idea. and it is because of this lack of testing. and frankly the inability to roll up the tests that the states and the early cdc tests prevented us from using a containment strategy, we had to move to mitigation because the virus was already loose in the united states and we didn't know where. so i only have a partial picture of what went wrong in terms of the early testing problem, a lot of mismanagement within the trump administration. but we do node eed to get the as to be prepared for the next round when this comes back and even now, to be able to identify just how widespread it is. >> is there a way from your point of view that congress or at least -- with as much power

as we have around the world, cannot get enough ventilators into our country in order to be used in our hospitals, can't get enough ppe for our hospitals, why we seem to lack so much in terms of the basics of dealing with a pandemic. is there some way that congress, you know, can appropriate funds to get the tests from the german company that created them? is there some way that congress can act in a way that the administration refuses to? >> we are doing everything that we can think of along those lines, so we are passing bill after bill, appropriating the money, making sure we can buy the protective gear, we have the money for ventilators, that we can accelerate the timetable production. it is hard for congress to force the administration to spend money in a sensible fashion or sometimes even just spend it at all. if the president won't really invoke the defense production act and wonit is very hard for

congress to insist on that without taking time. after all, we put, for example, in a strong accountability mechanism, having inspector general oversee the pandemic response to make sure that the trump administration couldn't use this 2 it the $2 tril 2$.2 kind of a slush fund. the first move was to get rid of the inspect general to oversee it. it makes a lot of sense to the speaker, establishing the select committee to oversee the response so that congress can do vigorous oversight. that we can do, but in terms of forcing the administration to act cohesively, to try to reconcile the these, you know, three or four or five task forces in the administration that seem to be at odds with each other handle this in a more rational way so you don't have states bidding against other states and then outbid by the federal government for protective gear, it is very hard

to congressionally mandate competence when the administration is incompetent. >> yeah. and there are other disturbing things that we're hearing as you said about states not only bidding against other states, but about, you know, things coming into states that are meant for a state being seized by the federal government, taken and put back into the market. there is a lot going on that seems very opaque about the way that this response is playing out. one aspect of it, as you said, is this question of corruption, whether or not donald trump in his own, you know, his companies, people he's associated with, businesses, will they be able to get access to part of this $2 trillion. are you concerned that with the firing of these inspectors general, that donald trump, steve mnuchin, they're opening up a lane for trump himself to benefit? we know the emoluments clause hasn't been effective at keeping him in check. >> i am very concerned about this. in the absence of oversight, you

can pretty much guarantee you're going to get corruption and incompetence and mal fees e mal. the more he castigates the inspector general of health and human services for reporting that notwithstanding the happy talk coming out of the white house, the hospitals still don't have the protective gear they need, the removal of glenn fine, the inspector general that would oversee the pandemic increases the risk that donald trump uses this money to reward his own businesses or businesses of allies. and punishes companies that are run by people he doesn't like or won't praise him. beyond the companies, governors, he's made it very clear at times that he wants the governors to be singing his praises and otherwise he won't call them or explain why certain governors like the governor of florida have gotten everything they

asked for, while other governors have gotten very little. and the end result is can the american people have confidence that these decisions, by the trump administration, are being made on a rational basis to help states most in need, try to anticipate the states that will be next in line and the answer is no. we just don't have the track record from this president to be able to inspect that, don't see that happening real time. there are some, i think -- the governors, many of the governors are demonstrating great leadership, my governor in california, gavin newsom, is trying to organize a consortium of states to deal with the federal government, and decide who really neds the ventilators at this point in time. we're seeing great state leadership, but we're seeing a deadly lack of leadership from the trump administration. >> i want to point out to you something that paul drkrugman h pointing out. i'm still marveling at the fact

that the president of the united states is trying to create an oil cartel. this is the article to which he was referring, an unprecedented reduction of 10% in worldwide crude output being negotiated in talks on saturday. trump offered diplomatic solution that could allow everyone to save face but remains unclear whether saudi arabia and other members of global opec's coalition will be amenable to that. trump suggested output cuts, american producers started making to whether the oil price crash. it seems he's taking moves to protect the oil industry at americans' expense. your thoughts? >> i don't understand why that is a fixation of the trump administration right now. when there are states struggling to get the protective equipment that they need, look, the economy is not going to come back until americans' health comes back, until people have the security of knowing that they can go to the workplace and do so without risking getting seriously ill or dying.

that's the challenge. and the economy and health are going to go hand and hand from the beginning to the end of this. so i think there is no way to artificially try to organize the oil market right now and i don't think that's the priority. i think the priority is dealing with this health crisis, and also putting in place the economic structures where we can rebound quickly and i'll tell you, i'm a big supporter, believer in a national paycheck protection program, like britain h has, to guarantee salary, guarantee payroll so companies don't have to -- large or small don't have to lay off employees, to employees don't have to go through the loss of income and dignity losing their work and having to struggle to find work on the other side of this curve. those kind of economic ambitions and economic vision and program make a lot of sense. but focusing on a particular segment like the oil industry, i

don't understand why that is the preoccupation of this president, but it is consistent with his history. >> congressman schiff, thank you very much, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thanks, joy. up next, representative ilhan omar joins me live. ♪ ♪all strength ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat

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within less than 24 hours, she was immediately diagnosed as one of the worst case of coronavirus. who is protecting the workers? why can't the companies and corporations provide the basic ppe? i don't care if she worked at the dollar store. i don't care if she worked taking the trash out. even the sanitation, the mail people, who is protecting them? that's my baby! and i can't get her back!

>> this week one of most heart wrenching stories of the pandemic came from the grieving mother of leilani jordan, a grocery store employee who passed away after complications from covid-19. we know now that people of color are dying from co-rvid-19 at a disproportionate rate. they make up a disproportionate share of workers in industries where layoffs are rampant. many who remain employed as essential workers, those who prepare our food, the store clerks and the stock room clerks and the floor crews and amazon and the mail carriers keeping us all going while we're bored on lockdown, they don't have the option to work from home. so they must put their very lives at risk just to earn a living. joining me now is congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota. thank you for being here this morning. >> good morning, joy. thank you for having me and happy easter to you and everyone else who celebrates.

>> thank you so much. thank you so much. i know this is something you're passionate about. i'm happy to have the opportunity to talk to you this morning. that was such a heart breaking interview, all interviews this mom has done, and you think about her daughter who worked in a giant food store, she is doing the work that we all need right now when we want to run to a food run. if you think about racial disparity, in milwaukee, wisconsin, 28% of the population is black, 73% of the deaths are black people. milwaukee county n louisiana, 32% black, 70% of the deaths are african-americans. illinois, 15%/43%. michigan, 14% black, 40% of those who are dying. is there some -- i don't know what the response is to that. what do you -- do you have an idea of what we can do about this? >> yeah, i mean, i think for many years, you know, we have talked about theories of social determine ans of health and for

the first time in our country, this pandemic really is speaking to the actual issue and laying bare the kind of social economic injustices that exist in our country, and the disparities that have existed for people of color in this country. and so it is important really that we recognize something that she says, when the rest of the country gets a cold, black people get pneumonia. and i think it is really important for us to recognize that when we are coming up with policies that we have proper data and they are going to be targeted, so that the communities are being impacted, get the kind of resources that they need in order to be able to fight this pandemic. one of the most disheartening things is what you just spoke

about, working from home is a privilege that not many americans have. social distancing is a privilege not many have. and there is so many people in our community that their work really was minimized, delegitimized and thought of as unimportant. and so now we deem them as essential workers. and we have to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to back that recognition now. so we have been advocating for hazard pay, advocating to have the proper resources that they need in order to advocate themselves. things like providing child care and paid sick leave, protecting them from retaliation when they speak up themselves to their employers and say, it is not safe enough for me to work. it is not safe enough for me to serve the public.

and, you know, we want to make sure if they're not feeling healthy themselves, they have the protection that they need to be able to go home for that day. and have their pay protected. >> yeah, and one of the groups of people who cannot work from home are people who work in the postal service. 600,000 employees in this country. not high paid employees, and not just your mail carrier, the stock people, et cetera. the trump administration, donald trump, threatened to veto their recent bill that passed, the c.a.r.e.s. act, if it contained a grant for the postal service. he seems to be wanting to drive the postal service into maybe bankruptcy. steve mnuchin reportedly according to the washington post told the postal service you get a loan or you get nothing. hundreds of mail carriers have already died delivering our packages and our mail so we don't have to leave our homes. is the postal service under genuine threat of being defunded

by the conservative -- the people on the other side of the aisle from you? >> they really are and have been for a really long time. i mean, we have to do everything that we can to protect postal workers. i know house leadership, speaker nancy pelosi and others are going to make sure that we don't pass legislation without providing protection, without providing proper protection for postal workers, and i think it is really quite disheartening and it speaks to the kind of administration we currently have that doesn't recognize how important and valuable some of our older existing institutions are. and, you know, we think about right now this pandemic and the fact that it is not -- it might not end before election, we are

calling for a national vote by mail. and it is interesting that at a time when the country's asking for that, and the only mechanism to make sure that there is a direct protected line that can deliver that mail, they are trying to disrupt that service and privatizing it makes it that we can't be certain that the proper channels are going to be used in every single person is going to have the ability to get their mail when they are supposed to -- without anyone obstructing it. >> yeah, absolutely. another issue that is galling to a lot of people, yes there was ney passed for people to get a

one time check for themselves if they have children a little bit more, however, while, for instance, jared kushner who has a federal loan that got $800 million in federally backed properties, he's going to probably benefit from the mortgage recovery, so the mortgage gift you're getting where you can sort of delay paying your mortgage. however, nearly a third of renters did not pay their rent on the first, in the first week of april, on april 1st, and people are already having rent strikes because they can't afford to pay the rent. you tweeted this, people are already striking because they cannot afford to pay the rent. we need immediate relief. i'm introducing a bill this week to bail out renters and create a relief fund for homeowners, landlords to stop foreclosures. it's interesting that wealthy -- people who own a lot of property can get relief, but people who can't afford it pay their rent have to wait maybe until may to get a check.

your thoughts? >> yeah, so many people across this country right now are dealing with two parts of the crisis that we have. there is a public health crisis and economic crisis. and so there is so many people who are currently living with anxiety, knowing that they weren't able to pay their rent on april 1st and may not be able to pay the next few months. and so we're asking for a cancellation of rent, my legislation creates a fund so that landlords are able to get their -- their rent paid, the rent they would normally collect from renters paid by the federal government. and we are creating a fund for lenders so that they can help people who hold mortgages as well and the landlords because we want to make sure we're avoiding an economic collapse. and housing crisis.

and so as we fight to make sure that there is a direct cash payment, for folks so that they're able to feed themselves, as we fight for the expansion of things like snap, because we know those who are economically challenged in our country currently don't have access and the ability to use their snap funds to order online, so we're working on legislation to do that, this is going to need a comprehensive wholistic relief package. and what is really important to us is to make sure as we protect the lives of people, we're protecting their livelihoods. small businesses have the opportunity to sustain themselves, if the federal government does a grant program to help them pay for their payroll, to help pay for their maintenance, for their rent, and

all of the essential needs that they have. and so, you know, this is the time for the federal government to step up and not only deal with the coronavirus and the public health pandemic that we have in a comprehensive way, but also deal with the kind of economic crisis that it has created in a comprehensive way as well. >> indeed, and very quickly, i'm out of time, i have to ask you this, i know that as a progressive and influential progressive, i'll give you the opportunity to give some advice to joe biden, former vice president joe biden, who is now the nominee, very much likely i guess at this point, the nominee, no real competition now that senator sanders has suspended his campaign. what one thing could he do? what one policy change could he make? he's trying to make some moves in a more progressive direction. what do you think is the most important policy change that he

could make that would allow progressives to give him a second look, young progressives in particular? >> when senator bernie sanders suspended his campaign, you know, my message to progressives was to recognize that this might be a setback for our movement, but it is also an opportunity for us to look and push for progress. and i think vice president biden has an opportunity to really work and trying to make sure we get that progress. and have a platform that is progressive. so it is really important to remember that every single exit poll had medicare for all as high as 50%, 6 0%, 70% and in some places 80% across the country. and so it would be really a show

of support for medicare for all, it would mean so much for people across the country that came out and supported senator bernie sanders and the progressive movement. as you know, cancellation is deeply close to my heart. they currently put out a plan that doesn't go far enough for me. and i know it doesn't go far enough for so many people across this country. that's a priority for. and we want to make sure that he is flexible in that regard and he makes real changes to his platform so that it is inclusive of everyone that needs student debt cancellation. and lastly, i will say, every single survey that my office puts out to my district, to the number one issue after healthcare is the climate crisis. and i know that so many people, including, you know, my daughter

and her generation really understand the urgency in which we need to deal with the climate crisis, and really important for the adoption of the green new deal or a policy that is -- that has the elements of the green new deal so that we are able to move forward critically and in addressing the issue of climate crisis. >> absolutely. well, congresswoman ilhan omar, thank you for being here. your baby is welcome to be on at any time. we saw your baby try to get in there. >> this is the new life of working from home, right? we get appearances from -- >> want to bring her back on? >> i don't know. >> if you want to bring her on, we have a few more seconds. tell her to come on over. >> run, run, run! come say hi to joy. >> we're all at home. we're all working from home. let's see if we can get the --

>> she's my youngest. she's 7. >> aw! hi, cutie. how are you? you're the cutest. >> she's excited to have the opportunity to see mom more often, but i think misses her friends and the ability to play and play. no? you don't? all right. you just enjoy being home. all right. >> mom is the best. that's right. being with mom is the best. you have officially made my day. i think the entire audience's day with the cuteness and adorableness. thank you so much. thank you so much. >> thank you. bye. >> okay. >> bye! bye, sweetie! take care. and coming up, it doesn't get better than that, right, coming up, front line doctors separate fact from fiction. our , it didn't take us long to realize ... ...we weren't in the car business. at lexus, we were in the people business.

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good news is the curve of the increase is continuing to flatten. the number of hospitalizations appears to have hit an apex and the apex appears to be a plateau, which is what many of the models predicted. the three-day average, which is what we look at, because day to day can be somewhat deceiving, especially when you get to the weekend because the weekend reporting gets different, but all the numbers are on the

downward slope. >> governor cuomo shared some promising news on saturday about the effect that social distancing efforts have had in new york. but despite the glimmers of hope in the empire state, medical expert s warned now is not the time it relax. >> what is really important is that people don't turn early signs of hope into releasing from the 30 days to stop the spread. it is really critical. you can see the delay. so if people start going out again and socially interacting, we could see a very acute second wave, very early. >> now is not the time to pull back at all. it is a time to intensify. >> joining me now is dr. rob davidson, executive director of the committee to protect medicare and dr. tamara moyes, an er physician and co-founder of big apple urgent care. thank you for being here. i'll go in reverse order.

the w.h.o., the world health organization sees welcome slowing of covid-19 cases but warns against lifting restrictions too soon. little bit of this. the w.h.o. wants to see restrictions lifted as much as anyone at the same time lifting restrictions too quickly could lead it a deadly resurgence. the way down can be as dangerous as the way up, if not managed properly w.h.o. director general tedr tedros ghebreyesus said. your thoughts on whether or not seeing a plateau like we're seeing in new york means it is time to reverse and let up on social distancing. >> i 100% agree that we must definitely continue our social distancing. we can't let go right now. we're still at a point where we still have a very high number of hospitalizations. although the rate of hospitalizations are going down, but we still have a lot and we still have to continue the

social distancing. and the good hygiene. if we stop now, and if we revert back to our normal way of life, we can see a second surge, a second surge in high number of corona cases again. we really have to make sure we don't get comfortable. we're doing a great job, a lot of people are social distancing and it is helping. but we definitely have to continue the fight. we have to continue because it is working. but we're still not ready. we're not ready to go back to where we were before. >> indeed. i can't see dr. davidson how we can do that if we're not mass testing. it confounds me. here is the president of the united states, having an interaction with reporter jim acosta on that very question of whether we need nationwide testing. take a listen. >> how can 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. >> don't you need that to make sure people are safe going back to work? you dent waon't want to send pe back to the workplace. >> do you need it, no, is it a nice thing to do, yes. 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. >> your thoughts, dr. gadavidso. he said we don't need a nationwide testing system. it would be nice, but we don't need it. >> i just worked last night in a rural er in michigan and admitted two sick patients, sent home another three or four without testing because they didn't fit the criteria. we still don't know. i think there is no way on earth we can do this safely without massive testing, without antibody testing. our governor just reupped our shelter in place order to the end of april. the state house leader and state

senate leader who are republicans here attacked her on social media. now we have 2200,000 people in the facebook group who are coming out against this quarantine and are organizing a march and lansing. the last thing we need, a month from now, the people from that march will start showing up in hospitals and add to the statistics. it is criminal that the president isn't leading on this. >> this is one of the worries about today, people would decide to go and show up in church today and do easter services and that then you have another cohort of church attendees that then become another cluster of covid-19 cases. zeek emanuel commented on this, and there is a new york times piece entitled restarting america means people will die. so when do we do it? one of the five experts asked to weigh in on this, larger gatherings, conferences, concerts, sporting events, people say they're going it reschedule this concert or graduation event, i don't know how they think that's a

plausible possibility. i think those things will be the last to return. we're thinking fall 2021 at the earliest. do you agree with dr. zeek emanuel? >> it is tough to swallow, but it is a possibility. but i think right now it is still really difficult to put a date on it. i think we have to just take it day by day. make sure we're continuing our social distancing practices, and continue to follow all of the data and then make a decision from there. but it is really difficult to put a date on this right now. it is very early. >> yeah, let me play dr. anthony fauci, the expert, trump doesn't always listen to, here he is when he maybes a point that i think seems obvious which is that if we lift restrictions, maybe we'll see more cases. there is no doubt about that in his mind. take a listen. >> don't let anyone get any false ideas that when we decide at a proper time when we're

going to be relaxing some of the restrictions, there is no doubt you're going to see cases. i would be so surprised if we did not see cases. the question is how you respond to them. >> so, dr. davidson if that happens, restrictions get lifted, doesn't that start the pandemic up again? i don't know how you end it if you're not testing and lifting restrictions. isn't it true that if let's say we thought -- we think it goes away, we lift restrictions and we see more cases, does that start the pandemic up again? >> absolutely. if the only data points we have are hospitalizations and deaths, then we're going to be playing pandemic whac-a-mole for the next year and a half. if we have actual tests, antibody tests, tests of active infection and use that data to drive decision making and who can go back it work and back to sort of seminormal life, that is only way to minimize these hot spots that have popped up for the next year or year and a half n my hospital, we don't expect our peak to be until early june

as it stands now. so we can't possibly do this without having the data. >> yeah, indeed. hopefully somebody that works near the white house will hear that and maybe tell donald trump that, who knows. dr. rob davidson, dr. tamara moise, thank you, stay safe. i want to remind you both that dr. fauci, anthony fauci, will be a guest on "politics nation" later today. you'll going to hear him without him being interrupted by the president. you want to tune into that. up next, essential advice, get some coffee and come back. we'll give you advice about your mask. [ singing indistinctly ]

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why'd you stop? i was listening. we can't offer much during this time of crisis, but we can offer what we have. so from all of us working early mornings on the farm, long days in the plant, or late nights stocking shelves doing all we can to get you the milk you need. we hope it makes your breakfast a little brighter. your snacks more nutritious. and reminds you when it comes to caring, there is no expiration date. milk. love what's real. even when we wear our masks and our gloves, a lot of the times the germ it is is on the outside of the mask and me and dr. sampson talked about this, too, is people take the mask and they put it under their neck or, like, and then they're not

really properly -- they're taking a mask and putting it under their neck. the germ on the outside of the mask is going everywhere your clothes. so be mindful of that as well. >> yesterday on "am joy" rapper a$ap ferg along with dr. davis reminded us about the need to wear masks and protective clothing correctly. somebody should repeat that to governor desantis while wearing a single glove and touching his face with his ungloved hand. to be honest, all of us could use a proper lesson on the way to wear masks to protect ourselves and to protect ourselves. to do that is my friend, lorna johnson, and assistant treasurer of the democratic national committee. i want to show desantis at

wednesday's press conference. he's incorrectly using his medical masks and gloves. let's put that up on the screen. he has everything on there not right. and then a picture of him touching his face. we've seen him doing things wrong. i want to show you side-by-side images of people wearing the masks correctly and incorrectly and can you please explain. >> good morning. thank you for having me. can you hear me? >> yes, we got you. >> one thing i notice -- i cringe myself when i look at people wearing the mask. you could be doing more damage wearing the mask than not wearing it at all. so, i would like to show you how to put your mask on, how to wear it, and keep -- and don't take it off, actually, until you're getting to your destination or where you want to go and you throw it away. it's really a bad practice to take it off and put it back on. here you go. the mask was originally made to wear in surgical department when

doctors are having -- doing surgeries to prevent cross-contamination from the doctor to the patient or to the surgical field. the white part of the mask is the part that goes to your face. the outer part is darker. you put it over your nose. squeeze that little metal part, go over your ears, and then you pull it down over your chin. as i said before, you can talk with the mask on. you don't have to take it off in order to talk. so, don't do this and put it under your chin. that's the worst thing you could do. like the previous speaker said, you're putting all those germs back into your face. the other thing you want to do, if you have to take it off, i would put it just over my chin. i would not put it under my neck. i would put it over my chin. every time you touch the outside, you are contaminating

your hand. so, you will need to wash your hand again. to take it off, you're going to pull out like that and you're going to drop it in the trash. there we go. voila. >> well done. thank you very much for showing us that. the other issue that i think -- i've heard this before, lorna, that sometimes having the mask and the gloves actually gives people almost a false sense of security. i've also seen the demonstrations that people have done online where people have the gloves on and then with the gloves on, they're reaching in and taking out their phone, touching their phone, reaching in their purse, doing all these other things that seem to be recontaminating themselves. >> yes. so, when you wear gloves, just pretend your glove is an extension of your hand. anything you wouldn't do with your naked hand, you shouldn't do it with the fwlooufz.

whatever you touch is going to be dirty, it's going to be contaminated, you're going to take it home to your family, so you have to be careful. another thing you want to do, remember your glove -- your hands love your face. so whatever you have in your gloves and you touch your face, you're going to be doing cross-contamination. again, make sure you wash your hand before you put your gloves on. keep your gloves on. don't touch anything you put put -- place where you wouldn't put your naked hand and don't touch your face. remember when you do that, you're not just protecting yourself, you're protecting your family, you're protecting the whole community. i want to make sure that you do the right thing. i'm going to just demonstrate to you how you take the gloves off, a dirty glove off. first you're going to grab it with your one hand and pull it off completely. then you can hold this dirty glove in your hand. then you're going to get two

fingers. you're going to take stick it under the clean part of your gloun and pull it over. so, you touch the clean part, coming from the inside, and you're good to go. and you drop it in the trash. there you go. >> perfect. thank you so much. >> you're doing it for others also. so, protect yourself, protect your family and do the right thing. >> amen. thank you, lorna johnson. also remember, everyone, throw that in the trash, not on the ground near your car as you're coming out of the store. please don't leave that out there for other people to have to pick up. throw it in the garbage. thank you so much. appreciate that so much. >> happy easter. >> happy easter to you, too. more "am joy" after the break. ae that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need.

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i look at it as we're all grieving. i think we're grieving our lives as we knew it two weeks ago. we're grieving our lives as we knew it a month ago. so it's like an ongoing death. it's an ongoing grieving period. and the scary thing is we don't know when it's going to end. >> good morning and welcome back to "am joy." among the heartbreaking economic

casualties of the covid-19 pandemic are the small business owners and restauranteurs left reeling from the collapse of the economy. you just saw my friend, melba wilson on "60 minutes" last week discussing the financial and emotional hardship she and her staff, many of whom had to be laid off, are currently facing. currently today, easter sunday, marks the day donald trump hoped, with no authority to enforce it, i might add, he hoped the country would be up and running. no one, least of all trump, can accurately predict when the country can get back to usual. but for the 16 million, 16 million americans now out of work, rhetoric like this is decidedly not helpful. >> i want to get it open as soon as we can. we have to get our country open, jeff. >> do you have what metrics you'll use? >> right here. that's all i can do. >> joining me now is congressman denny heck of washington state.

thank you for being here this morning. >> you're welcome. >> i'm going to play for you larry kudlow, formerly cnbc anchor, now director of donald trump's economic council, talking about going back to work again and how cool that would be. here he is. >> for a whole bunch of years you can see in the labor numbers people didn't want to work. i think, if i may, it's cool to work, your neighbor, your brother-in-law, you know, the guy down the street, working has become cool again. if you looked, one of my favorites was the millenials, the youngsters, their participation rates and their job increases were phenomenal before this virus came in. you know me, i also think work is a vur tu and i think it's a godly virtue as well. but i believe it's been cool to work and people are going to want to come back. >> you know, congressman, i used

to go on larry's show a lot, he's a nice guy, but it's ink d incredibly offensive that people didn't want to work and now it's chic and cool when donald trump came to town. on this to try to goad millenials as if they're lazy bums and he's trying to goad them to go back into work because it would be so cool. your thoughts? >> he self-evidently wrong if he suggests people don't want to work in this country, joy. the fact of the matter is, it's been an important part of our identity for virtually everybody, i have proof of this. what is the first thing we usually ask someone when we meet them, what do you do? it is as if what we do when we get up in the morning, that which gives us purpose, that which gives us provide, is really integral to our identity and self-esteem. people want to work. for him to suggest otherwise is just wrong-headed. >> and it has been a thing that

some on the right have often used to try to blanket, disparage people of color, i'll just throw that in as well. "the washington post" has a report that republican leaders are refusing to negotiate at all over small pis lending. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy released a joint statement saying they would not agree to any compromise with democrats that inc. chaed their proposal to add $250 billion to the paycheck protection program, which is run by the small business administration. republicans reject, they say, democrats' reckless threat to block job-saving funding, et cetera. you used to be a small business owner yourself before you were a member of congress. what do you make of that? >> well, this is easter. happy easter, joy. it is the season of rebirth and renewal and hope.

even in a time of darkness, as this is, but i'm going to be, frankly, optimistic. if congress can stand up a $2.2 trillion c.a.r.e.s. act in two weeks, i believe we can and will get to assistance for small business. here's the deal, joy, we absolutely have to. small businesses account for two-thirds of all new jobs that are created. they are the heart and soul of america's economy. small business people out there right now are very, very worried and apprehensive. their entire life dreams are at risk. i got a call three nights ago from a woman in this community who for more than 30 years has successfully operated a fairly decent size child care facility and she began as the stay-at-homeworker came into effect to lose a lot of children. that put her from operating and profitable into operating at a loss. she was very worried. you know who was left at her child care facility? the children of first responders

and doctors and nurses who had to have child care. she called up her bank, with whom she had had a relationship for more than ten years, they flat turned her down. she was scared, crying on the phone with me. mull reply that times millions throughout this country. however, this is good news on this strong. she wrote a strongly worded letter to her bank ceo and the next day he reversed his position. but think, joy, about the people who don't have strong or long-standing banking relationships, notably, as i'm sure you will point out, from community of colors or people who are just getting started in small businesses. they need our help. they need our help now. >> yeah. indeed. congressman, if you can stay with me, because i do happen to have a couple of small business owners i would love to bring into this conversation. let me introduce dr. ayla stanford, board certified surgeon and carlos cheffen,

proceed pryer to of boulevard bistro and reese scott, from women's world boxing club. we have the conman with us. reese, i'm going to start with you. tell us about what you're dealing with as this pandemic has hit your business. >> well, the challenges i'm facing right now is, of course, dealing with the banks. when you are starting out as a small business owner, you go to the banks and they say, okay, your credit is good but you're using up so much of your credit and that's a red flag so we're going to deny you this loan. then we rely on borrowing money, tapping into funds, doing whatever we can to make our dreams come true. now here we are dealing with covid and the banks say, it's unfortunately, but we have this trillion dollar fund set up to help you, but since you don't have an existing relationship with the bank, we can't give you any of that money. for me personally, i'm a one-woman operation.

i don't have any reserves. there's no cash flow right now. there's no revenue because my business is closed. so, the challenges i face, i'm closer to the first of the month when all of my operational expenses are still due. that's big the biggest challenge is figuring out, okay, how to do what i can with what i have when i don't have anything. that's where we are. >> absolutely. i want to ask the chef, i've been to bvd in harlem, it's an exceptional place. what are you going through? >> we're going through a lot of different things at this moment. right now we just applied for the pp loan, payroll protection, with the credit union we use. it's not a simple process as we thought. and i still have employees i

haven't paid yet that i'm till trying to get them paid. our debt is still here. you have to think right before, two weeks before this all happened, you know, my business was doing revenue in excess of $70,000 a week and now i'm doing about $3,000 a week. at most. at the best. so that's a big drop-off. and then i still have all of those bills that have amounted from march so we're looking at it from a realistic point of view, if we don't have funding, by, memorial day, we may not make it to labor day. that's the reality of it. the reality set in, right? so, the reality also has set in that we don't know what this is going to look like when the switch gets turned back on. we don't know how diners are going to dine again. we don't know if we'll be on a two-hour wait on sundays or 2 1/2 hour wait to come into the

bistro and have great food and listen to great music. we don't know if that's going to happen again. >> congratulationsman, you're hearing from people going through it right now. this is a lot of the stuff you were talking about in the opening interview. what's your response to them? >> i am confident congress is going to enact the second phase of the small business assistance. we'll have the opportunity to hear from people like you're having on now to make midcourse corrections. speaker pelosi has said she wants to make sure people who are unbanked, traditionally people from color will have money specifically directed to help them survive and bring through this experience. then the question is how much. the proposal on the table was another $250 billion that's on top of the $350 billion. i don't think $250 billion is

going to be adequate. we have to act as soon as possible to help these businesses survive. >> yeah. and i will note, by the way, for our audience, that donald trump has promised that he will do whatever is necessary to help boeing after it says it's exploring laying off 10% of its workforce. they're going to go all out to help boeing but they're not exactly going all out for these businesses. just a note for our audience. i want to bring in dr. ayla stanford. carlos made a really good point. we don't know when people are going to feel comfortable going back and dining again or taking up boxing class at a place like reese scott runs and being that close to so many other people. testing is what would make it easier to feel comfortable. we don't have that. is there an answer beyond being able to test as many people as possible or everyone to say, okay, you're okay to go back to work. you're okay to dine and you're

not. >> there are so many things that are -- our health care system is bursting at the seems, and so -- that health care -- >> i'm going to interrupt you. we'll give you a moment to get your audio back together. it's breaking up quite a bit. i'll let you hold on and see if we can pull your audio together. i'm going back to carlos. you were actually quoted in a piece that talked about this. about black-owned businesses facing particular hurdles in terms ferof the federal program. one practice of red lining or refusing to lend to people in communities of color, 2016 study by economists at the stanford

institute of economic policy research found that only 1% of black business owners get a bank loan during their first year of business compared to over 7% of white owners. having lived in harlem, i can tell you that harlem is gent fiing a lot, but still a majority black community and you can literally see it there, which businesses are being funded with ample funding and who is struggling even in a community of color itself. can you talk about whether or not -- you said you're dealing with a credit union. is that relationship sustaining you maybe perhaps more because of the relationship aspect of that? because we're trying to get answers for people in terms of where they might go to they can form a stronger relationship? >> that's a good question. thank you, joy. you know, one of the things i have a fear about is systematically banks have been racist, let's just call it what it is, against minority and

black-owned businesses. now we're asking them in a time of panic, in a dime of need, of crisis, to show empathy and to get out of the way of what they normally have done business and to look at the country as a whole, is that these small businesses are part of your country. it's not a separate country. it's your country that we're here to save. so that's where i have a little lack of faith that all of a sudden they're going to change the way they've been doing business for the last 200 years and all of a sudden say, okay, this country is in a crisis at this moment so let's look at the small businesses and let's look at them in -- as a business. not necessarily a minority business or black-owned business. let's look at them as a business that is valuable to the community and let's save them because when cuomo got on tv and he told us that sunday at 8:00 that we had to close down, i closed. i didn't question him. i believed him.

i believed what he was saying to be true. and that's what i did because i understood this was bigger than my restaurant. this is -- people were dying. people were getting sick. we had no understanding of it. so, all we're asking is for the banks to have the same understanding. >> indeed. i want to show you, reese -- amen to that. this is a tweet from ocasio-cortez highlighting -- looking at the difference in the world we're living in. the dow's best week since 1938 while millions of americans have lost jobs. most are in small businesses, that's who employs the bulk of the american public. so, the same message from you. do you feel that the federal government is paying enough attention to businesses of the same of the one you operate or is there just too much focus on the dow and on wall street. >> i do not believe that the

administration is focused on small businesses at all. especially black-owned businesses. i don't. that's the honest truth. it's unfortunate watching what's happening in our country. i feel that this administration cares more about the health of the economy than it does the health of its citizens. as a small business owner, it's like my community is their health means my health, you know what i mean? if we're all in good health, we'll all do well together. i feel like there's much too much emphasis on everybody get back to work. let's not talk about all the lives that are being lost. let's not talk about all of the people who have worked so hard to establish their businesses. let's not talk about them. let's talk about how we want to crack the whip and get everybody back to work. no, i don't feel -- there's a lot of concern for us, i really don't, joy. >> one last for you, congressman heck, speaker pelosi is now using the "d" word, depression,

saying we could be headed in that direction. i think a lot of americans lack confidence that this administration knows what to do. that knows how to handle it if we wind up in a depression that they'll have an answer that will help small business owners like the two people we have on today and individual workers, lower income workers, the poor. there's not a lot of confidence out there that they will even care enough about them to even do anything about it. does congress have the weight and authority to step in? this president doesn't even listen to y'all. he doesn't accept oversight. he does nothing y'all require. >> their lack of confidence has been earned, as a matter of fact. but as the saying goes, joy, in emergency break glass, it's break glass time. congress needs to step up more than they have and governors need to step up. the fact is out here in washington state, our governor stepped up. we were ground zero for this.

we were the number one place for the incident of coronavirus and we're falling down to 14th or 15th because he led. there's no -- there's no reason on god's green earth we should expect president trump to change his stripes at this point. the answers have to come from elsewhere. let me say two other quick things. carlos is right. we're dealing with overcoming 300 years of structural discrimination. that's a pretty tough thing to do. that's why speaker pelosi's insistence on set-aside for minority-owned businesses is so important. what we started to talk about with the doctor is critically important, too. if you want to cure the economy, you have to beat the virus. we know exactly how to do that. test, trace, quarantine, while we're working on the treatment and a vaccine. test, treat, quarantine. we know how to win this thing.

that's what we have to do. in the meantime, we need to make sure the small business assistance available is easily available to them. >> indeed. amen to that. i want to thank all our guests. i want to apologize to dr. stanford. we'll try to get her back on soon. we know she's a great guest. i know she has a lot to say. we'll bring her back. congressman heck, thank you so much, sir. carlos, reese scott, we're all with you guys. thank you very much. we really appreciate it. we'll all get through this somehow or another. up next, religion and politics during a pandemic. doctor bob, what should i take for back pain? before you take anything, i recommend applying topical relievers first. salonpas lidocaine patch blocks pain receptors for effective, non-addictive relief. salonpas lidocaine. patch, roll-on or cream. hisamitsu. yes. yes. yeah sure. yes. yes. yeah, yeah no problem.

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we are so honored to have him tuned in and our church absolutely loves president trump as do millions of christians around this nation. >> devoight trump loyalist and evangelical pastor jeffers as

president trump watched him lead services in dallas, despite prump trump's earlier hope of packed churches. during the pandemic, his behavior has included seeking to bail out corporations before people. what was that thing about camels and the eye of a needle? he's also picked fights with governors as americans die in their states and pushed potentially dangerous and untested cures for covid-19. and yet ivwhite evangelicals consider to consider trump their savior. joining me, esa aslon and bishop william barber, co-chairman of the poor people's campaign. he'll join us in a minute. he's not here yet. jim wallace, i want to start

with you. donald trump's leadership, or emerging as the leader of the white christian world in the country at this point poses a risk to them. if they listen to him and go back to church today for easter sunday, it would put them at risk. i guess a lot of people struggle to understand why they would do that and talk about having a woodstock of church instead of continuing to socially distance. do you understand it? >> happy easter, joy. >> happy easter. this easter will not be a passive referendum, a passive remembrance. this easter will be a bold proclamation of life over death, hope over despair. part of our role as faith leaders is to say no normal year. no new normal. easter is not a time to come back to normal. we have three roles.

one one, put our moral authority behind the doctors and scientists to maintain and discipline physical distancing. number two, to show how physical distancing must not lead to social isolation. standing apart. we can still do social solidarity. three, our main vocation, as always, is to focus on the most vulnerable. so jesus tells us, as we treat the least of these, is how we treat him. saying that, the least of these, least important in washington, d.c., but most important to follow jesus in this time, we will save that and not pack our churches in some foolish way infecting our neighbors and our neighborhoods with this disease. we will stand by the resurrection and protect life over death. that's our vocation. >> i want to ask you because a lot of people did not understand

it when white evangelical christians lined up behind donald trump given what he said about women, et cetera, but ronald jeffers, who donald trump has said he watched him today, watched his service today, he's a member of trump's ivevangelic advisory board. here he was in 2016 explaining his support. >> if you decide that what he said is true and that he's actually done those things, then you have to make a choice. if the answer is not donald trump because he has verbally or otherwise assaulted women, do you really want to put a woman into the white house who supports the greatest assault on women of all? and that is murdering them in the womb before they have a chance to be born? >> verbally or otherwise assaulted women. abortion is the key to support for donald trump and the fact he'll nominate judges who may overturn roe v. wade. that's the core of the support. is it as simple as that or is

there more of sort of also the tied of the country turning towards black and brown folks? is it all of that or one more than the other? >> well, it is important to understand for evangelical christians that abortion had a huge reason why they supported donald trump and donald trump in a cynical way used abortion as a means of gathering that kind of support, record support, as you know, joy, some 80% of white evangelicals voted for donald trump. that was a record in this country. that's more white evangelicals who voted for bush, who was a white evangelical. part of it has to do with the cynical politicking that's always involved in republican campaigns to try to bring the evangelical vote. i think donald trump did a better job of it. but i don't think we should pretend the white part of this

sentence doesn't matter. 67% of evangelicals of color voted for hillary clinton. these people more or less hold the same theology but have a didn't skin tone. i think there was this wonderful article in "christianity today," not long after the election that said white evangelicals acted more white than evangelical. i think my good friend jim wallis has made comments like that as well. race unquestionably played a part in it. i think there's something deeper as well. it has to do with what sometimes is referred to as the loss of the culture wars by white evangelicals. i've written a lot about this. i've spoken a lot about the way in which trump's evangelical supporters seemed like a type of cult, deep insular group bound together by this devotion to a charismatic leader. what i'm worried about now with.

pandemic, what allows a cult to truly thrive is a sense of siege. this worked in 2016 because donald trump told them that, you know, democrats are out to destroy churches and kill babies and take away their guns and that worked. but now we're literally experiencing a sense of siege. so this backlash you're seeing from a lot of pastors in places like louisiana, kentucky, kansas, across the country, frankly, to try to prove something by forcibly having these in-person services defying the authorities, defying medical advice to make a point about their support for donald trump, this is the kind of behavior, this cult-like whatever that can lead to, as jim said, the deaths of thousands of people. it's no longer just a cult of personality. it's now becoming a doomsday cult. >> it's terrifying. this is a good point to bring in

bishop barber. he's the chairman of the poor people's campaign and the author of "revive us again." i think that point was well made by resa, bishop, and happy easter to you, that black evangelicals act in a very different way in terms of their politics. there's been more of a focus among liberal evangelicals and black evangelicals outside of the white christian regime about things like, no, we should be focusing on helping the poor, we should be focusing on loving our neighbor by staying away from our neighbor and not going to churches where people could potentially catch covid-19. i'm going to let you take that from here. >> thank you so much. and i think part of the way we frame this is evangelicals. what we hear from jeffers is heretical.

that is not the theology of jesus christ, not the theology of love. last week jesus was with us he was staying at the house of the poor in bethany and saying people are hypocrites for people who go through religious services and declaring a nation would be judged for how it cares for the poor, the least of these, and the sick and the hungry and the immigrants on every turn and policy trump has sinned. he has failed. he needed to be in a place where he would hear rebuke and be called out of love to repetence and not encouraged in his work. part of the problem is we have to have some politicians who start talking about the poor and not just the middle class. there's 100 million people who didn't vote in the last election. we have to stop pretending like trump won this major victory. the margin of victory this is in the color of white, black and

brown people who never hear their names mentioned in politics. in every state he won the margin of victory is among the poor. so, we're going to have to get to a point where we believe, would he believe that justice is not a liberal issue, helping the poor. and this pandemic is trying to teach us this. we better change -- >> indeed. >> i'm going to ask for grace from all three to please stay and hold on with me. i'm required to go to the briefing that governor cuomo is having in new york. if you can hold on, we'll come back to you. >> the flani ingflattening of t. the apex isn't just an apex. it's a plateau. you see that line flattening and that's what the experts were talking about, that it might have been a straight up and rapid down or it might be up to an apex and the apex becomes a plateau. that's what these numbers suggest. changing in icu admissions

ticked up. again, the icu admissions is a little questionable now because almost all the beds in the hospital have turned into an icu bed. so, how hospitals classify icu admissions is a little dubious to me. but that's my personal two cents. three-day average on icu admission, same thing. tick up in the intubations, which is not good news but you see yesterday was great news. that may have been a blip in the overall. the intubations are very relevant because people come into the hospital. they get treated. hopefully they get charged. if they don't stay in the hospital, they decline, the longer on a intubator and the less likely you are to get off a

ventilator. that's the trajectory we see. the intubations, most people who are intubated will not come off the ventilator. so, that's a troubling number, the intubation number, which is real. the three-day intubation rate is down relative to where we were. all the numbers are basically saying the same thing. number of discharges goes up because we had that high hospitalization rate. people stay for a week, two weeks, they get discharged. that's why the scharnls are a function of the hospitalization rate. three-day average of the discharges, you see, again basically flat, so it's all reinforcing the same thing. a flattening of all these numbe numbers. you're not seeing a great decline in the numbers, but you're seeing a flattening. and you're also seeing a

recurrence of the terrible news, which is the number of lives lost, which is 758. somebody asked the question once, can ever get numb to these -- seeing these numbers? unfortunately, no. 758 people lost their lives in a 24-hour period. i speak to many families who are going through this, many who lost loved ones. every one is a face and a name and a family that is suffering on this weekend, which for many people in this state and in this nation is a high religious holiday, which is already distorted because we have churches closed, we have temples closed, so this is truly tragic news. and i want every family to know that they're in our thoughts and

prayers and we're sorry they had to go through this. i want them to know that new yorkers did everything humanly possible to be there for their loved ones and try to save those lives. and we're proud of that. he see also a flattening in the number of lives lost at a terribly high rate, but if you look back over the past several days, you see there's a certain continuity to that number. again, that's the one number that i look forward to seeing drop. as soon as i open my eyes in the morning. and it has been flattening but at a terribly high level. again to put it in context, 9,385 lives lost. when you add those to yesterday, put in the context of 9/11,

which was supposed to be the tragedy of my lifetime, 2,753 lives lost, we're now at 9,385. big question for everyone is when do we reopen? people want to get on with their lives, want to get out of the house, cabin fever. we need the economy working. people need a paycheck. life has to function. when do we reopen? when do we reopen? look, the answer is, we want to reopen as soon as possible. everyone does on a societal level. everyone does on a personal level. let's just end this nightmare, right? groundhog day. you get up every day, it's the same routine you almost lose track what day of the week it is because they don't even have meaning anymore. there's also some anxiety and stress that we're all dealing with so we want to reopen as soon as possible the caveat is,

we need to be smart in the way we reopen. what does smart mean? it means a coordinated approach, a regional approach and a safe approach. kno nobody wants to pick between a public health strategy and an economic strategy. as governor of this state, i'm not going to pick one over another. we need a public health strategy that is safe, that is consistent with an economic strategy. how do you reopen but how do you do it in a way that is smart from a public health point of view? the last thing we want to see is an uptick in that infection rate and uptick in the numbers we worked so hard to bring down. we need a strategy that coordinates business and schools and transportation and workforce. what new york pause did is it stopped everything at the same time.

it was a blunt device but it shut down everything at the same time. we need more testing, faster testing than we now have when you move people back to work and we need federal help. there's no doubt about that. i did a joint statement with governor hogan, who is the chairman of the national governor's association. he is a republican. i am the vice chair. i'm a democrat, those who don't know, and we did a joint statement that said, look, the federal government did a stimulus bill, a bill that was supposed to help move the economy along called the federal ca c.a.r.e.s. act. the federal c.a.r.e.s. act almost ignored state governments. when you ignore a state government, you ignore our situation, we have a $10 to $15

billion deficit, we got a budget done, but our dbudget was basically contingent upon what happens going forward. and without federal assistance, how does this state economy come back? how do we really start to fund schools, et cetera? that's going to -- that has to happen from a federal level. there is no level above a state government that can make the difference besides the federal government. we did a statement on a bipartisan basis that said the federal government has to fix this in the next bill. we called $500 billion for funding, for state governments. again, we did that on a bipartisan basis. from new york's point of view, the past bills were like most federal past bills. they were -- went through the political process and to get a bill passed in washington,

everyone has to get their piece of the pie to pass a bill. i understand politics. i understand it very well. that's not how this should be operating here. and you did an injustice to the places that actually had the need, which from an american taxpayer point of view, that's what you were trying to correct. you were trying to correct the devastation of the virus. well, then correct the deaf station of the virus. not everything has to be an opportunity for pork barrel, right? you look at where the money actually went. theoretically the bill distributed funding to states for corrective action and expenses on handling the virus. kaiser health, which is a very notable organization, said that nebraska, montana, for example, minnesota, are getting

approximately $300,000 per covid-19 case. new york state gets approximately $12,000. how can that be? it can be because in the senate, it became a game of political pork and i want my share as opposed to where is the need genuinely? and new york is vital to this american economy. it's not just about new york. our economy is vital to this country. you want new york's economy up and running. not just for the good of new york but for the good of the nation. that was the purpose of the lenl lags. they missed the mark. i hope they do it next time. a simple, easy way to help new york is right the wrong that the federal government did when it passed the s.a.l.t. tax, state

and local tax. that was just a political maneuver in the first place. you're trying to help places that are suffering from the virus. repeal the s.a.l.t. tax, which should have never been done, as i said, in the first place. we're going to work with our neighboring states because this is the tri-state area. it's a regional economy. i'm going to speak with governor murphy and governor lamont later today on coming up with a reopening plan that is a public health plan, safeguards public health but also starts to move us towards economic action vags. we'll also do an executive order today which directs employers to provide essential workers with a cloth or surgical face mask to their employees when they are

interacting with the public. and they should provide those masks cost-free. new jersey did a similar order and i think governor murphy was right and i want to do that here in the state of new york. we have to also expand testing. one of the ways we want to do that is by executive order. we'll expand the number of people who are eligible to do the antibody test. we have state regulation that state who can actually do the antibody test. one is a diagnostic test, one is the antibody test. the antibody test tells you if the person had the virus and got over the virus. that would be a prime person who could go back to work because they theo reticily have an immunity to the virus for a period of time. they're not sure what the period of time is. there aren't a tremendously large number of people with the antibodies, which is good news, because we kept down the

infection rate. but that is an important test and we have to get that test to scale and this executive order will help do that. happy easter for all those who are celebrating. happy spring for those who aren't is celebrating. spring is my favorite season. what spring says to all of us is it's a time of rebirth, that no matter how cold the winter, no matter how barron the landscape got, the earth comes back to life and it was flat and it was barron and it was closed down and then it comes back to life. and for me, this spring especially, we have been closed down. we have locked the doors, isolated, hunkered down, closed down in a way we've never closed down before. you want to talk about a cold

winter where the earth becomes barron. this has been a cold winter from a societal point of view. we've closed down in a way we've never closed down. but we will come back to life and we will have a rebirth. and that's what spring is all about. and the rebirth is primarily about our people and about our spirit. they say the spirit lives. there have been a couple of moments through this that will stay with me for all time. and a couple of moments that were really dark periods, looking at that number of deaths is a dark period. the phone calls with families are dirk periods. the fear of the worst case scenario of those numbers going through the roof and

overwhelming the hospital capacity was a dark period. fears of seeing what happened in italy and how their health care system got overwhelmed and it could happen here. that was dark. the number of conversations had with people who lost their father, their spouse, their brother, their sister, out of the blue. but there's also been some moments that just were so inspirational to me that just showed such a positive spirit. you know, it's -- when things are at their worst is when you will see the good, the bad and the ugly, right? when people are under pressure, you see like their true essence will come out. and some people will break your heart. people who you expected to react differently will just break your heart and disappoint you.

but then other people who you expected nothing from will show you a strength and a resilience that just is an inspiration. we were goinginspiration. we were going through a period where we were afraid of the hospital capacity peaking and we needed equipment and we were focused on ventilators, because ventilators for this disease -- it's a respiratory disease. you need ventilators. nobody ever anticipated this kind of situation. so we're in a mad rush for ventilators. and we're shifting ventilators all over the state. and i'm asking hospitals to cooperate with each other and lend each other equipment, including ventilators. and some hospitals were great and some hospitals were less great, which you expect. but then out of the blue, a phone call came where a nursing

home in upstate new york said, we understand downstate may need ventilators. we want to let them borrow 35 ventilators. unsolicited. they just called and offered the 35 ventilators. and we went and picked up the ventilators and we brought them downstate. i remember when they came in and they told me, a nursing home in upstate, a nursing home is one of the most vulnerable places in this entire situation. right? elderly populations and in a confined area of a nursing home. and here a nursing comes forward and says, we want to lend you 35 ventilators to bring downstate. i tell you, for me, when i heard that news, with all this bad, with all this negative,

something inside me said, you know what? we're going to be okay. we're going to find our way through this. because there is an inherent goodness in people that will surprise you. and they will rise to the occasion. and at the end of the day, good will win against bad. i believe that. and love will conquer all. i went -- we brought the 35 ventilators back to panthways which is a nursing and rehabilitation center. i went by there this morning when they were returning the 35 ventilators just to say thank you. thank you on behalf of all the people of the state. thank you for their generosity. thank you on behalf of downstate new york. we're in a position now where we're not going to need the ventilators. we're going to be okay

equipment-wise, unless things change dramatically. but thank you on behalf of the people of the state as governor of the state of new york. and thank you for myself, because the people from pathways who are watching this broadcast, i couldn't go inside. so i didn't really get a chance to talk to them. but i wanted to say thank you for me, from me, because they brought me inspiration and hope and energy at a time when i personally really needed it. and that call and that generosity and that love buoyed my spirit and my feelings and was such a lift for me. and i remember i went and i talked to the team. i said, can you believe how beautiful a gesture this is?

so i wanted to say thank you. as governor and for me, myself and i, andrew cuomo, thank you to the people of pathways. questions? >> are there any updates on new york city schools? have you had discussions with mayor mayor de blasio moving forward? >> we are where we were. the schools, first we have to have a coordinated approach on the reactivation, if you will. schools, businesses, work force, transportation, it all has to be coordinated. number two, it all has to be coordinated regionally. we closed everything down in a coordinated fashion. and we did it regionally. we did it with new york, new jersey, connecticut, that tri-state area.

that partnership is very important for our individual states and our collective states. and we did it with nassau, the downstate region together with the tri-state partners. that's how we will go forward together. so we will have a coordinated plan. we will have a regional plan. hopefully, we can get on the same page with new jersey and connecticut. we're going to try. that is the optimum situation. i don't know if we can achieve it. states are a little different demographically. a little different places. but the optimum that we're still trying is a wholly coordinated approach. part of that process, not only will i be working with governor murphy and governor lamont, new

jersey and connecticut wre respectively, i will work with new york city and the counties. but we will do it in a coordinated regional approach. >> just to extrapolate from that, are you suggesting that new york city schools could reopen this year? >> all the schools are closed. all the schools in the downstate and upstate area are closed. they will remain closed. we're not going to open any school until it is safe from a public health point of view. we won't open schools one minute sooner than they should be opened. but we won't open schools one minute later than they should be opened either. and that has to work in a coordinated plan with businesses. am i, as i sit here, prepared to say what we will be doing in june? no. i do not know what we will be doing in june. nobody knows what we will be doing in june.

as i said, i talked to the best experts around the globe on this. the smartest ones all start by saying, i don't know. we have to watch and see and follow the signs, follow the data and see what happens. i'm not prepared to say what we will do in june. whatever plan we come up with will be driven by data and science. it will be coordinated to do all those functions at once. because you can't do one without the others. if you say the schools are closed through june, you are effectively saying businesses are closed through june. because you can't put the -- restart the economy fully without restarting schools. schools are also -- provide not just education but they are in many ways childcare for people who can go to work.

coordinate all of that, do it regionally. june is a long way from now. we go day to day to watch those numbers. and we will work with jersey and connecticut and our local governments in each state to come up with a coordinated plan. >> realistically, does it make sense to open schools, even if it were june, for a couple weeks? do you think people can assume that school isn't happening until september? >> i wouldn't assume anything, because if you say schools aren't going to open, you are saying businesses aren't going to open. is anyone prepared to sit here today and say, businesses are not going to open through june? june is a long way away. i have said from day one, all these predictions, we're going to open businesses in may, we're going do this in may or this in june.

i think that's all premature. i don't think anybody can make an informed decision right now. look, every informed projection by experts, by the way, has not turned out correct. which is good news, right? our policies and the social compliance actually changed all the projection models. those were three, four weeks ago. you know, june is a long, long way away. >> could you speak to -- it seems like there's a lot of confusion between the conflicting messages from the mayor and yourself over schools could close. how do you plan on avoiding that type of public confusion when it comes to reopening state? >> look, we have remained remarkably consistent. i worked hand in glove with the federal government, which is not always been the easiest

relationship. right? and i work very, very hard to make sure that relationship works. that is a prime relationship for our state's response. i work with local governments all across the state. sometimes it's less coordinated than we would like. but, you know, that happens when you are dealing with a lot of local governments. but we have to work with new jersey, connecticut, optimum, we come up with one plan for all three states. that would be great. if we can't come up with the exact same plan, similar plans, because we have a tri-state work force. right? you have people who live in west chester who work in connecticut. you have people who live in connecticut who work in new york city. people who live in new york city who work in new jersey. this all works as one or it doesn't work. transportation works with economic deve