that does not leave you a lot of wiggle room. so we're going to start the phase of reopening. you're at .9 now. after this entire closedown, if you go to 1.2, you're going to have a problem again. so you see how narrow the window is. but new york pause has worked. the closedown has worked. that's how we controlled the beast. that's how we got it down to .9. however, we're not there yet. we're just a .9. depend, wuhan got down to .3. so we have to continue doing what we're doing. i would like to see that infection rate get down even more. the new york pause policies, the closedown policies will be extended in coordination with other states until may 15th. i don't want to project beyond that period. that's about one month.

one month is a long time. people need certainty and clarity so they can plan. i made a coordinated action plan with the other states. so one month we will continue the closedown policies. what happens after them? i don't know. we will see, depending on what the data shows. what does that mean? tell me what our infection rate spread is. is it nine, one, 1.7? tell me what the hospitalization rate is. and then the experts will tell us the best course of conduct based on that data. no political decisions, no emotional decisions. data and science we'. we're talking about human lives here. as relatively simple and possibly as annoying as it

seems, wearing a mask is one of the best things that we can do. and i understand we're getting a lot of not happy phone calls off what i said yesterday about wearing masks in public. but i'm sorry it makes people unhappy. i do not consider it a major burden. and it really is a simple measure that can save lives. and, yes, people say it's a personal intrusion on them, but, again, remember it's not just about you, right? i have rights also, and my kids have rights. and your kids have rights. and you have a right for another person to take a reasonable safeguard not to get infected. so the masks work. we said in public today i'm

going to include public transportation systems, private transportation carriers for higher vehicles, any operator of a public system, an operator of a private carrier, and for higher vehicles must wear a mask at all times. what does that mean? to get on a bus, you need to wear a mask. if you get in a train, you need to wear a mask. if you get into a private car service, uber, lyft, the operator needs to wear a mask. if you get on a private bus, the operator needs to wear a mask and you need to wear a mask on a private carrier. so is this inconvenient? yes. when you're in a closed environment by definition, you're not socially distancing by definition. you're in the front seat of a car to the back seat of a car.

you're one seat on a bus to another seat on a bus. this is a precaution for everyone that i think balances individual liberties with a social conscience. this will go into effect friday at 8:00 p.m. ultimately what determines the rate of infection? you do, and i do. that's what this all comes down to, as simple as it sounds. it's not about government. it's not about anything else. it's about what people decide to do. and what people have decided to do. they have brought this infection rate down. it's that simple. nurses, doctors did a phenomenal job. first responders did a phenomenal job. essential workers did a phenomenal job. but that rate came down because people changed their behavior. that's what happened. it is about the behavior of our

people. it's that simple. it's our behavior, it's our level of discipline, it's how we educate our children, it's how considerate we are of others. what we're willing to do to safeguard others' health in our community. that's what makes all the difference on what we're doing. and it is the simple things. it's wearing a mask, it's watching your hands, it's the hand sanitizer, it's the social distance, it's making sure your children understand what to do, what not to do. it's all of these simple procedures that seem almost insignificant but on a collective basis make all of the difference in the world. and it is making smart choices. i want to get out of the house. i'm going crazy. i need to do this, i need to do this. i know, but be smart.

be smart. engage what you're doing relative to everyone else and relative to the overall goal. but i will tell you -- and i don't know that people truly appreciated this -- i don't know that i did -- of all of the unique aspects that we have learned going through this, the most positive and the most surprising to me has been how people have responded. the policies that i have communicated are not worth the paper they are printed on. i could stand up here as governor and say, we must do this, we must do this, we must do this. these are some of the most life-changing policies government has ever issued. think about it. this is not government saying here's your tax rate.

here's age of voting. this is government saying, stay in your house, don't touch another person, wear a mask. government that i don't even have the ability to enforce these measures on any scale if people said i'm not willing to do it. so these policies, which are difficult, which are life-changing, they are being implemented by people because people are choosing to do the right thing. it is that simple. and what this is all about, today the masks on transportation, i trust in new yorkers. you know, i believe if the facts are presented to the people in this state, new yorkers will do the right thing. it is the right thing. there's always a right thing.

it is the appropriate path that is socially and morally correct. and new yorkers have a very strong right thing quotient. they know what the right thing is when they hear it. all i'm trying to do is give them the facts and the explanations as to why i'm suggesting these actions. they decide whether or not to follow them. i can't put a mask on 17 million people. 17 million people will decide whether or not they'll do it, but they have done it. because they have the facts, they have the information, they understand the risks, they understand the rewards, they understand the consequences. and what they have done is worked and it brought this day forward and it will bring this nation forward. and that's new yorkers at their

best and that's because we are new york tough and because new york tough is more complex than the word suggests. it's smart, it's united, it's disciplined and it's loving. and new york, new yorkers have proven that time and time again every day for 46 days. questions? >> governor -- >> governor -- >> how many residents died from covid-19 -- >> will we still learn something new? >> let's not all talk over everyone. i will make sure we answer. i'll get to you, to answer the question. and let's just start with jesse, let's go to you first. >> for new york at least ten nursing home residents died of covid-19. there have been at least 23 cases and 6 deaths at one nursing home. a new windsor living facility. how many and which nursing homes have reported clusters, outbreaks or requested mass testing from the state, and where are they?

and is the state advising nursing homes to open covid-only units or transfer elsewhere? >> okay, i will get you -- i don't know. we have hundreds and hundreds of nursing homes in this state so i don't know what has happened in every nursing home in the state. i don't have firsthand knowledge of what happened with the nursing homes in hornle, new york, but we will get you today a list of information by nursing homes to the best we have. as we get that updated, we will get it to you. >> mayor de blasio is talking about a $ 7.4 million hit in terms of tax revenue. can you discuss help for the city of new york vis-a-vis that as well as the 1.2 million people applying now for unemployment in the state? >> jesse, yes, it's simple.

we had multiple applications. it's every county in the state. it's every local government in the state. the short answer is cannot do it. i have a $10 billion to $15 billion hole. i'm not in any position to help any of it. this is why i said, this is where the federal government has to step in. and advise understanding the federal government is going to say we passed major pieces of legislation, pat us on the back, to protect the economy and move the economy forward, but you don't fund state and local governments? and when you don't fund a state and local government, it means the state and local government has to turn around and cut everybody that relies on them. it's not smart. it's not right, it's counter productive. i understand you don't get the same political credit when you

fund new york state or new york city or national county, suffolk county, because it doesn't represent any voters, any people. it's just a government entity. i get that. and i get that politically they like to pass legislation where they can call up someone when they get home and say, hey, jess ji, i got a check for you. i understand that. but at one point you have to put the politics aside and say we have to do something that's actually making a difference. and how can you even pretend you're addressing this cry siis when you're starving state and local governments? and that's not a democrat to republicans. national governors association, headed by a chairman who's republican, governor hogan, great guy, great governor. myself as vice chairman, we sent a letter saying that to the administration. and, by the way, i say it to my democratic congressional members. i said to senator schumer, i've

said to senator gillibrand, you passed a piece of legislation that starves state and local governments. you're not helping the country. you're just not. well, we have to get to -- yes. it doesn't matter to get to yes if the bill doesn't do what the purpose is. >> just to follow on maria's question real quickly, why has it taken so long to get specific information about specific nursing homes? that would seem to be in the public interest for people to know where people are dyeing. >> we're putting it together. you know, you have -- you're pushing the practical reality here. that's why i say watch this whole reporting system. you have hospitals that are dealing with hell every day. and you're basically saying, make sure your report isn't late, chsz whwhich is what the

department of health says. nursing homes that are dealing with hellacious situations, make sure your report is on time. yeah, i have been on the phone with these types of facilities, and they say i understand, make sure my report is on time. i have seven people critically ill. i'm short-staffed. i don't have enough ppe. and you're giving me a hard time about reports. so in the balance of things, i understand the degree of difficulty. but -- and how many nursing homes are there? 613 nursing homes, right? so you're not talking about one phone call. but we are getting the data. it is coming in. when will we have it, do we know? >> today. >> today. >> governor, you mentioned that there's obviously the flattening of hospitalizations but we had yesterday -- or the day before the highest number of positive cases since testing started. are you concerned about seeing that number tick up?

and why that might be? >> testing -- testing is not indicative of anything, in my opinion. it is not a random sample. it's a functioning of how many tests you are doing. it's been happening as our testing capacity has been going up. as our testing capacity goes up, the more tests you do, the more positives you will find. the testing is not random. it's people who believe they're positive because of the circumstances. they're exposed to a positive person, et cetera. so you're getting people who you think are positive to test, and then the more tests you take, the more positives you're going to find. the hospitalization rate of any of these rates, the most indicative is the hospitalization rate. what it's telling you is that these are people who are infected and were seriously ill. that's what the hospitalization rate tells you.

it's the only real data that you now have. it doesn't tell you the rate of infection spread and whether it's increasing or decreasing, but it tells you how many people walked into the hospital who were positive after they were tested and who were seriously ill. that is the only number you have that is statistically representative. >> president trump accused new york city of padding the death count, padding the numbers because they changed the way that they're reporting. so now they're saying they added something like 3,800 new deaths based on in-home deaths. what do you say to that? do you think the president is correct in saying that? also, when is the state going to start having that separate category? >> yes. you listen better than i do. what they're saying is -- first, i don't know what the president

said, specifically what his words were. and why would new york city want to inflate a death toll? i mean, that doesn't make a lot of sense. it's bad enough as it is. it's painful enough as it is. why would you want to inflate a death toll? look, i don't know. that's more bizarre than usual that anyone would want to do that. i think what's happening they're changing -- cdc put out different guidelines about what numbers you must report. we've always said all we really know are deaths in a hospital or deaths in a nursing home. could people be dyeing at home because of the coronavirus and we're not counting it? yes. was this a rough estimate? yes. so now we're trying to refine the estimate, other categories and other possibilities.

i think that's what it is is more of anything, it's more of a reporting process. ma listia? >> that's exactly what the governor said, the cdc put out guidance on reporting so actually the president's own cdc put out this guidance. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts at this hour. new jobless claims reported today show staggering economic impact due to coronavirus. 5.2 million more americans filing for unemployment benefits during the past week, bringing the four-week total to more than 22 million people now joining the jobless ranks. president trump is raising the pressure on governors to lift social distancing curbs in this states with a conference call to 50 governors later today and announcement tonight on the new federal guidelines for restarting the economy in sections of the country as early as may 1. and you just heard new york governor andrew cuomo announcing his state's play in place order will be in place until may 15th.

leaving the question what are the medical risks for 99% of americans still not tested for covid-19? and is congress still at a stalemate putting more money after the business loans and the initial $350 billion ran out? joining us now nbc white house correspondent weekend "today" co-host, kristen welker, nbc and correspondent joe ming kent and advis adviser and author of "finding my voice." cyst app the president scheduled this 3:00 call, predicting an opening by may 1, if not sooner he said. you heard mayor cuomo that said may 15th. and that is coordinated with new jersey and others in the region as well. what about the medical risk? we have not heard from deborah birx. we have not heard from dr. fauci on this. >> andrea, we're hearing a far

more cautious tone from the top medical advisers to president trump. deborah birx yesterday saying, look, if you want to have a dinner party of 20 people or more, don't do it. while we're seeing signs of improvement, we're not there yet. so there's real concern within the medical community that if the social distancing guidelines are relaxed too soon, then it could lead to a resurgence in the outbreak and that could ultimately lead to more economic damage. but president trump is determined to try to at least have some states start to relax those social distancing guide lines on or before may 1. some of the states where we are seeing far lower rates of coronavirus. so what we're expecting this afternoon, the administration to put out guidelines. the question, andrea, is how specific are those guide liepz goi guidelines going to be? we anticipate a testing component, some type of component to track the people that already tested positive.

and we anticipate this is going to be a rolling process and we've said this, but it's worth repeating, the administration's not going to suggest that states flick open like a lightswitch, for example. this is going to be a rolling, gradual process. but, again, there's still a lot 6 concerns about relaxing these guidelines too quickly and all of the focus will be on just how detailed those guidelines are. president trump though saying the ultimate decision is up to the governors to get this done, andrea. >> and jo ling kent, we heard many reports from the business leaders who were on those conference calls with the president that they were stressing that they can't reopen their businesses until there's public confidence, until there's more testing. and that seems to be the conundrum. >> yeah, andrea, it really is. so many business leaders right now taking this time to actually lay off workers. so inside that 22 million number

that you have, 22 million people who are unemployed over the past four weeks, what's not counted in there are the major companies doing furloughs and layoffs. for example, over 50,000 hourly workers at best buy being furloughed as of yesterday. did need to furlough 43,000 workers come sunday. those numbers, again, are not in the process. we've always been talking to state unemployment agencies and the directors of those state department of labors, they're in close consultation with their governors, of course. and they're saying that they continue to have a bottleneck and they're unable to practice enough claims as fast as they would like to. they're consulting with big tech companies on this front but they continue to struggle to be able to deliver the relief that so many americans need as quickly as possible. so as we've been talking to economists about the broader picture here, andrea, what we're starting to see is an economy falling off a cliff. that's what one economist told nbc news. a very, very hard time ahead for

millions of americans, andrea. >> valerie jarrett, as you look at this, the president yesterday threatening to shut down congress. no president has ever done that. it's legally, constitutionally arguable whether or not he could. there would have to be a whole process of the senate, democratic and republican leaders disagreeing over this and whether that preceded it but he was threatening a shutdown over recess appointments, including recess appointments for the head of the broadcast panel that runs the voice of america. he was dismissing the voa, an esteemed journalistic organization of thousands and thousands of journalists around the world, just to get some political appointee in who's been hold up for two years with bipartisan opposition. where does this leave us with that kind of performance from the rose garden yesterday? >> look, it's just a distraction. it's part of a pattern we've seen from the beginning.

when things don't go his way he looks for somebody to blame or way to get the press on to something different. we were not able to get a hearing for our supreme court nominee merrick garland and never would president obama consider doing something this radical. and it's also part of his determination he will be the sole asht ur when the government opens, how we handle the disease, what treatments we should give. again, from the very beginning first there was a period of be completely being caught flat-footed. he was warned in 201 a pandem7 c was likely. i focused solely on a pandemic after our experience with h1n1 and zika and ebola. we did an exercise on pandemic which they did not take seriously. we left them with a roadmap and report how to handle it. since then we've seep denial, happy talk where it would

disappear, rallies where he said it was a hoax and everybody would be back in church on easter, all of this is just intended to take the eye off the real issue is he handled this poorly. look, i'm living in new york city right now and we just heard governor cuomo's press conference, evidence-based, factual, thoughtful, not making up arbitrary deadlines which he has no idea whether or not he could adhere to and thank goodness we have the leadership we do from governors around the country but there's a huge backlash in washington. >> you know the michigan governor, governor whitmer being pressured and protested against and others. there's a backlash building in many parts of the country against the governors who are being worried about coronavirus and others. >> that's the whole point, to deflect them. again, we were in the white house, regardless of party, we treated all governors with

respect and fairness. we understood our responsibility to coordinate. the fact these governors are competing for supplies and bidding each other up is so ridiculous when it should be all coming from washington. thank goodness the governors are banding together, forming their own coalitions, agreeing amongsts themselves you can't have just one state determine what will happen when it's affecting surrounding states. thank goodness we have that leadership. but this is what we should be expecting from the president of the united states, which is another reason i'm supporting joe biden for president. someone with a track record of experience who would walk in there on day one and understand we have to make sure we're -- our country is healthy but also he has the experience of figuring out how do we get our economy going again? >> indeed, that is the big question. valerie jarrett, thank you. jo ling kent, thank you. of course, kristen welker. joining us now dr. wayne riley, president of seamy down state medical center in new york and

dr. ma della, medical director of the special pathogens unit at boston university's school of medicine. we just heard from governor cuomo about may 15th being the deadline from beginning to get things moving, opening up in new york state. is that realistic given what you're seeing on the frontlines? >> well, we're at the plateau stage. in brooklyn we're still getting cases. i think we have to do this cautiously, carefully and gradually. so the governor's plan to not adhere to the may 1 sort of date emanating from the white house i think is very, very sound. the governor is going to let -- and i hope most governors around the state, will let the science and public health professionals sort of have the final word on this. the worse thing we can do from a medical and public health point of view is open quote/unquote early and have a number of relapses and number of deaths.

>> doe with have a number yet for the frontline health workers? >> so we're currently testing about -- >> i'm sorry, doctor, can you -- >> can you hear me? is my audio in the working? >> yes, please go ahead. it's working type. thank you. >> great. 146,000 people a day in the united states. what that belies is that's about 9.3 people per thousand we're testing and that's lower than what italy and other places are doing. some of it is just how massive our country is and the upper limits in performing this test is just the manpower to do the tests, the supplies, swabs we're running out of. there's a waiting list for hospitals to get these swabs, refresh their supplies. so i don't think we're there yet in terms of setting up the capacity. when we open, the questions are going to be what's different now than when we put people in physical distancing and social distancing public restrictions? and to be honest, testing isn't

that much better. it's better than where it was. but it's not where it's supposed to be. to get to this point hospitals extend their resources and basically turned ward after ward into covid patient wards. at some point we have to start looking at when do we give a breather? when do we allow the rest of the health care system to catch up and provide needs to other patients as well? that's why we need to keep the patient ratios lower, among other things. >> dr. riley, there was a report in "the washington post" of other effects of the coronavirus on kidneys, on brains as well as other neurological effects. are you seeing that from your medical teams? >> yes, we are. we're quite surprised that sort of the multi system impact that coronavirus disease is happening in our patients. we're seeing some mild -- hopefully transient, cognitive issues with terms of brain function. we're really stunned in some cases with the level of cardiac

involvement with this disease, which is very different than some other viral diseases that don't have a severe cardiac manifestation. we are seeing our patients will take a little bit longer time to sort of get back to their new normal in terms of rehab. so this virus is very pathogenic, very virulent. it does not live by the textbook other viruses have played by. you're right, we are seeing more multi-forces impact with coronavirus. >> thank you both very much in or shortened show because of the governor's important briefing. and we're going to be reporting right now from new jersey on the devastating situation at one of the state's largest nursing homes, uncovered after an anom miss tip. nbc's ron allen is in andover, new jersey. we just heard from governor

cuomo about the reporting, they're still analyzing over 29 deaths reported from nursing homes, and there were so many hundreds around the state. what about new jersey, 17 bodies were found in a small morgue there. what are you reporting on there in new jersey? >> it's a very disturbing situation, andrea, in new york and new jersey. yes, the alarms started going off here over the weekend when staff and others called outside and said that there were bodies piling up in what is the largest nursing home in new jersey, a 700-bed facility. we understand now there may have been as many as 68 deaths since early march here at this facility based on the word of a local congressman who's been trying to get fema, the national guard down here today to try to get inside and help the staff out to resolve the situation. there have been families that have been calling, families who are terribly worried about their loved ones. there are reports as many as 70

more residents have the covid-19 virus and number of staff as well. in addition to the 68 deaths that happened here, we believe -- we're told there were two nurses as well. the big problem, the owner has not been cooperative, we're told, by local and federal authorities. he's released a statement saying the staffing is adequate, that he has been cooperating, but to this point that does not seem to be the case. still, a very tragic situation. we've been trying to talk to families. they're reluck tatant to. they're fearful of retribution against their loved ones inside. we're hoping this gets resolved. it's a very, very difficult situation. >> tragic situation being replicated across the country as well. thank you, ron allen. meanwhile, the economy as the unemployment rate soars, so has food insecurity across the country. the lines at food banks extend for miles, people struggling to feed their families. food pantry running low on

supplies and low on money. garrett haake joins us from a mobile food bank in dallas. garrett, what is the situation there? >> andrea, i'm at fair park, home of the cotton bowl and state fair of texas and today pop-up food pantry that will feed about 2,000 families. in context, they might normally feed 300 families. and it's worse than that, they believe 70% of the people who showed up last week were first-time people using the food bank. the need is acute and growing and the ceo told me here at the food bank, they think the worst is yet to come. take a listen. >> i don't think we've seen the tip of the iceberg yet. there are so many people out of work and living off their reserves right now. and as long as this continues to go on, if they continue to be unemployed, they have to reach out for additional assistance. i think food banks still have not even seen the gritteeatest

demand going forward. and it's going to take months, not weeks. >> andrea, as you can see behind me the food bank brought in the national guard. basically writing how many family members are on their sheet on the windshield and they drive through. the line extend quite a while but the need is great. and food banks i talk to say they need money, not volunteers or goods, right now they need cash, andrea. >> thanks to you, garrett haake for that, and national guard right on duty. meanwhile, china's export restrictions has stranded critical medical supplies in the u.s. the u.s. needs medical supplies but masks and test kits are stranded in china because of the export restrictions. "the wall street journal" reporting large quantities of political protective gear and other medical goods are sitting in warehouses across china,

unable to receive official necessary clearances according to some suppliers and brokers. joining us now the chairman for the exporting bank and acting administrator of a small business association under the clinton administration. his book "trade is not a four letter word." thank you very much. let's talk about china. we don't know why china is withholding some of these goods we need so desperately. could this be part of a push-pull with the administration first praising china and now blaming china? a lot of tariffs and trade war issues involved as well. >> i don't have a perfect crystal ball. i mean, there are concerns about quality china was to address. i think we need to give them a few days to give them the benefit of the doubt that that is the case. one thing we want to look at is are they shipping medical supplies to some countries and not others? if they are, that would certainly speak to retribution

or taking advantage on some of the actions we've taken. we don't exactly know that. we need to be concerned about it and at times they're not transparent. there are good grounds to be skeptical, but i think we need to wait a few more days and see how this reinflates itself out in terms of how agagenuine and l these quality checks are. we know in our own government, sometimes it takes time from a central government to report, to get the clearances. we're not immune to that. but i think there's certainly scepticism and we're just going to see what happens here. >> at the same time you have had experience with the sba back during the clinton years even. the sba is now saying they're running out of money. we don't know if this is part of the pressure to try to get the democrats to make concessions to the republicans and get that next batch of money for these

small business loans, but there's also reporting that some small businesses are still laying off and not bringing their reporters back, even though they've gotten the loans. and now the fed said today that they are going to resupply banks with money to be able to keep money going. do you know what's happening with this person ppp program, protection program? >> i think a couple of things. we don't get reports out of the sba until the end of the month in terms of how much money's actually been disbursed. it's a question of how much has been applied for or indicated. that will be done. the second will be disbursements and the small business owners i have been talking to, one of the concerns is there's just lack of clarity. so they feel at some level if i lay somebody off, i know they will get unemployment. i know they will get a $600 per person addition on unemployment. i would rather keep people on

payroll but the concern is at least with unemployment, there's more certainty around that. >> one of the things that the u.s./china business council is also reporting, back to china for a moment, is our exports to china have dropped off precipitously. is that hurting u.s. businesses because of this trade war that keeps going on and the president claiming china is trying to hurt us? that the money is coming in from the tariffs, which is not true because his attacks on american consumers. >> the tariffs are actually as americans, part of the problem is, china is here to stay. chiep's been here a long time, trillions of years. what we need to be doing is having dialogues with china on health, on the environment and, yes, on trade. and they can't only be between president trump jinping. when we have that breakdown on

so many issues with china, the chance for mistakes, the chance for the health equipment, ppe, personal protection equipment, health of the report, all of those things are easy to happen when you're not having a regular dialogue. that is a problem and we haven't helped that. of course, we put our own export restrictions in right now. >> fred hoch berg, thank you so very much. up next -- how president trump's threat to cut u.s. funding from the world health organization could jeopardize millions of lives around the world. samantha power, former ambassador to the u.n. is joining us next. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." tremfya® helps adults

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the world health organization is pushing back against president trump's claims that they did not do enough to stop the spread of covid-19. the w.h.o. insisting it alerted the world about the virus at the start of january. but last night the president explained his reasoning for stopping funding of the agency. >> the world health organization, just like the world trade organization, i'm telling you, i call call them, they have been treating the united states for decades so badly and they've been so in favor of china. china took off when it joined the world trade organization because of what happens happened. think of it, they're considered a developing nation and they're

not? we're a developing nation too in my book, okay? >> joining me now is former ambassador to the united nations, samantha power. her memoir is titled "the education of an idealist." it's great to see you, ambassador. thank you for being with us. the attacks on china and w.h.o. on these global organizations, your concern has been this is risking a global response which could have the spread of a virus, especially to less developed parts of the world, to africa. millions of people, as many as 10 million could die and that would bring it back to the united states if we're just looking at our own vulnerabilities. >> yeah, i mean, there's the humanitarian catastrophe that awaits people who live in close quarters and who have no social cushion, who have no potential for a big stimulus package or

even a $1,200 check which i know is not enough for families in this country but it is something. that kind of backstop does not exist in much of the developing word. as a result many of those countries are counting on organizations like the world health organization for all of its flaws -- and, again, we need to look back at the w.h.o.'s response quite critically. i do think they were late. i think they were overly differential to china but let's be clear, president trump was late, united states was late, president trump downplayed the virus and was over differential to china as well. w.h.o. takes its cues in large measures still from the united states. we can look back at the w.h.o., but right now in the midst of a global pandemic with more than 2 million cases globally, just know that there are so many vulnerable communities around the world, whether refugee camps, slums, you name it, who don't have the wherewithal

themselves to practice social distancing, to even have running water, clean running water where the individuals can take on themselves the behavioral changes we all know is necessary. and when the contagion begins, don't have ventilators, don't have gloves, masks, the kind of things it's even taken us weeks to bring online. the world health organization is a critical part of the response. while the virus and pandemic are raging in parts of the world in hot spots, president trump might like to believe we can just build a wall around this country but pandemics don't respect walls and our global supply chains stretch into communities in china, bangladesh, sub sue harron africa, our relationships and family ties. we're not going to be able to return to normal while this thing is raging elsewhere. so as you say, we have a self-interest in bringing this to an end all over the world. >> even if you weren't thinking

about the humanitarian tragedy, that people like yourself like bill gates, like jimmy carter are talking about where we're not responding to all of these vulnerable populations. you also point out we've spent $180 billion on counterterrorism since 9/11. and spending $2 billion on preparing for a pandemic, we have to build up our capacity for a recurrence of this virus and of other novel viruses. >> is this is part of a larger partern i know you have reported on in the past many times but just the overmilitarization of our perception of natural security. it's no secret even long before the pandemic, president trump tried to cut funding to the cdc, centers for disease control, tried to have funding to the world health organization even before he was looking for a scapegoat to justify his own completely bungled response to this tragedy. so, again, this conception that global public health is for

do-gooders and kumbaya, goble public health is at the core of u.s. national security and has been for a really long time. hopefully if one good thing can come out of this crisis -- there's no evidence yet it has -- but maybe we can 2350i7b82350i7bsee bipartisan unity behind making the decisions domestically and global health security and inter connectedly because of the global wellness of the world, at the global level. >> i had you have pointed out you were talking about $180 a year we spent on counterterror in terms of redefining what national security should be. just the start of another conversation we hope from you. thank you very much, samantha power. >> meanwhile, there's a sliver of hope for sport fans but it's going to be very different in the future. dr. fauci says major league baseball could play ball again but to empty stadiums and plenty of testing for players.

nbc's sam brock has the story about how the sports world is talking about getting back into action. >> reporter: college basketball pulling the plug on march madness. the nba and nhl freezing their games midseason. even baseball, america's pastime, never even heard the words play ball. but dr. fauci is giving sport fans something they haven't had in a while, hope. >> people say you can't play without spectators. well, i think you'll probably get enough buy-in from people who are dyeing to see a baseball game. >> reporter: commissioner gary bet ig, who overseas the national hockey league. >> the most important factor is the health and well being of the nhl family. >> reporter: and bettman says the health of fans is critical too because they may not even be in the building when players hit the ice. on the hardwood, no hard plans to return either. the next major sporting event on the calendar is the nfl draft. this year it will be a totally

virtual experience with commissioner roger goodell announcing picks from his basement. major league baseball is considering an arizona plan with all 30 teams playing in stadiums around phoenix. the league says there will be no fans, and it will only reopen with the blessing of officials. one of the sport's best players weighing in. >> there's a lot of red flags, a lot of questions. obviously, we'd have to agree on it as players. but i think the mentality is we want to get back as soon as we can. >> major league baseball, the nba and nhl are all adding today that any resumption of games is going to depend on medical advice. and the health and safety of fans would come first. and meanwhile, the coronavirus has, of course, dimmed the bright lights of broadway, but for tony award-winning actor brian stokes mitchell, the show must go on. after testing positive for covid-19, he's happily recovering and singing "the impossible dream" from 7:00 each

night when new yorkers are cheering out of their apartments and onto the streets to honor the health care workers. ♪ to reach -- [ cheers and applause ] everybody sang it. ♪ the unreachable star >> joining me now is brian stokes mitchell, the chairman of the board of the actor's fund. a fund which supports a wide range of performers and workers, sta stagehands, grips. first of all, how are you doing? >> i am -- everybody is doing just wonderfully well. we don't seem to have any symptoms as all. i've been now about ten days symptom-free and med free of it

so it seems like i'm on the other side of this right now. >> well, it, obviously, has not affected your voice, happily, hearing that wonderful voice across the streets of manhattan. but tell us how you're doing and what is the crisis really for all of the people who work on broadway, off broadway, the people who help, the behind the scenes people. >> yeah, thank you for asking that question, andrea. as you mentioned, i'm chairman of the board of the actor's fund. also on the board of americans for the arts which is a nonpartisan arts lobbying organization. so we've been very active in kind of helping artists. the actor's fund has been around 138 years now and helps all entertainment professionals, not just actors. it helps camera people, boom operators, agents, managers, costume designers, editors, anybody who is -- has made their living in the entertainment and performing arts. it's interesting, too, for me to

note now that we're all shut-ins, what is everybody doing? they're sitting in front of their televisions and binging on these different channels, netflix, hulu, whatever they watch and are actually watching the work of these artists. and it's not the actors. just the actors. it is all of those people that i mentioned that are part of this that also need help. and everybody is out of work right now. i had concerts canceled. that includes doens of other people part of that concert, including the orchestras. i had a broadway show or off broadway show my wife and i were doing canceled. again, that includes doen e s d other people. and shows i was doing that include hundreds of other workers out of work at this time. so it's really important that the actors fund and organizations like that are around. in the last four weeks we've given away over $4 million in assistance to over 4,000 people. and we expect that we'll

probably be giving away about $21 million in assistance to 15,000 people that are affected by covid. >> and one example is the worldwide cast of "beautiful" in quarantine performing "you've got a friend." let's play a little bit of that. ♪ you just call on my name ♪ and you'll know wherever i am i'll come running to see you again ♪ ♪ winter, spring, summer or fall all you need to do is call ♪ ♪ and i'll be there >> and that's part of the work the fundraising that you've been doing. it occurs to me that a lot of the people who work in this profession are probably contract employees or not eligible for the unemployment benefits for instance. >> correct, yes.

that's correct. so many of us are considered gig workers. most of us are that when you guest star on a show, doing a broadway show, is basically a one-off. so a lot of people are having problems with unemployment insurance getting that if they haven't qualified for it or worked in the last quarter or quarters as well. and so it's very difficult, and it's one of the things that americans for the arts has been working on is working, you know, with lobby on that. just an interesting statistic that i got from them. they did a survey, and over 12,000 responses. the financial losses to nonprofits art sector. this is all kinds of artists and museums as well. it's estimated to be about $4.5 billion. 94% have canceled events. 69% expect this crisis to have a severe impact on their organization. 36% expect it will have extremely important impact. and they also talk to artists as

well with 7900 survey respondents and 65% of those respondents reported they've become fully unemployed because of covid-19. and 97% of artists have experienced income loss from covid-19 and the average income for expected artists in 2020 has dropped from $40,894 to $16,836. people think of artists as the famous people that we know of, but most people are not. we're living on the edge. and i especially now, like everybody in the country is right now. we're dealing with a lot of hardship. >> well, we are so glad you're physically better and thank you so much for this messaging. we really appreciate it so very much. brian stokes mitchell from new york, of course. >> thank you. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." before we go, we want to talk about an announcement on

instagram writing, it's crazy to me that residents of public housing are still expected to pay their rent with so many new yorkers can't even work. so that is what michael chey has done, picking up the rent bill for an entire building in new york city. thank you to "snl's" michael chey and chuck todd will pick up our coverage after the break. some companies still have hr stuck between employees and their data. entering data. changing data. more and more sensitive, personal data. and it doesn't just drag hr down.

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