hello. i'm alicia menendez. it's been six weeks since the coronavirus was declared a national emergency and as the curve begins to level out in some places, many thousands are still dying every day. the administration insists it's time for parts of the country to resume business as usual. >> i think 29 states are in that ball game. not open. not for opening. but i think they'll be able to open relatively soon. i think the remainder are just

getting better. we have a lot of states through location and through luck and through a lot of talent. we have states in a very good position and getting ready to open. >> the urgency to reopen is because of an economy in free fall. more than 20 million workers have been furloughed or laid off in the past month. retail sales plunged a record 8.7%, more than doubling the previous record. industrial production dropped 5.5%, the most in a single month since 1946. the anxiety has become visible in the form of long lines at food banks across the country. in protests against stay-at-home orders in some democratic-led states. states like michigan, minnesota, virginia. after the president encouraged disobedience against social distancing orders in a series of friday fweets. as things are starting to get better in some areas, other areas are beginning to see cases spike.

at least 634 people have tested positive at a meat processing plant in south dakota. there are budding outbreaks of similar plants across the country. experts say that a failure to contain small clusters like these and moving too fast elsewhere could lead to a second wave of infections and unnecessary deaths. let's bring in cecilia rouse, the dean of economics and public affairs at princeton university woodrow -- >> a senior editor and dr. james ham blin is a lecturer at yale school of public health and staff writer at the atlantic. >> i want to begin with a fundamental question of when it's time to reopen america's economy set against the health crisis that america is still going through. how should folks be thinking about these competing interests? >> i don't think of them as competing interests. i think everyone competes the economic impacts of the shutdown and that those translate to

health impacts and none of that is desirable. it's something more like, if there were a hurricane outside or if we were under attack as a city and we were saying how long until we can go out, instead of saying how long until -- is there a way to stop the hurricane, is there a way to stop the attack. you can send people out during a disaster. if they don't feel safe and they don't have safe ways to do that, they won't go out in a way that will meaningfully restart the economy. the answer is, the people need to feel safe. they need to have access to treatment and tests really widely to do targeted shutdowns where we know there are hotspots and provide adequate care and safe ppe for everyone who is in the health care industry. until we can do all of those things, any sort of reopening will be met with a huge surge in

deaths and people will get scared and it will shut down. >> dr. ham blin's point, seemed to be under scored. a meeting with bank ceos on wednesday. and they told the president to focus on the virus first. the focus should be on first responders and medical professionals. how does that square with what we've been hearing from the white house? >> weave had very mixed messages from the white house all the way through. i think the biggest difficulty that most americans face at the moment is knowing who to trust. if you look at the countries that have done well, they either have high trust in their government or prior experience of a pandemic like that. like the one we're experiencing now. i think that the ceos are not wrong. like if you do not have nationwide testing planned, if you do not have the basics in place, it's exactly as the previous speaker was saying, you're going to have reinfections and even the countries that are doing well in

southeast asia, they're beginning to experience their second round of infection. so until you can come up with the basic ingredients of trust, like independent benchmarks that people know in advance about what they can -- how they can consider where safety has been met, they're going to feel under political manipulation. it depends whether you're a republican or democrat, the ways in which you feel manipulated and who you feel manipulated by. those basic ingredients are going to remain until we can have independent broadly agreed benchmarks. >> i want you to pick up on ryan's last point. there's polling that shows 66% of americans are worried about their state opening up too soon. what will it take for americans to feel safe? >> well, just as your prior guests have said, what it will take for us to be safe, that the pandemic is brought under control. new rates of infection, that the hospitals are not overwhelmed.

and that we have some level of i am municipality that there's -- immunity that there's effective treatments. i think it's important for us to understand that the economic collapse as you described it is part and parcel of our efforts to control the pandemic. this is first a health crisis. the economic is following because of the slowness with which our government is coming to the aid of individuals. the cares act was a very good start. it got the right components that we need in order to get cash to individuals and to businesses. it's been slow. the implementation has been under wheming. the lack of speed with which individuals are getting that raid is what caused collapse. this was not caused by a problem in the economy. this is first and foremost a health crisis. >> arnt body testing out of california shows the actual numbers, it could be 50 times

higher than what is reported. what does that mean looking ahead to a possible second wave? >> it could mean a lot of things. we have to approach the antibody test with a lot of caution. so they could mean that a large number of people had asymptomatic cases developed immunity and will not get sick again. that will be wonderful. but that's just one of many possibilities. you can develop some antibodies but not enough to prevent reinfection. you could temporarily develop antibodies and then lose them. so -- and you could have antibodies and spread the disease. if temporarily. after you get exposed. we don't know what to do with this yet. it's useful for research purposes in terms of tracking exactly how this virus has been spreading and understanding how immunity forms. what we need to know is how long

that lasts, how reliable it is that immunity translates -- that the presence of antibodies translates into protection from disease. and then we can start to get a sense of whether or not it was indeed true that there will be people who can safely return to normal life without fear of being getting themselves and being contagious to others. that would be wonderful, but there are a lot of open questions before we assume that's what that means. >> ryan, when asked if there are enough tests for a phase one, dr. fauci and dr. birx seem to have different answers. take a listen. >> we do have enough testing capacity to do both that surveillance piece as well as the diagnostic piece in contact tracing. >> there's two types of things. antibody tests and tests for the diagnosis of who has the disease. one you need for contact tracing, the other you want to need nor finding out what's in society. we're going to have both of

those much, much better as we go in the next weeks and months and by the time we get into the fall, i think we're going to be in pretty good shape. ryan, what do you make of the discrepancy in those answers and where are we when it comes to testing? >> so the pieces of work i've been doing over the last six weeks try to take the whole picture. we see it with the american speakers and other countries around the world. there has been too much optimism about the scale and the speed of rolling out testing. so regardless of those specific discrepancies, i think we should assume that isn't going to roll out at the speeds that are hoped for. other problems we see, not just the existence of the testing kits but the absence of other key materials, like the cotton swabs for making them useful. we've seen problems, depending on where testing comes from, the first antibody tests, proved to be flawed. that could be a huge problem.

[ inaudible ] clearly, some states aren't trusting the federal promises because new york just to give one example is going to be rolling out its testing kit. it's important to understand that testing time lines routinely not met at this point. we need to be skeptical about any of that information. and we're going to really need to wait for the successful antibody tests to really move into anything like successful targeted lockdown. because until you can have that, we're going to be undercounting the number of people who have or could be spreading the virus. >> so last question for you. small business relief round two. what needs to be in this legislation to make sure it's enough to match the need that's out there? >> well, first and foremost, we need to have sufficient amount of funding that is actually authorized and funded. i don't know that i know what the magic number is.

the numbers that i've seen that are -- that have been floated, i think in 250 billion, somewhere in that ballpark, will certainlying needed. the longer it takes to get the testing in place and the vaccine eventually, hopefully the -- the businesses and individuals will need, i think first and foremost, we need for our government and banks to have the capacity to process the applications as they come in. i think that is going to be very important. i'd also like to highlight that as we -- even as we start to open the economy, our state and local governments are right now hemorrhaging money. most of them are required to balance their budget. if the federal government also does not help them, then what we will see as we emerge from this pandemic is we bring on more economic headwinds as the states have to pull back and local governments have to pull back with cuts to education, health care, et cetera. so the small businesses certainly are going to need

additional relief, state and local governments need relief. hospitals are going to need additional relief. the longer is takes for us to be able to put individuals back to work, we're going to need additional help for individuals as well. >> cecilicecilia, ryan and dr. blin thank you very much. >> the number of confirmed covid-19 cases have decreased raising the hopes of many that the curve has flattened. an early reopen of the city of brotherly love could do more harm than good. joining me now is philadelphia mayor jim kinnie. thank you so much for your time. tell me how you are thinking about this fundamental question. you have a health crisis on one hand. there is an economic crisis. when will you know it's time to reopen the economy? >> we've got 9,000 people confirmed with the disease, with the virus. over 300 deaths. we see it starting to plateau.

it may have already. the problem, the double-edged sword is now people feel like it's over and the social distancing, the things that people have been practicing start to break down. people clearly have cabin fever and want to get out. we just have to depend on the science and the medicine to tell us what our next moves are. without rapid testing and tracing and quarantine, we're walking into a hornet's nest, possibly another round of this disease or this virus. and even worse case. it would make it more difficult for us to recover financially and socially than it's going to be with this particular round of it. >> as i said before i brought you in, the numbers of cases in philadelphia are decreasing. when you look back at what you have done up to this point, what is working, what is not? >> well, i think that the fact that we had a stay-at-home order three weeks ago was a big deal. i think the social distancing

constantly harping on it, people need to stay apart, i can see people stop walking when they felt they were more than -- less than six feet away from the person in front of them. we've stood up our surge hospital at temple university. that has not accepted yet. i think it may be close to taking some of the patients not as sick as they were to a stepdown unit to make more room in the large hospitals for more patients. we're okay on ventilators. we're okay on hospital beds. knock wood, we're not going to have a surge in that. we are doing our best every day. every day is different. every day is changes. we're just holding on to do our best to get out of this. >> mayor, when you talk to your constituents, albeit six feet apart or through phone messages or emails, what are they saying about the tension between the health crisis they're facing and the economic realities that they're facing? >> i mean, there's certainly

stress there within families, within individuals who are -- don't want to be cooped up in their homes anymore and want to get back to work because there's no money coming in. we're talking to congress about rent assistance, mortgage assistance, student loan assistance. all the things that people worry about or the basics they have to pay for each month, just there's no cash anymore. i understand people wanting to get out and work and spend money and make some money, but we have to do it the right way, we have to phase it in. we'll have a worst calamity than the last couple of months if we don't. >> jbs meat plant is planning to reopen after hundreds of workers were infected with covid-19. that's less than an hour from where you are now. what is your response as the mayor? >> the governor has more power. i don't have any power. the governor has more power to step in there. i'm not sure of the details of the opening. but we've seen spikes in that

lehigh valley area over the last week or so. the hospitals up there are struggling also. we're a very mobile country. we're a democracy, you can't force people into their homes or lock them up. it's very difficult. we've been trying to find out ways to give people space where they can recreate and exercise. those spaces get clogged and people get afraid being too close to each other will give them the disease. it's a very unsettling time. part of our job is to continue to give people clear guidance and just talk to them and communicate with them regularly so that they can understand that we're all in this together. for us to get out of this together, we have to be mature adults and cooperate with each other and with the direction we're getting from science and medicine. >> all right. mayor kenny, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks, alicia. take care. >> up next, the federal government is already struggling to get stimulus checks to those

who need them most. we'll explain how the system isn't working and what needs to change. it's not a matter of when we vote, it's about how we vote. the november election is coming. there's a big debate over early voting and vote by mail. who wins that argument could determine who wins ballot box. we'll explain why. ♪ here's a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard.

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millions of americans are waiting to receive their portion of the coronavirus relief aid, yet many may not receive any assistance at all. new america, a think tank that focuses on public policy issues writes we estimate that only half of the eligible families will receive fund this month, with 10 million of the most in need unlikely to receive checks at all. to say nothing of the millions of vulnerable people denied eligibility at all. >> the vice president for public interest technology and local initiatives at new america and the fornler director of intergovernmental affairs under president obama. she just released a new book titled "more than ready."

cecilia, it feels like we should have figured out how to do this, how to get money into the hands of americans that need it. not trying to figure it out in the middle of a pandemic. why aren't these systems built to do this, to do it in a fast and easy way? >> well, if you were a company and you were trying to deliver a product to people, you would spend a minute getting to know the people who are your customers and making sure you understand how they live their lives so your product can actually get to them. that's something we do in industry and don't do it in government or in policy making. that's the thing that needs to change. so for example, it wouldn't have taken a deep dive to know that huge numbers of people who filed their taxes last year didn't do direct deposit, so we don't have that as a mechanism to get those dollars into their bank accounts. those people will have to wait for checks and those checks may take months to get to them. which isn't going to help you very much if you need to pay the

rent in may. that's an example of the kind of deep dive that you can do when you're writing a policy and that can have huge implications in making sure that the dollars you're trying to get to people actually land in their pockets when they need them. >> well, to that point, the irs is running into a lot of challenges trying to get people the stimulus checks. how else could these moneys have been delivered? >> well, so for example, there is stimulus checks and unemployment benefits. we know that state after state after state is having system breakdowns as people try to access their unemployment. again, in developing a policy in advance, you can find out where those sticky spots are likely to be. you can design a policy that avoids them. since new america published its findings about maybe as many as half of the people whose stimulus checks are intended for not getting them, we've seen some advances. the v.a. for example changed its policy and will be able to get benefits directly into the

accounts of veterans. that wasn't the case a week ago. the irs signaled that it's going to try to come up with guidance for people who don't have direct dee poise the. so far that's not formt coming. people trying to get through are getting a notice saying, please wait, we're not sure yet. that's not good enough if you need to pay the rent. >> you served in the obama administration following the 2008 financial crisis. talk me through what you learned in terms of how you distributed funds under the recovery act. >> the most important thing about both helping people that need to be helped but also stimulating the economy is you have to get dollars out the door, you have to get them out quickly and they have to get into people's pockets so that they turn around and spend them in the economy. one of the most useful programs was tiger grants which got money straight to mayors. it bypassed a lot of state infrastructure. it was a structure that allowed mayors to get the money quickly

and to invest that money in projects where people were working. and that -- so it was -- we had existing pipeline and program that allowed money to get out the door quickly and that allowed the relief to get where it's needed so people stayed on the job. we ended up creating jobs and ended up getting the economy back on track. the most important thing for policy makers right now is to understand who is hurting, what exactly are the circumstances of their lives. there are all kinds of people, for example who didn't earn enough money to file taxes last year. they are right now, both the people who need the help the most and the least connected to the system that the government is currently using to get dollars out the door to them. all of that is fixable, especially in the next round of stimulus. congress is having a debate on how we're going to build on the good start that they've made. we should be building in a way that actually builds in an understanding of the people we're trying to help.

that is doable. >> i've got about 30 second left. you've got a new book out. more than ready. tell me why inclusive leadership matters in moments like this. >> the whole reason that we're seeing people left behind is because we don't have leadership at the table that -- the community that we're talking about. you need leaders from every community. my book is focused on women of color. we're ready to lead and the country needs us right now. this is a book of advice and guidance so that women of color can assume the leadership role that we're good and ready for. >> all right. cecilia munoz, thank you so much. >> thank you. up next, the president spent part of the week touting his own power to reopen the country. we'll talk about why that debate could impact how america recovers from the crisis. >> watch paul mccartney, taylor swift, billie eilish and a cavalcade of stars. they join forces for one worlt

to go at home to support the world health organization and the global fight against covid-19. that's at 8:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. g multiple clouds for your business. when you've got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds- things can get a bit cloudy for you. but now, there's the dell technologies cloud, powered by vmware. a single hub for a consistent operating experience across all your clouds. that should clear things up. given the current situation we are all affected by what is going on in america today. i was asking myself like what could i do? i feel proud that along with my colleagues i have been called upon to do

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it was a wild roller coaster of a week for trump's thoughts on presidential authority. first he said he had the power to reopen states and that changed by the next day. >> the president of the united states calls the shots. it's a decision for the president of the united states. they can't do anything without the approval of the president of the united states. >> when somebody is the president of the united states, the authority is total and that's the way it's going to be. >> the governors are going to be opening up their states. they're going to declare when. it's going to be up to the governors. i think you're going to see quite a few states starting to open. >> the governors are responsible for testing. >> let's bring in the staff writer at the atlantic and awe thoer of the wilderness.

elizabeth -- co-director of the liberty and national security program at center for justice and alexis coe. a biography of george washington. msnbc contributor and senior correspondent at boston, npr station. mckay, i want to start with you. who told the president what he said on monday wasn't the case? >> i think that it was clear that there was some amount of pushback. not just from people inside the administration but from republican governors. you know, his whole line of argument here kind of flew in the face of conservative orthodoxy. up until recently, it's been founded on this idea of federalism. so he retreated from it fairly quickly while still trying to save face in trumpian fashion. >> kimberly, you saw the tweets, liberate minnesota, liberate michigan.

what do you make of those? >> well, look, i think on the surface, it shows the president instinct which he wants the country to be reopened as quickly as possible. and he -- that's what led to that initial declaration that was not just against conservative orthodoxy as mckay says. the tenth amendment. that he's in total control and his authority is absolute. but he wants to have the authority to order or at least pressure these governors to move to reopen the country and that was part of it. of course, the tweets come at a time where they were protesting some of the protesters displaying really awful signs and really encouraging the worst among the public. the vast majority of the public is important to say seems to be behind these restrictions and

they want to get past this as best as they can. staying home it is part of that. there's broad support for that. >> elizabeth, monday trump said that multiple provisions in the constitution give him thoft. we know that isn't true. what power does the president have in this scenario? >> congress has quite a bit of power over interstate commerce. the states have taken would have an affect on interstate commerce. for example, restrictions or burdens placed on people coming into a state from other states. that's something that congress would absolutely have the ability to change through legislation. but that's congress. the president does not have any inherent authority under the constitution over public health and over public health crises. that's a point he doesn't seem to understand. unless congress has acted to delegate powers to him over this, you know, this is not a

war. this is not terrorism. this is not a situation whereas the commander in chief of the armed forces, he's had inherent powers under the constitution. so he's really wrong on two counts here. both because the states have more power than the federal government over public health and safety. and second, to the extent that the federal government does have some authority where it affects interstate matters, it's congress that has the power, not the president. >> alexis, our resident historian, i wonder how you make sense of these powers in a historical context. >>. [ inaudible ] he doesn't understand that executive overreach in american history has almost always been an embarrassment and huge mistake for the president. in 1950s we see truman trying to seize steel factories because he wants to avoid a strike and the supreme court rejected his justification that he has

inherent powers. george washington, when he tried to collect taxes tried to squash a whiskey rebellion. it was a rebellion that wasn't. the government got a judicial writ wrote out and found that there was absolutely nobody protesting. literally an empty field. it just doesn't work out very well. >> mckay, in your article this week, you say trump is casting himself as a pandemic prophet. what do you mean by that? >> it's so fascinating. it was only six weeks ago or so that the president was standing before a crowd of supporters in south carolina telling them that all the stuff they were hearing about the coronavirus was a hoax, that it was all hype by democrats and the media was in hysteria mode. now six weeks later, reality asserted itself. we're in the situation we're in and he's pushing a new narrative and his conservative allies are

going with it saying he was ahead of the curve because he implemented travel restrictions in late january. you know, we can go into the weed on what that actually entailed and how the time that was squandered. we know this president compared to even other republican politicians, let alone the media and the other democrats, was not ahead of the curve on this. several weeks leading up to the serious outbreak in the u.s. saying that this was not going to be serious. but he's placed a bet that he can convince his supporters and at least enough americans to win re-election that he was on top of this, he was always taking it seriously. and that's the message he's decided to go with. >> elizabeth, trump pushed the idea that he's going to recess -- use his power to adjourn congress so that he could make recess appointments. can you talk us through that. >> yes.

once again this is a president -- this is a power that the president is claiming to have that he simply doesn't have. [ inaudible ] allows the president to adjourn congress in situations and only in situations where the two chambers of congress cannot agree on a date to adjourn. it's meant to be a limitation on the president's powers so that the president can't just adjourn congress whenever he wants. he can only do it in that situation. there's not even a pretext that that's happening here. there has been a data greed to by both houses for adjournment, it's january 3, 2021. so there is absolutely no authority in the constitution and the president isn't even trying to pretend that there's some disagreement between the chambers here. he's just sort of boldly asserting this authority to misuse one of the powers in the constitution. honestly, that's one of the scariest things about it. even if he doesn't attempt to follow through. >> kimberly, i wonder how you

make sense of these shocking statements, multiple statements in a week and where they fit in to this moment that we're in. >> you know, it really shows that the president is viewing this from the lens that he's used for most things. conflates the office of the presidency with himself. he conflates the things he wants as being necessarily the right thing for the country. then you have this juxtaposition of governors, local officials, public health officials telling the president exactly what they need. they're telling them that they need more access to testing, that they don't have it despite claims by the white house that there is sufficient testing equipment to go around. people on the ground are saying that it's not. they want a clear cohesive strategy that allows them to work together. you've seen governors taking it upon themselves to form their own regional coalitions to work together to make sure that they don't start unexpected spreads

in other places while they, themselves are trying to bring their states back online and their economies back online. you're looking for -- you see people who are asking for guidance from the white house that the white house isn't willing to give it. it's more waiting to blame states and local officials if things go wrong. >> all right. mckay, lies a, alexis and kimberly, thank you all so much. there's a growing debate over how to make sure voters are safe this november. another country hit hard holds an election this week. what the u.s. can learn from them. here's a live look at the white house where the president is expected to give another briefing. it's scheduled for 5:00 p.m. eastern. when it happens, we'll bring that to you. you're watching msnbc. but when allergies and congestion strike, take allegra-d... a non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. so you can always say "yes" to putting your true colors on display. say "yes" to allegra-d.

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the world premiere is now in your home. a smooth jazz troll? i don't care for smooth jazz. as democrats rally behind joe biden, the winner of the 2020 election won't just be determined by who votes, but how they vote during the pandemic. this week, south korea held the world's first election amid the coronavirus. today president trump called president moon jae into congratulate its party for the strong having tri. south korea pulled off its legislative election with the highest turnout in nearly three decades. can the united states do the same come november? like to bring in the director of ucla voting rights projects. he was a pollster for hillary clinton's 2016 campaign.

with me tiana especially johnston, she's the foun founder of the -- >> tiana, i get talking about how we vote is not the sexiest thing we could be talking about, yet it seems like the most critical question going into the elections. why are the stakes so high when it comes to figuring out how we're going to vote this november? >> even before the coronavirus, there was an expectation that there would be a lot of stress on the voting process because enthusiasm is so high among voters. so high turnout already was going to put a lot of demands on the election administrators. now with the coronavirus, it means that election departments across the country are going to have to adapt how they are serving voters to ensure that the process is safe, that it ensures access for everyone and also that it's secure. so what that's going to mean is for many states, they're going to have to massively increase

the number of voters that are served by mail while also making sure that there are safe in-person options. the safety of the voters and also the election workers that are on the front lines of our democracy. >> matt, tiana laid out the what. i think the question we go to is the how. how do you make it so people have safe, secure elections where they're able to access their vote in a number of ways? >> well, you know, we are calling on the congress to take the first steps in this. we don't want to see 50 different state solutions that all look different. some are good, some a are bad. congress should set minimum standards to make sure everybody can vote, vote safely, that their votes will be counted. you need money for that. we're looking at things like senator harris' proposed legislation, as well as legislation in the house that would increase funding to the states. they're going to need to print more ballots, envelopes, hire additional workers, get some new

technology. we know it's possible because so many states are already doing this. oregon, washington, colorado. here in california, we're moving in this direction to be almost 100% vote by mail. it's possible. but we need the congress to take the lead on this so that every state has a good vote by mail solution. not just some states. >> tiana, some of the most indelible images out of this pandemic came out of super tuesday where there were incredibly long lines of people waiting to vote, not enough polling places. how do you make sure that the pandemic is not used as a way to suppress the vote? >> yeah. i mean, the first thing that is critical is that there's decisions that are made now. so there's adequate time to inform voters about what they can expect and what the process will look like in november. an adequate time for election departments to effectively ramp up their process to serve an

increased number of voters. so the most critical thing is that we are taking action right now. >> matt, we know the people of color are being disproportionately impacted by this virus. how in the midst of this pandemic where these communities are being hit hard both in terms of the health crisis and the economic crisis that has followed, how will campaigns be able to reach those voters and make sure they're able to cast their ballots in anticipation of the election? >> absolutely. that's going to be a critical issue. we know that there needs to be more outreach and more investment in communication with these voters. if suddenly we change the way people vote, we need to make sure there's information campaigns being sent to explain to people why the ballot is safe, why vote by mail is safe. campaigns need to be starting that now. they cannot wait until after labored, until september. they need to be communicating in particular with communities of color in the latino community and in the african american community in particular there's

a long history of fighting for your right to vote in person. standing in lines and showing your face to the election worker to show that you are a valid voter. we need to make sure that these communities understand that might change. voting might change. it's still safe and secure and you can vote by mail. i hope the campaign of the parties will start that outreach now and not wait because we can't leave those votes on the table this november. tiana, who needs to be leading the charge on this question? >> we need to make sure that election officials are at the table as polity makers are make -- policy makers are making decision to adjust the process. we need policy makers to keep the best interests of voters at the center of this. we need to make sure, as matt mentioned, that election officials have the resources they need to effectively do this. experts estimate that it's going

to take between 1.5 and $2 billion to effectively serve the voters this november. currently, there's been $400 million allocated from congress to address this. that's only a fraction of what's going to be needed, and the time toin be able to effectively change their process and procedures. >> thank you both so much for your time. up next, we will leave you on a high note with some of the feel-good stories we're seeing during this tough time. and coming up at the top of the hours, we expect to hear from the president and the coronavirus task force. they'll deliver a briefing at 5 p.m. eastern and we'll bring it to you when it happens.

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good evening and welcome to "politics nation." we have some breaking news at this hour. in a few minutes we're expecting an update from the white house coronavirus task force in the briefing room. once it gets started, we'll take

you straight there and bring it to you live. while we wait, joining me now, former candidate for governor of the great state of georgia, stacey abrams. she's also founder and chair of the organization fair fight. thank you for being with us, miss abrams. >> thank you so much for having me money. >> let me ask you, the pandemic that we have been suffering on a global level is now headed south in many areas, and going into some of the rural areas look the state that you represented in the state legislature for so many years and ran for governor, the health care iffacilities an institutions are more widespread, there's less mass transit. what are the particular concerns you have both in georgia and around the south in terms of now we're seeing more and more signs of an