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and it could save you hundreds. xfinity mobile. good afternoon. i'm chuck todd. it's 11:00 a.m. out west. 2:00 p.m. in the east. here are the facts this hour. unemployment claims have topped 30 million over the last six weeks as much of the country remains under lockdown. president trump says he believes next year will be a spectacular year for the economy. >> senate ma jord majority leader is floating the idea of certain states filing for bankruptcy. they called a bailout of new york state irresponsible and reckless. and president trump says covid-19 should have never been allowed to escape china. part of the president's larger strategy to shift blame ahead of

november's election. this as democrats sent a letter to hhs' handling of the crisis. the senators are questioning whether key officials in the agency had the necessary qualifications. they're seeking additional information about possible retaliation against some hhs employees that they may have received when they contradicted the president. >> my co-anchor at the field at a very empty grand central station is katy tur. lijing forward -- we were just talking about the issue of mass transportation and the person in charge of it all. >> i have a lot of questions about that when we do have him on including the contact tracing questions and the plan he just laid out. chuck, just look around me. those of you that are just

joining us in the 2:00 p.m. hour. this is grand central terminal. normally 750,000 people walk through here on a daily basis. and you can almost count the number of people that are in here right now on your hand. this is sad and unsettling. on another, its good news that there is nobody here. the vast majority of new yorkers and tri-state area employees and workers, residents, are staying home. they're working to keep everybody safe. they're working to slow the spread of this virus. the people that are going through here today in need of shelter or they need to commute in and out of the city. people doing the delivery services, people that are working in ems that, are working at the fire department that, are working at the nypd, they still need to use the transit system. earlier today, chuck, governor cuomo had a news conference

talking about the trans it system and shutting down subways between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. because it was so dirty within the subways. there were a number of homeless people living in the subway cars overnight. he was concerned that is make things more dangerous. he wants to get the homeless out on to the street where they can get help and then clean the subways every single night. >> no doubt. and hoping this technology i saw, there's an idea you might be able to clean these cars super quick with some ultraviolet lite. but that is some things that we know technology may help us in some of this going forward. let's go down to texas, by the way. reopening preparations are

underway. swroi joining me is a texas native and he is in dallas. xwet whether the 25% capacity is the correct call or not. there are two questions, will there -- will anyplace fill its 25% capacity? will people come, number one? and number two, can businesses survive at a 25% capacity? >> the short answer to the second question is not for long. the hope is that the capacity restriction lasts a couple of weeks and they're able to open the sick it a little more and allow folks to come in. quet about how to make consumer comfortable is the biggest question. it's the one that the restaurants are grappling with. st restaurants have the hardest task of any of the buildings -- businesses reopening. folks have to come in for long enough to sit down and have to have a meal and to feel comfortable that the restaurants doing enough to take care of

things from a sanitation perspective. here's how the owner of odd fellow's cafe in dallas explained to me what they're doing to turn the takeout operation back into a restaurant come tomorrow. take a listen. >> we'll continue to operate through the walk up window. but instead of you having to take it home, we'll have a limited number of tables where you can sit and enjoy as long as you stay within all the guidelines issued by the state. >> so you'll be a patio restaurant but no indoor seating. >> turning into a quick service model. you order at the window and then we'll have trash cans to clean up their own trash and provide sanitation between guests. >> chuck, the texas restaurant association polled their nebz and found only half of restaurants in texas are planning to even try to reopen tomorrow. some want to wait this out and see how the new system works for a couple days. ed there are practical concerns as well f you're a restaurant

worker that has a childcare question, what do do you if the schools are closed, camps are not yet open. daycare, childcare in texas has been limited to just essential workers. that doesn't necessarily include folks who work real estate tailor restaurants. they're going to scale back up even to that 25% goal really for tomorrow. >> right. >> and garret, the other thing i shear some restaurants are concerned about whether the supply chain is going to be reliable enough to -- for them to serve a half menu, whole menu. so there is a lot of hurdles for the average restaurant. that's for sure. the thank you. >> as the nation looks for breakthroughs -- source sorry about that, garret. as looks for breakthroughs in a covid-19 treatment, the ceo of

astrozenica, they will work this vaccine assuming it is workable. joining us is richard engel. richard, if we find this successful vaccine that next challenge is going to be scaling it up for mass use which is why in a lot of cases they're going to start scaling up even before they know whether it works. >> i just spoke with the ceo of astrazeneca. there is a group at oxford that is working toward a vaccine. they have begun human trials. the group at oxford university is confident that they will know if the current trials are the

goal is to have 100 million doses by the end of this year. i asked him, well what if come this summer it proves that the research proves that vaccine is either unsafe or doesn't work or is otherwise flawed? he said well, then we'll just have to scrap the project and we'll rolling the dice and have to take that risk. but they are confident enough that it will work, that the preliminary results that they have so far are positive enough that they are going to -- that they're already going to start production. he said producing a large quantity of the liquid isn't the problem. it is actually getting it into little viles. he said part of the solution that they're working on is each vile, because can you imagine, 100 million -- filling 100 million little vials is not that easy. he said they'll put multiple

doses per vile as a way to speed it up. he also said that initially while this is still a pandemic, they will be selling them at cost. >> richard -- >> they would hopefully have 100 million for dlcti million distribution on an emergency baseis by the end of this year. >> was this a bidding war between pharmaceutical companies coming to oxford university? were they being lavished with partner with us and astrazen oechlt ca won a bidding war? or did they have a previous relationship with the university? >> they have a long standing relationship. i don't know if there was back room negotiations. a lot of that is going on right

now. around the world, there is a race going on for a vaccine e we've done stories on it. i did a story on it a few days ago. there are several companies that are already in human trials in the united states. in china, the oxford one here in the uk. each of these are now working with partner companies to try to get ahead of the game. they want to be the first one out of the gate. there is likely going to be multiple people, multiple shots on goal and all willing to go forward to start producing it now. this one is a big twoun have the ceo come out and publicly say they're going to try and have $100 million doses by the end of the year and have them ready to go in a little viles.

we'll see if this is essentially won by astrazeneca. now back to katy tur at grand central terminal. >> let's talk about everything we're seeing from this crisis. just like -- just the logistic what's happens once people don't make it at the hospital. >> a number of bodies were stored in an unrefrigerated u haug haul truck in brooklyn.

what it is like to coordinate this? >> thank you so much for gifgs me the opportunity to talk about the important work of the staff of the medical examiner's office during this pandemic. it has been overwhelming for everyone. our health care partners, partners in the funeral industry, nursing homes, all the essential workers, and we're doing the best that we possibly can to support all of them. with regard particularly to the funeral directors that the situation that you eluded to, i have seen those horrible photographs. and my heart goes out to all those families that are affected. we have been working very closely with them throughout this pandemic giving them information guidance, and any assistance we k the single most important thing is increased dramatically our storage capacity. so that it alleviates some of the burden both upon funeral homes and families to rush to

make funeral arrangements during this difficult time. >> this is not decreasing dramatically. so you're -- more bodies will be coming your way. what is the city going to do since so many funeral homes are at capacity? we have seen hearts island open up, mass graves, people that don't have next of kin or not enough resources to bury them through a funeral home and in a cemetery. >> the city is tremendously supportive of our efforts in this area. most importantly, as i said, we increased our capacity for storage and also long term storage. >> have you increased it enough? >> yes, absolutely. we are able to increase our storage of proportionately to the need and i have every confidence that going forward that will not be an issue. >> thank you so much. sorry to cut you short. i understand that, chuck, we have a big guest coming in.

>> we do, katy. i don't think your guest will mind us cutting that short here. joining me now is the governor of new york. thank you for spending a few minutes with us. i know we want to talk more about the contact tracing program. i want to start with this. i know you're working with bloomberg philanthropies on this and it is a public/private partnership. the question is, should it be a public/private partnership, number one? number two, is this enough or you are still going to need federal help for the size of contact tracing army that you're going to need? >> thanks. of good to be with you, chuck. fwheer a place we've never been before. we have the big looming challenges. frightening. unchartered water.

there is resistance is to try something big and new. we have to do what we have to do. that's what made this kun thcou this country. we have to get testing up to scale. you have to have the tracing. the testing alone, by the way, can help you monitor the virus, monitor the spread and inform you on the reopening. but then you have to get to tracing to actually slow the spread. the numbers are the problem on tracing. we did testing yesterday. we had 4600 positives yesterday. tracing means you take all of those 4600 positives from yesterday and you start going down and tracing all the contacts. and that is an overwhelming task. so yes, we're -- we estimate between 6,000 to 17,000 people in the state. mike bloomberg is organizing -- organizing the effort for us. how do you do it? how do you train? how do you test? how do you recruit people this

quickly? but it's a massive undertaking. you could use this as an americorp if the government wanted in on this. is that something you want to see? in new york you're going have a large unemployment line. this is one way to find people work. wlikd to see the federal government involved with the recruitment and funding so of course. but we do what we have to do, right? and we are where we are. so we can talk about what we would like to see in the meantime i have to get things running here tomorrow. so we're dealing with the situation we have. and we'll put together the army,

so to speak. mike bloomberg was a great talent and stepped up to help to the extent the federal government wants to get involved and wants to help, i say amen. >> how am i supposed to get on mass transit once this shutdown starts to end and the restrictions start to ease? what is my commute going to look like? >> well, katy, we announced something today that talk about doing something you've never done before, we're starting to disinfect every subway train every night. and for the first time ever we're going to close down service from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. and that four hour shutdown will

allow us to disinfect all the trains, monew york city subway trains, metro north, long island railroad. that goes out to the railroad. we have the essential workers who we're so grateful to because they're coming to work every day even though they know the risks. the people in the hospitals, they need food delivery people. we all say thank you. but gratitude is best acted upon, right? i want to know that they have safe, clean, decent transportation. and that means we have to disinfect the trains every 24 hours. the virus can live on a train for two or three days. so we're starting that next week. it's first time ever. we've never disinfected trains like this before. the 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. hours will be covered by the mta. they'll provide alternative transportation or they'll use uber, lyft, et cetera, if they

don't have a route to get people home. ridership is way down. it's down 90%. 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. are the least traveled hours. it's another thing we never imagined doing. we have to do and we're going to do it. and mayor diblasio, new york city mayor, myself, the surrounding county executives, we're all in agreement and we're going to start in a week. >> i think ridership is down. there is nobody here in grand central. 90% down as you said. what happens though when the state starts to reopen and when people start to get back on the subways and in larger numbers. how do you social distance on a new york city subway? how do you not touch anything on a new york city subway? >> you don't. is the short answer. that's one reason why the virus spreads so quickly in the city. it was coming from europe and nobody had had an idea. we closed down china.

by the time we closed down china travel, the virus went to europe and we got the virus from europe. two million people came from europe during the time period in early january and february. and we had no idea. but it is also the density of new york city. now what we're doing, d disinfecting is a very big deal. you can't open the subways until you have the pandemic under control. because, you're right, you can't socially distance on a subway platform. and that's why we have to phase in the reopening of the economy and phase in with the full demand of the subway system. if you open up everything, people will go right back to the subways. the virus spread will go through the roof in a matter of days, i guarantee it. >> so governor, are you saying you're not going to reopen the

subways now for -- until there is a vaccine? or until there is a treatment? i mean what you just said seems to me that we're not going to be getting back on mass transit en masse for the foreseeable future. >> yeah. first of all, the subways are open now. right? we never closed the subways. we have to keep the subways open. essential workers need the subways to get to work. you close down the subways, you don't have doctors or nurses or food delivery people. you don't have municipal employees. so the subways are open. if you reopen the economy fully, you will drive many people into mass transit and on the squawks and you can't reopen the economy until you know you can handle the pandemic.

it's when can you uncrease the density and volume? that's tied to reopening the kmech economy but the subways are open. >> governor, at the end of the day you're going to have to make some tough choices on your budgets going forward. there is just so much inundation. there are so many needs. there are going to be a lot of people that say we have to fix this and. that pick and choose. i'm curious as you prepare new yorkers, what are service that's are likely going to be something you might have to cut back for a while in order to prioritize the health and safety of another line of workers? i mean, are there certain government service that's new yorks have to prepare themselves for not having or not having it the way they had it before? >> tough decisions. close down is a tough decision.

all of these are tough decisions. but that's -- that comes with the job. but i'm not going to pick between the health and safety of any worker. and, yes, the budget is going to be tight. the economy closed down. but i want to see the federal government step up and do their job. they have not funded state and local governments. they want to fund airlines and hotels and restaurants, big corporations. but they haven't funded state and local governments. that's who state and local governments fund. and for washington to be saying they're not going to fund state and local governments, states can go bankrupt with senator mcconnell's statement.

states can go bankrupt. they want to help the economy. they want states to go bankrupt. i mean can you find a single economist would say that will help the markets letting states go bankrupt. so they have to step up. they have to do their job. they want to take care -- >> did you really believe him? or did you think waits a negotiating ploy? it certainly looked like he was looking to horse trade on this. and -- i can't believe. no, chuck. i can't believe. >> i'm shocked. gambling. i guess the question is, what is the better way to convince some of these conservatives that new york's budget is new york's budget, florida's budget is florida's budget? >> first of all, it wasn't just senator mcconnell. i can't believe you would say

such an obnoxious comment in public just to negotiate in washington some back room deal. save that garbage for the back room deal, right, chuck? he doubled down on it. he said states should go bankrupt and this will be a blue state bailout. and senator scott from florida said the same thing. why should we bail out these democrats? right? like it's only democrats that get coronavirus. partisanship is toxic and poison. they can't say we're funding corporate america but working americans they're on their own. they can't say it. >> or they can say it. they won't get away with it. >> right. >> sorry to interrupt you guys. governor cuomo, i have a question about the supply chain. there is already talk about meat being limited in the grocery market shelves. are there supply chain issues keeping up at night?

>> a lot of things, more on the medical equipment and ppe, et cetera. so far, so good on the essential services. that was my nightmare. you know, one of the early nightmares is what happens if you say to the essential workers go to work and they say no. right? they say it's too dangerous. i'm afraid of this covid-19 virus. you want to see real anarchy. no food, no public transportation. no power. so having the essential workers stand up the way they did and show up the way they did, they

were the it's the least we can do to show our gratitude and to keep those services running. but on that side of the equation, we have not seen any problems. i understand about the meat processing plants. but we haven't seen it or felt it. >> thank you for spending a few moments with both of us here this afternoon. much appreciated. stay safe and healthy. >> thanks. and -- >> thanked, chuck. >> up next, more than 30 million americans have filed for unemployment over the last six weeks. yet, the president says he's optimistic. what is he seeing? tens of millions of americans right now probably aren't. ly ar, featuring the emmy award-winning voice remote. access to your favorite apps, including netflix, prime video, youtube and hulu. all without changing passwords and inputs. the most 4k content and movies and shows on any screen. the best entertainment experience all in one place.

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coronavirus create aid collapse in oil demand for the first time in 50 years. the price of oil went negative. companies to pay someone to take it or find it to zors themselves there are the photos that you've seen of tankers floating off shore. holding oil if you will. joining us now is morgan chesky in central oklahoma for us where the glut of oil is choking local communities because guess what funds a lot of local and state government there, right?

you mentioned the tankers off the coast of california. down the road from where we are here in oklahoma, we had the town of curbing. that is one of the largest oil storage facilities are. it can house upwards of 90 million barrels of oil when full. and the big concern right now, chuck, is that with supply up and no demand, those reserves could well be filling up leaving a lot of producers with no place left to take their oil. and this all started prepandemic. there was already a global trade war going on with russia and saudi arabia. really flooding the market with oil to drive the price down. so when you did have the ban temperaturic set temperaturic -- set in and factories shu shuddered, it left this industry in an unprecedented place. that's what resulted in that negative prize of going down $37 below zero. leaving everyone here who has been in this industry

flabbergasteded and stunned and left with no idea as to what was to come next. as can you see behind me this isn't just an industry here. it is the industry here. towns have grown up around the wells. and we're already seeing layoffs. not just here in oklahoma, but across those oil producing regions, texas, the dakotas, one industry report says that a million workers could be losing their jobs. a lot of the wells are shuttering down. you can do environmental damage and it can be even more difficult to bring that oil back up out of the ground. everyone watching and waiting, that oil price is $10 to $20, they won't be profitable until it gets to $30. back to you. >> anyway, morgan, great report. it's also a remind they are red state, blue state plictioolitics or that this is a reminder,

every state is going to have a different reason why they're going to need some money. they need bailouts from the federal government because the tax revenue is down because every state collects tax revenue differently in this case oklahoma with oil. anyway, morgan, thank you. let's stick to the economy. jobless claims filed last week topped 3.8 million, that is the six week total of 30 million. that is 18% of the workforce. despite the numbers, president trump continues to try to cheer lead the economy and continues to believe it will get better sooner than most other experts do. >> hopefully we'll have massive rallies and people sitting next to each other. kint remember a rally where you have every fourth seat full. every six seats are empty for everyone that you have full. that wouldn't look too good. >> he was a counsellor to the secretary of treasury during the obama administration helped with among other things the auto

bailout. this is now the global economy bailout. i think whether it's washington or economists that all of you have under almost everybody's underreacted to calamity that economy is in right now. that is one thing less than a economy. it is a health crisis and people are not dying f that were not around and looking at the economy, i think people would rightly be terrified. the we're clearly -- we're in a recession. it's going to be of greater magnitude than the global financial crisis, whatever you like to call it in terms of the unemployment rate, the decline in earnings and gdp and so

forth. this is as if everybody's going to wake up one day and go back to what they were doing before. but as your conversation illustrated, it's no the so easy. there are financial and economic complications. we can go into any of those that you want. but it's a very daunting prospect for many of us. >> we just talked about the oil industry. just that alone, how many months is it going to take to dig out of that hole that we're currently in right now snt lack of revenue going to states like louisiana, texas, and oklahoma that fund some of the services through oil revenues. >> you're not talking about months. you're talking about years for the oil industry. the saudi arabians are trying to drive us out of the oil business. and so production in the u.s. is already falling as you said. but it it's going to fall a lot

more. and many, many jobs are going to be lost. and it's not going to begin to recover until prices for oil start to recover. i think for oil industry, you're not talking weeks or months, you're talking years before we get back to the employment levels, tax revenues for the state and so forth. >> imagine all the airplanes no the in the air and how long that's going to take. katy tur? >> talking about the underestimating of the economic impact, i'm curious what you sthi going to be born out of this crisis. the great depression had social security, unemployment insurance, and a massive public works program. what needs to snap. >> there is the immediate short term impact. that is appropriate. but at some point, we're going to have to turn to the longer term issues. you have been talking about state and local financing. that is certainly one. the other place we build the economy, things like

infrastructure, that was, of course, also a feature of the new deal economy. enormous amounts of public works both designed to put people back to work and also to make the economy more productive. infratruck stur is what we need to get in economy back to where it needs to be. >> we're going to leave it. there always gets some economic reality from you. thank you for sharing your expertise with us here. much appreciated. here in new york, tens of thousands of stlaun thousan thousands of restaurants are closed down because of the virus and every closure is having a ripple effect across the country. that's next. pple effect across e country. that's next. s, schools and playgrounds. all those places out there, are now in here. that's why we're still offering fast, free two day shipping on thousands of items. even the big stuff. and doing everything it takes

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chuck, this are thousands of restaurants around the city no longer open. the ones that are are doing takeout. look at. this there is a restaurant up here in grand central completely closed. there is an entire row of restaurants over here, a con course of restaurants that are completely closed. the past month, more than 40 states have put restrictions on businesses. there are now some governors that are starting to reopen. they're hoping to get people back to work. but the power is limited by a blunt fact of economics. while america may be 50 separate states, it soars or sinks as one

economy. >> reporter: there are tens of thousands of coronavirus shuttered restaurants in new york city. and this is one of them. >> if you've ever fwhnbeen in a close the restaurant, there is a certain smell. >> the smile is a popular down stairs cafe in lower manhattan. matt is the co-owner. >> this sunday of the eighth, i think, we had probably the best sunday we ever had in the history of the restaurant. monday, down 10 to 15%. tuesday, down 10% to 15%. wednesday, 25%. and this point we were like, something's happening. we closed sunday night. we went from our best sunday night we've ever had to without question the worst sunday night we've ever had. >> in seven days. >> yeah. >> when the smile closed, it joined in a wave of local disasters that are also part of a cascading national crisis just as covid-19 infections spread so does covid-19 induced economic

pain as we found out tracing the path of the smiles losses back up through the supply chain. >> normally the cafe buys from two dozen vendors including meat, fish, bread, and more. each with its own web of suppliers. we followed the smile's produce line, ten miles north to hunts point in the bronx home to several other major produce distributeors. when the smile and the rest of new york's food scene shut down, business at baldor was at risk of shutting down too. >> so you lost 85% of your business. >> the yeah. >> wow. that's a lot. >> a lot, yeah. >> the information was coming in so fast and changing so rapidly, we almost didn't have time to think. >> baldor recovered a lot of the losses with a pivot to home deliveries. but not enough to avoid cutbacks. and a shift in baldor's business means a shift for the suppliers as well. hundreds of local farms across

the country including clover farms in pennsylvania. little bear farms in texas, ranches in california, and rice lake farms in grant, michigan, where we found rick sibel. >> 600 acre farm grows the onions, carrots and beats typically destined for the smile and dozens of other new york city restaurants. >> normally this time of year i'm shipping two and three trucks midweek to new york. and now i'm only shipping one today. >> rick reduced worker hours and is also postponed spending more than $250,000 on maintenance and equipment. money that is now not going back into the local or national economy. >> there is some estimate that's as many as 40% of new york city restaurants won't reopen. what would that mean for you? >> there might be a lot less of us around doing what we do. heaven forbid. but that could happen. just like restaurants. as many as 40% are saying i believe that could happen.

>> reporter: back at the smile, all matt can do is wait. are you bracing yourself for this business going under? >> i've accepted that if we don't get the support from the government, or our insurance companies refuse to actually pay the business interruption insurance that they should, if we don't get either of that, it's possible we may never reopen. >> that is just one line from a single restaurant. that restaurant has a dozen other suppliers that we could have followed who are all experiencing the same thing. and again, there are tens of thousands of restaurants all around new york city. can you only imagine the way that spreads out and has a ripple effect around the country. chuck, so often we talk about how divided politically we are in this country and we are divided politically. but we're not divided economically any longer. so georgia's governor kemp can reopen the georgia economy but that's not going to be back up and running at 100% or close to

that until the economy of new york is reopened. you can't do this as a single state. america doesn't work like that. our economics do not work like that. >> right. no. i have to tell you, katy, this was an outstanding piece and a very methodical way to show people how interconnected it is. i was trying to make that point with garret, restaurants can reopen but they're going to find out that the meat supplies are going to be -- like there is a restaurant shut down two days a week because they don't have the chicken wings that they're famous for delivering and things like that. so a very important way to showcase how all economy is national these days and global. not necessarily local. well done. meanwhile, imagine going from winning the world series to graduating from medical school and then heading to the front line of the coronavirus pandemic in new york? it's stor it's the story of mark hall i

will hamilton. he joins us next. story of mark will hamilton. he joins us next

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as we honor those health care professionals who have been on the front lines there's a new graduating class who will soon be in hospitals across the country. one of them is a former major league baseball player. mark hamillton earned a ring and three years later set his eyes on a new goal, med school. after graduating from the donald and barbara medical school at hofstra in new york, he will soon begin his residency in interventional radiology at north wells long island jewish medical center, and dr. mark hamillton joins us now. first of all, all that hard work and you get an online notification, congratulations, you're a doctor, sort of an understandable why you got an

online notification, no commencement yet, and if anything, congratulations, you may have almost got yanked onto the front lines. what was that like this final semester? >> in the beginning it was kind of like everything else. we were just getting ready to graduate and go through our residency applications, interview process, stuff like that kind of flying all over the country and doing my interviews, but as things started to shift and we started seeing that this was going to be an issue that was going to touch us here in the united states, definitely changed our preparation, our focus a little bit, and we started kind of, you know, having meetings and discussions about how it would look to deal with coronavirus here at home. >> i'm curious, going through this, watching the front lines as i think you've sat there and watched, you're now a medical doctor. you're now joining these ranks. has watching this emergency

situation -- how has it changed your outlook in the field of medicine? does it make you even happier you made this decision? have you thought about changing your focus? i'm just curious if it's had any impact on your mind-set as you prepare to go into the medical field. >> sure. it definitely changes your mind-set a little bit when you know that you're going to be walking into a situation where there's exposure risks but i went into the medical practice, it was something that was insiriinsire spiring as a kid and i've always wanted to be a part of medicine so it definitely didn't change my setting or my footing of wanting to be here but it definitely does change the focus a little bit and we have to definitely be prepared in order to take on this task. >> katy? >> former college baseball player and he likes to tell me that he's used all of the skills

he learned on the field and transfer them over to his job because it was such a high pressure thing to be on the field and he's able to focus in a way that he thinks he wouldn't have otherwise if he didn't play baseball. have you used anything from your life as a baseball player now that you are a doctor? >> sure. i mean, the reality is -- [inaudible] >> i think we lost his sound. >> looks like he lost -- >> he talks about how it's the reps, you learn how to do the reps an you learn how to focus and baseball is a sport that puts so much individual pressure on each player because it's all about you in any given moment, that he uses that in journalism and i'm wondering how that transfers to medicine. it sounds like mark had an

answer but we missed out on it. >> i know. i know our producers got an answer as well too. look, there's another aspect of this. being a baseball player, particularly in the modern era, is about precision more than anything, where you have your grip, where you hit the ball, and guess what medicine is about, precision too. >> precision. >> in some ways those disciplines -- yeah, those disciplines i think help us quite a bit there. welcome to our technological challenges. those happen. for katy tur, i'm chuck todd, we will see you tomorrow during this same two-hour block. that's it for us today. nicolle wallace and brian williams will pick things up right after this quick break. williams will pick things up right after this quick break crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. it works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. gum detoxify, from crest.

good afternoon. brian williams here with you. nicolle wallace along momentarily. 3:00 p.m. in the east, 12 noon out west. let's get you caught up now on the facts as we know them at this hour. there are now roughly 1,050,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in our country. the death toll now stands at over 61,000. the actual numbers of course are far higher as less than 2% of americans have been tested so far. the government reported today nearly 4 million more americans filed for first-time claims for unemployment last week. that means over 30 million

people that we know of, nearly one out of every five people in the u.s. workforce have now filed for unemployment since the lockdowns began around mid march. new york city police officers and firefighters saluted the u.s. navy vessel "comfort" as it left to return to its home base in norfolk, virginia. the ship arrived on march 30th to help care for patients without coronavirus but was converted over to accepting covid patients and treated a total of 182 patients. the pentagon says the ship will be restocked, ready for another possible assignment. as "the comfort" left new york city, new jersey governor phil murphy whose state has been hard hit by this pandemic was meeting with the president in the oval office of the white house. the president had this prediction for what lies ahead for the country. >> all the loss, the death, it's

a terrible thing, but i think we're going to make a very strong comeback. it will start with the third quarter. i think you're going to see some pretty good numbers. i think you're going to see really good transition numbers but the fourth quarter is going to be -- i really believe it's going to be terrific and i think that next year is going to be a great year. >> everyone wants to know when our nation will return to some sense of normalcy, and the answer seems to depend on who you ask. if you put the question to some of the president's top advisers, they will give you some rosy assessments. >> i think honestly, if you look at the trends today, i think by memorial day weekend we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us. >> i think you'll see by june a lot of the country should be back to normal and the hope is that by july the country is really rocking again. >> but if you ask the president's top health experts,

you'll hear more caution from them. >> social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another as we move through these phases. >> it is not going to be a light switch that we say, okay, it is now june, july, or whatever, click, the light switch goes back on. it's going to be depending where you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak that you already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced. >> joining our conversation, dr. leana wen, former baltimore city health commissioner and a visiting professor at the george washington university, also phil rucker, white house bureau chief, "washington post" and a pulitzer prize recipient and msnbc analyst, also happens to be co-author of "a very stable genius." dr. wen, i'd like to begin with what we heard about first

yesterday, this crash program to develop a vaccine for this illness hopefully by year's end. what do all of our viewers need to know about such an effort and how does that compact the trials that we've all come to believe have to go into a successful vaccine? >> so the normal process for developing a vaccine takes years. we're talking upwards of three, four, five, six years. this is an expedited process but we are still looking at at least a year, maybe a year and a half or even longer before a vaccine is proven to be safe and effective and there are enough doses produced to get everyone vaccinated. this is a huge undertaking to get millions of doses of a vaccine developed, potentially billions developed. so i think it's important for everyone to know that even as

we're putting all these different efforts in place and even as there are as we now know over 90 different vaccine candidates that are going to be going through various clinical trials, we're still looking at at least a year to a year and a half, and until we get a vaccine, there is no other way to prevent from getting coronavirus except through social distancing and some of these other measures that you talked about. >> indeed, doctor, we hear the word eradication spoken hopefully now in our public conversation. isn't it true that before you can discuss eradication you have to talk about something closer to 8 billion doses of something? >> that's right, and we are nowhere near a conversation about eradication. this is a new virus. there is no immunity to it. we have not seen this virus before. it's also highly trance missa e missable, and so it's highly

infectious. we know that patients, people are transmitting it who don't have any symptoms at all and we're actually seeing the case numbers and numbers of infections rising around the world, so we are nowhere near a discussion about getting rid of this disease all together. we can't just hope that it's going to go away. we need a vaccine and it's going to take some time to develop, but there are things that we can do now that protect ourselves and each other, and so keeping our distance from others, washing our hands well, these basic public health measures are still what we have as the tools in order to reduce the transmission of this virus. >> phil rucker, this is largely still a tale of two nations, the wording coming out of the president and the white house and the lives that americans are living by and large and following the rules. the president is talking about getting out on the road, mentioning arizona next week. what's your reporting on what form, what venue that would take? >> brian, we're hearing that the

president is going to take his first trip during this coronavirus epidemic out to arizona. he's going to be visiting a factory on tuesday where a lot of the masks and other equipment are being made. that's our understanding at this hour. that of course could change. by the way, he did make that trip down to virginia to send off the "uss comfort." this will be the first of many trips. the president has antsy and cooped up at the white house, eager to hit the road, eager to get out into the country and try to use his own travels to send an image around the country that it's safe to be out and about and safe to start returning to normal. of course the public health officials on his own task force will be the first to say that social distancing is important to continue, but look for the president to go to some of these states that are starting to re-open to try to set a different kind of tone. he's very much wanting to sound optimistic. it's the reason that he used the word eradicate yesterday even

though, as dr. wen just explained, this virus is not going to be eradicated any time soon. >> phil, if you can, paint a picture for our viewers. when the president moves anywhere, it by nature brings large clumps of people together. presumably there are advanced teams at whatever location now, but motorcade, airplane travel, teams on the ground, secret service, news media, a plethora of people who would need to be in close quarters by definition. >> that's exactly right, brian. i think it is actually impossible to properly social distance on a presidential trip. it's impossible to sit in a van with other individuals and be six feet apart, let alone sitting next to people on an airplane as happens on air force one. that being said, we could expect that everybody traveling with the president will be given one of those quick tests for the coronavirus. they will probably be taking

temperatures as they have been at the white house every day, and so i would imagine that the authorities protecting the president's bubble are going to be doing everything they can to make sure that the virus cannot spread within that traveling unit. but it is clearly a disruption any time the president travels, even in normal circumstances, and especially so during the pandemic. >> dr. wen, pictures came in of the vice president who also happens to be the head of the white house coronavirus task force wearing a mask in public during a factory tour in kokomo, indiana today. we have seen the white house coronavirus briefings as an on again/off again event. it's easy to forget that they are dealing with a matter of urgent public health, a matter of advisories, however much these opening states have ignored them, a matter of a

growing death toll, testing numbers, discovered cases. talk about what should be transpiring each afternoon. >> brian, i've been watching these white house briefings and every time i think about what a lost opportunity they are because, as you said, this is a pandemic. people are worried about their own lives and the lives of those they love. we should begin these briefings every time with a state of where we are. the cdc was doing these daily briefings until late february and they were fantastic. they started with here is the state of the epidemic in the u.s. here's what we're seeing in different states. here is where the outbreaks, the next outbreaks could be. i think especially as different states are rolling back restrictions, seeing those numbers being presented is really important. and then there's also new research being done on covid-19. new evidence -- i mean, we are now hearing about remdesivir and that treatment. we talked about vaccines

earlier, but we also be finding out more, that this is not just a respiratory virus that affects the respiratory system. it's also causing strokes in young people. it's affected the kidneys. the cdc just classified six new symptoms associated with covid-19 last week. we should be learning about these clinical issues that affect every day lives. i think americans also want to know how we can keep safe, what's the guidance for businesses and employers, and what's the guidance for all of us to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. that kind of information is so essential. we have the best doctors and scientists in the world who can present this information. that's what we should be hearing from our federal government every day instead of misinformation that then has to be clarified in subsequent news cycles. >> dr. wen, phil rucker, thank you for starting off our coverage this hour and our conversation. we greatly appreciate it. viewers of this time slot know that around here when technical

grim ly gremlins strike, we cover for each other. at long last nicolle wallace is able to talk to us and be seen and heard. nicolle, welcome back. you missed, in addition to our scintillating conversation and razor sharp coverage, the pictures of mike pence with the head of g.m., mary barra, on the factory floor, kokomo, indiana, and now the chair of the white house coronavirus task force has worn a mask in public. >> yeah, so, you know, it never ceases to amaze me how driven every single step and every single action that the president and vice president take are by the press coverage. he's not wearing a mask because his test was different. i'm sure it was negative as it was the day he went to the mayo clinic without a mask. he's wearing a mask today because the press coverage was, you know, on the spectrum from scathing to mocking that he

wasn't wearing one. so they have proven response to the press coverage yet again. i did catch something phil rucker said and i'm struck by the reporting and the rationale for taking the presidential package which is i think what you were getting at in your question to phil rucker. it's thousands of people involved in a presidential movement. the only exception would be otr when no one knows he's coming but he's announced on live tv that he's coming so that would be an official presidential movement. the package is thousands of people. it involves drivers of motorcades, cooks, chefs, people on an airplane, people on helicopters, people on a back-up airplane and back-up helicopter and back-up motorcade. it involves the entire press corps and everybody that moves all those people, and they're doing it -- phil rucker's reporting suggests that they're doing it because the president feels cooped up. boo hoo. so does my 8-year-old and i'm not planning on going rogue and taking him across the country. the best conversation that we had yesterday haunted me all

night. we have a president so ill-equipped for making any personal sacrifices and that's why he may struggle to lead this country back. i mean, to come back we have to continue to make sacrifices of our comfort, in many instances of our economic security and our comfort. but the history of this country is doing that for the greater good and i think it's a giant open question whether or not donald trump is wired to lead us in that mission. >> nicolle wallace, hear hear. those who have not been around presidential travel, here this. the motorcade drivers and the nongovernment workers, a lot of them retired police officers, the local police officer, the effect on the local force is withering, and just in the president's vehicle, the two secret service agents who have to work in close confines, close

proximity and share the same air in the front seat of his vehicle say nothing of the teams of snipers, advanced teams that are on the ground right now. to your point, it's a lot. our first break and when we come back, with more states looking to get back in business, we check in on the state of georgia. they re-opened first. there are new numbers from georgia underscoring the impact that coronavirus has had there on communities of color. and then later, our chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us with new reporting about this hunt for a vaccine. all that and more when our coverage comes right back. all that and more when our coverage comes right back. are being put on hold. at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just can't wait. to help, we're giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a seven-day return policy. so, if you need to keep moving, we're here for you.

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we are back. let's go west to the state of california, the home state of one nicolle wallace, where mayor eric garcetti announced that all 10 million people in l.a. county can now get tested for coronavirus regardless of symptoms at city-run testing sites. officials hope this could paint a much clearer picture of just how many people have the virus, which would play a key role in determining when and where to lift stay-at-home restrictions. as of tuesday, there are over 22,000 cases of coronavirus in l.a. county alone, again, home to 10 million people. that makes up nearly half of california's total cases. with us is nbc's joe fryer who's

live in ventura beach. joe, what's it like out there today? i see the good news is people are heeding the beach warnings behind you. >> reporter: yeah, not much activity at the beach today. it's a little bit cooler and we'll talk more about beaches in a second, which it appears might be shut down again in california starting tomorrow. as far as the testing goes in l.a. county, l.a. now the biggest city by far in the country that says anyone can get a test. in other words, people with symptoms and people who don't have any symptoms. you simply have to make an appointment, apply online. up to 18,000 tests, the mayor says, can be administered each day. the priority is still going to be given to people who have symptoms and also front line workers but by having more asymptomatic people take the test, they'll get a better idea of how many people who don't have any symptoms might have covid. it also might give some people some peace of mind if they're going to be working or be around other people in the near future. brian.

>> and joe, let's talk about l.a. county. a lot of easterners who have not dialled in to population centers on the east coast -- on the west coast rather, people who talk about counties generally in this country are not used to a metropolitan population as we keep saying of 10 million. so for the mayor of the city, this has been a herculean task to get materials and people into place to do this and will really result in so much better data, numbers, intelligence. >> reporter: yeah, numbers are going to be key, especially when you consider l.a. county right now is truly the epicenter in california. california has had about 2,000 deaths so far. half of those are in l.a. county which is pretty disproportionate. you're seeing in other parts of the state including the bay area

to the north the number of cases seems to be going down. it's a downward trend. that is not the case yet in l.a. county. the cases seem to be spiking. obviously with more testing they expect to see more positive test results coming in. they are hopeful that the hospitalizations are starting to stabilize, but really l.a. county is the epicenter right now which is why, for example, the beaches in l.a. county are closed, unlike some other neighboring counties which have been trying to open up the beaches. we now know that there are reports that governor newsom is expected to try and close down all the beaches in the state. he's speaking right now, but that's a move that's going to draw some controversy outside of l.a. county, brian. >> all right, joe fryer, thank you for that. now we move east to the state of georgia which eased restrictions earlier this week. the mayor of atlanta, keisha lance bottoms, is with us once again to talk about how things are going in her city. mayor, for those who have not been following your story, you had the unusual and unfortunate

role of running the largest metropolitan area of a state where even the president criticized how the governor was going about so-called re-opening. so tell us how you're doing thus far. >> well, we are continuing to sound the alarm and there is a story that was just released that the governor is relieving even more restrictions in the state. he's expected to lift the stay-at-home order that we have in effect in the state, and it's very disappointing. when you look at our numbers state-wide, you look at the way we rank higher in obesity rates, diabetes rates, high blood pressure rates, and you layer on top of that the african-american community in this state, this could be catastrophic. we have about 50% of the deaths in our state attributable to african-americans, yet we only make up 30% of the population,

and i am extremely concerned that we are continuing to dig in as we head in the wrong direction. >> mayor, the hospitalization rates are even more alarming. i want to read you something from "the washington post." it says surveying 8 georgia hospitals, researchers found that in a sample of 305 covid-19 patients, 247 were black, more than 80%, and more than they expected. a quarter of the patients included in the study had no pre-existing conditions, and 5% of those patients died. a reminder, the virus can cause significant illness and death for previously healthy patients. so it's not just the death rate. it's the wildly disproportionate number of people ending up hospitalized and obviously with a longer recovery. are you getting the kind of support for rehab and for

hospital bills and for the impact on their families that you need? >> well, i can tell you that we are being disproportionately impacted, and i personally know people who have no underlying health conditions who have been knocked to their feet with covid-19. we have bed space. we do have capacity in our city, but the reason being is because we took very drastic early measures to shut down our city. what it reminded me of was when i had the flu last spring and i went back to work too soon. i struggled for the rest of the summer because i never recovered and i fear that's what's happening in our state. we do have beds available, but that shouldn't be the goal. it should not be the goal to fill up the beds. it should not be the goal to have enough ventilators for the numerous amount of people who

may end up in the hospital. the goal should be not to have people get sick. when you lift restrictions, you are sending the message that everything is okay in our state and it simply is not. >> i imagine people -- you're accessible on social media and in appearances. are people calling you, and what is the advice that you give them if they're -- you're one of the only states where people are feeling pulled by these two almost universal fears, one of getting sick, a universal fear, and the other of maybe being pushed back if the state starts lifting restrictions. how are you counseling your constituents? >> a couple of things. i was on a video conference earlier today once again with a committee that's advising me on how we open up the city. that committee includes a number of representatives in the business community, a lot of fortune 500 companies.

what we are saying is that we are all in this together, and although the state may be headed in one direction, as private business owners, we certainly have the ability to go in a different direction. now, as it relates to our small businesses, that's a very different discussing because many of these people are making this decision based purely on economics and the ability to put food on their tables. so we've gotten support from goldman sachs for example who has just given $10 million to our small business loan fund. we're setting aside money in our city budget for that. we're offering rent relief to people who have vouchers through our housing authority. so we are doing what we can on a very granular level to address these concerns, but it's very difficult when we are just one city in a very, very large state. >> our thanks to the woman who has to run a big city in

sickness or in health as it were, mayor keisha lance bottoms of the city of atlanta, thank you for making yourself available to us and always taking our questions. when we continue, the hunt for a vaccine already in high gear, but really, how quickly could this be ready? we have new information on that from our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, when we come back. coesrrpondent, richard engel, when we come back. you should be mad at tech that's unnecessarily complicated. make ice. making ice. but you're not because you have e*trade

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