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good day, everyone, from msnbc world headquarters in new york. we are right now waiting for andrew cuomo to give his daily briefing on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. in fact, he will be doing that from his office here in new york city. as soon as he starts speaking, we will bring that to you. a live look at times square. kind of empty. there are more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus across this country. look at those numbers. 66,000 plus people have died. starting tomorrow, more than two dozen states home to roughly 146

million people will be open for business. arizona, indiana, kansas and nebraska are among those set to ease restrictions. in florida, stores and restaurants will be allowed to open at 25% capacity in all but three counties. in missouri, all businesses can reopen as long as they practice social distancing. here in new york city, 1,000 police officers have been dispatched across the city this weekend to enforce social distancing. warm weather is drawing crowds outside. the nypd made 60 arrests related to social distancing since march. new york the epicenter of this crisis here in the united states. new today in the search for a cure. one oxford scientist working on developing a coronavirus vaccine says it is making headway. >> probably get a signal based on current levels of the disease, probably get a signal in early june. we're ready to move trials

overseas if the disease peters out in the uk. so we've got sites in play in other parts of the world where it's active. we're pretty sure we will get a signal by june. >> as protesters across the country rally against the stay at home orders, new reaction today from the coordinator of the white house coronavirus task force, dr. deborah birx. >> it's devastatingly worrisome to me personally. if they go home and infect their grandmother or grandfather who has a co-morbid condition and they have a serious or very -- or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of our lives. we need to protect each other at the same time we're voicing our discontent. >> new today, secretary of state mike pompeo suggesting china intentionally held back information related to covid-19, endangering the international community. let's go to monica alba at the

white house. quite a powerful statement. what more did he have to say about this? >> reporter: exactly. for weeks now, you have heard the president and his top officials slam china for not being more forthcoming when it came to information about how this virus originally spread, where it came from and in addition, the death rates and cases. we have heard for weeks from top officials that china could do more to be more transparent. there are questions as the intelligence community continues to examine whether this virus did come from a lab in wuhan, of which secretary of state mike pompeo does seem to say there's mounting evidence for. from there, where it emerged and how it was spread among so many thousands of people. those are the questions that remain. now secretary of state mike pompeo is also raising questions about when that consensus may come and what it might mean for our relationship with china. take a listen to how he framed it on one of the sunday programs this morning. >> we can confirm that the

chinese communist party did all that it could to make sure the world didn't learn in a timely fashion about what was taking place. there's lots of evidence of that. some you can see in public. >> mr. secretary, have you seen anything that gives you high confidence that it originated in that wuhan lab? >> there's enormous evidence that that's where this began. >> just to be clear, you do not think it was manmade or genetically modified? >> i have seen what the intelligence committee said. i have no ready to believe they've got it wrong. >> reporter: that key phrase there, enormous evidence. you heard in the follow-up question that secretary of state mike pompeo isn't whether to say it was manmade or again genetic modified. they assess the question. the president is going to be asked about this when he returned return

returns from camp david. he held talks with members of his cabinet and other officials looking to this revitalization aspect as the country and many states start to open up in the coming week. he is scheduled to travel for the first time significantly in weeks. that's to arizona on tuesday to visit honeywell, which made masks. it's the first we're told in a series of domestic stops that are going to highlight bringing america's businesses back open and raring to go. >> we will see. i guess the president expected to land on the south lawn in 90 minutes or so if he is on time from camp david. we will watch that. to your point, see if he does make any statement, which he did not before, we should say, in a news conference. he made no statements whatsoever with regard to what he knows about china, only that he knows something. he was not specific on that, which i know you know. thank you so much. new today, the governor of new jersey says it's unclear if the beaches will reopen in time for memorial day weekend. preliminary reports show residents are practicing social distancing in public parks.

governor murphy says it's too early to call on that. from new jersey now to new york. let's go governor andrew cuomo beginning his daily press briefing. >> today is sunday. beautiful day in new york city. sunday for me is a day of reflection. do a little reflecting. today is day 64 since we closed down new york. only 64 days. feels like a lifetime. but only 64 days. today's numbers, the total hospitalization rate is down. and that is good news for all concerned. 9,786, below 10,000, which is a big deal for us. you have to go back to may 18, 19, to see where -- to get near that number. march, i'm sorry. the number of total hospitalizations again is down. the number of intubations is

down. that's really good news because intubation is generally bad news. the number of new cases is 789. that's good news. we were hovering at about 900, 1,000. that may be just a reporting anomaly, because this is over the weekend and the weekend reporting tends to be a little different. remember, this reporting system we just put in place. this never happened before where hospitals were reporting on a daily basis. hospitals have a lot going on. so i wouldn't bet the farm on any of these specific one-day numbers. but the overall trend is good. the number that is the most important number that we look at, which is still tremendously distressing is the number of

deaths, 280. you can see that that number has not moved dramatically in a relatively long period of time. but the overall direction is good, even though it's very painful. i think it's important that we take a moment and learn the lessons of what we have been going through. this has been unprecedented what we have been doing for the past 64 days. this was all an urgent situation. this was all hurry up. we had to quickly figure out a plan, quickly enact a plan. but now we're a couple of months into it. and i think simultaneously, we should be learning the lessons of what we just went through. people talk about this like it's going to come and go and once in a lifetime. i don't know it's once in a lifetime. i don't know that it's going to come and go. there are people now talking about a second wave, they're

talking about a possible mutation of the virus. so caution would suggest that as we go through this, we learn at the same time to make sure if we have to go through this again or if this is a prolonged situation that we are learning from what we're implementing. a great irish philosopher, those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. wise words. the macro questions, bigger than just new york questions, bigger than a governor question, what happened in china? people are talking about it. where did this virus start in china? how did it start? how did we not know? what should china have told us? above my pay grade but important questions. how did the virus get from china to the united states? we assumed it got on a plane from china and flew to the

united states. that was the first thinking. when this started. now it appears that that's not so. as we're going through this, what could we have done differently? more importantly, what should we do differently if this is a prolonged situation or if there is a next time? again, caution. i would assume there's a next time. anyone who sits back and says, well, this is the only public health threat that we're going to face, that's not the case. we're seeing increasing threats all across the board. environmental threats. mother nature, natural threats. threats from emergency weather we have never seen before. if you look back, as far back as 1918, when they had the flu pandemic that people talk about, it took ten months. it came in three different

waves. the second wave was worse than the first wave. so even if you put aside all the modern day challenges, when this happened in 1918, it came in three different waves. so let's be prepared and intelligent. some of the lessons to learn, the cdc did a fascinating report that they put out on may 1, which starts to take a deep look at what happened. and i think there's a lot of important information in that. it pointed to something that we have been looking at here in new york. the report says that when they look at the different strains of the virus in the united states, that there are different strains. and we were all looking at the west coast. the west coast had cases well before the east coast, remember. maybe six weeks before the east

coast. those strains came from china. what we saw in the state of washington, what we saw in california, they came from china. flights from china land predominantly on the west coast. what we have seen in new york didn't come from china but actually is a different strain of the virus that came from europe. that's an important fact to know and to study. they then said in the cdc report, from february you had 139,000 travellers coming from italy. 1.74 million from other european countries where the outbreak was spreading wildly and rapidly. so everybody is looking at china. meanwhile, the virus had traveled from china to europe, was in europe, spreading from

europe. we had european travelers coming. they come to the east coast. they land in new york. they go to new jersey. they go to connecticut. they're in the new york area. and we're all still looking at china. we were looking at china, and the travel ban on china may have been helpful. but the horse was already out of the barn in china. the virus had left. the virus was in europe. and meanwhile, we have european travellers coming here. and they're bringing the virus, which is now a different strain of the virus to the east coast. this is from that cdc report, the deputy director -- principal deputy director, delaying travel bans allowed for it to spread to the united states and contributed to the acceleration of domestic cases in march.

extensive travel from europe -- once europe was having outbreaks, accelerated our importation and the rapid spread. the timing of our travel alert should have been earlier. that is a very important fact. something we have to learn from. a person from the grossman school of medicines, knowing the number of flights coming in from italy was like watching a horrible train wreck in slow motion. nobody was watching italy and europe at the time. nobody was even thinking about it. today we must consider an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere, a.j. parkinson. those are words to remember going forward. outbreak in china, in a number of days it's going to be in europe, from europe it's going to come to the united states, assuming it didn't come from the united states immediately from

china. unless lesson we have to learn is our hospital system. we talk about our hospital system, we don't really have a public health system. we have a hospital system. we learned the hard way about the capacity, the equipment ad d the management of our hospital system. new york city, we have 12 public hospitals. they are the health and hospitals corporation, run by new york city. there's only 12 hospitals in that public hospital system. 44 hospitals are private hospitals. they're private institutions. they are regulated by the state, but they are private institutions. they have their own area of expertise. they have their own basic clientele. and they're doing business as individual entities, like an individual college, right? we have a system of colleges, but each college is individual.

it's the same thing with hospitals. each hospital is an individual entity. long island, we have four public hospitals but we have 19 private hospitals. westchester, one public hospital, 12 private. rockland, one public, two private. two public hospitals, 87 private hospitals. your health care capacity in this state is all in the hands of private hospitals. right? you have 176 private hospitals in the state. that's the capacity. but that means you have to now rely on those private hospitals, get them all to be part of one system. which day to day, that does not happen. they are operating themselves. we have state regulations that say this is how much you must operate. but they operate as individual entities.

in the middle of this outbreak, we had to go back and do what we call the surge and flex management system where we said to all 176 private hospitals, we have to work together and we have to manage this system as one, because hospitals are getting overweheloverwhelmed. maybe within the public system they can share patients and doctors and staff, because you have in new york city h and h has 12 hospitals. okay, you can share among your 12. but we have to get these 176 hospitals m s now all to work together, even with the public hospital. hospitals were getting overwell p -- overwhelmed. you need to share equipment, sha

share ventilators, share staff. that had never been done. we did this all basically on the fly. we put together a de facto public health system. it was a lot to do on the fly. part of what we have to learn is what happened with the equipment. this was a situation that nobody anticipated. it happened all across the country. you couldn't get enough gowns. you couldn't get enough masks. we're going to put in a state requirement now that every hospital has to have a 90-day supply stockpile -- their own stockpile of all the ppe equipment that they could need for a 90-day supply at the rate of usage that we saw with this covid virus. so every hospital has to have 90-day supply, period.

we can't go through this day to day moving masks all across the state. right? this mad scramble that we were in. still are in in many ways. as a nation, we can't go through this again. there was competition among states. there was competition among private entities to get this equipment. the federal government was trying to buy it. i'm bidding on behalf of new york. we're bidding against other states. texas, california, other states across the country are trying to buy the same masks from the same vendor. we literally wound up bidding up the price. i have people in china, i'm trying to contact people in china who can figure out how to buy masks from china. it was totally inefficient and ineffective. state of massachusetts, governor

baker was good enough to work are robert kraft who had a personal airport he sent to china to get masks. massachusetts was good enough to give us some of the masks that a private airplane picked up. i mean, this is not the way to deal with this situation. right? plus, we just drove up prices by our own competition. there was a limited supply. it was primarily in china. and then you have 50 states and all these private entities and the federal government trying to buy from china. it made no sense. so let's fix that. new york state alone buys about $2 billion of medical supplies this year. $2 billion this year. and that's one state. that's us purchasing from china and around the world. we're going to form a consortium

with our seven northeast partner states, which buy $5 billion worth of equipment and supplies. that will then increase our market power when we're buying. we will biasuy as a consortium ppe equipment, ventilators, medical equipment, whatever we need to buy, when you put all those hospitals together, all the public health capacity together, which will make us more competitive in the international marketplace. and i believe it will save taxpayers money. i also believe it will help us actually get the equipment, because we have trouble still getting the equipment and just buying the equipment, because these vendors on the other side, they're dealing with countries, they're dealing with the federal government. why should they do business with

one state, right, when they can do business with an entire country? so this consortium i think will help us get the equipment and get it at a better price. we will come up with a regional identification of all the equipment we need. basically, it's all standard equipment. a mask is a mask. a gown is a gown. let's come up with a total amount that we need. let's stop doing business with vendors who we found to be irresponsible. and we found out the hard way. i can't tell you how many orders we placed with vendors who were acting basically as brokers who just started businesses in the middle of this pandemic because they saw an opportunity. so let's compare notes among the states to find out who was good do business, who was not good to do business with. let's see if we can't do the purchasing in this country.

and let's see if we can't do the purchasing in this region. why are we buying all this material from china? literally, billions of dollars of ppe. we will do it in coordination with the federal government. but i want to thank our neighbors, our neighboring states. the word neighbor has a different connotation. you don't normally think of the surrounding states as neighbors. you think of the person next door as a neighbor. but they are neighbors. and they have acted as neighbors. i can't tell you how supportive governor murphy in new jersey and gothe governors in our coalition have been where you can pick up a phone and i can say, i need help with masks. do you have any extra masks? do you have any extra gown ss? can i borrow this? can i borrow that? the way you would deal with a neighbor in an extraordinary circumstance. right?

you would knock on the door and say, can i borrow this? that's how these states responded. it was really a beautiful, generous way of operating that was an inspiration to me. you know, it wasn't i will have my lawyer call your lawyer. it was, whatever i can do, i will do. in that spirit, we want to keep that coalition together. we want to work together. we're doing regional planning now on the reopening, because every state is linked to every other state. we do something in new york, it affects new jersey, connecticut, delaware. people are very mobile right now. so it's a very important relationship for us both productively and from an ee fish efficiency point of view. they have been great. they're joining us today. we have governor murphy, wolf,

carney. we will start with new jersey, governor murphy. how are you, governor murphy? >> i echo everything you have said. in terms of what this has been like, the deficiencdeficiency, s the inspiration which was derived from our neighbors. notab notably, beginning with you and the other governors with us today. it has been truly an inspiration. on behalf of the 9 million of us in new jersey, i say, thank you. we're barttering for equipment, pp ppe, ventilators. someone said gowns have become the new ventilators. we're still out there. the notion of coordinating

together is as a region makes enormous sense. sign me up. sign new jersey up. this makes so much sense. look forward -- as you suggested, we coordinated actively as we closed our government. we have a regional council, not just the governors today but others. this is a perfect extension of that relationship. i echo your comments that not only with you she not have to be scouring the world for this, but it auto ought to be made in the better yet, our states. that's something that i think we want to strive for. we're doing that in new jersey, trying to figure out how to make it here. we have to do it within our own

four walls, the regional cooperation matters so much. a great example of that. it's a brilliant extension of our ongoing cooperation. none of this is in lieu of the partnership with the federal government. we have to do all of the above. what's good for our own citizens, what's good for the region and work with the federal government every step of the way. thank you for having me on today. thank you to you governor cuomo and the governors in this group. looking forward to working with you in the better days ahead. >> thank you, governor murphy. i think the governors on this phone, we have learned so much about ppe over the past few weeks. i think we can make gowns ourselves at this point. i think we have -- give us some sewing machines. we can actually contribute. thank you very much, phil.

stay well. anything you need, we hear. thank you. we will go to the governor of connecticut. thank you very much for being with us. thank you for all you have done, not just for the people of connecticut but for the entire northeast. good to be with you, ned. >> back at you. andrew cuomo has been a very good neighbor for us and new york. we got into this together. we realized what we had to do when it came to closing down parts of our service economy. we did that together. we're opening it up together. that's the way it works best. as you point out, when it comes to the purchasing, we can -- we learned something. we can wait for the national stockpile. we can wait for that plane to land from china. let's see what we can do ourselves. as you point out, we're much stronger together. i wouldn't mind having some of that new york purchasing power. thanks for sharing that with

connecticut going forward. just as importantly, what we can produce together as well. phil murphy, you have that amazing pharmaceutical industry in new jersey. help us out with the reagents. what we can do in terms of gowns being produced in rhode island. what we can do together to make sure this next round we control more of our own destiny. to those that say where have you been, you are ordering up all the christmas tree s and they arrive december 26, i'm afraid this is just beginning, as you pointed out, governor cuomo. we're planning for the next round, if there is a next round, making sure we control our own destiny going forward. thanks for getting us together. >> my pleasure. thank you very much, governor. you are right. we're spending billions of dollars. why not buy from our own vendors and our own region? why are we buying from china? i'm sure there are a lot of

businesses within our own states that if they knew they had that kind of purchasing that they were looking at, that they would either adapt their businesses or grow their businesses so we could buy from them. plus, you are right, we would control our own destiny rather than everyone trying to figure out how to buy from china. thank you very much, governor. god bless you. we are here. thank you. let's go now to governor wolf from pennsylvania. good to be with you, tom. thank you very much for everything you have been doing. >> thank you. >> thank you for being a great neighbor to the state of new york and all your surrounding states. >> thank you, governor cuomo. thank you for organizing this. a few weeks ago we got together and announced that we were going to work together to fight this pandemic. we said then that by working

together we can do a lot more than we can do if each of us works on our own. i think today is a specific example of that. we can work together to buy things that we need to allow our health care system to have the capacity to fight this fight. we need to help our hospitals. we need to help our health care workers, our long-term care facilities, our first responders, all those things. what you are doing here and what we're doing is actually pulling together to make sure we're doing all those things. part of this is testing. it's not just equipment. we really need to work together to build the capacity to test. we're not going to be able to give our citizens the confidence they need to go back to work. they're not going to have the confidence we need them to have to go back to school or back to the store or to go back to worship. those things are important. by working together, we can pool our financial resources, which is really important and

significant. as you pointed out, governor cuomo, we can pool the brain power that exists, the great institutions in our areas and the manufacturers who can make this stuff. all of that we can pull together. if we can do that even with something as difficult as testing, i think we're going to make sure that we get through this in the best possible way. thank you for cupulling us together. i'm proud to be with you. >> thank you. we are creating new industries. right? whoever heard of the testing industry or tracing industry or reagents that the tests now use? even the demand on ppe. this is a whole new world for all of us. there's an economic opportunity in it. we should take advantage of it. we need it. it's not going away. it's going to be a major industry going forward. let's make sure it happens here. tom, thank you very much.

thank you for all the people. thank you for everything you are doing. you are an inspiration to all of us. thank you, tom. we have governor carney from delaware. john, thank you very much for being with us. thank you for all the help. thank you for all the support. thank you for the friendship through all of this. which is also very important. just the personal support is important as we're going through this as colleagues. thanks for being with us today, john. >> thank you, governor cuomo, for including delaware in this coalition. thank you for your great leadership there in the state of new york. and particularly metro new york city with your colleague governors on either side of you. you are an inspiration to all of us. our hearts go out to you as we see the numbers. i was happy to see your numbers on the chart at the beginning of your conference today as they trend downward. that's really a very good and

positive thing. thanks for including us, a state of -- we like to refer to ourselves as a state of neighbors. there's just shy of a million delawareans on the southern end of this geographic coalition on this side of i-95 and the amtrak northeast corridor which connects all of us. the two governors at the bottom of my screen are great partners, wolf and murphy on either side of delaware, really important our collaboration and coordination. this particular initiative with respect to purchasing together, ppe and as governor wolf mentioned, testing equipment and capacity is so important for a small state like ours, to have the purchasing power of governor cuomo and new york and new jersey and connecticut and pennsylvania and massachusetts and rhode island is just so incredibly important for us in

terms of getting right pricing. if we're going head to head with new york, we're not going to get it. if we're along shoulder to shoulder with you or governor murphy and governor wolf, we have a good chance of getting a better price and getting a product that we need. i think through all this, too, the other thing that was really interesting to me in joining the coalition was just all the assets that the other states can bring to the table in terms of intellectual capacity, research institutions, hospitals. we know that they're going to be breakthroughs or we hope in testing and other kinds of technology that will help us as we respond to this. i couldn't be happier to be part of this coalition, a part of your leadership team, governor cuomo, with, again, my two neighbors here in the southern end of our coalition. to each of you, thanks for the great work that you are providing to the citizens of your state. i tell people all the time, it's going to be harder, the

decisions we have to make in reopening our economy in phases than shutting things down in my view. just because of the balance we need to strike there. we will do that working together and with the expertise that this coalition and the purchasing power in particular of this initiative will bring to the state of delaware. so thanks very much. >> thank you, john. thank you, governor carney. governor carney is right. it was easier to shut down than it's going to be to reopen. shutting down was -- you walk into the basement. you take the power switch and you just go from on to off. right? there was an urgent need. it was an emergency. reopening is more of an arthean art form. i thank my colleagues for doing this together. we have the governor from rhode island and from massachusetts who are part of the co-list.

you go through situations which are unexpected. you do your best. you learn from them. you grow. that's what we're trying to do here today. people expect more perfect government than ever before. this has been transformative. when was the last time government was this vital? maybe in a war. world war ii when government had to mobilize overnight. literally for decades, you haven't seen government this essential to human life literally. government has to work. it has to work well. it's not for the faint of heart now. people want government to

perform. government is making decisions every day that affect their lives. they deserve the best government. right? they're paying for it. they deserve it. and they deserve competence and expertise and smarts and for government to be doing creative things and learning like we are doing here today. at the same time, government is working. we're trying our best. we're working seven days a week, 24 hours a day. this is not just about government. it's too easy to point fingers, this has to do that, this has to do that. every person has a part in this. every person has a part. driving around new york city today -- i was here yesterday. we are all very thankful to our health care heroes, our front line workers, our essential

workers. you watch television. there are all these nice commercials, thank everyone for what they did. and we should. nurses, doctors, police officers, transit workers, god bless them. if you really want to say thank you, make their life easier by not getting sick and not making someone else sick. an individual's role is act responsibly and intelligently for yourself, for your family and for your community. wa wear a mask. that's the basic step. right? socially distance. if you can't socially distance, you are in new york city, you are going to walk up next to a person, wear a mask. okay. it's not the most attractive garment ever created. so what?

well, i don't like -- it feels uncomfortable, unnatural. so what? you want to honor the health care workers and the people who literally gave their lives in some cases for what they did here? act responsibly. wear a mask. i know the weather is getting warmer. i know people want to get out of the house. fine. wear a mask and socially distance. that is your social responsibility in the middle of this overall pandemic. when we talk about new yorkers together and the spirit of unity and how people are helping one another and how tough we are and how smart we are and how disciplined we are and how we love one another, show it. you know how you show love? by wearing a mask. please. questions? >> when you talked about a

different strain being here, coming from europe, is it more deadly? is there reason to believe that? is that why the death toll was harder here than other places? >> i don't know. some have said that. it's not my field. they said two totally different strains. i've heard from some medical professionals that our strain was actually more virulent that the strain that came from china. whatever the mutation was that happened in europe made our strain more virulent. once it comes to new york -- again, nobody was anticipating this european connection. people from italy, nobody was saying, watch out for those people from italy. they were just walking through our airports. right? we had the federal officials at all our airports. they were doing the screening that they were doing. they were screening people from china still. nobody was screening people from

europe. the european travel ban didn't go until march or something, mid march we didn't do a full european travel ban. so they were coming. nobody was screening. nobody was testing. nobody was looking. nobody even knew to look. when they were -- wherever they came in new york, nobody was on notice. nobody said, watch for italian people from italy, watch for people from ireland and the uk. it was just -- we were totally unaware of it. then apparently it's a different strain. once it gets to new york, now you have that density in new york. right? density is the enemy. new york dense housing, dense transportation, dense sidewalks. in that density, it takes off like a fire through dry grass. then it spreads. it's in new jersey. it's in connecticut. that whole area.

especially since, nobody knew. i mean, nobody knew. right? we were doing this every day. nobody ever talked about transmission through europe. >> dave carlin. >> i see your eyes. >> you talk about the road to recovery and reopening as being an art form. your fellow governors feel the same way. how much is based on some personal observations in the last couple of days and gut instinct as opposed to the numbers and benchmarks you say are so important? >> good question. first, follow the data. i believe you can do this as a science. is it science or is it art? let's say it's a combination. but drive it as a science. do it by the numbers. you know -- we're calculating the spread of the virus. that is a mathematical equation on some levels.

and the more you open, the higher the rate of infection will spread. that is in our view. the question is how much does it spread, how fast does it spread and how fast does it spread compared to your health care capacity? that is a formula. you can plug numbers into that formula. that's what we're doing. that's the rate of transmission. we want to keep the rate of transmission below 1.1. we're now at about .7. we have a margin of error, .7 to 1.1. over 1.1 you are in epidemic outbreak status. part is this mathematical formula. that's what we're trying to educate our local partners about in local government. you want to talk about reopening your region, your city, your county, when will the state reopen my region? here is the formula. plug the numbers in.

look at what the formula says. that's the science of it. with all this political talk and all these political opinions, i like to stress the science. because it belies the politics and the emotion. look at the numbers. look at the numbers. the art form is, look, i've been in the federal government, i've been in state government. i was the attorney general. i did emergencies in the federal government, all across the nation, all across the world. so you bring an educated -- your word was gut instinct. you bring an educated gut to it. i bring an educated gut to it because i've gone through this before. but educated gut plus stick to the science. stick to the numbers. >> what does your gut tell you at the moment? >> my gut says the weather is

going to warm, people are bored, people want this over. they see the numbers going down. they can take false comfort. it's going down. that means it's over. no, no. we never said it was over. we said the numbers are going down. we said roughly 1,000 new people every day walk into the hospitals. no, it's basically over. no. well i hear other states are reopening. no. we're not out of the woods. we are this very dense environment. you can see that viral pick up dramatically. it is not going down. there's no it. we are bringing it down. right? that number was going like this. the only reason the number is now going like this is because new yorkers grabbed that projection curve with two hands and pulled it down. that's why it went like this. you go back to your old

behavior, that number goes right back up. it's warm. you want to get out of the house. everybody is antsy. i haven't gotten a paycheck. i'm worried about my job. i know. big caution sign to me. let's watch the numbers. numbers are going down but we are a very dense environment. we have had more cases. we almost overwhelmed the health care system. so caution moving forward. look, how people cannot wear masks, that to me is even disrespectful. it's disrespectful. it's disrespectful to the nurses, the doctors, the people who have been front line workers, the transit workers. you wear the mask for me. it's a sign of respect to other people. you make me sick, that's disrespectful.

i have to go into the hospital. i have to call an ambulance. that's an ambulance driver. i have to go into an emergency. that's a nurse, that's a doctor who has to put on ppe that somebody has to buy and pay for. they have to risk being exposed to the virus. because you wouldn't wear a mask. because you wouldn't wear a mask. you put so many people at risk because you didn't want to wear a mask. i think that's disrespectful by you. it's disrespectful of your relationship and obligation to one another. yes, we're all individuals. we're individuals who live in a community. in the middle of a global pandemic. just be responsible and show respect. i don't think that's too much for each of us to ask of one another. that's a basic common decency in

this situation. >> governor, based on media reports from yesterday, we have seen a lot of people going to central park, to beaches in coney island, to spaces all over the city. is there enough enforcement right now of social city, is there enough enforcement of social distancing and is it safe so long as people wear masks and keep space for people to linger sometimes all afternoon at parks and other areas across the city. >> look, ideally, if you're protecting yourself and your loved ones, or by the way if you are member of a vulnerable population, the idea is to stay indoors, there is no doubt. however, you can't stay indoors forever and the weather is nice. getting outside, getting some exercise, getting fresh air is good. staying socially distant and wearing a mask are basic precautions that should keep you safe. not as good as staying in the

house, but should keep you safe. but that assumes people around you are wearing masks, people around you are acting responsibly. so it is not even a situation that you could control yourself, right. what happens to you is dependent on what i do and how i act. i don't wear a mask. sneeze on a park bench, you walk up two minutes later and sit down on the park bench. by the way you walk up half an hour later and sit on the park bench and you put your hand down and then you wipe your face, now you have a problem because of me. that's why the mask wearing -- and on the local enforcement, i know new york city and mayor de blasio has made a real effort. i've said to all of the government heads, enforce it. enforce it. because it is not only a public

health risk, it is really such a little thing to ask of people. at a time when people are doing so much, so much. i'm with the transit workers yesterday, they're going train to tain, disinfecting, gets on hands and knees in hazmat blowing disinfectant over the seats and wiping it all down. people doing unprecedented work. and you can't even wear a mask. no. >> a few dozen summons enough? that is what the nypd commissioner said, about -- issued yesterday and is that with the level of need -- >> look, we've said this from day one. year in new york state and we're also operating in the state of reality. will you ever get 19 million people in the state to comply because you give them a summons? no. they will comply because they know the facts and because they

choose and deem that it is intelligent and reasonable to comply. and that's how i've started this from day one. look, i could have done a close down order and new yorkers could have said -- that. with no words. they could have just not complied with it. and what do i do? run around giving summons. it wouldn't work. went through the facts and explained why and closed it down and people complied. it is going to be the same with masks and personal behavior. this is a new level of personal behavior that we're asking people to undertake. and i think they will get it. i think it is not going to happen because of law enforcement, but law enforcement has a role. but i think they have to understand it and they have to get it. and i think if new yorkers, you know, the best enforcers of social behavior are other

enforcer -- other new yorkers, right. i think if new yorkers get it, you walk down the street without a mask, i think other new yorkers are going to let you know. and as long as they do that within the bounds decorum, i don't think that is a bad thing. >> you talk about lessons learned. is there something to be learned here regarding ppe and being manufactured overseas and would you say it is time to rethink globalization policies for the direction this country has been going in for the last 30 years. >> i don't know if you have go to globalization. you're not going to change the macro economic forces. but i think there is a lesson to learn and what we're trying to actually deliver on. this is an emergency service, right. and in a snowstorm you have to

be able to get salt and have snowplows, right. in a hurricane, you have to have pumps. in a public health emergency, you have to have ppe. i mean, nothing works unless -- step one is you have to have the ppe. we have to go to china for the ppe, think about that. you couldn't even get it in this nation. we were starting to make our own in the state. but that's a national security issue to me. yeah, you have to be able to get masks and gowns and whatever medical equipment you need so this nation can run a health care system in the middle of an emergency. yeah. yeah. and forget the macro economics. just from a national security point of view, i think, yes, you have to be able to do that. you can't be dependent on china to have the basic equipment to

save lives in the united states. that is what this came down to. i mean, think about it. robert kraft, god bless him, owns the new york -- new england patriots. they have not done new yorkers a lot of favors over the years but great sports team. but robert kraft has to send a private plane to china pick up mas masks for massachusetts. that is how we handle a global pandemic. i have to call mr. kraft and say can you do me a favor, governor baker, as long as the plane is going, you could pick up some masks for me. i mean, that is how that happened. right. two major states in the middle of a pandemic. robert kraft is sending a plane. do you guys want to comment on anything? >> no. i would just say on your point before when you asked about the higher cases in new york versus

the west coast, the vir illent stream as the governor said there is mixed reviews out there but it is important to remember, it is not just the travel ban here didn't happen until i think it was march 16th after the first version and they closed it down to europe and the 16th went into effect including the u.k. whereas at asia travel ban was early february so the flights from asia go to the west coast and the flights from europe come to new york and newark. >> but look at that variance. end of january you do the travel ban. you don't do the uk travel ban until the end of january until the middle of march. the virus was not hanging out in china waiting for you during that period of time. january it got on a plane, went to europe, and then spread in europe, and then from january to

mid-march was coming from europe right here. >> and then i think on top of that there was this false sense of security in that the cdc was doing testing, so they were coming back and saying there is no cases in new york. but the people that they were testing, they were testing a very select few that were coming off of planes from their hot spot designated regions and then they were letting everybody else come right through the front door without doing temperature checks, without checking to see if they are demonstrating any of the symptoms that you would have and so in retrospect, what did everyone think was going to happen. according to "the new york times" they think there were 10700 cases here in february. one more, sir. >> are there any benchmarks you're looking at for when we might see overnight subway service again and that would involve cleaning. so what would overnight subway service look like. >> the subway service will return when the pandemic ends.

you tell me when the pandemic ends i'll tell you when the subway service resumes. for that, we don't really have a choice in truth. most of the issues, we don't have a choice. do you what have you to do. we didn't have a choice whether or not we bought ppe from china. we don't have a choice whether or not we disinfect the trains. i'm so grateful to the front line workers who show up every day. think about what we did here. we had to explain to new yorkers how vicious this virus was, so they would actually honor the close down, what we were just talking about, the next sentence out of my mouth is, yes, it's vicious, we need to close down, next sentence is but i need the essential workers to come to work tomorrow morning. what you just said it was a vicious virus. i should stay home. but now the essential workers

have to come to work. yes. because we need people to run the buses and the trains and we need the nurses and we need the doctors and we need food on the shelves. you want to see things go bad in a hurry, no food on the shelves. right. no electric power. you want to see panic and anarchy, you needed those essential workers. so god bless them. and we still need them. but at a minimum, we're talking about respect and wear a mask, they use public transit. i'm not going to ask them to come to work to get on public transit unless we know the public transit is safe. and safe in this case means clean. and we talk about the density as a spreader, yeah, that's true. but also public transit, if it is not clean, can spread. one of the surfaces that the virus lives longest on is

stainless steel. you look at all of the poles in the subway car, you have to clean the cars. and i'm very grateful to the front line workers for coming out. they need the public transit. we owe it to them that it is safe and it is clean and to do that you have to close it down to -- from 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. now 1:00 to 5:00 a.m., first time it ever closed down, yeah. but 92% reduction in ridership. so your ridership is down to like 8%. and 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. is the lowest period of ridership so people will work literally in the middle of the night to clean the trains. but it is the least for the essential workers and for anyone. we have to be able to say our public transit system is safe. and it is clean. and especially getting ready, planning to reopen, you cannot do anything without a public transit system that people have

confidence in. and knowing that it is clean and they know how to disinfect it and i think that is vital to confidence in new york, right. which is a big factor that we have to put into the equation here. just confidence and comfort with the situation in new york in the midst of this pandemic, right. >> -- multi-state consortium plan, are you confident president trump is moving forward with his offer of swabs and other things that you need, that promise of 2% of the population testing or is it the multi-state consortium because you don't still have confidence in -- >> we're working with the federal government. whatever they can do to help is great. but this is also an ongoing situation. i don't want to sit here and just say i'm going to wait for the help, for help from the federal government.

whatever help they give us is great. but it is also clear from the federal government that it is up to governors, up to governors, up to governors. so we can do on our own, so we're not reliant on anyone, that's the best. thanks, guys. wear a mask. in case you didn't get the message. thank you. >> all right, everyone, new york governor andrew cuomo wrapping up his daily coronavirus briefing. i'm alex witt here in new york. i think it is safe to say given the bulk of heft, if you will, these gubernatorial leaders from the east coast we could call this grouping of leaders that we heard at the top of the hour as a coronavirus east coast task force. there were the governors of the states of new york, new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania, delaware as well. they all contributed to this news conference in addition the two governors of massachusetts and rhode island are part of this larger east coast

coronavirus task force. joining me now. nbc news contributor natally azar and rob davidson from west michigan. also joining me arizona democratic congressman rubin gallego. thank you for staying with us. we did hear a lot and i want to get to the medical aspects of this. first to you, dr. azar, it was very interesting to hear governor cuomo talk about the different strains of viruses. those that came to new york originated predominantly in europe. very heavily coming from italy which was hit so hard as we all know versus those on the west coast first in washington and then subsequently in california coming mostly from china. there are different strains here. talk about how the different strains could potentially need different approaches to treatment. is that out of the realm of possibility? >> yeah, alex, so this is interesting because a few weeks or a few months ago there was discussion and things written about potentially different

strains. but at the time they were basically saying a genetic mutation does not necessarily confirm an increased virilensce. and i think there was a preprint from china but in the report they do describe a number of different mutations that could confer. number one different var illence and number two to strengthen or weaken a potential vaccine response. so as i see the way experts interpret that data is that any information we could get or glean is important. but again this hasn't been peer reviewed so it needs to be interpreted cautiously but it is definitely important that we're looking into this. >> okay. and dr. davidson, with regard to treatment, how much do you think there might be a variance in the way a doctor one-on-one treats a patient with the element of the virus that came perhaps from europe versus that from china. could there be a difference? could there be different drugs

more effective one way or the other? >> well there certainty could be. and the remdesivir trials are very early and we don't know how effective that drug might be. but i think when you're looking at your patient one-on-one with the virus, because it is novel and we know what it does in the most extreme state to the lungs, you really are just operating on sort of basic icu care and management of the patients to limit the amount of damage you do to their lungs as you're trying to oxygen ate them and get them through the worst of the case. >> with regard to a vaccine, of course which could hopefully be what eradicates dealing with coronavirus for people here on the planet, there are different approaches but time frame in which is may be developed, dr. azar, we heard from an oxford university professor, sir john bell, we heard from him earlier saying there could be a vaccine as early as june that has been

developed. now, your thoughts on that and does that mean developed for dissemination or is there a huge difference between having something and being able to put it out into the public? >> yeah, so i think what he was referring to was a signal for vaccine efficacy. the first part of the clinical trials for vaccines is about safety. and remember that a lot of these things are happening in parallel. normally there is a very specific timeline, animal testk, lab testing, massive human trials and then the production and the scale up. these are all happening in parallel right now. so really it is unprecedented. and just to point out to make that many vaccine experts will say that designing a vaccine candidate is the easy part. determining that it is safe and effective is really the challenge. so the signal i think the u.k. researcher is talking about is efficacy and safety is first and

they have to confirm that is safe and effective in humans. >> dr. davidson, when we look at the numbers cumulatively speaking the united states accounts for approximately one-third of all of the global infections of coronavirus in terms of death we account for approximately one fourth. to what do you owe that -- i almost hesitate to call it quasisilver lining. when you think about it in volume, we're not losing as many people to death from coronavirus as perhaps other countries comparatively speaking. why is that? >> well, i think we have to be careful first in determining that. we still have over 900,000 cases that are unresolved. a certain percentage are in the hospital and icu and haven't proven the eventual outcome. in this country if you need advanced intensive care, we certainly have that availability and through social distancing in

so many of the states including mine here in michigan, we have managed to keep our icu from becoming totally overwhelmed and so once you get to that point i think we do provide exemplary care in giving patients the best possible chance of getting through this. >> okay. join me now arizona congressman rubin gallego. thank you for staying through the medical aspects of this and this is important to you and all of your constituents there in the state of arizona. i know that arizona is allowing shopping in stores by the end of this week. but with the caveat that proper social distancing has to take place in the stores. how do you feel about your state's plan, how confident are you in it? >> i hope for the best. but honestly i'm a little nervous. in my opinion the state did not properly start social distancing at the right time. we still have very high cases of hospitalization. we still have hit huge numbers of deaths and we have not even

hit -- remotely hit the cdc guidelines for reopening. we don't have a downward trajectory for two weeks. i know people are getting anxious because it is hot here and people like going out and getting into the woods to get rid of the summer heat, but this is not the right time. >> well they like to do that, sir, and many of them want to get back to work. i know there were a few dozen protesters outside of your district there in scottsdale this weekend. they were -- they're just tired of staying at home. they want to get out and about. what do you want to say to those constituents, whether it is to get out and get in the woods just to shake things off and get out of the house or literally get back to work. >> well this isn't about you. this is about your family. you may be safe and you may actually be fine, but we now know that there is a lot of people that carry symptoms, that carry covid-19 that are asymptomatic and they pass it on to family members. so stay at home your your family.

also if we have a rebound and we open too soon i believe it is going to be even worse than the first phase that went through this. it will be worse for the economy, worse for our health care system and the best thing to do is to get this right the first time. stay at home, stay with your family. and i think we'll all get through this together. >> congressman, how much are you hearing that echoed from your constituents believing that there may be a second wave that could be even more stronger than it is right now? >> well, none -- unfortunately i don't think a lot of people believes that is going to happen. that is the job of leadership and our health care leaders to educate our constituents. and more importantly, it is the job of political leaders to actually stick to what matters and that is making sure that we deal with the underlying health care crisis that we have right now and not try to take a cheap way around this and open up government quicker because of, a., we're worried about the economy, or b., because we have some form of political pressure. we need steady leadership. you see that coming from new

york and california. we need that leadership coming from the white house. >> yeah. well in terms of leadership, we know that on capitol hill we have the senate expected to get back in session tomorrow. how about the house. when do you expect to head back to d.c., get back to work on the hill and how about negotiations over the next relief bill. is that contingent upon when the house gets back in session? >> well, right now we actually are negotiating and having conversations among ourselves as members of congress. and we work largely through our committees. right now i'm also working on the national defense authorization act defense bill so there is a lot of work happening though we're not in washington, d.c. last we heard we'll be returning to washington, d.c. to deal with this next stimulus bill but probably not until sometime mid-week next week. but there are ongoing negotiations, trying to reform the ppp program and make sure people are receiving unemployment and more testing and, of course, more funding for

local and state governments that are really taking the biggest hit as obviously our tribal government that are always being shortchanged. >> god speed to all of our lawmakers as you get back to work remotely on on capitol hill. thank you so much for your time and doctors, thank you both as well. 13 past the hour. we'll get you up to date. there are more than 1.1 million cases of coronavirus looking across the country. more than 66,000 people have died. and as you were hearing in the last hour, new york governor andrew cuomo just wrapping up that extraordinary press briefing. he was joined by governors from four neighboring states announcing a joint consortium to acquire a much needed ppe. >> we're doing regional planning on the opening because every state is linked to every other state. we do something in new york, it

affected new jersey, delaware, et cetera. people are very mobile right now. so it is an important relationship for us both productively and from an efficiency point of view. and they've been great. joining us today we have governor phil murphy, governor ned lamont and governor tom wolf and governor john carney. >> again, that coronavirus east coast commission there. other headlines we're following starting tomorrow, more than two dozen states honed roughly 146 million people. they will reopen. arizona, indiana, kansas, nebraska, all among those set to ease restrictions. in florida, stores and restaurants will be allowed to open at 25% capacity. in all but three counties. in missouri all businesses could be open as long as they practice social distancing. here in new york city, about a thousand police officers have been dispatched to enforce social distancing as the warm weather outside has drawn some pretty big crowds there.

the nypd making about 60 arrests related to social distancing since the city stay at home policy began in march. new search for a solution. one oxford scientist working on developing a coronavirus vaccine said it is making headway. >> we'll probably get a signal based on current level of the disease, probably get a signal in early june. we're ready to move trials overseas if the disease peters out in the u.k. so we've got sites already in play in other places of the world where it is active. so we're pretty sure we'll get a signal by june. >> and as protesters across the country rally against stay-at-home orders, new reaction from the coordinator of the white house task force dr. birx. >> it is devastatingly worrisome to me personally because if they go home and infect their grandmother or father who has a comorbid condition and they have an unfortunate outcome, they

will feel guilty for the rest of their lives so we need to protect each other at the same time we're voicing our discontent. >> and with regard to the latest from new york, the governor announcing that hospitalizations are down. new cases are also down. let's go to cory coffee joining me now from new york city. with a welcome to you. as we see your near times square which had more people due to the weather there. but the governor's briefing, he was joined by all of the other governors, why this unprecedents joint effort to team up to try to get more ppe? >> reporter: simply put, alex, because it was an unprecedented emergency and he's looking forward past this point of reopening and saying how do we need to move forward as a state to make sure that this never happens again. and one of the main things is going to be having a 90-day supply of the personal protection equipment but one of the main issues when trying to get that during the crisis was competing with other states.

was the price of this ppe. so he said if we bring a consortium together of seven states here in the northeast we'll have more purchasing power, we could bring it altogether, lower the levels of the cost and raise the amount that we keep for those staff up to at least a 90-day supply. and looking ahead, we're joining by new york council speaker cory johnson who is with the district three. and we appreciate you coming out today, talking about what is ahead for new yorkers because as you could see, there is nothing like what it normally would have been in the precoronavirus era but certainly a lot of people out here today. >> it is surreal and heartbreaking to see times square like this and as we see today and yesterday with the warm weather that is upon us and the summer coming, there are real concerns here about giving people the space they need to be able to socially distance and to make sure that we are doing that as new yorkers, we've seen the number goes down from 900 people being lost in new york city every single day a month ago and

we're now almost at 300. so we've bent the curve somewhat but that is still a lot of people and the virus hasn't gone anywhere. it is important for new yorkers to know that. it is still waiting and lurking. so the most important thing we can do is to continue social distancing and that is why we're opening up city streets to allow that for happen. >> right now severn miles of city streets in five boroughs but that is increasing. >> it is going to go up to 100 miles, there were disturbing photos people jammed into parks not wearing masks and not properly social distanced and we need to give new yorkers more space and room and we've identified 75 miles that will grow to 100, we've identified the other 25 to get space for new yorkers to walk, to jog, to exercise, to be with their children and not be cramped into a park. >> do we know when the 100 miles is going to be complete.

>> it is being ramped up. we started with 7 miles yet. hopefully a week from now we'll have double or triple that. >> reporter: that sounds great. thank you cory johnson with us this afternoon talking about warning folks even though this is a beautiful day, we still need to stay vigilant, guys. >> 100%. cori coffin there from times square. and we heard from governor murphy saying that it is unclear if the state's beaches will reopen in time for memorial day weekend. let's go to lindsay riser who is joining us live from asbury park, a destination point over memorial day weekend typically. but let's get to the residents there, good day to you, how they're reacting to word from the governor and if there is any zbl glimmer of hope that memorial day might be a normal with it. >> there is a lot of hope, alex. and aside from seeing this boardwalk boarded up, this is basically as far as we could go. the beaches are still open here and of course that is something that could be taken away if

people don't socially distance. but these jersey shore towns have been hit incredibly hard. the boardwalks closed, mom and pop businesses line the boardwalk. i want to bring in russell lewis, the owner of water mark which is a cocktail lounge here in asbury park. you employ 45 people and their furloughed in peak season, you employ 90 people, what are things looking like for you right now as the owner. >> we're sitting and waiting like everyone hoping that we'll have restrictions lifted in the next few weeks and get back to some semblance of a summer hopefully by july/august. even if we're running at 50%. that is the best we could hope for right now. >> reporter: do you think that once things open up people will come. >> i do think they'll come, absolutely. i think they've been cooped up at home and looking to get out and get fresh air and i think they're looking to socialize and looking to get back to some sort

of normal life that they used to have. i think people are going to be precautious and i think they should be cautious. but i think we'll see people return, absolutely. >> >> reporter: and today it is more of a beach day. still over cast and windy. but yesterday in the 70s. there were people out here. in fact police were patrolling, ramping up patrols and gave 20 to 25 different warnings to social distancing, do you worry if too many people come here this privilege will be taken away. >> absolutely. and we to look at neighboring towns. if they're closing boardwalks an beaches, it will funnel people here as well so we have to work in concert with our neighboring towns as well. so we're all in this together. >> russell lewis, thank you so much. and alex, memorial day, the unofficial kickoff of summer and they have the summer concert series so the deputy mayor hopes that will happen but at this point it is anybody's guess as to when things get back to normal.

>> there is a rumor in my ear that i called you lori earlier. i know you are lindsay so if i did, i'm sorry. >> i would never correct you, alex. >> call me sam, whatever you want. i don't care. i'll answer. thank you my friend. >> alicia, thank you. >> let's move to the white house. where monica alba is sitting there for us. we're getting an economic outlook from the administration today. what is all this about? >> reporter: that is right. we heard earlier from the top officials and they aren't ruling out another stimulus package. of course we've seen a series of that. we're not sure what the next phase would be. but there are active discussions between the white house and lawmakers on capitol hill about what that might look like and there are questions also about whether there is more money for small businesses. you say the paycheck protection program running out of money so quickly twice and there is question whether there is a third. so there is more to see whether that will happen and it is unclear. but take a listen to what

director larry kudlow said about the state of economy as it stands now this morning. here he is. >> we know the economy is still in terrible contractionary face, tremendous hardships everywhere. that is why we've put up several rescue packages. having said that, i will note that the congressional budget office and a bunch of private forecasters, "wall street journal" surveys and so forth, are looking for a very strong second half economic rebound and suggesting that 2021, next year, could be one of the fastest growth rebounds in american history, or recent history. >> reporter: you heard that reference there to 2021. of course that would be next year. so the white house bracing for a very, very tough, what they expect to be jobs report coming this friday. and as mr. kudlow was asked about that, he also said he's hopeful that after a very difficult summer in the third and fourth quarter, we could see

some economic revival but this comes today as six months to election day and the economy and such a centerpiece to the election pitch. they've been having conversations behind the scenes to show case the pivot and we'll see it tonight with the president participating in a two hour fox news town mall where aides tell us he is expected to discuss new economic proposals, potentially some tax policies. it seems they're going to be dangling that tonight as he has all of the events in the weeks to come that are more about showcasing american businesses and getting americans back to work. but that friday jobs report, everybody acknowledges, will be very difficult to swallow, alex. >> indeed. monica alba at the white house, thank you for that. well there is new reaction to discuss today to a washington post report. the headline 34 days of pandemic inside trump's desperate attempts to reopen america. it suggests that the white house came up with its own coronavirus

model to help guide the president's push to reopen the economy. it was a model that was developed by economist kevin hassett. today adviser larry kudlow defended hassett. take a listen. >> look, what he was doing was taking that bill gates -- the gates' model, not bill gates but the gates' model and smoothing it out to show what is actually happening. he was clarifying the situation. he was not changing the situation. we have from day one abided by the advice and guidance of our top medical people, dr. fauci and ambassador birx and many others in hhs and fda. this idea that somehow we were creating a new model is simply not the case. >> joining me now, philip rucker from "the washington post" and political analyst.

let's get into this. there is a lot to discuss. but before i get reaction, i want to quickly add that this article for this article you and your colleagues wrote it was based on 82 interviews with administration officials with outside advisers and experts who have detailed knowledge of the white house dealing with the pandemic. so as i set up that, when you listen to larry ckudlow, what i your reaction to his comments? >> well, alex, let me just tell you the facts that as we know them based on our extensive reporting and a whole team of us. president trump was looking for better data to help justify his decision to reopen the economy. and kevin hassett, an economist in the administration whose been working on helping with the pandemic response put together his own data analysis that was really intended to guide decision making for things like

ventilators but it was determined in the west wing to project a much lower death count than the other models were showing, than the publicly available data. and it really shaped the thinking inside of the west wing and generated a lot of momentum around this pivot that we've seen the last couple of weeks that president trump has taken to focus less on the public health crisis and more on the economic health crisis, to focus on reopening the economy. >> and just to double check, hassett himself, any experience in science or is he an economist, exclusively so, no experience in medical science that you're aware of? >> he's an economist. he has no formal training in epidemiology or medical science or any clear experience in that. he may have his own knowledge base but he's not trained or worked in the science or medicine. >> look's look at the scientific models, that the virus could kill at least 100,000 americans and you wrote that the white house model indeed predicted far fewer fatalities.

so what is the risk of oozi-- o using a model that portrays of being less severe than it actually is. >> well the risk, alex, and the way it was so influential in the west wing it left the decision for the decision makers, tdeath was less severe than they really are. that there would be fewer deaths than right now, over 65,000 now and that is justification tor beginning to reopen the economy. that is something the president wanted to do for sometime. he's not alone. jared kushner and stephen muchin and mark short has a lot of influence in the coronavirus task force has all been trying to get the economy reopened and this model by kevin hassett helped to justify that decision. >> and to that and, philip, i want to read this part. by the end of april with more

americans dying in the month than any all of the vietnam war, it became clear that the hassett model was too good to be true. a catastrophic miss as a former senior administration official briefed on that data described it. so the president's course would not be changed, however, are you saying that reopening going on right now around this country today were based orn a catastrophic miss? >> well, to be clear, the reopening decisions were seen happening in states across country are being made by the governors themselves. but the president has used his pulpit, his stature as the president of the united states, to call for reopening, to encourage states to, quote, liberate as he put it in his tweet and to really try to focus on the economy. and so this modeling certainly influenced the decision in terms of what the president was going to be calling for and focusing on. but of course, the governors themselves are making the actual decisions about lifting some of

the social distancing restrictions in their state. >> so philip, what is your understanding about the faucis and the birx, the influence of the doctors and scientists versus the influence of economic advisers and what did you find was behind the president's promotion of that one specific drug hydroxychloroquine? >> yeah. so dr. fauci and birx both have access to the president. they're in meetings daily. although the president does not often attend but our reporting shows they do get their points across to the president privately in the oval office. especially dr. birx who he has come to trust and admire but the president is taking advice from other areas including from the economic and political adviser and also from his friends, from rudy giuliani, from members of the mar-a-lago club. you mentioned hydroxychloroquine and we reported in "the washington post" that the president gave the cell phone

number of the governor of california gavin newsom to one of the mar-a-lago friend is a vitamin executive to encourage limb to call newsom on the state of california of buying a massive shipment of hydroxychloroquine from a manufacturer in india. the governor declined that and the deal did not happen but the president was encouraging it. >> this is extraordinary reading as i look it. as a lengthy piece by your colleagues and you in "the washington post." thank you very much. let's go to politics. and joe biden denying he assaulted tara reade nearly 30 years ago. here is is that. >> i'm saying unequivocally it never happened, period. believing making taking a allegation seriously and vetting it and looking into it and that is true in there case as well. >> with me now communication

director at the dnc, the democratic national committee. so good to see you. as you listen to joe biden's response to the allegations, how satisfied are you and do you believe that tara reade's claims have been fairly and adequately looked into whether right now by journalists and/or those vetting the vice president as he was being put on the ticket with barack obama back in 2008. >> so, joe biden unequivocally denied these allegations. and you saw that on morning joe on friday. but then you saw that again on al sharpton show on your network yesterday. and as a democratic party and i know joe biden believes this too, is we believe that women should be able to come forward and that they should be able to be heard and respected with dignity. and so that is exactly what is happened here. and we welcome reporters looking into further. and not only that, joe biden has said and he's asked the secretary of the senate to look

into whether or not there are documents, relevant documents to this matter and if there are that they should be released. and you haven't seen this type of transparency from really any politician before. so i think that it just shows that joe biden has nothing to hide. that if there are documents out there, he wants them released. and he wants to make sure that the public sees that. because he understands that as he's running for president of the united states, that he answered to the american people and right now you can't say the same thing of this president. >> okay. you just talked about documents. but in response to a "new york times" editorial board suggestion that the dnc assemble an unbiased apolitical panel to inventory the senate papers, those headed to, say, university of delaware, you said this is an absurd suggestion on its face. why? >> it is absolutely absurd. and i will point out that a number of reporters have said as

much online as well. and the reason is there are a few things. first of all, the dnc is a political organization. the dnc elects democrats in on and there are no off years for us. we organize. we build the infrastructure for the nominee and democrats up and down the ballot. we're not an investigative unit. with that said, "the new york times" also leaves out that joe biden has been vetted. barack obama had attorneys that did a thorough vetting. and they did not even find a hint of an allegation involving this or any allegation. and so barack obama picked joe biden as his vice president because he trusted him. because he had been vetted. because he has been a champion in our party. and that is exactly why he picked him. >> so so sochi, would you support an inchoiry trying to chronicle everything in the papers that are boubds for the university of delaware, the senate position papers and the

like of the former vice president just not being done by the dnc? >> well, i think there are a few things that need to be looked at here. first of all, when it comes to the university of delaware, and i think any senator will tell you this, is that when you have your archives in a library once you leave the senate, those archives are policy papers and they are things that you and your staff put together to show your legacy. they are public documents, they are policy papers, they are speeches. those sort of things. personnel documents don't go to universities as part of your legacy. personnel documents are in the senate. and that is why we have asked the vice president has asked that the secretary of the senate, if there are documents, to make them public. so he has taken this unprecedented step. and i just want to be very clear, because there is a distinction there that i think republicans and others are really trying to throw out there. they want to muddy the waters.

they want to muddy the waters because they see what is happening in our country right now and the terrible response from this president. so i just want to be clear that the senate, that is who would have any sort of document, if there were a document. and joe biden has asked them specifically to look at that. >> okay. one more question. relative to a popular parlor game in d.c. relative to a cbs news poll, that shows 36% of democratic registered voters say biden should pick senator elizabeth warren as his running mate for vice president. she is followed by senator kamala harris and georgia candidate stacey abrams and then amy klobuchar as well. what is the takeaway from that for you? >> well, first of all, i just saw your screen and i was just excited about all of the women that are on your screen because they're more than qualified. and that is something that as a woman and a woman in politics, i really love seeing. potentially our first woman vice president. and so what joe biden has said

and what his campaign has said is that they're vetting over a dozen candidates and regardless he wants to make sure that his administration is diverse and reflects america. and i think that all of the women that you showed on your screen and many others would be qualitied to be vice president, they are women who have proven track records, who will make sure that they are fighting for the american people right now. and will be a good partner for joe biden. and joe biden understands this job. he was vice president to barack obama. he understands the relationship between the president and the vice president and what is needed in order to have that role. and so i have every confidence that joe biden and his team will pick the best person for that job. >> communication secretary at the dnc. thank you so much. good to see you. have a good one. so when can we expect to return to normal. one simple word might be the answer. the answer i just love hitting the open road and telling people

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requiring meat packing plants to remain open causing some fears in one new iowa city. tyson foods keeping the biggest pork facility closed indefinitely despite that order, after officials said about 90% of people testing positive for coronavirus in blackhawk county they were tried to the tyson plant. and joining me now is the mayor of waterloo, iowa, quentin heart. thank you for joining me. this tyson plant remains closed right now. will the president's order to stay open, will it force them to open those doors and what are you your thoughts on that? what about the employees? do they want to get back to work right now under these conditions? >> hi, alex, thank you for having me. and this order is interesting because if you force an essential business or a meat packing plant to open when they have deemed that their facilities could potentially be

a public health risk and could contribute to the overall spread of the virus to force them to open before safety parameters are put in at that company would be a huge step backwards in my opinion. and right now if you talk to some of the employees, you have some that are upset, some that are hurt, sick, some are scared and some feel like there is a level of trust that has been broken. i mean their worried about what they're going to eat and putting food an their very own table. there is a multitude of steps that need to be taken and i did have a conversation myself, the public health director for the county and the sheriff with officials at tyson's and they're not going to open until there is particular safety measures that they discussed that are in place. >> okay. something interesting about the president's order here. mayor hart, it is that he's

trying to seek orders to shield companies just like tyson from any kind of legal liability in case they get sued by workers who could contract the virus on the job. so are workers aware of that and if so what is their reaction, how does anyone fight this? >> right. well it somewhat infringes upon worker rights. pro-business means to be pro-public work force and be pro-work force means to be pro-public health so it creates a scenario where it is us versus them mentality and if you take a look at it, there is a direct correlation between a strong agricultural base and healthy work force, production flow, all of that -- all of those things have an impact on local and national economies which have an impact over the global economy and just what that says, if you do not have healthy workers, if you do not have that level of trust built up, then you

compromise production flow. and that's what we need to have. and that's the step that -- talking friday that the company is wanting to move forward with, building that trust with workers. >> mayor, we're look at pictures on the other side of the screen that show people wearing some form of protection. is there enough for those workers in the tyson foods plant when they go back to work and we know that it decided to close the largest plant, that was april 22nd. the timing of that, was it right? was it too late? and what about the ppe? >> well, april 9th we heard rumbling, april 10 the blackhawk county did a walk through with the sheriff and april 12th to you 17th elected officials were concerned and april 24th they closed and we met this past week. because we wanted to find out what protections will be in place from temperature screening to testing of workers, dividers in work spaces that you just

showed, sanitizing and procedural changes, what type of communication and mitigation controls enhance wellness and monitoring and feedback. all of those things need to be in place and we had a great conversation to start off. they are working right now to do just as we've indicated -- what i just talked about. but, of course, i'm not the cdc director or the usda or the public health department. but i'm glad to see that level of communication is opened up right now for us to work together to build that bridge. >> and in waterloo, iowa, mayor, thank you so much for your time here on msnbc. let's go from there to a new model that looks at the trajectory of coronavirus. the institute for health metrics and evaluation at the university of washington projects the number of deaths in the next month, if social distancing continues as we look at those numbers, joining me now ali

mocha from population health from the nufr of washington and also contributor dr. lippy roy. welcome to you both. professor, i'll begin with you. you want to bring back the model. with the big red section there on the right indicating the area of uncertainty. it is a pretty broad area there. why is it so broad, sir and how could we be more certain of that kind of projection? >> thank you. so what you look at the graph right now you see the zigzag. so this is not fault of any health department. they report the second day, and that is happened today and our model is trying to make sense of it. so you see that fluctuation of the data is causing that wide confidence around our numbers -- >> okay, sir, by tomorrow more than half of the states in this country will start to reopen, so do you think it is too early and how will that change your next

models and what will be taken into consideration? >> it is too early for sure. and this will change our new model. so of course right now we're seeing that many states are adding deaths that are happening outside of the hospitals and nursing home. so for example georgia added over 1,000 deaths in ohio and south carolina and that number will increase the mortality that we have right now. that is one. two, we're seeing a lot of mobility increase before some of the lifting of the social distancing measures and that will need to increase in our projection. >> doctor roy to you now, as we've seen plenty of photos and videos of the crowds in central park and new jersey given the beautiful weather this we can. how concerning is that to you? >> good afternoon, alex. i'll be very honest and admit that i went out for a run yesterday. the weather was beautiful. i went to central park. it was my first time in months that i did that. i wore a mask. i made sure i kept over 12 feet of physical distancing. i did see other people running,

walking, jogging. for the most part from what i witnessed, again this is anecdotal, but people were respecting the physical distancing and other preventive health measures. so, look, i understand that personally and professionally i get that. but for most part it's really important for people to go out and do what you need to do. if it is just a quick run, jog, walk, go out and get groceries and medications but then come back home. be home. stay home. and practice those preventative health measures. >> look, we know there is a big huge push at the federal and state levels to get this country back to normal by summer but, professor, you said summer will not be normal no matter what and we'll see not normalcy until there is a vaccine. how long do you believe that time frame is and why couldn't we get to some semblance of normalcy before the vaccine? >> alex, i don't think our new normal will be like what we used to have before. people one day go out and about

right now, they will practice social distancing and wear masks. unfortunately i can't tell you when that date is and when we could go back to normal because this virus is in charge. and people's mobility is adding to our complexity for being able to detect a date when we could tell people it is now normal and let's go back to be able to move around with keeping social distancing in place as well. safe distancing in place when we are going outside. >> professor ali mocha and lippy roy, thank you. the president has big plans to speak to his base tonight. but what about all americans? the chase mobile app, your bank can be virtually any place. so, when you get a check... you can deposit it from here. and you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. you can save for an emergency from here. or pay bills from here. so when someone asks you, "where's your bank?" you can tell them: here's my bank. or here's my bank. or, here's my bank. because if you download and use the chase mobile app,

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a controversial decision out of decision out of texas this weekend, beaches reond without any restrictions. this comes just days after texas reported its largest number of coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period. let's go to presilla thompson. what you are seeing over there? are people at left sociast soci distancing? >> good afternoon, alex. well, yeah, folks are trying to social distance. take a look behind me, you can see most people tend to be sticking with their family groups. the they're not exactly congregating with strangers. but the officials here tell me that they have seen a few hundred thousand people come out to the beach since friday when they reopened. it can be harder to social distance as more people are coming out. but i did speak to a parking

attendant here who was very excited to be getting back to work and she says that the beach is a great way for people to take their minds off the virus. take a listen to what she told me. >> the beaches should be open for the people to enjoy. i think it will be good for everybody to just come on down and enjoy the weather and stop thinking so much about the virus. you know, everything is going to get better. everything is going to get better and everything is going to be great again. >> but, alex, the reality is the cases here in texas are continuing to grow. over the past four days, the state has reported 1,000 plus positive cases each day. it's the first time that that has happened where we've seen that level of positive cases over a four day consecutive period, alex. >> it is absolutely extraordinary the timing with that number of deaths and then completely reopening without restriction otherwise just saying to people you have to social distance. okay. thank you so much. the president is set to arrive

from camp david any time now marking his first occasion venturing outside of the white house since the end of march. the president tonight we heard is set to participate in a two hour town hall on the economy and then tuesday he is heading to an arizona facility that produces m 95 masks. joining us is peter baker, white house correspondent for "the new york times" and also jeff mason, white house correspondent at reuters g to see you both. let's get night, peter. the strategy here by the white house is what? by having the president showcase himself outside of the usual briefings? >> well, i think first of all, they decided the briefings had run their course. they got a lot of blowback even from the republicans that they were kind of doing more damage at this point than good. so they wanted to mix it up a little bit, find new ways of getting him out there and this is, of course, a new team, a new communications team that has come in. you know, it's also an attempt to show, you know, beginning of getting back to business as usual or business as the new

usual will be. there won't be ever a complete usual for a while until the vaccine o ar a cure. the president is encouraging states to reopen like texas as you just showed. he's encouraging the idea that we can begin to come back out of our houses and isolation doesn't have to continue forever even if there are precautions that need to be taken while doing so. of course, you know, there are those that will say this premature and this is risking a second wave and, you know, we'll see what happens. he is going to spend two hours talking mostly to the base tonight on fox news. it's a town hall for the country. town hall for his supporters because he, of course, has an election in six months. >> yeah. so, jeff, they urged the president for weeks now to cut back on his appearances because they warned him it is hurting him politically and the numbers and certain polls would back that up. so is this the tradeoff? is this what we can expect going forward? is this going to be the plan? >> well, it looks like it will be at least for now.

last week at the white house he still took a lot of questions. about the coronavirus and other issues from the reporters. he's not giving up on that back and forth. he's just not doing it in the brady press briefing room. i think you're right. peter is right to say that polling is showing that is not helping him. but he still enjoying that engagement. it's just being framed a little bit differently by having an event in the east room, for example, with small businesses or in the blue room and other places at the white house with some more formal structuring. now this week on tuesday as you mentioned earlier, he's going to arizona. and that will be another chance for him to sort of reframe what he's doing and no doubt he'll take questions along the way and, you know, he can get in trouble as it were when he does that. but this will be a chance for him to get out of the white house and i think he's probably dying to get out of the white house at this point. >> there is some polling, peter,

that suggests older voters were among those that were very much turned off by his daily press briefings. perhaps by the tenor of them. how concerned are the advisors and the campaign as they head into the last six months? >> well, as you say, senior citizens, seniors in america were, i think, disturbed at some point on some of the things that bleach injecting comments and all the attacks on governors and sort of, you know, the combativeness of some of the briefings. and senior citizens, senior voters are particularly important to this president. he has, you know, he won in 2016 in part on the back of a larger support among older americans. he needs that again if he wants to win this fall. so that's a key thing for him. he hopes the program this last week was meant to specifically talk about the impact of this on seniors. and so i think you're right. you know, it's interesting. what -- just yesterday president

bush 43 put out a video that was meant to be a call for unity. that was meant to sort of summon the spirit of the post 9/11 national solidarity and said we're not partisan combatants. we're all in this together. and the president's reaction today was a sendout of a tweet attacking the president for that, former president for that. saying where were you during impeachment? you didn't speak up during the partisan hoax of impeachment. so even at a time when his advisors might want him to start strike a more presidential pose, a more unifying pose, less combative pose, that goes against the grain for him. vet notion of a national unity call by former president bush is enough to trigger an angry tweet today. >> we have to call it a wrap. peter, jeff, both of you, thank you so much. good to see you. thanks to all of you for watching "weekends with alex witt". i'll be back next weekend. we'll be talking with congressman jimmy ponetta about the tracing systems. you'll find out if he thinks the

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. hello, everyone. we're at the start of a crucial week for america. by friday more than half of the states will have relaxed their stay at home orders, health experts are still questioning if the country is ready. the death toll continues to rise, climbing past 66,000 this weekend. according to the world health organization, the u.s. reported the most deaths in a 48-hour period. and while the number of cases continues to drop in some of the hardest hit states like new york, others continue to see their cases rise. mississippi and texas both saw the number of new cases hit highs this weekend. the pressure continues to mount on state and local officials to reopen the economy. >> protesters rallied in