business with new restrictions, while mississippi and most of florida will be reopening their salons and barb shops. also starting tomorrow, passengers on amtrak along with american, south west and alaska airlines required to wear face masks. the airlines say they will provide passengers with masks if they don't have one. and at the white house, three members of the task force are self-quarantining after possible exposure to coronavirus. dr. anthony fauci, cdc director dr. robert red field and head of the fda stephen hahn quarantined 14 days after a staffer tested positive for the virus last week. speaking of the white house, we go to nbc's monica alba with more details on that and more. so as i say, good sunday to you. let's start with the economic outlook that is coming out of the white house today. what's that message from the administration, monica? >> reporter: alex, for weeks we've heard the president say the cure cannot be worse than the disease. that is the message of his top

economic advisors. this morning, they are looking forward to the reopening and opening that that in the months to come does provide an economic bounce back, but admitting it might be a slow one. that staggering jobs report on friday, the white house was expecting it to be particularly brutal, and now they're even conceding that may's job report will probably be even tougher, but take a listen to how treasury secretary stephen mnuchin talked about the trade-off on the sunday shows this morning. here he is. >> do you agree that there is a considerable risk -- not say you shouldn't do it -- but a considerable risk to reopening both from a public health and an economic standpoint? >> chris, if we do this carefully, working with the governors, i don't think there's a considerable risk. as a matter of fact, i think there's a considerable risk of not reopening. you're talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the american public.

>> reporter: the message from the white house is really this transition to greatness. that was the president in his own words with that recent tweet saying he wants to look ahead, he wants people to do that, ands many more states begin to do that, one of the main issues they're talking about, we've been discussing for months, alex, the issue of testing. stephen mnuchin did say the administration has been working to increase testing amounts and also spoke to this issue now of several members from the coronavirus task force that have decided to self-quarantine, alex. now we have dr. anthony fauci doing a modified quarantine working mostly from home but if called to the white house or capitol hill where he may testify tuesday in person he will do that but wear a mask and observe social distancing. the others we have doctors redfield and dr. hahn, lead the cdc and fda respectively, committing to a full quarantine after being exposed to a staffer who did test positive for

coronavirus in the white house this week. really setting the example from the top. these three health officials saying if we're going to give americans to observe guidelines once infected or exposed to the virus we're doing the same and stay home and sent that message. >> i appreciate you the reference being at the very top. somebody else, above all them, who does not wear a face mask nor consider quarantining, of course does not need to quarantine as the president certainly tested negatively. is there a sense, though, monica, of the tenor of things inside the white house? is there any fear inside? are folks in the administration concerned about this? >> reporter: certainly there was panic in the west wing on friday when the news came out a staffer so close to the vice president, his own press secretary, tested positive for coronavirus. already a scare earlier in the week with one of the president's valets testing positive for the virus, but this hit on a different level because katie mill hear been in so many of the

key task force meetings, in smaller meetings this week on other topics in terms of vaccine and other items and the federal response. many people started to question whether they needed to self-quarantine, contact trace, and it speaks to new measures only putting into place this weekend, alex. shows in the eighth week of the pandemic only now going to protocols most of the nation has been doing for months. >> which is extraordinary. duly noted. a closer look at reopenings today. the focus shifting to beaches where many hope to blow off steam when the weather warms up. states where restrictions are loosening by this graphic and some businesses partially reopening. that's green. the ones in red remainorders. then this tweet, reminding us even with increased testing the number of cases is trending downward for new york and new jersey, but in the other direction, rising for many other

states. go to msnbc's corey coppin joining us from new york city. good sunday. what you're tracking today, that delicate balance, the challenge between medical health and economic health. right? >> reporter: absolutely. really it comes down to philosophy for each governor and the numbers that they're looking at in their state kind of deciding how to take that risk. and when to take that risk. of course, many other states didn't have as sharp of a rise as you had here in new york and, of course, you don't have this dense population. they're taking a look at their trend saying, well, we think we can control this upward rise as long as we keep social distancing in place. other states with very dense populations, with major cities, like illinois and chicago, you know, they're not taking that chance. we're going to send it back to you, though, alex, as we understand it, governor cuomo is coming up. >> right you are. listening to governor cuomo and his daily briefing. >> which is a different problem than the number of people who

are in hospitals. which has been still very high. 521 and that is down. 521 takes us right back to where we started this hellish journey. right? march 20th is when we did the close down order. where we are today is basically with the number of new cases is basically right where we were when we started. so it has been a painful period of time between march 20th and may 9th. the optimist would say, yes, but it's only march 20 to may 9. pessimist would say, but a lot of pain, a high cost, loss of life.

the realist would be somewhere in the middle. but all of this would, all of this progress of turning that tide, of reducing the rate of infection, that's all thanks to new yorkers and what new yorkers did. number of deaths, 207, still terribly high. but better. the number of deaths, 207 takes us back to almost where we started about a week in as the number of deaths started to increase. you could see early in march, 27 deaths. then how quickly it went up, 38, 42, 101, 130, 207. to give you perspective of where we are today versus where we were. one of our top priorities is protecting people in nursing homes and seniors.

this is where this virus feeds. it's where this virus started when it started in the state of washington. we have implemented many safety measures, many of which have been difficult to implement, but we did for health reasons. restricting visitation except for end of life visits. this is a tough policy. i had serious qualms about it, to tell you the truth. but the health officials were right. yes, you want visitation, no, you don't want to walk a virus into a nursing home that could kill the person you are going to visit. ppe requirements, all staff have to be checked going into a nursing home every 12 hours. all facilities must notify

families within 24 hours, separate facilities -- residents from staff in the event of an outbreak. we provided them with millions of pieces of ppe equipment. this is a national problem, right? nursing homes generally all across the country have seen the covid virus take a high toll. new york has one of the highest populations of nursing home residents of any state in the country. over 100,000 residents. but new york's percentage of deaths in nursing homes is the 34th highest of any state. so if you look at the states and the percentages of people who died in nursing homes as a percentage of that death, new york is number 34.

so none of this is good news. but just to give you a context of what people are looking at. this virus uses nursing homes. they are ground zero. they are the vulnerable population in the vulnerable location. right? it's a congregation of vulnerable people. today we're taking additional steps to protect seniors in nursing hopes. first, i want people to understand how a nursing home operates vis-a-vis the state. the most vulnerable population sdefr deserves the highest level of care. right? the rule is very simple. if a nursing home cannot provide care for a person and provide the appropriate level of care for any reason, they must transfer the person out of the

facility. if they can't find another facility, they call the state department of health. what does this mean? if they don't have enough staff, enough ppe, if the facility doesn't allow for isolation or quarantine, whatever it is, if they cannot provide the proper care, they must -- they must transfer the resident. period. if they have a covid positive person and they can't treat a cov i c covid positive person, they must transfer the person or call the state department of health and they will transfer the person. all nursing home staff must now be tested twice a week. that's not just a temperature check. that is a diagnostic test. we have the tests available. we have brought them online. the state has more testing

capacity than any state in the country. they have to test their staff twice a week. that is a rule. it's not is i would appreciate it if you did. hospitals going forward cannot discharge a patient to a nursing home unless the patient tests negative for covid-19. so we're just not going to send a person who is positive to a nursing home after a hospital visit. period. remember -- i want the nursing home operators to understand this. we have alternative facilities for nursing home patients covid or non-covid. remember what we did here. we created 40,000 hospital beds. because we had to. we had 50,000 bed capacity

system. the early projections were we would need 110,000 beds, 140,000 beds. we created 40,000 additional beds, minimum. so we have beds available. we also set up covid-only facilities. so we have available covid-only facilities that could accept nursing home residents. we're not reducing the number of hospital beds that we have available. we have always had more hospital beds available than we have used, always. there has not been a day that we didn't have more beds available than we have used. so if a nursing home cannot take care of a person, we have facilities that can. i understand the nursing homes' perspective. but if they cannot provide the

appropriate care, they have to call the department of health and let's get that resident into an appropriate facility. i can't be more direct about that. we have available covid-only facilities upstate as well as downstate. so we have the facilities availab available. if there's any issue, the resident must be referred to the department of health, which will find alternative care. if a nursing home operator does not follow these procedures, they will lose their license. well, that's harsh. no. harsh is having a nursing home resident who doesn't get the appropriate care. that's what's harsh. having someone's parent or mother or brother in a situation where they are in a facility, they can't even get a visitor, they are isolated, they feel

alone and they're not getting the appropriate care. that is what is harsh. and if that's what happens, then that facility operator should lose their license. i have no problem with that. i was the attorney general. i did investigations of nursing homes. i have tremendous respect for what they do. but this is the essence of their responsibility and obligation. again, we have the facilities. we have the beds. it's not like a situation where there are no options. we have options. and we want to use them. if there's any reason why you can't appropriaprovide appropri let us know. we will put them in a facility that has it. also, this is an issue that people need to be aware of. new york state is investigating 85 cases of a covid-related

illness in children. mostly toddler to elementary school. it's symptoms similar to kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome. this does not present as a normal covid case. covid cases tend to be respiratory. this presents as an inflammation of the blood vessels. sometimes inflammation of the heart. it's possible that these cases were coming in and were not diagnosed as related to covid, because they don't appear at covid. but it is a situation that has taken the lives of three new yorkers. there are two additional deaths that are under investigation as possibly related to this same situation. the new york state department of health is going to notify all the other state department of health -- every state has a

department of health. they will notify their counterparts in the other states to put them on notice of this. again, we have recently found this and are investigating it. but it may be possible and it may even be probable that this is a situation that exists in other states and we want to make sure that they are aware of it. new york department of health is pursuing a new drug therapy. remdesivir has been shown to have some positive affect. we're desperately looking for a treatment for this virus. so the cdc has started tests on this drug and new york state is working with hhs, health and human services on the federal side, administering it to 2,900 people at 15 hospitals.

we're looking for more doses to start with an additional 500 people. this week is may 15th. may 15th, the pause order, the close down order expires. we're looking region to region across the state as to where would be appropriate to reopen. this state we have a clear, uniform set of criteria. it's the same all across the state. it's all science based, it's all database based. we will see where it's safe to open. local governments should start to look at two things, citizens also. of those factors that we look at, many factors are just the rate of spread of the infection and they're just purely linked to the rate of spread of the infection. second set of factors looks to the capacity of local

government. do they have enough hospital beds open in case that infection rate goes up? do they have the testing, trace, isolation that we have been talking about for weeks and weeks and weeks? do they have that operation in place? and do they have a compliance function in place where when we say manufacturing businesses can open but people must be six feet apart, that they can actually monitor those businesses to make sure there's compliance? factor one are just the numbers. infection rate. everybody knows what that is in different parts across the state. factor two is what local governments have to do to be ready and working together with their counterparts in that region. we will be speaking to this more tomorrow. because may 15th comes at the end of the week. also, this week, washington is going to be considering

additional legislation. that is essential to what we're all trying to accomplish here. the president has made it clear the reopening is up to the states, is up to the governors. and i've been working with governors across the country. by and large,governors are doin they need to do. you can't ask someone to do that which they cannot do. you can't ask someone to do something that's beyond their capacity, beyond their limits. we can handle the reopening. but every state -- almost every state has a significant financial problem because of the loss of revenue due to the economy. just think of how a state works. you close down businesses, their income drops, they are not paying an income tax, the state's revenue drops proportionally.

that's what happened. look at our economy was doing great. really great in this state. but then comes the virus. the impact on our financial plan is about $61 billion. we then have to pay for all of the covid-related work, all this hospital work and testing and everything that's going on. that's about another $5 billion per year. we then have essential state agencies that are operating that also have taken a tremendous financial loss. the mta operates subways and buses, collects revenue from tolls when people go over bridges or tunnels. yeah, but ridership is down 92%. cars aren't driving and they're not paying tolls. tremendous revenue loss at the mta. port authority, tremendous revenue loss at airports. the economic impact is beyond

anything that any state can deal with. if the federal government doesn't help the states, then you are forcing the states to cut funding. and the places where the state normally funds will suffer. if they force me to cut funding, i have to reduce the funding to schools, local government and hospitals. why would you want to reduce funding to these essential agencies at this time? right? why would you make me allocate paying among schools, hospitals and local governments? it makes no sense at all. new york alone would need about $35 billion this year just to compensate for the total amount of losses. when you look at washington and what washington has done in the past, in the past legislation

they have passed, when i say they treat it like pork barrel, why? i was in washington for eight years in the clinton administration. everything becomes a political game. every piece of legislation becomes a political game. the money they sent to states was supposed to be for c ovid. this was to compensate for what happened during the covid virus. they played politics. everybody put money in for their home state. when you look at what they actually accomplished, states like alaska got 100 times what new york got for funding. right? we got $23,000 for every covid case. states that didn't have many covid cases also received a tremendous amount of funding.

our friends in kentucky, $337,000 for every covid case. yeah. we got $23,000. what they have done in the past made no sense. also what they have done in the past is what they always it seems wind up doing. they bailed out corporate america. that's what they did. you look at the past legislation, they bailed out corporate america. this legislation, this week, going forward, let them fund working americans. because that's the need. you look at the past legislation, they funded hotels, restaurants, airlines, big corporations, public companies. now it turns out they funded a tax break for millionaires in the covid response legislation. that's what they did. yeah. they didn't fund state and local

governments. who do state and local governments fund? i fund pleaolice, firefighters, teachers, food banks. you took care of corporate america. i don't want to go through that. but now you are going to starve police and fire and hospitals and schools? everybody applauds the health care workers. now you don't want to provide funding. separate, last point on washington. don't make the same mistake twice. don't do what this nation did after the 2007-2008 mortgage crisis bailout. the government bailed out all these bankers and corporations that made a fortune running a mortgage scam. and then when the mortgage scam collapsed and the banks were

going to go bankrupt, the taxpayers had to fund the banks. how does this make sense? the banks make all the profit on the way up. they get into trouble on the mortgage fraud. we have to bail them out and who is going to bail them out? the taxpayers are going to bail them out. no. it's not that they reap all the profits on the way up and the taxpayers provide a golden parachute on the way down. that has to stop. there should be no subsidy for any corporation that lays off employees. period. because i will tell you what's going to happen. you will see corporations using this pandemic to lay off workers. that's what you will see. because they're already saying it to the market analysts. we're going to get lean during this period. we're going to right size during

this period. what does that mean? it means they're not going to rehire the same number of employees so they're going to boost their corporate profits by reducing the number of employees. that's what it means. that's what it means. government should not subsidize their reduction of employees and then when they reduce employees, government is supposed to now subsidize those employees, unemployment insurance. we did it once. we can't do it again. here is my suggestion to my colleagues in washington. the americans first law. if a corporation does not rehire the same number of employees, no government money. all the billions that they just gave out, if you don't rehire the same number of employees you had pre-pandemic, you have to return those funds.

we're not going to subsidize you to lay off workers. if you can lay off workers and you are saving money by laying off workers, you don't need the american taxpayer to subsidize you. otherwise, you will never get those employment numbers back. because that's what's going to happen all across the country. we keep going, because we are new york tough. we are smart. united, disciplined and we are loving. every time i say we are loving, i think, people must think that is such a strange word for a government official to be talking about. that we are loving. you never hear government talking about loving. you never hear a lot of people talk about loving or love. but at this time where we are all going through so much pain and so much stress and so much anxiety and we're at a place

where we have never been before, it's probably the one thing we need more than anything else. and it's not easy to talk about love. that's why i put it with new york tough. it's not easy to talk about love. i need love to show that vulnerabili vulnerability. it's hard to do that. that's why in some ways you have to be tough to talk about love. but we all need it now. because this is hard on everyone. it is hard -- i don't care who you are. you can be the governor of the state, a health care worker, a public employee, a daughter of a governor, a son, it is hard on everyone. and love is the one thing that can make everything better. the one thing we need. when i said today is day 71 with a question mark, because today

is not really just day 71. today is mother's day. that dwarves all else, day 71, day 70, day 69. it's mother's day. for me, you want to talk about love? the poersonification of love fo me has always been my mother. my father was loving in his way. but he was not warm and cuddly loving. my mother has just always been pure love. just pure, sweetness, pure goodness, pure affirmation, unconditional love. whatever you did, however stupid i was. and i can be pretty stupid. just that total love of a mother. so today more than anything

else, mothers are special. special every day. how about going through this? talking about nursing homes. you have mothers in nursing homes, families can't get to see them, mothers have been doing double duty, stuck at home, dealing with all that stress, all that situation. mothers who have lost mothers, mothers who we have lost during this period where so many people lost their parents. so today is mother's day, first and foremost. and today is about love and showing love and expressing it and appreciation for our mothers. and my mother, who i cannot see today because i am in a position where i am etxposed to too many people and if i go see my

mother, dr. zucker, the health commissioner says it would be risky for me to see my mother, because i want to make sure that i don't infect her with anything. she's stronger than i am. she's smarter than i am. but i just want to make sure that we don't do that. but i get to say, happy mother's day to my mother, with my daughters, they're all here, three one means or the other, whatever this is, zoom this, zoom that. happy mother's day to you, mom. i miss you. i love you so, so much. i wish i could be with you. but i can't be. but i can't be because i love you. that's why i can't be with you, because i love you. but i know maria is taking good care of you. >> i miss you too. a lot. and your beautiful daughters. happe >> happy mother's day, grandma.

>> thank you, sweetheart. >> you have kara there. kara is with mariah. you want to say happy mother's day? >> yes. happy mother's day, grandma. i just was thinking today about the story that i love hearing you tell about how you met the pope and how he looked you in the eye, put your hands in his and he said, la familia. captured your spirit. thank you so much for teaching us what the meaning of family is both from our own little group to the family of new york. i love you. >> that's right. love you. very well said. >> i have makayla here with me. >> hi, grandma. happy mother's day. >> you are at the capitol? >> yes. but i'm so glad to see your face. we're so grateful to have such a caring grandma.

one who was a great mother and role model to our dad and aunts and uncles and a great mother to so many children beyond our family. so thank you. love you so much, grandma. >> thank you for that. thank you so much. i can't forget the girls. i will never forget this. >> you look good. this is going to be over and then we're going to get back to life as normal. we're going to have fun. then you can spend more time with me. i know i am your favorite. i know you don't want to say that because you have maria there. we will get to spend time together. we will look back and say we are the better for it. right? >> that's right. time for everything, andrew. >> all right. you have fun there. anything you need? is maria taking good care of you? you sure maria is taking good care of you? >> i have your sister maria here. i have beautiful granddaughters here as well. i'm in good company.

all the children, all my grandchildren, i am so blessed, as many mothers today are. i just thank you so much for everything you do, andrew, to make families really better than ever. thank you. >> all right. you are have a beautiful day. i will see you soon. i know you want to see me because i know i'm your favorite deep down inside, but you don't want to say it. i love you. i will take to you later. >> love you, grandma. >> thank you very much. >> questions. >> why is the state not testing all nursing home residents? >> we are. >> mass testing everyone. >> we are mass testing as many as we can. >> hundreds of nursing homes said they can't care for their patients with this devastating, unknown disease. did you have any overflow beds for them in early march?

did you tell them -- the nursing homes about it in early march? >> let's just do this again. the nursing home must refer a person if they can't provide the adequate care. period. that's the nursing home's obligation. if they cannot provide care for any reason -- they don't even have to give a reason. i don't have staff. my staff is sick. i don't have ppe. i don't have isolation facilities. i don't have quarantine facilities. i don't have enough beds. i don't have enough pillow cases. it does not matter. if they can't provide care, they call the department of health. department of health sends them somewhere else. we have always had more beds than we have needed. always had more beds than we have needed. that is extraordinary, because we had to create 40,000 beds.

people say, well, we created more beds than we need. actually, they raise a criticism we created more beds than we need. federal government says we created javits, we brought up "comfort," we didn't immediate it. yeah, at the end of the day, we didn't need it. thank god we didn't need it, because we reduced the curve and we saved lives. if we hadn't reduced the curve, we would have needed it. that's where the projections were. that's from day one. >> the hundreds of nursing homes said they couldn't care for them. >> they should have done it by law. >> the system is offering a -- you can comment on when non-essential lawsuits can be filed? >> does anyone know when non-essential lawsuits -- >> we're working with the courts. the larger issue is around secrecy issues for when you can convene grand juries.

we're working with the courts. we're trying to get online as soon as possible. >> can you speak to when grand injuries might fall into this reopening plan? >> it's something we're looking at. we're looking at what other states are doing, if there's a way to accommodate isst. we're working with the courts and trying to get online as soon as possible. >> are there concerns about bringing people if they will show up for a jury considering -- >> that's exactly the concern. why we're looking into virtual options. as i said, secrecy laws supersede that. we're seeing what other states are doing. we want the court system up and running as soon as possible. >> grand jury secrecy. reopening the courts is not an executive decision. that's a separate branch of government. chief judge is in charge of that. we're working with the chief judge following her recommendations, which have been extraordinary. there's still a lot of work,

even though the courts have been closed and their transition to remote services has been great. we're working together. the questions you raise are more to the discretion of the judicial system. >> it sounds like the state is erasing the nursing homes. why do it now and no two weeks ago when people started sounding an alarm? >> i don't know the march 25th. >> you can't discriminate against the patient in a nursing home based on their covid status. this is saying to hospitals, if you have a patient you got for some reason, acute care needed, whatever, they should test positive before being discharged from the hospital itself. >> to clarify. a hospital can't send a resident back to their nursing home if they still test positive for it. how is that different from march 25th? >> the only avenue of coming to

a nursing home is not just a hospital. it could have been from another facility from at hospital. you cannot discriminate against a nursing home patient. if you are in a hospital for another reason, you can't discharge that patient until they are negative. >> the two orders coexist. you still can't discriminate entrance to a nursing home facility on the basis of being covid positive or being suspected. this puts the obligation on hospitals, which is saying a hospital cannot release a positive person until they test negative. what jim is saying is the only -- hospitals are not the only avenue into nursing homes. there are other ways in which people enter nursing homes. the fact remains you cannot discriminate based on covid-positive status. as the governor said 17 times, a nursing home cannot accept a patient if they cannot care for them. there has to be segregated staff, you have to have ppe. if you can not meet those

standards, you cannot accept a patient. you call doh. doh finds a facility. >> do it the other way. it's complicated. this is binding on a hospital, not on a nursing home. if you want to refer your mother who is covid positive to a nursing home, the nursing home cannot say to you, i'm discriminating against your mother -- i don't take covid-positive people. that would be discrimination. the nursing home can say, look, i'm not equipped at this time to handle covid patients. iry f refer you to the departmef health to find a facility that can. they can't discriminate. a hospital cannot discharge to a nursing home, and that is new, cannot discharge to a person who is covid positive to a nursing

ho home. the hospital can discharge -- they can hold the positive person or discharge them to one of our facilities like our covid-positive facilities. this will reduce the burden on nursing homes all across the board because they're not going to get any c ovid people from a hospital. >> they could get it from a person on the street that wants to put their c ovid-positive parent -- >> if -- big if. if they can handle it. that's what was never really communicated. i don't think you have done the residents or the families a service. you generically. the nursing home, if they cannot take care of a person -- i can't

do -- i'm a nursing home operator. i can't take care of a positive person. i can't quarantine. i don't have the ppe. it was their obligation to inform. it is their obligation to call the department of health and say, you have to come get this person, i can't care for them. that has always been the case. >> is this a policy a recognition that the idea of sending positive people from hospitals back into nursing homes may have been flawed? >> no. first of all, if you look at the facts -- which is always fun -- you can test your hypothesis on what's flawed. look at how many residents we have in nursing homes. look at the percentage of our deaths in nursing homes vis-a-vis other states. right? we're down by, like, number 34. so whatever we're doing has

worked on the facts. second, at one time, hospital beds were precious. when we started this, remember, the whole question was, will you have enough hospital beds, we were in a scramble to provide more hospital beds. 50,000 to 40,000, 110,000. so the last thing you would be doing would be gratuitously saying, we will keep a person if a hospital bed who doesn't need a hospital bed, who could be at another facility. you would manufacture do that. it would be reckless. it would be negligent because you needed the hospital bed so badly. what we're saying today is, we have excess capacity all across the board. and the hospital can discharge

to another one of our facilities. they don't have to discharge to the nursing home. they can discharge to any one of our facilities. which was always the case and initially it presumed the system -- yes, a hospital -- initially, a hospital could have discharged to a nursing home or to one of our facilities, discharge to the nursing home presuming they could handle it and they said they could handle it. if they couldn't handle the discharged person, they would have said, i can't take this person. your premise is, they were accepting people who legally they shouldn't have accepted. that's what you would have to say. >> my point is, optically, you have used the metaphor of dry

grass. to put a covid positive person into dry grass from a hospital into a nursing home where there is this kind of vulnerable population base, the optics on that seem illogical. >> they have positive -- if you are right and a -- that facility did not have the accommodations to accept that person and isolate them and quarantine them, which is what they're supposed to do. they don't put tinder in the dry grass. you are at the other end of the facility in a quarantine situation like you are in every other facility. when you go into a hospital, you think the hospital has just covid people? no. the hospital has -- is tinder and dry grass. you have all sorts of people in a hospital. you have to treat that person without infecting other people. that's what you are doing in a

hospital system, that's what you are doing in any facility that has mixed populations. that's what you have to do in a nursing home. if you can't do it, you say, i can't do it. that was it. end of discussion. you said, i can't do it. you don't get the patient discharged to you. >> on the issue of the kawasaki-like deaths, can we get more details? this must be deeply upsetting and concerning to parents. do we have ages, regions, pre-existing -- >> the question is what we can give you without violating the health law. the reason why we spend so much attention, taking so much time on it, this is -- you want to talk about mother's day? this is every mother's nightmare, every parent's nightmare. no one knew about it. nobody was watching for it. same story of this virus from day one.

the virus has been ahead of us every step of the way. we have been playing catchup every step of the way. we played -- it was ahead of us coming here from europe and nobody told us. now we thought it wasn't affecting children. now we find out it may be affecting children. that's why we're notifying all the other states. we have notified the cdc. we're watching it for the cdc. the cdc will communicate. nobody knows that it wasn't here and just not diagnosed because it doesn't look like a covid case. howard, is there anything else we can say? >> as the governor mentioned, there are 85 children that were evalua evaluated. i have a team of over 30 to 40 people who are looking at the charts of all of those patients to assess exactly what has happened to them. we do know about the ages of

those who have died as the governor mentioned, two were in elementary school age and one was adolescent in three different counties. we will have more information. i'm careful about what i share because of the privacy issues as the governor mentioned. we are ee vvaluating those char. i have looked over the chart of the child that died, the 5-year-old we spoke about, and the other two i will look over as well as other charts. this is something which as the governor mentioned, we weren't looking for this. these children did not present with respiratory illnesses. all of a sudden we hear about children with cardiac problems, inflammation of the blood vessels, we figure out what is happening here. the cdc has sent people up as well. we have a team investigating all the charts. we will get to the bottom of it provide that. >> were these healthy children in. >> 85 charts we are looking

through. the three that died did not that we have heard about. this is why we need to investigate. this is why we have over 30 people looking at the charts. >> one more quick follow-up. is there anything you can say to parents? the symptoms appear parents. the symptoms seem to be commonplace, swollen extremities and tongue, how do you demonstrate a common fever from something more serious. >> this is very heartbreaking because it is kids and obviously we worry about children who have vague systems, they present with nausea vomiting but i think what i would tell parents if i was wearing my other hat i would tell parents if your child has an nausea vomiting, diarrhea and changing of the color of lips and chest pains, they should call their -- and need to be evaluated. once we look at these charts and

we'll have more information for you about this but right now the most important thing parents should do is err on the side of caution. >> and jesse, you are right. and this is a delicate balance here, right. because the symptoms that we suggested people look for are very broad. and you're talking about young children who come up with a lot of symptoms all of the time it seems like. the common denominator is had the coronavirus antibodies or are positive for coronavirus, right. that's the common denominator here. you would not know that without the virus test. now, we don't want to create a situation where a child gets a rash and every parent gets

nervous that they think their child needs a coronavirus test. that is why as much information as we could get from these investigations as quickly as we could get it, because i understand leaving the question mark hanging out there makes people nervous. at the same time we want the other states to know what we know and we want the cdc to know what we know. but i think doctor's advice is good. you don't overreact. if you think your child may have been exposed to the coronavirus, and they're there are those symptoms, well, that might be a different situation. >> governor -- [ inaudible question ]. >> i'll take one more. anyone who didn't ask a question. >> on monday you said no region would reopen and [ inaudible question ]. >> tomorrow we're going to

invite all of the county executives, local officials, to participate in the briefing. we'll be going through it explicitly. but short answer is, yes, there will be regions that are eligible on the 15th. is that right, jim. >> that's correct. >> if we take duchess out of the westchester area. >> jim could talk to you about this afterwards but i think if we took rockland, westchester out of the region, the region still wouldn't qualify because the numbers themselves don't qualify. but jim could give you more information. thank you, guys. happy mother's day to everyone. >> okay, everyone. no day of rest on this mother's day for new york governor andrew cuomo who was charming and somewhat shameless though i think his siblings are used to saying to the world that he is his mother's favorite child.

and i have to text both of my children and tell them how much i love them when i was listening to him speak with his mother and his daughters, it was charming on this mother's day. he's wrapped up the daily coronavirus briefing and for all of you who just joined us, i'm alex witt from msnbc headquarters in new york. joining me now natalie azar and lippy roy to break down a couple of things that he talked about. dr. azar, to you first, the kawasaki syndrome, that we've heard, the 85 cases here in the state of new york, three children dying from something may or may not be kawasaki syndrome or like toxic shock syndrome. how long do you think it will take to figure out what exactly this is and how prevalent is kawasaki syndrome in general? >> kawasaki is not an uncommon

childhood illness. it typically presents as very similar to this kawasaki like with fever and abdominal pain and rash and a quarter could develop inflammation of the coronary heart and develop aneurysms. it is important to re-emphasize a few things. one is that it is still not considered to be a common manifestation of covid-19, if it is in fact related to covid-19 in pediatrics, that is important to reassure parents and on that note i start off with if you are a parent or a caregiver, you trust your instincts and you know your child better than anybody. so one day of vomiting or diarrhea maybe wouldn't be a cause for alarm but a sustained fever with those symptoms and your child is not acting as they normally would, absolutely better to pick up the phone and call your pediatrician. just as a safeguard rather than

wondering at home if you should be doing this. the chart review is going to take a little bit of time. i understand, too, they are also going to be tracking all cases of kawasaki that they could at the moment to figure out is there a genetic susceptibility with covid-19, were those kids actually exposed to covid-19 and have they developed any immunity to covid-19. so a lot of questions that we don't have answers to right now but very clearly they are investigating and throwing as many resources as they can to it. >> dr. roy, when it comes to the symptoms of kawasaki syndrome and again dr. natalie makes a good point that all of the charts are being investigated thoroughly before you could make any conclusions, but we've seen children that have been lying in their hospital beds with red rashes, talk about what to look for relative to kawasaki

syndrome that may be presenting as whatever this ends up being. >> yeah, good afternoon, alex. just to follow up on all of the points that dr. azar quite accurately made, we're learning a lot about this mysterious viral illness impacting children. there are overlapping symptoms as with kawasaki but again to dr. azar's point if you're a parent, look for symptoms of fever, dash, diarrhea and ledgear gi and those are some of the symptoms. swollen tongue, rash, diarrhea are the more general symptoms to look for. >> let me run through the checklist with you dr. azar that the governor said we must hit all four of these points wherever in the state of new york before being able to open. he's begin it to local officials

to say you keep an eye on this, you could decide when you believe the criteria has been met, that being the rate of spread of covid has been contained and there are enough hospital beds to deal with this should we see a resurgence of covid that contact tracing is very effective and finally they could monitor that people with being complaint with the social distancing rules. is there anything that comes to mind to you, dr. azar, and subsequently to you dr. lippy, that we are missing anything there or does that comprehensively cover it. >> that is his comprehensive list. he made a point and i would argue that generating a list like this is the easy part but being able to accomplish it is the challenge and he points out that it might very well be down to a funding issue and as he specifically said he's not the one to make the decision to allocate and distribute the pain

among different organizations that need to be part and parcel of it. and i think an overreaching theme that i would say is that there may never be a perfect time to reopen, right. because it is not going back to the way it was. it is not an on/off switch but can the time be optimized. we'll not have full eradication, but can we be at a point where we feel comfortable that we have the capacity and feel comfortable that we have adequate testing, we feel comfortable that we have contact tracing in whatever capacity that is, whether it is technology or boots on the ground. so, again, i think his list is certainly comprehensive. i don't think tait is too ambitious but being able to throw the right resources at it. >> dr. lippy roy i'll ask you to stay around through the next hour. dr. azar thank you for staying through the entire news conference by governor cuomo so thank you so much and happy mother's day to you, my friend.

as we approach the top of the hour, i'm alex witt. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." 1.3 million cases of coronavirus across the country. you see the fatality numbers, more than 75,000 have died. as the economy is still reeling since the great depression, a stark warning of what could happen if the country does not lift lockdowns. >> do you agree that there is a considerable risk, not say you shouldn't do it, but there is a considerable risk to reopening both from a public health and an economic standpoint? >> chris, if we do this carefully, working with the governors, i don't think there is a considerable risk. matter of fact, i think there is a considerable risk of not reopening. you're talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the american public. >> and more states across the country are gearing up to reopen. starting tomorrow kentucky and

new hampshire will begin easing their lockdowns. restaurants in arkansas, arizona and indiana will be open with new restrictions, while mississippi and most of florida will open with salons and barber shops. new data for the institute for health metrics and evaluation, projecting a slight increase in the number of deaths from coronavirus, estimating 178,000 through the beginning of august, an increase of nearly 3,000 since last week in those estimations. then at the white house, three members are self quarantining after possible exposure. dr. fauci and dr. robert redfield and steen hahn will quarentine for 14 days. this happens after two administration staffers tested positive for the virus last week. we have a team of reporters and analysts following very latest for us this hour. and as you saw just a few

moments ago here on msnbc, new york governor cuomo just wrapping up the daily briefing so let's go to cory coughlin joining me from new york city. the big question this weekend, what do the prospects for reopening look like at the epidemic epicenter of the new york outbreak which is right where you are in the heart of new york city. >> reporter: millions of people who live here are wondering the same thing. but i'm saying the weather has just turned for the better and that looks like a better prospect than opening the epicenter here in the city. now the governor has said parts of new york will open. but they're going to be more rural parts. take a listen to what he said about the whole process of this and his expected date. >> this week is may 15th. may 15th the pause order to close down order expires. we're looking region to region across the state as to where would be appropriate to reopen.

this state, we have a clear, uniform set of criteria, it is the same all across the state. it is all science-based, it is all data-based and we'll look at those numbers and look at those data points to see where it is safe to open. >> reporter: and the governor is really sticking to that clear data set which, alex, is, one, the rate of spread, they continue to map that out. that has to lower. two, making sure that the state has a system in place and here in the city there is a system in place which includes enough hospital beds in case there are another surge and more testing, just so much more testing has to be done. and then, third, making sure that there is compliance with social distancing. he said that the state and the city has to have a way of making sure businesses are properly monitoring their employees and customers that are coming in and out and moving within the city. so again, may 15th, the first possible date for the rural

parts of the state and then later unfortunately i think the estimation is more closer toward june as we get these numbers lower for the epicenter like here in manhattan. we also know he announced some increase in testing as well. and mentioned remdesivir. he's going to look at getting some 3,000 patients treated with remdesivir as they try to increase the tests on that as well. >> cory coffin, five days to figure out what we'll do effective friday may 15th. thank you so much. now out west to california. gadi schwartz is at a flower market in los angeles where the shops opened just in time for mother's day. we checked in with you there close to where you are again yesterday but apparently they opened not without incident. could you tell us what happened? >> reporter: yeah, so you could see the crowds out here are even bigger than they were yesterday. across california, it is

supposed to be curb side pickup as phase two is starting to be implemented but you see there is no real curbside pickup, it is just crowds and crowds of people and that stretches down the street here for about three or four blocks and it is also the same across the street. you've got hundreds of people coming to try to pick out flowers for their mothers and it's very difficult to enforce social distancing. that six foot distance. in fact we've seen police and code enforcement come down and ask people to keep masks on. but when it comes to social distancing, it seems like a lost battle for now. there is another pretty big public health concern just down the street about two or three blocks that way is skid row where there is a very large vulnerable population of people that are not wearing masks and at some time they are interacting with the crowds here. so on one side the public health

concern out here appears to be growing, on the other side this is an economic boom at a time that these florists say they absolutely need. this is the black friday for a lot of these florists when they make up most of the revenue for the year. this area accounts for about a billion dollars worth of economic activity and they say that if they were not able to sell today, many more of these shops would have gone under. but the only silver lining out here, alex, is that the crowds will not be here tomorrow. this is all expected to end from yesterday to today and things should go back to normal a little bit later this week. >> so here is what is good, gaudy, as i watch not only the tape that you provided but everybody behind you, pretty much everybody has got a mask on. there are even some people with gloves. are you seeing anybody much without them? >> reporter: so down here most people have masks. you could just tell. all over here. however, about two blocks up,

one block up, this is where there is no parking around here so people have to park pretty far away and walk down and that is where there is -- it would go probably 50 to 60% of the people that their walking by who may have their camps on the sidewalks are not wearing masks. >> right. >> so there is a little bit of a concern here, again, you have code enforcers asking everybody to wear a mask and people selling masks, some places like the california flower mall giving out masks so people could come in. but that is what is happening here. just down the way, just down the street it is a little bit of a different story, alex. >> it looks like the shoppers there are practicing social distancing as best they can. it is crowded, though. gadi schwartz, thank you and do take care. i appreciate the live report. outrage in pennsylvania as many local officials are challenging the gradual lifting of stay-at-home orders for governor tom wolf and some are saying they will open regardless, without his approval. the counties which have already

opened and some others which plan to open later on this month and then into the month of june. mora barrett is going to join me live from lewistown, pennsylvania, one of the counties in the strictest part of the state. welcome on this sunday, mora, there are local business owners who say i to reopen. >> reporter: exactly, alex. it is a very different picture here in lewistown, in mifflin county. everything is still closed. we're in the middle of the state here in pennsylvania and it is rural and mifflin county has only seen 50 cases so small business owners support this local economy and they're getting increasingly frustrated about not being able to open even though they fall under the governor's guidelines in order to. i spoke with the county commissioner here, he wrote a letter to the governor urging them to be able to reopen and he talked about the importance of these small local businesses. take a listen.

>> well it is extremely frustrating for the people, particularly the small business owners here. i mean, you talk about big businesses and big companies, they're describing as the engine of an economy locally but i think the small businesses are more like your engine oil in your car. you need the oil to run or the engine will seize up. >> reporter: after that we spoke with a landscaping and home and garden business here in lewistown and he's frustrated because lowe's and home depot are open because they are considered essential businesses but he can't sell flowers for mother's day, for spring because he's permanently closed as a small business and concerned about his business and other friends in this smaller local economy and whether or not they'll be able to survive after this pandemic. >> yeah. thank you very much from the somewhat desolate streets there in lewis town, p.a. monica alba, and with a welcome we have a grim

prediction about the state of economy, what more could you tell us about that. >> reporter: a dire warning there, alex, after the staggering job numbers on friday. but what white house economic experts are indicating is that it is actually bound to get worse when you look at what is coming down the pike. this morning, treasury secretary stephen mnuchin and hassett were asked about their predictions down the line in may, june, july. take a look at what they say is to come. >> just looking at the flow of initial claims that it looks like we're going to get close to 20% in the next report. >> aren't we talking close to 25% at this point which is great depression neighborhood. >> chris, we could be. >> frank admissions from both of them in terms of what we may see next month. and the white house is considering several measures to jolt the economy but nothing has been finalized. and those talks between capitol hill and advisers here are on

what is known as a pause as the negotiations continue. so a relief package is still weeks if not longer away for other americans as they wait to see what the money from the last one may be distributed. but what is critical here is that, alex, the president wanted to make the economy before the pandemic brought it to a halt the centerpiece of his re-election pitch. that is not something that he can do as easily now so he's promised he'll try to get the economy back to where it was but his own advisers concede it is difficult to predict if and when that might happen and certainly a lot of them casting doubt on whether that is exactly possible before the november election. >> monica, something else that may be considered critical from those that work there in the white house is having been potential potentially exposed to covid-19. we have three leaders there who are self quarantining for 14 days but with at least two exposures within the white house, is there concern more people are going to have to quarantine and currently what is

the advice guidance on protecting themselves. >> reporter: we know, alex, there have been discussions between the white house medical unit and high-ranking staffers in the meeting with katie miller, mike pence's press secretary who tested positive for the virus and they're trying to evaluate what is best for them. among them alex azar is consulting his decisions about deciding whether to self-quarantine like we saw from fauci, redfield and hahn. they are doing this because they have been giving that advice to other americans exposed but most of the white house staffers and aides are going to be reporting to work tomorrow, i'm told. they were emphasizing if they wanted to work from home, they could. but the standard practice here has to been to come in and try to participate in social distancing but nothing said about wearing masks. that is only we've seen certain

secret service agents and others serving the president and the vice president. but when it comes to the staff here, we simply haven't seen them wearing face coverings. >> half a dozen of the secret service agents have been diagnosed with covid-19. thank you so much. with me now is the pair of dallas, eric johnson. mayor johnson, thank you for joining me, sir. let's get to what is happening there in your back yard in dallas. what is the situation as we have more businesses and that includes salons and barber shops reopening. what is the reaction? >> well, we see both slowly it appears reentering the economy. but we're not seeing a rush of people to get back to going to get their hair done so far. the orders allow for barber and beauty salons to open on friday. but as far as restaurants are concerned, the other types of businesses that were allowed to open a week before, we see people moving back into the economy slowly. but we have not seen a rush of

folks and not seen a terribly large number of compliance issues. people have been pretty much voluntarily complying. >> so mayor johnson, would you say people with kind of anxious about the whole thing, they want to wait and see take it slowly before they race back to get their nails done or their hair cut? >> anecdotally i would say from what we see, and we're starting to dig more deeply into this from a data standpoint but anecdotally people are taking their time getting back. i think because we went early with social distancing and we were one of the earlier jurisdictions to go to stay at home, i think our community has been conditioned to stay at home and to practice social distancing and to not go out when they don't have to. so i think people are starting to move back into the economy slowly but i don't think people are in a huge rush to do things like get their hair done, things

that are truly not essential. >> is that something you are comfortable with. we have the economy but we have to do this delicate balance with keeping people safe and healthy because it would seem by your description, a lot of folks in dallas are good with how slowly things are coming back into business. >> well, i don't know if people are good with it. i think they understand and i think we've done a relatively good job of explaining to folks how important it is that they do these things because we have to put people's health and safety first. but there is a lot of economic pain. we're experiencing a lot of pain at the city level. we'll have a $25 million min um and up to $140 million next year and the pain is real and people are hurting but our community understands that what we're doing is necessary to keep people safe. i'm very interested in making sure that we open up as quickly and as safely as we can. >> mayor, i'm looking at what

you wrote yesterday and this was an op-ed in the "dallas morning news" relacting to the salon owner sentenced for 7 days in jail and here is what the headline reeds. i see no hubbub about the hair salon. as for this particular incident, the salon owner has been released from jail because of a texas supreme court ruling but what is your message and do you have any guidance, sir, on the fact that texas senator ted cruz was photographed getting his hair cut in that salon on friday, that was the 8th. >> well, here is the issue i have with the whole situation. the issue is that the governor has decided that the approach that he wants to take to reopening this economy is going to rely heavily on voluntarily compliance. he's made that clear. his actions as of late show he

wants on texans to protect texans. if that is the case, then we simply can't have a situation where we are celebrating folks who are not sticking with the few regulations that we do have. so, for example, what happens if next week bars that have been closed up until now and still not open decide let's open up any way because not only do you not get in trouble, but you get celebrated, someone forms a gofundme page and you could make money doing this. i don't think that is the message that we could afford to send right now as cases continue to rise in our community. we need folks to understand that compliance even with these voluntarily rules, because we haven't mandated the wearing of masks but we need folks to understand how important wearing masks is. so that is my concern about the situation, it is sending a mixed message, if you don't comply with these rules, that not only will you not be in trouble, but in some cases you become a hero

and that is the wrong message in my opinion. >> it is an op-ed worthy of time, it is in dallas news.com. thank you mayor johnson. thank you, sir. have a good sunday. from texas to colorado. where retail and personal services are operating with some restrictions and this past week business offices were allowed to reopen with half of the staff. joining me now is colorado governor jared paulos, welcome back to the show. good to see you. let's get to the reopenings which are part of the safer at home phase that you implemented. how about the feedback. what are your constituents, coloradans saying about this so far? >> well, first of all, folks are super eager to have some sense of normalcy again. but we also require that people wear masks in the retail environments whether it is a salon or a store. the people who work there have to wear masks and then many local communities have required customers to wear masks and we

do require that customers in salons wear masks. look, everybody is a little bit scared and average slnxious andl be replaced with a sense of caution which will get us there this. >> let's look at the next step in the plan which reopens restaurants and bars and you said on friday that could possibly happen before memorial day. what is the data by which you will make that decision? >> so, coloradans did a great job staying at home and so far we believe based on the mobility job they're doing at saver home so there is not a call to be made on restaurants and bars until later in the month of may, around the 23rd, 24th, 25th. i hope to have restaurants open in a safe way during the month of may but we simply won't know that until we have the data because of the long five day

incubation period, five to seven days and another few days to testing and we simply don't have enough data to make that call. >> so memorial day is a hard date by which will you be doing it. what about the unemployment rate, speaking of data, with regard to the jumping to 14.7% in the united states last month. it is the worst since the great depression. in your state, merely 420,000 people have filed for unemployment over the last seven weeks and just under the national average at 13% of the state's labor force. when your state reaches all of the phases of reopening, the bars open and the stores open and the restaurants and things are fully back open for business do you expect everyone to get back to work? >> um, no, unfortunately. one of the major industries here is tourism and recreation. i know that people from across the country watching this and across the world can't wait to come to colorado and ski and hike and raft. but colorado is not ready for that yet and even when we're open, this we hope to be soon, i don't expect the tourism numbers

to be where they were before. people are going to be cautious about their own health even when it is reasonably safe. many folks, reasonably so, are going to err on the side of caution for those in the 70s and 80s. >> may i ask about liability, when the businesses reopen, there has got to be concern about that, should someone go back to work and then they get sick. is there a sense of who will or should be held responsible? >> well, businesses need to follow the law in colorado. which means they need to, like everywhere in our country, follow valid health orders just like in normal times, a restaurant gets raided, hopefully an a., but they could be closed down by the health department if they have staph infections or not the right sanitary procedures. we want to make sure that stores and restaurants and offices are following the laws. there have been a number of cease and desist orders for different types of businesses that haven't. and we're serious about doing

what we could to keep people safe as more and more businesses choose to reopen. >> okay. colorado governor jared paulos, thank you for your time here on weekends with alex witt. have a good sunday. in two short minutes reverend al sharpton will talk about black america and the veep stakes. you don't want to miss this discussion. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence. yeah, they help us with achievable steps along the way... ...so we can spend a bit now, knowing we're prepared for the future. surprise! we renovated the guest room, so you can live with us. oooh, well... i'm good at my condo. oh. i love her condo. nana throws the best parties. well planned, well invested, well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement. so we're working 24/7 toected maintain a reliable network,

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joe biden is rolling out a new plan to fight systemic racism. he called it lift every voice, the biden plan for black america and promises to root out racism from american laws, policies, institutions and hearts. joining me now to discuss it, the reverend al sharpton from host of politics nation and char le main the god, author and host of the breakfast club on i heart radio.

it is good to have you both here. rev, to you first, your initial assessment, a huge lift by the way, but how do you feel about him reaching into that james and john johnson spiritual for the title? >> well, i think that lift every voice, the title is the title of the black national anthem. and the title is one thing i think the content is something that we have to examine. 22 pages. very extensive. a lot of it has to be passed by congress. so i think that a lot of it you would have to deal with a democratic senate and a democratic house. there is serious examination, in fact, alex, over the weekend we lost one of the music moguls andrea rell who was on the phone breaking this down. we had a series of conference calls when we suspected he had the heart attack that led to his death on thursday night or friday morning. because he was passionate about

this. there will be some counter proposals, they say in the biden campaign it is a living document and many of us will be giving some additions and some advice. i think it is a good start but i think that it clearly needs to be dealt with by some in the black community, black thinkers and influencers that could say what we need to deal with this and deal with other issues specifically and then how do we get it through. will he do executive orders where he can and what will those executive orders really be, if he is elected. >> so char le main, pick up on the suggestions by the rev, you've been saying that african-american voters should look at how each candidate plans to address their specific concerns. are there aspects of bidens plan that do appear to you? >> yes. well first of all i want to say happy mothers to you and to you

rev. >> thank you. >> peace. >> i thought the economic plan was cool. but it is cool to me because i already have a couple of dollars. like if you want to create economic mobility for black workers and businesses and communities, that is great. but you can small business home ownership your way out of poverty because folks don't have the capital for those things. but it is a start. it is a living document so to me this is a negotiation and we know quid pro quo, they give me something, i give them something. i'm just looking for the best deal. >> and so, guys, we have so much to get to so i want to move to the veep stakes. is it necessary for joe biden to choose a woman running mate, is it necessary for him to choose an african-american woman? i'm going to give this to you, rev, first. >> well, i think that joe biden committed that he was going to have a woman running mate. so i think it is not a question of a woman, he has said that and it is his choice. and i've said to him and i've

said publicly, certainly i think that there are black women that are qualified to be the vice presidential candidate. no one could deny stacey abrams' appeal and his ability. no one could deny that of kamala harris or of val demings in florida, congresswoman demings. so we've had, alex, and i agree with charle main, and happy mother's day to you, agree with him when he talks about we've got to see what is in it for black america with any candidate. and i think that when we look in the fact that in history the democrat gave us geraldine ferrera on the ticket in tth the '80s and the republicans gave us sarah palin and we're not going to with stand that she didn't do very well as a candidate but she was a candidate for the republicans as vice president. we've had white women on the ticket and never had a black

women on the ticket. we have more than a few that are qualified. and i think that it would fall in line with his commitment of appointing a woman. >> as we look at a poll of democratic voters and we talked about last week and but the best one in terms of summary, elizabeth warren leading the pack of the potential women running mates. do you think african-american voters would be let down if biden chose warren over kamala harris or stacey abrams or val demings. and i know you're from south carolina and jim clyburn, he said that he would like for the president to do, as reminded us, pick a woman running mate but he doesn't think it has to be a women of color. what are your thoughts on all of that? >> i disagree. i can't speak for all black people, people are not monolithic but this is charle main the god speaking i would love to see joe biden have a black woman running mate.

i think it is necessary. i think that black people saved joe biden's political life in the primary and when you saw someone watching the '4i9d crime bill which caused many to go to prison and a lot of us don't trust joe biden and it is very important who is standing next to him and when he committed to a woman running mate, to me, yes, it would be a letdown if he picked a white woman over any sisters, yes, to me. that is my personal -- >> with regard to president trump who is tapping your fellow south carolinian senator tim scott, this to help him plan outreach to african-american communities as he goes through this campaign and those communities hit hard by the covid-19 epidemic, what is the significance of that and do you think scott's influence in the community will make this potentially a success? >> once again, when you say scott's influence in the community, i'm sure tim scott

has influence over a particular portion of the community. but not the whole community. because black people are a broad community, we're not monolithic. but i know tim scott, he's from the -- [ inaudible ] like i am. and i doan agree with his politics but we do have conversations. we have lunch together from time to time and i think at the end of the day we both want the same thing for black people in america. so i'm not mad at the fact that he's been tapped to lead this initiative, but i want it to be more of a bipartisan action. i think black people from both parties should be working on whatever agenda tim scott is presenting to the president on behalf of the black community and i think people who aren't in any party should be working on that with tim scott. they should reach out to community leaders and organizers to see what should be in demand. >> to get their voices heard. gentlemen, i want to get to a very difficult subject right now and get both of you to weigh in on the ahmaud arbery case.

let's listen to his heartbroken father in the interview with craig melvin earlier. >> he was bigger than life. he just loved people. he was a good young man. and he just was out going with everybody. so he just loved people. he just didn't deserve to go out like that. >> and i know, rev, you hosted a town hall on facebook live. you're often in the trenches, the one consoling families who lost loved ones and you've done it before and you'll do it again, why is this still happening and is there a plan out there that could help put a stop to this? >> well, i think that when i talk to the father on the town hall and i had the mother on my radio show this morning, you're dealing with parents that are talking about a young man that was jogging and clearly the tape shows that, we got involved in

the case before the tape went public, working with the lawyers and standing up saying that there needed to be an arrest, if you see this tape, alex, and charle main, the tape came out wednesday of this week but he was killed february 23rd. who saw the tape in the prosecutor's office and felt there was no probable cause based on the tape to make an arrest for two months. somebody had this tape. they had knowledge of what was on the tape. and they made no arrests. so there clearly needs to be some accountability there. so when you say how will this stop, you must have prosecutors that will operate within the law. the law says probable cause. you don't try a case at the scene. you have an unarmed dead young man, you have two people standing there with a magnum and a rifle and there is probable cause to make mon-- to make an arrest backed up by a video that

we didn'tsee for two months and even the tone saying he looked good in the tuxudo but he haven't seen everything but he will not go there and say this will not be tolerated, the federal government will back this 100% and he eck whiff cated and i agree we should hear from both sides but you can't hear that when you hear something like this that even joe biden is calling cold blooded murder. >> i'm sure you have some thoughts to share on this, so what are they. >> my thoughts are rest in peace and condolences to his family. i wish that brother had a gun on him while he was jogging to defend himself against those thugs, those goons, those terrorists. i call them vanilla ices. they hunted him down like he was a deer. ain would tell my brothers and sisters to a legal firearm and learn how to use it to protect yourself and your family.

i am -- and i think when you are a black person in america owning a legal firearm is a form of self-care. i wish he had a gun on him while jogging. i would much rather see him in prison fighting for his freedom as opposed to being in a casket right now. >> charle main, could i ask you, since these two, they've been charged with murder, we don't know if they'll be anybody else who will be brought into the charges, this father and son, showing their pictures right now, the legal system, the rev talked about what changes woe like to see in the legal system. talk about that. because while i can understand the emotions behind what you said about what you wish people would do within the black community, i'm sure you also understand that the prospect of everybody going out there and using guns to make their points or defend themselves or attack, that may not turn out well in

the big picture. >> well, that is not what i said. i didn't say people should use their guns and go out there and attack. i said people should own legal firearms to defend against these kind of attacks. that is what i said. now as far as the justice system, i don't i have in faith in the justice system. i see plenty of white people get off for killing unarmed black men in this country so i don't have any faith in the legal system so therefore that is what i'm telling all of my brothers and sisters to bhie yourself a legal firearm and learn how to use it to protect yourself against these kind of threats. second amendment. -- [ inaudible ]. >> pardon me, sir. >> the constitution is for all of us, right. >> 100%. >> but that is the question. that is why i think we have to be real careful, is the constitution for all of us and who breaks that, who raises

this, what charle main is saying, is the continued lack of the justice system treating us like it is for all of us. many of us committed to nonviolence, our problems is note people feeling they should get a gun, our problem is the people that won't enforce the law. this man had a legal right to jog and he was killed. now what is the system going to do about it. >> i raised this topic over the last couple of days is whether or not the two people that claim to have had justifiable cause to do what they are calling a citizen's arrest, why in the world they had loaded shotguns and a loaded magnum 357 pointed at this young man, this jogger and how is that legal. it is my explanation that that is not legal so therein lies a point. i have to go and i send you virtual hugs and thank you for wishing me happy mother's day. have a good sunday.

and be sure to catch the rev on politics nation right here at 5:00 on msnbc. meantime surf and sun and safety, a tale of two beaches, next. ♪ this virus is testing all of us. and it's testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. so abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. and until this fight is over, we...will...never...quit.

because they never quit.

so memorial day is just over two weeks away. look at that scene there. there are some beaches reopening, many remain in limbo. and that is creating beach town businesses that rely on a busy summer month to stay afloat, some consternation there. let's go to julia jester and amanda golden. joining me from ocean city maryland and virginia beach respectively, julia we start with you in ocean city and the beaches are open but there are not a lot of people out sun bathing? >> reporter: well, alex, the beaches are open for socially distant relaxation but the boardwalk is bustling and open for business. right behind me rashers fries

has a line down past the parking lot and business owners here are excited to see these crowds. i spoke with the mayor who said that he was pleased with the social distancing he's seen here even on a crowded mother's day like today. even though he acknowledged that the economy and tourism here will take a hit over the summer, he seemed optimistic. take a listen to what he told me. >> it is going to be a little different. we don't have any major events planned. they have either been canceled or postponed. there wouldn't be large gatherings and there won't be fireworks on the boardwalk, but maybe that is not the worst thing in the world. everybody will spend more time with their family and just being together and doing those type of things and that might not be such a bad thing. >> reporter: so while arcades and games and amusement parks are not yet open, we have a lot of restaurants and stands that

are selling to patrons, patrons i have spoken with are excited to be out in the sun. most folks are not wearing masks. it is not required but it is recommended. and the mayor said they are taking precautions, like putting caution tape across benches and putting up signs encouraging people to social distance. now the boardwalk and the beach are open. originally it was locals only but now visitors from all over could come. the mayor said it does not supercede governor hogan's stay-at-home order but allowing marylanders to come and enjoy the nice spring weather. back to you, alex. >> that i staying somewhat away from you. maybe because of the camera but it doesn't look socially distant there but thank you for that. now to amanda golden live at virginia beach. how about the locals and the visitors and the like, how they reacting to this continued stay-at-home order? >> reporter: well, alex, there is a lot of frustration here.

you see people out on the boardwalk which is not technically closed. the root re -- the restrictions are for the exercise. on friday they expect phase one by the governor ralph northham is not including beaches as part of the plan. locals and visits to virginia beach are expressing frustration as we're heading toward the warmer summer months. but some are still sympathizing by way of the need to keep beaches closed for safety measures. take a look at what some people told me today. >> yeah, i don't know. i think it is overkill honestly. i think in public and open space, i don't think it is that much of a risk. >> i feel sorry for the people that -- the small entrepreneur who has taken a hard hit by all of this. >> i think it should stay closed. because people are not replaceable.

things are. >> reporter: so, alex, you're hearing from the people, the frustration, the beaches aren't open. but keep in mind virginia beach brings in over a billion dollars annually for the commonwealth of virginia. the mayor bobby dire sent a letter to governor northam urging them to reopen the beaches and saying they could install a safety protocol and keep up with cleaning standards if they could reopen the beaches. >> it is a beautiful day. very tempting to get to the beaches there. amanda golden in virginia beach. and julia jester in ocean city. ladies, thank you so much. joining me now dr. lippy roy and msnbc contributor. so we saw all of the folks. let's look at ocean city and the boardwalk. we have julia telling us that people are supposed to social distance themselves. they were doing that, they're kind of traveling in sp packs, maybe families together or

couples, she said not many are wearing masks, what does that tell you, how concerning is that for you. >> it is concerning. and by the way, happy mother's day, alex. from a health standpoint, we know how this virus transmits. i understand people want to go out and enjoy the sun and i think that is doable but the key part is the physical distancing. back in that piece from california with the florist shops and all -- and you astutely observed most of the people were wearing masks and remember what dr. fauci said months ago, they are supplement to the social distancing and that is how it transfers. and in addition wearing the mask, that is the key. but it is keeping that distance. and we're not really seeing that. if people could go to a beach and maintain the distance, then i think that is appropriate as well as wearing the masks. >> but how about avoiding resurgence because we have also have to have adequate testing

for everybody and certainly a pretty hearty degree of contact tracing. >> >> you're absolutely right. so in order for the businesses to open up, remember in order for an economy and a business to open up, you need a healthy work force. so that means people that are safe, that are healthy, as you pointed out, widespread testing and contact tracing and then isolating people who are positive as well as people who have been in contact with the positives and we're seeing that now finally in the white house where dr. fauci and redfield are kept in quarantine because they've been in contact with people who tested positive. so these are the measures, the public health measures that are evidence-based that we need to have implemented widely before we could open up widely any businesses. >> i hope everyone is listening to you, dr. lippy roy, thank you so much. now to a new strategy for restaurants who are relying on food delivery to stay in business. my colleague msnbc lindsay riser is joining me from jersey city where there is a new executive order capping the fees that all

of the delivery apps could charge restaurant owners. i'm curious what the reaction has been to that, lindsay? >> reporter: well one business owner that i talked to said he is welcoming that executive order. the national restaurant association said that the industry shed 5.5 million jobs in april. wiping out three decades worth of job growth. so the big question is, what will happen to those jobs when economies start to reopen? here at o'leary's pub house they opened up just under six years ago and wanted to become a neighborhood pub where people could gather, relax, and talk to one another. of course that goes against right now the stay-at-home orders in place in new jersey. so right now customers can't walk through the doors to pick up food. this place is completely changed their business model. and so now customers will come over here to a takeout window to pick up their food, they could call ahead and pick it up or order through one of those

delivery apps, uber eats, door dash, grub hub. now those places all charge a commission. so that they could pay the delivery drivers. but the mayor here in jersey city signed an executive order capping that commission at 10% to try to help the small businesses. and the owner here said that is welcome news because some of the apps are charging him 30% each order. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i think it is great. i'm very happy that the mayor stepped up and did that. i hope it makes a big difference. we shall see. everybody thought grub hub and all of that were great, but they're not as friendly as everybody would think. they're big business. and we're small business. so every little bit helps. we couldn't cut them off because we needed all of the help that we could get and every penny is being counted as so. >> reporter: and uber released a statement saying that they are going to have to pass that on to the consumer. they say that they can't afford to pay delivery drivers with

just 10% commission. grub hub said that is an overstep and wouldn't hold up in court. but back here at o'leary's they're doing everything they could to reinvent the business model and keep employees on payroll and the owner said that is a welcome change. >> it sounds like there are folks butting heads on this. lindsay riser thank you from jersey city. celebrating mom. how a pandemic safeguards are altering a mother's day tradition but not the love. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence.

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so for many of us, brufrnl is t brunch is the best way to celebrate mom today. it's become harder to enjoy those midday meals. and nbc's presilla thompson is joining me from houston. we have to check out mother's day brunch. how is it taking place in light of the social distancing, presilla? >> well, alex, the weather near houston is gorgeous today. some folks are choosing pickup option. for those who are looking to

dine in here at dish society, it will look ginch. the first stop is the hand watching station. they can wash hands as they get out of the car. then they stand on the yellow xs that lead up to the hold stand where they're going to be placing their order and they'll be assigned a table number. from there, they make their way over to patio where they can sit at their table appropriately distanced from folks and enjoy the meal. but the waiter, there is not going to be any glassware or actual real silverware. it's going to be disposable. they're going to pick it up from the tray themselves. the server won't place it on the table for them. all in an effort to limit the interactions. so it's certainly going to be a mother's day unlike anything that people have experienced. i spoke to one mom who was here. take a listen to what she told me she's going to remember most about today. >> just who i spent it with. you know, we've been really

blessed with our good family and friends and even though, you know, these are kind of hard times right now, you know, i try not to focus on that and try to find a silver lining. en that is just extra with her and him. it's been fun. >> so there are a number of folks out on the patio and enjoying the weather and taking advantage of the opportunity to have brunch while also social distancing. and there's also a sanitary manager here that i think is worth pointing out. every 20 minutes there is someone with a timer on who is making sure that all the servers are changing their gloves and washing their hands and that the owner told me is really important. because he wants to make sure that employees and the customers feel safe. it's one reason he didn't open the dining room today. but only kept the patio open. and so folks can really focus on their families, alex. >> presill yashgs it sounds like they really did a good job of going through every step of the way. i mean, as much as i'm a little nervous about going back to

restaurants, i think i would go there and sit with my family in that beautiful outdoor sun. though it's not a barbecue restaurant, duly noted. it is a mother's day brunch restaurant. thank you so much for joining me from houston. that's going to do it for me this hour. i'm alex witt. thank you for watching. kevin blackstone next on the push to get professional sports back on the field. but since it is mother's day, before we go, we want to take a moment to honor all of the moms of our hard-working team right here at msnbc's weekend's with alex witt. happy mother's day to all of you. ♪

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tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us. hello. lots to get to this hour. first, even as the president is encouraging parts of the country

to reopen as soon as possible, covid-19 is coming a bit too close to the president for comfort. three members of the white house task force, dr. anthony fauci, robert redfield and stephen hahn are all self isolating after possible exposure to covid-19. the push to reopen the country comes amid fresh signs with the labor market could be in real danger. >> the flow of initial claims that it looks like we're going to get close to 20% in the next report. >> aren't we talking close to 25% at this point which is great depression neighborhood? >> chris, with he could be. >> with me now, josh letterman, nbc news national political reporter. we're going to get back to that sound in just a minute, josh. i want to ask you first, what is the latest that you are hearing about these senate hearings with dr. fauci and other members of the