continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts at this hour. as we certainly approach an unbelievable reality, 100,000 americans died from covid-19. the number of cases continue to rise in 24 states across the country. along with a shortage of protective gear and tests and desperate need for federal money to help rescue state budgets. president trump is threatening to shut down twitter after the social media giant announced it is starting to fact check a label to some of mr. trump's tweets, starting with

the tirade against mail-in voting. he's been on waiter tirade with joe biden, our very own joe scarborough and owe states obeying the government's guidelines and reopening too soon. and attacking biden's decision to wear a mask in public. joining me now, nbc white house correspondent and weekend "today" co-host kristen welker. white house correspondent peter baker and bill kristols, director of the democracy group. welcome all. i know you're waiting for the president to approach the white house and flies to florida, but you have been zeroing in on the president's twitter attacks and in particular the front page of "the new york times" time, the scandalous smear against our colleague joe scarborough for a completely debunked accusation

that goes back 19 years. >> yeah, it's hard to think, andrea, and you and i have covered a lot of presidents, it's hard to think of any president who sort of publicly hurled a sensational allegation against his critics as unfounded, untrue murder allegation. it just goes to show the change in tone of conversation and politics we see now these last two years. it's never been gentle as they say in washington. but this is a different kind of level here i think. what's striking is just not the president continued to double down on it after the president was called on it, it's how quiet you hear his own party. basically with a few exceptions you don't hear anything about republican leaders whether they agree or disagree with the way the president is handling this. you did see "the wall street journal" rather disappointing ily he's debasing the office by airing such unfounded conspiracy

theories. but for the rest of the party, it's mostly quiet. >> and this is all following a letter sent by the woman, a former aide in florida in the district office while joe scarborough was in washington. this poor woman. she was 28 years old. and her husband, widower, tweeted out a letter which read in part -- these conspiracy theorists, including most recently the president of the united states, continue to spread their bile and misinformation on your platform, discharging the memory of my wife and our marriage. my request is simple -- please delete these tweets and these comments. from the president yesterday afternoon, by the way, let's listen. >> it's a very suspicious thing and i hope somebody gets to the bottom of it. it will be a very good thing. there's no statute of limitations. it would be a very good thing to do. >> peter, the fact that the president continued this even

when questioned about reporters in the rose garden yesterday, it's been completely debunked and is an outrageous attack and now the family itself pleading for him to silence it. but twitter has not fact-checked this or put a label on this. or the only one so far has been, at least, finally belatedly critics would argue, belatedly fact-checking labeling the misinformation on the president's tweets against mail-in balloting. >> the president went right past the question whether he was causing more harm to this family 19 years later by suggesting a false conspiracy theory that doesn't exist and didn't really address the fact the husband, the widower of this young woman, asked him to stop. it doesn't seem to matter to him. they've been made collateral damage in effect in his political wars. but you're right, twitter did not attach any messages to this one.

it shows the challenge that will be there for twitter as it tries to fact-check each and every one of the president's tweets. which one will it attach a fact message? which one will it not? it chose two messages about supposedly fraudulent mail-in ballots in california. wait a second, here's real facts about that. it didn't do that with these murder insinuations. so it's raising questions about when and how twitter will apply this new policy to the leader of the free world. it's a remarkable thing when one of our leading technology companies says the president of the united states cannot be trusted. he's saying, of course, it's a political hit, censorship of conservatives. he's making threats today about unspecified actions. it's not clear if there are actions he can take. but it's a remarkable moment in the anales of the presidency. >> joe scarborough did discuss this today on "morning joe."

>> i tell people when they call, first of all, pray for lori's family. but secondly, don't get distracted. why is he acting this way? this is horrible. he wants to distract you. he wants to distract the press. he wants to distract everybody from the fact that the united states of america is moving up to 100,000 dead americans from a pandemic that he said was hyped up as a hoax by the media to bring him down. >> kristen welker, as joe points out, there have been a series of presidential actions and tweets and responses in the last couple of days. as we've been approaching this horrendous 100,000 deaths number, the last marked on sunday by "the new york times"

front page, times 1,000 people as memories of each, so what the president's been doing is pretty transparent. >> right. and you've seen this defiance on the part of the president, andrea, just underscoring the point peter was just saying he tweeted the fact-checks from twitter saying, republicans feel that social media platforms totally silence conservative voices. we will strongly regulate or close them down before we can ever allow this to happen. you have mitt romney, republican, frequent critic of the president, who said enough already. we know some of the president's allies are privately grumbling about some of the twitter activity they've seen in recent days. as you point out, as the death toll approaches 100,000, this solemn number, and what we've seen from the president on twitter is not a focus on that but instead a focus on these

conspiracy theories, on mail-in voting and the president in speaking about the death toll said it would be much worse if he hadn't shut the border down and stopped travel with china. so he's defensive on twitter. but this does come, andrea, against the backdrop of a president who's been frustrated by the fact that he can't be out on the campaign trail with the regularity he would like to but instead calling these official events in battleground states. so part of this, andrea, is a strategy not only to distract from this grim milestone the nation is about to reach but also to try to energize his base, to try to keep that part of his campaign going effectively on twitter because he hasn't been able to travel with the regularity that he would like to be, andrea. >> and bill kristol, "the wall street journal" editorial board has a very strong editorial headline titled a presidential smear weighing in today.

saying mr. trump also hits back at critics and mr. scarborough has called the president mentally ill and other things but suggesting the talk show host is implicating in the woman's death isn't political hardball, it's a smear. mitt romney also weighing in on twitter. why haven't we heard from other republicans, many of whom have got to be embarrassed by this behavior. >> they're scared. it's pathetic. joe scarborough can take care of himself. he doesn't deserve to be smeared. but what about mthe widower, mr klausitous, and his letter asking him to delete the tweet and apologize. he said the tweets are untrue. and a woman died tragically at a young age and the widower asked him to take down these tweets, cease and desist, and he doesn't. it's really extraordinary.

he's got two senators in florida who have access to the white house and the president. he has governor desantis, one of the president's favorites, they represent him, don't they? it's really a degree to silence every republican official except mitt romney is just personally -- it's -- weak and cowardly before but this is the kind of cravenous -- we kept saying we haven't seen it before. i guess we keep seeing it but i guess i feel this is really more extraordinary because of the real wonton cruelty of the president's attacks. >> and we can't forget a presidential campaign and pandemic and the president erupting also against joe biden wearing a mask. it cannot be normalized. that's what needs to be emphasized. bis kristol, thank you very much. our thanks to peter baker calling in before he got on the

plane and awaits the president's arrival shortly. and kristen welker, my friend and pal out there in front of the white house by lafayette park. meanwhile, protests erupting overnight in minneapolis amidst growing outrage over the video showing a black man, george floyd, handcuffed pinned to the ground, face down, struggling to breathe as a police officer kept a knee pressing into his neck for quite some time while passers-by pleaded for the police officer to get off. at least one other officer is seen in this horrible video standing by and watching. he cries to breathe, reminiscent of eric garner in new york six years ago. we should warn you, this video is difficult to watch. so for at least three minutes in the video, floyd was handcuffed needing for help saying he can't breathe at least a dozen times. >> get off him now!

>> now four police officers have been fired, but floyd's family say that that is not enough. we've heard from the family today on the "today" show and on msnbc. >> i would like for those officers to be charged with murder because that's exactly what they did. they murdered my brother. he was crying for help. >> what we witnessed is these officers execute him publicly. we watched him take his last breath. i'm a nurse by profession, and i knew he had taken his last breath. i would venture to say that anybody, without even a medical background, saw that what they did was ultimately take his life. and so i want to see them behind bars.

>> the mayor in minneapolis, the mayor was emotional and outraged as well. his response -- >> what we saw was horrible, completely and utterly messed up. this man's life matters. >> the fbi and state authorities are now investigating. the minneapolis police department is cooperating with the investigation, while the union said it must review all video. it's waiting for the medical examiner's report. i should also point out the initial overnight response from the statement from the minneapolis police department was clearly misleading, saying that he was resisting arrest, not printing he was already handcuffed and pinned down and saying some forgery was involved. that was the night before last. there's continuing anger and outrage from the community. joining me now is nbc's shaq

brewster from minneapolis and gentleman nigh nelson, associate director counselor for the naacp fund. shaq, first to you, what's the situation today in minneapolis? we know there were strong protests overnight. >> that's right, andrea. you saw a lot of demonstrations last night. it was a large peaceful demonstration. a local councilwoman said it was the largest demonstration she had even involving police and community tensions here in minneapolis, a city used to dealing with this or at least dealt with a situation like this before. then when protests moved from the location of the incident and moved to this police precinct behind me, that's when things got a little more violent. that's where tear gas and rubber bullets were used as protesters launched rocks and damaged police vehicles and damaged the police station behind me. where things stand right now and where the investigation is, it has two different investigators. you have the fbi doing their own investigation, and then you have state authorities doing their separate investigation. we know that they're going to be

going through body camera footage we have that we haven't seen yet. they will look at the medical examiner's report, which we know we may not see for a couple weeks now. that's something we learned this morning. and then new video we saw, nbc news obtained showing moments of interaction between mr. floyd and the police officers. you see him getting out of the car. he's handcuffed. he's walked over to the wall and sat down. there's still that gap of time where we don't know what led to the moment where we see in the facebook video where the police officer has his knee on mr. floyd's neck. that's what is causing outrage with the protesters. that's why they're calling for -- as you hear the family, they're calling for criminal charges for those police officers who have since been fired. andrea? >> and to jhene nelson, legally, what should have been done? could they be arrested based on the video alone? how long will an investigation like this have to take place?

if they were not police officers, would they be under arrest right now? >> i think it goes without question if we witnessed any individuals with their knee suffocating, asphyxiating a human being as they plead for help, then those people would be behind bars right now awaiting charges, awaiting the criminal justice system's accountability. and these officers are not above the law. the firing of these officers is just the very beginning of this egregious case of police excessive use of force, misconduct, and just outrageous brutality. the legal defense fund is calling for a full investigation, not only of those officers and this incident, but of the entire minneapolis police department. this police department is notorious for brutalizing and disproportionately targeting african-americans. according to mapping police violence.org, if you're african-american in minneapolis,

you're 13 more times more likely than a white person to be subjected to police violence. we cannot stand for those statistics in today's society. they lead to the catastrophe that we saw occurring with mr. floyd. they lead to the catastrophe that we know happened with jamarr clark. they lead to the catastrophe of so many lives and communities. we need a full investigation by the department of justice, in addition to the fbi, in addition to local authorities, this incident must be dealt with firmly and quickly. and protesters need to be protected as well. they are rightly outraged by the police's behavior in this case and by the history of that police department. they deserve the right to protest. they deserve the right to be protected. under the constitution they have a right to voice their concerns peacefully, and not to be subjected to violent repercussions like toxic tear gas, like rubber bullets and

other brutalization. this community has suffered enough. >> and do you have confidence that the justice department under william barr will take the kind of action it would have taken under eric holder, for instance, to respond if local officials don't do something soon? >> listen, we started a policing reform campaign back in 2014 following the brutal killing of mike brown, and we were making significant headway and continue to make headway today. we will not let up. we will not give up the fight to reform public safety in this country, regardless of the department of justice that is currently overseeing the laws that are protecting or should be protecting communities across the country. william barr has a duty as the chief law enforcement officer of this country to ensure that law enforcement and particularly a department that received federal

funding under title 6 of the civil rights act of 1964, any entity that receives federal funding cannot use those funds to engage in race discrimination. william barr and everyone who worked in the civil rights department, has a duty-bound obligation to engage in a full investigation of this department and the officers and to ensure that there is no pattern and practice of discrimination that involves federal funds. and we will not relent from making those demands regardless of who is in office. they are responsible to all americans and all communities. >> jenai nelson, thank you so much for being with us and shaq brewster, of course, in minneapolis. we will stay on this case. coming up -- ready to launch the first manned american mission to space in nearly a decade set for this afternoon. but will the weather cooperate? and game on, when request we

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'. president trump is set to depart the white house at any moment heading to florida for the space shuttle launch that will be a a first. launched from soil on an american-made company, spacex. the same launchpad that took u.s. astronauts to the moon on the apollo program. on board the astronauts had to prepare for the mission during a pandemic. >> we had been in quarantine probably longer than any other space crew had ever been in the history of the space program. i hope the nation can look at this and recognize that this is

something we're still going to accomplish, and we're going to do it in the face of the pandemic and work through it safely. >> joining me now nbc news correspondent tom costello at the nbc space center in florida, "today" co-host al roker and sean o'keefe, who is now a professor at florida university. tom, first to you, how complicated is not only the weather, and we will talk to al about that, but the pandemic and launch crews had to work virtually or some being put into situations where they could be exposed. obviously the astronauts are safe. last thing you want is for them to come off a space shuttle and get a virus. they've been quarantined forever, it seems. >> all of the above, you're absolutely right. the astronauts have been quarantined since mid-march. the concern is not only for their health but also the health of the astronauts open the space station because they don't want to bring something up and have

people on the space station con ta tam nated. in addition, spacex had half of their staff working from home because of the pandemic. let me give you an update. we have blue skies now more or less, 80 degrees. what you can't see is a pretty good cloud cover. we had storms roll through, lightning roll through. they will watch closely to see how this develops over the next four hours. launch time 4:33 warmbier eastep.m. wee eastern time. we have the countdown clock going for you. and the scenarios, they cannot exceed 30-mile-per-hour winds here at the kennedy space center aloft. in addition they cannot have lightning within 10 miles of the spacecraft for 30 minutes before the launch. those are two of the criteria. they've actually got dozens of criteria, including not only the weather here but up the east coast and out over the ocean because, unlike a shuttle, this rocket, if they have an emergency, they would abort and

the astronauts would then parachute back down in an apo apollo-like space capsule down to the ocean. so they have to be confident they have good weather up the ocean all the way to canada and extending out over to ireland. this is, as you can imagine, a massive piece of real estate to be confident in the weather today. beyond, a breenching here in addition, we will be going to the pad -- seated crew are going to the pad, i should say, about 2 hours and 55 minutes before launch. t-minus 1:55. they will close the hatch. t-minus 45 minutes, they will load the propellant. they need to be confident 45 minutes before the launch that they're going to go because they don't want to load propellant if they're not going to go. t-minus 3 seconds, nine merlin engines will ignite. that's the initial stages for this launch and then once the

rocket accelerates to 17,000 miles an hour on its way to a 19-hour rendezvous with the international space station. because as you know, just like the spate shutting, they've got to have this very precise trajectory to intersect the space station, which is about 250 miles or so orbiting above us right now and space station commander made the point, he's looking forwards to having more people up there to talk to, to eat with, to just kind of commiserate with. but he said, we want to keep that coronavirus down there on earth. we don't want it up here on the space station. the last thing they need is for everybody to get sick. so they've been very careful so far on ensuring that these two astronauts, hurley and befrnken are as safe as possible and healthy as possible to be safe. by the way, we have reports of people in nasa with coronavirus in their family within the last

24 hours. all the the more reason why these two astronauts are kept healthy. andrea? >> absolutely, sheltering in space. you can call al roker. there are ominous signs from the weather. what about lightning? the forecast when tom just said they have to have a good forecast for aible positive emergency recovery from florida to canada all the way to ireland. you're talking about the whole north atlantic. >> that's right. although right now i'm waiting -- as tom is, everybody is, to get with the mission meteorologists. but what we're looking at is fairly good size showers and thunderstorms surrounding launchpad 39a. you can see showers and thunderstorms from melbourne to cocoa beach, just north of launchpad 39a tonight west of launchpad 39a. here's the future cast over the

next several hours. you can see, look at the heavy thunderstorms starting to fire up. we've got a 60% chance right now as we see it of thunderstorms, otherwise partly cloudy skies, temperatures about 83 and as tom was saying, these are some of the parameters they do not launch if lightning is observed. thunderstorm cloud within 12 miles of the launchpad. clouds containing moderate or heavy precipitation within six miles of the launchpad and as tom mentioned, sustained launchpad winds greater than 30 miles per hour. i don't think that will be a problem. but as tom mentioned going up and down the east coast, right now we've got a tropical storm, a minimal tropical storm but tropical storm bertha right now. it's 40 miles northeast of charleston, south carolina. 50-mile-per-hour winds. it's moving north at 15 miles per hour. a lot of convective activity with this system as it makes its way inland tonight north.

andrea, we've got a lot going on here. believe me, i would love to see in thing go up as millions of americans and people around the world. but i really think weather is going to be a factor. and tom can tell me if i'm wrong. i heard that they will make a go/no go at 3:30 if weather is a factor. so we will just have to wait and see. andrea? >> it's an amazing achievement if this thing goes up and if weather permits. thanks to you, al. sean o'keefe is a former nasa administrator and someone who made these tough decisions. this is -- this could not be higher stakes for america. we've been sending astronauts up on russian rockets. this would be the first american made, first private corporation. how tough a bet is this for nasa? >> every launch is always a very

tough match. there's no doubt about it. this is a very familiar protocol and very familiar scene in terms of challenges. and everything has to be exactly right to make any launch that has occurred in the last 50 years really operate properly. the precautions taken as well as conservative approach of this is nothing new. in that regard, yes, this is a significant milestone in that it marked the first commercial opportunity for access of passengers of astronauts into space. this is right up there with exactly the same pattern we saw on commercial aviation where it was dominated by government programs for the better end of 50 years before commercial aviation became so accessible to the public. so this is the first big chapter of making that same level of access into space available for all of us here on earth, in

addition to this first effort of sending astronauts to the international space station. >> as former navy secretary, you know how important it is for this white house, for this president, who's going to be flying down. this is a lift that all of us need. tom costello, before i lose you, when are they going to make this call? and what will the new date be if they don't get to go ahead today? >> i would expect the final call today, because they don't want to wait too late and if they have to scrub today, they would try again saturday and then try again sunday. then we'd all be sitting around for four days and enjoying the florida weather. we will see what happens. >> and we would all be missing you here in washington but knowing you're on top of this story makes us all feel a lot better too. tom costello, sean o'keefe and, of course, amittable, one and only al roker, thank you very

much. coming up -- talk about one and only. big announcement from the national hockey league as other pro sports leagues look to get back into the game. bob costas himself is joining us next on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. life isn't a straight line. and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there are so many toothpastes out there, which one should i use? try crest pro/active defense.

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finally today, there is some good news for sports fans. the nhl announcing a new plan that could have hockey players back on the ice this summer. 24 of the league's teams would soon head to the playoffs to

compete for the stanley cup, with all games being played in two hub cities. nhl commissioner gary bettman explaining the timeline to greg melvin on the "today" show. >> early june we're going to have our training facilities open because our players haven't been able to work out or skate. we move to the training camp phase probably at some point in july. once we're done with training camp, we don't want to be pinned down to specific dates because, as everybody knows, things are changing almost daily. >> joining me now is bob costas, hall of fame broadcaster who's now host and play-by-play announcer for the mlb network. bob, it's great to see you. first up, the nhl -- >> hi. >> -- they think they can do this safely, right? >> yeah, they must think that. everyone understands that it's a tight rope walk because there are so many potential pitfalls. but they must believe they dotted all of the is and crossed all of the ts in terms of safety

and practicality. they lopped 16 of the 40 off. they will go directly into the playoffs. give the top four teams in the conference a bye and the remaining 16 paired down from there and resume the playoffs with 16 teams, which would be a normal number in a normal season, once they've taken care of the first phase. as you said, only in a couple of hub cities, and they hope to get it over in a reasonably tight period of time. the nba looking at something similar, all thee they haventho announced their format yet, apparently still tinkering with it. there are some players who believe if their team doesn't have a reasonable chance to compete for the championship, they don't want to go through it. they just as soon opt out. so they may have to go directly to a playoff situation without an abbreviated conclusion to the regular season. in any case it appears clear they will gather in orlando and disney world, where there are multiple arenas, multiple facilities so it seems practical they can get it done in a reasonable period of time there.

>> and they would be basically sheltering at disney world, where they've got hotels and residents to test people, control the access and make sure that the players are protected. of course, the nightmare scenario is that one player, as tony fauci said in an interview, if one player in the nfl on saturday night turned up to test positive, you have to cancel the game the next day. obviously, no fans involved in any of this. what about baseball? are they going to ever work out the players' concerns, the financial considerations? are we ever going to have baseball? >> well, the owners presented a plan to the players yesterday, and it was a nonstarter as far as the players were concerned. we know it's a bad look. and in the court of public opinion, where millions of people are out of work and they're worrying about where their next dollar is going to come from, when wealthy players say this isn't good enough. on the other hand, there's a

practical argument to be made from a labor perspective, and the players association has been in baseball not only the strongest union in sports but arguably the strongest union in all of america. they've always been very tough. over the last few weeks we heard the idea of revenue sharing, 50/50 split. then the owners put something else on the table yesterday with sort of a table of reduced compensation. relatively small for those making the minimum salary. very large for top-tier players making let's say $30 million a year. for half a season they would have expected $15 million. now the owners are saying about $7.5 million. so 25% to 30% of what their normal salary would be. i know what the reaction of the average american is. where do i line up to get $7.5 million for four months' worth of work? that is not at the moment the stance of the players association.

>> of course, there's always the possibility of injury in a limited way, having a career-ending experience. just briefly, nascar was, of course, the first sport out over the weekend. and without fans, but when you think about it, all of the other businesses, the food vendors and all of the other businesses that are connected, there's a domino effect in all of these towns that support all of these sports teams. >> of course there is. and most of the teams in various sports are asking their employees, not the players, that's a separate plan, but they're asking their employees to take reduced salaries or they're laying off employees. and then you have all of the part-time workers, the ushers and vendors and parking lot people who work at these games. obviously, like you say, there's a tremendous ripple effect. you mentioned nascar. it's easy to see how they could resume without fans. it's easy to see how tennis and golf will be able to resume. team sports, it's a much

trickier needle to thread. >> right. contact sports indeed. bob costas, thank you so much. it's always great to see you. stay well. >> you're welcome. coming up -- long island getting back to business. what's allowed to reopen? what has to wait? we'll have all of that next. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. community, working to care for all of us. at novartis, we promise to do our part. as always, we're doing everything we can to help keep cosentyx accessible and affordable. if you have any questions at all, call us, email us, visit us online. we're here to help support you when you need us. take care, and be well. to learn more, call one eight four four cosentyx or visit cosentyx.com

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entering phase one of its economic reopening today with construction, manufacturing and limited retailing permitted. nbc news correspondent ron allen joins us from babylon, new york. ron, how is this phase going to work? >> well, one thing that's happening, andrea, is that there is a lot of traffic out here. you can see on the streets behind me and even driving over here, there's still a stay-at-home order. for the most part, people are abiding by it. but there's a lot of recklessness. there are a lot of people trying to get out and get on with their lives. there's an ambulance going by here in the center of town of babylon. hopefully you can hear me. the big areas -- >> absolutely. >> the question of manufacturing, wholesale and so forth. but there's concern on main streets like this one, mom and pop stores, where they feel like they've already been at a disadvantage because big retailers like walmart and target have been open for some time and they're trying to play

catch-up. so they're figuring out how to reopen their business and keep their employees and customers safe. it's a slow start. here's what some local officials are saying about phase one. >> if we don't do the right thing in phase one, we're going to be back to square one. >> this is the root and grassroots of america right here. we're looking forward to having them be able to get customers back. >> we're very concerned about spikes. to us, reopening the economy only works if you do it safely. i really think businesses get that. there's no one better than entrepreneurs at adjusting and adapting. they know to be successful on this reopening, they have to protect their customers. >> the hope is that this phase one will last about two weeks and move quickly to phase two. which is a lot more smaller business iz. it just broadens the economy beyond manufacturing and construction, which, of course, involves big industries. this leaves only new york city not entering phase one in all of

new york state but, of course, that's a big, big challenge, 8.5 million people, dense public transportation system, subway, buses and all of that. the hope is new york city will move into phase one some time next week or the week after, and that will really be a challenge. andrea? >> indeed. ron allen, i know that's going to come up with andrew cuomo, who's been meeting with the president today and is going to have his regular briefing here in washington coming up in the next hour most likely. thank you, ron allen, from babylon, new york. coming up next here, how accurate are those covid-19 antibody tests, tests available to most americans? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." we'll have those answers next. i don't keep track of regrets and i don't add up the years, but what i do count on... is boost high protein... and now, there's boost mobility... ...with key nutrients to help support... joints, muscles, and bones. try boost mobility, with added collagen.

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as the u.s. death toll from the pandemic approaches 100,000 people today, the cdc is issuing a troubling warning that fewer than half of the antibody tests

could be accurate. joining me now is an e.r. doctor currently treating covid patients at columbia university medical center and yahoo news medical contributor. what do you make about this new warning about the antibody test? >> honestly, it's not that surprising. we knew over 70 different versions of the antibody tests were being pushed out to quickly and evaluate them after the fact and see how accurate they were. i actually tested a bunch of my friends with multiple kinds of tests to see, are they accurate amongst each other? and the truth is, they're not all that reliable. what it means is we can't make large scale decisions yet on the presence of antibodies through these tests. they were created to be very specific. meaning if they were positive, it was supposed to be a likely true positive. but the tradeoff was that if they were negative, you weren't really sure. and so we told everybody regardless of the results to still wear a mask, protect yourself and protect your community. >> now, is the issue whether or

not they are actually detecting antibodies but also the level of antibody -- the level of immunity and how long it would last whether it would actually protect you over the long-term against another encounter with the virus? >> so, we actually don't know any of that. many of the tests that come to market, the finger stick tests we're talking about, didn't actually tell you what level of antibody they were reflecting, if they were even positive. and we saw a lot of patients that had a stronger response if their antibodies were higher. but we don't know what level antibody confers any protection, if at all, from this virus. we do think if you have antibodies you have some short-term protection, but we haven't actually figured out what that number is yet, which is why it is too soon to use these tests to re-engage unprotected in the community. >> i also wanted to ask you about south korea which is experiencing a doubling over night of new cases. now, south korea has been widely praised for the way it handled the initial outbreak and the way

the community response to stop community spread. so, what do you think might be happening there? >> so, i think a lot of the times we have to put those numbers into context. if you have a low number, doubling a low number is in addition of a few cases but something we need to watch very carefully. and we see that in america when we see a lot of our states having increase of 10, 20 and 30% of their cases over the past two weeks since opening but they have an overall low number of cases. i think what it means is that south korea, has been very aggressive about tracking and tracing and addressing the virus where it stands will show us how do you respond to an increase, a surge if you will, of cases in their community. but it's to be expected. >> and of course, we here in america we don't have the testing, the contact tracing systems put in place that they have in south korea. >> exactly. and that shows us what you can do if you have those surges in

cases. how do you respond? how do you really clamp it down so that your economy doesn't have to shut down again. you know, one of the things we're seeing from these other countries and how they respond to increases in cases as they open up is how do they get it under control again when we haven't gotten it under control the first time. >> dr. dara kass, thank you so much for all of your medical advice today. we really appreciate it. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. thanks for being with us. stay safe. chuck todd and katy tur pick up our coverage next after our break. complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™

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♪ good afternoon. i'm chuck todd here are the facts as we know them at this hour. we're anticipating the new york governor andrew cuomo will give his daily coronavirus briefing from washington, d.c. following his meeting with president trump at the white house this morning. we will bring you that briefing the minute it starts. a new poll from the associated press and norc reveals that 61% of americans say they will -- they say they think we will see a vaccine for covid-19 sometime next year. ready for this, majority, 51% say they will not get the vaccine or unsure about getting it right now. leaders in the european union have proposed $825 bli