i'd love to begin by hearing about what brought you to the va. you're very successful in the civilian career and times making that transition from the civilian world into the government world can be a bit jarring but what drove you to want to take up the mantle of working with the government especially within the va? >> during my 20s i did not have a chance to serve the way you did. i spent my time medical institutions and doing my medical training and it was a busy 20s. that is always one of the real regrets i had that with this amazing country that we have i wasn't able to get back. later on in my career i was the ceo of a hospital and i had the opportunity to get a call from the white house and this was right at the time in 2014 when it was a very public way to time crisis in the va where there was allegations of the veterans were dying waiting for care and i remember sitting there as a citizen saying i feel terrible about this. if anybody deserves the best care possible it is our veterans and i wish there was something i could do to help. as s

but of the va can't do everything well. so if you're a veteran and you need specialized care or something not available in your community, you should be able to get that in the private sector. i envision a hybrid system with a strong, modern va focused on centers of excellence and things important to veterans. and the ability to seek the private sector when those aren't available. i've published that as a model of care in the new england journal of medicine so everybody could see the plan that i had for the va. and when that frankly i think just makes sense for veterans. >> during your time, you talk about this quite a bit in the book. this debate comes up quite a bit talking about the recently passed mission act. before that, the choice care. can you talk about what that bill did, does, will do? it was passed a year ago, implemented in june of this year. there's still a lot of confusion around it. you worked a lot of your time on that bill and it was passed after you left. i feel confident that you know it very well. >> sur

the va administered just 70 tests. 8% of those tests can come back positive. g me now to discuss this is the former secretary veterans affair is dr. david shulkins. thank you so much for joining us. you are the author of the book "it should not be this hard to serve your country." first off, secretary, 70 tests? how is that possible? >> we are seeing in the department of veterans affairs of what we have seen around the community, we have been way behind testing. with millions of veterans out there as you said and so many of them older, we have 350,000 world war ii veterans thankfully still with us. we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect their public safety interests. >> what are your concerns of the staffing shortage? >> many people don't realize the va is the largest healthcare system in this country. it employs the most doctors and respiratory therapists. there are staffing shortages but that's going to require real leadership to make sure that the staffs that are there who are capable of staffs in our va medical centers are able to fo

the va cares for millions of elderly veterans, and it has confirmed nearly 500 cases. a 60% spike since tuesday. the retired rear admiral who runs the va center in philadelphia spoke with our jim axelrod about the urgent need for beds and ventilators. >>> we are looking at surge capacity -- >> reporter: the challenge here in philadelphia is stark, serving a population of 55,000 vets. they've got 102 beds. >> we were able to expand by 50-plus beds. >> reporter: still 152 beds. is that enough for what you anticipate happening here? >> we're not sure. >> reporter: with the average veteran served by the va older than 60, many also have underlying medical conditions. this is a population that is especially vulnerable to respiratory issues from coronavirus. do you have enough ventilators? >> we have ventilators on order. >> reporter: i take that to mean you don't have enough right now. >> we put an order in in anticipation that, you know, 30% or 40% of the veterans we see made need ventatory support. >> reporter: are you expecting a crisis? >> i'm not. >> i certainly can spea

how ready is the va if the outbreak grows worse? and specifically, will they be able to take care of our veterans? many of whom are over 60. making them particularly vul initial vulnerable to this virus. perspective from iraq war veteran and veterans advocate pj rikhof, the man behind "the angry american" podcast. how are you, my brother? >> i'm good, chris. excellent work, man. i want to start by just thanking forror you for your leadership. you've really been stepping up and folks across the country have been inspired by you and your broth. >> when i got friends like you, it helps you do the right thing. and you flagged this to me a couple of weeks ago. that the va had been offered help. they didn't take it. and now, they are worried about their resources and being able to take care of veterans. what is the situation? >> the bottom line is that we are facing an unprecedented threat. we all know that. we talked about that being war footing. well, this is war footing and we need to mobilize the entire country around this threat in a

after probably 8 to 10 days i decided to call the va and was told not to come there, that if i were to come in to talk to my doctor that they wouldn't let me through the gate because of the symptoms i had. and i was trying hard to see if i could just see my doctor to see if i had to flu or something else going on, not even necessarily thinking it was that. but they wouldn't even let me see my doctor for that, they wouldn't give me a flu test, they wouldn't give me a test for covid. and after calling in several times i have about two hours logged here in west palm, they wouldn't let me come in. every time i called back and they told me over and over again do not come here and randomly overnighted me amoxacillin and an inhaler in the mail without diagnosing me for anything. and after calling bacthe next weekend find out my doctor was on vacation for two weeks, and they told me if i feel worse in a few days to call back again. and by this time most of my symptoms had started to clear on their own. i ended up going at the advice of a telehealth person a few days ago to the emergency room f

of course the va has extensive resources and facilities throughout the country, so i think the va is ing very appropriate and responsible in beginning to coordinate with the private sector. but the va will experience the same problems that we're seeing in hospitals around the country, with staffing shortages and also shortages of equipment, mostly to protect its own staff and the patients that they serve. >> that's an important point as well. dana, after downplaying the need to use the defense act yesterday, the president said he's begun to set things in motion. did you hear anything in today's briefing to back that up. >> no, and it was confused. kaitlin collins did an amazing job to press the president to get information because he, of course, said he invoked it and then tweeted yesterday it was worst case scenario and today he apparently told the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer, that he did and that's what he confirmed to kaitlin collins. if i sound like this is confusing, it's because it is. kaitlin was trying to get specifics. which companies have you done this with? wh

understand the va can be reenforcement. ioned it, the key part of the mission is be the backstop. they can be a tremendous of tremendous reenforcement. they have doctors and facilities. hundreds of billions of dollars in funding. they have to be called upon to do it. until recently you aren't hearing from the secretary of veterans affairs. you're hearing from walmart and cvs. the entoire agency only tested about 1,100 veterans. we have tested more professional athletes than veterans. that's a problem if to stay ahead of the curve. >> why haven't they been called? is the political optics of militarization. >> it comes down to loeeadershi. acrossed board it will be the factor. he finally is and add tremendous resources and be a two prong attack in serving americans. the helpers can come in the form of veterans sp military. they have scale and scope in logistics and medical personnel no agencies have in the federal government. and rivals anywhere else in the word. the president has to ask the secretary of defense to step up. an

don't go the va. don't go to the er.ll not allow you -- sorry -- they won't allow you to come in even if you do show up, if you have symptoms. stay home. treat your symptoms. i called back a few times that day. next day got randomly overnighted medications which was an antibiotic and an inhaler without of being seen. >> well -- >> i'm not sure -- >> you got coronavirus antibiotics won't help you. so you are -- as a veteran you are covered by the va, but the va wouldn't see you. you can't without otherwise going private hospital where you have to pay. apparently the testing is free at private hospitals now but the va told you to go to the er on thursday. what happened then? >> i'm not able to hear you. >> okay. we got an audio problem with sara. we'll try to fix that and come back to her. she's an air force veteran who has been struggling to get a coronavirus test. i bring that point up because the president said he has not heard any stories about people who need tests and can't get them. joining me from boston is a docto

so, the va is working, and i was just told by our great leader at the va, robert wilkie -- he said, for the first time, get the highest marks -- highest poll numbers in the history of the veterans administration. it came out a week ago, that they're happy. and look, one of the reasons that happened -- highest in history. one of the reasons that happened is because of veterans' choice. if they have to wait in line, they go see a private doctor, we pay the bill, and they get better. they don't have to wait two weeks and three weeks or two days, but they get better. and a lot of times, they waited so long that they would have a problem and it would end up being terminal because they couldn't get the kind of treatment that they deserve. so, highest poll numbers, highest approval numbers in the history of the va. i was just given that information yesterday. we restricted visitors' access to 135 veteran community living centers, which house nearly 8,000 veterans with chronic medical conditions so that we limit their exposure to the virus. we want to totally take care of our veterans. and that

critical to making every dollar count is optimizing decisions with the va to increase efficiencies. within the next few months we will launch a joint health information exchange with the va, expanding d.o.d. connections with private providers. in closing as the son and brother of veterans i'm invested in the success of this program. spending significant time at walter reed with my parents i understand the city callty of delivering patient centered care and i'm confident we have the right people in the right place to complete this mission and val transparency and you the committee. it's amazing what can be achieved as long as we don't care who gets the credit. the team em exemplifies this wisdom. thank you again for your time and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you. with great humility and honor i turn to the chair of the appropriations committee miss lowey for her questions. >> thank you. oh, boy. thank you. i need some health care i think at this moment. it was all checked out. i just lost my voice. but i wanted to come to this hearing because as you probably know, this c

the va is working. i was just told by our great leader at the va, robert wilkie, he said for the first time, got the highest marks, highest poll numbers in the history of the veterans administration came out a week ago. that they're happy. look, one of the reasons that happened, highest in history, one of the reasons that happened is because veterans choice. they have to wait online. they see a private doctor and we pay the bill and they get better. they don't have to wait three weeks or two weeks or three days but they get better. a lot of times they waited so long they would, they would have a problem and it would end up being terminal because they couldn't get the kind of treatment they deserve. so highest poll numbers, highest approval numbers in the history of the va. i was just given that information yesterday. we restricted visitors access to 135 veteran community living centers which house nearly 8,000 veterans with chronic medical conditions. so that we limit their exposure to the virus. we wan

shulkin is correct, we ought to be looking at the va. oking at each state's national guard. i would not federalize it, i'd leave them under state control but put them in title 32 status where the federal government pays for national guard support. but this has to be a community-by community, state-by-state solution engaging in social isolation and best practices without a doubt. >> jeffrey goldberg in washington, jump in here. >> doctor shulkin, just to stay on -- to stay on a theme that secretary johnson was talking about, if you had five minutes with donald trump right now, and i realize that that's a fraught idea, but if you had five minutes with him right now, would you advocate for a shelter in place order either for a partial order across america or an all 50-state order? how do you feel about shelter in place? >> yeah, my concern is, is that seeing a doubling of cases now every four days we are unfortunately beginning to follow the epidemiologic curve of italy rather than south korea. so i think that we do need to consider getting

what i would like to see in addition is using the national emergency to expand the authorities for vao work closer with the private sector so that we can take advantage of both the capacity that the va has but also veterans do need help, that it is easier to reach out to the private sector partners. >> secretary, as you well know, the department of veterans affairs is the backup system for national emergencies. should americans take comfort in that or worry given what we have heard of staffing shortages? >> no. i think they should take comfort in that. the va is largest integrated health care system in the country, employs more doctors and nurses, has the capacity to handle a lot of volume and i think that this is a time that we should be executing on some of those authorities that allow the va to be there in times of national emergencies and to use the equipment and the staffing, of course, the house bill that just passed gives extra funding to the va and the department of defense and what we really need is a coordinated system between the federal government, local government, state

i'm talking about the va. healthcare network in the world purchases an incredible amount of equipment from china. we should stop that immediately. the d.o.d. does as well. those are actions we can take to hold china's economy accountable. david: at the very least, the thing we should do is prevent the va representing the brave servicemen and women of our country who have done so much and sacrificed so much for our country, at least prevent them from being forced to use pharmaceuticals and others from china. >> on top of that, we should force the chinese to forgive the american debt they hold over a trillion dollars. the bill we are about to talk about in the senate, it will cost $1 trillion in taxpayer money. there is no reason the americans should shoulder the burden for that. that my daughter's generation should pay the cost for what the chinese inflicted on this country because of their negligence and how they refused to prevent the spread of the coronavirus coming to the united states. david: the cost of th

on the va side, we have been in contact with the deputy mayor. we've just sent into new york one of our mobile centers to confront mental health issues, it is a concerted bipartisan effort. >> martha: one of the things you pointed out was the response in the va hospitals and what you wanted to protect the veteran population early on has really been a model for what we are seeing at other facilities. >> it has. we were first but i have to say we rehearse these things regularly. we are the nation's response force when it comes to a natural disaster and in this case epidemics. we cut off access to our hospitals for everyone except the patients. we triage people outside of the hospitals, more importantly and this is something that concerns you because of that wonderful book that you read. the people who occupy our living centers and hospitals are of the world war ii era for the most part. those who have sacrificed the most and given the most. i had to make a difficult position and cut off visitors to those most precious citizens that we have but it w

the va hospital system is not just for veterans, they are prepping supplies and hospital beds to cope with the spike of coronavirus patients. va secretary joins us live next. - cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. align, press and unzip. tide pods. keep them up. keep them closed. keep them safe. (bobby) you're concerned that it's going to cost you money.ouble, (ben) to this day, i only paid what i had to pay for the device. when i go back, everything is covered. there's so much you're missing by not having hearing aids. (vo) we'll find you a hearing aid that fits your lifestyle and your budget at one of our 1,500 locations. call 1-800-miracle to start your 30-day risk-free trial and schedule your free hearing evaluation at your locally owned miracle ear today. it's a thirteen-hour flight, tfifteen min

the governor then goes on to ask, specifically, if the va hospital in new orleans, federal facility, might be a place where patients from the regular city hospitals could be surged into as the hospitals start to overflow. in oregon state and in washington state, the states governors there, kate brown and jay inslee respectively, they have now ordered a halt to all nonurgent medical and dental procedures statewide. anything that would require protective gear for healthcare providers because that gear is so key to whether or not doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers stay alive to take care of the rest of us. the oregon governor kate brown announcing that the state is actually rounding up protective equipment now. like, masks and gloves. rounding that stuff up. collecting it from contractors and veterinarians and anybody else who is not using it for human healthcare right now. oregon is also one of several states that is building new capacity. new beds. last night, we reported on king county, washington, building a brand new 200-bed hospital. that i am tempted to call a field h

the va is a fantastic organization. hard work always standing up making sure we're doing the right thing. the - - were an important part of helping us make the right decisions. >> i appreciate your time. ... >> it is my distinct honor to introduce a very special guest and a dear friend. this is the second of our distinguished leadership series the first member was general james mattis who was

the va will prescribe the manner of drugs to the former rank-and-file. but because marijuana is a schedule one controlled substance, federally o the va cannot administer marijuana even though the jurisdiction many live in states like rhode island but that medical marijuana programs that make it quite accessible. and they will not deny care to someone that is using marijuana but they cannot be involved in the prescription which predates pretty disheartening circumstances for many veterans. i know many that live in states that don't have medical marijuana coming and they risk legal action going out and getting it on the street. i'm not here to say that marijuana is necessarily a universal panacea because many of the inflections they suffer when they come home. the science is mixed and some people find it helpful where others don't. it's hard to get a regulated just write in a way that consistently produces pharmaceutical products. because the product is the same from event to event or booster dose. it's deeply confusing for veterans that they are heavily p

tensed in, for decades this committee has funded efforts ton modernize the health system both the va and the department of defense in particular efforts to address electronicfi, health records. i understand, because i've had so i briefings, hearings on this. the last five years at least. i know it is difficult. but frankly, our service members and their families haveo been waiting for far too long, and the taxpayers have invested too much to continue with problems and delays.a. a i am not saying that it is all va and d.o.d., is perfect. ad aare you learning anything b this? we had a hearing not too long ago with the va, and the last i looked at is the department is requesting sai another billion, and case anyone thinks i said million i said another billion in fy 21. whyi don't get it maybe you can explain why this is taking so long. if this happened in the private sector, they would probably be out of business, but you are too valuable and in no way can you be out of business, but i do not understand why you cannot get this done. my colleague, mr. rogers is not here. we have had close

visitors to its community living centers and nursing homes, he joins me now to talk about what more the va is doing to protect the men and women who have served our country, this is such an important mission. do you feel like you have a handle on the problem at this point? is there anything else that you feel like you need to materialize? >> well, thank you dana. we got very specific instructions from the president last month, to engage in the most aggressive public health response that we could in order to protect her patients. you artie mentioned that we cut off visitors to our community living centers. that was a painful decision. most of the 7800 in those living centers, from world war ii and korea. to deprive them of the sustenance of their family was an incredibly hard decision for all of us who've been part of the military family. the other things that we've been doing to make sure that our supplies are stable. we were the first health care system to eliminate elective surgeries, we also cut back on the number of routine at a cool visits to our facilities in order to make sure that

the va is working.as just told by our great leader at the va, robert wilkie, he said for the first time, got the highest marks, highest poll numbers in the history of the veterans administration came out a week ago. that they're happy. look, one of the reasons that happened, highest in history, one of the reasons that happened is because veterans choice. they have to wait online. they see a private doctor and we pay the bill and they get better. they don't have to wait three weeks or two weeks or three days but they get better. a lot of times they waited so long they would, they would have a problem and it would end up being terminal because they couldn't get the kind of treatment they deserve. so highest poll numbers, highest approval numbers in the history of the va. i was just given that information yesterday. we restricted visitors access to 135 veteran community living centers which house nearly 8,000 veterans with chronic medical conditions. so that we limit their exposure to the virus. we want to

a spokes american for the va says it is intact. t's sistered 322 coronavirus tests since the outbreak began. coming up on the show, david shulkin will be joining the conversation to get some answers there. >>> as we've been doing every morning, we want to get a quick check on the numbers of coronavirus outbreaks here in the united states and transition to the forecast. bill, break it down for us. obviously, the numbers continue to grow as we heard yesterday from new york's governor andrew cuomo, he's concerned about that tipping point. >> yeah, a tsunami, instead of a wave. we showed you this about a week ago, we're trying to avoid this peak, this fast-moving crest on the health care system. we want to do this curve here, the bottom, in blue. we tracked this every single day. yesterday was a rough day. yesterday we jumped to 6,496 cases across the country. on march 2nd, we had 100. you can see bend in the curve and now we're going up. you can see which of those curves we're currently following. the applied growth is 30%. in the next

is where congress is falling short of the leadership test and doing things like that in preventing the vargest medical center in the country from buying medical equipment from china. those are the places congress needs to start and that's where congress is missing the boat. >> this president has talked about america first for the past five years. there should be no one unfamiliar with his insistence on that priority. by american, higher american, except corporate america is insistent upon their supply chains and scattering them across south east asia and china instead of preserving proximity and national security for all of the manufacturing plants. how quickly can we do something about it? find other sources besides china and by the way, how about building those facilities in this country now? >> there's language in the authorization act coming up, i served on the armed services committee. sadly the processes of the legislative vehicles take way too long. we have to pass this emergency funding if the president, what he's asking for in the funding to fight the coronavirus. that's where we

thanks to the prostate cancer foundation's partnership with the va, all that is changing. u know, going off camera i would do it. the scans are now essentially normal. we all everyday hope for a miracle and this is as close to a miracle as we get. cancer research saves lives. go to pcf.org to learn more. >> we're all committed to making sure we're keeping our stores open >> we're ramping up our manufacturing capacity to ensure the right collection devices and testing equipment are ready to address this issue. >> we'll stay involved and do everything we can from a supply chain point of view to be of assistance. we're working every second of every day to increase the number of tests we can run. maria: that was a group of leading corporate executives on friday discussing their efforts to fight coronavirus how to handle the impact, philanthropist michael milken has been studying life threatening diseases for decades and emphasizing faster cures through his milken institute and foundation joining me right now to talk about where we are in the face of this new pandemic, michael g

the new york city region. this is something that they trained for. vaas over 13,000 beds across the country and 325,000 health people who work in their system, so this is something that i think that va is going to be an important national resource as we respond to this pandemic in this country. and we're just beginning to see that happen now. >> dr. david shulkin, thank you for joining me, sir. david shulkin is a former secretary of the department of veterans affairs and the former ceo of a couple of very large hospital systems. he's been helping us all along to understand this. thank you, david. >>> coming up next, city lockdowns mean there's no escape f for victims of domestic abuse. i'll talk to an official from the national domestic abuse hotline next, about how people in those kinds of situations can find help. but if you're watching and you know someone who's in that situation, we'll give you the information you can pass on to them. plus, there are so many questions about the government's relief bill and the checks that are going out. still ahead,

va telework. greater telework capacity reduces the risk of coronavirus transmission in the va workforce and keeps ment running. over $600 billion set aside for va to retrofit hospitals and clinics to increase the numbers of beds and treatment rooms to care for veterans with covid-19 and deployed mobile treatment units. over $2 billion appropriated for veterans who need urgent or emergency care in the community for covid-19. finally, this funding ensures the va healthcare providers putting their lives on the line to treat veterans are paid for their overtime work hours that they work. this relief package also makes veteran owned small businesses owners eligible for loans to pay their semployees and keep their businesses afloat and prevents veterans from losing their homes due to foreclosures. it insurance veterans who receive stimulus checks remain eligible for pension and means based va benefits. this package is far from perfect. but there's so much of this legislation that's critical to helping veterans and ordinary americans survive this pandemic. i expect there will be more legislation to ensur

it makes sure the department of defense and the va has the resources needed to care for those veterans. i had a real concern what it did to small business that was real changes inside the bill and that's why it came late. i wanted flexibility for those small businesses especially under 50. we have to make sure if you're going to mandate small business provide this leave how can they have the resources, the speaker had the social security doing it , would harm social security and they couldn't get it up and running and the second of treasury will now advance the money to small business for that quarter, to pay for that sick leave going forward for this short time period making sure that we have a timetable on this , that there was a sunset, and also democrats had put una number of provisions that were just philosophically wrong with anything to do here they wanted to change the law and have taxpayer pay for abortion we made sure we took that out as well. maria: well i don't understand you had abortion in a bill about coronavirus? >> yeah, the things you have to watch, especially when it

we're going to speak to the va and see if we can get mooedimme. a switch but get that approved one way or the other. >>> all right. so you're seeing president trump at fema headquarters and he's talking to governors. he's taking requests there, as you see, a lot of demand from the states for intervention from the federal government. we're going to continue to monitor that. and we'll bring you any headlines as we see them happening. now, despite warnings and pleas, people are still going to the beaches in florida. many of them are still not closed. look at this here. cnn is on the ground. hear what the spring breakers are saying. yes. yeah sure. yes yes. yeah, yeah no problem. yes. yes, yes a thousand times yes! discover. accepted at over 95% of places in the u.s. discover. are you currently using a whitening toothpaste, but not seeing results? try crest 3d whitestrips. its enamel-safe formula lifts and removes stains to provide 100% noticeably whiter teeth or your money back. try crest 3d whitestrips. >>> the cdc is now recommending that funeral di

. >> both packages were ken in consideration with the va and the o d needs from president signed e ofthosekages and the next one is being worked on right now in congress which could pride as much as a trillion dollars moe to deal with the pandemic reporting in washington, i' trevor shirley. time now for 52, here's a ick live look outside at san francis international airport again we've got the us state department issuing an advisory to not travel at all to any foreign countrythat's one of the new developments here in the last 24 hours as we ntinue to fall the latest. >>with the coronavirus and its impacts nationally. and of cose >>welcome back for 55 on this friday morning we are seeing clear skies in fat the clear skies the week so far across the bay area golden gate bridge. you can see it fro the distance and sutro tower there skies will remain clear throughout the day today but if you're looking far enough away there our next storm system it's a loomingout in the pacific and will eventually make i way and temperatures in the 0's and 50's for most of the bay area oakland-alamedayour warm

you've heard a lot about the fourth mission that va has. our first three missions are health care, benefits, and memorial affairs. our fourth mission is to support the federal government in times of natural disasters and pandemics. we are buttress force encased fema or hhs calls upon us to deploy medical professionals across the country to meet crises. we plan for that every day. we are gaining out emergency preparedness scenarios, and we stand ready when the president needs us to expand our mission. thank you. >> president trump: thank you very much, robert. thank you. thank you all, that's very nice. any questions, please? >> reporter: two questions, if i may. your treasury secretary was on capitol hill talking about the potential for what could, and he said that unemployment could skyrocket to 20%. that could rival the great depression. are we looking at potentially -- >> president trump: i don't agree with that. no, i don't agree. that's an absolute, total worst-case scenario. no, we don't look at that at all. we are nowhere near it. >>

. >>> she also logged more than 20,000 hours over 16 years volunteering at the va hospital. but she stopped when she quit voluntrs at thamerican legion auxiliary. she serves on the city's senior citizens and advisory board and donates time at the computer lab. an inspiration to museum volunteer johan. >>> most people my age don't have the time nor the to do it anymore. >>> i think it is just jeans. i don't know what else could do it.>> reporter: a curiosity for hearts and humor keep her young.>>> her curiosity thankful heart and humor. >>> so for her decades of volunteer service in sunnyvale this week's jefferson award in the bay area goes to mary hidalgo.>>> mary and her late husband were married for 42 years. they have five kids and 12 grandchildren 13 great- grandchildren and one great great grandchild. she calls and she text them to keep in touch. >>> she is quite the woman. >>> if you want to nominate a local hero for the jefferson award you can always head to kpix.com/hero. >>> we are just minutes away from president trump addressing the nation. a live look at the white

not to you increase the risk line also offers a virtual chat consultation and video conferencing the vais also minimizing visit asking thats to call before coming in. >>in virtual dot com is offering free call that 19 online assessments. u of m health fairview is covering co pays for their virtual services a few places that are trying to find answers about a virus that has everyone asking questions. >>that was susan elizabeth littlefield reporting for us tonight. >>and new flu death numbers tonight. the cdc says the flu has killed 144 children in the us so far this season that number includes the 8 pediatric deaths at the cdc reported just last week. it is the largest number of child deaths from influenza since reporting began 15 years ago except for during the h one n one pandemic in 2009 hospitalization among pediatric patients is also higher than usual this year. the cdc estimates the flu were killed 22,000 of the 36 million people it infects in the us before the season, even and. >>as we switch gears now take a look outside get a check on the 4 zone forecast it was a clear day in a

. >> you serve on the veterans' affairs committee, is the va ready for coronavirus? >> we've received various updates from the v. a, again, they are using all of their resources to follow a similar plan, detecting cases, responding to those cases, quarantining and containing those who perhaps have it, testing, providing therapeutic relief since there is no vaccine along the way and just staying very, very diligent. doing everything they can to keep this thing, to keep people informed as well as keep those who aren't affected away from those that are. and that's one thing about the cdc, the cdc has 12,000 individuals that work at the cdc. every one of them is dedicated to protecting and keeping american people safe. they are in full operation here. the cdc website, by the way, is the same information, the information on there as the hearings and briefings that i receive. whether or not they're behind closed doors in our congressional auditorium or with the vice president of united states. we are not receiving any information other than i can talk about here. there's be

>>you'rnot the only one i would say the va majority of people would say just pi one stick with floridasenatorarco rubio nts to ditch the switch and keep daylight saving time all year round his state is already on bod with the idea i went to mybarber one day and it was like the day after we acpt the clos back a couple years ago and they said they started asking like why do we have to set our clocks back every ar florida congressman greg steube event a state legislatorwent from the barbershopto the state house and filed a bill to lock the clock in 2018 thsunshine act became flora law. but it needs approval from congress to take effect so it's to be and rubio are pushing the sunshine protection act here capitol hill anit's gaining momentum on both sis of the aisle. >>demratic senators ron wyden from oregodianne feinstein from califora and doug jones from alabamhave all co sponsored ruo spell it. >>president trump signaled he'd sign the bill tweeting after lt year switch. quote making daylight saving time permanent is ok with me on is not the biggest issue fang thcountry butthat it's a. >>it's an

we added the head for the center of medicaid and medicare services, as well as robert wilkey with the va. first a few basic facts and reports and then we'll hear from other members of the task force about ongoing efforts. at the present moment we have 43 domestic cases of the coronavirus. 48 cases of individuals who have returned to the united states. of the domestic cases, 29 of the 43 are either in california or washington state. and we have communities that are facing -- facing what the experts tell us could potenti potentially be a cluster in those communities. sadly today there were four additional fatalities, raising the number that six americans have lost their life to the coronavirus. and on behalf of the president and all of the american people we extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of those that were lost. despite today's sad news, let's be clear. the risk to the american people of the coronavirus remains low, according to all of the experts that we're working with across the government. this president has said we're ready for anything. but this is an

of hillary clinton who was in the top of the ticket at 2016 so there has ce thathols did nonnect h the vainee in this case to take on donald trump. >> do you agree? >> in and every campaign has to heat the moment, right, and this moment for, i like joel about the revolution of the center, which was this was not a time when voters were willing to take a risk, take a risk on a 38-year-old candidate who is openly gay, not willing to take a isk with a candidate on elizabeth warren who seen seen as too par to the left may not be able to beat donald trump and if you talk to strategists i am sure dan heard the same thing, we sat in focus groups where many women said i am worried a woman can't beat donald trump as did men. >> brennan: dan, you had an extraordinary week for president trump, not just because of the coronavirus, that we have been talking about, it was not a good week for him in the financial markets. you had the airline industry getting hit hard. southwest ceo says it has a 9/11 feel like these days, the federal reserve stepped in and took extraordinary measures, cutting rates. this