>> marcus moore leading us off tonight. marcus, thank you for that. >>> now, to the urgent need for testing to reopen safely, both for antibodies and confirmed cases. tonight, a first look inside the air force facility using a new do it yourself swab that could greatly improve how we track this virus. but there remains questions about reliability of some tests. abc's trevor ault is at a testing site here in new york. >> reporter: tonight, the number one priority to get states back up and running? testing. new york governor andrew cuomo says his state is obsessively focused. >> how fast is the virus spreading? all of this is dependent on testing. >> reporter: officials in new york city now working with fema on a plan to test 120,000 city employees for coronavirus antibodies. similar tests are already under way in places like los angeles. and today, boston's mayor announcing 1,000 random residents will be tested for antibodies, as well. but antibody testing could face problems. "the new york times" reporting a group of scienti

abc's marcus moore in jackson, mississippi. >> reporter: tonight, millions of families across the south bracing for a dangerous night ahead. damaging winds, large hail and nighttime tornadoes all possible. in the houston area, the storms forcing covid-19 testing sites to shut down. >> the call has been made for all four testing sites in harris county to close for the day. they will not reopen until tomorrow. >> reporter: here in mississippi, officials urging residents to bring hand sanitizer with them to storm shelters. >> if you have to go into a shelter and you don't have a mask, you know, a scarf is certainly fine to wear, just cover your mouth. >> we got debris on the ground! >> reporter: this comes just one week after a deadly tornado outbreak hit the region. more than 130 tornadoes claiming at leastivter near more than two miles wide at times with winds up to 190 mul s mules per hour. >> all right, marcus moore joins us now live from jackson, mississippi. and marcus, the threat is not over. i understand that 18 wheeler you're in front of just went off an overpass and you spoke to

abc's marcus moore with those families in line in san antonio. >> thank you, god bless you all. >> reporter: these are the faces of hunger and their voices. >> my name is christa flores. i'm furloughed from my job. i'm a single mom. >> my name is diane. i'm disabled, and i never thought i'd need help. >> my name is tana hendrix. unfortunately my unemployment did get denied. >> i never really needed the assistance before. >> reporter: as the deadly pandemic grips the country, this week marks one month without income for millions of americans. in san antonio, an army of volunteers from the food bank working through the night packing trucks with groceries. this pandemic has forced so many to get help simply to feed their families, and this is what the desperation looks like -- a line of cars filling the stadium parking lot. >> reporter: many are like matthew, who was laid off from his warehouse job at the start of the shutdown. he's utilizing the food bank for the first time ever to feed hi >> it's not easy to ask for help. nobody likes it when your kids ask what's for dinner, and you're not s

abc's marcus moore joins us from san antonio with their emotional stories. marcus, good morning. >> reporter: whit, good morning. the stories we have heard are absolutely heart breaking. the food bank here in san antonio says during regular times they service about 60,000 families. well, since this covid-19 shutdown began that number has doubled to 120,000 families weekly and we saw the demand firsthand. before sunrise hundreds had already lined up in front of san antonio's alamodome. each car representing the economic impact of the vicious pandemic gripping the nation and the families now facing an uncertain future. beatrice ortiz was the first in line. >> there's a lot of people hurting out here. even within my family. >> reporter: soon under the morning sun the enormity of a critical need will be made clear. cars bumper to bumper, people desperate to feed their families. matthew santa among the 2,000 people who came to this food distribution site. laid off from his job soon after the shutdown began. >> nobody likes it when your kids ask what's for dinner a

my colleague, marcus moore spoke to doctors there. they said they'd gotten the five-minute test, the only hospital system in the state, they hope these new tests will ease some of the burden of front line teams. >> i never thought as an oddologist i'd be on the icu floor, it's scary. >> reporter: dr. jim akins' special is wide scale catastrophe. in katrina, you knew backup would show up eventually, it may have gotten there lately, but it got there. with covid-19 there may not be backup for you. >> no. in fact, with katrina, we had plans, and we felt if we could just work this plan that we would get through this, and for this pandemic, though, at the end of the day, you think i can only hope that we've done enough. >> reporter: it's a rare sort of bravery he and his team possess. cautious optimism, even in the face of a pandemic like this. >> it's a nightmare in progress. you have the combination of a rapidly-spreading pathogen, virus, and a highly virulent virus. >> reporter: about an hour away in baton rouge, the regional medical cen

marcus moore is north of houston with more. good morning, marcus. >> reporter: well, robin, good morning. you can see what one of these twisters did to this building here in texas. the winds powerful enough to tear away the roof and knock down this wall. overnight the urgent effort to rescue people trapped in their homes. this morning, six dead and dozens injured in the south after an outbreak of 26 reported tornadoes left a trail of destruction across four states. >> we have had a large tornado. we got major damage and i do smell gas.we got >>ter: in oklahoma, this twister ripping through buildings, sending debris flying. officials co confirming at leas two people died. video capturing the moment one touched the ground and immediately growing in size. strong winds flipping this tractor trailer completely on its side. >> we need chainsaws, rescue trucks. we have had a tornado touch down. >> reporter: in polk county, texas where three people were killed, total devastation. >> it was like a roaring train. >> it happened so quick i

here's abc's marcus moore. >> good morning. >> reporter: under the dark cover of night, while millions of americans sleep, beatrice ortiz sits in her car, just feet from all of this chaos and prays. what time did you get here? >> 4:00 in the afternoon yesterday. >> reporter: yesterday? >> yes. >> reporter: she's the first in a long line of vehicles already waiting gist outside the alamo dome in san antonio. >> i read my bible, reading books, just sitting here, waiting to get the food. that way we could be okay. >> reporter: over in the parking lot. >> go ahead, dahlia. >> reporter: dahlia and her crew from the food bank are preparing for the rush. >> they're already putting the cones in place where the car flow should be going. >> reporter: today they will hand out food to 2,000 families, many of them who've never been here before. >> thank you, jesus for the food bank. there are a lot of people hurting out here. injure t are yo >> i lost my job in the middle of march. >> now it's getting down to the nitty-gritty. >> i never thought i'd need help. >> reporter: all across the country, p

here's abc's marcus moore. >> you're looking at millions of dollars of equipment just sitting here. millions and millions of dollars' worth of paperweights. obviously not making any money if it's sitting here. >> reporter: jesse lane is the chief operator of nimble crane, one of the service companies that support the oil and gas industry. their work has dropped off dramatically. >> planes aren't flying, cruise ships aren't sailing, buses aren't moving. >> reporter: lane says there were signs of trouble long before the pandemic hit. an international price war driving the global supply of oil up, and prices down. the situation only worsened by the sudden fall in demand. lane says a simple drive makes it all clear. just a couple of months ago, there was near gridlock from trucks heading to drilling sites passing through this four-way stop in orla, texas. today that same intersection virtually empty, perhaps the most vivid illustration how this economic slowdown has impacted this community and so many others across west texas. >> we have no choice but things to go up. >> reporter: mike

abc's marcus moore reports from texas. >> reporter: the growing pressure to reopen america nearing aousands flocking to beaches. some defying stay-at-home orders. a searing heat wave putting big crowds on this open beach in orange county, california, making it nearly impossible to social distance. >> this is america! >> reporter: in san diego, police arresting at least three protesters for violating stay-at-home orders. in georgia, some businesses starting to reopen on friday, including barbershops, salons, and gyms. mike martino requiring everyone in his gym to wear masks and spray down the machines with sanitizer. he says they had to reopen. >> they have families, they have to feed their children, they have bills to pay, they have mortgages, they have car payments. so we really wanted to start to get in so we could start getting some funds back into their pockets so they can actually get back to some type of normalcy. >> reporter: georgia not alone. south carolina and oklahoma lifting their orders already. and starting monday some businesses will reopen in arkansas, colorado, missi

marcus moore is down there in the region. there are at least four states involved and it will go the threat all the way through south carolina today. i'll give you that as we look at all the images coming in even some new ones from texas this morning. also this morning we have to get to the coronavirus. and president trump at odds with the nation's top coronavirus experts. he's saying that he thinks the virus won't be as bad if it comes back in the fall, but the experts are warning we won't be in the clear. new details about just how early the virus was in the u.s. i know you have been reporting on this. the first known victims now weeks earlier than the first reported american deaths. so, we're going to dive in to all of it. >>> and then first on "gma" thi goodell getting ready for tonight's nfl draft from the basement. we're all in the basement. doing it remotely for the first time. what is in store for that unprecedented event and then a special edition of "deals and steals." eco friendly small businesses. you can't go wro

. >>> i'm marcus moore in dallas, texas, where parks are closed ame o i as they try to slow the spread19. signs urging people to keep their distance. and the governor here says there may be signals they may be flattening the curve. >>> the nearly deserted streets here in downtown denver, signs that social distancing is mostly working. we've seen a fair amount of people wearing masks. the governor said it's helping flattening the curve here in colorado, but we're not out of the woods yet. they set up a field hospital in the convention center downtown that could hold as many as 2,000 patients. hospitals aren't overwhelmed yet but they're seeing plenty of covid-19 patients of all ages. on the of course people here in alth officials are urging people to stay the course and stay home. good advice. >>> let's bring in dr. jen ashton who's been covering this every step of the way and abc news contributor and former homeland security adviser tom bossert. good morning to you both. and tom, i want to start with you. a week ago the president warned that this would be a tough week and brace for a h

marcus. -alex. -nice to meet you. -nice to meet you. how many acres do you have here? -900. -holy cow. alex moorerms, and when it comes to weed, bigger is definitely better. what happens on this 900 acres? we have cultivation sites spread out in different locations on the ranch. honeydew has nearly three acres of open-air plants and 22 greenhouses -- all of it legal. so if you see a helicopter, you don't care. oh, no, the sheriff's department is welcome to come over any time they want. i mean, we're completely transparent at this point. you know, i don't want to be looking through, you know, a jail cell at my kids. lemonis: alex runs honeydew, along with his wife, miranda. it's a far cry from the years he spent working in the shadows. did you wonder if you were gonna potentially go to jail on certain days? absolutely. -you did? -absolutely. and what did you tell people you did for a living? well, i mean, i did do construction back then during the day, but then maybe early in the morning or late in the evening i had a few plants in the woods. and the thing i think i would be worried about is, okay