. >> we were taken behind the scenes by army secretary ryan mccarthy. army researchers came up with vaccines for anthrax, the plague and ebola and now they are working double shifts growing large amounts of the covid-19 virus at the sprawling lab complex at fort dietrich in maryland. they can shoot 300 different compounds at one time, some of them known drugs like chloroquine into the virus and see how it reacts. >> they put the virus on to the cells, and they count the killed portions. >> we can test about 300 drugs or compounds in each plate. each plate has cells in it and we use the compounds using these robotic systems and then we transfer the plate into viral containment where we have the virus. >> since 1969 the u.s. army medical institute of infectious diseases has served as the pentagon's lead laboratory for biological defense research. it's worked with biotech firms like gilad to develop drugs like remdesivir. they have sneeze labs, a technology that the u.s. army invented to test how the virus spreads the air. >> they anthrax vaccine that we'v

reporter: that is secretary ryan mccarthy. it may take 18 months to get a vaccine.s may hold the key to coronavirus own humans. melissa. melissa: wow that is fascinating and hopeful. thank you for that story, jennifer. that's great. connell. connell: we talk all the time, melissa how we get the economy reopened. there is a new paper out trying to give us a road map for reopening of america a group of health experts, former fda leaders, releasing a national step by step coronavirus response plan. we're joined by one of the authors of that plan. mark mcclellan. former fda commissioner and dr. mcclellan as we jump into this, i think a lot of policymakers and business executives read this plan over the weekend. let me start big picture. then we can maybe dive into a few of the specifics. if they read it what do you think their takeaway big picture should be? >> connell i think their takeaway should be that we have pa path forward out of this and the goal should be to take these steps as quickly and effectively as possible. the next few weeks will be really tough but the

what i will do is for all of the folks on the phone, this is ryan mccarthy. i will start with some opening comments. q&a we will do an open up to answer questions. we've got to get out of here no later than 1600 and get back to the office. let me make a couple remarks. thank you for coming. we are trying to bring an update on the covid-19 response efforts to protect our people, maintain mission readiness and support the government effort. to provide these updates as routinely as we can. we will work out a rhythm that is appropriate. our goal is to be as transparent as possible and keep an open line of communication about what the army is doing. on march 19, currently the u.s. army has 45 cases. this number includes 21 soldiers, six da civilians, eight family members, and 10 contractors. crisis,ng in times of helping restore peace in times of chaos, and organizing against threat is what the army does best. we have 191,000 soldiers operating on missions worldwide, and must preserve our ability to meet the needs of the nation. this means we are ensuring that ove

. >> ok, i will just let you know ,ho is here, ryan mccarthy chief of staff of the army, surgeon general, director of operations and plans, director of the army national guard bureau and sergeant major of the army. the chief will make some opening remarks, and then we will open up to your questions. i think we have a hard stop at 1400, right? ok. >> thank you, mr. secretary. the army has 288 confirmed cases of covid-19 as of this morning. 100 of soldiers. 64 department of the army civilians. .5 are dependents nine are cadets. 50 are army contractors. this week, the secretary of defense signed orders for three army hospitals to deploy to new york and washington state. fortive 31st hospital for campbell, kentucky, and the night hospital for fort hood, texas, will deploy to new york city. an advanced party is on the ground as i speak. the main party will arrive at joint base mcguire, dix, lakehurst tomorrow. they will set up at the javits center this weekend and they will be operational for noncovered patients beginning monday. the 627 hospital from fort carson, colorado, will deploy to sea

army secretary ryan mccarthy and other officials briefed officials on the coronavirus and military branches and their response. do you want me on this one or that one? sorry. is this who wants to be a millionaire?

a vaccine could take 18 months but army secretary ryan mccarthy is confident they will succeed. >> theseiled and we're going to find this vaccine. we're going to win in the end. >> it is only one of 13 level four biohazard research labs in the country. a sheriff has a rather cheesy plan to help small businesses in his community. watch this. >> you guys must really be board that you want the sheriff to deliver your pizza. >> that's sheriff mike chitwood delivering piping hot pizzas to neighbors in volucia county, florida. he did it to deliver food for local restaurants struggling during the pandemic. for more inspiring stories, you can visit foxnews.com/americatogether. there you'll find information on how you can help. send it back to you. ainsley: thanks, jillian. well, a grandfather and his granddaughter aren't letting social distancing stop them from having fun. >> ♪abc, 123 ainsley: that is making everyone laugh. janice dean has that and other positive stories in the pandemic coming up, next. steve: but first let's check in with sandra smith for a preview of what happens on this chan

. >> we were taken behind the scenes by army secretary ryan mccarthy.chers came up with vaccines for anthrax, plague, ebola and they're growing large amounts of the covid-19 and shoot 300 different compounds at one time. some of them known drugs like chloroquine into vials of the virus to see how it reacts. >> that's where they take some of the virus and put it with the cells and they look for the virus if it will kill portions of the cells and count the kill portions. we can test about 300 drugs or compounds in each place. each place has cells in it we add the compounds using the probotic system and transfer the plate to where we add the virus. >> since 1969 the u.s. army medical research institute of infectious diseases has served as the pentagon's lead laboratory for biological defense firms. it discovered different drugs, an antiviral that combats ebola that they think may work on covid-19 and they have sneeze labs to see how the virus spreads through the air. >> the anthrax vaccine we helped developed and plague vaccines we've developed here as wel