for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in phoenix.odruff: now, to how the pandemic is affecting the u.s. military. as of this morning, the pentagon says it has more than 3,00 positive cases across the services. that includes more than 150n sailors onerican aircraft carrier currently docked in guam.ts that createdwn story. nick schifrin has re. >> schifrin: judy, it has been a toh week for the navy. first, the captain of theft aircraarrier "theodore roosevelt" wrote a remarkable memo, requesting to evacuate 90a of his crew of an outbreak of covid-19. a in responsing navy secretary thomas modly relieved him, saying he had gone around thchain of command. modly then flew to the "theodor" roosevn guam, and gave a blunt speech, including this statement: >> schifrin: yesterday, modly resigned, after widespread critism. for more on this, i'm joined by he served as chair theullen. joint chiefs of staff during the george w. bush and obama administrations. admiral, thank you very much.ba welcom to the "newshour". how dining do you think the navy

for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in phoenix. >> woodruff: now, to how the pandemic is affecting u.s. military. as othis morning, the pentag says it has more than 3,000 positive cases across the services. that includes more than 150 sailors on an american aircraft carrier currently docked in guam. that created its own story. nick schifrin has more >> schifrin: judy, it has been a tough week for the navy. first, the captain of the aircraft carrier "theodore memo, requesting to evacuate 90% of his crew because of an outbreak of covid-19. in response, acting navy secretary thomas modly relieved him, saying he had gone around the chain of command. modly then flew to the "theodore roosevel on guam, and gave a blunt speech, including this statent: n: >> schifesterday, modly resigned, after widespread criticism. for more on this, i'm joined bti d admiral mike mullen. he served as chairman of theie joint of staff during the george w. bush and obamas. administrati admiral, thank you very muc welcome back to the "newshour". hodining do you think the navy has handled this situation? >> as y

stephanie sy has our lead report. >> reporter: the glimmerings of hopeful news today in the battle totain covid-1 there were positive results from the experimental drug remdesivir, made by the biotech firm gilead, in a international study run by the u.s. national institutes of health. the n.i.h.'s dr. anthony fauci voiced hope, at the white house. >> the data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing time to recovery. >> reporter: the study, among hospitalized covid-19 patients, showed those who took the drug has a 31% fasterecovery time. the food and drug administration said it will permit emergency use of remdesivir. but, on the economic front, hope was harder to find. the pandemic has now officially stopped the u.s. economy's longest expansion on record. the nation's output of goods and services shrank at an annual rate of 4.8% in the first quarter. and, as white house economic adviser larry kudlow acknowledged, that's just the beginning. >> the next quarter is going to be much worse. but, you know, you close the economy down for two months-

r the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in phoe >> woodruff:ow we turn to the analysis of shields and brooksat's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brks. so all three of us are at our homes. it's great to see both you, mark, and you, david, staying safe. let's start with president trump's decision to turn over to the governors thewh decision abouther and when to open up. mark, we've seen the state of georgia, other states moving quickly to reverse the stay-at-home orders. there are questions being raised about whether it's too early. the president himself at point backing down on his support for. this how do you read all this? >> y have to watch it closely, judy. i mean, just last weekend, the president was in bold type tweeting out liberate minnesota, liberate michigan, liberate virginia, to put pressure on democratic governors there to lift t bans and lift the quarantine. so kemp, the governor of georgia,ho is the last in the country to impose stay-at-home rules, wants to be the first to lift them and thought he hada green light from the president, i gue

for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in phoenix. >> woodruff: one of the many consequences of asking americans meto stay home is what it't for schools, teaching and learning. for many, the normal school day has been halted, at least for now. various aspects of thishe periodically. let's start with what it mea f to be teachim a distance, learning from home and coping with children at home all day. this is one way teachers and students see each other in the age of coronavirus, organizing parades in small towns whereey ave from a distance. more than 55 million american students are now out of school and expected to learn from home. >> i'm dawn bishop mclin. i'm the mother of two girls. we start every morning about 8:30. we have a schedule. and that schedule is a blessing because it keeps us on track. >> it's been a tough adjustment. my name is aaron warner. i'm from south burlington, vermont, and i have a son who is nine yea old >> my name is megan smith and i i am a teacher andch sixth through 12th grade. id i have two kids, cecilde in karten and kaylee is in third grade and she is eig

for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy. >> woodruff: also today, the u.s.asury announced thate x largest u.s. airlines have agreed in principal to a payroll support package totaling $25 billion. fund warned that the pandemicry will very likely cause the worst worldwide wnturn since the great depression of the 1930s. predicd a partial rebound, but not until next year. even so, wall street rallied today on talk of re-opening businesses. the dow jones industrial average gained 559 points to close at49 23 the nasdaq rose 323 points, and the s&p 500 added 84. in the day's other news, former presint obama ended months of neutrality and endorsed his former vice president, joe biden, for the democratic nomination. he saibiden has the character and experience to guide the nation through one of its darkest times and a long recovery. and, he appealed for an end to the trump era. >> we need americans of goodll o unite in a great awakening against a politics that too often has been characterized by corruption, carelessness, self-dealing, disinformation, ignorance, a jus

stephanie sy begins our coverage tonight. >> reporter: it's the start of a new work week, and most americans are still at home. but in some states, more doors are opening for business. georgia was one of the first states to begin relaxing restrictions last week that continued today with restaurants and movie theaters resuming normal operations. the grand re-opening at this georgia gym over the weekend was quiet, with only a few venturinf a work out. but migemaarker sti maynos th >> s have families, they they have bills to pir mortgages, their car payments. so we really wanted to start to get it so we could start getting some funds back into their pockets so they can actually get back to some type of normalcy. >> reporter: elsewhere, texas governor gregg abbott announced order will end on ay.t-home meanwhile, public health experts in washington warn that it's too soon to go back to business as usual. distancing measures should las for months. >> social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another as we move through these phases. >> reporter: at th

adill, there are new suggestions that hope lies a stephanie sy begins our coverage. >> reporter: another grim mistone reached... >> aot of pain again today, for many new ykers. >> reporter: ...deaths in new york city have now exceeded 3,200-- more than died in the center.tack on the world trade but, the number of new patients being ferried to hospitals is dropping -- d governor andrew cuomo says that is a sign of progre. >> right now we're projecting we are reaching plateau in total number of hospitalizations, you can see the growth and you can ensee it's starting to fla >> reporter: other states are also sing early signs of containment. new jersey governor phil murphy urges staying the course.: >> but we cannot be happy with only reaching a plateau. we need to keep strong, and keep determined, to see that curve begin to fall and ultimately get to zero. that's going to require many more weeks at the least of oursm beint and staying at least, at all times, six feet apart. >> reporter: but in wisconsin today, staying six feet apart presented a new challenge for voters. the state supreme co

the trump administnntion recentlynced it will spend $19 billion to help farmers, but as stephanie sy reports, they aren't the only ones who need help. >> reporter: the cows stl have to be milked, but iry farmers are dumping millions of gallons of their output. endless acres of lettuce remain unpickedt the peak of the spring harvest. >>t've dfiltnoju for me on the economic side but the emotional side as well. >> reporter: and tractors ar destroying crops, plowing them back into the groun. >> you can see all these beautiful beans on these plants, that were scheduled to go to e restaurant industry. >> reporter: the clof restaurants and schools has shut forcing farmers to makendustry, difficult decisions. but if there's so much food, why are grocery store freezers so empty? supply is an involved process, says dave puglia, president and c.e.o. of the western growers association. >> if you think about a groceryy store,'re going to see ing on the shelf that's packaged for you as a consumer. you go to a restaurant, they're buying in bulk.fo so we can't unately flip that infrastructure over a

as newshour's stephanie sy reports the community has taken on the challenge of caring for their own people reporter: in navajo country, revid 19 found its grip at a gious revival event in early-march, in the upper western reaches of the reservation. >> we have clan families that come all over the navajoation to partipate in these events. t.d boy, it just took off like wildfire after t >> reporter: after the so-called superspreader event in chilchenbeeto, preside jonathan nez put increasingly strict orders for social distancing in place, including weekend curfews. >> i haven't been able to hug my grandmother. >> wait by the door, drop off all the stuff, i just wave at her, that's it." >> reporter: at least 52 people who live on navajo nation have died from covid e , including 18-year old welder trevor tacheene's relatives. >> one person on the other side of my family has got it and has i'm very concerned it because i have family members that are young and are susceptible to it. and it's scaring my mother and my father every time we go out. >> reporter: getting the message out about social d