i hear you saying it could bed bigger. >> absolutely. >> reporter: david wessel, thank you very much.wrcome. >> woodruff: a new analysis by researchers at harvard iversity shows that the bed capacity of hospitals in many parts of the u.s. will be overwhelmed if the covid-19 coronavirus continues to spread across the country. and, as amna nawaz reports, hospitals and health care systems are working to increasee theiiness. >> nawazjudy, the harvard study indicates that even in a best-case scenario, with cases of coronavirus spread t over months, american hospital beds would be about 95% full, unless they free up already- occupied beds. if the pace of infection, or their number accelerate, the aortfalls become more dire. for what hospita doing to prepare themselves, and what more needs to be done, i amjo ed by two people who fus closely on preparedness. jeremy konyndyk is a senior policy fellow at the center for global development, whos research focuses on global outbreak preparedness, among other things. he joins us by skype. and in the studio dr. bruce siegel is presidt and c.e.o. of am

for insit into all of this, i'm joined again by david wessel, director of the hutcns center on fiscaletary policy at the brookings institutio david, welcome back to the program.at so it seems no matter what congress does -- and we've heard from lisa rerting on that -- the markets, the investors just n't seem to be reassured. is that what's going on? >> right. i think that what we're seeing is the markets and investors are, a, they're realizing there's a lot of uncertainty. secondly, they're extremely risk averse. no one wants to hny risky assets. and they're thinking this might go on for a while and it miht do some long-lasting harm to the economy. it seems like an overreaction, but without any clear idea if this is going to be two quters, three quarters or four quarters, i think people are really just panicking. >> woodruff: and you were sharing you've seen forecasts that came out day that ntribute to the panic. absolutely. jp morgan, big bank on wall street, their economists said we'll see decline in the quarter of 19 pfers. we haven't had o tht bad since 1947. they expect to bounce

david wessel is director of thee hutchins con fiscal and monetary policy at the brookings stitution. david, thanks for joining us. how big a deal is whathe fed did yesterday? >> it was a pretty big deal. meeting on a sunday ahead of schedule, the fed basically said we are going to use almost all the monetary ammunition we have. they cut interest rates, restarted bond buying, quantitative easing, and said we e making it as easy as possible for banks to borrow from the fedno they c keep lending soirveghts a very big deal. >> reporter: it's about everything the fed can do in terms of monetary policy. as the president says, we me going into a recession. what can be done?we >> it's cleare going into a recession. the question is how long will it laep, and that'sending on the coronavirus. the fed has a few emergency powers it hasn't used yet, the ones it used in the 2008 financial cris, to lad on circumstances determined to be exigent and unusual, but really the game is up to fiscal policy. we need a big package from congress, tax cuts and spending increases to replace the demand that has e

equally very critical about the international community what's your take about their response their wessel slow in coming mandate just they did their rabble 3000. what happened in july yes in liberia alone almost 3000 people have died with over 6500 reported infections across west africa almost 5000 dead and almost 14000 infected. the next day we joined the liberian red cross who are responsible for collecting dead bodies throughout the capital city of monrovia. these burial team started in one of the most dangerous jobs in liberia and must we have protective clothing people for their own safety this is not just an account of that body this is a disease there are protocols that you must while he was away or people properly you must have a spread of this 3rd the immediate environment this if at the border before the team moved in. those that are picking the borders we are also very concerned about them that if you don't follow the protocol properly you could be infected could be a victim of the sit with them. if we the people would move. over to move into something. the 1st collection of th

tend to employ skilled all semi skilled labor and if i want to be on i want to talk and i want to wessel the labor market and our society are changing fast the universities aren't keeping up and they should be finding out what the markets demanding and then. the universities are full in the absence of job prospects more and more young people are in rolling which only produces more unemployed college graduates. it's not just a matter of economic viability. it's a matter of a country's culture of everything that gives our society a greater quality of life. but for luka quality of life means getting a job that he's qualified for and that still nowhere in sight so for now he'll have to keep biting the bullet and passing out the flyers. so many talented young men and women we wish them well for the years to come now sark twisted images manipulated statistics doctored welcome to the world of fake news a serious threat to democracy in many countries both finland is among those leading the way in the war against false facts and truths how well by educating its citizens to be critical consumers o

heavy rain recently spinning out to keep pushing across iraq iran iran still seeing some of that wessel weather that's now pushing across towards afghanistan that will roll over into northern pakistan in the form of western disturbances we go on through the next couple of days and eventually more the piles of india will see some of that behind not see battle as you try to still see a few showers as we go through wednesday want to show the showers sliding across northern parts of iraq and back into iran with a much if iran is generally try not see bad here and hot temperatures around 28 celsius wins now in the process of easing back so some pleasant sunshine as we go on through the days ahead than sunshine to across a good possible northern africa and again the winds in the process of easing off somewhat here the showers will continue into somalia because see some showers here always a possibility of some flooding as a result of that ethiopia also seeing a little line of showers they push down towards the rift valley and so the gulf of guinea that's where we see some lively showers recen

let's go to our guest, david wessel, director of the hutchins center on fiscal and monetary policy. with us. what kind of economic and financial damage might we expect globally? well, it is going to be devastating. we are basically in huge parts of the world telling the economy to stop. it's likely umpire blew the whistle and everybody left the field. it's unprecedented, it's sudden, you talked earlier about the increase in unemployment. initial claims for unemployment benefits in the us— claims for unemployment benefits in the us- 3.3 claims for unemployment benefits in the us— 3.3 million claims. we know that's the tip of the iceberg, but we've never had a week with more than 700,000 claims, ever, and that was during the great recession of the 1980s. so it is going to be bad. i think the really important thing is to make sure we take steps now so that, when the virus recedes, the damage isn't permanent and we can restart the world economy. should 620 restart the world economy. should g20 countries, we talked about them there, with their videoconference, co—ordinate their economic

david wessel is the director of the hutchins center on fiscal and monetary policy.ge parts of the world telling the economy to stop. it's like the umpire blew the whistle and everybody left the field. it is unprecedented, it is sudden, you talked earlier about an increase in unemployment, 3.3 million claims for unemployment benefits. we know that is the top of the iceberg but we have never had a week with more than 700,000 claims ever and that was during the great recession of the 1980s, so it is going to be bad. i think the really important things to make sure that we take steps now so that the virus recedes, the damage isn't permanent and we can restart the world economy. should g20 countries, we talked about them there, co—ordinate their economic response, or can they do so? i don't have much hope that they can. 0ne they do so? i don't have much hope that they can. one of the lessons of the great recession of one decade ago was international co—ordination was incredibly important and useful, and they worry that this time, partly because the leadership from the un

heavy rain recently spilling out to keep pushing across iraq iran iran still seeing some of that wessel weather that's now pushing across towards afghanistan that will roll over into northern pakistan in the form of western disturbances we go on through the next couple of days and eventually more the piles of india will see some of that behind not see bad loss you try to still see a few showers as we go through wednesday want to those showers sliding across northern parts of iraq and back into iran with a much of iran is generally try not see bad here and hot temperatures around 28 celsius wins now in the process of easing back so some pleasant sunshine as we go on through the days ahead then sunshine to across a good possibly northern africa and again the winds in the process of easing off somewhat here the showers will continue into somalia because see some showers here always a possibility of some flooding as a result of that ethiopia also seeing a little line of showers they push down towards the rift valley and to the gulf of guinea that's where we see some lively showers recently

equally very critical about the international community what's your take about their response their wessel slow in coming mandate has had announced that they are rabble 3000. what happened in july. in liberia alone almost 3000 people have died with over 6500 reported infections across west africa almost 5000 dead and almost 14000 infected. the next day we joined the liberian red cross who are responsible for collecting dead bodies throughout the capital city of monrovia. these burial team starting one of the most dangerous jobs in liberia and must we have protected through the people for their own safety this is not just an account of that but this is the kills disease the protocol of the you must you must weigh a people properly you must have a spread of around to this in fact needed in barabant this in fed the border before the team moves into those that are picking the borders we are also very concerned about them that if you don't follow the protocol properly you could be in fact it could be a victim of the situation. before. you go move or. have a meeting with you something. the 1st c