Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20240713

And music is something that actually looks into the inside and thatlso knows no boundaries. Wdruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. N major funding for the pbs newshour has beeprovided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Fidelity investments. Consumer cellular. American cruise lines. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by ththjohn d. And ine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdanand peaceful world. More information amacfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs yostation from viewers lik thank you. Dr wf the coronavirus pandemic is hitting new highs, and lows, night. Infections in the u. S. Have jumped to 7,700 confirmed cases and 133 deaths. And, another wave of selling overwhelmed wall street, as the dow industrials fell 6 . Invoked new powers to address the crisis. We begin with this report fromgh william br. Its the invisible enemy. Its always the toughest enemy, the invisiemy, but we are going to defeat the invisible enemy. Brangham President Trump, f describing tht against the coronavirus as a war, announced new, sweeping measures to mobilize the country. So we will be invoking the brangham the defense production act was first enacted during the korean wa and it fulfill orders deemed critical for national defense. This also comes as Public Health officials warned thaalthe offiount of confirmed infections will shoot up dramically in coming days. Dr. Deborah birx, whos helping coordinate the federal response, says this is because quicker viral testing is starting to roll out. We will see the niaber of peopleosed dramatically increase over the next four to i know some of you will use that to raise an alarm that we are worse than italy because of our slope of our curve. Brangham dr. Birx also urged Young Americans to follow c. D. C. And white house guidelines and avoid large gatherings like here on miami beach today even if they feel fine and show no obvious symptoms. Im not only calling on you to heed whats in the guidance, but to really ensure that each and every one of you are protecting each other. And so, we cannot have theserg gatherings that continue to occur throughout the country, for people who are off work toso then be alizing in large groups and spreading the virus. U. S. Will not enforce evlotions or forres until april. And, on the other end of pennlvania avenue, the United States Senate Approved a 100 billion coronavirus responseill. The bill, negotiated between speasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and housker nancy pelosi, contains emergency funds to provide sick pay for rkers and free testing. It is congress latest legislative step, as it also considers ways to provide relief for Small Businesses and for workers, and stabilize the roller coaster finan markets. He men and women who pou their entire lives into Small Businesses do not need even more obstacles. They need help. They need a lifeline. They need tonow that congress understands the historic obstacles theyre facing, and that we have their back as well. Brangham butenate minority leader Chuck Schumer said this pandemic demands an even greater response. Marshall plan for our Public Health infrastructure. The sooner we act on it, the better. Brangham meanwhile, President Trump and canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that the u. S. canada border will be closed to nonessential travel. K trudeau from his home in ottawa. These measures will last in place as long we feel they need to last. Brangham president said today the u. S. Is not moving to close down the border wi mexico. And acro the United States today, daily lives remain stalled. There are now infections in all 50 states. The normally busy Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco is empty, after local officials orderedug roy eight million californians to shelter in place. Here, a Shopping Mall in suburban virginia, closed,ly indefini domestic air travel is collapsing, too. S a terminal at salt lak citys airport two weeks ago. Here it is on monday. D e same with american car manufacturing ford, g. M. And Fiat Chrysler are all suspending production at u. S. Plants until march 30. In las vegas, americas gambling mecca has gone quiet, after the state took the unprecedented move last night of closing businesses, including hotels and casinos in the state, for 30 days. Governor Steve Sisolak this is only common sense. At a time when people are getting sick from simply being near others, is not the time for gyms to remain open. This is not the time for casinos to remain open. Brangham and countries across the world are taking public spaces to limit theg down spread of this virus. In antwerp, empty train station, and stres belgiums Prime Minister today joined many of his european leaders and implemented a nationwide lockdown. translated citizens are ired to stay at home in order to avoid maximum contact outside their immediate family, except to go to work, essential travel, going to the doctor, the grocery store, t post office, the bank, the pharmacy, to get el or help people in need. Brangham but traffic jams stretched for miles across other parts of europe today, including the germanpolish border, after the European Union yesterday announced it is closing their external borders to none. U. Citizens. And, in hardhit italy, nearly 30,000 people have now tndted positivever 2,500 people have died. William brangham. Our, im di woodruff and we turn again to our lisa desj and yamiche alcindor. Yamiche, to you, first, the president , today, invoked the defense production act, he also enacted border restrictions. E what do w know about how these measures are going to be used to fight this virus . Reporter the president today says he sees himself s a wartime president and, with that in mind, he said he wasng taeveral emergency steps beeded to stem the flow and the outbek signing the defense production act. This act wouowld athe federal government to direct american manufacturers to produce items needed to fight the virus including masks or gloves or gowns. The president said he signed th just in case he had to invoke it. In worst case scenario, ly few minutes ago, he tweeted that. It isnt as if this ishappening right now. What is happening now is the president is putting in newre traveltrictions for the northern and southern borders, the borders of canada an mexico. Heres a bit of what the president is going to be doing and is doing. Just to put up there, the g president ng to be enforcing the immediate removal of anyone crossing the borders that are undocumented. People are going to be taken to facilities or ourts. Theres going to be no due process, people are just going to be immediately removed. The people who are exempt are americans, canadians and people with documents, greencards, work permits, will be allowed to come in last. The president made it clear today he doesnt want this time pact the trade with mexico and canada. But people are pushing bacsak, ng this sun lawful. But the president and the Trump Administration say theyre happy anwilling to fight this in court if needed because they say that the borders need to be shut down, at least to the people i d jucribed. Woodruff yamiche,oday as the briefing at the white house, you asked the president how the white house isra chaerizing this virus and how long its going to last. Tell us about that exchange a what he said. Reporter well, the president has been getting pushback for using the term chinese virus, and thrses also a white house official whoe referred to coronavirus as kung quflu. Tioned the president as to whether he thought the terms were wrong. Heres what he said. A rson at the white house used the term kung flu. Do you think using the term chinese virus that put asianamericans at risk no, no, no. I think they probably would agree with it 100 . It comes from china. Theres nothing that reporter now, the president said that he wants to continue to use the word and term chinese virus because he thinks, yes, this vir started in china and china was trying to blame u. S. And Service Members for starting the virus in china. The othequestion to the president is whether the coronavirus might last as long as 18 months in the United States. The president said thats not correct, he doesnt think its going to last that long. But treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Unemployment Rate could go up to 20 . That, a course, would be big, big number, and people are very, very worried about that, but the president saying the federal government doing all it can so those things ll not happen. Woodruff interesting. Lisa, to youthings are moving really fast at the capitol in terms of figuring out ways to help people, to help businesses. Tell us where everything stands right now. R reporudy, i think, overall, the capitol is a place that is tryi to shore up a dam that is cracking in the middle they are trying to with now layoffs due to the ecnomy at the same time as they know future problems are going to be worse, and theyre not haret tools exactly can fix these problems. So lets go over exactly where we are. First of all, today, as william reported, the Senate Passed the Families First act that goes to the president now, a reminder, again, that helps deal with sick time for people who have the virus or are quarantined and family leave for those caring for children at home as well as testing and some food aid. Now, whats next is that 1 trillion stimulus plan, it could be more than 1 trillion, ublicaand today, as rep gather to try to figure out their plan, outside came anew idea from senators Lindsey Graham and mitt romney. Unemployment insurance to the tune, judy, of perhaps 75 of peoples salarieup to 80,000. Thats just one idea, but iokt like that idea, looking out for those who lose their jobs is emeing aa top factor in any of the next plans. Woodruff son the part of that that addresses small emerging tre . Hat do you see this seems to be the most clear consensus point in all of hoe parties is that Small Businessesmay already be worried about going out of business this week need more help. There is a plan emerging from lins ins rubio and col the Republican Party that would actually they give federal loans to small busesses to help them continue to operate so sing as those sses use operations, judy, this plan would latethose loans, essentia lly vemakir ng this agt to perhaps thousands of Small Businesses around the country, th of that 300 billion. But there is clear concern forl smusinesses more than any other sector of the economy right now here in the u. S. Capitol. Woodruff so interesting. So i want to ask you both quickly because you have both been reporting on this, and that is Bernie Sanders, obviously, ha in behind in these latest primaries that took place ye herday. Both ye have been in touch with his campaign. Yamiche, what are you hearing about what his next plas are well, the Bernie Sanders s campaign and tnator himself have been pushing back on the idea that he is ending his campaign anytime soon. They said any reports of that are false. I have beetalking to sources close to Bernie Sanders that say that he recognizes his path is nearly impossible to winning the ts toation, but that he w look at how he could possibly push joe biden further to the left d push ome more progressive ideals. But today the senator was veryy a ive seen him in years. He aid an explicative to a reporter who asked whether or not he would be ending s campaign some time soon. Woodruff lisa. Reporter i was there. That was part of a conversation i was having with senator sanders. I asked senator sanders for comments on the race. He said noco ment. I moved on to ask about the pandemic. He had a lengthy conversation with he, i ink longest he spoke with a reporter in a few days, about his concef the pandemic. Thats a tough priority for him. Other reporters joined in, asked him about the race repeatedly, and that was when he had the pushback. E turned to them and say, why are you askingis . We are in the middle of a and crisis. He obviously is very nfocused the crisis. I asked him about the election and the crisis and that clearlys is on mind, too. He has a lot of concerns about how the whreks goes forward. S he hf unclear, but he is his thoughts. Pandemic into all that much we can see. Woodruff the only thingan better th having one of you reporting on Bernie Sanders is having both of you reporting on hi thank you, lisa, and thank you, we appreciate it. Woodruff economage from this virus keeps piling up, amid talk of sweeping financial the Dow Jones Industrial average as we reported crashedgain today, losing more than 1,300 points to close below 19,900. The nasdaq fell 345 points, ande the s p 500 p 131. For insight into all of this, im joined again by dad wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on fiscal and Monetary Policy at the brookings institution. David, welcome back to the program. Sot seems that, no matter what congress does and weve heard from lisa reporting on that the markets, thes itors just dont seem to be reassured. Is that whats going on . Right. I think that what were seeing is the markets and investors are, a,theyre realizing theres a lot of uncertainty. Secondly, theyre extremely risk averse. No one wnts to hold any risky assets. And theyre thinking this might go on for a while and it might do some longo lasting harm e economy. It seems like an overreaction, but without any clear idea if this is going to be two quarters, three arters or four quarters, i think people are ally just panicking. Woodruff and you were sharing youve seen forecasts that came out today that contributeo the panic. Absolutely. Jp morgan, big bank on wall street, their economists said well see a decline in the quarter of 19 pfers. We havent had one that bad since 1947. Expect to bounce back in the third quarter. We hope theyre right. But we dont know how long this will go on. Woodruff do we have a sense of which sectors will ber the st hit . Im asking because were hearing Small Businesses, big bus inesss layif, shutting down, at least for the time being. Bell, when youasically tell everybody to stay home, its not hard to imagine which businesses suffer first hotels, tourism, airlines and stuff like that t i think that its going to be widespread, and one of the problems that the governments going to have is evesiness is going to be able to say, were hurting, and itnot our fault, so theyre going to have about who to help, who not to help, how to get paid back, who gets a grant, whots a loan. Woodruff so what does it take at a time like this, and i realize what youre saying ise weve never anything like this, what does it take, though, at a time like this tgiv people some sense of reassurance, too know there is o om here . Well, i think one of the challenges of this event is that, byflattening the curve, by spread ought the virus, werr doing, on pse, damage to the economy, and thats going to be very upsetting to people. I think people wap,nt leaders they want confidence if they can and they wanted to be able to pay the rent or the light bill hatstuff like that, and t why theres a lot of talk abou providing cash to households,o giving moneyeople who may ee furloughed, strengthening th safety net in order to make suret that the most vulnerable among us dont reay t hit hard. Woodruff how much does it help . I thi this is part ofyour as clarity in the measuresve ment is taking. I think it will help a lot tt cly gecont fusing, some of the advice from the white house podium has been fusion, all the back and forth between the house and the senate, so i idea of whats going to be in this big bill, this trilliondollar stimulus, people will sai see what does this men to me. But the second point is hey build into the bill a trigger that if this is prolonged thet aid will be ded. One of the things we learned during the Great Recession is if youre not pessimistic stuff and the stimulus stops, then the econy takes a hit. We want this one to be automatic. If unemployment rises and stayse highight have more checks to people or more loans to businesses. Woodruff but is it possible, finly, david, to be able to say how much its going to take to reassure folks . I dont think it is possible. I cant tell you how long this is going to on, how long theyll have to be working at me, and thats true for everybody. So i think that the government needs to do things now both to alleviate the pain and to put some money in the system to that, when the pandemic does recede, as it is apparently doing in china, the economy can get restarted again. But, you know, uncertainty is really hard for people the adjust to, and when people tell you all this is going to be over by the summer, i think weve all learned those people dont know what theyre talking abut, south not very comforting. I hear you saying it could bed bigger. Absolutely. Reporter david wessel, thank you very much. W yourcome. 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 covid19 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 bestcase 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 americas essential hospitals, an association of more than 300 hospitals and healthcare sysms. Lcome to you both. Dr. Siegel, i want to start with you here. We know there will be a surge of patients, we know thts comg. You told my colleague earlier, our hospitals are moving quickly to prepare for that. What specifically are they doing right now and are you confident they will be ady . So the good news is that millions of Health Professionals our hospitals are working hard to prepare. They are clearing out some of the elective sur geryses, things that updont have to be done right now, to get that f space rea a surge in patients. They are expanding their capacity, you know, brnging beds and floors back into use that were maybe not used,t buildingts for Triage Centers and testing in their parking lots to keep sik patients away from the rest of the patient population. Theres a lot going on. Reporter how confident are yorethey will bey to meet the surge . I think theyll do a good job to meet the surge. If we as citizens make sure thie surg as small as possible by distancing ourselves like were doing now, that will help out. My concern is will they have the resources for a sustained response and thats Something Congress will have to think hard about and act on in the days ahead. Reporter some people will look at the map on ths, and its very alarming when you see how much of the country and how many of or hospitals could become overwhelmed. Those darker red portions, by the way, reresent overrc 1,000 t capacity for some of those hospitals and thats in a moderate scenario. Tell me how youre looking at th, do you believe the Healthcare System and hospitals can get to the days they need to handle even a moderate surge . I believe its going to be an enormous strugened and complicated by the fact weve ready lost a lot of time. We should have begun the process in mid january, as soon as we saw what was happening in wuhan china, where hospitals were overwhelmed very rapidly by this virus. Ac were going to struggles with e. P. E. , with healthcare workers becoming fected. We have lost a lot of time i think there are measures that we can begin to take, some of the things that the president said today are positive. It would have been better if they were announce add month ago so were inatchup mode still. Woodruff reporter what did you hear that was positive . The defense productivi act, the of the hospital shifts, all help to somewhat also will take a while. Ut it we learned after the announcement that one of theps hospital s wont be ready t leave port for a few weeks. If you start professring ventilators or masks now, thats not going to show up in the supply chain r weeks or months. Reporter dr. Siel, the ppe, the personal protective equipment, that is what your front line healthcare workers need to mandel the patience. Absolutely. We geerter are you close to in ytt we are seeing spot shortages in some areas and that could get a lot worse as this materializes. Were vy dependent on the federal government for making this happen. I am glad there are things happening now to starto get manufacturing up and to start to devote resources to thisectors but my biggest concern is we have stressed roberts in this country, stressed ruralay hospitals with a week of cash on hand. As they lose their paying business, as they see a spike in uninsured pients coming in, as they have to span millions and millions on treating sick coronavirus patients, theyre going to run out of resources, they litrally could run out of money, and were going to need congresstho make sureat we have that backstop to be there for these communities, given h sobering its going to be. Reporter the other thing people hear about are foventilators and the needr Critical Care in severe cases. Do you have the ventilators you are you confident you will get the supply you need . We are working s hard as we can to make it happen. We need the government to step in. Ede we sure well have what we no, lets be clear about that. Im glad they are preparing and moedng all the things we to in place like the hospital ships, will take longer thn expected, but we still have a long ways to go, and the decisions we make in the nex few days around resources, around the stimulus bill are going to be absolutely critical, so we can really do this for the longhaul, because this may go on longer than some of us would ever ever like. Jeremy, you mentioned the dense production act the president put in place today, to what degree do you think that will fill this gap . Dr. Siegel is saying we know we have right now. What other levers of the federal government could wee pulling and using now if needed . Yeah, i think the defenseti prod act will basically force companies to manufacture certain things. I think the companies will be probably inclined to manufacture those things anyway to keep the factories running and if theres money behind it. So i thinketh a helpful tool though not a total game changer. One of the things i hear abo from the doctors i talk to in new york city and Northern California is lack of testing. They are still struggling to get the testing they need both for patients and themselves. If they are exposed,eth quite important they be able to get a test quickly to determine who they are infected or not because, if theyre infected, they have to go into quarantine. If not, theyn stay at work. If not, you have to take precaution and lose th workforce. Reporter when you see the president speaking you see a number of different officials from ifferent agencies working together and behind him. Are you can have debt tht every single resource at the governments disposal is being used or are there other steps they coud be taking right now . Im not confident, and i think that that i think they have made some headway, but theyre still not where theyo need. You know, we were in a sort of enactive mode for about the first month and a half of this where we were not really moving out in an expeditious way on preparing the homeland for the rival of this virus. I think weve now mov moved int reactive mode but still not in proactive mode, yes, they getting things in motion but still playing catchup. Reporter dr. Siegel, whe we seethe projections, theres a lot we dont know we dont know how long it will take, when the surges will ppen, when the ruses will peak. How do hospitals prepare for this . Scenario or hope for a mild outbreak . To think about the h yououre sceavnario,e so hospitals are ally thinking about how bad could this get . Realizing it may b may get bett one community now and worse in other communities later. So they have to prepe for their worse or do their best to get to that pont. We cant be optimistic, or hope is not a policy here. I am confident they are our hospital leaders, nurses and doctors preparing for, you know, how bad this cou, even though we hope to avoid itg by dthe tings were trying to do now. Reporter we hope the plans come together. Dr. Bruce siegel and Jeremy Woodruff and please join us tomorrow, when we are hosting a virtual town hall, confronting coronavirus, at 8 00 p. M. Eastern 7 00 central on all pbs stations and streaming in the pbs app, and on the pbs newshour social channels, including youtube, facebook and twitter. Please watch to hear some of your questions answered by people who are on the front lines of the crisis. Woodruff in the days other news, alabama has postponed a republican primary runor a u. S. Senate seat because of the coronavirus. It. S being delayed to july the race pits former u. S. Against tommy tuberville, as former Auburn University football coach. The winner faces democratic senator doug jones, the incumbent, in november. And the u. S. Escalated today. Beijing defended its expulsion of 13 journalists with the new york times, the Washington Post and the wall street journal. It cited tighter controls on chinese staterun media organizations, i but, President Trump denounced the chinese response. S. U. N th im thay dies notappy to see it. With all three of those media groups. K i thu know that very well. But i dont like seeing that at all, i am not happy about that at all. Meanwhile, u. S. Officials accused china today of hiding information on the initial outbreak of the coronavirus. Back in this country, an earthquake rocked several city, utah this morning. Lt lake there were no major injuries, but the tremor and aftershocks damaged some buildings and knocked out power to thousands. A the cityport also shut down for a tim and, the famed alaskan sled dog today. Ase iditarod, finished thomaerner of norway crossed the finish line in nome just after midnight, beating his closest competitor by five hours. Small crowds turned out, despite coronavirus concerns. Congratulations to him. Still to comon the newour n, g t id ro wrain millions of people could die in the pandemic. Plus, celebrated cellist yoyo ma on songs of comfort in a time of crisis. Woodruff one of the countries hardesthit by covid19 is iran. Nd thouthere have the virus, and the death toll is skyrocketing. Amid preparations for a subdued iranian new year, the conflict with the United States is now never far from mind there. As special correspondent reza yah reports from tehran, corona and that confrontation for a volatile mix. Reporter once a year. In the streets of tehra. Haji firouz welcomes the first day of spring and nowruz, the iranian new year. Like santa claus, this fictional adcharacters job is to sp holiday joy. But this year, hes not seeing many smiles. translated its the worst new year ever. Ye ive phaji firooz for 20 years. This is the first time ive seen it like th. Theyre not in a good mood. Reporter a gd mood is hard to find in iran these days. The coronavirus outbreak is exploding. The daily death toll is hitting triple digits. More than 17,000 iranians have tested positive. Hello, mr. Sadeghi. Mahmoud sadeghi is among more than three dozen Public Officials who caught the virus. The lawmaker recovered last week. He spoke to us by video chat. translated i had totally surrendered to my destiny. I even started writing my will. I almost finished. Reporter sadeghi says hes heeding the governments call to stay home. Many iranians are doing the same. Tehrans streets, usually bustli with new ye traffic, are nearly empty. With the coronavirus, a lot has changed. But heres what hasnt changed. At a time when the u. N. Is calling for global cooration to fight the coronavirus, tehran and washington are still in conflict, stl damning on another, and some say, edgingr. Closer to last wednebiay marked the hday of qassem soleimani, the iranian general assassinated in january in a s. Dro strike. On solei rocket attack hit a military american soldiers. Ing two one day later, the pentagon launched airstrikes targeting Iranianbacked Shia militi, saying they were responsible. Things are getting worse. Reporter tehranbased tilitical commentator Mohammad Hashemi says at when both countries should be focusing on containing a pandemic, war seems closer than ever. This was the worst time for such things happen because everybody fear of another war in the region. And then in the middle of the crises that iran is engaged in is trying to deal with this coronavirus outbreak. Reporter tehran and washington are feuding over the coronavirus, too. Yesterday, u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo accused iran of covering up the outbreak. Reporter last week, the Washington Post cited satellite images to report authorities in iran raced to dih tres at a cemetery in the city of qom, in an effort to hide the death toll. The site was so vast, the pos said, it was visiblem space. Other news organizations picked up the story, some c the site a mass grave. Well, i was shocked. And terrified. Reporter Habib Abdolhossein is a reporter at press tv,ta iransfunded english language news network. Says the site was no secret, and was prepared to accommodate the islamic custom of burying loved ones within 24 hours. Satellite images cannot prove that a mass grave exist somewhere or not. Yo reporter dunderstand that some of the critics of the Islamic Republic of iran say that press tv is the States News Network and they dont cover it objectively . Of course. Reporter you do . Ocourse, yes, of course. Asi cannot deny that there been mismanagement definitely mismanagement but this is sothing that happens, eith theyre just tryinlame iran and pile up pressure on iran. Reporter this report, written by a local reporter in qom three weeks prior to the Washington Post report, announced preparation of roughly 100 graves at the same cemeteryi for ims of the virus, suggesting the site was not a secret. Ro nu pictures posted on social media and the cetery website also show the jte was prepart as other graves aare prepared in iran at perhaps no voice in iran is more objective when it comes to the coronavirus than the world health organization. Ey neither represent the iranian vernment nor u. S. Interests. Theyre working to contain the virus, and they granted us an interview. Sign says no entry without Wearing Masks so were putting on our masks. There have been critics of the iranian government who say theye havent donough. They reacted too slow. What is your response to those allegations . You know, two weeks ago, the respon was a bit more difficult, because there were only two or three countries which had selfsustained epidemics. So there was a lot of focus on what they do different or maybe wrong. That kind of debate has vanished to a large degree. Reporter are you satisfied withhe response here . I am very satisfied with the response, in terms of planning. fireworks reporter here, on e eve of ery last wednesday before the new year, iranians hold a festival of fire. They cast aside bad luck and look forward to happiedays. With the coronavirus, many celebrated from inside their homes. For them, happier days will come if tehran and washington can ever set aside their differences. translated e his is not thtime for politics to injected into our daily challenges. Reporter . And share in the fight against a growing pandemic. For the pbs newshour, im reza sayah in tean. Woodruff as Congress Weighs relief packages meant to blunt covid19s impact on the u. S. Economy, lawmakers are also dealinwith new problems the virus is creating in their home states. Senator bill cassidy, a republican from louisiana, is e of them. His state has at least 240 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and so far, seven people have died. He is also one of three medical ctors currently serving in the senate, and he joins us now from capitol hill. Senator cassidy, thank you so much for being with us. So the legislation the Senate Passed today providi free testing, paid sick leave, help for some of the poorest americans, how mh do you think is is going to alleviate the hit Many Americans are going to be taking now . Im not sure. The goal is to alleviate it as much as possible, but this is only the second of at least three packages. Do that has not been done in the first two packages, we shall do it. I mean, the American People need to know that congress is there with them and, as much as we can, were going to get our nation through this rough patch. Woodruff well, we know theres a second ckage being worked on, 1. 3 trillion, that would include direct cash payments, among other things. How confident do yothink americans can be that these pieces of legislation are going to help ple who are most in need . Theyre goi to pass, and if youre speaking about a direct payment, when i speak to a family, theyre concerned about their mortgage, car note, how ice they going to buy oceries, paarly an issue for lower income who dont have savings, thats whos going tbe targeting, mnuchin said we coul havet by the first week in april. Mortgage payments are oftentimes due first weein april, so well hopefully get help there. Were also helping businesses that employ people through a rough patch. If you come back aned dont h a job, thats not good. So well try to help the Small Business so e can stay in business and keep her employees as employees. To address this. , were trying woodruff the American People are so used to looking at washington, looking dysfunction, frankly, looking at the two political parti w fightih each other rather than working together. What are we going to seeight now . Is this going to be an example of the two parties actually working together for a hange . We are in this together. Let me speak another divide. Sometimes theres divide between what people who are not in washington think and what people in washington think. Can tell you now, speaking as a doctor, if somebody at homs decito selfquarantine, maybe they have symptoms, maybey not, t dont expe six other people potentially to coronavims, theyve had e impact on stopping the spread of the disease than all the doctors and nurses in your community beuse we dont have an effective treatment so the best way to treat is not get infected. So not onlunity between republicans and democrats but people in washington and those at hoo sent us to washington. We have to have common cause ifd weeat the disease. Woodruff start senator cassidy, as a physician, you obviously know about whats how worried are you about what lies ahead and do you think the american peoe now have the full picture of whats come sthg. Are grasping it, and it seems a ominge surreal, but it is c home when you see that my state of louisiana now has 257ir cod cases and seven deaths. Nine days ago, we had one case. E no have 257. It is is spreading. So i think thats coming home. Im very worried. This has thel potent follow the track of what is happening in italy, where there is a rapie incrn the number of cases and the Hospital System becomes overwhelmed. Rking closely with th white house, my governor, all levels of government to see what we can do to expand capacity but, ultimately, judy, if somebody doesnt go out and does not aect another, that has tremendous impact on whether that other son will live. Flatten the curve, if you will. Woodruff let me auesyo,sk the ability of the Healthcare Facilities in your state of louisiana to handle whats coming in ter of hopital oids, in terms of ventilators, whatever else is to be needed. Is there the capacity now to deal with whats coming in louisianit ihappens as it happened in italy, nobody is going to have cathe pacity. Where you just had an exponential rise in the number of cases. If were able to flatten the curve and people accept disruption in eir lives for the next few weeks or maybe a month or so, then we cana flen the curve and will have capability. So i think it really depends upon what we do as a nation. If westay at hom care for symptoms or not, just stay at home, dont expose others, we will have capacity. If not, well be overwhelmed. To woodruff we sawday, senator, the president issuing an executive order having to do with prioritizing, allocating how muchf a difference is that going to make . Difference. Ng to make a huge now im continuing to hear folks back home cannot get viral transport medium to tathe swab someones taken for the virus to actually gettested. Masks are in short supply, personal protective equipment, i could go down the list, but we need thosethings and need theg , but im sure theres going to be a back order for that sooner or later. Go down the list of whats needed, we need more of it. Woodruff and when it comes to prioritizing, hyou look at that as a question facing the healthcare profession . We have moo getre testing, pr have tect medicaltoo ers, medical providers a a limited capacity. We cant open up an old hospital and create more beds if youses d doctors and techs and everyone else it takes to un hose. So we have to protect our medical professionals. Its so gratifying, myll gues are front line, they want to be front line, but weve got to keepthem healthy because if theyre not they cant take care opatients. Woodruff finally, senator, present trump called this the inese virus. Youre not using that term. Why not . This is something which happens regularly where a virus moves from one animal into human beings. Wo andjubefe gosicians have been on, i was reading several new england journal of medi about whethethis medical erapy works, whats the impact on children, i could go on. Speaking asa physician, the international collegiality among eehealthcare workers has waington to work well with the paaies and with people who not in washington, our medical community has to work well thernationally becaus inant tote ghe woouff ator bill caidy of thankyou, judy. Woodruff at a time of national and indeed global trauma, a leading artist offers us songs of comfort. Jeffrey brown has that, for our ongoinre series, canvas. Ultug ar c and brown he is one of the worlds most renowned d beloved musicians, and now he is reaching out in a new way in this current crisis. Cellist yoyo ma recently began posting videos of himselfrf ming short pieces and songs that can speak to those most in need and to all of us. Yoyo ma joins minfrom his home assachusetts by skype. Yoyo, its nice to talk to you here. You are stuck at home like most of us, but youre still playing. Tell us about this idea that you have, the project called songs of comfort. W l, this idea came by ntaneously. Sp i was in the office one day, and we were talking and said, you ow, lets do something because n this time that actually serves peoples needs, ando we thught that, somehow, music always had been comforting to me,this is what i do, and this is the best that i caan offerd i know many people are doingeverything they can from what they know, and this is just something that i can do. Reporter this is what you do. Whus aca . Ses your sen we talk about this all the aime people have real needs. Weve just had whole program talking about hospitals and medical needs and food and money, of course. What can music and art do . Well, i can tell you one thing, when i was 19, i hated a her who said, yoyo, you havent found your voice. I said, okay. And, so, i kept looking for myic and i think my voice is in finding thneeds of others and then representing them. An thats and, so, everywhere i go, its always about finding what people are thinking, feeling, how they think about themselves in the world, and if i can find something that they need, and if i can actually offeer a lit comforting, then t how i would define my job. Druff reporter so here you are now playing and posting pieces,h but its mor that, right . You want others to join in, to send in their ow son, or doesnt even have to be music. Tell us abwhat yure hoping will happen. Well, you know, whats amazing, whats already happened is since ju a couple of das ago, there are people who have poed fromheayo clinic. Two doctors have actually sung the lead singer from a rock band in lebanon actually put ia congress song, and two women from ireland and germany sang ubledhing in sync, in tro times. So the idea is music is for everyone. Its not the practitioners doing music, but its something that es something for us. Now, a virus is something that travels globally. It knows know borde, no walls, no boundaries. Music is somethi that actually looks into is it inside, and that also knows know boundaries. And if we can actually express what is on our insides and show that, then this is the beginning of a deeper understanding of one another. Reporter we want to join uru, your organization. We at the newswant to join and encourage pple to send in their own videos to songs of comfort, post them on twitter, instagm, facebook, wherever, and then what are we collecting . What are you hoping that we get . Were collecting what is personal, what is true, what is trustworthy, what is what is community because community is nothing excpt what is based on trust. Ou and whenay something in music, it better be true because, otherwise, it doesnt communicate. Reporter rll right, so going to do this together, retmi an watoe videos, and we t the newshour, were going to update this project as we n on digital and broadcast canvas for our Arts Coverage as well, joining yoyo ma on this. I want to say thank you to you for doing this. A pleasure to part of it with you. Before we go, yoyo ma plays for us. Reporter songs of comfort. Yoyo ma, thank you very much. Thank you so ch, effery. Woodruff thank you, yoyo ma. I cant imagine anything morewe omed at a time like this, and as jeff pointed out, we hope if you havert to share you will join us. Upload your videos to twitter, instagram or facebook using the hashtag songs of comfort. Well beatching, and may use them in the future on air and online, at www. Pbs. Org newshour. And that is the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, stay safe and well see you soon. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by befe we talk about your investments whats new . Well, audreys expecting. Twins in wed be closer to the twins. Changlans. At fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. Consumer cellular offers nocontract wireless plans that are designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. Et r youre a talker, texter, browser, photographer, oa bit of everything, our u. S. Based ercustomer service team isto find a plan that fits you. To learn more, go to consumercellular. Tv american cruise lines. Bnsf railway. The ford foundation. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And with the ongoing support of these institution and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. By anontributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ctaptioning sponsored by newshour prons, llc Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org youre watching pbs. Lidia buon giorno. Im lidia bastianich, and teaching yas about italian food hlways been my passion. I want to taste it. Assaggiare. Hello. As i recreate childhood memories. Good to the last drop. Restaurant classics, and new family favorites. Isnt that everybodys favorite part . Whatever youre baking, lick the spoon. A tutti a tavoangiare. Venite announcer funding provided by. The culinary heritage of authentic italian foods by offering over 100 specialty italian products for the american kitchen. Cento trust your family with our family. Rich in tradition yet ntemporary. Handcrafted provolone, made in italy