Class in mexico. translated yes, it sounds difficult. And it is difficult to change something that people have been used to for years. But thats what its about, its about telling people this isnt rmal, and they shouldnt be used to it. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Newsur has been provided by on an american cruise lines journey along the ssissippi river, travelers explore classic antebellum homes, civil war battlefields, and historicow american tns. Aboard our fleet of victoria style paddlewheelers and modern riverboats, you can experiencecu locaure and cuisine, and relive american history. American cruise lines. Proud sponsor of pbs newshour. Y fidelvestments. Bnsf railway. Consumer cellular Carnegie Corporation of new york. Supporng innovations in education, democratic engagement, anthe advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possle by the corporation foric puroadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the pace of the pandemic is accelerating across the United States on this first day of spring. Health officials report more than 11,000 cases nearly at least 168 deaths. Y and as the recorded numbers surge, the state department is warning americans not to go abroad for any reason. Meanwhile, Congress Works on ano huge ec aid package, and the white house talks of making more medicines available. William brangham reports. Brangham President Trump today announced that the federal government will speed access to two drugs that might help people infected with coronavirus. We slashed red tape to esvelop vaccines and thera rene. Brangham thedent under the new rules, the food and Ug Administration will bypass its normal process and rapidly accelerate those and other medications for use. But, these treatments are not immediately available for covid 19 patients. And they are not considered cures or vaccines. Its hoped theyll ease sytoms and slow the spread of the virus in people whove already been infected. On capitol hill, meanwhile, congress is working on its third Coronavirus Relief package. Sena Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell the point is to help Small Business endure, help workers keep their jobs, and help both businesses and workers emerge from this ady to thrive. Brangham the bill will include 300 billion for small payment to adult americans,sh targeted lending to key industries, and resources for hospitals and Health Workers who are tending to sick people. For the bill to prioritizeshing workers over corporations. Minority leader Chuck Schumer we believe that whatever oposal emerges and it will be bipartisan that it must bes a workersproposal. Brangham the senate is expected to work on the bill throughout the weekend. The urgency comes as unemployment claims arngrapidly risicross the country, as industries from restaurants to camanufacturing are closintheirf americans stantly out of work. In fact, joble claims spiked to 281,000 last week, up from 211,000 the previous week. Thats the largest weektowk riseince the 2008 financial crisis back at the capitol, this pandemic is not just affecti Congress Legislative calendar. Last night, two representatives, mario diazbalart, a republican from florida, and ben mcads, a democrat from utah, said they tested positive for thvirus. Both said they began to feel ill on saturday night, just hours after they, along with 400 other members of the house of representatives, voted to approve another Coronavirus Relief bil now, more than 20 members of congress are selfisolating. About who else is falling ill. F new datam the centers for disease corol and prevention reveals that Young Americans are being sickened in large numbers. The says there have been 508 hospitalizations caused by covid19. 38 of them were between 20 and 54 years old. And then, nearly half 121 patients who were then moved to intensive care were under 65. But still, the virus is more fatal for the elderly. And, its important to note the vast majoritof infected people have been recovering. In the meantime, covid19 continues to take an enormous toll on italy. 3,405 people have died there, surpassing china as the nation s ats lost the most citiz this virus. And in china today, a major milestone officials said that for the first time, there were no new local infections in wuhan, the original epicenter of e pandemic. President trump said today he pes these chinese numbers are true, but added who knows . When you put distance between people, through a variety ofys different you can reduce transmission of the virus. Brangham Jennifer Nuzzo is an epidemiologist at thehn Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health. She believes chinas numbers are real, and theyre a result of that countrys highly aggressive measures to isolate people. Now there are questions aboua those measureswe have to address, but i think what it shows is that it is possible to at least for a short period at least to reduce transmission. Though, that this no means the end of chinas outbreak. The impact of these measures are likely to be temporary, just the fact that the virus still circulating in the world. So its noas though they can just stop on theyve reached a certain point. Brangham 5,000 miles from tina, the continent of africa is just startingrealize the scope of its outbreak. Several nations closed their borders today, and the whos egional head warned that continent is seeing extremely rapid evolution. For the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Woodruff wall street had a calmer day by recent standards, at least as investors reacted to the stimulus measures being taken by central banks. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 188 points to close at 20,187. The nasdaq rose 160 points, and the s p 500 added 11. Now, with more on how the u. S. Government is responding to the pandemic, Yamiche Alcindor is at the white house, and Lisa Desjardins is on capitol hill. Hello to both of you. And, yamiche, to you first, the president did announce todayhe food and drUg Administration is going to be fasttracking some medicines th they hope can make a difference. What do we know about that . And, alo, what do we know about testing being available to americans . L, its clear that President Trump is eager to see americans get the medicine that would be need to treat coronavirus. That being said, that medin icthe president is saying today that there was medicine, including antimalaria medicine, ediatelyld be given imm to americans. But the f. D. A. A couple of hours ago add ho clarify that and say, no, the president is wrong, there is no actual f. D. A. Ve medicine appto treat this, but doctors might use experimeal drugs on fieshts see if the coronavirus reacts to the drugs. There are some senior officialsa in the fwho are worried about that, that patients might get harmed, but President Trump is saying we have tout red tape to get people help. On test thing today e president was asked over and over again, when can every erican who needs a test get a test for the coronavirus . But the pr asident did not ha cleaanswer on that. The other thing, the white house is not clear on whethere tug ventilators to help people. But the healthcare worke are saying the system might not be able to care for as many people. E white house said theyre trying their best to get the equipment kneeled but thety n know when the equipment will be had. The equipment will be taken and be given out to states. Woodruff o lisa, we kow just within the last hour, the senate has released its proposal for next bill on th coronavirus response. What do we know about whats in it . J y, this is the third bill that we have been stating for, the big bill. Looking over the 247 pages of it quickly, i want tot pu highlights out there. One thing this would do, the Senate Republican pwould give almost every american a they will be calte recovery rebate. That would be 2,400 for families. Theres an income cap on t,a but for most americans, theyd get that. 208 billion for var industries, that includes 50 billion for the airline dustry. Judy, also in this, something yamiche has been talking about, free testing for the virus for any american. Insurers would be required to cover that. Also, judy, i read in here what looks to be a threemonth suspension, poentially, of student loan payments for federal student loans. There is a lot iner whats important is, next, what happens is these republicans will te this plan an negotiate with democrats. Demoats want more for Unemployment Insurance over the next couple of days. Well see what happens. Woodruff yamiche, whats the reactionhere to all of this . The president has been saying over and over again he wants americans to get cash fast. The white house has be pushing republicans on capitol hill and republican senators to get behind the idea of gimore than one check to americans. So i want to walk through a little bit about what the white house wants to see happen hre. Some of this is in the bill. Some of its not. They want to see20 two checks to americans, one in april, one in may. Right now this bill only has one 1,200 check as well as other things,c inluding 500 for every child for eligible americans. But othethings, they wan 300 billion for Small Businesses. Looks like that made it into the bill. Thats something they agreed on. Nhe other thing the president said today, he ted toe bouses ak buybacks. Thats something the presintde p company, we dont want to see c. E. O. S get millions of dollars in bonuses. Thats somethinghe prsident agrees with democrats on. There are prograbsives like elh warren who say we dont want to see stock buybacks. The president visited headquarters of fema today, they will issue help top states. Vewe saw governor after or like in michigan, illinois, south dakota, pld for president for help, specifically asking for medical equipment, also asking whetherr not the National Guard would be able to help them out. So what we saw was a number of t governors e phone praising President Trump saying he was doing a good job but also say weg need a lot more from the federal government. Woodruff so, lisa, coming back to y, these ideas in the bill youre describing are big ideas at breakneck speed. How much is known about whether theyll actually work . Quickly, ill summarize what people will think here. Well be talking about on the show in the coming days, the that mas a Multiplier Effect across the economy, people buy things with it. Thbut the concern is economy is shutting down, what can people buy . C thck is more targeted to help people buy necessities. Can do. Something they think it woodruff quickly, lisa, we heard in williams report two members of congress have alreadt beted positive for the coronavirus. Others are smeurese being take ton protect the members of congress and all the staff . Sh well, il you, in the last day, since the announcement of those two positive tests, the house f the capitol, weve seen signs going up on doors cleaning not required so staff could ple it if they di want a special clean or if that was a room where i believe there wasnt a special cncern, that any of the members who have tested positive have gone to. Ey have done a lot of cleaning around this side of the capitol in areas where they know those members had str iongnteractions. Theyve contacted all the members of congress or staff that had inractions that they think make them vulnerable to the virus, and, you know, the house is shut down, so thats a positive thing. These members havent been heret since eek, but they were here then. As for the senate, there iside rising concern. Reporters, we are keeping our distance from senators as much as we can when we talk to them. There are a few repters here now. The big question is how will the senate and hourase op . Will they continue to have votes even into next week . There is a big push on both sides for remote voting. But ill tell you theresd no, increasing interest in that on both sies, members of the houses special tell me they dont want to return to the bug they dont want to come to it. Woodruff very interesting. We know in some countries theyrn have adj their parliament. So we will watch that. Lisa desjardins, yamiche alcior, thanks to you boh. Thanks. Now, we turn to the u. S. Military and defense communitys role in the fight against covid 19. This afternoon, i spoke with secretary of defense mper, who was at the pentagon. Secretary mark esper, thank you very much for joining us. Lets start with covid 19. We are told the military is gearing up in a big w,ay sending hospital ships, one to each coas providing hospita beds d, lan pal. Oits a lot. Is it going to be enough . I think so, judy. Were tting all of ouefforts into this. As you noted, were providing to the states manpower, were providing medical equipment and supplies. We are going to dispatch ou hospital ships, one on the east coast, one on the west coast. We are contributing to the e fort through our military Research Labs wh are working mightily on both the vaccine and therapeutics, so were doing everything we can to help with this effort and to help protect the American People. Woodruff mr. Secretarylion the ry ships, our understanding is they would be used to handle the overflow of seriously ill patients from hospitals so that onland hospitals would work with the covid 19 patients. G is that riht . Slightly right. So the purpose of these ships, of course, are forartime use, so they are geared to handle trauma patients, so think of people with head injuries, lacerations, broken bones, those types of things. O based on the ships are configured, theyre not built to handle patients th Infectious Disease. Hair box dock, and help either pick up trauma ients from a local hospital, thus freeing up bed space fort patients h covid 19o help with the overflow who would come outhe in recovery hospital, once again, freeing up bed space to put infected patients into those rooms. Woodruff reserve forces, mr. Secretary. You said youve tried t avoid calling them up to the extent it would hu any vial role theyre playing in their community. How you thinking about that in terms of using activeduty drces versus the reserves and making the toucision whether to pull them out . Its first important to noe 29 states have activated their National Guard. The National Guard is a very capable force. I served in the nd for many years, so i know what they can do. What ivegsaid withd to reservists is this, as we look at activating whether its the hospital ships or our filled deployable hospitals, one of the challenges we face is many of the medical professionals that would staff those hocopitals d come from the reserves. So we have to be very conscious we do this to make sure were not pulling rquired medical personal, professionals out of a civilian role needed andng put them into a military role and deploying them somewhere else. Nk woodruff and as you thi of the National Guard, we are told that the head of the guard is saying they shouldnt be nationalized quickly. But could this situation bec so serious that that has to happen . E well,nt see a need to federalize the National Guard, what that means is wed end up pulling them into a national base. I think the best use of the guard righnow is doing wh they are doing, and that is working in what we call a title 32 status per the governors of their states and dealing with the challenges the goveneor s them to deal with at the state and local level. E need be,n supplement them with Federal Reserve or activeomponent uh troops, but, again, tats not on the drawing board at thiuftime. Woo what is the main role for active duty troops in the u. S. . I like to say and remind the American People if not rassur them that the United States military remains ready and capable to protect the country and defend ou interests abroad, and right now that is our primary mission. We also have l these oter capabilities i mentioned up the covid 19 effort, including everything from military research on vaccines, on therapeutics to providing military medical equipment out of our strategic stockpiles, to making available medical professionals, and toelpi out any way a state needs help. Woodruff is there a conflict, mr. Secretary, between having these Service Members do theiinjobs protethe country and keeping them safe from covy 19 . How aru doing that, number one . And we know that,hat, 81 Defense Department employees are now infected, several dozen Service Members. How do you look upon keeping them safe, at the same time theyre doing their job . Its a very good question. We took very aggressive measures several weeks ago to get ahead of this and stay ahead of it. W so, for examplstopped what we call permanent change of station moves in between overseas and the unitates. We ultimately moved that to ves within the United States. Weve also put quarantines on people traveling between bases, certainly those traveling home. Weve asked people to selfisolate as need b. Wee instituted a wide range of procedures across the force cluding here in the pentagon, where were exercising a great deal of social distancing. Were wiping down taand doorknobs. In fact, i do video teleconferences with chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and my deputy, so were talking all kinds of measu ts acro force to ensure protection of our troops and, by the way, our family mem abed beneficiaries. As you noted, we have a few rzen now who have the vius, actually its 51 uniformed military. I had chance to talk with a few of them, already, in the well. Few days, theyre doi but were taking great care to make sure the force is wel protected. Were blessed with a young, robust, healthy, fit force who has great medal care, so im confident they will farewell. Utoodruff you talked abo preparation. I want to ask you about a w york times story that has come out just today, reports on exercises that were conducted inside the trump administration, anticipate ago global pandemic, laying out clearly what the risks would be, but that it alll happened maners down in the bureaucracy, that people at the highest levels of the government, it never demonstrated the sense of urgency that would normally have so, when President Trump said the otr day, nobody ever thought of numbers likthis, this report says that, in fact, people in the federal government did know that thisas possible. Re you aware of these exercises, secretary . Well, im not familiar with that report. I havent seeit. But i will tell you that dod has a number of plans out there to deal with pandemics, weve exercised them in the past, we exercised them early on when this first hit. I think it was late january,ry early febr its what we do. Were familiar wit, and i think thats kept us in good st. Woodruff did the u. S. Military medical service, whch, of course,eeps an eyen outbreaks around the world, did they notify you and others in the pentagon when this first broke in wuhan, china . Well, i couldnt go back and tee you the timing off op of my head, but, of course, we have a great epidemiological Surveillance System out there. Our doctors are the best in the i was at fort dietrich, maryland, just a couple of days ago where the militarys premier Infectious Disease researchers are located, you may recall these are the doctors and other Healthcare Professionals that helped resolve ebola and other diseases. Tay on top of these things, part and parcel to make sure our force arepission caable and they, to this day and moment, are still on top of this, making csre we take every action to develop therapeund a vaccine. Woodruff in retrospect, just quickly, do you think you were made aware of the serious threat thi poses soon enough, that you had enough rning, because, as you know, people are asking, now, whether the administration could have moved more quickly and earlier. I think the administration has moved very quickly. I think we all could have benefited by having earlier notice from china thais is developing. They had known for some period of tim weeks ift months, that this was brewing in wuhan, and we didnt have that type of notice, at least not that im aware of. That would have helped a great deal in terms of containing thai spread wchina and preventing, of course, the spread globally. About it, we began taking heard actions. Im confident then administrat acted quickly. We have a great team thats advising the president. The pre ident has madme really bold decisions, and acted wiat gre alacrity so make sure that we stayed on top of this and are doing everything we can to protect the American People. Woodruff well, there rtainly has been criticism of china for covering this up in the early days, no question about it, but t nohat its a global pandemic, and we know the chinese virus, but now that it is a pandemic, how do you see the need to conue to work with Chinese Military leaders, for example . Are you still in touch witthem on any sort of regular basis . Well, it is a gobal pandemic, and, so, we need to Work Together globally to deal with, both certainly at this point on the mitigation, and im suoe wererking together with many of our allies and partners on therapeuts and vaccines. With regard to the second part of your question, we talk oft with r counterparts in china. I think i spoke to my counterpart several weeks ago. At the time, i offered our assistance to china with regard to providing doctors and others to come help them to study the disease and whatnot, but its important that we maintain those open communications, not just for covid 19, but, of course for where our militaries areorld interacting with eacer. I communicate at my level, the joint chairman of chiefs of staff does it at his level. We try to keep open ties with china and other countries. Woodruff quickly, outbreak, this criven you a new understanding of the role of the pentagon, the role of the Defense Department in keeping america safe . You know, its another aspect of what we do, in terms of providing support to the civilian authorities and support to the American People to help protect them. As i said, i served ten years on active duty, 11 years in the guard reserve and during myin time, at leashe virginia guard, i got called out once or twice to help with alood or hurricane. So this is another mission we do, whether floods and hurricanes, wildfires, you name it, clearly, this is unprecedented in many ways, thrice in my lifetime, with the scale, scope, speed at which this vrus is spread around the country. But, look, dod is fully committed to doineverything we can to help the American People to mitigate this,s viontain it as best we can and, at the same time, ensuring we provide for the nations security. So im very proud of the men and women in uniform, of ou families and our dod civilianse for rything theyre doing to help out in this on team effort. Woodruff doctor of se fence mark per, we thank you very much. Thank you, judy. Woodruff anyone who has gone Grocery Shopping in the u. S. In recent days has likely encountered long lines and empty shelves. But, as amna nawaz reports, the oblem right now is not one of supply. Nawaz judy, stores say that most shortages are temporary,ct and due to an unprecedented surge in buying, as panicked consumers rushed to stock up on items they feared could soon be hard tnd or hard to reach. Ow souch product is in the pipeline, and when might shelves be restocked . To help answer those critical estions, greg ferrara, president of the National Grocers association, which represts over 1,500 independent ocers, operating nearly 9,000 store is here. Hes here with us now and thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Eo people will walk into stores, seeing tmpty selves. Why is that happening and how quickly are they being reshelved . Estion. T q our supply chain is experiencing an unprecedented event with this crisis. Wevnever seen levels like this across the United States and thats impacting the suly chain. If you see empty shelves in the store, its taking us a while to gee thply chain back to the stores, but it is coming through the warehouses and the stores. Theres plenty of supply in the supply chain, we just need time to catch up. Its not that the foodsnt there, its getting it to the shelves . Theres plenty, its just going quickly off the shelves as we can get it on them. Consumers say, iyim to reduce my time to the store,ly go and buy a months worth ratherthan a week. Thats the problem. We have people who are buying a montos worth as opposed weeks worth of groceries. Were asking people to just shop for what you need. Your neighbor is looking for the same stuff yre looking for. Give us time. Buy what you need. We need you to take care of yourselves. Well ha product on the shelves soon. What about ripple effects if the food chain is disrupted. Kit be harder the longer it goes on to resupply the shelves . For the most part, most food is produced domestically and regionally and locally. So we have asu stronly chain that has a lot of redundancies, in pla we feel confident about that. We have been working with federal, state and local government to ensure thatoc y store, food manufacturers are what are cured able to be essential workers, and we can get them to the plants and the stores and making sure products are getting through to consumers. I wanted to ask you about news i read in vermont and minnesota. They said everyone who works in the grocy store is now an energy worker, eligible for Free Childcare so they can go out and do their jobs. Should that be a happeniross the country . It is happening in different areas and states. Every state is differet its been wonderful to see government rallying around thed food sector pport the front line workers who do an amazing job in the stores no our members, our industry is working with their state resrnments to ensure the more benefits coming down the pike. Our stores are working with the customers excuse me working with their employees to the extent they can and mae sure theyre supporting them throughout this time. Youre looking for more workers . Dg sliewcialtion not know our stores but our wholesale Distribution Centers as well. Thiss a great opportunity for people who may have been impacked or lost their jobs or seen a reduction in hours. Go to your local supermarket. Look online and look at the wholesale distributors. We would love to e you. Kers. Tell me how youre making sure the front line workers are protecting themselves. Ry is ee wearing gloves . Are you wiping down product . Are customers wiping down the oduct before they take it home . Were feeling federal, state and local uidelines when it comes to protecting our employees and customers in the store, making sure t first and foremost, if an employee is circumstances theyre told not to come to work and that goes for customers, too. If youre not feeling well, dont come in the stores. Check stands ar wiping down handles on freezers,s, refrigeratoing a deep clean at night. Many Stores Adjusted Hours notly o restock but to do a deeper clean as well. Were taking precautions and making sure that everyone is safe and taken care of and we look forward to serving our customers. Bigger picture, you see more people shopping onlin avoid going into public spaces and stores. Do you see this moment in time as changing the way we shop for groceries . I definitely think were seeing an uptick ecommerce and online orders both in terms of click and collect but ain terms of delivery, and i do think well see an uptake in eat going thoard, butople still enjoy going to the grocery store, selecting their produce and their meat and i think that will continue. Bottom line, dont panic, the food is there, buy what you need. Yes. Greg ferrara, president of the national groceriers association, thanks for being here. Thank you. Woodruff and please joins tonight, for our 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 on the front lines of the crisis. That includes dr. Anthony fauci, who talked about the president s decision today to try to fasttrack some therapies in reeir earliest stages that not yet proven. What you do is you strike a balance between making something available to the pheublic at same time you do it under theo auspices of a col, and it could be a relatively loose protocol, like an exp access protocol, and even do some compassionate usage. Will you have a balance between getting things to people who need it but, at the same time, not just throwing drugs out there that you dont know anything about. Woodruff join us tonight for confronting coronavirus, right here on pbs at 8 00 eastern, 70 p. M. Central. Woodruff in the other news, iran granted a medical furlough to u. S. Navy veteran michael whe, part of a wider release of prisoners amid the ronovirus pandemic. He had been jailed since 2018, for insulting irans supreme leader. He must remain in iran for now. And, lebanon freed amer fakhoury. He had been held since september for overseeing torture of lebanese, but now has stage4 in washington, President Trump lauded the news. The United States has no higher priority than the safety and wellbeing of our citizens. Weve gotten a tremendous number of hostages out, as you know. I want to let everyone know that recovering americans held captive and imprisoned abroad continues to be a top priority for my administration. Woodruff the president also called on the Syrian Government for the release of journalist austin tice, who was kidnapped in syria in 2012. In the u. S. President ial gabbard of hawaii suspended her longshot bid for the democratic nomination today. E r stead, sorsed jobiden in a message to pporters. Gabbard said that despite their political differences, biden is the best choice to uni country. And, the olympic torch was ofcially handed over to organizers of the tokyo summer games, under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. The normally elaborate ceremony was held in an empty stadium inr athensce. The japanese delegation was unable to attend due to travel restrictions. There have been calls to delay the july games because of the pandemic. Still to come on the newshour the future of the u. S. Economy is shrouded in uncertainty. What can we learn from the financial crises of the past . The star of the acclaimed film roma on challenging social inequities in modern mexico. And, a doctor gives her brief but spectacur take on practicing medicine in rural america. Woodruff as the economic fallout from the coronavirustb ak continues, businesses across the county are crippled by closings and layoffs. The number of americans filing for Unemployment Benefits surged to a 2year high last week paul solman sat down with Harvard University economist ken rogoff. His book, this time is different, examines the history of financial crises. It is part of our regular reporter is this time different . Well, this is something extraordinary were facing. It is really hard to thi of a historical parallel. Ive talked about this with my coauthor, carmen reinhart, and we have to go back to 1918, 1919, the spanish influenza epidemic, which killed you know, millions and millions of people to think of Something Like this worldwide. And its not exactly the same, after world war i when thingsd were pretty ready. Reporter is this a war . I think so. I really feel like its an alien invasion. Were being occupied. Were hiding in our houses. Were told not to leave. Were having a sudden stop in economic activity. We are going to see a recession, at least in the short term, the likes of w at least going back to world war ii. Reporter in terms of the s. Economy, the global economy, how bad could it get . Well, we dont know how long weing to be in lockdown. When will there be antivirals . How soon will there be a vaccine . Wedont know how the crisis will unfold. Were still in the war, and until we come out the other endo its harnow. But i think what we do know is pue short term drop in outt and quite possibly in employment could be worse than 2008. Reporter ithere any chance at we wont come out of it in a year or two . Loo if the virus can be conquered and we can reach a stable situation, im very optimistic that well be able to do that. But it will be different for different countries. Italys trouble. I mean, they have big pension problems, big debt problems, growth probls going into this. Emerging markets are in trouble. Were actually already seeing emerging marts start to fold under the weight of this. I dont know where china will be. Thats a big question mark. I mean, everybody thinks china did great, chinas conered this. Not their economy. If theyre lucky, getting people back to work in the manufacturing sector, but whos going to buy the stuff oncthey Art Manufacturing . The rest of the worlds in recession. Reporter are congress, the president and the fed responding appropriately . Lets say, theyre moving forcefully in the right direction. I think their response here, to protect the healthy part of the economy, needs to be j massive. Reporter more massive than oh, 1 trillion is just a starter package on whats going tond up needing to be done here. If youre shutting down a 23 trillion economy for two months or three months, there expensesust massive. Workers losing their jobs, businesses going out of business. You cant allow that to happen too far. So, no, i think well see many further packages of different types, not all like this one. Reporr bailing out the airlines, for example . The hotel industry, restaurants . So, o of the tough things in this, and i dont know how to make that judgment, is how much, who to bail out. E but certainly spitality industry, to some extent the airlines, theyre bystanders here. They didnt create this. They werent flying too many routes and about to go bankrupt. So, i think you have to first, really importantly, the healthcare sector. We have to go in a military war time stance. If necessary, taking over parts of the private sector for production of mass, of respirators, building up facilities. That will calm people down, that will help things pass. Then you have to help the directly affected people in sectors. And then the bail out that theyre talking about with thats to protect the healthy, parts of the economy. Se all of things need to be done, and the fed has to come in and the treasury to provideto loanorporates, to businesses so they dont go bankpt, so that we have businesses when we come out of this reporter you are someone whos worried about governments taking otoo much debt. Thats now not a consideration anymore . No, absolutely not. I mean, theres never been a concern about our governments deulting. The concern is being able to borrow massively when you need to. Thats the whole poi of saving for a rainy day. When it rains, you want to really open up the floodgates. And here, i just theres no limit. Were in a war. You have to win the wa i would have no problem with the Government Debt magically going up 5 trillion ithe blink of an eye if we could get out of this in two or three months healthily. This is an emergency. Youre not worrying about your credit standing right away. I dont think thats going to a problem. And you know what, if we have inflation at the end of this, so what . If that is what we needed to do to win this war. American people, protect our interests, protect the future. This is really, think like world war ii, world war i. Its this tiny little viruses invading us, but you know, makes no mistake, s like a war, an alien invasion. Woodruff sobering. Once again, that was paul solmaa talking to h economist ken rogoff. Woodruff we take a break now from our coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, for the first in series of stories from Jeffrey Brown about culture scene. Nt arts and the 2018 film, romax, set in , won many of awards and acclaim, but it also sparked a natial debate about raci a social inequities. The woman its heart has carved out a new offscreen role as an advocate f change. This is part of our ongoing arts and culture coverage, anvas. Brown oscar night, 2019 25yearold Yalitza Aparicio from the mexican state of oaxaca, made history as the first indigenous woman from the americas to vie for the best actress award. Not so many years before, shed seen a far lesglamorous side of life. translated when i found myself in e reality of looking for a job, many places would close doors on me because of my physical appearance. The problem was the color of my skin. In many cases, its also about your socioeconomic level. Brown in the film roma, aparicio played cleo, the livein maid in an affluent 1970s. They hous cleo is relied upon by the mother, loved by the children. Filmmaker alfonso cuaron, o won the oscar for besttor, based the story on his own upbringing. But, the class and racebe differenceeen family and worker are obvious; the ca tally dismissiatment, glaring. Aparicio, whod studiee a teacher, had never acted, and auditioned on a whim. But cuaron saw something in her. In mexico city recently, she told me she drew on her mothers experience. trslated from the beginning, i took it as a personal issue, because my mother was a domestic worker. And i think its important that she too knew her rights. But i realized that she was not the only woman who was unaware of what she was deserving of by law. So i think that theres a chance to lift our voice and raise awareness. Brown from film star to International Ambassador since romas release, aparicio has used her new celebrity to become a leading activist and advocate on behalf of iigenous culture and the rights of Domestic Workers. translated for me, it means that i am giving a voice and visibility to causes that are correct in my opinion or that are necessary in society. I enjoy fighting for my indigenous community, because i feel proud of who i am, and think that we shouldnt lose that pride and identity. translated the first thing i saw in the film was that the situation of Domestic Workers in mexo in the 70s to e 2000s had not changed at all. Brown Marcelina Bautista came from oaxaca to mexico city at age 14 to work as a maid village. Path for girls in her many years later, she founded mexicos firstever union of domestic worke, and on this y, led a workshop to educate her members, who spoke of abuses eyve faced. translated it is a sector in the labor worlthat presents many forms of discrimination and abuse and violation of human rigs. Many are not paid a salary that they deserve. They live in a room of a house thats in bad shape, very humid, no lock on the door. These female workers have been hit. Brown but there has been change. Last year, Mexicos Congress passed a new law that for the first time gives Domestic Workers basic labor rights, including a minimum wage, Retirement Benefits and workplace protections. Bautista says the struggle now is to raise Awareness Among workers and employers and ensure government enforcement. And, she credits roma and the debate it sparked with jump starting longdelayed action. translated honestly, i felt very powerful using the vie to tell lawmakers that they are still not doing their part. To ell employers that the situation remains the same and they can no longer feel like ey are doing us a favor by giving us a job. Brown yalitza aparacio,is ba says, played a special role through her own personal story. Translated we are many yalitzas, and yalitza, when she is in a space speaking on beha of people or issues, i do think she represents us very well. Brown aparicio is also having another kind of impact here, in changing perceptis of beauty. Vogue mexico put her on its cover, a first for an digenous woman. Lightskinned models and personalities dominate the cultural landscape. Vogue mexico editor Karla Martinez de sas. What we have seen in magazines historically is, you know, this kind of european, american ideal of beauty. Wn bwhich yalitza is not. Which yitza is not. I think its changing, little by little. Brown with the film roma,a martinez ds w an opportunity. I heard of the movie and she was, you know, the first indigenous woman to take on this role. Id and so ihink, why not celebrate this . So, yes, i mean, in a big part of it was that she, you know, to break this kind of stereotype that you think of, you know, what is a vogue cover girl . Brown the cover led to other photo shoots, and aparicio alsoc became theof a head shoulders ad campaign. There was praise and excitements but also a, often racist. Ocial media backlash, filled with ugly commen far as even, like, the ideals of mexican beauty. In october, we did an indigenous beauty story celebrating the beauty of mexico. Bwn but thats still unusual. Yes, yes. But i do feel like its something we have to push forward. translated people are still prisoners to social circlewhere appearances matter, and socioeconomic status matters. I really think this is somethi that should already be changing. Brown Yalitza Aparicio says she now nts to balance acting and activism. One of her projects is a push for inclusion of indigenous languages in the Education System languages being lost, students falling behind. translated my job is tov giibility to these communities and talk about them wherever i go. Were working sector by sector. Brown it sounds very difficult to change a Large Society with a long history. translated yes, it sounds difficult, and it is difficult to change something that people have been used to but thats what its about. Its about telling people this isnt normal, and they shouldnt be used to it. Ro are you happy with the way your life changed and what ittrs now . slated yes, i am very hap. Teerything that im doing, im doing with that ion, with that affection and therefore i am enjoying it. And i hope to continue enjy ing it for mars, and that its not just me, but that maybe in the next years, there are others fighting for these causes with me. Brown for the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown in mexico ci. Woodruff as covid19 has overwhelmed Health Care Systems around the globe, here in the u. S. , theres an increasing concern hospitals wont have adequate supplies, staff, and beds to treat those who become sick from the virus. In tonights brief but spectacular, we zoom in on fort gaines, a rural town inso hwest georgia, and speak to dr. Karen kinsell. She is the only physician serving the towns 3,000 residents. I think a lot of people dont understand that not everyone in america has the ability to go tr the do fort gaines is in clay county in southwest georgia. We have about 3,000 people. About 40 of the people are below the poverty level. Ive been the on for 15 years. The next closest hospital and doctor in georgis 20 miles ay. Ive been called the last doctor in clay county, so when i leave or retire, whatever, does that mean that there really wt be or here . Aur office was not built doctors office, and really shouldnt be a doctors office. It was built as tasteefreez in the 1950s. It has tremendous leaks in the roof. Tceep out trash cans to water when it rains. We currently use the former d freezer asg storage area. Its horrible. But we really dont have the resources to do anything different, and there really ent any buildings in th county that are acceptable. There was one pharmacy in clay county for the last 30 or 40 years, and it closed a year ana half ago. Right now, its about a 30mile round trip to pick up a pill. And as an internist, where our tools are pills, this, this becomes a very serious situation. Many of the specialists in this area wont even acce medicaid patients. We frequently get involved in internal medicine, specialty care, endocrinology, eumatology. Thats absolutely outside my scope of expertise. I could probably get sued for it if something untoward happened. But this is the only way we know of to get people that care. We average between 25 and 30 patients a day. Often, people dont have access to transportation. Ev people struggly day to have food and gas. We ask for 10. If they cant affordhat, we see them anyway. We dont turn anyone away. Theres no point in me spendingu my timhere if i cannot go to be seen. Ee everyone who needs the pervasive poverty just affects peoples view of the world. We recently had a grant and gave cameras to High School Kids and asked them what theytuant to take ps of, and what they chose were abandoned houses, because ths what represented clay county to them. You know, like all doctors, i went to medicaschool, worked really hard, paid a lot of money to learn how to use the technology to help people live healthy, long lives. To be in a place like this, where you know what needs to happen and you simply cannot get that for that person, thats devastating. U ow, i have very deep roots in this community at this point. I know these people. To just up and leave would be very personally devastating for me, and i think would adversely affect the health care of people i see. I think i save lives by being here. Rewarding. N, thats tremendously i mean, what bigger high could you have . My name is dr. Karen kinsell. This is my brief but spectacular take on being the only doctor in a poor rural ea. Woodruff they are our heroes and you can find all our brief but spectacular segments online at www. Pbs. Org newshour brief. On the newshour online, all of the turmoil in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is a recipe tfor stress, and can takel on our mental health. Expre why, and what you can do to take care of yourself, on our website,bs. Org newshour. And that is the newshour for tonight. Dont forget to tune in to our special, confronting coronavirus, tonight at 8 00 p. M. On your pbs station and streaming online. Im judy woodruff. Join us on tomorrow evening. E 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 before we talk about your investments whats new . Well, audreys expecting. Twins grandparents. We want to put money aside for them, so, change in plans. All right, lets see what we wed be closer twins. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, are you painting again . L you sell these. Let me guess, change in plans . At fidelity, changing plans is always part of the plan. American cruise lines. Bnsf railway. Consumer cellular. Da the ford foon. Working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. And by the alfredoan foundation. Supportingcience, technology, and improved economic perfmance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored bro newshourctions, llc captioned by wg Media Access Group a access. Wgbh. Org youre watching pbs. Hello, everyone. Welce to amanpour and co. Heres whats coming up. With over 200,000 cases of coronavirus rldwide and counting, we go to the London School of tropical medicin and the dire projection report. Peter who helped discover ebola joins me. Then our campaign has had a very good night. We move closer to securing the democratic nomination for president. Joe biden crushes it ain after the latest primary tuesday. I sak to his Senior Adviser about how the virus is changing the campaign as infections reach all 50 states now. And how the tbreak is affecting the worlds most