Economic relief plan, the largest in the nation for industries, workers and hospitals devastated by a virus that hfected every state. On wednesday the Senate Unanimously passed the bill at the democrats won concessions cr like sing Unemployment Benefits for workers. Also this week President Trump said he would like to see the eronomy reopen by ea but california gov. Gavin newsom things that is too soon for the state. School districts in the bay area announced that they would stay closed at least until may 1. Joining me now, from washington, dc, his california congressman, adam schiff. Thank you so much for being with here today. Intended to provide relief to all levels of society. Can you speak specifically to how it will help californians . It will help them a great deal, first of all, liall rnians and people around the country will get checks st alimmediately. Those are the Cash Payments of 1200 for adults, 600 for children but it also help people inhe ononomy, nontradi workers, a lot of them for example, in the bay area but also in los angeles, that work innmthe entertt industry that dont have traditional employment, that were contractor contract. And Small Businesses all over the state, make payroll, pay the rent, pay utilities, and it will help some of the rger industries, so on the economic side, there is a lot for cafornia, california will, because it is a large state with large revelation, get more than most other states, buit also will provide vital billions for those on the front line in healthcare system, hospitals, clinics, to be able to keep their doors open, see more patients, obtain when you almost immediately, what sort of date are you putting on wat . Whl the checks actually be in peoples hands . My understanding is we are it depeon whether people. Have electronic deposit or not. Those that will have for example an ordinary circumstance there, the tax refund by alternate deposit will get their checks quickest, others will, yes, they will have to wait weeks to get those in the mail. But those will probably be among the first payments to go out. Also in terms ofin an apent conversation, we extended unappointed compensation, we enhanced the amount of unappointed compsationon top of what the state ordinarily provides for four months, the federal government will provide an additional 600 on top of that. That is retroactive back to i think january 27. So people onshould go ne to apply with the california e, employment offand there will be more generous than usual on Employment Benefits i hope for the duration of this crisis. Reporter wh you expect that we will be able to tell if this stimulus has been effective or if there are more it almost certainly will be a case that more steps are needed. Because the economic disruption is so immense, so i think many of us view thisas justanother step, this is the third package we have passed in as many weeks, but we will dohave to more for the states, more for cities, more for college students, more for the homeless, more for those that need medical care. So i dont view this asat all the end of the story, i think this just a very large package, yes, but the most immediate need that we are trying to meet right now. We have heard about shortages of testing kits, ventilators, masks. And President Trump today invoked the defense production act to compel General Motors to make ventilators after negotiations had broken temperature the administration. And gm, over cost. Do you think, in your opinion, the defense production act should have beput into place and used earlier . Or do yothink thatthis timing worked, and how else do you think it could be used . Yes, i think it should have been used earlier, the administration has been late on just every aspect of this, initially because the president did not take the threat of this virus seriously, trying to down talk, saying it was not going to be an issue here. Then quikly, moved to claing to be a wartime president , that almost as quickly backed off and said that he wants businesses to essentially reopen around easter, once the church is full on easter. We would all love to see that happen but that is not what scientists and epidemiologists tell us is supported by the evidence, and our solution has to be evidencebas, but he has also, on the need for protective gear d the need of ventilators, even as recently as yesterday, st night, downplaying how many ventilators states were going to need, saying he did not really need to invoke the defense production act, and of course, having an aboutface today, so yes, it is a necessary stepit habeen too long and coming and the mere indication of it is not the end of the stor he is not going to make sure that Companies Work with each other, that they get the parts that they need, that e ventilators go to where they are most needed, that the states are not in this, you know, race, and competition with each other. That the federal government can really help logistically. Hehas been Holding Daily briefings about the federal response to the coronavirus. What stands out for you abous . The briefi and in comparison perhaps, to the briefings on the more local state level, by governors gavin newsom, or andrew,. Br the fings by the governors have been excellent, very informative, i think ry factbased, you know, the news conferences by the president have become less and less valuable over time, frankly, whenever the doctor is not speaking, there is not much value to be derived. They are a turning into kind of selfpromotional opportunity. It is becoming increasingly difficult to watch so i wish frankly they were focused more substitute for some for the president s rallies. But what gov. Newsom has done has been important and effective in pushing out good information. Reporter a lot of californians are feeling ananous right now, are struggling with sheltering in place. What would you have to say to them . We will get through this. We have been through more difficult things ins our nati history, and yes, this is going to be disruptive and difficult, and it will get harder before he gets easierbut i have every confidence, we are going to get through this and will get through this togeth. We will rebound as an economy, and as a state, we will once agaipohave the unity to congregate with the people that we love, but for now, we are all going to have to maintain ll discipline, we have to maintain our distance, we will have to find ways to occupy ourselves within our homes. But this toshall pass. Thank you so much for joining us today. This week San Francisco warned that the number ru coronavis cases in the city will search in the next week or two. Also the city recorded its omrst three deaths covid 19 this week. On wednesday mayor london bree and healthofficials said the city may need 5000 more hospital beds and up to 1500 moreentilators to treat a rgeon cases. There are Additional Resources coming soon, he says San Francisco has hired 82 new nurses, and lowers the 1 million facemasks. This as hospitals the ba area and around the nation face severe shortages of critical joining menow by skype is krista durand, she is an emergency room nurse at zuckerberg San Francisco generahospital. Thank yor being with us today. You just came off a shift, can you tell us what it is like there on the ground, at the hospital right w . Yes, i can. I just got off of my shift yesterday, and it kind of feels like the e quiet before storm, or the calm before the storm, we are doing a lot of preparation for what we see that is going on in new york, and italy, and, so, right now, we are not seeing a huge surge, but we are expecting one in the next couple of weeks, in our staff. They are mentallyepared for that. What are the physical activities that are taking our biggest concern is having enough personal protective equipment, like masks, gowns, and goggles, to protect us frs being vect of the virus. So right now, we are asking a lot of questions about how to get that, as r as the number of patients that we are seeing, the patients are coming in sicker and sicker, our hospitals can bed about 179 tl patients, and curr as of yesterday morning, we had 174 of our beds filled. That is altered to patients, not just covid19. Out a third were patients under investigation for covid 19. And we are having positive results of covid19. How are those patients being treated and w are thbeing kept separate from other patients who are there . Yes, and the emergency department, we are still kind of finetuning that. We have started screening every tient at the door, four those sy type of toms, and if they screen positive, every patient is receiving a surgical mask. Er and if really, really sick they will go to a private room, if they are not so sick, they are gointo a covid19 triage area. And we are going to do a little bit more questioning, and to thmight be sent home to self quarantine. You mentioned concerns aboute having enough onal protective equipment, and i want to ask you about that. We also talked with different cisco generals spokesperson, brent andrew. We wanted to find out about the availability of critical sulies there, we know nationwide this is an issue as well. So brent told us, that we have been actively acquiring supplies from the typical sources and many others. Addition we are ligently managing the use of those supplies to ensure we have adequate stores. Does that line up with what you are experiencing at th hospital . Currently, in the emergency udepartment, we arrationing our personal protective equipment, which means that we are usually usina mask for our entire shift. If we are not seeing a high isolation patients, in order to avoid running out. So right now, we do have enough, but i dont thi andrew is correct in saying that they are , working hai think that weneed to be reaching out further to the public, and when he spoke to him i believe it was abc seven, he told him that we were not accepting donations and that was very concerning to me. Why are you concerned . Because we currently have gotten an an uncement that we are going to get a lot of ppe but we have not seen it yet, so it would be in our best interest to accept what is offered to us from the community right now. So what you are saying seems to me thto be, you do not have faith in the management there, they are doing all they can to protect you. This is a situation in which i am sure Everyone Wants to do the best that they can. Do you feel like you are management your management should be doing Something Else . And what is that Something Else . This is a nationt problem, also think that it is a local issue. We are a public health, we are the safety net of the city at san francid o general. Think it is important for them to remember how important it is that if we become vectors of the virus, then we cannot care for the public. And we net to prot healthcare workers, in order to be able to handle that. So in answering your question, i think our administration has failed to hire enough staff, in order to handle a search, they have failed to hire enough staff, just on a regular day, because we have been working as a disaster level care center, a critically low staff are many, many days. Ets get to that because the mayor has announced that there are 82 more nurses were been hired and there are more to come. Does that feel like it will help fill the need . Is that enough . It depends on what those nurses specialties are. E i think th82 nurses are spread out between departments. And what i have seen is in order to care for these will need a lot of icu and emergency room speciay nurses, so dont know how many of those are specialized in that dertment. So im not sure it will be enough, and i dont think we have enough ancillary staff well, and is between therapists, were going to be vital to caring for covid19 patients. What is your biggt fear in the coming days, as the hospital braces for a search of the new coronavirus cases . My biggest fear is ll have to pick and choose which patients we care for. If we get overwhelmed, we only have 60 ventilators, in our hospital. And i hope it is enough and i dont want to have to be in wh situatioe i choose one patient over another to care for. Thank you so much for being with us. Stay safe out there, protect urself, and we thank you for the work you are doing on the behalf of the community. Tha you. Most San Francisco residents appear to be staying at home, and socially distancing. But wi be enough . Help hospitals facing a new wave of infections . Joing me now is dr. Bennet member of the command staff at the San Francisco department of public health. Take you so much for joining us. I want to jump right into this question about personal protective equipmentis we know there a nationwide shortage, of masks, of ventilators, we had just heard from a nurse here in cin fro who is worried about running out of critical supplies do we havewhat we need or will we be able to source it in time for this expected surge in cases . We do have what we nee right now. We are asking in every avenue we know how from the state, from the federal government from private vendors, for more because we do know that we do e need more when search hits. So we are both prepared now, and looking forward to meeting more to prepare for the future. The nursery spoke with said you are g not acceptdonations at ff general. Is that correct . Im not sure what at means. The city is excepting donations whether or not they are being dropped off at her particular te, as the donor site, maybe what she is thinking but we are in fact accepting donations. And they are going to San Francisco general among r ot places. Donations of masks, gloves. Those types of equipment. Okay. The same is also told us her worst fear is that she and doctors at the hospital will have to go through and make the choices that have been made in italy, new york, deciding who lives, and who doesnt, because there simply is not enough equipment. How enkely is that io here . We have lots of projections that span the range about how to plan for how manypeople will need extra care. So i will broaden peoples scope a little bit, that it is not, it juis not life and death decisions, vast majority of people are going to cibe ons about whether or not we are able to alleviate anybodys suffering. People need comfort, to prolong their stay tside the hospital. So we have a lot of layers of decision that are going to need to be made, none of us want to be in a position. And so we are getting new hospital beds, we are ordering equipment, and doing the best that we can but we lpdo need from outside sources. Lets talk about that outside helpd what else woyou like to see, the state and the federal government do. We have made requests for ppe equipment, for covid19 testing equipment, i know that the plan is coming together around facilities and other things that we need, but that isa total plan that is coming together right now. The past acts have artie been made for the testing equipment and ppe, and arri d. We knthat the mayor has made request for 5000 more hospital beds, and for 1500 more ventilators. Wh has been the response on those requests, are we getting what we need . So we havemade many requests over the last month, both for equipment and for various kinds staff and we have gotten some of those requests met. The new request that have recentbeen made, i dont believe that we ve actualized those, but i do know that it is a minuteby minute process and we are getting responses as they come thugh. Justtoday, San Francisco mayor london breed once again urged everyone to stay inside, to shelter in place, the only go outside for essentiatrips, you think we are seeing an impact to that sheltering in place . Are we seeing in effect from the work that people are doing by staying home . So there are tw affects, so the first is that we are seeing people further away fromheeach in a way that we know keeps them from being infected. So if you walk out on the y street, everyb very focused on the two people they do see or the small cluster potentially family members come up but want to focus on those that they dont see. There are vast spaces from those you sein thatis what is keeping people from being infected. What we are looking for, is that going to havean effecton the numbers that we see in terms of positive cases . The numbers you see today are not an indicati whether or not that activity has been effective because those people were infected a week or even ag two weeks what we are looking for is next week and the week after, do the numbers start level and go down and we expect that they will go up right now because we are expanding testing. So we are finding more people as we gelimore su and being more intentional about trying to get as many testing sites as possible so you are going to see raises and the numbers, that dont necessarily reflect more people being infected and were infected that we expected. The numbers to watch are the numbers coming forward. What we might be seeing in the next week or two. So we are seeing a concerted effort from all over the medical y,communso various Different Health systems have all opened testing sites, the department has several testing sites, and we now are ening with the responders. Ing sites usites all over the city from or one provideranother. We dont have a unified health system, right, so there is not a Single Person atdoing you are seeing all the various Health Systems that have patients in the citytrying to develop their own sites, and they are, they are doing that successfully. Thank you so much for being here today. I appreciate it. It has 2 been nearly weeks since residents were ordered not to leave their homes, except for essential tas like picking up medicine or food but for some vulnerable residence, that can be tough to do. While limiting their exposure tocoronavirus. So madeleine and three the volunteers launched a grassroots organiztion to help francisco. N need in san fromelivering groceries to seniors, or just being a tafriendly voice to to, they are helping their communities stay safe but not isolated. Joining me now is madeleine, one of the coorganirs. Thank you for being with me today. Thank you for having me. Tell me about how yourbe organizationn and who you support. Yeah, so we started almost 2 weeks ago now, and there are basically, we all met through next door because we had seen other folks voine similar rest around how we can corral all of the generosity and support peop have been voicing on there, so it started off as how can we match a lot of this interest and help each other out, to how do we match that with some of the growing needs in our community nnand ted together, so we are really trying to create a community where the universe can support neighbors. It seems like this bringing a lot of lso been intergenerational connections, that you didnt have necessarily before it started. Tell me a little bit about that experience. And have you urself been helping out, in ways that you can share with us . Definitely. So this is a broader goal of how we think about our collective action together. And it is around how can, lets say, emily, who helps out tom, not only be some who delivers his groceries right now, but in a few months from now or year from now, emily goes to e toms hod they play cards. They talk about how they can ci engage in c policy, and come you know, local organizational efforts around the community. And come you know, me w different folks, who have a requested some support and it has been anything from wishing someone happy birtay to helping organize their groceries. Isi think that facilitating not only assistance but longer term relationships. What are the age ranges of those were serving . Ar we often it is older people who are having trouble getting out especially because they are more vulnerable. But u find thatthis is, the help youre providing acro various agwere does attend to be the Senior Community . So it started off on the older end but we have seen more and more people, because i think Everyone Needs me to everyone has needs right w. Ranging from come you know, lets say 42 s upwards of and 90s. Definitely more concentrated on the older side. After couple of weeks of helping yourneighbors, how has this particular crisis impacted the way you understand community . Ive alwaysthought of r community a lot in terms of shared interest, or where i went to school, or my job. But now think a lot more critically about it in terms of my neighborhood, and local area, and how together, we are dealing with this crisis, and for better or for worse, it becomes a lot more in tune to how tosupport one another through shared experiences. Talk to me yoabout how re using technology to match those needs . It started off very manual. Anything from google forums, a spreadsseet, and more or a lot of that is still the process that we are using, bu as we expect more requests that, we will be scaling our efforts and how we use other forms of chnology as well, whether that is some sort of suorort matching technology whether that is come you know, we start using, according to. Our voluntee google maps to help map out the different areas. Some who may need help may not be quite as tech savvhow are you reaching those folks . Definitely. I think one of our biggest areais how do we meet people where they are. Bovo on the nteer site and the support side, so in addition to starting off individually with forms and such we have been doing a ton of efforts, we have asked people to email us as well as phone numbers, so if you soare body who witnesses a fire but may not know the best way to navigate the internet, there is a number you n call, there is some other things that we are exploring right now as well, such as communiter partnerships, grstores, things like that. How are you all making sure that you are staying safe . As g u are dothis work . And helping each other . Definitely very top of mind for us, so we havetalked to a handful of Health Professionals and have seenor other organizations are doing. And we have created some guidelines for volunteers to adhere to. So we are eping safety very top of mind and first anpriorit you so much for being with us today, appreciated. Thank you so much. If you need help, or wants to help your neighbors San Francisco with essential tasks, visit sf Community Support network. You can find mo on our coverage at kqed. Org newsroom. Thank you for joining us. Stay safe. Robert President Trump and Congress Face the test or off times. Fight has arrived at our shores. We did not seek it. We did not want it. But now, wereoing to w it. Were very proud of the product. The bill will be a large infusion of funds for hospitals, alth systems and state and local governments. Robert Congress Moves forward with the 2 trillion rescue bill to addre fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Sbut tension continue as states scramble to hdle a health crisis. The president said its a war. It is a w. Well, then act like its a war. The president keeps pushing to on the economy. But top officials are urging caution. You dont make the timin the v