Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20200430

Before, okay . I would wager in the history of Public Transportation in this nation, you never had a challenge of disinfecting every train, every 24 hours. Disinfect, how do you even disinfect a train . You know, we clean trains. But how do you disinfect . This is a whole new process. These are new chemicals. These are this is new equipment for workers. Its new methods. Just think about it, you have to disinfect every place that a hand could touch on a subway car. Every rail, every pole, every door, wherever a hand could touch or coughing and sneezing, wherever droplets could land, right . So you have to disinfect that entire interior of the car, and then you have to disinfect the stations, the handrails, everything that people could be touching. It is a massive undertaking that weve never done before. But that is the right thing to do. That is, as we said, weve never done tracing before. Weve never done disinfecting train cars before, but so what . Thats what we have to do. So figure out how to do what you have to do. And this is what we have to do. And i challenge the mta to come up with a plan. They came up with a plan. They can disinfect all trains and buses every night. It can best be done by stopping Train Service from 1 00 a. M. To 5 00 a. M. Every night during the pandemic so they can actually perform this service. Now, remember the con he text that were in, in this pandemic. Ridership is down 92 . One to five are these slow hours. 1 00 a. M. To 5 00 a. M. Its the lowest ridership. Estimate is about 10,000 people run the system, or ride the zwroifrm a system overall during that period of time. So the mta will launch what they call the essential connector program. They will have buses, dollar vans and, if necessary, will provide forhire vehicles to transport a person. The uber, the lyft, the v. I. A. Vehicles, at no cost to the essential worker during those hours to provide transport. So people who need transportation during 1 00 a. M. And 5 00 a. M. Can have it, will have it, even to the except of a forhire vehicle paid for by the mta. Remember, 1 00 a. M. To 5 00 a. M. , we dont have bars open. We dont have restaurants open. So you dont have a lot of traffic that you would normally have. You do have essential workers who are using our trains and subways, and they will have transportation during that period of time. This is going to be one of the most aggressive, creative challenging undertakings that the mta has done. Its going to require the mta, the state, the city, the nypd, to all work together. Its not that easy to stop Train Service. You have to close down stations. You have to make sure people dont walk in. Then you have to figure out how to clean all of these trains and all of these stations. I feel i have consulted with the mta officials and we all feel the same to accept the plan on the essential connector program. The mta is taking on something that people would have said was virtually impossible. Trains and buses will be disinfected daily. Service will continue. The mta will also disinfect the fleet on the metro north and long island railroad, which is what goes out to long island. Goes to the northern suburbs. They can do that without any disruption in service, because of the volume of ridership, et cetera. So just think about it, the entire Public Transit system in downstate new york will be disinfected every 24 hours. This is a joint mta state city partnership. Were doing a lot of things here that weve never done before, and im never one to shy away from a challenge. I dont believe the government has that option. Im never one to say, well, thats just too much, too hard, too ambitious. We can do it. I believe we can do it. I believe we can do anything. I believe we can build bridges. I believe we can build airports. I believe we can defeat global pandemics. But this is as ambitious as anything that weve ever undertaken. And its going to require a lot of Extraordinary Service and effort from multiple agencies all working together. The mta has stepped up by recommending this plan. The state will do whatever it has to do. Big part of this falls to the city. I have spoken to mayor de blasio. Its going to require a lot of saeps from the nypd. Its going to require a lot of assistance from different city agencies. Again, close down every station, close down the trains. Weve never been here before. And i guarantee another ten things come up when we go to do this that are also unanticipated consequences. So the mayor is really stepping up to the plate here. Of and is doing something that no mayor has ever attempted to do before. We will all do our part. We will all work together. But its a heck of an undertaking for the mayor, and i applaud him for his ambition here in stepping up and taking this on. Its always easier to just say no. Its always easier to say we cant do it because when you say we will try to do it, now were exchanging things. And whenever you change, theres opposition. Every time. So its always easier just to stay status quo. Its always easier not to risk to be not to try to raise the bar because maybe you cant do it. Maybe there will be problems. So its easier just to say no. Its easier to say this is all we can do. Its impossible. Thats not what the mayor is doing here. The mayor is stepping up and hes stepping up in a big way and i want to applaud him for it. And i think we have the mayor, who is on the telephone, or some electronic means. There he is. Mayor bill de blasio. How are you doing . Welcome to albany. Governor, its a pleasure to be with you. Governor, the last point you made p about all of us together doing something different, doing something necessary, and be willing together to go someplace weve never been before. You and i have talked about this kind of idea a lot over the years. When we first met each other, the word disruption was considered a bad thing. In recent years its taken on very positive connotation, that when we disrupt something that isnt working or has been thought about in a very narrow way and we go Someplace New and better, thats a positive. I think what were talking about today is exactly that. I commend you, and the mta. And i want to talk about why i think this plan is so important in terms of our essential workers, our first responders, our health care heroes, why i think its so important in terms of also addressing homelessness in a new and powerful way. What i first want to say, i want to express my appreciation along with you, really appreciate the previous topics of contact tracing. Really appreciate that my predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, is stepping up in such a big way for new york city or new york state. Contact tracing, the testandtrace approach is going to change everything. You and i are united in that as well. Aggressively, new york city is hiring 1,000 contract tracers with that background to start this effort. I think that will show a model thats extraordinarily effective in beating back this disease. I look forward to that partnership as well. But right here on the issue of mf mta, weve all been thrown the greatest curveball in our lives in this pandemic. But look at the consistent heroism, the Health Care Workers, the first responders, the Grocery Store workers, the pharmacists, everyone who came forward and governor, i know you feel it too. Its probably the proudest moment weve had as Public Servants in this state, in this city, watching the heroism of these new yorkers who have stepped up. Now, we owe it to them to understand their lives. And the notion that they have the daily routine where they go in to battle, they go toward the thank, they go where the infection is, which so many people cannot even imagine. But thats what these heroes are doing. We owe it to them to support them every way possible. You and i talked many times about the ppes and basic protections, but we also owe it to them to be safe on the way to work and on the way back home to their families. I think what were doing here in partnership is exactly the right thing to say were going to find a way to make our subway system cleaner than its probably ever been in its history, honestly. And address this crisis in a whole new way. I agree with that and i commend you for it. And it took some disruption. To say were going to do something during this pandemic weve never done before. But it makes sense when it comes to protecting our heroes. The second point homelessness. Look, another issue you and i have worked for for decades. We knew it wouldnt be a rational idea to disrupt. Heres an example. We now found new ways to get Homeless People off the street. I want to commend the commissioner at the nypd to help the homeless, the commissioner of homeless services, social services, and also those heroic outreach workers. Governor, you know about this work, go out there day after day to engage all of these people on the streets and subway and get their trust and get them to come in and shelter and ultimately permit housing. This work has always been in some ways stymied by the reality of a homeless person who is struggling with everything theyre doing, with the Mental Health challenge, the Substance Abuse challenge, riding the subway all night long. Were new yorkers. We know about this reality. Its been put in stark light by this crisis like so many other challenges. Well, its an unacceptable reality. This new plan will help us disrupt that unacceptable reality and get back and forth appropriately. If youre not going back and forth on a train, youre going above ground where officers are are there to help you, where nypd officers can get them to a better situation. Governor, we know for decades in the city homeless encampments were overpowering and people were saying what can we do about that . Im proud to say the homeless associations and we all got together and said were not going to allow that anymore. We helped the homeless get to where they need. And im proud of that. And i commend you and your team in albany and team at the mta, pat foy, sarah feinberg, its been very productive the last few days. What i want to get to is were going to do something unprecedented, do something because of an emergency. But were also going to do something that will protect people and offer a new way to get people help who have never gotten enough. Governor, thank you. I think this is a partnership, youre right, its not going to be easy. No one said its going to be easy. But you have my full commitment, commitment of the nypd and all of our agencies, were going to make this work together. And were going to be able to look back and say we did something that actually changed peoples lives for the better and as long as it takes, were going to stand with you and get this done. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, mayor de blasio. The mayor made a lot of good points. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy but nobody ever said it was going to be this hard either. I think the mayors point is very well taken. Look, were doing things all across the board here that have never been done before. I think there are lessons to learn and lessons we will take with us. Telemedicine, a lesson we will take with us. Telemedicine, old learning, lesson we will take with us. I think were going to improve and learn from this experience with the new york city Transit System because the truth is, it wasnt working well. Or as well as it should before. We did have a problem with the homeless. And bill is right, mayor de blasio is right, i have worked on it all of my life. Outreaching to Homeless People is very, very hard, and getting them to come in to a place that actually provides services is very, very hard. So this can actually energize the connections with outreach workers and the Homeless Population. And weve never had to disinfect trains like this or buses like this, and they will be cleaner than ever before. So global pandemic, but you live, you learn, you move on and most importantly, you meet the challenge. You meet the challenge. And this is a daunting challenge. And the mayor is stepping into it with eyes wide open. And it takes guts, and it takes courage. And there will be bumps along the way. I guarantee you. But thats where we are and thats why get the big bucks. But i also want to be able to say today to the essential workers we thank you, not just with words, but with our actions, and i want you to know were doing everything we can to keep you and your family safe. And thats what it means to say thank you. Act with gratitude. Dont just use the words, act with gratitude. Theyre on those trains. They deserve to be kept safe. They deserve to have a clean, safe ride to and from work. And theyre going to have it, and were going to move heaven and earth to make sure that happens. So in a challenge, what do we do, we come together and we rise to the occasion. Never did it before. I know, so . Well do it now. And we will figure out how to do it. And weve overcome every obstacle that weve been thrown. We have the beast on the retreat. Were making ground every day. We just have to keep it up and we will. Because we are new york tough. We are smart. We are disciplined. We are unified and we are loving. Questions . Governor, in terms of the subway shutdown, will that be pegged to the onpause order . No, thats nothing to do with the onpause order. What is the Effective Date . Morning hours of wednesday, may 6th, governor. And when do we expect a decision on the onpause order i said by the end of the week when you asked earlier this week, i said by the end of the week. Nothings changed. Likely tomorrow . Thats the end of the week, unless you have a different calendar at the New York Times. Okay. Question, the first is whats your response to criticism that seattle was quick to respond to the coronavirus while you and mayor de blasio were not as quick, whats your response to that criticism . Its actually wrong. No state moved faster at the time from the first case total shutdown. If you count days, no state moved faster from the first case to total closedown. Its march 1 to march 19th. And no state at that time moved faster. And also to make another point on that. The emphasis at the beginning of this was on the west coast. They did the china travel ban. They stopped the International Flights that were coming into the west coast. What they didnt do is shut down the International Flights coming to the east coast. Where did the flights from europe come . New york and newark. Where are you seeing the problems with the cases, new york city and northern new jersey. We now know from the New York Times in the past several days there were at least 10,000 cases in new york city before we even knew of our first positive case. So while the federal government focussed on the west coast and closed down travel that was coming into the west coast and they had their first case on january and california did their shutdown march 19th, they did not ban travel to europe until i believe march 16th. We know there were at least 10,000 cases in new york and im betting that number is higher by the time we got our first confirmation case. And we shut down by march 21, schools, colleges, movie theaters, bars, restaurants, in a tristate basis with literally zero guidance from the federal government. And also, look, im not big at pointing fingers or doing monday morning quarterbacks, especially when youre in the middle of a game. But the times, you go back and look, they didnt writer an editorial saying we should close down until after i closed down, right . The sources i quote say well maybe they should have closed down earlier after that said theres no evidence that says close down of schools, for example, makes a difference. So, you know, if you dont have to be consistent, then its easy to raise a point. Governor, if you started the shutdown a week or two earlier, how much of a difference do you think that would have made . Look, depending on who you talk to, people would say well, you would get a range, but people would say you had cases coming here from europe which nobody knew. We had Something Like 2 Million People coming from europe because the virus went from china to europe and then came here from europe. Nobody saw that happening. Otherwise you would have done a europe travel ban when you did a china travel ban. And just nobody saw that coming. And if you rewind the tape, i would go back to november, december when you knew there was a virus. Who are the International Watchdogs . And who are the International Public Health Operations . Where is the cdc and nih and all of those guys back in november, december, january . Where was the New York Times editorial board. Everybody missed it. Governors dont do global pandemics. Thats not in my job description. Governor, can you tell whether or not you would sign an extension to the lookback window outlined in the cda the Legislature Passed . Good day, everyone, im Andrea Mitchell in washington continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Here are the facts at this hour. Dr. Anthony fauci is confirming the administration is working with a private sector to push hard for a vaccine that could possibly be ready as soon as january, even as the fda prepares to authorize the use of the first potential antiviral drug to help the sickest covid19 patients recover. There are grim jobless numbers today as the Labor Department reports another 3. 8 million americans filed for unemployment last week. That brings the total to over 30 Million People over the last six weeks. White house guidelines for social distancing expire today. Starting tomorrow at least 25 states will have begun some phase of reopening, even as californias governor is about to announce today hell close all beaches following massive crowds who ignored safe distancing last weekend. And at this hour President Trump has been meeting with new jerseys governor phil murphy. That meeting just ending. Representing the second hardesthit state after new york. And moments ago new York Governor Andrew Cuomo said hospitalizations, intubations and new cases are all down, as are deaths from the virus. But the governor said theyre still too high. The governor also said if reopening is done correctly, it will be a science not political exercise. And he brought in mayor Michael Bloomberg remotely to discuss financing and testing and tracing to monitor the control rate infection wide. And he also brought in new york city mayor de blasio from new york city are to jointly announce new york city subways will be shutdown starting may 6th between 1 00 and 5 00 a. M. To allow deep cleaning of the cars to protect essential workers and, of course, the general public. Joining me now nbc News White House correspondent weekend todays kristen welker. White house bureau chief phil rucker and the senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins for health security. Christian, rainy day out there. We hear the weather behind you. I hope youre protected. What do we hear today on today show importantly from dr. Fauci and the report about remdesivir . We heard already from dr. Fauci about that. What do we hear from the president today . And dr. Fauci said it could be approved by the fda for emergency use very quickly. And then the allhandson deck warp speed, to fast track here the Trump Administration with a Public Private partnership to see taxpayers shoulder the burden to get it fasttracked. President trump was asked about it and he said hes in charge of it. A little bit of a headline there, when Savannah Guthrie asked dr. Fauci earlier today on the today show about trying to fast track a vaccine, she said is it real ligs tiistic to have finished or completed like dr. Fauci indicated . And he said its not outside the realm of possibility and thats something we heard President Trump underscore today as hes meeting here with the governor of new jersey. Now, of course, we know that realistically there are no guarantees and im told to proceed with caution in terms of a timeline, andrea, because, of course, theres still a lot of trial and error that needs to happen before its approved for use. But President Trump leaning into this notion theres an allhandsondeck effort to fast track a vaccine, andrea. Heres a little bit of what Savannah Guthrie was asking dr. Fauci today. I will play that on the other side. The goal to speed the timeline for a vaccine to develop hundreds of millions of doses to be ready by january. Do you feel thats in the realm of possibility . Yeah. I do, savannah. Im obviously part of the team thats involved in that. Were in the early phases of a trial phase one. When you go into the next phase, were going to safely and carefully and as quickly as we possibly can try to get an answer as to whether it works and is safe. January, hundreds of millions of doses that could be ready, i mean, that would be huge. Right. Well, yeah, but, savannah, remember go back in time. I was saying in january and february that it would be a year to 18 months. So january is a year. So it isnt that much from what i originally said. Dr. Doji, a medical check here, fact check, if a vaccine is safe and ready, you how long does it take to ramp up . If it doesnt work, do you have to adjust it . What do you think is a reasonable timeline . Right now theres a phase two in china with a different vaccine candidate. I think 12 to 18 months, even when it was said back in january, was an optimistic type of view. Most are measured in years. They are going fast with this. We have Unprecedented Movement on a bunch of vaccine candidates. Everything would have to go perfectly well to get that. And there would be a vaccination that wouldnt be all the way through phase three trials but they can get enough updates for phase two. Meanwhile, we cant just vaccinate the entire United States but vaccinate the entire world to be safe and thats industrial manufacturing we have not seen. Thats the challenge i worry about, being able to make enough doses for the world. And phil rucker, on the political front, we understand from a remdesivir reporting, other reporting as well in the New York Times and our own that the president had a real explosion when he was given negative poll numbers from his own Campaign Manager brad parscale. Hes now pushing to go out next week, battleground states, arizona, ohio, perhaps. What are we hearing from the white house, your reporting on his mood and angry he is being behind in this election . Andrea, for the last several weeks, weve known from our reporting inside the white house that the president has been angry with this pandemic and fixated on his own personal political standing. He fears his reelection is slipping out of reach because of the devastation in the economy and because of this ongoing pandemic. And there was a flashpoint the middle of last week on wednesday when bad parscale, the Campaign Manager, along with jared kushner, his soninlaw, and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Donna Mcdaniel presented a poll across a series of battleground states and it showed him losing to joe biden, the likely democratic nominee. Thats according to reporting by my colleague josh stassi. The president berated him and even threatened to sue him, the Campaign Manager, although its unclear if he was joking there. They apparently patched it up but it remains fixed on the political standings. Thats one reason hes eager to get out of the country. Theres talk next week in arizona and for example likely other travel added to the calendar later into the spring and early summer. Yes talked earlier about the sister and brotherinlaw dr. Reed who died by suicide after suffering from the virus and working in the er, going back to the er, its just compelling example of what weve been hearing from the frontline workers of how stressful and painful the emotional toll is. I want to play a part of that interview. When you think about what happened to lorna, do you believe it was a result of her being sick with covid . Or do you believe it was the result of her having to work so hard under these incredibly strenuous conditions because of covid . Savannah, i know for myself, i know in my heart, that it was both. She had covid and i believe it altered her brain. And then she went back to the most horrific unimaginable conditions and for somebody whose life calling is helping people and she just couldnt help enough people. And the combination was just overwhelming. Here you have a woman on the top of her professional skills. She had just come back from a skiing vacation with her family. Always vibrant, active. No sign of any kind of chronic depression or anything before this crisis. Can the disease itself affect the brain . We know that in some cases of coronavirus do involve brain complications. We heard about strokes, seizures, confusional states, loss of tastes and smell. I have not seen reports of depression or suicide. Suicide is often complex factorial. And theres high stress on frontline workers especially in hot spots like new york. I dont know if we will find a link directly to the virus causing it r, there hasnt been any evidence of that, but this underscores the need to think about the psychological well being of our frontline doctors and emts dealing with these conditions in our hospitals and this should be a wakeup call for all providers to reach out and get help if they need help because we dont want this traffic situation to repeat itself anywhere. Indeed. 12hour shifts or longer. She said after the shifts, her sister said she didnt want to stop working. And the fact the only human contact many of these patients have at all because of isolation and quarantine and dealing with so much death and so much struggle and fear. Just horrendous. Thats why her sister, dr. Breens sister, spoke out to Savannah Guthrie and theyre cooperating with an examination of what her brain may reveal, as well as trying to understand better how people are affected. Thank you very much, dr. Adal gentleman, phil rucker and, of course, kristen welker. We should point out if someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call the Suicide Prevention hotline at 18002738255 or visit Suicide Prevention lifeline. Org. And as we just reported new york city mayor bill de blasio and Governor Cuomo announcing overnight that Subway Service in new york city will be terminated next week on the overnight hours to be cleaned. This following multiple reports about a growing Homeless Population and poor sanitary conditions that had been growing for weeks. Msnbcs katy tur joins us from Grand Central station where she will be reporting and anchoring the next hour in new york city, obviously. There you are. I have never seen Grand Central like that. I used to commute through Grand Central when i lived in the suburbs of new york. My gosh, the contrast there and what theyre experiencing with the Public Transit system. Katy . Let me just show you around because this is such a remarkable scene. I know were at an empty times square yesterday. This is almost more jarring. This is completely empty Grand Central terminal. They usually see about 250,000 commuters here every day, maybe as many as 700,000 tourists coming in and out of here every day. This shows you how new york city has come to a standstill. People are not going to work. The trains are still running though on limited schedules because essential workers need to get to work. Health care workers need to get to work. Bus drivers need to get to work. Transit workers need to get to work. All of the people that are keeping new york city alive in this moment need to be able to get to work. So you mentioned a moment ago the news out of that Governor Cuomo press conference about shutting down the subway system between 1 00 a. M. And 5 00 a. M. The videos weve been seeing for the past few days of the homeless that have been crowding the subways and sleeping on the subways, its gotten a lot of National Attention and angered Governor Cuomo the other day. He said its just not fair for Health Care Workers and other essential workers to have to get on the train wednesday is morning and worry its just not clean. When they have to go from that train and potentially interact with people and theres a worry they would be spreading the virus. Mayor de blasio today in that News Conference said, andrea, part of the hope by shutting down between 1 00 a. M. And 5 00 a. M. Is to get that Homeless Population out up on to the street where people can help them and help them get shelter. Heres the issue though, a lot of the shelters in the city are tight quarters as well and theyre worried about spread there. Theres also one other big question i think needs to be asked is what happens for those essential Health Care Workers that need to be at work very early in the morning. 5 00 a. M. , shifts that start earlier in the morning. Its just one of those jobs where the hours are not normal. So youre not necessarily only taking the train at 6 00 a. M. Or 7 00 a. M. Sometimes you got to take the train at 4 00 in the morning to get to work. Indeed. Katy tur, thank you so much. And newscasters as well, and those reporters who are still out and about and not reporting from home. Katy, of course, is going to have much more from that very empty Grand Central station when she and chuck todd continue our live coverage together starting at 1 00 p. M. Eastern here on msnbc. Coming up next the jobless claims topping 30 million as the coronavirus takes a toll on the economy. 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Download the Xfinity Stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. They have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com try and never go to the post office again governor gavin newsom is expected to announce that he will be closing all state beaches and parks to prevent the kind of crowds seen over the weekend along the coastlines in southern california. California has more than had 46,000 cases of covid19 and more than 1,800 deaths from the virus. Are nbc news correspondent joe fryer joins us from ventura beach, california. Joe, how are people reacting to this . Theres a mixed reaction here. It shows the conflict between the State Government and some p local governments around here t dates back again to last weekend. California and parts of it were in the midst of a heat wave, with some places seeing above average, even record temps. So some cities and counties decided to open their beaches. In orange county, for example, tens of thousands of people descended upon beaches there. Those images concerned some, including Governor Newsom, who came out and said, hey, the virus doesnt take weekends off. Newport beach actually held a meeting this week discussing the possibility of closing the beaches down again, but in the end decided to keep them open. Now we know Governor Newsom is expected to announce this afternoon that hes going to shut down all of the beaches in the state starting tomorrow. Its unclear how long its going to last. In response to this, the police chief of Newport Beach put out a statement, along with some pictures he said his Police Department took during the peak of the people visiting. He said the vast majority of family and visitors did follow social distancing guidelines and he feels they didnt have major issues there over this past weekend. Its a very different story in l. A. County where the beach are closed and have remain closed. L. A. County is the states epicenter. The number of cases there are still spiking. Meantime, l. A. s mayor Eric Garcetti announced last night that anyone in l. A. County who now wants a covid19 test can actually get a covid19 test. They simply have to set up an appointment online but it is by far the biggest city to make such a proclamation. A lot of folks are wondering in california, when are businesses going to start to reopen . The governor started to outline a fourphase plan this week. He said right now theyre in phase one. Phase two could come in weeks, not months. And that would involve reopening some businesses, perhaps some retail where theres curbside carryout delivery and perhaps some educational institutions, places where social distancing can still be practiced. Andrea . Thanks so much, joe fryer, where californias really been a model for a lot of the other states. We want to take a moment to remember some of the lives well lived but shortened by this disease. Yasmin pena, High School Senior in waterbury, connecticut, planned a career in fashion but the coronavirus cut that short. Her family described her as their ray of sunshine. She was just 18 years old when she died on easter morning. Countless others standing on the shoulders of corliss henry. In the 1940s she was one of the few africanamerican students and later become the first black nurse in plainfield, new jersey. She went on to earn her masters degree, become a professor of nursing. She died on april 14th. She was 95 years owed. And on april second Mario Defranco became the First Chicago Police Officer to die from covid19. His brother called him a hardworking cop server undercover in the Narcotics Division since 1998. He was 50 years old and survived by his wife and two children. Two other Police Officers have since died from the virus and 400 others infected. The u. S. Death toll is now more than 60,000 nationwide, the be nbc digit tall team documented lives of 60 of the people who died from the coronavirus in just the last 60 days. Log on to see their incredible stories. And we will be right back. Its tough to quit smoking cold turkey. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. 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Even when your doors are closed . Open. Thats how we show who we are. And theres another way to be open, to pull together or push, depending on the door. And we are making it work and we will continue to make it work together. Because open we stand. The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the u. S. Workforce. More proof today. The Labor Department reporting 3. 8 Million People applied for unemployment claims last week and that means a staggering 30 million jobless claims over the last six weeks alone. Joining me now, maine center and former governor angus king. Senator, thank you so much for joining us. Joining us. Sure. When will congress act . Will congress act to do something for all these millions of people, many of whom have not been able to fight their way through bureaucratic clogged state unemployment claims websites. Well, hopefully thats going hopefully thats going to be resolved very shortly. I understand here in maine, the new system will be up and running tomorrow. This was one of the key parts of the big covid 3 bill that we passed two or three weeks ago was the expansion of unemployment to cover people like selfemployed people, people in the gig economy, people who were working part time but also to add to the amount so that it was really a livable amount for people to carry them through this period. Now, you know, i dont want to cast aspersions. This has been a major both in washington and in the states but i understand in maine, were going to be ready to receive those applications tomorrow. Im sure that thats true generally around the country. So thats a big deal. Thats a big part of the bill to try to help people make it through this terrible period. It goes it carries through the unemployment expansion carries through the end of july. So it should make a real difference once we get through all the paperwork. There have been so much backup and bureaucracy and unfair people taking advantage of their relationships with banks. Also on the payroll protection plan, ppp. Lets talk about whether you can persuade Mitch Mcconnell and state and local governments should get some help here. There seems to be a red blue divide. The leader on this is larry hogan, the republican governor of maryland. Whats happened is the first places to get hit most serious lie by this were along the coast. The socalled blue states. But now were seeing really Significant Growth in places like iowa and nebraska, south dakota, along in the south, arizona and arkansas, texas. And i think Mitch Mcconnell is going to get pressure from his republican colleagues to do something about this. You know, the problem is you talk about the states and it sounds like these big abtract governmental bodies but youre talking about people. About onethird of our state budget goes into augusta and goes out into communities in the form of education and revenue sharing. And the communities are hurting, too. If we dont do something, the irony is youll end up having to have layoffs of people that you most want to have. For example, you talked about the unemployment. If the State Government doesnt have the personnel, theyll not be able to process those unemployment claims. So this is not a blue state red state. I think Mitch Mcconnell made a big mistake characterizing it that way. The states are being hammered, and they cant do what the federal government can do. They have to have balanced budgets, and i think all but two, their fiscal year ends on june 30th. And so they dont have anywhere to go except a tax increase, which would be a disaster in the middle of a recession, or drastic personnel cuts to first responders, to nonprofits who get grants from the states. Its the worst possible thing you could do. So i think mitch is going to start hearing from some of his republican colleagues and that we will be able to do something on this. The question is, what other items is he going to throw on the bargaining table. Senator, thank you very much for being with us from maine, from your home. And on the phone right now is new jersey governor murphy. What does the president tell you about his chances of supporting some of this money for new jersey and new york and the other states so hard hit . Good to be with you, andrea. We just left. It was a very productive meeting. We spoke about a lot of the areas that weve found common ground, whether ventilators or Hospital Capacity or now continued partnership on expanded testing. I raised the financial need that we have as a state on a number of occasions. Its not the first time the president has heard it. I walked through to make sure we were as clear as we could be in terms of why thats the case. Its not dealing with legacy issues. Its keeping firefighters, police, ems, educators employed at the point of attack serving our citizens. It was a good discussion. What help might you be getting for testing and contact tracing, if any, from the federal government . Yeah, we have gotten, as i said, i cant thank the president and his team enough in terms of what weve gotten already in terms of ventilators, bed capacity for the army corps, ppe, et cetera. But we are embarking upon a very Significant Partnership to more than double expand our testing amounts and numbers in new jersey by, at latest, the end of may. Thats a big step, and its a very Important Partnership for us. And we discussed that today as well. What is the latest on the number of cases in the state because i know that you i think you reached your peak of new cases on april 3rd. Is that curve now coming down . Is it plateauing . Where are you . Yeah, andrea, were in this paradoxical period where the fatalities of the lives that weve lost continue to spike. As of yesterday, that was almost 6,800 blessed lost lives. But at the same time, a lot of the other curves are showing promise. So we expected this as tragic as it is, but the positive test curve is flattening. Hospitalizations are down. Icu beds are flat to down. Ventilator use are down. The heat maps, as we measure the infections by county, all looked meaningfully better than they did a couple of weeks ago. So there is, without question, progress. Were still not out of the woods. We want to take some baby steps to begin to gently open up. Well open up our state and county parks this weekend. And well watch carefully how folks comply with our strong mandates to not congregate. But were still in the thick of it, but theres no question it has improved. In terms of reopening, i heard you say, maybe a few days ago, that you are going to do it on a statewide basis because there was so much interaction between the north, the metro area of new york city and the south which many of your beaches as well, but also some real dense populations. Has that changed at all . Are you going to look at it county by county . What is your approach . Our approach is our bias will be almost certainly to take actions that are statewide. So i mentioned state and county parks. Also golf under very strict parameters. Those are all statewide steps. But importantly, we have had a regional approach to health care. So we have a North Central and south region. Each case theres a point person, one of the ceos of our hospital systems, and i should note as were seeing we were really crushed in the northern counties, the metro new york city commuting counties. Thats where the fatalities and cases have been the earliest and highest. But theres no question the virus has migrated, and youre seeing for instance, the steep up curve right now, although the numbers are lower in the southern part of the state. As we look at reopening policies, more often than not, as a health care matter, a coordinating matter among our health care systems, well continue to do that regionally. And do you think youve gotten your arms around the terrible tragedy of the Nursing Homes . I dont know that anybody has, to be honest with you, andrea. Weve made a lot of progress on testing, on ppe, on protocols. The v. A. Has come in and helped us surge our capacity at two of our three really devastated veterans homes. We will almost certainly be taking both here and now further actions and weve taken a lot of actions already but also longer term corrective actions. And i repeat what weve said on a number of occasions. We need the operators in this industry to adhere to their Emergency Action plans, including the level of communication with loved ones, protocols, cohorting residents, et cetera. This is not unique to new jersey, as you know. This has been a devastating reality in our Nursing Homes and longterm care facilities around the country. But certainly in new jersey as well. Well, governor, i know that your state has been the second only to new york in the unhappy fact of the infection rate. Thanks so much for your leadership, and thanks for calling us as you left the oval office. A rare moment of bipartisanship, in fact, in this thank you for having me, andrea. You bet. Safe travels home. Thank you all for being with us. That does it for us today. Thanks for being with us. Chuck todd and katy tur pick up our coverage right now. Well done. Thank you, andrea. Im chuck todd. And here are the facts as we know them this hour. One month after it docked on manhattans west side, the usns comfort has departed new york. All of its patients have been sent home or moved to another hospital. The ship will return to virginia to restock and await further assignment. Andrew cuomo called the 933 new hospitalizations in his state unacceptable. Even as he acknowledged the curve was flattening. Again, flattening, not yet going downward. The states death toll crossed 18,000. Onethird of all coronavirusrelated deaths in the countr