Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Ali Velshi 20200323

Who are losing their jobs and hours. Now, as lawmakers keep squabbling about the economic response, the World Health Organization says the pandemic is accelerating and the certainly had this stark warning during an appearance on the today show this morning. I want america to understand, this week, its going to get bad. And we really need to come together as a nation and every single day counts. Every single second counts. And right now, there are not enough people out there who are taking this seriously. And you just see it looking in california, people on the beaches. You see it in washington, d. C. , the people out looking at the cherry blossoms. We need to take this seriously. The number of reported cases in the United States has now passed the 40,000 mark. And there have been more than 440 deaths. In michigan and indiana and delaware, they have joined the growing list of states that are implementing stayathome orders in an effort to stop the virus from spreading. These orders now affect nearly one in three americans. At this hour, the hospital ship usns mercy is about to leave the San Diego Naval yard for the port of los angeles to provide extra support for the surge in cases that that area has seen. Meanwhile, its been another tough day on wall street. Take a look at the dow, its now not at session lows, believe it or not. It has been lower today, but its off almost 700 points. 3. 5 , this after the Federal Reserve has said that it will put no limit on the amount of money that it will inject into the Financial System to keep things liquid and allow loans to be made. Lets start with the breaking news on capitol hill. After bipartisan negotiations on a stimulus bill reached a stalemate, speaker nancy pelosi, as you just saw us play, announced last hour that democrats will introduce their own bill in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Joining me now on capitol hill is nbc news capitol hill correspondent, kasie hunt, whos got the latest. Kasie, whats the update . Reporter so ali, it has been a difficult day on capitol hill. There has been open fighting, bickering on the senate floor as they rawrangle to try to do something to help americans who are already feeling so much pain from the necessary restrictions based around Public Health. You saw a second vote on the senate floor fail when democrats said, you know what, were not going to move this, were not going to vote to move this forward, because we dont were not we think that this bill does too much to help operations and not enough to help people. But thats got republicans really frustrated, because they viewed this as simply a procedural vote, a move to push this forward. And i think a lot of us who have covered the hill for quite some time are frankly surprised that this is the place where democrats decided to make their sta stand, but the view is that they have a lot of leverage. And Chuck Schumer has been behind closed door with the treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, all day. Hes been the one out there who says that he believes theyre close to a deal. That they can perhaps reach a deal by today. And that leaves, of course, the big question. I actually think senator doug jones, who spoke to the handful of reporters that are still in the Capitol Building outside the doors there and he actually voted with republicans. The only democrat to move this bill forward at this stage and he did so out of frustration, but he did say that while he feel there shouldnt be partisan bickering going on right now, there were real problems with the bill as its been drafted by republicans, mostly, and i know, ali, you have covered this particular issue extensively around transparency and whether or not corporations would be able to buy back their own stock if they receive government help. And doug jones mentioned the preside president s own businesses. He says theres no way to know in this bill whether the president is simply going to be helping himself to a lot of this government money throughout the course of this. So, you know, its a very highwire act, ali. Emotions are running very high, the sources that ive talked to all feel incredibly stressed out. You layer on top this idea that senator rand paul suddenly out, was exposed to coronavirus after he was up on the hill at lunch with senators. Theyre all very concerned that theyre going to start to get this. So time is running out for them, for both the chamber itself, but also for the premium. And casie, i know you were watching the press conference last night in which the president was asked very specifically about that. Will any of your Companies Benefit from this bill . And he gave a very convoluted, long answer about how much being president has cost him, its cost him billions of dollars. It would the sort of answer that he could have given a yes, no, or let me check to, but he didnt. So for those people who are worried about this, that the president has his thumb on the scale here because of personal benefit, he hasnt been able to say that i wont personally benefit from this. I mean, i didnt hear that in the press conference last night, ali. And i know Many Americans and you were watching it, as well. And its clearly still something thats on the minds of senate democrats. And i use doug jones as an example, because he sits squarely in the middle of all of this. Hes up for reelection as a democrat in a red state, but he is, you know, not a member of Mitch Mcconnells party. And i think the way that he sort of framed this gives you an up the middle view of whats really going on. And, you know, my question is simply, at this stage, have democrats pushed this too far, to the point where it endangers this aid getting to the American People at all. This is a huge thing for congress to do. But the other way of looking at that is the reality that Mitch Mcconnell cannot pass this bill, cannot send this aid to americans if he doesnt get the support of at least eight democrats in the senate. And when we think about how congress has operated and its been a very kind of cynical few years, i would say, everything Mitch Mcconnell has done with his senate, hes done with 51 republican votes. That is not a bipartisan situation. So, you know, as americans look to their elected leaders, if they were watching what happened on the floor, today, and theyre hoping for something, just remember, i mean, this is they have to act in a way that they are really not used to. And i think everyone really has a lot on the line here, if youve got feelings about this, nows the time to make them heard. Nows the time to call your senator, ali. Casi kasie, thank you, as al. Joining us now is Louisiana Republican senator bill cassidy, who is also a physician, as is his wife. The senator sits on the finance committee. Senator, i appreciate the time youve been taking in the last few days to have conversations about this. It is crucial, as kasie said, that this doesnt, and partisanship just doesnt have a place in this conversation. So lets talk about the specifics that are holding this up. Specifically this issue about a slush fund that for the moment doesnt have Strings Attached to it. So were talking about 500 billion that the treasury secretary and in theory the president can have control over, giving to industries, many of which, i think, you and i can agree, will need that money, including the hospitality industry. I think there are a lot of americans who think, fine, maybe the money needs to be available, but not a dollar of it should be without Strings Attached. That is totally a misrepresentation of the process, ali. And it has become partisan that people have presented it as such. The airline is its own set of industry. By the way, these are loans, their not bailouts, period we understood of story. The other sum of money would go to the Federal Reserve that would, as i understand it, im a gastroenterologist, not a finance pd, but would then give loan guarantees to sectors, to sectors. So it would be to the hospitality sector, to the nonprofit sector, to the manufacturing sector. These will be, if you will, guarantees to banks to lend. Therefore, leveraging dollars as much as 8 to 1. It isnt a slush fund, it is a set of dollars that are transferred to treasury for this purpose. To label it as a trust fund is trying to undermine a trust in a bipartisan bill. The way this bill was written, five different working committees of both parties, with the speaker having a chance to veto, weighed in, came up with five different segments of a bill and put them together, and now its being called partisan and a slush fund. Thats by schumer, their leadership, thats not the way it was crafted. Well, look, insofar as a gastroenterologist and a journalist can have this discussion, what, then, do you believe the holdup actually is . Im not quite sure. If you look at some of the demands pelosi has put out there, for example, that we need to have aircraftspecific emissions data, thats one of her demands, that every aircraft have emissions data profile to be submitted. Thats a demand. We have people losing their jobs as we speak and shes negotiating for aircraftspecific emissions data. Now, Climate Change is an issue. We must address. Im not sure now is the time to be going through that public policy, when people are losing their jobs and nurses and doctors need front line support. Lets go back to the first point, when you said, its not a bailout, its a loan. In my world, theyre similar. If you need a loan, an emergency loan because your business is going to fail and youre depending on taxpayer money, the idea that there should be very specific conditions to that including no bonuses, no dividends, and no buybacks, is the same thing, right . If i take a loan from my bank to buy a house, the condition is, i buy a house and i buy the one that we agreed im buying. Do you agree that even if these are loans, even if they are two industries, they should have rules that my taxpayer dollars shouldnt go to anybodys stock buyback . I totally agree. And the pot of money the treasury directly controls, not the pot transferred to the Federal Reserve, the pot that they directly control, specifically for bids stock buybacks and puts restrictions upon ceo salaries. The Small Business administration loans, theres a limit to the salary that can be paid. Keep in mind, under the bipartisan agreement that was agreed to, that the sba will grant loans to Small Businesses and the degree they use that for payroll support, rent, and utilities, that does become a grant. Thats for Small Businesses. But, there is a cab on the amount of salaries. So someone cant pay themselves 1 million. Theres a cap on that salary. Those things have been considered, and the fact that its being misrepresented is cynical, its undermining trust in a bipartisan project that should be out there now to reassure the American People weve got their back. All right, its 3 00 in the afternoon. What is your sense of how this moves forward, sir . It is unclear. Mcconnell just made the point that by the situation, the procedural process that schumer has brought us to, one senator could object and would stretch out this process until friday. Now, i dont think any senator will, unless its schumer, but that said, the very fact that we have not passed it already and instead have the potential of going to saturday shows you how lightly the leadership of the other parties are taking this. Also, by the way, another democratic senator on another program made the point that his working group was bipartisan, that it worked very well together, that he thought it had come together well, but that the challenge was on the leadership level. Mcconnell would pass this today. There is a problem on leadership level, but its not mcconnell. And it doesnt appear to be rankandfile democrats. I would say, you and i have a great ability to have this conversation without it ever becoming unnecessarily partisan. I dont think its fair to say democrats are taking this lightly. All i can say is that mcconnell excuse me, that schumer and palelosi do not hava sense of, we need to pass it today. They are arguing about having emissions profiles on individual jets. Thats what were arguing about. Emissions profiles on individual jets my understanding is that the actual holdups are bigger than that. I understand youre citing as a specific example of something you dont think should hold up the bill, but it does seem broader including the cash payouts that will go to the people that are hardest hit. If you go to the fact that theres going to be the ability to get 1,200 bucks out. That will happen, thats in the bill. We double the amount of money available for unemployment insurance. We take care of Small Businesses, provided that they keep their payroll in tact and they continue to pay their utility and rent bills. Thats good for the investor, as well. I can go down the list. We take care of large corporations because they employ people. Now, you dont want the airlines going belly u yy up and all of flight attendants and ground crews and out of a job . I will remind our viewers, for all of those angry about the auto bailout and tapper, the american taxpayer made money off of both of those, however, it didnt sit well with people that taxpayer money is used as leverage for things that we dont think are fair. I agree with you, senator c cassidy, this is urgent. I also want to make sure that the is are dotted and the ts are crossed. Let me ask you about something that you certainly know a lot about as a physician. Whats going on in the senate about the situation with senator paul, those that are selfisolating because they may have been in contact with him. Are there concerns around the senate about whether this infection is going around . It is unspoken, but known. Someone told me that romney was selfisolating. And i said, i saw him across the room at lunch. Rand had contact with four other guys, so now theyre all selfisolating. So of course that is understood. And i dont know the medical history of people in the senate. Average age is about 60. Therefore, if youre 60 and above, youre a particular risk. And if you have high Blood Pressure or diabetes, youre at particular, particular risk. So of course that is there. We would like to get this done not only for the wellbeing of the American People, but for the safety of the staff and for the safety of those that are older and the safety of those that have chronic disease. Senator, as always, i do appreciate the time you have taken to talk to me. Senator bill cassidy of louisiana, is a medical doctor, as is his wife, and hes working hard to try to get this deal done. Up next, with the growing shortage of hospital equipment in new york city and seattle, im going to speak to a doctor who says theres a way to prevent the ventilator shortage thats hitting italy right now. 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And a take care of your employees company. Were a help you ride the ups and downs of the market company. And when its time to retire, were a weve been guiding you toward this all along company. Think of us as all these companies, and more. Principal. Retirement. Investments. Insurance. Frustrated that everyday activities cause wrinkles and theres nothing you can do about it . Now theres a solution downy wrinkleguard is a fabric conditioner that helps protect you from wrinkles all day. Just pour the dye free liquid into the rinse dispenser. After a day of wear, pants washed with downy wrinkleguard and detergent are virtually wrinklefree. It even comes unscented. If you dont love downy wrinkleguard, well give you your money back. New york is the new epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. It now accounts for roughly half of all coronavirus cases reported in the United States. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says there are nearly 21,000 cases in the state, with more than 12,000 of them reportedly in new york city. So far, there have been 157 deaths in new york. New york city mayor bill de blasio says the situation could get much worse if hospitals dont get the masks and other equipment that they need quickly. In our Public Hospitals, our 11 Public Hospitals right now, this week, i can only guarantee you right now, john, that we can get through this week with the equipment and supplies we have. Thats the blunt reality. If we dont get some relief quickly, and i can count john, i literally want to see hundreds of ventilators, i want to see, you know, first hundreds of thousands and millions of masks. If that doesnt come in starting this week, we will get to a point where people cant be saved who could have been saved. Nbcs tom winter joins us now. Hes been following this very closely. Tom, good to see you. Mayor bill de blasio says that City Hospitals need masks and ventilators as soon as possible. We heard the president making references to a lot of that stuff that is head eed toward washington state, towards california and new york. Whats the update . As far as on the equipment front, ali, theres a little bit of a question as far as when some of that is going to come in. I just spoke moments ago with daniel ni daniel nygrove. Hes calling the ppe levels here in new york dangerously low. He says the department has weeks, rather than months of supply. And all that we can help for is that the pleas from the governor and the mayor have been heard in washington. Thats a pretty thats not a spligs spe politician speaking, thats the person that runs the fdny, and thats the person that runs the ems, the Emergency Medical Technicians that go out and go to peoples homes. That call volume for people with respiratory issues that may have coronavirus, covid19, that that is starting to go up. Hes seeing that tick up, and hes raising a serious concern. You know, i talked with them about their emergency preparedness, when were not going through a crisis like this, ali, and typically they do have months of supply of the masks and the gloves and all through flu season, they put it on to keep their own people safe. Hes talking about a lot of burn of that at this moment. Basically, theyre going through a lot of ppe very quickly. So youre the kind of guy that can ask this question. Youre the kind of guy that looks at the fine print on the bottom of all of this stuff. There seems to be two issues at hand. One is, what the curve of the infection, right . That youre trying to push it to make it familiarilatter so we np up against the capacity that we have. And when we talk about capacity, we talk about nurses, doctors, gowns, masks, respirators, the whole thing. It seems to be a separate issue and the usns comfort is coming into new york for this of treatment of things that are not necessarily coronavirus, right . The elective surgery thats been put off, but most importantly, emergency surgery. Somebody who has a heart attack, somebody who needs appendix surgery, things like that. Are they being thought of separately, or are these all being thought of as the same thing that stretches the capacity of the medical system. You keyed on it perfectly. First of all, were not going to see that ship for at least a couple of weeks. Well continue to go through it. It will be supplied and equipped. Initial indications that it will be berthed at the cruise ship terminals. But, yes, that ship is not going to handle or is not supposed to handle any coronavirus cases. I mean, look, this city on a normal day deals with a tremendous amount of emergency volumes. Im talking about car accidents, heart attacks, as you said, other sorts of medical incidents that the city needs to keep in the back of their head. Its not just because weve got a ton of people that may have coronavirus or may be dealing with the flu. All of that other stuff goes away. And yes, while, you know, the lack of traffic and the lack of people going to work kind of limits those calls, and we are seeing some of that start to wind down, ali, the concern is that, hey, were still going to have all of this medical volume. Were still going to deliver babies and deal with all the issues we normally deal with, and now we have all of this extra capacity issues that we have to handle because these cases are skyrocketing, ali. Tom, thank you, as always. Tom winter, hes covering the continuing development of this crisis in new york. In a New York Times oped, dr. Daniel horn writes, it is painfully obvious that there are three problems we need to solve immediately to avert the ventilator crisis. Ventilator production, ventilator distribution, and ventilator operation. I believe we can solve all three, end quote. Dr. Horn is a physician at mas General Hospital in boston. He joins me now. Dr. Horn, thank you for being here. Wheres the biggest road block here . Production, distribution, or operation . I think the biggest road block is a plan and a vision to solve this massive problem. I mean, this is our moon shot in the country right now. Our ceo, peter slavin called for a new Manhattan Project to solve this problem two weeks ago and we havent seen a response. To be clear, Disaster Management requires transparent, timely information in a clear leadership plan. At our hospital, we have worked miracles over the last two weeks, doing what i would describe as two years worth of work, getting ready for this disaster. So lets talk about let me just ask you about the last part about that. The preparation. If we got enough of these things and we were able to distribute them well. In my opinion, the distribution the one that can be solved the best. We have an army corps of engineers, we have fema, we have the federal government, weve got places like fedex and u. P. S. , who showed after Hurricane Katrina that they can get involved and help. I dont think every governor should be doing it the way the president said, but the bottom line is, once you need ventilators for a lot of people, do we have enough people trained to deal with it . Well, so i i would argue that the training is the piece that we can involsolve in healte the fastest. If we know that vents are coming. If we know we have an allocation system that we can understand and predict, then i do believe based on what we are seeing in our hospital that people will step up to cross train and learn. We think think about things like remote learning, sort of webbased management, cloudbased management of ventilators. These are all possible. I have received thousands of emails since the piece came out yesterday, offering help from people with incredible capacity to step up. And the fact that theyre all searching and reaching out to me, a primary care doctor, who just felt called to action, tells me that we are not organized enough with a clear plan and a clear vision by the executive branch to solve this problem. We have a whole lot of people, there have been calls, dr. Zeke emanuel at penn said yet, Russel Honore said the same thing. Get some of these kids out, graduate them fast from nursing school. Graduate these respiratory technicians. Graduate some doctors who were at the end of their field. Call in retirees. Get doctors and people who have qualified in other countries who havent yet been licensed here. Get them all into the system. What do you think of that idea . We are all hands on deck and people strepping up to be heros. I would simply say the notion that we are going to get what we need without putting the heavy hand of government down, without using the defense production act to compel companies that can do this for us to get it done on a timeline, thats like my chief of medicine telling me, go open four new clinics in the next 48 hours, if you want. If youre willing to. Thats not how that message was delivered. We were asked to open four new respiratory clinics in a week, which is unheard of in health care, and we were told to do it and get it done. And because were in chain of command and that is now our job, it got done. And thats what we need to see happen to solve this looming shortage of ventilators. You give me hope, sir, that coming together, these problems can be solved. Dr. Daniel horn is a physician at bostons massachusetts General Hospital. Up next, well take you to the largest Retirement Community in the country, the villages in florida, home to 115,000 people who, starting today, have their own coronavirus testing facility. But first, a rare up close look at the challenges one doctor in new york faces treating coronavirus patients. Heres her story. Im tired. Im stressed. Im scared. Im an icu doctor and i dont really scare that easily, but this is scary. Walking in to start the day. Here is our medical team. Theyre making paper rounds before we go into the rooms. Walking in the icu, going to my scrub machine, because i do not want to bring this stuff home. Start with a gown, so that we dont get secretions on us. Put this gown on. You see the goggles, so we dont get droplets in our eyes, we have two face masks on, gloves on underneath, and another set on top. Here we go. Thats pair number one, going on now. Im going to do that for each patient in every room. A very, very cool invention by our nurses, so they put very long tubing and theyve been able to bring the pumps from the patient all the way outside the door and work the pumps from here. A lot of times, we have to put our patients upside down and we manage our ventilators and take care of them. Were going to try to get them off the ventilator as fast as we possibly can. Were doing our best. Very long day, though. Lots of patients. Icu is full. End of my shift, going home, two hours later than im supposed to, maybe three. Coming in the house, i have my stuff. Im going to go inside and try not to contaminate anything. G. Life isnt a straight line. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. A partner who makes sure every step is clear, stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate i switched to miralax for my constipation. The nerves in your colon. 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Lets listen in. The essential Equipment Task force. The illinois manufacturers association, a statewide organization, representing nearly 4,000 companies and facilities, will be coordinating manufacturers interested in donating or producing essential supplies that are fda approved and sterilized. Things like n 95 masks, gloves, gowns, ventilators, sanitizer, face masks, and more. Many of these companies are repurposing their facilities in order to meet critical demand. The illinois biotechnology innovation organization, also called ibio, represents 85,000 life science employees across the state. The organization has launched a covid19 Response Fund to make direct purchases of protective products at a competitive rate. Going forward, the essential Equipment Task force will work with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to scale up to mass production of the fda approved ppe that Illinois Health care workers need. Im incredibly grateful to and proud of these illinois organizations for stepping up to this moment. And we are lucky to have ceo and president of the ima, the illinois manufacturers association, mark densler, and ceo and president of ibio, john conrad, with us today to talk more about their collaborations and how their companies and organizations and other organizations can get involved. Mark and john will talk more about this later, but i want to emphasize to all of you, all of those in our audience today, that these factories will be adhering to strict social distancing guidelines to ensure that the workers behind the ppe are safe and healthy, too. And i cant overstate how crucial this manufacturing capability will be in our fight against covid19. But were not just waiting for instate production. My administration continues to work day and night to scour the globe and the Global Supply chain. And today, i can announce several new executed ppe contracts. 2. 5 million n95 masks, 1 million disposal surgical masks. 11,000 gloves and 10,000 singleuse personal protection kits. I want to be very clear with all of you. Illinoiss hospitals and Nursing Homes and First Responders source and stock their own ppe. Additionally, due to the outsized nature of its need, the city of chicago maintains a stockpile of its own ppe. Our state efforts are meant to supplement those and to support the institutions and municipalities across the state during this surge. I mentioned yesterday that weve had businesses and organizations from across the state contact us about donating additional ppe to support our response to covid19. These donations are counted separately from our existing supply. I would also like to make a direct ask to the owners of tattoo parlors and nail salons and elective Surgery Centers and other facilities temporarily closed during this crisis, to contact my administration about their stores of ppe. If you or your business would like to help us protect our First Responders by donating ppe, please contact us at ppe. Donations illinois. Gov. Thats ppe. Donations illinois. Gov. Someone will reach back out to you to seek your donations. Since the beginning, ive promised you transparency and honesty on all aspects of our response. To that end, i want to take a moment now to run you through our ppe requests with the federal government and what weve received from them thus far. Were going to continue to monitor that. That is the illinois governor, j. B. Pritzker. Were keeping an eye on with illinois, california, connecticut, michigan, a number of states that have imposed shelter in place instructions and asked their companies to shut down. They also require equipment from the federal government. Well keep an eye on that. One of the few things thats become clear about this coronavirus is the atrisk population. Patients with Underlying Health conditions, and in many cases, older americans. In florida, thats the state with the most rsht residents oe age of 65, the number of cases have increased to 1,000. Ron desantis faced widespread criticism last week to refusing to close beaches while spring breakers crowded beaches. Now the university of tampa says five of its students have contracted the virus while traveling together. And florida has been wildly criticized for its lack of testing facilities, but that might be changing by the 115,000 residents of floridas and frankly the nations largest Retirement Community. Its called the villages, and its unveiling its very own testing facility. Thats where we find nbc news correspondent kerry sanders. Kerry, places like the villages and generally retirement communities in florida have been thought of as being uniquely vulnerable. But in fact, they havent been, for whatever reason, the infection has not been widespread in those places, and there are a lot of people sort of gripping their seats, hoping that its not going to be. Now i guess the villages are doing something about that. Reporter well, ali, when you consider this is a mathematical question here, because in florida, we have not had widespread testing. It started in south florida first with First Responders last week and over the weekend with those who had signs of some sort of problems and met that cdc requirement. So the testing that started here today at the villages brought in people who maybe just have no condition at all. Had not traveled on a cruise ship, had not been to china. Because the testing that theyre doing here is somewhat different. As you pointed out, we have a extreme percentage of people in the state of florida, 21 million residents in the state of florida, one in five is over the age of 65. So we have a lot of people here. And what theyre doing here and the testing is not only clinical testing, that is what you see across most of the country, trying to determine, are you sick and is it coronavirus, but theyve also invited people here with no symptoms at all, with no travel at all, and they want to see, do they have coronavirus . And if they do, why arent they getting sick . Why are they not showing the same sort of progression that other people have and that research may explain the university of florida thats leading it here, may explain, is there a Silver Bullet that some people here that prevents them from going to that next step. Having coronavirus and then getting sick, ali. Kerry w, can we talk a littl bit more broadly. I know you know all things florida. What was up with florida . We spoke to the mayor of miami yesterday who has tested positive for covid19 and he talked about the things that have happened in miami. But he concedes that all around miami, the rules werent being enforced. There were people on the beaches there until a couple of days ago. There seems to be a real reluctance on the part of florida to shut things down. Is that all about the business that they get from spring break . Reporter it may be even more complicated than that. Not just spring break, but when you consider, this state does not have an income tax. The state survives on tourism taxes. You rent a car in the state, you pay a tax, rent a room, you pay a tax. Thats how the 93 billion budget in the state is funded. And so the governor here turned it over to the local authorities to close down beaches, some did, some didnt, to close down hotels, for instance, the keys shut down. Other areas, still open for business. I think its important to note, when you look at all of whats going on here, that that criticism is whew the beaches ultimately closed. It was not because anything other than the nation and governors in other parts of the country like Governor Cuomo in new york saying, what is going on. And they closed the beaches. So what happened this weekend, people got in boats. They went out in boats and went to sand bars, pushed their boats up on the sand bars, got up and just kept partying. The florida fwc, the florida wildlife commission, they went out and tried to break this up, but you have a question here for law enforcement. Are they literally going to walk up to you and push you out of an ar area, exposing themselves. They got on their bull horns, tried to break it up. But it just seems like theres a lackadaisical attitude among many in this state as to what this threat really is. For better or for worse, this is the teenager in me talking now, it hasnt resulted in some sort of an unusual outbreak. It may be that the incubation period started last week and well find out in a week or two. We have these incidences a to the university of tampa. But the bottom line swb this, t dont seem to have florida has not become an epicenter of coronavirus. Correct. But as i stated, this is a mathematical question, because the only coronavirus testing that weve had is people who have been sick and have gone to the hospital. We will see those numbers begin to come in, because this is the week when florida really begins its testing. And while im in the villages and this place is open to everybody, people with symptoms, people without symptoms, and that means were not too far from the university of florida, maybe some students will come through here, primarily it will be those who are 60 plus getting the tests here, i would say that when we start getting the math in for this state, we may see there are more coronavirus victims, patients in this state than we realized initially. Because right now it looks like, why isnt florida being hit . One last thing i would note, and the governor pointed this out. As you said, new york, which is the epicenter of all of this, a lot of people when they shut down new york, they might think, let me go visit my grandparents in florida. In many ways, a lot of people have traveled down flights from new york coming to florida have been full. Those are not empty flights. Theres a real concern that those folk coming down may have also brought coronavirus with them zp them. Kerry, thanks for your reporting. We have covered a lot of natural disasters together, but not one like this before. This is new for both of us. Kerry sanders in orlando, florida. Up next, much more of our special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Of our special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic they get that no two people are alike and customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Almost done. What do you think . I dont see it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. I opened a sofi money account and it was the first time that i realized i could be earning interest back on my money. I just discovered sofi, and im an investor with a diversified portfolio. Who am i . i refinanced with sofi and i was able to cut my Interest Rate by forty percent. Thank you sofi. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. 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According to an npr pbs marist poll, 18 of americans are out of jobs or had their work hours reduced to coronavirus. We dont have official numbers on this yet, we wont get the march numbers eneuntil the firs week in april. Food banks are assisting some of the most vulnerable residents who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic. That includes stadium workers, janitors, and teachers aides. Nbc news correspondent Erin Mclaughlin joins me live from outside of the l. A. Regional food bank in los angeles. Erin, whats the situation where you are . Reporter hey, ali. We are just at the tail end of the event hosted by l. A. Regional food bank. It was an event meant for people employed by the l. A. School district, support staff, custodians, bus drivers. It was an incredible turnout. Over 900 people turned out for food. And right now, at the end of the event, as you can see, we opened it up to community members, people within the community, in need of help, turning up here, a line around the block, trying to get the leftovers. People in this community are hurting. According to the food bank, theyve seen a 20 surge in demand since the covid crisis. And right now, what example of human resilience and human kindness and both things that are needed in the face of the covid crisis. Ali . Than k you, Erin Mclaughlin. There is one strategy in washington that is gaining traction and that is sending the Cash Payments directly to americans. One expert is laying out the challenges associated with the idea in a new piece of econofact which is a new publication that i suggest that you subscribe to, because it is handy. It reads in part for the United States to allow cash dispersements in coronavirus crisis, it is to allow a Payment System to allow they are equitable and in desperate need and the hardest to reach. Joining me is lisa janician who is a professor at the Sanford School of economics in duke university. So we have finally agreed and something that we could not find out in 2008 and 2009 and direct Cash Payments to those in need, but the banks are an easier structure, because we know how they work. We have not done this fr be,befo that those who are in most in need who dont have a fixed address and they are not in the system as well get the money they need . Yeah, i know. It is quite the irony that here we are ready to disburse the cash to the hands of people who there is no one platform. It has to be multi sectored and think about the multiple Distribution Systems and be creative. So, then it allows on the objective. The first objective is to get cash quickly into the hands of the americans and this is the best way to boost the economy and for sure, we need to be using systems that we currently have in place. The good ideas are the Social Security Administration System or the tax system or the unemployed insurance system, veterans system, and these have all been played out and they should be used. Sor ersorry, i did not mean interrupt you. And the second point is the one that you are raising and showing a second ago is that those are systems that are not connected to people who may be suffering the most from economic shock. So how do we address that . I think that is the biggest dilemma in front of us in addition to all of the others. So, in hurricanes, we know that Insurance Companies and fema set up stands in parking lots of walmart, and they let the people know, so we have some ability to let people know how to get to people, but as you say, we are talking to Erin Mclaughlin in front of the shelter or the food bank or talk about the homeless shelters and the homeless population, we have difficulty keeping track of who those people are if they dont go to the regular shelter or the place like that, but the bottom line is that they are, a, the hardest hit among us, and b, the most economically stimutive, because the people with the least amount of money are going to use most of it. Yes. If you get the money into the hands of the people who are on the brink of poverty who have lost a job, they will quickly put it right back into the economy and spend it on food and maintaining their good health, and there is a shortterm and longterm issue here with the most economically vulnerable. So job loss means for families a risk for children and being in unsafe environments and potentially abusive environments, and so this is essential. So the economic stimulus package right now being discussed is not only thinking about the jobs and how to do this. And you just had the example, groundup approach. The states and the counties are the best situated and School Systems are the best situated to target the people. And so, quickly, at least we have broken the back of understanding this is what we should be doing. Are you in a position to evaluate the amount of money that we are thinking about . Because it is striking me as odd that the people who are earning the least are getting the least amount of money. Right. So we dont have a lot of good information about that, and i happen to be involved in a big study now by coincidence and we are giving 4,000 a year for the lowincome moms for the first three years of the babys lives and this is roughly 333 per month. That is an amount that we know from research can have an impact on income for children. And so we do have a little bit of evidence on the amounts. It has to be upwards for 4,000 or more per year for the income of four. This is the time to sort it out, but i am glad that we have at least made a move in the right direction. Lisa is an associate professor of sociology at duke university. Thank you for your time to this issue. And one Silver Lining in the midst of this pandemic is the environment. While people are realizing the everyday life of the comfort of their homes, the Carbon Footprint is decreasing. So look at these before and after pictures of miami beaches. Look at this, no activity on the beach, and these from the bay bridge of San Francisco showing a significant reduction of to traffic from oakland to the city, and look at these photos out of venice, italy. The waterways are clear, because there is less boat and canal traffic. Something to think about as we decide to make our Carbon Footprint smaller, ab maybe some of it can last forever. That is going to wrap up the hour for me. I will see you back here tomorrow at 3 00 p. M. Deadline washington starts right after this break. Right after this break. Yes. Yes. Yeah sure. Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah no problem. Yes yes, yes a thousand times yes disover. Accepted at 99 of places in the u. S. past them because she didnt sknow they were talking to her. G and she would just walk right yes, yes a thousand times yes deborah i just could not hear. I was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. avo our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason weve been the brand leader for over 70 years. deborah when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. I could hear everything. avo call 1800miracle to start your 30 day riskfree trial and schedule your free hearing evaluation today. sensei beautiful. 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And its why Comcast Spotlight is changing its name to effectv. Because being effective means getting results. Hi, everyone. It is is 4 00 in the east as americans are facing off to a Global Pandemic and a jarring new way of america. Donald trump is increasingly at odd with his scientists and there are signs that a showdown is imminent as last night he is hinting that a loosening of the most severe restrictions on the movement are coming sooner than anyone in the Science Community has indicated. Last night trump indicating that we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem and adding this, quote, at the end of the 15day period, we will make a decision as to which way those comments are at odds with the overwhelming body of recommendations from the Public Health experts and the Homeland Security officials who advice a muchlonger period of social distancing to slow the spread of the virus. The times science reporter dona