Craig melvin here. We want to start this hour by getting you up to date with the latest facts as we know them. We have crossed a terrible threshold in this pandemic now. We have now lost more than 50,000 fellow americans to this virus, and for some perspective, thats approaching the number of americans we lost in the entire two decades of the vietnam war which was more than 58,000. About 30 minutes from now well hear from new York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his Daily Briefing. Meanwhile, in d. C. About an hour from now, President Trump will be signing that nearly 500 billion plan for Coronavirus Relief that just passed congress. That bill will help small businesses. It will also help hospitals and expand testing as well. Also this morning, some states including georgia and texas are starting to reopen parts of their economies, but there are some Major Concerns that it may be too soon to go back to business as usual. This hour, were putting the sharp focus on texas, and were doing that with our colleague Garrett Haake. Hes live in dallas and will be with us throughout the hour. The governor of texas, greg abbott, expected to unveil his plan to start reopening the state of texas very soon. Starting today, texas has a new retailtogo system. Garrett, lets start there. What is this retailtogo . How does it work . Reporter craig, good morning from the bishop Arts District in dallas. This is normally a busy retail, shopping, dining area. Today its starting to come back to life. The governor reopened state parks, relaxed restrictions on elective medical procedures. Retailtogo will work just like togo orders at a restaurant, trying to keep the lights on here. Some of these businesses in the Arts District today are waking up trying this out. Among them is indigo 1745. Im joined by the owner, denise. What are the challenges of moving to retailtogo especially when your doors have been closed for the last month . Its a huge challenge. We are counting on our customers that we have relationships with, that know what our so we can get that out to them. Were also going to be counting on Facebook Live, zoom meetings, instagram. In fact, well be going on Facebook Live later today. Youre using technology to keep this going. Definitely. You cant have people coming in and trying on clothes just yet. Its a challenge i have to think. P the governor says when he speaks on monday hes ready to reopen businesses like yours, are you ready . Do you know how to do that safely . Were not ready. That would take a little time. Wed have to make sure that we have everything in place because were concerned not only about our own safety, but the safety of our customers who, theyre our family and were care about them. Thank you. Craig, you hear about that here. These businesses are torn by two competing interests. They need to keep the money coming in, need to try to stay in the black. To be able to do that safely when they know their customers is concerned when their Business Model is disrupted, you cant come in and try on clothes or pick up a book at a book store to flip it over to see if you like whats on the back of the jacket, thats a challenge to do that safely. Thats what businesses are trying to figure out with this soft opening, if you will, that is retailtogo. Garrett, theres a push and pull nationwide over reopening. Texas the second most populous state in our country. How are leaders there in texas weighing what they see in other states as they make their plans . Reporter the governor here put together what he called a strike force. Theyve actually been fairly cautious with their reopening. The next big rollout of options is expected to be on monday. The governor teased in interviews that he might open things like restaurants, bars to some degree, gyms, churches have been putting pressure on the state to try to get reopened. Theyre watching whats happening around the region. Oklahoma, just across the northern border, today theyre reopening salons, barber shops, nail shops and the like. Texas will keep a close eye on how they do that. Likewise, theyre watching whats happening in georgia. Remember, the challenge in texas is the incredible diversity of counties like Dallas County or harris county, cities like san antonio that are big, crowded metropolitan areas and the dozens of counties across the state that still havent recorded a single case. It would be very difficult to put a onesizefitsall policy for reopening the entire state all at once. Thats what the governor and his strike force are trying to work out ahead of this announcement come monday. Garrett haake with us for the hour. Dont go far, my friend. Garrett just mentioned georgia. Lets go to georgia because thats where some businesses, as garrett just mentioned, are reopening today. Tattoo parlors, salons, massage parlors, gyms, even bowling alleys are back in business in georgia, as long as they follow social distancing guidelines. The states governor, brian kemp, continues to take a fair amount of heat forgiving them the green light. Coronavirus cases in georgia not going down. In fact, theyre still climbing. Lets go to sam brock. Sam is in atlanta. Sam, i talked to the mayor of atlanta a couple days ago here on the broadcast. She said she was shocked by the governors move. Even some republicans like President Trump himself criticizing governor kemp. Today were seeing some protests as well against reopening. Lets start there. Reporter this has pingponged back and forth. You have the mayor of atlanta saying stay at home, dont go into businesses today. Businesses themselves are saying its critical for keeping us afloat and keeping our employees paid right now. Its such a difficult time. The governor has had to backtrack after President Trump criticized reopening some of the establishments you just mentioned. Salons, tattoo parlors, bowling alleys. Yes we are is in a parking lot. You can see some of the signs. There will be a protest in buck head, an upscale neighborhood in atlanta. Theyll be marching down the street in cars later today to protest this. I have a couple of protesters with me right now who found out about this not because they organized it, this is jessica, but because you saw it on facebook. As soon as you saw the marketing for this event, you felt what . Immediately we knew we had to get out. We actually had home school with the kids today. Were like, this is a historical field trip. Your first protest. This is the first thing weve seen thats available. The first criticisms youll hear is this is being politicized right now, against a republican leader right now who is trying to open up the economy. What do you say to people who have those concerns . I say go home and talk to your elderly loved ones. I would like for my mom to stay alive as long as humanly possible. Im sorry, but i cant justify the fact that we have this Global Pandemic. We see how contagious it is. We have a friend that works at a hospital. Its scary, and the fact theyre not taking it seriously is alarming. How many people are you expecting today . Were seeing several dozen gathering right now. Its going to be gathering for the next hour. What are you expecting today . Hopefully a few hundred, a couple hundred. Thats what it said on the facebook page. I think a lot of people are going to come out because this is the first thing thats come up, like i said, for the public to participate in thats safe. We thought protesting was kind of dead for a while. This really feels out of our hands. The fact that salons can be open i dont know why thats essential. I dont understand the choice. I dont get that. Well be following what you do later today, ladies. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. Craig, i would wrap with this, when i speak to people on the ground, people are saying we do want to see businesses reopen, but the optics look terrible. Why are we reopening these types of establishments and considering them essential. I was at a barber shop earlier today, taking temperatures, wiping down surfaces, six feet in between customers. Were watching certain practices in play here, but obviously very controversial move here in georgia. Craig. Sam, are you seeing a lot of customers at these businesses . Did you see a lot of people getting their cut . So many people that theyve had to stop and say, we cant take you right now. Theres only a maximum of ten, can we book you tomorrow, book you next week. Clearly theres demand. The people i talk to say they understand theres some inherent risk in going out and getting their hair cut today, but they want their lives back together. Thats basically where things stand right now. All right. Sam brock for us there in atlanta in buckhead. Lets go out west as the debate over how and when to reopen businesses in nevada intensifies, one major casino in las vegas apparently Just Announced plans to reopen. Treasure island, one of the most popular destinations on the vegas strip posted a note on their website last night announcing they plan to reopen on may 15th. Theyre currently accepting reservations for rooms as well. Nbcs Steve Patterson is in las vegas for us this morning. Steve, that announcement coming after the mayor of las vegas, as you know, set off quite the firestorm earlier this week for suggesting that the city should be open now. Is there a firm plan for vegas and the rest of nevadas gaming industry to reopen . Reporter craig, there certainly is no universal plan, nothing that everybody can follow and every business will start opening back up. What there are, as were learning, are individual plans. The gaming board has set up guidelines for casinos to open. The hospitality, Hotel Business has started to set up guidelines for reopening. Individual casino, as you just mentioned, started to set their own guidelines. Caesars, wyn, saying theyll keep social distancing at a maximum, require face masks, temperature checks, maybe even thermal imaging to check the temperature of people as they go into the casino. Treasure island weighing in saying theyre taking reservations. I want to be clear, thats not predicated on anything solid. If you read the fine print, the eye tall licks, it says we will do this only following the guideline from the governor and the governor has said over and over and over again that no matter what, until he sees a sustained decline in the number of covid cases, hes not going to reopen the state. Theres been no indication that thats happening. So things will stay the way they are at this point. But certainly theres a lot of pressure to get things back in business here, craig. All right. Steve patterson for us there on the strip in las vegas. Lets bring in the doctor on duty for the hour, dr. John white. Dr. White is the chief medical officer for webmd. Dr. White, lets start there. What are your concerns about some of these states, some of these cities reopening businesses now . Good to be with you, craig. The biggest concern i have is that we dont really know where we are in some of these local areas in terms of, we dont have enough testing. I want to know how many people actually are infected in the community. I want to know how many people might have been infected and have antibodies now and maybe they have some protection. Were really working in an environment where we dont have enough data to guide decisions. So thats my concern in terms of are we opening up too early . We need to know a little more in terms of what are the conditions in the community, and we dont have them. My friend and colleague Garrett Haake is standing by in texas. Hes got a question for you as well, dr. White. Sure. Reporter dr. White, in my part of the country theres a complete patchwork of rules about mask usage. In dallas theyre mandatory. In houston they will be monday. In oklahoma, theres no specific rule on them. As businesses start to reopen, where should we put masks on that hierarchy of selfprotection between hand washing, social distancing and mask usage, for people who are going to go back out and start patronizing retail establishments or ber der shops or whatever that might be allowable where they are . We actually need to be doing all of them, the social distancing, the hand washing, and we need to be wearing facial coverings. The reason why that is weve learned over the course of this epidemic, there is asymptomatic spread meaning people dont know theyre infected, they dont have symptoms yet. If we relax social distancing, they may be going out and infeblting members of the community that otherwise wouldnt have been impacted. So facial coverings, i recommend that everyone wear them when they go out at least for the next few weeks until we get better information, absolutely. Dr. White, i want to ask you about something that continues to get a lot of attention this morning, what we heard during President Trumps Coronavirus Task force briefing last night. Were not going to play the sound bite again. Frankly what the president said was dangerous and could even be deadly. As you know, he suggested exploring disinfectants as a possible treatment for the virus. The company that makes lysol has since issued this statement warning against ingesting disinfectants. We notice webmd already issued a warning against this before the president s remarks. Can you give us just the medical experts take on that suggestion . Sure. Craig, i looked at a report earlier today wanting to point out theres actually been a 20 increase in calls to Poison Control Centers before this. This was done in march, and we covered it in a story, of people just getting overly ambitious in cleaning and using colhlorine a bleach and other chemicals in a small environment with their windows closed and doors closed and had toxic fumes. We also heard about children drinking hand sanitizing which is alcoholbased, which can cause problems. So there is no reason under any circumstance that people should ingest these disinfectants. Our throat and our lungs have very fragile membranes. So having anything that is an irritant or toxic are going to cause more problems. We were seeing that last month, and thats what we reported on at webmd. Im concerned that some folks are going to hear this, and with all good intention, they want to protect themselves, theyre going to make the wrong decision. I saw a patient the other day who had ear wax, and thats something that we all get. She had heard somewhere that if you microwave Hydrogen Peroxide and put it in your ear, it will be better. That turned out to be a bad outcome. Im concerned were going to see some bad outcomes if people start swallowing some of these chemicals or putting them on their face and their skin. Its going to cause burns and blisters. Not a good idea. All right dr. Whyte, thank you. Garrett haake, dont go far. Stay close. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will be giving that briefing today around 11 30. When it happens, we will, of course, bring it to you live. Ill also introduce you to a Police Captain who is a native son of the neighborhood he now serves. Its part of queens thats an epicenter of this pandemic. Were dodging invisible bullets. We cant see the threat coming at us. , we need each other more than ever. We may be apart, but were not alone. Use Aarp Community connections to find or create a Mutual Aid Group near you. Stay connected and help those in need. To find or create a Mutual Aid Group near you. A lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. 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I had the chance to talk with the newly promoted Police Captain who is tasked with leading a force in one of the hardest hit areas of our country. Youre looking at the beating heart of the pandemic, elmhurst queens. Beneath those rooftops, bunched up endlessly are families in an area that is among the hardest hit in the country. In the middle of it all, the 110 police precinct, captain john tremali took over. You have an Elderly Population here as well. I think thats one of the main issues were dealing with here, a densely populated area. Within his jurisdiction, elmhurst hospital bursting at the scene with covid19 cases and the makeshift hospital at the National Tennis center. Im struck by the quietness. This is very quiet. Yeah, eerily quiet. This area is usually a bustling neighborhood, heavy residential and heavy commercial at the same time. It feels like a town in upstate new york somewhere. Cap tap cermeli says his officers have gone from handling Law Enforcement to also becoming hazmat workers. When someone dies in his or her home, an officer has to wait with the body until its claimed. In a typical day before covid19 how often would that happen . Possibly maybe once a day. Again, someone with an elderly patient maybe sick at home. And now . Weve seen upwards of about 13. Reporter his officers handle that grim task and more every day. They take precautions, but the nature of their work makes it impossible to keep a safe distance from everyone. Theyre dodging invisible bullets. We cant see the threat coming at us. We can touch this ledge, we can touch someone if we have to go hands on, getting in the car, the car door, these are invisible bullets. Were humans just like everyone else. About 60 officers have needed to call out sick. The nypd has been able to backfill current manpower shortages with administrative staff. The department has also suffered irreplaceable losses, 31 members so far. That includes detective ray abare. Well do our best to be there for the department and for his family. He joined the force right after the attacks of september 11th. Now he says its like experiencing 9 11 every day. Passing elmhurst hospital. This is in the heart of everything going on for this pandemic for the whole world. There are signs of hope, though, like Police OfficerLaura Cantatore who tested positive for covid19 and was out of work for three weeks. Now shes recovered and reporting for duty. Everybody has been super supportive. Definitely happy to see us come back after recovering from covid. God forbid, if anybody gets it, they can make a recovery and come back as well. Thats the thing these men and women in uniform are like any of us, except they put on a uniform when they go to work and when they come home. This is my new front door here because this is how i have to go in my house here. I go in here, shoes off, shirt off, everything, my daughter, my son, they want to give me a hug. Its air hugs for now. A husband, a father, a captain of the nypd on the front lines. Captain cermeli told me about half of those 60 officers who were out sick have recovered and were back on active duty. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo expected to start his Daily Briefing a few minutes from now. Well take you there live when it happens. Meanwhile, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of michigan briefing right nou, and the governor of michigan just announcing the stayathome order in that state will remain in place at least until may 15th. She has extended the stayathome order in michigan despite the protests, despite the calls to reopen large swaths of that state. Governor Gretchen Whitmer there providing a briefing. Governor cuomo expected to provide his briefing in just a few minutes. Well take you there live perhaps on the other side of this break. This is msnbc. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . 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Mcconnells suggestion that the federal government should let struggling states go bankrupt. It set cuomo off. He called it, quote, one of the really dumb ideas of all time. New york puts in more money to the federal pot than it takes out. His state takes out more than it puts in. Senator mcconnell, whos getting bailed out here . Its your state that is living on the money that we generate. So this tension point hits on a much bigger issue from states and cities about how theyll pay the very people keeping us safe during this pandemic. Its a story our Garrett Haake has been following. I want to hand the conversation over to him right now, and also to Nbcs Leigh Ann Caldwell for a moment. Reporter craig, thank you very much. Money for states and local governments was supposed to be part of the original c. A. R. E. S. Act. Democrats talked about adding it to this mini relief bill passed just yesterday. Theres been discussion about doing it in the next round. But Mitch Mcconnell says were in this mess, i know from being in texas ive talked to mayors who are very concerned about not being able to pay their firefighters, their Police Officers, their other front line workers should this crisis continue. Leigh ann, id love to know, whats the sense from other members of congress including on the republican side. Do they see this as a red state and blue state issue or is there momentum for in the next round trying to help out these struggling cities and states. Reporter garrett, lets start with the democrats. Obviously the democrats are immensely disagreeing with Mitch Mcconnell on this. Senator schumer said yesterday, he called it absurd. Yesterday when i was on the hill, i also talked to representative slotkin of michigan. Her state has been really hit hard by coronavirus. She called it wrongheaded of Mitch Mcconnell. Whats also really notable is the silence from republicans, though. Theres no one who is really coming out and defending Mitch Mcconnell strongly on this issue. There are some conservatives, though, who do agree with him, but theyre not the prevailing voice among republicans on capitol hill. Youve heard from some including representative peter king of new york. Of course his state is going through this crisis, who really criticized mcconnell for this. Its something very political as well. The president wants this and its going to be something heading into november, people trying to win elections and their states dont have enough money, garrett. Ill pick it up, leigh ann, Garrett Haake, thank you as well. This could very welcome up in just a few minutes because Governor Andrew Cuomo is providing that Daily Briefing. Lets listen. Intubations is down again, and they have been down for a while. This is still not great news. Number of new people coming into the hospital, number of new infections is slightly down, but thats basically a flat line, and that is troubling. About 1,200, 1,300 new infect n infections every day. Number of lives lost, still heartbreaking news, 422. Again, this is at an unimaginable level, and its dropping somewhat, but its still devastating news. The question were watching now is, we hit the high point. Were on the way down. How fast does that number come down, and how far does that number drop . We have projections again, like we had projections on what the disease was going to do on the way up the mountain. We have projections on what the disease would do as a rate of decline. But again, theyre just projections. Some projections has it going down and flattening at about 5,000 people in hospitals still. Some projections have the decline slowing between now and june, but these are again all projections, just like they had projections as to how fast and how far the disease would increase. Those projections, as we know, were wrong well, they werent wrong. We didnt hit those projections because of our actions, because of what we did, because of what the federal government did. Luckily the disease did not go as high as they thought in the projections. You now have the corresponding question. How fast is the decline, how low is the decline . And again the variable is going to be what we do. We changed the projection on the way up. We can change the projection on the way down. But its purely dependent on what we do. Are we socially distancing, are we testing, how fast do we reopen, how do we reopen. You answer those questions and you will determine what the rate of decline is. If you say, well, were done, cant stay in the house anymore, lets just reopen, just start business tomorrow, lets go. What happens . Thats what happens. All the progress we made is gone and all experts or virtually all experts will say, not only does the virus spread increase, but it increases to a higher point than we had increased the first time. Again, this is a remarkably effective virus at spreading and growing. So i know everyone is impatient. Lets just reopen. Thats what happens if we just reopen. So we have to be smart. People are also talking about a second wave, potential of a second wave. People are talking about potential for the virus to come back in the fall, which means the game isnt over, which means the game could be just at halftime. So lets make sure were learning the lessons of what has happened thus far, and lets make sure were being truthful with ourselves. Not that were deceiving anyone else, but lets make sure were not deceiving ourselves. What has happened . What should we learn from as far as what has happened thus far so we make sure we dont make the same mistakes again . And lets do that now. This was our first Global Pandemic. Welcome. There had been people who talked about Global Pandemics before. Bill gates had talked about the potential of a Global Pandemic. During the Obama Administration they talked about being prepared for a Global Pandemic, but it was almost always an academic exercise. What if, what if, what if. Once it happens, once it actualizes for people, then its different. Then people get it. We now know that a Global Pandemic is not just a textbook exercise. Its not just a tabletop exercise. It can happen. And when it happens, its devastating. And lets just learn from what happened on the first one. Lets just get the basic lesson of what happened on the first one. Last november and december, we knew china had a virus outbreak. You could read about it in the newspapers, everybody new. January 26th, we know we had the first confirmed case in seattle, washington and in california. February 2nd, the president ordered a travel ban from china. March 1st, we have the first confirmed case in the state of new york. By march 19th new york state is totally closed down. No state moved faster from first case to closedown than the state of new york. March 16th we have a full travel ban from europe. Researchers now find, and they report in some newspapers the virus was spreading wildly in italy in february and there was an outbreak, massive outbreak in italy in february. Researchers now say there were likely 28,000 cases in the United States in february, including 10,000 cases in the state of new york. And the coronavirus flu virus that came to new york did not come from china. It came from europe. When you look at the number of flights that came from europe to new york, the new york metropolitan area, new york and new jersey during january, february, up to the closedown, 13,000 flights bringing 2. 2 Million People. So november, december, you have the outbreak in china everybody knows. January, february flights are coming from europe. People are also coming from china in january until china closed down, and the flights continue to come from europe until europe shutdown. 2. 2 Million People come to new york and come to new jersey. We acted two months after the china outbreak. When you look back, does anyone think the virus was still in china waiting for us to act two months later . We all talk about the Global Economy and how fast people move and how mobile we are. How can you expect that when you act two months after the outbreak in china the virus was only in china waiting for us to act . The horse had already left the barnaby the time we moved. Knowing the amount of flights comi coming to new york from italy was like watching a horrible train wreck in slow motion. Those were the flights coming from europe january and february. We closed the front door with the china travel ban which was right, even in retrospect it was right, but we left the back door open because the virus had left china by the time we did the china travel ban. Thats what the researchers are now saying with 28,000 cases in the United States, 10,000 in new york. So what is the lesson . An outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. When you see november and december, an outbreak in china, just assume the next day its in the United States. When they say its in china, just assume that virus got on a plane that night and flew to new york or flew to Newark Airport and its now in new york. That has to be the operating mentality because you dont know that the virus didnt get on a pla plane. All you need is one person to get on that plane in china and come to new york. The way this virus transfers, thats all you need. You cant assume two months later the virus is still going to be sitting on a park bench in china waiting for you to get there. Thats the lesson. Again, why do we need to learn the lesson . Because theyre talking about this happening again with this virus where it could mutate in china and get on a plane and come right back or the next virus or the next pandemic. Whose job is it to warn us of these Global Pandemics . The president says its the world health organization, and thats why hes taken action against them. Not my field. But hes right to ask the question because this was too little, too late. And lets find out what happened so it doesnt happen again. And it will happen again. Bank on it. Lets not put our hand in the sand and say this is the only Global Pandemic that well ever have to deal with. In the meantime, lets keep moving forward. One of the things were working on is how do we clean, how do we disinfect, were talking about reopening. We still have Public Transit systems running. We still have buses running. Weve been working on how to come up with new cleaning and disinfecting protocol. I asked a some question to our team a few days ago, how long does the virus live . Its something we need to know, but frankly, i think its something Everybody Needs to know. The virus can live up to 72 hours on plastic surfaces and stainless steel surfaces. Just think about this from a transit point of view or from your car point of view. It can live on a vinyl car seat up to 72 hours. It can live on a pole in a bus or on a seat in a bus for up to 72 hours, up to 24 hours on cardboard, up to four hours on materials like copper, and the droplets can hang in the air for three hours. This was a shocker to me. When they were talking about droplets, i thought tfs a droplet and then it falls, right . Its a droplet that can hang in the air for three hours. I dont even know how that works. Many of the people who spread it are showing no symptoms at all. So just factor that in in your daily life when youre going through your own precautions. Were also going to do the state finance report this week. And what youre going to see is what we expected, roughly 13. 3 billion shortfall from our forecast. Total effect all over the period of the Financial Plan is 61 billion. Now, what happened . New york state was not, quote, unquote, in trouble before this happened. New york state was very, very strong before this happened. Our economy was growing. It was growing at a very high rate. Our Government Spending has been at record lows. The spending increases. Our taxes today are lower than the day i took office. People say youre a democrat, how can that be . Theyre numbers. Tax rates on individuals, businesses are lower today than the day i took office, every tax rate, as incredible as that sounds, is lower today than the day i took office. So the state finances were very, very strong. And then this economic tsunami hits and you shut down all the businesses, everybody stays home, theyre not getting a paycheck. They feel the economic anxiety. The consequence to the state is the revenue projections are way down. What do we do about it . Some people have suggested, well, states should declare bankrupt bankruptcy. I think, as i said yesterday, its a really dumb idea. People are trying to talk about bringing the economy back, reopen, we have to get the economy moving again. And then rather than provide Financial Aid to the states that got hit by this economic tsunami through no fault of their own, the suggestion was made states should declare bankruptcy. A few problems with that premise. Forget the morality of it and the ethics of it and the absurdity of it and the meanness of it. Legally, a state cant declare bankruptcy. You would need a federal law allowing states to declare bankruptcy. So to the senate that proposed it, i say pass a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy. I dare you. And let the president sign that bill that says, i give the states the legal ability to declare bankruptcy. Its your suggestion, senator mcconnell. Pass the law, i dare you. And then go to the president and say sign this bill allowing states to declare bankruptcy. You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble. You want to send an International Message that the economy is in turmoil, do that. Allow states to declare bankruptcy legally because you passed the bill. It will be the first time in our nations history that that happened. I dare you to do that. And then well see how many states actually take you up on it. I know i wouldnt. But if you believe what you said, and you have the courage of conviction because youre a man of your word, pass that bill. If you werent just playing politics. Well see how long it takes him to do it. Also moving on, voting, we still have makes no sense to me to tell people you have to put your life at risk, violate social distancing to come out to vote. So we passed an executive order that said you can vote by absentee. Today im asking the board of elections to send every new york voter a whats called a automatically receives a postage paid application for a ballot. If you want to vote, we should send you a ballot so you can vote and you dont have to come out and get online. Looking ahead, more testing. Were making great progress on that. New york state is doing more testing than any state in the country right now. New york state is doing more tests than any country per capita on the is globe right now. That is what will educate our moving forward. Watch the spread of the virus. Its getting warmer. More people will be coming out of their homes. Thats going to happen farrelly. Watch that spread. Testing gives you those numbers on an ongoing basis. Maintain social distancing. Also, plan on a reopening, and not just reopening what was. We went through this horrific experience. It should be a period of growth. It should be a period of reflection. If were smart and we use it that way, there are lessons to learn here. If were smart and we have the courage to look in the mirror. He went through 9 11. We were smarter for it. We went through world war ii. We were the better for it. We went through superstorm sandy. We learned, we grew and are the better for it. We should do the same thing here. People totally changed their lifestyle. What have we learned . How can we have a Better Health care system that can actually handle Public Health emergencies . How do we have a better Transportation System . How do we have a smarter telemedicine system . How do we use technology and education better. Why do some children have to go to a parking lot to get wifi to do their homework . How do we learn from this and how do we grow . And let new york lead the way because were new york tough, but new york tough when they say were tough, yeah, were tough, but we think tough incorporates being smart and being disciplined and being unified and being loving. Last point im going to make, and this is just personal, its not factual, my grandmother on my fathers side, mary, was a beautiful woman but tough. She was a tough lady. Shes new york tough. Gone through the depression, early immigrant, worked hard all of her life. She was a little roughune. I would say you know, grandma, i met this girl, i met this guy. And she said theyre really nice. She said nice . How do you know theyre nice . Its easy to be nice when everything is nice. I said grandma, what does that mean . She said, you know when you know if theyre nice . When things get hard. Thats when you know theyre nice. And i never really got it. But her point was its easy to be nice and kind and affable wheth when everything is easy. You really get to see people and see character when things get hard. And when the pressure is on is when you really get to see true colors of a person and see what theyre made of. Its almost as if the pressure just forces their character. And the weaknesses explode or the strengths explode. And thats what weve gone through. This has been hard. Its put everyone under pressure. And you really see what people are made of. You really have a snapshot of what individuals are made of and what we are made of as a collective. Personally, ill tell you the truth, some people break your heart. They just break your heart. People who i thought would rise to the occasion, people who i thought were strong, under pressure, they just crumbled. They just crumbled. On the other hand, you see people who you didnt expect anything from, who just rise to the occasion. And you see the best and you see the worst. You just see the best and the worst of humanity just comes up to the surface. On both ends. It just everything gets elevated. The strength in people and the weakness in people. The beauty in people and the ugliness in people. You see both. For me, the beauty you see and the strength that you see compensates and balances for the weakness. And i get inspired by the strength so i can tolerate the heartbreak of the weakness. In a letter that i received that just sums it up. Dear mr. Cuomo, i seriously doubt that you will ever read this letter, as i know you are busy beyond belief with the disaster that has befallen our country. We are a nation in crisis. Of that there is no doubt. I am a retired farmer hunkered down in northeast kansas with my wife, who has but one lung and occasional problems with her remaining lung. She also has diabetes. We are in our 70s now, and, frankly, i am afraid for her. Enclosed find a solitary n95 mask left over from my farming days. Its never been used. If you could, would you please give this mask to a nurse or a doctor in your state . I have kept four masks for my immediate family. Please keep on doing what you do so well. Sincerely, dennis and sharon. A farmer in northeast kansas, his wife has one lung and diabetes. He has five masks. He sends one mask to new york for a doctor or a nurse and keeps four masks. You want to talk about a snap sho shot of humanity. You have five masks. What do you do . Do you keep all five . Do you hide the five masks . Do you keep them for yourselves or others . No. You send one mask, one mask to new york to help a nurse or a doctor. How beautiful is that . I mean, how selfless is that . How giving is that . You know, thats the nursing home in miss ka oona that sent 100 ventilators down to new york city when they needed them. Its that love, that courage, that generosity of spirit that makes this country so beautiful. And makes americans so beautiful. And its that generosity of spirit, for me, that makes up for all of the ugliness that you see. Take one mask. I will keep four. God bless america. Questions . Governor, what is the name of the president s suggestions for research in suggesting uv rays for Covid Treatment . I dont know much about uv rays. Not my job, not my business, not my education, not my background. Dr. Zucker, what do you know about uv rays . I thinking anything when it comes to bleach, these are chemicals you would not ingest. As you know, we make sure our kids do not go into cabinets that have these chemicals in them so you need to stay away from those products. Have you heard anything from the president how he might help new york with supply chain issues when it comes to testing . Yes. Thats what weve been talking about the past two days. That i had a meeting in the white house and the president and his team are going to work on that supply chain issue for the National Manufacturers to get the reagents, test kits, so they can provide our commercial labs here no new york. And we want to go from a goal of were now doing about 20,000 a day. We want to go to 40,000 a day. About the mailin vote for the june 23rd primaries, people on the left and right are saying it may not be a good idea because the board of elections is not up to carrying out this task. So would polls still be open for people to go to . Yes. Polls will be open. And you think the board of elections can iron out their problems . Karen, life is options. You have an election. There are only two options, either people go to the polls or people vote by absentee. Theres no other way to do it, right . Were saying you have both options. You can go to the poll, or you can vote absentee. I dont know what else anyone can expect anyone to do. Is are you mailing an absentee excuse me. What is the other option . People on the left and the right are unhappy. Yes. What do they recommend . All right. There are only two things. You h