A new look at the toll that this pandemic is taking on our economy. In addition to the more than 30 million unemployed americans, retail sales dropped 16. 4 , the biggest drop on record. About n hour from now, President Trump expected to talk about Vaccine Development in the rose garden. When it happens, well take you there live. As always, we have our doctor on duty with us, dr. Jennifer pena, a former white house physician. We also have our reporters spread out across the country as states and businesses figure out what it looks like to open back up. We start in wisconsin this morning because many bars, restaurants and shops there in wisconsin are all back open for business today. But instead of that phased reopening, many businesses quickly opened back up after the Supreme Court struck down the governors stayathome restrictions. Already some places have been packed with folks, bars specifically. Many folks not wearing masks, really testing the limits of social distancing as well. Nbcs Shaquille Brewster is in downtown waukesha, wisconsin, just outside milwaukee with more on how that city, that state is reopening. Shaq, what are you seeing there in wisconsin this morning . How are people reacting to that Supreme Court decision there . Reporter craig, theres still a lot of confusion with the Supreme Court decision. That came by surprise to many people. What youre seeing in different parts of the state there are different rules and regulations. Were here in waukesha, for example. There are no restrictions. You dont have any restrictions to bars. The county executive here is suggesting that folks follow what the guidelines are, but its really up to them what they want to do. While you have daves restaurant which is fully open and allowing people to come in and sit, you this doughnut shop here, bobby is the owner, and you guys arent allowing that, not letting people come in and sit down. We have two locations. In Milwaukee County we cant fully open yet, so its strictly carryout and pickup only. We dont want to conflict both businesses and people thinking milwaukee is safe and we dont want to be ticketed or fined over there. As well as there was not enough planning for us. We just learned basically this morning. We start working at night, early mornings, and there was no time to prepare. We want to make sure its safe inside where we distance the seating and make sure its enough safe for us and the customers, too. Reporter craig, what bobby is referencing, in Milwaukee County, the hot zone of the coronavirus outbreak in the state, their restriction, their saferathome order is still in place. You have another shop here in waukesha where you can do whatever you want. You also mentioned, its not a matter of safety for customers, but also your employees, many of whom havent been able to come into work. Correct. A lot of them are college students, especially in our milwaukee location. The colleges are closed. Theres no dorms open either. The scheduling conflict with getting them back to work, knowing that we were it was may 26th. We told them to prepare for june. And now technically we could open now. Theres no way we can tell them, hey, we need you tomorrow. It still takes a lot of preparation and organizing still to get it going. Bobby, thank you very much. You have some customers. Get back to them. Thank you for stepping out for us. Reporter craig, thats what youre hearing from many Business Owners where there was a confusion about what they could do. One city in wisconsin, after the Supreme Court had their decision, the city opened up and people started coming out to bars. Then the city leaders said, lets extend the saferathome and then they reversed it that night. People and businesses are not sure what to do. As of now its county by county. Business owners and people are asked and told to listen to what their county officials and the town officials are saying. Craig. Sounds like a patchwork of rules and lastminute changing of the minds leading to confusion there in waukesha. Shaq, thank you. Lets take a look at two communities that are not only on opposite sides of the country, but opposite sides of the spectrum in dealing with this pandemic. In maricopa county, arizona, the governors stayathome order expires today. In the other, Beaver County, pennsylvania, things have been shut down and people in beaver are not happy about it. So the county is reopening today without the states approval. This is all part of our meet the press countytocounty project, keeping close tabs on five different communities to understands the fault lines in those communities that will very much define the president ial race in november. Were live in two of those counties. Nbcs Vaughn Hillyard is live in maricopa county. Nbcs dasha burns is in the aforementioned Beaver County, pennsylvania. Vaughn, arizona reporting 30 new deaths just thursday, but its still reopening and so is that water park where you are, it would seem, correct . Reporter craig, you can see essentially arizona is open at that point. The stayathome order is expiring today. In just two hours this water park will be opening in mesa. They are expanding their operations here at this water park. Youve got the dragon tail slides, the bonsai slides, the storm rider slide. This is an operation that normally welcomes 1200 to 1600 over the course of the day. The operators say theyll have it at just 50 capacity. The question is how many folks are going to show up . Gyms are opening, restaurants are open. Retail locations are now open. Theyre taking this seriously they have a pa system encouraging folks to say socially distant. Youre seeing here over these next couple hours a big question mark in the state. Folks in arizona have been cooped up at home largely for the last two months. This is a moment. We should note the city of phoenix will be keeping its public pools closed, 29 pools closed at least into june. There are some choosing to stay closed. Other ones like sun splash watermark in mesa, are choosing to go forward. Vaughn hillyard at the water park that is reopening mesa. Dasha, things different for Beaver County, pennsylvania, the lone county in the southwestern part of that state that still doesnt have the goahead from the governor to open. Thats not stopping them, huh . Reporter craig, this has been a real struggle for the businesses along this main strip in beaver, these small mom and pop shops that have been caught in the crossfire between state and local governments, craig. County officials here say they feel left out and left behind by the governor. So theyve taken matters into their own hands. Theyve told the businesses, if they want to move from that most restricted red phase and into the yellow phase of reopening like the rest of the counties here, they can go ahead and do so without consequence from the county level. As weve been Walking Around here, were not zeeing a whole lot of businesses taking them up on that offer. Take wildwood boutique here, for example. They were ready to open their doors today. As we can see, the lights are not on. Take a listen to what the owner here, danielle trent, told me. We were going to open friday, and then we heard that our business license could be revoked, might be revoked, and thats just a risk im not willing to take. Im very confused. I dont know whats going on. Honestly i think as a community and i mean that just by this street i think were all waiting for the other one to open. I dont want to be the very first one, but i dont want to be the very last one. Reporter craig, the governor is supposed to announce more counties that are going to be allowed to move into that yellow phase of reopening today. Let me tell you, the residents and Business Owners here in beaver sure hope that Beaver County is on that list, craig. Confusion, confusion in beaver. Dasha burns, thank you. People all over the country are getting creative, whether its eating on a tighter budget, cooking more at home or even heading to the drivethrough. Its the way to pick up a quick meal while staying in your car. Fast food joints, a 250 billion industry in the united states, and they are taking on a new look to adapt to this pandemic. Nbcs joe fryer is covering that part of the story for us. Joe, the next time we walk into a mcdonalds or a burger king, its going to look different, huh. Reporter youre definitely going to notice some changes, craig. Fast food chains for the most part have been able to keep their drivethroughs open with some changes like reducing contact with customers. Now theyre making even more changes as they prepare for the next stage, reopening their dining rooms. Take a look. Mcdonalds customers can already drive through. Now in some places they can dine in. The chain is gradually reopening dining rooms in places where its allowed. Its an opportunity mixed with some fear in there, but i think were getting on the other side of where we need to be. Reporter Tracy Johnstone owns seven mcdonts restaurants in florida. She also leads a task force that developed a 59page guide for owners setting conditions for reopening. We have screens installed in all our locations and front count counters. Reporter she took this video, selfserve soda fountains will be closed or monitored by an employee. You cannot make your own drink. Reporter theyll sanitize digital key os, and tables and chairs each uses. Floor decals keep guests six feet apart. So we can accommodate multiple people. Reporter some tables are off limits. How do you handle the guests who dont want to cooperate with social distancing guidelines . Weve got some really good coaching in place for our teams to engage with those guests. Reporter mcdonalds has about 14,000 locations in the u. S. Most like this one in l. A. County are not open for dining. So far nearly 100 restaurants have opened their dining rooms and more will gradually follow as states ease their restrictions, but ultimately the choice is up to each owner. Other fast food chains are opening inside, including Restaurant Brands international which owns burger king, popeyes and tim hortons. Dinein is now open at some locations. Well see demand rising and we think it will be measured and we want it done responsibly and safely. Reporter theyre spacing tables, shuttering employees must wash their hands an change gloves at least every half hour. Weve heightened hand washing and sanization on a more frequent basis. Preparing for the next phase of fast food, a whopper of an undertaking. Of course, all the restaurants we spoke with say their employees are wears masks and gloves and doing regular temperature checks. Mcdonalds has made it clear that owners can decide when they are ready and when their teams are ready to reopen once local officials give the okay. Its not going to be some big national thing where they all have to open at once. They need to do it when they feel comfortable. Craig. All right. Joe fryer for us there in california, thanks so much. Lets bring in the doctor on duty for this friday, dr. Jennifer pena, a former white house physician in the obama administration. She was also Vice President mike pences personal physician for a while. First, lets start with what we just heard, dr. Pena. In wisconsin youve got folks who were packing into bars, theyre backing in and throwing them back, bars, restaurants, now some fast food restaurants, reopening for dinein. If someone is going to take that chance, what are some steps you would recommend to try to minimize the risk for them and for the folks who are serving them . Good morning, craig. And thank you for inviting me back. Chaos, confusion, lack of leadership and guidance. Thats what i hear with all these stories. Heres the three things i would urge our state governments as well as businesses to focus in on. Are the numbers declining, number one . Do we have the Health Care Capacity . Do we have the testing and Contact Tracing . In terms of the numbers declining, the most recent models are indicating that were going to see a spike through august potentially, almost double the amount of deaths weave seen thus far. Thats insane amounts of people that might lose their lives. So we have to remember, are we willing to accept the risk, the tradeoff of human life to potentially prematurely open business. I would urge folks to keep that in mind when making those decisions. Many terms of Health Care Capacity, i dont just mean equipment ventilators, infrastructure, hospital beds. I also mean the adequacy of the ppe. As you probably heard dr. Brights testimony to congress this week, a lot of the ppe n95 masks specifically procured overseas are only offering 30 effectiveness to protect Health Care Workers and patients. Ive got to tell you, craig, im about to go into shift this evening. That doesnt give me the warm and fuzzies going in in terms of protecting myself, my family and ultimately other patients in the hospital. So we have to keep that in mind as businesses are using personal protective equipment, how good is that and how capable are we in terms of health care to take care of patients that might potentially get ill. Finally, Contact Tracing, very important as a Public Health exercise. As we see spikes when we open business, how are we going to contain those . I urge the governments to follow the examples of virginia, for example. The department of health hired 1300 folks just to focus on Contact Tracing. Thats the kind of initiative we have to take across the states as we open up. Dr. Pena, on this program weve talked a bit about this frightening illness showing up in children and linked to covid19. The cdc now alerting doctors to be on the lookout for it, report it to local health officials. What more can you tell us about that . Very scary, right . We thought that children were safer than adults. We always knew they could be asymptomatic carriers, but now were seeing more children manifest disease. This pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome or kawasakilike illness, affects the vessels, the arteries. It can cause inflammation of these arteries throughout the body. It can affect the heart and cause severe illness and, as we know, death in a handful of kids out of new york and also in europe. So symptoms are kind of nonspecific. But parents have to be very vigilant. Things like fever, abdominal pain, pink tongue, redness of the eyes, things of that nature. If your child manifests any of those symptoms in an overabundance of caution, i would urge parents to contact pediatricians and Health Care Providers immediately. As we know, children might have been exposed in the past and manifest this condition, these symptoms after the fact. Dr. Pena, before i let you go apologies in advance for putting you on the spot, but, again, at one point you were personal physician to the Vice President. Weve seen him on a number of occasions Walking Around without a mask on in public despite the guidelines in a number of places. What do you make of that . If he were still your patient, would you call him and say, hey, dude, put on the mask . Yes, absolutely. Hes heard things like that from me before in other instances regarding other medical issues. I know hes getting appropriate guidance. I have all the faith in the world in the white house medical unit and my colleagues, that hes getting the appropriate recommendations and guidance. But ultimately, the decision is personal. Leadership comes from the top. Thats my motto. You have to lead by example. If the federal government is putting out guidance that this is the measures that we have to take for citizens, to protect ourselves and protect this country, then, again, leadership has to come from the top and we have to lead by example. I would tell him to put on the mask. Dr. Pena, thank you. Do stand by for me again. Our doctor on duty for the hour. Throughout this crisis we continue to see countless examples of american heroes. People going above and beyond to help folks in need. The latest example is a couple who dropped everything to sail to new york city and live on their boat while lending a hand. As cases in the city skyrocketed, registered nurse Rachel Hartley knew her skills were needed. She and her husband didnt want to take the chance of getting infected by flying, so they hopped on the sailboat and traveled 260 nautical miles from lynchburg, virginia, to brooklyn, new york. Shes been working at it all. Its been the hardest working environment ive ever been in. Theres so many factors contributing to that, which is the mortality rate, seeing so many people die. Rachels contract goes until june. She says shell stay as long as shes needed. Another bright side to the story, the marina where shes docked, 15 brooklyn, would usually charge 12,000 a month thats right, 12,000 a month theyve waived their fee for her. We just got another stark example of the toll all this is taking on the economy, a historic drop in retail sales. Up next, well go through the numbers and look at what it could tell us about where things are headed. Also, just got word that new York Governor Andrew Cuomo will be delivering the Daily Briefing of his roughly ten to 15 minutes from now. When that starts, we will take you there live. In this time of social distancing, when taking a break from everyday life is critical to everyones health, there is one thing we can all do together complete the 2020 census. Your responses are critical to plan for the next 10 years of health care, infrastructure, and education. Lets make a difference, together, by taking a few minutes to go online to 2020census. Gov. Its for the wellbeing of your community and will help shape americas future. Our bargain detergent couldnt keep up. With us. And will help shape americas future. Turns out its mostly water. So, we switched back to tide. One wash, stains are gone. Daughter slurping dont pay for water. Pay for clean. Its got to be tide. We start now with this his tore drop in retail sales. Up next, were going to take you through the numbers where things are headed, what these numbers could tell us about where things are headed. Theres also, stand by for me for a moment here. Okay. There we are. The monthly report on Consumer Spending showing for the month of april sales took the biggest drop on record. They fell 16. 4 . That beats the 8 drop for the month of march. Its worse than what economists initially predicted. Nbcs jo ling kent covers business and tech for us. She joins us now. Jo, walk us through these numbers and what do these numbers say about the state of our economy . Craig, it says our economy is in a big hole right now. Its just that simple. If you look at the april numbers for retail sales, the drop was twice as bad as march, and comparing april to a year ago, were actually down about double digits here, no doubt about it. Then, take a look at factory output activity. Thats also a huge drop, more than 10 . Thats the worst in over a century. So what this says is that Consumer Spending drives the majority of our economy, right . You need that consumer confidence. You need businesses to be open for the number to hold steady or grow. Thats not what happened in april. Its the first full month where we saw full closures when it came to the stayathome orders. Youre hearing from retailers, and were talking to retailers who are legal really feeling this consequence and you have j. Crew, Neiman Marcus accelerated into filing for bankruptcy. Jc penney could file as early as today, although the company is not commenting on that. The reality is grave and you have a lot of people who are furloughed who may be out of work permanently. This retail sales number is one number, but it says a whole lot about where we are, craig. We talk about all these Department Stores and big box retailers going out of business. We dont always talk about the folks who work there who will suffer as a result. Jo, thanks so much for that. The Entertainment Industry taking a huge hit right now. Many of us wish we could see our favorite singers, favorite performance do it live. The pandemic is also costing a lot of people in that industry their jobs, the people who keep those shows running. I talked to Country Music star john rich from big rich about that part of the story. How do you socially distance 20 though people. Its not just big rich. Talking bus drivers, light guys, sound guys, band members, caters, promoters. Theres thousands of people sometimes that work on some of these big festivals that normally would be going on right now. Theres no end in sight really is the answer to that as to when that gets to happen again. This also affects all the folks working to keep theaters running. Nbcs ron allen is live in the heart of broadway with that part of this story. Ron, what are you hearing about broadways future . Reporter well, its kind of not as bright as the lights usually are on broadway. Its pretty dim. The problem, all this is still closed down. Theres ordinarily,000 sabds and thousands of people down here. Everyone is closed down. Theres no one here. The latest word from broadway is theaters will be closed at least through labor day and perhaps longer through that. With broadway dark at least through summer, settle in with the stars on stage from home. Reporter the entire great white way extending whats already its longest intermission ever. The Spring Season scrapped in mid march. Its been about two months since i was last out in this area. How does it feel to be out on broadway . A little lonely. Where are all the people. Reporter thats tony award winner brian stokes mitchell, most recently seen appearing from his new york apartment window, urging the city on as he himself recovered from a bout with covid19. He knows its going to be tough for broadway to stage its next act. Live entertainment will be one of the last sectors i think to really come back. Reporter you certainly cant social distance on a stage . No, its together. We dance on each other, sweat on each other, spit on each other, hug and kiss each other on stage. Reporter he says small audiences wont buy enough tickets to cover costs. A broadway run, 300,000 a week for a play and twice that for a musical. Sitting apart would destroy the magic. Even though you have your own place, youre still having this Group Experience with other people that youre sharing the arm rests with, laughing together with, experiencing the vision thats happening on the stage. The hardest part is that there are many shows that may not reopen. Reporter charlotte saint martin fierce audiences wont come back until theres more widespread testing, effective treatment or a vaccine. This glorious form of art totally dependent on science. Every day it changes. We could be looking at september. We could be looking at january. We could be looking at next spring. Reporter a staggering economic hit on broadway and beyond. Some 97,000 workers depend on the theaters to earn a living, from kafrt r carpeters, ushers, suv voo souvenir sellers down the street. Reporter michael was olaf in frozen, now hoping his Unemployment Benefits and Health Insurance hold out. In these times of real strife in the theater business, i dont know how long that money will last. You walk by the theaters as well, to see no activity in front of those, its kind of heartbreaking. Reporter is there any doubt in your mind that broadway will come back strong . It will be strong eventually, absolutely, i think so. How long will that take is what we dont know. Reporter its anyones guess when the show might go back on. We just learned of the First Casualty. Frozen announced it will not be coming back, ran almost two years, 800 shows. 65 of the people who buy these tickets are tourists. So people have to feel comfortable enough to get on a plane, a train come here, stay in a hotel, buy one of those expensive tickets to go to broadway. A lot of challenges ahead. Even though theyre saying theyre looking at labor day, its probably going to be sometime later than that. What it will look like, what the theater experience will look like is still really in doubt. Craig. Ron, youve got a daughter, ive got a daughter. Frozen being the First Casualty is especially sad. I looked forward to taking my 3yearold to see ana. Ron allen, thank you for that. We are again waiting on Governor Andrew Cuomo to start that Daily Briefing. When the governor starts there in albany, well bring it to you live. Also, a promising trial in the search for a vaccine, but dont call it a breakthrough just yet. Up next well head across the pond to the uk to get a look at what a team of researchers there have been up to. About 30 minutes from now, President Trump is expected to talk about Vaccine Development. Hell do it from the rose garden. Will he actually be making an announcement. Well go to the white house for a preview as well. In america, the zip code youre born in can determine your future. The y helps fill the opportunity gap with Education Programs for all. For a better us, donate to your local y today. Youre constantly weakening that enamel structure. Pronamel repair allows more minerals to penetrate deep into the enamel layer and it repairs it. It is pretty phenomenal. And it repairs it. The first fdaapproved tremfya® can help adults with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. Most patients who saw 90 clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. In another study, the majority of tremfya® patients saw 90 clearer skin at 3 years. Tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Tremfya®. Uncover clearer skin that can last. Janssen can help you explore cost support options. No uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the state capital updating the situation. Lets listen in. Number of new cases up, we dont like to see that, but its only up a tick. Again, these numbers tend to bounce, but its been a slow decline. Theres no doubt about that. You see theres been several plateaus in the decline. We are very curious to find out where that number winds up, how low the new cases go. Weve done a lot of research, as you know. Those new cases mostly coming from people who are at home. Were talking about home spread, more than at work, more than first responders, more than essential personnel, and thats the hardest place to control the spread, is when a person is literally at home. There are very few precautions. Its all about personal behavior. Thats where those cases are coming from. Number of deaths is down, but still painful, 132. We are right about where we were when we started this. Number of lives lost, we go back to march 27th, and thats when we really first started this miserable journal any. Good news again, if you look at new york, our curve is down. Congratulations new yorkers. And actually the curve in the rest of the nation is up. So while cases are increasing across the country, the number of cases in new york are actually going down. Thats remarkable in some ways because we had more cases than anyone else, not because theres anything in particular in the air in new york, but because we had people coming from europe bringing the virus at a time when no one knew the virus moved from china to europe and we had 3 million europeans come january, february, march before we did the ban on european travel. Those flights came to the east coast and they landed at jfk airport which is one of the funnel airports, if you remember. So the problem had nothing to do with us, but we were then tasked with resolving it. New yorkers stepped up to the plate and have done a great job. The question now is on reopening. Were going to open half the regions in the state today, five regions out of ten. They are the regions that meet the knnumerical criteria. Theres no politics to this judgment. Theres no arbitrary nature to this judgment. Its all on the numbers. Seven criteria which basically measure the infection rate, hospitalization rate, testing rate, et cetera. Thats how the decision is made for those regions that dont qualify to open today. Were extending whats called the new york pause order, which is the closedown of services and institutions that have been closed down. If a region hits its benchmark at any time regardless of the pause order, then that region can open. Were opening phase one in those five regions today. Just some points on each of those industries. Residential commercial construction will open. Indoor construction and outdoor. Masks must be worn by employees when theyre six feet from another. They must all have masks. The employer must provide the masks. Any gloves, any equipment that the employees need on that work site must be provided by the employer. Theres no congregate meetings. For retail businesses, Curbside Pickup starts. The employee and the purchaser in the vehicle must be wearing a mask. Anyone in the vehicle must be wearing a mask, gloves are preferred but not mandated, and the employer the store owner must make Hand Sanitizer available. If Curbside Pickup is not practicable, then instore pickup is available, but it is instore pickup, not shopping. Its instore pickup because curbside is not practicable. Nor more than 50 maximum occupancy of that store for people coming there to pick up. Patrons must wear a mask. Store employees must wear a mask. Gloves are preferred. Hand sanitizer has to be made available. For an individuals behavior, people ask, well, what am i supposed to be doing as an individual . Im not a store owner. I dont work construction. I understand as an employee what my requirements are, but just what do i do in normal life . When youre in public and youre within six feet of another person, wear a mask. That is a requirement. Curbside or instore pickup, wear a mask and socially distance. Store owners should not let you in the store for an instore pickup if you dont have a mask. The exception is less than 2 years old or some people for medical reasons cant wear a mask. In a construction or manufacturing setting, the employee must wear a mask whenever they cant socially distance and the employer has to meet certain precautions which they said they would when they reopen under this. In private people ask what should i do . Then you have our best advice, but in private is private. What you do in your home, what you do with your family, what you do with your personal relationships, your friendships, weve talked about exposure to Senior Citizens and how you should be careful to vulnerable populations. There are no government requirements on what you do in your home, sets. The responsibility for local officials and what we call the Regional Control Center, local officials have to enforce Business Compliance and social distancing. These businesses are opening subject to saying they will comply with safety precautions. Local officials have to make sure they are followed. As well as social distancing guidelines for individuals. The Regional Control Center will have a daily morning meeting where they review and monitor the infection, testing and hospitalization rates. I cant stress this enough. Were starting to turn the valve. One of my favorite graphics not saying a heck of a lot starting to turn the activity valve. Watch what happens to the infection rate, testing rate, hospitalization rate. If those numbers start to move, slow down on the activity level. That requires you to monitor the impact of this increase in public activity. You will see an increase. We expect to see an increase, but that increase has to be monitored and has to be controll controlled. Weve talked about the infection rate, the rate of transmission. When the rate of transmission hits 1. 1, youre headed towards a bad place. So monitor that rate daily and correct immediately if you see an increase in those numbers. Beaches, weve talked about coordinating with other states, and this has happened in other parts of the country, other parts of the world, also. We are one multistate region. What one state does will affect other states. That is probably nowhere more clear than when it comes to opening beaches. One state doesnt open beaches. Another state does open beaches. You will see people flood to that state. Georgia opened barber shops. People drove from out of state to georgia to get a haircut. If new jersey opens beaches or connecticut opens beaches and we didnt open beaches, you would see a flood of people to connecticut and new jersey. Our relationship and responsibility to our other states, neighboring states is important. We want whats best for new york, but we want whats best for new yorkers. Its not in new yorks interest to have new yorkers going to a jersey beach which is now going to be overcrowded because you have people from new york and new jersey going to that beach. Its not in our interest that people going to connecticut beaches if those beaches are then going to be overcrowded. Weve worked with new jersey and connecticut. Weve come up with an agreement that accommodates all needs, and it was done in good faith. The agreement is new york, new jersey, connecticut, delaware will all be opening beaches for the memorial day weekend. States will have different specific rules about what happens on that beach. Theyre all basically in the same ball park. Theyre opening friday of memorial day weekend, state beaches, that includes local beaches, lakeshores. It does not include pools. Pools are closed. But no more than 50 capacity. That will be done at parking area, entrance areas, exit areas, et cetera. No Group Contact activities, no volleyball, no football, nothing like that. Areas of social gathering will be closed, picnic areas, et cetera. Playgrounds, pavilions, arcading. Social distancing will be enforced for employees and for visitors. Masks must be worn by employees and visitors must have masks and wear them when they cant socially distance. At this point concessions will not be operating. We dont want long lines of people waiting for concession stands, and we want to ensure that staff levels are adequate to enforce these measures. On the beaches that are controlled by cities, towns, counties, municipal beaches, municipal lakes, the local government can decide to open or stay closed. If they choose to open, they must adopt the states requirements at a minimum, and the chief executive can decide to do that. If they want to impose additional requirements above and beyond the state requirements, they are free to do that. That will be done by a home room message. That will be done by locals by wednesday, may 20th. If a locality doesnt open beaches, we need to know that because then well have more demand on the state beaches in that area. If they do open beaches, we need to know that also just to understand the flow of the traffic and where we have to staff up. Again, state beaches will be open on friday before memorial d day. Last point, reopening must be smart and we have to keep this in focus. Rememb remember, learn from the lessons around us. Weve seen other countries open. Weve seen cities open. Weve seen them then close because the activity level went up too high too fast. Weve seen countries like germany that are reopening, but theyre seeing that infection rate go up and monitoring it very closely. We expect the rate to go up, but it has to go up at a rate that we can control. The risk is the activity level increases quickly and the virus spreads quickly, and you overwhelm the health system, et cetera. This has to be monitored very closely. A lot of it is going to fall on the local government, and we need them to really step up here on the come pliensz for businesses and for individuals, the testing and tracing is one of the key monitors on that dashboard. They all meet the minimum testing and tracing requirements, but they have to do it, also. And it has to be done every day. That is the and the monitoring of all of the indicators again a quick reaction. These indicators will be online for everyone, not just the local governments. Theyre on the website. I would suggest everyone look at them. Look at them for their county, their region, so they know exactly where they are every day. Theyre updated daily. Stone to stone across the morass as my father used to be. Were going through a morass. We are in a morass. Theres no doubt about that. Find the stone. Find firm footing, and step onto that stone. Then you find the next stone. Then you find the next stone. Thats what weve been doing. This reopening is the most data driven, fact specific, sciencedriven reopening that has been done period. Its all about the numbers and the facts. Thats right. Second stone is now you start to reopen, do it intelligently and do it with discipline and not with emotion. Government has to be there and government has to perform. But to be up to all of us, it means it has to be up to each of us at the same time, right . And that is very important here. Each of us understands our responsibility. Thats how this worked from day one. Government, government, government. Its not about government. Its how people decided to do in this situation. How did they bend that curve . When they write the history books, theyre going to write how new york turned that curve. That was done by new yorkers. It was not a governmental act. No government could tell 19 Million People stay at home. And thats not government action. Thats social action. Those are people who choose to do the responsible thing, i think because we gave them the facts. But they reacted intelligently. They responded responsively. And we have to continue that. With this virus, and i just want to say on a personal level and i want to make sure everyone understands this, the facts here have been changing and the facts here have only been getting more negative. This started it was only going to attack vulnerable people, seniors, people with comorbidities. I was speaking to a doctor today about a young person who passed away of a stroke from covid. No underlying conditions. Nothing else. It was a stroke. No respiratory illness. Well, what happened . Apparently the virus can affect the heart and the liver and other organs besides the lungs. And we didnt know that. Children werent going to be infected. Except now were studying 100 cases where children are in fact affected by the virus. And some of them very serious. And that 100 cases, ill wager thats going to only go up and its going to be much more widespread than anyone thinks. So the amount of personal responsibility here. Keep one self safe, keep one familys safe, i cannot stress highly enough, do not underestimate this virus and do not play with this virus. I can be asymptomatic and not know that i have the virus, but i can put my hand down on this table today, you can come touch this table three hours from now and pick up the virus. I can walk into a store to pick up a package, not know that i have the virus, put my hand on stainless steel counter. You can come in the store the next day, put your hand on that counter and pick up the virus. I dont care how diligent the store owner is, and how many masks you wear. Thats how powerful this virus is. Well, its only old people. No. Tell that to the families who have an 8yearold and 7yearold in the hospital. Tell that to the 21yearold girls family, where the 21yearold girl passed away. Everyone is vulnerable to this virus. Everyone. And government cant keep you safe. Only you can keep yourself safe. But when you keep yourself safe, and i keep myself safe, thats the way we keep all of us safe. Thats the story of life. Thats the story of where we are today. And thats the story of being new york tough. Which is tough but its smart and united and disciplined and its being loving and responsible for one another. Questions . Governor, we talk a lot about Nursing Homes and the spread in Nursing Homes. Its recently been brought to our attention that there are a high number of cases in opw homes, homes for the disabled across the state. They said they have 2,000 cases now in group homes and 323 deaths. And members contacted me saying theyre concerned about the policies in these homes. First of all, the staff are telling me that theyre being moved around to different homes. So theyre afraid there was a Staffing Shortage so nurses and the staff there are being removed. Thats one protocol they brought to my attention. Theyre also concerned because they are having problems social distancing in this community, and its a very highrisk community. What is your response . Weve also heard from families who are saying they just dont feel theyre not feeling like this any of the disabled are getting attention. Right. I think its the same with the nursing home and prison, any congregate facility. Theres no doubt where you have a congregation of people, that is a place where the virus can transfer. Whether its a Meat Processing plan with 1,000 employees. It wasnt about the meat in the Meat Processing plant, right . It was just 1,000 employees. We have an agriculture plant in Madison County where it was about the density of employees. It was four to a room. We started this in the hot spot of new rochelle, westchester. Before they called it a hot spot, it was the first one in the country. One person, superspreader, new term, who was with a couple of 100 people at a gathering and dozens got sick. So the congregate facilities of people. Thats all it is. Wherever you have a density of gathering of people, that is a problematic area. Nursing homes worse, but if you have a Community Group home and six People Living in a house, that is a place you want to watch. Six people in a house is not as bad as 1,000 people in a prison or 300 in a nursing home. But any place where you have a gathering. On the moving of staff, i dont know if thats right or wrong or normal operating procedure or not. But we can check. But i just dont know. Governor, how many people does new york need to get the Nursing Homes, on the nursing home staffing question, to test as much as youre requiring them to do . If not, when will we get there . When the president filled his end of the bargain and said he would be helping with the supply chain from testing manufacturers. Theres a lot there. Let me unpack it. I dont know what the policy is at owpdb but we will check on that chain. Were doing more testing than noir state in t any state in the united states. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. Youve been listening to new York Governor Andrew Cuomo who announced five of ten regions in the state will be reopening today. His p. A. U. S. E. Order extended until may 28th for beaches and hot spots. But he said state beaches will be opened the friday before memorial day. And here are the other facts this hour. Retail sales plunging 16. 4 in april, far more than predicted, as Congress Takes up a 3 trillion relief package today. Congress said its dead on arrival. The cdc belatedly issued watered down guide lins for schools and businesses, revised checklist for reopening after the white house blocked an earlier, much more restricted opening. And without warnings about his ousted vaccine expert rick bright, the president saying we will have a vaccine by the end of the year. Experts telling nbc news he needs a miracle for that to be right. Joining us,