Now on wall street, more pain for investors this morning. Stocks plunging in the first halfhour of trading despite an Interest Rate cut initiated by the fed. The three governors of new york, new jersey and connecticut will be making a joint announcement. Were going to bring you that news as soon as we get it. Our nbc news team is live and ready to go this hour. Our reporters are spread across the entire country, have every angle of this story covered for you, joe fryer, kathy park, Gabe Gutierrez but it is another day of turmoil for the markets and that is where we begin. David gura joins us live from the new york Stock Exchange. The bells ringing, you were starting your live shot and the ticker did not move. It was immediately halted. Where do you see things going now . Reporter this was a precipitous drop right out of the gate. Ive been here for the last week or so and weve had that Circuit Breaker activated twice. It hit that 7 threshold. Trading has resumed on wall street. The s p is down 9. 7 . The next threshold would be 13 . There is a lot of anxiety pervading the markets right now. The fed chair cutting rates, announcing that the fed was going to cut rates last night in emergency action, adding new liquidity to the marketplace and ensuring that dollars can trade for easily. I was struck on the emergency telephone Conference Call that he convened last night at how unprecedented a moment this is. Yes, we all remember the financial crisis of 2008, but this is something that has a much longer time frame and you were alluding to the fact that weve seen so much economic dislocation here over the last few days. New york city Public Schools are going to be closed, investors trying to reckon with all of that and what that means. When i had a chance to ask the fed chair about this, i was curious about how he thinks all of these things. He acknowledged the fact that hes doing all that he can with Monetary Policy but nodding to the fact that Congress Needs to do what it needs to do. There needs to be fiscal policy in place for it to work out. And so thats the significance of that move last night. And investors still trying to process what all of this means on a Stock Exchange that is emptier than it has been. We had to fill out a medical questionnaire. I was going to say, you would have to wonder how many tools are in the toolbox for the feds to try and, you know, save off what were seeing happen right now in the markets. Well get back to the markets a little bit later on in the program. Lets go to joe friar outside a hospital in burbank, california. Lets talk a little bit about what is happening on the medical front here and the health care system. Obviously growing concern as to whether the nations hospitals will be able to, will be ready to treat what is expected to be a wave of new patients in the coming weeks. Reporter yeah, thats right. And theyre bracing for the future. Were here in burbank where theyve changed things up a little bit. When you pull up to the emergency, there will be a triage nurse who greets you and asks you some key questions, have you been out of the country recently, have you been with anyone who is tested positive for coronavirus. If you answer yes to those questions and any of other symptoms, then youre going to get directed to some makeshift tents where they can ask you more questions and begin treatment outside of the building. Theres an effort to make sure that people who could potentially be infected with coronavirus arent inside the building at least immediately until they learn more about you and whether you need more immediate care. One of the biggest concerns they have is the worry well. People who dont have severe symptoms but are showing up to hospitals even though the best advice is for people who dont have severe symptoms to try to stay home. The worry is what is to come at hospitals around the country. Will they have enough hospital beds . Will they have enough protective equipment for those who are working in the hospitals, ventilators and more. Earlier today the ceo of Rush University hospital in chicago which is on the front lines spoke, take a listen to what he had to say. I would say the time is actually now regardless of what the numbers are going to be to prepare for the worstcase scenario. History will look back on this and say if they have too many beds, so what. If we didnt have enough beds, people could actually die. Reporter and one of the things of course, some people are talking about, including new york Governor Cuomo is whether the military should get involved. The u. S. Corps of engineers getting involved to build makeshift hospitals that can treat people to help brace for this surge that is expected in the coming days and weeks. Ayman . Joe friar in los angeles. The big question today is here in new york city with governors from the tristate area expected to make an announcement. Kathy park joins us. Schools closed across new york. The mayor has ordered the closure the Largest School system in the country. Its also had an Economic Impact because bars and restaurants have also been limited for Indoor Dining and as we just mentioned, we are expecting this announcement to take place at around 10 45 a. M. , the governor of new york, expected to announce that. What more do we know about what measures both the city and the state of new york are prepared to do . Ayman, its hard to say. It seems like the headlines keep changing by the hour. But as far as the School System goes, this is the largest public School System in the nation, closing all the schools down in the city impacts more than a Million Students plus their families. This goes into effect starting today all the way until april 20th, at least. Mayor bill de blasio received pressure for not closing the schools down sooner. He mentioned this was a tough decision because families would be scrambling to find childcare. He also mentioned that a lot of students rely on the school meals. So we heard from the mayor earlier this morning on morning joe. As far as how this will role out, take a listen. Were providing meals all week at the schools, pickup meals, breakfast and lunch. Were going to have to create feeding stations of some kind Going Forward of different types. Were doing Home Deliveries for seniors. Were closing down Senior Center programming but using Senior Centers as kitchens to get meals out to seniors at their home. In addition to those grab and go meals that will be available for the students as long as the closure remains in effect, eventually students will be moving toward this Remote Learning program. So teachers over the next couple of days will be coming up with this plan. They will be coming to the schools to come up with a better idea of how they will move forward with this. Obviously there are thousands of students who dont have access to the laptops and tablets. That accommodation will be made as well to make sure everyone is still learning. Lets crossover to Gabe Gutierrez and officials are urging everyone to selfquarantine after a spike in the number of cases in the area. Gabe, what more have you learned about the procedures taking place there . Reporter over the weekend, the mayor here took the extraordinary step of urging everyone in this small town, about 40,000 people, to selfquarantine. If you can believe it, here you see the sign that were seeing in many of the businesses here, takeout or delivery by uber eats only and those are some of the restrictions that went into place over the last couple of days. What happened was, last week, when some of the schools had closed in this area, the authorities noticed that people didnt seem to be taking this very seriously. People are still gathering and so that became the reason that the mayor over the weekend urged everyone to selfquarantine. Yesterday an executive order was signed that many of the businesses here would have to close, hair salons, nail salons, limiting the number of people that are able to go into the supermarkets. Allowing just 25 people and the largest supermarket, 50 people. Just this morning, ayman, we saw Police Officers going door to door here in downtown new jersey telling Business Owners about these new restrictions. And they are urging them to take this very, very seriously. Some of the businesses, if they do not have enough room to allow for social distancing, to allow the customers to be six feet apart, theyre being asked to close as well. Again, right now, this is the busiest street in new york, a suburb of new york city. About 40,000 people. The mayor taking that step, urging people to selfquarantine, urging them not to go out and to, you know, visit with friends or family, keep those gatherings small. This is something that were seeing play out in communities across the country. The Financial Impact here on main street of so many communities will be impacted for weeks if not months to come. Its an eerie feeling. Its hard to imagine thats main street in new jersey. Lets go to kari sanders. Its a scene thats repeating itself across the country. Stor stores struggling to keep shelves stocked due to a panic thats sweeping across the country. Reporter everybody understands now that this coronavirus is contagious but also so is fear. And that is what is driving people to run to the store, to load up. The president of the United States, donald trump, said that it appeared from his conversations with grocery executives that people are buying three to five times as much on every run as they normally would. Here this morning there was a line of about 25 people waiting for the doors to open. When they went in, they were pleasantly surprised to discover that there had been supplied delivered overnight, the shelves were stocked, there was toilet paper, so folks had an opportunity to go ahead and buy what they needed. But there are so many people that the shelf is almost empty. But other supplies, at least at this store, are doing well. One of the things we havent heard a lot of in recent days is we have not heard a lot from the executives on camera of the grocery stores. But in texas, the ceo of heb as well as a ceo from kroger will be at a News Conference talking about some of the details. Final thing we might point out, we decided to put a test to ourselves to see what we could do. It took us six stores, three hours, and we were able to find bleach, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The shelves are bare in some places, but here, stocked. Thats a good sign. Its a good sign. Let me ask you this question. I dont know if youve had a chance to get a sense. People are concerned that maybe theres a run on some of these supplies in areas where there are peaks or spikes of a coronavirus outbreak. Do you get a sense from where you are in florida that fear is driven by numbers or is it just a sentiment . Is there an outbreak of the coronavirus down in the areas that youve been reporting from to say people are really trying to bunker down and stay at home because of this outbreak . Reporter so im in the orlando area. Its a big vacation area. A lot of people are not paying close attention to the numbers. The true concentration of cases are down in Broward County and thats where they decided to put the National Guard to help one of the hospitals there set up tents to deal with it. Were not seeing what youre suggesting, were not seeing that people are getting maps out looking at numbers and saying, its bad there, lets buy here. Its not so bad here. It seems to be across the board, from alaska, florida, maine, all the way down to california. That people are buying, buying, buying because they keep hearing this could go on for a while and the fear is, we need to have supplies in the home. Exactly. Thank you very much. Lets crossover to Blain Alexander in atlanta. Obviously, that is one of the worlds Busiest Airports, but what is the situation there this morning . Well, this morning what youre looking at is the worlds Busiest Airport looking like a shell of itself. Were in the International Terminal and as you can see right here, it is practically a ghost town. Just within the past hour or so, i was in the domestic terminal, more people over there, but nowhere near what we are used to seeing on a busy monday morning here at the worlds Busiest Airport. I want to direct your attention to this door behind me. This is the area where passengers come through after going through customs. In atlanta, this is one of 13 airports that are receiving flights from china, iran and from parts of europe where the passengers are going through the advanced screening and that is what we saw over the weekend that was creating so many delays in places like chicago ohare and new yorks jfk airport and down in dallas. People waiting in those areas for hours waiting to go through the screening. Here in atlanta, i spoke with an official who told me that the wait times were only about 10 or 15 minutes above average. But that enhanced screening is going to continue for the foreseeable future, ayman. Thanks to our team for kicking that off. Thank you all. Coming up, were expecting to hear more from new York Governor Andrew Cuomo at 10 45 a. M. Were going to bring that to you live. President trump on his side set to speak to the nations governors next hour. Were going to talk about Gretchen Whitmer about what she wants to hear from the president next. Just over a year ago, i was drowning in credit card debt. Sofi helped me pay off twentythree thousand dollars of credit card debt. They helped me consolidate all of that into one low monthly payment. They make you feel like its an honor for them to help you out. I went from sleepless nights to getting my money right. So thank you. bobby youre concerned that its going to cost you money. Ouble, so thank you. ben to this day, i only paid what i had to pay for the device. When i go back, everything is covered. Theres so much youre missing by not having hearing aids. vo well find you a hearing aid that fits your lifestyle and your budget at one of our 1,500 locations. Call 1800miracle to start your 30day riskfree trial and schedule your free hearing evaluation at your locally owned miracle ear today. State and local officials taking sweeping new action to limit the spread of the coronavirus. This morning a growing number of bars and restaurants closing or being told to close. Michigan joining at least five other states that had already announced closures and multiple major cities introducing their own restrictions including, new york, boston and new orleans. 33 states have shut down Public Schools or moved to online studies. Theres no federal push for widespread closures. In fact President Trump is set to speak with the nations governors in a teleconference in about an hour from now. Joining me now is michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer where the confirmed cases climbed to 53 today. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us. Let me start with the decision this morning about some of the closures, you know, for the bars and restaurants in your state. Walk us through how you came to that decision and are we at a point, do you think, that we should be seeing these closures happen nationwide . Well, none of these decisions are taken lightly and theyre all informed by the best science, best practices, how do we keep the most people safe. As we see this virus is growing fast. The federal government hasnt been prepared. We on the state level are getting aggressive. Ive been on the phone with my colleagues from ohio and illinois and wisconsin, this is really important that we show leadership. We need to flatten this curve. It doesnt come without hardship. Thinking about what it means for kids getting meals, kids missing out on education, hardship for parents who are working. Same goes for our small businesses. But the fact of the matter is, we have to get aggressive on the front end to preclude Community Spread or to mitigate it. As we see this growing, we know that social distancing is the most important thing that we can do. And every one of us has a responsibility on that front. And so these are not easy decisions but theyre the right thing to do. We have to be aggressive on the front end to mitigate the impacts on Peoples Health and on our economy. Youre probably aware that the tristate area, including new jersey, new york and connecticut, all of them going to be announcing the closure of gyms, bars, restaurants and really kind of confining their services. What should happen if people or businesses as weve seen in some parts of the country dont comply with these new restrictions from state officials like yourself . What would you do in the state of michigan, for example, if bars and restaurants and others dont comply with your directive . We saw this weekend, people crammed into bars to celebrate st. Patricks day. Its the opposite of what the best medical experts recommend. Thats why i was on the phone with the chair of my Liquor Control Commission because we license all of those places and that is really where weve got the power over ensuring that they comply with this order. This is about our Public Health. This is about the long term and our economy and thats why Everyone Needs to comply with these orders and were going to use every tool in our toolbox to make sure that they do. Let me ask you, youre expected to be on the Conference Call with the president in an hours time from now. What do you want to hear from the president . Where do you need more support from the federal government . Are you trying to run this thing a little bit more independently from what youre hearing coming out of washington . There are a number of things i want to hear. I saw pictures of ohare where people were lined up like a cattle call trying to get through customs. They need to fix that. Thats on the federal government. We need more tests and resources and so its my hope hell consider declaring a federal disaster and freeing up resources. Were going to have a lot of people out of work who are going to struggle to make ends meet and we need assistance. We need personal protection equipment. We need masks and hand sanitizer. We need to make sure that we have the ability to make all the tests, to run the tests and get results in realtime. All of these come in the form of assistance and leadership at the federal level. I would love to see a coherent policy when it comes to ordering people not to, you know, do unnecessarily unnecessary travel. I think that there are a lot of piece that is the feds need to step up on and im looking forward to this call but these are the things i know i and my fellow governors want to see out of the federal government. We hope that they answer those calls for you. Before i let you go, if i may ask you about the 2020 race for a moment. Obviously last night some big news from joe biden saying hes committed to naming a woman as his Vice President. Your name has been floated for Vice President if he wins the nomination and i should add that youve given him your endorsement. Hes committed to picking a woman. Do you take that as a good sign and would you consider the position . I think its important that he has a woman running mate. There are a lot of phenomenal running mates for him. Im honored to be one of the national cochairs. Im going to help him vet and make sure he has a great running mate. Its not going to be me, by im going to make sure he has the rounded out ticket that can win. Thank you very much for your time this morning. I appreciate you. Thank you. And as this story continues to develop, stay with msnbc for the very latest details. Today at 1 00 p. M. Eastern, well be answering our questions. Our contributors and correspondents covering the crisis on the medical money travel and social impacts of the outbreak. We want your questions and stories. Send a tweet with the question and use the msnbc answers. Were live at the white house and capitol hill with what steps could be taken next, but first, take a look at pope francis blessing an empty st. Peters square. Its closed as a precaution to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Its a stark image that shows how quickly and drastically life can change as the world deals with this new threat. Get ready for hunting season with this great deal on the fast, durable kubota sidekick. Get the sidekick now for as low as 10,649, plus zero down and 3. 99 percent apr for 60 months. Colon Cancer Screening for people 45 plus at average risk. Some things are harder than you thought. And others are easier. Like screening for colon cancer with me, cologuard. Im noninvasive and you use me at home. 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Markets are taking another plunge after an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve over the weekend and people are grappling with major new recommendations from the cdc including to cancel are postpone all events with 50 people or more for the next eight weeks. New jerseys governor announcing all nonessential travel is strong strongly discouraged beginning tonight. What are you hearing from your sources about what we could expect, if there are any big announcements in the works after that cdc recommendation over the weekend. Reporter its influx. You have the Public Health response, what to do and what to message, just importantly, on terms of restrictions or travel or any sort of gatherings. Then youve got the economic conversation taking place. Just what should additional stimulus look like . Should it look more like an emergency supplemental bill or tax credits. And then overlaying all of this is how you message this information accurately. The white house has clearly had some challenges. Last night they tried to shoot down a report that theres been a planned total quarantine for the country, white house, the National Security council saying that was not true. Last night theres also a memo that went out from the office of management and budget telling people that they could telework across all agencies. Every white house official ive tried to reach out, sources, people in the public offices, private offices, they are all saying that they are here working for steam ahead. There is clearly a discussion, whether or not its a fullblown debate, but theres a discussion about next steps to take. We heard last night that theyre planning on announcing something today. We need to make sure that we have all of this information out accurately and i think the white house in a lot of ways is struggling with it as well because they want to make sure they recognize the limits of their ability to influence events but also try to inform the public. And you kind of heard that from the Surgeon General this morning on fox news talking about, look, we are not china. We have not south korea. We dont have the same command and control some other countries do. And it looks like some of the state officials are taking command on some of these closures. T is it looking like senator Mitch Mcconnell will support the house bill . Mcconnell has come out and said hes going to support it, but he hasnt disparaged it either. He said hes reviewing the details. Lets take a step back for a quick second and see whats in this bill and it includes free testing for anyone even if theyre uninsured, it strengthens emergency unemployment, it boosts Food Security programs, and it increases funding for medicaid. But the house isnt even able to pass that bill over to the senate yet. Theres some technical glitches that secretary mnuchin and House Speaker nancy pelosi are trying to work out. Theres a lot influx right now including when the senate is going to get that bill and when theyre going to take it up. Getting back to mcconnell, he will endorse the bill when his members are behind it. We dont know that for sure yet. Were hearing from some republicans including senator rubio, senator cotton who have said that the bill doesnt go far enough. This is a big mood change among some republicans and so they want to change this legislation. Democrats meanwhile, they want to do this expeditiously. They want this wrapped up and out the door. But Speaker Pelosi and mcconnell are both saying that theyre working on the third phase on a new economic stimulus package beyond this. Ayman . Leigh ann caldwell, hans nichols, thanks for joining us. Doctor, its great to have you with us this morning. Let me first, if i can, get your thoughts about the cdc recommendation which you may have heard me talk about earlier that theyre recommending the guidance now is that any gathering of 50 or so more people should be canceled or postponed for at least eight weeks. Do you think that is enough . Some people may be watching this saying, why 50 people . Why not 49 . Is there any science to indicate that 50 is enough to kind of derail or flatten the curve as weve been talking about . Well, ayman, i think what the cdc is trying to do is send us a message. Certainly the kinds of groups that we saw even in nashville gathering on prest. Patricks day in bars and local tourist area was more than even our mayor could stand and hes now ordered a closure of bars and restaurants. So were trying to get the message out. Now, lots of people will also have smaller groups that are being canceled, for example, were not having meetings, face to face, at the university and in many businesses anymore. Were teaching virtually. Were bringing it down to the personal level as well as large group avoidance. Let me get your thoughts as well on the comments made by one of the leading Infectious Disease doctors in this country, he seemed to support a much more aggressive approach. Heres what he said yesterday, take a listen. Would you prefer a 14day national shut down i would prefer as much as we possibly could. We should be overly aggressive and get criticized for overreacting. Americans should be prepared that theyre going to have to hunker down a significantly more than we as a country are doing. Sir, are we at a point where medical professionals like yourself think there should be a national shutdown, a mandate, an announcement of some sort from the white house . Well, didnt hear tony say that. Hes suggesting that we all take that into account and have as few meetings face to face in enclosed spaces with as few people as possible. Everybody is trying to interpret that in their own personal way of life. Family gatherings are not happening. People are not attending religious services. And so its happening gradually across the country. Doct doctor, let me get your thoughts on hospitals here, avoiding elective surgeries. From where you sit in the health care system, what measures, besides not doing elective surgeries, should hospitals be undertaking right now to prepare for what is to come . Our institution, like many other institutions, ayman, has a pandemic preparedness plan. It works in stages. And if at a certain point we start getting a real pressure in our Emergency Department of patients who need to be hospitalized, then of course we would do all sorts of things to try to get current patients out, perhaps a day sooner, and to avoid elective admissions. We at least are not at that point yet. But were poised to do it. We have rehearsed this in the past and were ready to do that. All right, thank you very much, doctor, for your time. Lets crossover to washington, d. C. Pete williams has some breaking news. I understand the coronavirus now impacting the Supreme Court. Right. The Supreme Court was to resume oral argument next week, but now its going to postpone the arguments. The most highprofile case that was to be heard was one march 31st, this is the longrunning battle by President Trump to try to shield his taxes and financial documents from congress and a prosecutor in new york. Now the court has Just Announced it will postpone those arguments to some uncertain future date. The justices were scheduled to meet in a closeddoor conference, their regular conference, where they meet and decide what cases to hear and look over what decisions are ready. Theyre going to do that on friday, but the court says some justices may participate remotely by telephone. Theyll go ahead and put out their regular orders list this coming monday, the list of cases they will hear or not hear. It will be posted on its website. They say the building will remain open for official business and that no filing deadlines, no other deadlines have been changed. But it says the court is saying its increasing the number of people who can work from home. This is the first change in the way the Supreme Court does business in 102 years. The last time the Supreme Court pushed off oral argument was during the spanish flu epidemic of 1918 when it was scheduled to begin in october and didnt start it until november. That was a month. The way the court works this time of year, they hear oral arguments for two weeks, and two weeks they work in chambers and another two weeks. Were coming onto a twoweek oral argument period. Theyve pushed that off. When these cases will be rescheduled, i dont know. The calendar is full for the rest of the Supreme Court term. Does that mean theyre going to start having afternoon sessions when they resume for the last oral argument term in april . Are they going to go a little longer . Are they going to push these cases off until next term . Thats all to be decided. But no oral argument when the Supreme Court resumes business as it was scheduled to do this coming monday. Pete, i know were dealing with the information as it comes into us, you may not know this yet. Do you know if decisions will still be announced as anticipated or as scheduled from the Supreme Court and, two, do we know how they came to this decision . Is this a single decision by the chief justice, john roberts, or is this in consultation with the other justices . In theory, the chief could make this decision on his own. But im sure that he has consulted with his colleagues on the court. Thats the way he normally does business. And im sure that the other members of the court went along with this. Frankly, one of the concerns about the look at this picture. Most of the Supreme Court with a few exceptions like the newest justices, is in that part of the population where the concern is the highest about potential affect of the coronavirus. The idea of trying to shield the members of the court from the public and social distancing has been something that has a lot of discussion here. And do we know, pete, if their decisions will still go on as scheduled even if theyre not taking oral arguments . No, we dont. Normally we dont know if were going to get decisions until the friday preceding the coming week. Normally when they have decisions, they take the bench, a justice who wrote the decision summarizes the decision, whether theyre going to do that or not, i dont know. It doesnt look like they are because it doesnt normally speaking, there would be admissions to the Supreme Court bar on a day when the court takes the courtroom. We may get decisions. We may not. Well have to see how that works out. Pete williams with that important breaking news on the Supreme Court. Thank you, pete. Overseas, italy sees a staggering jump in new coronavirus cases. What one doctor calls a tsunami. Were live on the ground in rome, next. howling wind the best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. What do we wburger. Inner . I want a sugar cookie. Wait. I want a bucket of chicken. I want. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. howling wind howling wind hours ago the trump administrations Surgeon General said he couldnt rule out the United States following in the footsteps of italy as the coronavirus spreads. And italy, a country on total lockdown just suffered a devastating weekend, 368 deaths in one day alone. Italy also recorded its single biggest daily jump in new cases, 3,590. That brings the number of confirmed cases in that country to more than 24,000. Iran is also scrambling to hold back the virus spread. More than 14,000 cases in that country alone and state television announced that the virus has kill add member of the clerical body two days after his diagnosis. Matt bradley is in rome for us. Matt, let me begin with you, i want to start with the Italian Government making a very big announcement. What kind of relief is on the way . Reporter thats a big package, 25 billion. Its called heal italy. Its supposed to be backing up people who because of this Unprecedented Nationwide Lockdown that has seen this country of 60 Million People as you can see, youve been to rome before. Its normally a really loud place and its the middle of the day, theres no one on the streets. You can imagine that this is a body blow to this economy. Thats why we have this 25 billion package from the government. Its supposed to help parents provide for their children, provide basically day care for them. Its supposed to help temporary workers, people who arent able to work from home, and its supposed to be providing for health care. Its going to be adding to the ranks of nurses and doctors and the military basically medical corps. Its providing an injection into the economy, the same kind of thing thats being discussed in washington. 25 billion, while that seems like peanuts from washington, here in italy, thats a huge check. Its all because this virus in italy, which is the worst afflicted country after china, has shown so far no sign of ceasing. You mentioned that highest singleday increase in deaths yesterday. Were going to hear more statistics in a couple of hours. Theres no reason to be hopeful, to think those numbers are going to go down. We had talked about iran, youre based in iran. Not there at the moment. We have gotten word that another highranking member of irans leadership has been diagnosed and in this latest case, killed by the coronavirus. What can you tell us about this latest death and efforts to get the situation under control . What are the implications of Something Like this to the actual ruling structure of iran . Well, there have been an astonishing number of officials in iran who have contracted the virus and died of it, several dozen officials have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, at least eight have died. This last one who died last night in the epicenter of the pandemic and spread across the co country from there. He sits on an assembly called an assembly of experts. Its not clear whether he has been in contact over the last few weeks with the Supreme Leader but it has spread amongst a vast number of officials. The Vice President in the country has contracted the coronavirus. The Health Minister who health that nowinfamous press conference, sweating away, had contracted the coronavirus. Another member of the guardian council. Another very powerful council had died of the coronavirus. So they are grappling to come to terms with this virus as it continues to spread across the country. All right, ali arouzi live in london for us. Matt bradley. Both providing us with that global perspective. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo set to brief reporters any minute. Meanwhile, with the Coronavirus Crisis on voters minds, joe biden and Bernie Sanders faced off one on one as four states get ready to hold primaries tomorrow. Our road warriors will have the very latest on the race next. Is boost high protein. And now, introducing new boost women. With key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. All with great taste. New, boost women. Designed just for you. Get em while theyre hot. Applebees 25 cent boneless wings are back in your choice of three sauces. aurelia i was just frustrated i almost gave up. Company. Applebees 25 cent boneless wings with miracleear, its all about service. Theyre personable, theyre friendly. 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It allows you to choose any doctor, who accepts medicare patients. And these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Whew call unitedhealthcare today and ask for this free decision guide. I want to bring in Connecticut Governor ned lament, who joins us on the phone. Government, thank you very much for joining us. I know that you just were participating in a threeway Conference Call i believe with the governors of yovg yonew yor new jersey. Can you give us a sense of what you three governors were announcing on behalf of the tristate area . Yeah, good morning. It doesnt make any sense for me to close down restaurants and bars if people can drive right across the border into new york and do the same. So we got together with governors murphy and cuomo and decided this is what were going to do on a regional basis. And that was that was the start of our conversation. Were also thinking about hospital capacity. Were thinking about, you know, size of Group Meetings and parties. Making sure we work on a coordinated basis. Let me pick up on some of the measures that you and other governors, i should say, have announced in recent days even within the last 24 hours or so, about the closure of gyms taking effect later today. The limiting of restaurants and their ability to host dining services. How significant are these measures . More importantly, what happens if restaurants, cafes, bars, gyms, dont abide by these measures . Abide by these measures. Look at what happened in italy where they didnt really abide, and, there, the pandemic is accelerating. Compare that to places like singapore and hong kong where they did abide by the social distancing, and really flattened that curve in a dramatic way. So i cant afford to have people with cavalier and i dont have to do it. You know, thats why i think were being strongly united as governors in our region. This is what we got to do, its for your public safety. Devin nunes, the governor of oklahoma, posting pictures saying go out to the pubs and restaurants. Somewhat defiance of the guidance that is being recommended by the cdc. What do you make of those kinds of comments coming out from officials . Incredibly unhelpful. Theres been mixed signals coming from the white house. You mentioned a couple of nunes and others that are sending out a mixed signal. Thats really harmful. This is the time where we got to be united, stick together, and have a unified voice. Let me get your thoughts as well fair enough let me get your thoughts on a Conference Call that is supposed to take place with the president and governors across the country thats supposed to happen in a little bit. Do you plan on being on that phone call . Yeah, ill be on that call. Theyve got some catching up to do, theres no question about it. We need more testing gear. Were ramping up or ramping up a month slower than we should have been. Governor ned lamont, im sorry to cut you off but andrew cuomo is speaking right now. We want to hear what he has to say. Lets listen in. The situation is accelerating. The numbers are accelerating. Energy is accelerating. And action is accelerating. First, as i have said before, this is a national problem, and we need federal leadership. You look at the countries who have handled this. I dont care if its china, south korea, if its italy. They were all handled by national leadership. This is a national problem. It cannot be done in a piecemeal method. You need federal parameters to stop the national patchwork of density reduction closings. I did a few National Interviews this morning, and i was watching the national news. You see a whole hodgepodge of efforts being taken across the country. This state is doing this. This state is doing this. This city is doing this. Its chaos. I think it actually feeds the feeling that the countrys out of control. And there is no clear direction. And there is no clear path. Californias doing this. New york is doing this. Illinois is doing this. Its the same problem across the country. The density may shift, temporarily. But it is the same problem. Let the federal government say these are the guidelines. Here are the guidelines on schools. Here are the guidelines on businesses. Here are the guidelines on travel. Rather than having a scramble of every local government, state government, trying to figure it out on its own. It makes no sense. It is, also, counterproductive because then what it does, it allows what i call state shopping. In other words, you dont like the rules in new york, well, then you go to pennsylvania. You dont like what california is doing. Then you can come to new york. Thats the last thing you want. That is the last thing you want. But when you allow this pattern of disparate policies, thats exactly what youre driving. And, look, i manage the state of new york. All the local governments in the state of new york must have the same policy. Why . Otherwise, we would be creating the same problem that the federal government is creating. You cant have albany with one set of rules but another set of rules. People will be confused. And,