Higher. A tiny fraction of the americans have been tested for the virus. Still under 1 . Over 22,000 people have lost their lives. Today new York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he believes the worst could be over even as his state reached another tragic milestone. Over 10,000 new yorkers have now died. Nearly half of all the covid19 deaths in this entire country. 2700 lives were lost in 9 11 and 9 11 changed every new yorker who was in a position to appreciate on that day what happened. And the number of lives lost was horrific after 9 11. And the grief was horrific. And we are at 10,000 deaths. We can control the spread. Feel good about that. The worst is over. Yeah, if we continue to be smart going forward, because, remember, we have the hand on that volume of. You turn that valve too fast, youll see that number jump right back. But, yes, i think you can say the worst is over. Because the worst here are people dying. Thats the worst. If we continue to be smart, meanwhile, states along the west coast arguably turned the corner and saw the first signs of a flattening curve well before new york did. Among them, Washington State where the first u. S. Case and the first significant cluster were both reported. Infections there have leveled off. No small part due to those strict stay at home orders. But washington is not going to let up. That order stays in place until at least may 4th. Washington governor will join us in just a moment. All of this, though, raises our very big question today, are we anywhere near being even able to talk about a return to normalcy . And what does a return to normalcy even look like after all of this . Lets begin this hour with our reporters in both new york and washington. Joining us first is nbc news correspondent ron allen. So, ron, the governor today saying that the worst could be over. It is, katy. Thats what he said. In terms of being back to normal, he said normal some 18 months or so from now when there is a vaccine and people know they have a protection against this virus. I think the point is that the virus is going to be with us for some time and the question now is how do we live with it . How do we go to work . How do we spend time with our families and our friends in a safe way . And that all comes down to this issue of testing, testing, testing. Its one thing that the governors and the front line continue to say the federal government has fallen short of providing wide scale massive testing that will let us know whos infected and who is not. So were about to hear from the governor shortly. With this plan that and the other Regional Governors have come up with to answer the questions of how we gown stabeg reopening the economy and things. It seems clear that schools may not open until next year until september. Next school year. The question is how does that happen . How do you undo what is happening the last couple weeks and you dont want to do it in a way that reignites the whole thing. Well, here, some of the numbers are certainly very positive. There are still a lot of people who are losing their lives. And there are sfiltill a lot of people getting sick. Not in the skyrocketing rates of increase as was the case a couple weeks ago. Fwhaut is sti but that is still a reality. Flattening the curve is trying to get things to a level where the Hospital System can handle it. So its not the expectation thats going to go completely away. Its a question of how do you exit this in a manageable sense whereby, again, people with go back to work, businesses can reopen, and things can get back to what some semblance of normal will become post coronavirus. Katy . Ron, you just mentioned the governor was going to start talking. He has just begun. So lets take a quick listen n in. Start looking forward to reopening, quote, unquote. But reopening with a plan and a smart plan. If you do it wrong, looking forward to reopening, quote unquote. But reopening with a plan and a smart plan. Because if you do it wrong, it can backfire. And weve seen that in other places on the globe. So everyone very anxious to get out of the house, get back to work, get the economy moving. Everyone agrees with that. What the art form is going to be doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way. Doing that in coordination with the other states that are in the area. And doing it as a cooperative effort where we learn from each other. And we share information and we share resources and we share intelligence. No one has done this before. No one on this telephone has done it before. No other state has done it before. So its one step forward after research and consultation with experts. Im not a Public Health expert. But this has to be informed by experts and data. The you take one step forward. You see how it works. And then you measure the next step. Then we can do that together. That is the best course. There is no doubt about that. I dont believe we wind up with a fully common strategy. You have different states in different positions within this state you have different areas with different circumstances. Its different situation in c l Rural Counties and suburban counties. How do you address those different set of facts . I want to make sure all the people we represent make sure that we are smart in the way we are doing this. Yes, we never been here before m but that doesnt mean you cant ensure Public Confidence that youre doing everything you can to do it in a smart way, an informed way, guided by experts and data and science and not in a political way. I think Work Together we can do that. Each state is going to name a Public Health official for that state. In Economic Development official for that state. Those officials and the chief of staff of the governor of each state will then form a working group that will start work immediately on designing a reopening plan. Taking into consideration the Public Health concerns and issues and the economic reactivation issues and concerns. Study the data and research and experience of other countries and give us guidelines and parameters to go forward. Again, we anticipate different facts, different circumstances for different states, different parts of states. But lets be smart and lets be cooperative and learn from one another. Let me turn it over to grofrove phil murphy. Thank you so much for being with us. Governor cuomo, thank you for hosting us so graciously and in the category known by the company you keep, im honored to be with you and governor lamont and Governor Wolf and cardy in this discussion and in this initiative. You know, just as we harmonized as states, you know, were new jersey is the corridor that is so unique. It was imperative to not just do the things that we needed to do within our four walls as we closed our state down, but to do it in close coordination with new york and pennsylvania and delaware, connecticut, especially. And its that same spirit that were coming together and acknowledging as we whenever it is, and by the way, we have not yet plateaued. Were a couple beats behind new york. Our positive tests have begun to flatten. But were not yet there. But as we, you know, whenever it is that we determine based on the facts, the data, science that it is safe for us to responsibly begin the reopening and all the Health Care Infrastructure that goes with it that to do that in coordination seems to be an overwhelmingly prudent approach. And were honored to be very much a part of this group. We do know this. An economic recovery only occurs on the back of a complete health care recovery. And that order is essential getting that wrong, transposing the steps or jumping in too early or jumping in by ourselves, governor quoem yeecud about protocols for one part of the hudson are different than across the delaware, you could have inadvertent unindendtended consequence thats could be grave. The timing and infrastructure and input from both Health Care Experts as well as Economic Development experts in addition to our government colleagues seems to me and to us to be an incredibly smart way to go. This is the fight of our lives. Let there be no doubt about it. Were not out of the woods yet. Reopening ourselves back up will be equally challenging beyond the shadow of a doubt. Im honored to be with my fellow governors as i have been every stech the way over the past several months and look forward to that spirit and coordination going forward. Thank you, Governor Cuomo. Thank you. Thank you very much, governor murphy and youre right. We started this journey together. Were going to end it together on a positive note. Same with governor lamont from the state of connecticut. What you see right there, new york Governor Cuomo, new jersey governor murphy both saying what we know to be true that the tristate is interconnected. If one state does one thing, the other states have got to do it as well. But that could broadly be said for the entire country. Well get to more of that in a moment. Lets turn to seattle, washington, and our nbc news correspondent. Erin, youre out there. The curve is flattening. What is being done now . What do they expect can be done in the near future . They have seen a slowing of cases here in washington. They point to the state as a Success Story due in large part to early social distancing practices and emphasis on testing. But doctors on the front lines that ive been speaking to tell me theyre worried about whats going to happen next. I was talking to john lynch. He was outlining what he wants to see happen before that happens. Take a listen. The important thing wez nes to look at, we have to make sure the hospitals have plenty of space to take care of patients. She we see an uptick in patient thats need care. We have to make sure they personal protective equipment so that Health Care Workers are safe when taken care of the patients. We need to have really widespread testing and access to testing really everywhere and in a much greater level than we currently have. And then lastly, we need to be able to stand up our Public Health partners so they can Contact Tracing and help people remain at home. Theres a long way to go in this process. Another point that ive been hearing from multiple doctors is just how complicated it is to treat a critical covid19 patient. Youre looking at possibly reopening a economy. Katy . Thank you very much. We have a governor on the phone. We hope he can stand by. We want to dip back into the News Conference that andrew cuomo is holding. He spoke to Connecticut Governor ed lamont. We shared ideas and plans and weve shared in going through this challenge. This partnership that were forming here recognizes that simple fact. And i agree with the sentiments of my partners that we need to do this right. Thats what were trying to do. This partnership recognizes we need to come up with a smart plan for this uncertain future that we live in. But it is also that we are creating a plan to let our people, the people that we serve, citizens of our states, that we indeed do have a future. It has to be responsible. But it has to show us that we do have a future. As we figure out how were going to reopen our schools, how we reopen our businesses and our homes, were also going to recognize that were trying to figure out how were going to restore the sense of hope that this pandemic has taken away from so many of us. Im proud of the people who are going to be working on this for pennsylvania, the secretary of health, secretary of the department of community and Economic Development and my chief of staff. Were all going to do a great job for the people we serve and i think were going to show the people of the United States how you come out of something as devastating as this in a responsible fashion. Thank you very much. We talk about the economic toll. You cant quantify the emotional toll this has taken on people. I think Governor Wolf is exactly right. Knowing that theres a another new day, a new day coming may not may be different than past days. It can be a bright day. We have to focus on that. Governor carney, very good to be with you, john. Thank you very much for taking the time and all the help and all the coordination. Governor carney . Yes. Can you hear me now . Yes, we can, john. Hello. Can you hear me now . Yes, we can. The. We can. Sorry for that little glitch. I want to thank my colleagues for this cooperative effort, especially you Governor Cuomo for bringing us together and, frankly, to are your leadership on a day to day basis. Under very difficult circumstances. Were in metro new york city and your state providing great leadership there and across the country and we certainly appreciate that. Certainly thanks for including delaware. Were on the front end of this region. But were connected and importantly by the i95 corridor and amtrak northeast region so in a very important way were part of the region if only a small part. We have seen the connections among our states through this as many of the folks who work in our state live and Governor Wolfs state across the river in new jersey and theyve obviously had to balance the various provisions and restrictions in each of our states. So this will help us as we think through what it takes to reenter and to get our economies moving again. Frankly, it will really just formalize for me what ive already been doing along with governors murphies and wolf in metro philadelphia area as we talk on a number of occasions about decisions weve had to make. In terms of shutting down businesses and in terms of business and supply chains that are connected among our states. This will will formalize that and really put before us all the decision thats we have coming ahead of us. I think maybe even more difficult than decisions on the front end of this over the last month and a half, two months as we get on the other side of the peak which it seems like the Greater New York city area is reaching now. How do we open things in a way that is safe . I heard governor murphy say yesterday that we need to give the patients healthy before we can get the economy healthy. And i think hes exactly right in that seen working together, our economies are connected. Our states are connected in a real way in terms of transportation and visitation and the rest. And so while working together sharing our information and intelligence i think will help each of us make better decisions. So i want to thank all of you for your leadership. This is a time were experiencing unchartered waters here. And i think ahead of this well be more unchartered waters buchbut working together well do a better job for the people that we work for and well make smart decisions in reopening our economy. Were a little bit different down here, a little bit behind, i think, those of you in northern new jersey and new york city. Our message here at home is be safe, stay at home. When you go out, you know, observe appropriate social distancing and we will continue with that message. But at the same time, think about the timing of reentry and getting back that life back to normal again if that ever occurs. Governor cuomo, thank you so much for including the first state here in the southern end of the region. We appreciate your leadership there and the great state of new york and your leadership with this calamity. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, governor carney. Youre so right. Were all learning, right . This is new for all of us. And it throws out a lot of the old rules and the old ways of doing business. And the state boundaries mean very little to this virus. And somebody can get on amtrak or somebody can get in a car and go up the i95 corridor and it doesnt matter if theyre from delaware, new jersey, or connecticut or new york, what state theyre from, it can have the same consequence. So were learning. And were growing every day. Thank you, john. And governor from the state of rhode island. Thank you very much for taking the time to be with us. Thank you for working through all the issues with us on behalf of new york. Good afternoon, can you hear me . Yes, question. Hi. Thank you all. Thank you, andrew, for leading us and convening this gruchlt i think its a terrific initiative. Like all of you, all the governors who spoke and all the governors ive been speaking with, i am constantly thinking about what its going to take to safely reopen our economy. Like you, i dont want to keep people out of work one day longer than necessary. However, we need to do it safely which means we need a smart targeted approach to slowly reopen the economy and in a way that keeps everybody, most especially the elderly, vu vulnerable and those with preconditions safe. So like many of you, i have a team here that ive assembled to develop a plan for what were calling the new normal. And were looking at everything from how we screen people entering businesses to how we utilize more touchless technologies and our day to day interactions. Doing a deep dive industry by industry on new guidelines, new normal. Im looking forward to this initiative and being part of the working group and exchanging ideas. Like you have said, we never none of us have ever gone through this before. Im confident that by working together and sharing our best ideas we will be much, much more likely to get it right for our citizens and our region. Throughout the crossiceiisis, governors are showing great leadership and taking action to keep our residents safe. I think its only appropriate that we do the same thing now by coming together and showing regional leadership to reopen the economy. As everyone has said, i think you take a coordinated approach on a regional level, well be that much more successful. Governors on the call, governor of massachusetts, governors across the country and our on going collaboration, idea, exchange, coordination has certainly enabled all of us to keep our people safe in our states. The reality is this virus doesnt care about state borders. And our response shouldnt either. Im support of this effort and look forward to working with each of you to make sure that we do get to the business of getting folks back to work and we do it in the smartest, safest way possible. Thank you very much gina. And i couldnt agree more with all of my colleagues. None of us have done this before. Sharing information, learning from each other, pulling resources is only smart. We have to be smart. You need the best Public Health plan and you need the best economic reactivation plan. Its not either or. It has to be both. No one is willing to sacrifice one at the expense of the other. You cant have one at the expense of the other. Were going to take questions for one question each from each state and then ill take questions from new york afterwards. Governor of this state of new jersey, governor murphy is ready for any question from any reporter in this state of new jersey. As a reminder, press star 1 on your telephone. Please stand by. Will well compile a roster. Well not allow the new york reporters to question any other governor. I would not subject my colleagues. I believe its this is phil murphy. I believe its in our constitution that thats not allowed. Thats right. State cooperation only goes so far. Only so far. Im going to do our old press conference at 3 00 p. M. F there are jersey folks on and theyre not ready to ask, were very happy to take them in a half hour or so. Operator . Anything . We do have a few questions first one is from Charles Powell from north jersey. Hey, charlie. All right. So a little moment of leave ti between the new york governor and the new jersey governor. Of course, new york reporters can ask questions of new jersey governors or anybody, any governors for that matter. I think the important take away from what weve been listening to is what youre having is a northeast governors up and down the northeastern corridor, rhode island, pennsylvania, new york, new jersey, connecticut, delaware, all saying they have to Work Together to figure out when they in the entirety can reopen because business in new york cannot go on if business in new jersey is not going on or delaware isnt going on. Were all interconnected here. We all have to be on the same page. There is an argument to be made and if you look at the data for how business works in this country, how the economy works, that if you open one state or you dont open one state, its going have a Ripple Effect for the rest of country. So joining us now is governor from a state way far away from new york, across the country, Washington State, democratic governor. Thank you very much for listening in with us. Im noticing the cooperation between these governors. Do you think its possible to have different Opening Times or opening dates across the country . Is that a way to start the resetting of the economy . Can it really be done that way . Well, yes. I think that is a possibility. We have talks of the three west coast states right now thinking about how to coordinate our potential efforts. And i think there are three things that have to happen in any state right now. And maybe different times. But the three things that have to happen are, number one, we have to have an enormous expansion of our testing capabilities by any means necessary. Were just worried about testing of our economic industry. We now have to have testing throughout our economy and our society. That is enormous increase. And were hopeful the federal government can continue to mobilize United StatesIndustrial Base to make that happen. Second, we all have to have a community tracing system where you essentially have an army of people to track and trace and notify people who are involved so when you do get a little small outbreak, you can jump right on top of it in a community. And the third thing we need is for the president to recognize that these decisions really are going to be made by governors. The constitution gives governors the authority to make these calls. And we hope that the president recognizes that. To make sure we can do this on a state by state basis through regions as youre seeing develop. Let me put a slightly finer point on it. What are the expectations for how the economy is going to work if there are rolling openings if, some states open and others do not . I ask this because you can just go and trace one business in new york city, say one restaurant in new york city and where they source their supplies, be it a butcher down the road or a baker down the road. Those butchers, that baker have a supply chain that extends maybe into the upstate of new york but it will also extend well into the heartland, to iowa, nebraska, Washington State if youre talking about coffee. So the reopening of some states and not others, what is the expectation for how thats going to work . Is everything fine in your state if your state is reopened alone and not others . Well, i think this is a situation where if you extend it internationally, i mean you can say that internationally and if you accept that kind of premise, that means the whole world has to open up on the same day. Its just not going to work that way. We think on a state by state basis it makes sense. Look, the governors, you know, in my state, im constitutionally given the responsibility to care for the state of washington. And i have a constitutional ability to maintain shutdown order as long as is appropriate in the state of washington and the president of the United States cannot counter man that. I saw some tweets suggesting he can. But he simply cannot do that. Were hopeful we can reach a ca calmity and we think the states are in different places right now. Look, weve been managing to bend the curve perhaps earlier than other states because we actsed earlier and more aggressively and our people have done a really great job staying with this, my home stay healthy initiative. So were wr that is working, it ought to be looked at as the order. Now the other thing is each state is going to have somewhat disparity to do this necessary testing and do this necessary contact testing. My state may be ahead of other states in this regard. So perhaps we can open up some businesses earlier. We dont know the answer to that yet. But its going to depend upon the ability of each state to marshal those resources to get the job done. Now as ive said, were really encouraging the federal government to mobilize the Industrial Base to make the swabs, make the viles, make the machines, make the agents that are necessary to really massively expand our testing capability. Were all working on that together. Were making progress but it has to accelerate. So the lockdown order in washington, i believe, goes on until may 4th. Are you expecting to be able to lift some of that then or are you going to reconsider it on may 3rd and see where youre at . We dont know yet. It is through may 4th. Well make the decision on data and science. And thats whats done well for so us so far. We have the best epidemiologists and modelers in the world. The whole world is watching the United States of health metrics. Well evaluate that on a daily basis and make that decision. It may have to be extended. It may have to be extended to a portion of the economy. One thing we know for sure is whenever that is released, we have to have a much more ambitious testing and Contact Tracing protocol. And that requires a lot of resources that all of us have to pull together to have. Weve appreciated what the federal governments done for us so far. Theyve helped us with some of our ppe. Weve been able to send back 400 ventilators in the whole hospital. We appreciate the Vice President. Hes been willing to talk to us about the issues. We need federal assistance, particularly the testing of material where we have critical shortages today. I believe thats the case across the country. 9 of the country has so far been tested, less than 1 . Washington state governor, thank you very much for sticking around and answering our questions. I do appreciate it. Good luck. We have breaking in uz to share with you this hour. Bernie sanders has just endorsed former Vice President joe biden for president. Will joining me now is our nbc news correspondent. This news was expected. But he is now made it official. Yeah, thats right. As our my unit points out in, 2016 after it was apparent that Hillary Clinton was going to be the democratic nominee, it took a month for Bernie Sanders to come out and offer his full throated endorsement of her candidacy. Well now it just took only five days, in account fa, after Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign for him to do the same for joe biden. This is all from careful choreography that were beginning to see play out thats been in the works for some time. And in this case joe biden is announcing he will do an on line streaming forum talking about the coronavirus. Instead, he announced with him a special guest. Lets take a look at just how this announcement played out. Today i am asking all americans, im asking every democrat, im asking every independent, im asking a lot of republicans to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy which i endorse to make certain that we defeat somebody who i believe im speaking just for myself now is the most dangerous president. Now for his part, joe biden called Bernie Sanders the most powerful voice in america for more fair and just country. He also said that Bernie Sanders doesnt get enough credit for what hes done to move the conversation forward to ask for americans to ask ourselves difficult truths. Part of that choreography i mentioned clears the way for next we should expect to see president obama supporting his former Vice President as the nominee as well in the coming days, katy. Mike, thank you very much. Still to come, the president says he has the authority to reopen america by may 1st if he so decides. We just heard governors say he does not. Were going to dive into the reality and the risk of that coming up right after this break. Plus, the former head of the centers for medicaid and Medicare Services on how we can better protect americans. The our moms, dads, grandfathers, grandmothers livinging in nursing hoementzme how we have new numbers on how the virus is tearing through the facilities. First, the front lines where we talk to Craig Spencer about what the battle against coronavirus looks like at his new york City Hospital. Does flattening the curve look different now inside the ers and the. Cu icus . Stay with us. Its tough to quit smoking cold turkey. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. 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Call or email your kubota dealer about 0 financing. No payments for 90 days offer expires 5 31. Together we do more. In the past two weeks ive seen as much death as ive seen in the past three years. Its bad. Its really sad. I feel at this point everyone we interbait is terminal. It almost feels futile. He stood outside the glass doors watching as the respirato respiratory therapist and i removed the breathing tube. The patient was comfortable the entire time. Both the respiratory therapist and i held the patients hand until her last breath and when we declared the time of death, i looked over to the son, you know, the humanity of a facial expression is gone at the moment, but his tears and his emotions said it all. Shows you just the different kinds of trauma that you experience at a hospital both as a doctor, a loved one, a patient. That right, there the last part is a heartbreaking account from a doctor at Johns Hopkins of a Family Member saying goodbye, a son to his mother. It was an utterly awful experience but at least that son was able to say his goodbye in person. With so little personal protective equipment, ppe, most hospitals cant afford spo spare any Family Member which means that a lot of people are dying alone. Joining us now to describe what is happening in one new york City Hospital where i believe Family Members cannot go in to say goodbye to their loved ones is dr. Craig spencer. He is director of Global Health in emergency medicine at new york presbyterian hospital. Thank you for joining us, dr. Spencer. The governor today said the worst could be over. The curve is flat ening. I live in brooklyn. I notice that yesterday, last night well into the middle of the night this morning i just heard siren after siren after siren. It seemed more than usual. It certainly didnt feel like we were over the hump, at least here. I respect Governor Cuomos messaging. I also respect the focus on reopening back up the economy. Thats critically important. I thank all the governors for the work that theyre doing. True, we think the number of cases in new york city might be starting to hit a plateau. That is not something we should be celebrating. Its a move in the right direction but its not the place we want to stay and not the place we necessarily want to be. When you plateau at a critically high level, you still have lots of people coming to the hospital, lots of people are getting put in icus. A lot of people are still dying every single day. Right now the messaging people is hearing is optimistic and im concerned that what that means its going to lead some to complaisancy. People are clinging on words of hope. Schools have been closed for a movement weather is getting nicer outside. People are going to go outside. I think the most Important Message we need right now is that we have already made the mistake of responding way too late to this crisis in the u. S. Lets not make the potentially worse mistake of opening things up too early. Were still in a crisis. We still need people to stay the ahome because we are still seeing cases, were still seeing really sick people and seeing people die. What do you need right now . I need the same thing that weve needed for the past couple months. We need more ppe. Im still hearing from people all over the country that are being forced to reuse masks, dont have enough masks when they go to work. We need a lot more people that continue staying home to do the things we know that work. We need a lot more testing. The solution and key to opening this kbhe is testing, testing. We need testing not only for people that are currently sick but Antibody Testing to see who has been exposed and who may be allowed to go out more safely on the front lines with antibodies knowing the likelihood theyll be infected is much less. These are the things we need right now. But it is also important what we need is people to remember that this is still a crisis that we are not over the hump. And that things are not necessarily perfectly getting better. Were sntill in a crisis. Who is getting tested right now. There were a number of testing sites closed. Theyve been moved to, paing lo moved to parking lots of hospitals. Who is getting tested . People that are being tested are people being admitted to hospitals. A lot of people are still being sent home with likely coronavirus, almost certainly with coronavirus and not being tested. That means total number of positive tests we have here in this city and in the state are not reflective of the true reality. They dont reflect how many people are really, really sick. There are other settings where people are getting them and at tents and at other outpatient urgent cares, et cetera. The reality is we have less than 1 of the country thats been tested. It needs to be much, much, much higher than that for us to understand how widespread transmission is, how many people are sick and without that information and continuing to have that information, there is no safe way for us to get back to any type of normal any time soon. Dr. Craig spencer, thank you very much for joining us. You just heard him talking about that testing. Its important to remember that only. 9 of the country has been tested. In the meantime, though, President Trump who believes his reelection hinges on a Strong Economy has repeatedly said he hopes to reopen the country by may 1st. If they come back to you, sir, and say before may 1st we cannot open on may 1st, will you listen . I will certainly listen. You take that advice . Remember, there is i understand the other side of the argument very well. Because i look at both sides of an argument. I will listen to them very carefully though. Medical experts say in order to start that process, you just heard it a moment ago from dr. Smenser, spencer is we need testing for the virus and those with the antibodies. Again, ill repeat it. 9 much the population, less than 1 of the population has been tested even fewer people even less than that have been tested for the antibodies. Unless by some logistical miracle that changes dramatically in the next two weeks, Health Care Officials own both the federal and state level including a the lot of governors and mayors say may 1st is not possible or practical. Joining us is nbc news Senior Business correspondent. There is another portion of this, stephanie. Not just the governors and the local officials or the president. Its the companies. And are seize. Ceos going to be comfortable bringing their workforce back in if the Health Crisis is not under control if, there is not enough testing . For Business Leaders big and small, its not about the date. It is about the data. Do they have enough information where their employees are going to be safe and their customers are safe . And while youre absolutely right, its about testing, testing, testing. Its also about tracking the cases. Were seeing places like Johns Hopkins start to put together infrastructure who what case tracking look like . It would take tens of thousands of professionals tracking this. You have to factor this in, katy. We have seen the numbers go down dramatic will you. Right . Thats a pochlt the risk is if everybody goes back out to work, does that number go up in a big way . Now just yesterday we heard from the governor of arkansas that doesnt have an across the state statewide stay at home order but he said they are taking it seriously and other Business Leaders have said look at the way people are behaving now. Businesses changed the way they operate. People are wearing masks. Theyre interfacing in different ways. There are ways in a you can phase back into this. You might not want to go back to bars and restaurants and high touch businesses. But you can phase into this in certain regions or states and do it in a more careful way. It doesnt have to be unilateral. Again, shutting down wasnt unilateral. It was not at all. Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us to day. We appreciate it. Joining me now is the former director of centers for Disease Control and prevention. Doctor, thank you very much for joining us. We talked about testing the other week. Lets talk about it again. What is the logjam . What can be excuse me cleared. What needs to be cleared for testing to start again . Zb testing is crucially important. And it doesnt seem that the federal government has been able to ramp up testing sufficiently. The cdc testing has been working nearly for two months. But thats only for Public Health departments. What we need is massive testing of everyone with pneumonia in the country, of cases of contacts of people in Nursing Homes where were seeing explosive spread throughout the country. Testing is one of first four key actions, testing, isolation, Contact Tracing and quarantine of contacts. If you can do those four things right, can you put the virus in a box and get out sooner. But if any one of those four sides of the box is weak, the virus is going to get out and if we go out, well have to risk an explosion of cases again. The goal here is not irrad indication. We cant ir cannot ear rahe if t the place thats have the best job, they have extensive testing and isolation and quarantine, support for people who are infected and their contacts so they can stay home safely and all of that really needs to scale up as rapidly as possible. This isnt a time to wait. Its a time to work. The more we do now, the sooner and safer we can open. Doctor, i think what im confused about and i believe what many people at home are probably asking is why is there such a problem with getting these tests out . What is missing . Is it the government marshalling the private sector and getting all of the materials needed for the tests . Is it not being able to get the tests out tests out logisticall the labs. Is that the labs do not have enough people . What can be fixed rapidly to make sure that we are testing a larger portion of the population than just 0. 9 . It seems that there are several rate limitings, and one of them is the actual materials for takinging samples from patients. Another is the type of test kits. For example, some of the very exciting innovations are only lowvolume. They can only test one test at a time for 15 minutes. So thats not going to meet the need to test thousands of people. We need to figure out the government needs to figure out how to ramp up that production. It really needs a focused effort on all technologies that can work to find the virus, because the quicker we find it, the quicker we can isolate people. And were still, it seems like, far away from where we need to be in getting testing as accessible as it needs to be, so we can find the virus, isolate patients, find their contacts and quarantine the contacts. Certainly more than two weeks away from that. Dr. Thomas frieden, doctor, thank you very much for joining us. And this pandemic has had a devastating impact on health care facilities. You just heard dr. Frieden talking about this, especially on our most vulnerable, those that are in Nursing Homes. The Associated Press estimates that 3,600 patients have died at Nursing Homes and longterm care facilities. That number is from state health agencies, because the federal government is not tracking these cases. Despite outbreaks at homes across the country. In Washington State, more than 40 people died at a nursing home in the Seattle Suburb of kirkland. In virginia, more than 40 people died at a facility in richmond. And in massachusetts, more than 30 at a staterun veterans care facility in holyoke. Joining us now is the former acting administrator for the center for medicare and medicaid services, andy slavitt. Always good to see you. These numbers are probably a lot higher than were even reporting, because the tracking of this has been inconsistent and not all of these patients have been able to get tested for covid. There are a lot of nursing home patients who have died, who they believe were positive, but never got that test. Right. Well, thanks for calling attention to this and for all of us who have loved ones in Nursing Homes, this is incredibly important. You think about, whos in Nursing Homes today, weve got about 1. 5 Million People in Nursing Homes around the country. These are people that were born right around and after the depression. Many of them are veterans of foreign wars. They were part of the people that built this country. And we are we owe them a to their last day, a debt in this country. And in 2017, to great fan fair, i might add, the Trump Administration decided that they were announced that they were going to not enforce the regulations that the Obama Administration put in place to enhance nursing home safety, which is an enormous problem. Because once somebody in a nursing home is infected with something, if you dont have good Infection Control procedures, it spreads rapidly. And many of these are small Nursing Homes. We put these regulations in place. The Trump Administration got rid of them in 2017. And now i think they probably wish they hadnt. So what can we do now, if say you have a Family Member in a nursing home that youre trying to get out and you cant get that person out because they need more care than youre able to give them, what can we do now to help protect those of us who have loved ones or protect the loved ones inside these facilities . I posted a video on my twitter account that i will send to you, that you can post, if you would like, thats for families. And i think you want to make sure that your loved one is safe. And unfortunately, its very, very difficult, because what we need to do, and ill just walk through very quickly, number one, the first thing the federal government needs to do is we need to test everybody who works in a nursing home within the next week. So many of these folks go from place to place to place and they spread the virus with them and theyre starting to not be able to show up for work. So we have to be able to do that. Secondly, we have to get resources to Nursing Homes. I cant understand why the Trump Administration isnt going to congress and installing televid televideo, better separation capabilities inside of Nursing Homes. And the third thing is they need to be accountable. On a daily basis, we need to see reports out of all the infections and deaths coming out of Nursing Homes, and there should be a daily call where all the nursing home operators in the country help each other and remove people away from Nursing Homes that arent safe into ones that are. Andy slavitt, please send me that tweet, ill make sure i post it so everybody can see it. We appreciate your time. Good luck out there. As we approach the top of the hour, another quick break for us. But on the other side, nbc news has an inside look at the White House Coronavirus task force. New reporting that shows a federal government failing to act when it should have and where it should have. And inserting itself where it should not. soft music [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. And theyre counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. Grubhub. Together we can help save the restaurants we love. Were returning 2 billion dollars to our auto policyholders through may 31st. Because now, more than ever, being a Good Neighbor means everything. Like a Good Neighbor, state farm is there. Being a Good Neighbor means everything. Saturpain happens. Aleve it. Aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. When pain happens, aleve it. All day strong. Good afternoon. Im katy tur. As the president plans for a big bang reopening of the country on may 1st, there are new questions today about how the administration chose to react in the early days of the crisis. Chief among them, why the president did not act on what he knew about the coronavirus earlier. The New York Times reports that as far back as january, mr. Trump was warned, warned by white house advisers, warned by experts in the cabinet departments, warned by intelligence agencies who, quote, identified the threat, sounded alarms, and made clear the need for aggressive action. Dr. Anthony fauci was asked about that reporting this weekend. We look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often the recommendation is taken. Sometimes its not. But it is what it is. We are where we are right now. Obviously, if we had, right from the very beginning, shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different, but there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then. Now, an nbc news exclusive report details what the administration did and did not do, as states were begging for lifesaving equipment. Nbc news reports that a government supply Chain Task Force failed to act where it was needed. And inserted itself where arguably it was not needed. This action and inaction sewed confusion, boosted big business, and left the states to fight among themselves. Nbcs Jonathan Allen writes this union operated almost entirely