Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Katy Tur 20200428

Dying from this than in the vietnam war. That death toll number, 58,220. Well cross that line in the next 24 hours. Governor phil murphy announced that hospitalizations are down from nearly a thousand from this time last week. That is a good sign. He will be joining us later this hour. The Trump Campaign is lashing out against Republican Senate candidates. A memo issued by the nrsc last week told republicans not to defend the president s response to covid19 completely, simply defend his china ban stand and then to attack china in general. Well, the Trump Campaign wasnt happy seeing that memo go public and they say any candidate who follows those guidelines should not expect any support from the president and the nrsc apparently has agreed that, yes, the president s campaign is right about that. Governor Charlie Baker has extended his stayathome order for the state of massachusetts until may 18th. I should say, the commonwealth of massachusetts. The order was set to expire next monday. Baker warns that now is not the time to ease up on the restrictions that we know that are working. My colleague, katy tur is with me from trenton, new jersey, this hour. And katy, you got to experience the flyover. Of course, we were in the middle of a break when it happened. Oh, the timing of our breaks, sometimes. At least give us a verbal explanation of what you saw. Reporter you know, it turns out that the truck i heard in the distance was actually the flyover. It was a familiar sight. Listen, i know people will question the use of money and how much it costs, but as the Brigadier General said, as part of their practices anyway, it was nice to see it. And i think people sitting at home and a little tired of their own personal space would have enjoyed to get out and look up at the sky. Anyone whos been to an air show when they were a kid has got to enjoy Something Like that. It was nice. It was nice to see here. Chuck, just to give you guys an idea of where i am at the top of the hour. I am in trenton, new jersey, as you said. And Governor Phil Murphy is going to be giving a press conference here in just a moment. Yesterday, he outlined what he needs to reopen the state. It was a sixstate plan. Four of the points are the ones you really need to Pay Attention to. Thats a decline in cases. It just mentioned there was a decline in hospitalizations over the past week. He wants to see it go on for two weeks. Hospitalizations and the number of new confirmed cases. He wants to up the testing. Last hour, we spoke to rutgers about a new saliva test that will hopefully help them get at the Testing Capacity they need to be at, in the next few weeks. Cross your fingers for that. Also, contact tracing. Once they get the testing at capacity, are they then going to be able to follow those contacted for each person that has tested positive for covid. And finally, get a place for those people to quarantine. He wants to find hotels and dorm rooms in order to put people who wont be able to selfquarantine for time they need, in order to make sure they do not get the virus, or get the virus and get over it. Once he has those things in place, then he can talk about reopening the state. There is a hope maybe by memorial day, but as of now, the stayathome order in this state is indefinite, which is part of the reason why youre seeing something of a protest behind me. And i dont want to give too much i dont want to put too much weight to the protest, because this is only a few hundred people. The vast majority of new jerseyans agree with the stayathome order. Weve been seeing these protests pop up all around the country. A lot of them seem politically motivated more than economically motivated. And this one, for instance, were seeing a lot of trump 2020 signs, were seeing a lot of weve seen some Second Amendment signs, some other nonpolitically related issues to whats going on right now. I spoke with one of the women who was one of the organizers of this event today, and she works at a bar on the jersey shore. She says she wants to get back to work and feels like this stayathome order is completely unnecessary. Blames the governor for continuing it. Heres a little bit more of what she told me. Absolutely, theres a way to open the beaches. First of all, statistically proven throughout our throughout our history, they dont quarantine healthy people. They quarantine the sick. Going to a beach, and we need to pass antibodies. We need to do that in order to get healthy. It doesnt matter when we open at this point. It doesnt matter. People are going to remain theyre going to continue to get a little bit sick. Its a flu, its a virus. Im following not media facts and not politician facts, im following what im seeing scientifically proven. Reporter and chuck, i just want to emphasize that a lot of that suspicion towards the media, towards Health Experts, towards politicians, its not unique to this protest. Its the same thing that we have been seeing now since the rise of donald trump. We saw it in the during the rallies. People dont want to believe anything that doesnt come out of his mouth. And even when they dont necessarily believe what he was saying, they give him a lot of leeway, a lot of space for it. And thats largely what were hearing at this protest here, as well. Chuck . We have to remember, we have a generation of government letting down the public, whether its on wmd, the great recession, or this. So skepticism at government, you have to understand why its out there. Its out there on the left and the right. And its going to on up even during pandemics. It is something, we have to remember the climate of the last generation and why that has probably complicated the ability of some people to trust certain elected officials. Lets move to new zealand, katy, where the Prime Minister has announced the government has stopped Community Transmission of the coronavirus. She says, we have won that battle, but we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way. There have been more than 1,400 cases and at least 19 deaths in new zealand due to the coronavirus. Sara james joins me now from melbourne, australia. But both australia and new zealand have been sort of cooperating. And even though, ideologically, you couldnt have more ideologically opposite leaders working so closely together, but being island nations, one would understand. Sarah, tell us the good news story out of both countries. And it is a good news story. And one thing to remember about this, chuck, is that these two countries are friendly rivals and they are great mates. And they definitely have been communicating and coordinating across the tasman. First to new zealand, both countries, actually, have shot down the borders. And thats been a big part of this success. And its something you can do when youre an island nation or an island content, as australia is. But another thing they did is that they were swift and decisive. The move happened in new zealand so quickly, chuck, that people were basically frozen in place. I talked to a woman today, a businesswoman, who was stuck in her holiday home. She said, it felt like getting out of purgatory. She was actually driving into her driveway, as i spoke to her, because she had been stuck for the month. But as a result of taking those strict measures, they really were able to stop the virus in its tracks. Another thing that they did, chuck, was that they held these daily news briefings. And they were a measure of like calm and compassion and understanding. I spoke to a University Student who told me, every day i watch jacinda and ashley, firstname basis. Its like they were your friends in the living room. And yet this is the Top Health Official and the Prime Minister of the country. Well, its a fascinating story, sara james. Thanks for reporting on it for us. For now, it is a reminder, citizens, katy tur, that live on an island are generally more open to collective action. Theres sort of this mindfulness that youre on an island and youre all kind of in this together. And it is interesting to me, whether its been singapore, new zealand, australia, we see that mindset and sometimes i wish america would remind itself, hey, lets act like an island, too anyway, katy. Reporter yeah, it would be nice. The island of manhattan, even though technically its not an island, has that same feeling and it certainly has over the past couple of months. Not even just manhattan, but all of new york city coming out and cheering on Health Workers at 7 00 every night. There is a feeling of togetherness. Lets talk more about what it looks like as states start to reopen businesses and what the summer could look like. The White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator dr. Deborah birx said that social distancing could last months. And if you look in the calendar, that brings you well into the summer. So lets go down to miami, florida, where we find nbc news correspondent sam brock. Sam, what have you heard from Business Owners down there about what social distancing looks like as they reopen and what the Summer Season gets underway. Reporter katy, tourism here in the miami area is an 18 billion industry. Theres 150,000 jobs attached to it. If youre any kind of business thats tethered to tourism, they are going to have to be working at reduced capacity, maybe in some cases, half of what they normally would. Lets talk for a second about where i am right now and why. Im at a marina in miamidade county. This is one of the governments that started opening things up. The marinas golf courses and parks here in miamidade will be open starting tomorrow, with restrictions, of course, youve got to wear a mask. The boats are at least 50 feet apart and you cant have more than 4 to 8 people on each boat. Im in the city of miami, where miami beach is still weigh its options. Iran desantis saying hes going to be announcing a blueprint for the state tomorrow. But this has been so far a slow transitional process, not what some expected from florida, when you look at other states, that has not happened here. I did have a conversation, as we talk about with hotels with a hotel owner in georgia. They have been given the green light. He is not opened yet. This is from the sea palms resort in st. Simons island, but he talked about what the reality is with social distancing this summer. I think well be running at a max. We could be maybe at 50 , but were building our model for the next few months on about a 30 capaci capacity. Reporter and the other aspect of that, he told me, is that the sanitization process has to be so intense, they are retraining all of their staff members, using highlevel oshaconfirmed sanitizers. Thats something going on there as well. In terms of what were seeing here in florida as we circle back right now, we are, again, waiting to find out how theyre going to be enforcing many of the details here, but this is kind of interesting, chuck and katy. Youve got 400 people who are out of work right now, who are either on security or some sort of persontoperson oversight that are going to be rehired to monitor distancing here. Not that theyre going to be doling out tickets or anything like that, but reminding folks exactly what they have to abide by, and if they flout the rules, then it goes to the police. It could but to 500 fine. Chuck and katy, back to you. Sam brock in miami, thanks. The beach aerials show, that looks like a bunch of people abiding by some social distancing guidelines here. Beach comers have been getting a lot of grief. We ought to praise them when we see them abiding by it, as well. Weve seen some states from coast to coast struggle to handle the crowds of americans getting unemployment benefits. Well focus in on california. It has seen the perfect storm of glitches over the past month. Its website has crashed. Its call centers were overwhelmed. Thats also happened in quite a few states. Lines of residents trying to apply in person have stretched along unemployment offices across the state, and that was before another group of workers could apply, one that includes gig workers, selfemployed, independent contractors, free lancers. That changes today. People that have never been able to file for unemployment before. Lets go to jo ling kent, joins us from california where the pressure is on to help these americans struggle to pay their bills. So joe, start with the first part here, which is the additional people that are eligible to file for unemployment, who have never been able to file before. Yeah, thats right. Its the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program that is going into effect today here in california. Were talking about the selfemployed, the contract workers, the gig workers, and right now, the labor secretary here in california, she is working with their team 24 7 to get this information and infrastructure into place. Now, this comes as 3. 2 billion in uninsurance im sorry, Unemployment Insurance has been filed along with 3. 2 million claims. Now, this is a very large number. They continue to lead when it comes to unemployment claims, state by state. But california still very much struggling, because they have the seemingly universal problem of very Antiquated Software that the labor secretary says is very inflexible to fix. So, of course, we called up the Tech Companies. Intalked to executives at google and microsoft, who say they are working with states like california to try to update their systems. Now, the issue is, they cant put in a whole new system, given the demand on whats currently happening, right . So, instead, theyre adding technology. Were talking about chat bots, on the websites, when you try to file for your Unemployment Insurance, to get those claims, phone lines and cloud and artificial intelligence. So theyre trying to figure this out, as they go along. But its certainly a big challenge, considering the fact that were in california, the Tech Companies are here, and yet these systems are still so out of date and difficult to fix, chuck. Well, joe, i appreciate that you just wrapped up your report with that reminder that california is the home to basically every smart tech firm in the world. Anyway, jo ling kent with that report for us. Jo, thank you very much. Katy . The baton is yours. Reporter well, chuck, we are, again, in new jersey, there are over 100,000 confirmed cases of covid in new jersey, and the state is really right to ramp up testing. We just talked to that Rutgers University professor about the saliva tests. Lets bring in congresswoman Bonnie Watson coleman, who is representing the district that we are in right now in trenton. You voted for the second cares act, and you said it didnt go far enough. What else did you want to see in it . Well, were not getting down to the people who need the resources to continue to be safe and to be healthy and to take care of their families. Were not getting the ppe to the sort of front line people, other than the doctors and the nurses, which, you know, and the hospital workers that we really need to do that. But weve got transit workers and people who pick up our trash. Weve got people who are working in stores. They need to be protected, as well. We didnt give any money to the states, so without giving direct aid to the states, then those folks that we call heroes, those nurses in the state facilities, those Police Officers and all, they could get laid off. Tell us about that. Why was it not pushed to give money to the states, so the health care workers, ems, firefighters, cops get paid . Reporter well, we had a hard time getting the senate controlled by Mitch Mcconnell to look at this realistically as it relates to whos being hurt and how this economy will be hurt, because so many people will be left out of the support. But they dont seem to be able to see beyond the wealthy and the corporations. So we pushed nancy pelosi and the negotiators from our committees, all of our committee chairs, they have pushed. Whether its for the smallest of businesses or our nonprofits or just individuals. Getting that one check to individuals for 1,200 and 500 for their children, if theyre under the age of 17 . Thats nice, okay. But its got to continue until we get out of this. What can we expect to see Going Forward from congress . There are a lot of people who are suffering, a lot of people looking at the money youre talking about, that 1,200 saying, thats not enough. There are people who are trying to file for unemployment or not having success, but trying to file for sba loans and not having success. What do you foresee congress needing to do and for how long do you think youre going to need to end up supplementing the incomes for Everyday Americans . Well, in answer to the last question, i dont know how long. But i know that at the point that we declare that this episode, this actual pandemic is over, we still have to support families to get them through it and beyond. We need to fight for those individuals that are showing up every day so we can stay home. And we need to be giving them hazard pay. So we need to see essential worker definition expand. Essential worker pay expand. We need to protect even our federal employees who are not protected under the coronavirus bills, and protect the people from the tsos who work with the tsas are at the airports every day. Theyre on the front lines. Weve got to really look at supporting those at the very bottom, because they are the ones who spend the money to lift up our economy. And we cant open up our states or our cities until we do enough testing to really determine, katy, where is this virus and how extensive is it . You are on the same side as all of the Health Experts we talked to. We need more testing, more testing, more testing. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Let me just say one thing. One thing. You may hear in the capital of new jersey, this is the turning point of the revolution. We beat a foe back in the 1700s and well beat this foe right here in 2020. Good history lesson. Good reminder. Chuck, ill throw it back to you. Love the historical reference there, katy. Coming up, new jersey Governor Phil Murphy has laid out a path to reopening the garden state, but says he needs more federal help to avoid what he calls an armageddon scenario. Also ahead, americas meat producers say their supply chain is broken. It could have a big impact on the products we see and dont see at the grocery store. But first, we will speak live with the governor of colorado, whose state is also slowly reopening. Thats after the break. Owly reog thats after the break all strength, we aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait, were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com try and never go to the post office again while tens of millions of americans remain at home across the country, some states are now beginning a faced reopening. Colorado is one of them governor jared polis has issued a safer at home order, which lu allow some Retail Stores to reopen with other added protections in place while others must remain close. Some businesses reacting to conflicting and confusing orders from state and local agencies are reopening ahead of the governors order. Nbc news correspondent Gadi Schwartz joings me now from greeley, colorado. Greeley, one of the more conservative parts of colorado. Not surprised that they might be pushing the envelope there. Gadi, what are you seeing . Reporter yeah, chuck, its going to be really interesting to hear what the governor has to say in that interview with you in just a bit. Because what were hearing from some small Business Owners here een this game of whos in charge of reopening . Is it the state or something thats being done on the local level . This is a barbershop here. Lets see if we can just look in the window here. People have been coming in all day and they are open for business. In fact, they said that they have been open since yesterday. You can see the people that are cutting hair are wearing masks. The people that are getting their haircuts are pretty happy, because they havent had their hair cut in over a month. And throughout the store, you can see, theyve kind of spread things around. They say they are operating under the weld county guidelines, which are safer at work set of guidelines that theyve put out. They say that they didnt shut anybody down, they didnt ask anybody to reopen, but they dont want to be the picker and choosers of the people that make it through this pandemic. One of the commissioners was talking about how he didnt think it was right that some people marijuana dispensaries were deemed essential when mom and pop shops and barbers like this were not deemed official. They have gone ahead, reopened, said they have had the blessing from the county. It seems as though they had conflicting information from the state level. Heres an interview with the owner here at this barbershop. Take a listen. Its almost like youre hearing from two different governments what to do. Theyre telling you two Different Things and youre going with the one that lets you open your business. Yeah, because thats who i have to pay and give an account to. Because this is where im at. Im in will accoucounty. If i was out there in denver or something, i would follow those rules. Reporter so for a lot of them, it is erring on the side of working and being able to pay the rent. Right now, they are still open. They say they have sanitized inside. Again, theyve spread things out to try to keep people socially distant and they are saying, no one is allowed in if they are showing any types of symptoms or coughing. But people in this county, some leaders from the Health Department say that they fear that this might cause another outbreak. So a lot of conflicting information out here, chuck . Gadi schwartz on the ground in greeley, colorado. This week, colorado along with nevada joined the western states pact, which also includes california, oregon, and washington state. Those governors are going to coordinate how they safely loosen their stayathome orders while avoiding a second spike in cases. Joining us now to discuss this is the governor of colorado, jared polis. Governor polis, i would like to start with this. On cnn over the weekend, you said you were concerned that reopening could and a second spike could come with your modest reopening. What is your clearly, youve decided there is an acceptable amount of risk you are willing to take. What is that acceptable amount of risk youve decided is okay enough to on this balance between life and livelihoods . Well, coloradans did an amazing job at staying at home for 32 days. Really, really hard. Were now issuing the safety guidelines for how folks can earn a living. It really wasnt sustainable. I mean, you just did a story on some of those stress points in places like weld county. Coloradans across the state were angling to get back to work, because they have to earn a living to pay their rent and put food on their table. It was really a question of, how do we do that in the safest way as possible and in a phased in way, so we can update it with realtime changes if we need to based on the health situation. Did that barbershop owner in weld county, did he defy your order or did he follow the law . Well, it looks like hes breaking the laws of colorado. He risks losing his own license to operate a business. If theyre illegally open, then its likely theyll be closed for a period of time and they could have their license revoked. Its a dangerous situation for Small Businesses to try to get caught up in these plal games that some of the weld county commissioners have been playing. Its interesting is that the Business Owners fault if hes getting a mixed message or on you and weld countys leaders . Well, its really Business Owners need to follow state law. They always do. Weld county doesnt license salons, the state does through our department of regulatory affairs, we license restaurants and do safety inspections. Our county governments are a unit of the state government. Theyre subject to all the state laws in colorado. Local counties administer the state laws and policies at a local level, but they are fully subject to state law. Your state hasnt met the guidelines that the white house laid out and they are just guidelines. What makes you comfortable doing what youre doing, even if you havent quite hit all the targets that the federal government would like a state to hit before you begin what is essentially this phase i reopening. Well, weve had significant dropoff in cases, in hospitalizations, were off our peaks for ventilator use. So we really hit all the criteria that we laid out about what justified such a draconian step of a shutdown and stayathome. And im amazed the people of colorado were able to do that for 32 days and flattened the curve. Theres more hospital beds available now than before, more ventilators available and really our goals were try to manage this in way where we never overwhelmed our Health System and protect our most vulnerable population. Were doing testing of asymptomatic workers at our largest senior care facilities to try to prevent and upping th what we can do to keep people safe. Let me ask you this question, in the fall, well start with college campuses. Whats the likelihood students will be on their campuses, be it local school or university . I think its very high. In fact, we even right now, Many School Districts are not able to do in colorado, theyre not able to do regular in classroom instruction, but many of them are doing oneonones. Theyre using their buildings. Weve encouraged them to do that in a safe way. Over summer, theres plenty of time to implement some of the social distancing protocols, different passing time for kids. Were learning from countries like denmark that are already back at school, theres be a lot more reallife examples well be able to learn from before our schools open in august. A lot of implementation. My guess is a lot of plastic walls or sorts, governor jared polis, democrat from colorado, thank you for coming on and sharing your states views with us. Appreciate it. Up next, some breaking news. President trump says he will sign an executive order today to keep Meat Processing plants open to stave off shortages. This comes amid dire warnings from some of americas meat producers the supply chain is broken right this moment. More on this, next. Right this t more othn is, next es tv. And then theres x1, featuring the Emmy Awardwinning voice remote. 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Three sources tell nbc news. And comes as experts warn of the potential of beef, chicken, and pork shortages across the country. Some of you may have already noticed some shortages at the grocery store. Since the pandemic began, more than 5,000 meat and Food Processing workers have been infected or exposed to covid19. At least 13 of these folks have died and a dozen Processing Plants have had to close, throwing a massive wrench into our straining supply chain. Kerry sanders joins me now from okeechobee, florida. And kerry, its not every day when the head of one of these meat companies, in this case, tyson chicken, is essentially saying, watch out, this is going to get worse, america. In his statement, he said the food chain in america is vulnerable and that sent shivers throughout the country, because was hear somebody at that position talking about that, you get an understanding of how dire the positions could be. Were in okeechobee at the stockyards, one of the largest stockyards hes of the mississippi. The ranchers here who heard the news about the defense production act essentially being signed by the president are considering it good news. They have seen a drop in the price as well as selling fewer cattle. And its not just the cattle that are being sold in lesser numbers, its also pork producers and chicken farmers who also say that they have seen reductions, because the Processing Plants cant handle it to get food on our table. There were fears the nations Food Supply Chain is at a breaking point, after more than a dozen major Meat Processing plants have become covid19 hot spots. The most recent plants to close in logansport, indiana, and green bay, wisconsin, where one out of every five places have tested positive more coronavirus. There are staffing shortages, even pay raises and bonuses, not enough to lure some employees back to work. Crystal rodriguez usually workers alongside her father, but he now has coronavirus. 4 extra and a 600 bonus, im sorry, thats not worth my life. Reporter tyson food taking out a fullpage ad sunday warning, the Food Supply Chain is vulnerable and closed plants could lead to shortages at grocery stores. The company also releasing this video of a redesigned chicken Processing Plant in arkansas, that it says allows for better social distancing. In saginaw, texas, Third Generation rancher misy bonds worried closed plants means she wont be able to sell her cattle. For us, we like consistency. And the volatility right now is is the most unsettling thing. Reporter the Meat Industry says beef and pork production is down about 30 . The bartling brothers in nebraska with 40,000 pigs say they are busting at the seams. With nowhere to send their stock and more being born every day, some of their pigs may have to be put down. Can you believe that this is happening in our country . I cant believe i would never have thought that ever in the United States, unless there was an act of war declared on us, that we would ever, ever have an issue like this. Reporter the defense production act would require that the meat processors open as part of essential businesses, but if the president does do it, it misses the other part of the equation, and that is the employees. Already, Union Representatives are saying that it doesnt guarantee the safety of employees, and thats where this all started with. Folks going to work without the proper protections to support the spread of coronavirus. Chuck . Yeah. Kerry sanders with that. And it may have they may have actually made it worse by incentivizing people to come to work with that extra money, even if they may have had a symptom and they may have been enticed by that extra money anyway. Kerry sanders, that report, thank you very much. Up next, we take you back out to trenton, where katy is standing by with new jersey governor mil murphy who said without more federal help, his state is barreling toward an armageddon scenario. Some inperson interviewing after the break. Nario. Some inperson interviewing after the break. When you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. So you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com well, next week we may get a visual representation of the political divide in this country when the United States senate does come into session with all of its members. And the United States house does not come into session with all of its members. Joining me now is new jerseys senior democratic senator, bob menendez. Senator menendez, thanks let me just start with that. I feel as if the house and the senate in general have struggled to find their footing collectively, because of displacement and all of that. How much harder will this be if you have the house basically not there, the senate there, and youre trying to come up with this phase iv plan. Well, i think theres been great coordination, chuck. And actually, most of the packages that have come out have come out because senator schumer and Speaker Pelosi have been engaged and with their conferences in what are the priorities. Priorities of university testing, the priorities of our hospitals, priorities of workers. So i think its worked well. And anyone who believes that were not working remotely, i probably am doing more work now than if i was in d. C. But, look, the reality is, theres no precedent. At some point, it will be necessary to go back to d. C. The question is to senator mcconnell, are we going back just to take your friend, the judge, who is rated unqualified by the aba to vote for him . Or are we going to be doing covid19 legislation and oversight . Let me ask a larger philosophical question. Because i think new jersey represents this conundrum. For you, because of the importance of casino revenue to the state of new jersey, to atlantic city, the idea of helping out that industry is a good political vote for you. Its not a hard vote. Its not a but as you know, that might be unpopular in another part of the country. Bailing out oil and Gas Companies may be unpopular in the state of new jersey, and a tougher vote for you. The point is this. There have been some theres this idea out there, josh hawley on the right, Pramila Jayapal on the left of essentially saying, dont make this an industrybyindustry fight, cover all payroll, the european model for six months. Where are you on this . Well, look. There are industries that have received benefits for years. The oil and gas industry, for example, is one of the largest recipients of the tax code, even when they were making record profits. So, yes, i dont want to pick and choose industries, but by the same token, i want to recognize that Many Industries were making record profits and didnt, you know, provide for a rainy day, as states often have to. So i would have to look at that. But the one entity that i know, that shouldnt matter whether youre red, blue, or otherwise, are the states and municipalalties of our nation. They are overwhelmingly besieged by low revenues and high demands for services. Thats something we need to do and we have a bill to do exactly that. And one last question for you. The punishing of china. Theres a lot of talk coming from the president. But frankly, china is a pretty unpopular player left and right. And theres a lot of concerns about how much our ppe was sort of tied to production in china. As somebody whos so deeply involved in Foreign Affairs in this country, where is your appetite with punishing china right now . Well, look, you know, the reality is that china is both a challenge, a exert, and someone we have to strategically deal with. As it relates to punishment, you know, first, we have to have the facts. And we have to know whether or not china has done things that are both affecting trade issues, access to personal protective equipment, whether any of the allegations as to how the virus started is anything other than the wet markets in china. So, you know, i think its too early to talk about china. Whats necessary is to have Global Leadership by the United States and the United States has absented itself, whether it be the world health organization, the united nations, or other leading entities in order of leading the world and responding to the pandemic. I think we should be thinking about that more than punishing china right now. All right. We are going to stick to our theme of new jersey politicians. Senator menendez, were going to thank you. Im going to return to trenton, new jersey, where my coanchor, katy tur is standing by with the states governor. The time is yours. Reporter lets get right to it. Governor murphy, first of all, thank you very much for joining us today. I think the question on everyones mind is, youve laid out this sixpoint plan, what is the time frame youre looking at in order to reopen the state . Too early to tell, honestly. We Just Announced over 400 fatalities today. Admittedly, thats a little bit of catchup over the weekend, but still, these are blessed lives, each and every one of them. Weve made a lot of progress in the sense that hospitalizations are down, the positive test curve is flattening, icu beds, ventilator use are both flattening to down. Thats all good. We need more progress. As you rightfully point out, weve got a sixpoint plan. Four of those points are health care specific. The other two are economic recovery and resiliency. And we believe that Public Health creates economic health. I hope its sooner than later. I hope well be able to take some baby steps in the right direction, but its too early to tell to give you a full, definitive answer. I was speaking to Rutgers University a little bit earlier in this twohour block of shows, and they were talking about a saliva test. And they say they can test 20,000 people a day. Theyre going to need a few weeks to be able to scale up their ability to do those tests with the personnel. What is your expectation on that . Rutgers deserves a huge shoutout. Not just within new jersey, but nationally, it gets talked about, including at the white house regularly as a national model. And ive committed to at least doubling, and i hope we can do a lot better than that, our Testing Capacity by the end of may. So thats basically four, five weeks from now. Thats sort of a time frame and rutgers can be a big part of that. Thats what we need. We need the curves to come down. We need scaled up testing with quick, rapid response. So we know we cant wait a week to find out. We need to find out right away. We need real contact tracing, which is both boots on the ground and technology, which were building out. And lastly, you need a place to send people thats humane and proper to isolate, if you find some folks with a positive case. How many contact tracers have you hired so far . I dont know how many weve hired, but the estimate in terms of what were going to need depending on the technology is anywhere from 1,000 to 7,000. I hope the technology is good enough. We want to get that piece solidified so we need fewer boots on the ground. I hope its closer to 1,000 than 7,000, but the x factor is the technology and apps we can use to tackle this. There are parents across your state wondering to themselves, should i just prepare to keep my kids home for the rest of the school year and throughout the summer . Throughout the summer, its far too early to say that. Weve promised an answer by may 15. We want to have as much facts as our disposal. You know, we make every decision based on the science, the data, the facts. I would say to the folks who are asking that question, rightfully, by the way, and i hear from a lot of them by the way, im one of them myself, bear with us. We want to make the best decision we can with the most amount of facts before us. I would say its too early to talk about the summer. Im hoping that well have some semblance of normalcy in the summer. But to be determined. On monday, you spoke to the president about needing more federal funds for your state. Your fellow governor, andrew cuomo, has been very vocal about this, saying that federal funds are needed at the state level because you cant pay for firefighters, cops with, ems wo, teachers. Where are you right now and what did you tell the president . What was his response . Well, it wasnt the first time ive spoken with the president about it. And his response sounded to me like he was open to it, without making a commitment. I spoke to governor larry hogan this morning, who was the chair of the nga, Governor Cuomo is the vice chair. Its a nobrainer. We desperately need not just new jersey, we need a significant amount of federal cash assistance. My colleague do you know how much money you might need . New jersey is probably 20 to 30 billion. The country, based on bob menendez and senator cassidys bill, something in the order of 500 billion. And the alternative is not anything we need to see or want to see. The alternative is not bankruptcies. The alternative is massive cuts in services and layoffs of exactly the sort of people we need desperately right now in what is the worst Public Health kris in our country. Firefighters, police, educators, ems, et cetera. Weve got to keep those folks employed at the point of attack. Is the president open to hearing from you . Because he says he is, but at the same time, hes tweeting that he shouldnt be giving blue state bailouts. Mitch mcconnell doesnt seem to be very onboard with it. Is he going to be open to the idea of handing over federal money . Listen, i have to hope the answer is yes. Weve found Common Ground with the president. I continue to think what senator mcconnell said with Great Respect is irresponsible. And hes wrong. This is not going to lead to bankruptcies, this is going to lead to mass layoffs. The last thing we need right now as a country is this fall, think about that for a minute, with an already historically high unemployment rate, for that rate to be as much as double that, which is what outcome would be. I dont think that serves anybody, blue, red, no matter what your color of state is, it doesnt serve notify us at this point. We need as many people employed, first responders, educators, ems at the point of attack, helping our citizens out. Governor murphy, thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions today. We appreciate it. Honor to be with you. Stay safe. Chuck, back to you. Nice work. Its nice to have some inperson interviews. Good to see. And social distanced, nonetheless. Well be right back with some good news. But first, another look at the flyover that happened this hour in new jersey and our coverage continues after this. Y and our e continues after this r sanctuary. Thats why lincoln offers you the ability to purchase a new vehicle remotely with participating dealers. An effortless transaction all without leaving the comfort and safety of your home. Thats the power of sanctuary. And for a little extra help, receive 0 apr financing and defer your first payment up to 120 days on the purchase of a new lincoln. Katy, as John Krasinski is proving, we all want a little good news, at least once an hour, weve gotten a couple of bits. Good news about the vaccines, good news to see the flyovers. You got a little more good news for us. Good news about that rutgers testing, as well. I think we should get a little bit more good news in and this time we should go to a tropical paradise, where we would all like to be right now, for a little bit more good news. In kawaii. At 9 00 p. M. Every night, there is a countywide curfew, but the islands mayor, chuck, wants you to know that just because you are being distant doesnt mean you need to be antisocial. On his social media accounts, he is dancing, he is working out, he is cooking, he is doing diy Home Improvement projects. Anything to keep his fellow hawaiians from going stircrazy. Although, honestly, is there any better place right now to be quarantined than a Tropical Island . I would very happily go stircrazy on a Tropical Island right now. So we salute you, mayor derek. We wish we could book a ticket to hawaii, but we will settle for your virtual vacations in the meantime. So chuck, i think tomorrow, tomorrow we should try to do this from kauai. What do you think . If i could dance on screen with a face mask, you might see me dance in public. Because its, you know, if you dont see the overbite when im doing my moves, suddenly it feels its a lot easier to show off. We should get the virtual zoom background. Exactly, exactly. All right, that is it for us today. Nicole wallace and Brian Williams pick things up after the quick break. Brian williams pick things up after the quick break. For people with Heart Failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. Entresto is a Heart Failure medicine prescribed by most cardiologists. It was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. Heart failure can change the structure of your heart so it may not work as well. 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So, if you need to keep moving, were here for you. At carvana the safer way to buy a car. To ewhether youreting these uncaring for your. Family at home or those at work, principal is by your side. Were working hard to answer your questions. Like helping you understand what the recently passed economic package can mean for you. Were more than a financial company. Were a together we can get through anything company. Now, more than ever. They have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com try and never go to the post office again good day. Brian williams here with you, about to be joined by nicole wallace. 3 00 p. M. In the east, 12 00 noon out west. Lets get right to the facts as we know them at this hour. There are now over 1 million confirmed cases of the