Rates. We know mitigation works. America is coming together to battle this disease. And we are starting to see progress. And thats the biggest news here. Social distancing does appear to be working. All that said, the world still has a long way to go in this flight. Globally more than 1. 3 Million People are infected and 76,000 people have died around the world. The United States suffered its deadliest day so far in the pandemic recording more than 1200 deaths in a 24hour period. Sadly bringing the total to more than 11,000 people. In spite of this, voters in wisconsin are headed to the polls today. Quite the experiment well see there in wisconsin after the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned an executive order issued by the governor to delay inperson voting and the u. S. Supreme court cut off an order to extend absentee voting. Andrew cuomo said the number of cases in new york has grown to more than 138,000. The state has developed an Antibody Test to determine who had covid19 but the test still needs fda approval. Boris johnson today still remains in icu where he is receiving treatment for the coronavirus. Hes gotten oxygen but hes not on a ventilator according to a spokesperson. We shall see that the oxygen treatment right now is simply standard. Obviously, going on a ventilator is another level of concern. Joining me now on that front is nbc news Foreign Correspondent molly hunter live in london. So the uk government, obviously, a bit rattled by all of this. The fact that hes in the hospital and in icu at a time when you dont do that unless you need to be there. I think that tells us how serious condition the Prime Minister is in. Thats exactly right, chuck. Good afternoon. You would presumably think that most everything, routine tests, observation, anything like that could be done for the Prime Minister at home, at 10 downing. Were just outside of 10 downing street right now. So for him to go into the hospital and, of course, spend two nights, one of which in the icu, things are serious. He is receiving oxygen. He was stable overnight. Weve heard from number 10. Apparently hes in good spirits but when and if we find out any more if hes going on the ventilator, that, of course, would be the headline. We just heard the press conference at number 10. Dominic raab, the foreign secretary who is deputizing for Boris Johnson had a rare emotional moment. Boris johnson is a fighter. Hes not just our friend or the Prime Minister, that they really cared about him. It was nice to see. Okay. Molly hunter, thank you. Im sorry. I got an indication we might get that sound bite there. Nice to hear. Well await more reports there. Now from new york to long island, the latest hot spot in a state overwhelmed by the coronavirus. Cases continue to erupt today in nassau and suffolk counties. Together they have reported more than 30,000 positive test results. Think about that. This is not new york city. Just those two counties on long island. Stonybrook University Hospital in Suffolk County there making moves to address the rising number of cases like emergency popup tents, a Field Hospital and system to improve their supply of protective equipment. Ron allen is outside the hospital in stonybrook. He joins me there now. Ron, given the larger news story out of new york that there seems to be some hope, some green chutes, youre on the ground there. What do you see . Thats true. While there are green shoots and some hope, everybody ive talked to on the ground says they do not want people to get overly complacent. This is a critical time. Here in Suffolk County, the number of deaths, hospitalizations overall across the county is still going up we were told a little while ago and that 30,000 figure that you gave for all of long island essentially some time is started essentially at zero just a few weeks ago, about 30 days ago. So its really just spiked here and significantly spiked here. Here at stony brook Hospital Medical center, theyve taken all kinds of steps to increase their im sorry. Are you throwing this back . Yes, ron. Sorry to cut you off. We wanted to go to the beginning of governor phil murphy, the new jersey governor there giving an update on the situation in new jersey. Obviously, its basically the second hardest hit state here. Lets dip into that right now. I would like to mention two of the tremendous individuals in particular who we have lost. First is dr. James wilson who passed away on monday night at the age of 93. There he is with his son sid. Ill come back to sid in a moment. He lived in Bergen County for the past 50 years. Born in the dominican republic. He was a pioneering physician in the 1960s. He became one of the very first dominican physicians to open a clinic in the United States in new york citys Washington Heights where he tended to patients for more than 40 years. He and his wife nilda recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary along with their six children and extended family and friends. And as i say in this photo, hes with his son sid, who is a dear friend. We send our condolences to everybody who knew him. Obviously, most importantly, his family. To sid and his fellow family members, what a life. We also lost Diana Tennant of monmouth county. She worked for many years at the fulfill food bank of monmouth and ocean counties helping to feed countless families. She was a leader within the Latino Coalition of new jersey and was a past chair of the latino festival. A festival that ive been to several times in monmouth county. She is remembered by her friends as someone who always had time to lend a hand. Diana was only 51 years old and had so much more to give. We also send our condolences and prayers to her family and friends at this time. These are just two stories of the many, many more we could tell of those who we have lost. Every single one of them has made our new jersey family what it is, and we honor their legacies as we grieve with their families. None of them, you have my word, none of them will be forgotten. And for them and for their families, we need to continue doing all we can to keep slowing the spread of coronavirus. We dont need to, nor do we want to in any way lose any more members of our family. The best way we can protect this new jersey family is by social distancing. Yesterday we noted that were beginning to see, and i dont want to overstate this in any way, the first potential signs that the curve may be finally flattening. If you look at the positives today and you put the denominator, the positives that weve already had, youll see a little bit more of that evidence. But we cannot be happy with only reaching a plateau. We need to keep strong and keep determined to see that curve begin to fall and ultimately get to zero. Thats going to require many more weeks at the least of our being smart and staying at least at all times six feet apart. This morning, i spoke with Governor Cuomo and exchanged notes with governor lamont. I reached out to governor wolf. While we are not there yet, i repeat, we are not there yet, we all agree that just as we had a regional approach to dealing with the up side of the curve and still do, we discussed a general in a general sense a regional approach to the things like testing, tracking and the reopening slowly and responsibly whenever that moment comes of businesses and schools and potentially a regional approach for mobilizing an important update there from the governor of new jersey talking about how hes working with his Regional Governors in the tristate area, in particular there, Governor Cuomo of new york, governor lamont of connecticut, and essentially, theyre on the same message. It appears this is starting to work. They are starting to get their arms around this, and theyre starting to talk about that when they make the next move, theyll continue to do it on a regional basis, and they want to obviously start the conversation about trying to basically do regional testing together. The Antibody Testing that Governor Cuomo talked about earlier today. All of that, obviously, very important. In fact, let me bring in a doctor. Dr. Sudep bose in texas. Retired u. S. Army major. Iraq war veteran. He had to treat Saddam Hussein while he served in iraq. He is joining us now between seeing patients there. And i think this is the difficulty political leaders have, and that is the fact that this is beginning to work. Were starting to see signs social distancing is starting to work. But that doesnt mean were out of the woods. Correct. You know, my heart goes out to the challenges people have and everything, you know, they are facing in new york and other places in the country right now. Were mentioning the politicians, but its the listeners. Its the listeners that are doing it. Following the rules. Remember, all disasters, whether its a mass shooting, a pandemic, it starts local. It starts locally at the city level and more granularly at home, what you do. Washing your hands, coughing the correct way, keeping that distance of six feet and not touching your face. At least thats what im seeing in the emergency room is that people were following those rules are doing okay. So what were trying to do is take that curve youre discussing and make it not as vertical and, you know, not spike as high so that we here in the emergency room can use our assets and treat everybody. I think that that is the thing that i think the public needs to understand is the goal of flattening the curve, we may not save lives in the immediate. But the longer you have, and your hospital to take care of a patient and the more youre not overwhelmed, the better chances you have of saving lives. Thats the whole point of this. I think people dont understand it. This isnt going to cure the disease. This just buys you time in your hospital. Correct. Im often asked, you know, what can we do to help the staff in the emergency room . And there are a few things. Weve heard about the distancing. Weve heard about washing your hands. And the other thing is basically knowing when to come to the emergency room. Remember, at this time, the date of this recording, there is no treatment for this virus that has been proven. There is no vaccine. So essentially you want to come to the emergency room if theres something we can do to help you. You may have a fever. You can stay at home for that. You may feel really miserable. Try to gut that out at home. But what we can do for you here is, if you are really struggling to breathe a lot, we can give you oxygen and, in worst case situations, we can get you on a ventilator. A lot of it is just knowing when to come in and when not to come in because people are scared and people are afraid. Again i tell you, whats dr. Bose, the scariest part of what you just said, i think when it comes to corona, we all get that. If you have trouble breathing, thats when you call the hospital. Whats scary is, what if you have another ailment and you know you dont want to go there but you know if you dont get it treated, youre in trouble. I think its that fear of not knowing whether youre in an emergency situation that has nothing to do with corona. And just like any medical condition, you know, the goal is not to end up in the emergency room. Its like your car. If you service it regularly, you dont break down on the side of the highway. So similarly, with whatever medical problem that is, for the individual listener, try to manage at home and maintain your body, which is the vehicle that gets you to this thing called life and we are here for you if you need us, but again, you want to do it, you know, in a smart manner and weigh your risks and benefits. Right. And its an important way, as you just said. If youre trying to figure out, how do you do your part . That is one way you are doing your part. Dr. Bose, thanks for taking a few minutes to try to give us some sense of what its like on the front line there. Tell me, locally there, are you confident you guys are going to have the protective equipment youre going to need to deal with your surge . Were confident that were going to do the best we can. Similar to, you know, when i was in the iraq war and you have a backpack full of supplies. And so many patients on the ground after catastrophic explosion. You have to do the best with what you have. You have to fight with the army you have. Thats what were going to do here locally. We have a great team in odessa. Odessa fire rescue medical hospital. First responders. Nurses everywhere. Respiratory therapists. Im thankful to everyone helping in this team effort. Well, i guess youll find out the hard way either way and hopefully you guys are as prepared as you hope as you can be for whats coming. Again, dr. Bose, thanks for taking a few minutes to give us the inside picture there. Coming up with stayathome up next well talk about the alarmingly disproportionate impact the coronavirus is having on communities of color. Plus, with a stayathome order still in play, wisconsins inperson primary is going on as planned today. Well be live in milwaukee for a look at how thats playing with with far fewer polling locations open and thousands of National Guard troops stepping in to help with poll worker shortages across the state. This is a glimpse into our future in november. Youre watching msnbc. 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 new tide power pods one up the can it one up spaghetti night . It sure can. Really . Can it one up breakfast in bed . Yeah, for sure. Thanks, boys. What about that . Uhh, yep it can . Yeah, even that i would very much like to see that. Me too. Introducing new tide power pods. One up the toughest stains with 50 more cleaning power than liquid detergent. Any further questions . Uh uh nope one up the power of liquid with new tide power pods. Yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. As the coronavirus wreaks havoc on all parts of this country, were seeing a class divide show up as well as a racial divide when it comes to the impact of this virus. For example, in louisiana, black residents make up 70 of all covid19 related deaths in the state. That was 17. I said 70. And its not the only place were seeing numbers like that. Jerome adams referenced the discrepancy when asked if the cdc and federal government should start tracking the virus demographically. Absolutely. The cdc and the federal government should be and are tracking this virus and trying to break it down by different demographic groups so we can help people understand. I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in america. And i and many black americans are at higher risk for covid. Its why we need everyone to do their part to slow the spread. Joining me now is my colleague Morgan Radford who has been looking more into this. This is not just a phenomenon in louisiana. Were seeing it in chicago, in detroit, in queens. Theres, obviously, theres a double wammy of this. Its both class and then it shows up in the Racial Disparity as well, morgan. The reality is were starting to see the tip of the iceberg because, frankly, these numbers are alarming. When you look at this discrepancy, it really appears like covid19 becomes more deadly for communities of color because of some of these existing disadvantages and discrepancies. So its interesting that you mentioned the cdc does not provide the racial breakdown of these numbers but there are certain cities, counties in states that are. If you look at the numbers here in new york where i am, you can see that a lot of those deaths, 56 of them are in the bronx and queens. Those are both majority minority communities. If you look at places like chicago, 70 of the people who died there are black. You look at a place like michigan. Across the entire state, lets keep in mind, michigan is only 14. 1 black in the entire state and yet they represent 40 of the deaths because of covid19. No when weve been talking to people who have fallen ill with this virus, when we talk to experts, they point to three factors. One, theres a discrepancy when it comes to health and health care. A lot of those preexisting conditions that make corid 19 deadly like heart disease, diabetes, asthma, theyre already overrepresented in black and latino communities. And then you look at Something Like jobs. Black and brown people are overrepresented when it comes to Service Industry jobs that require facetoface contact. So protective services. Were overrepresented in the gig economy. And then thirdly, which i think was most surprising as we were digging through the numbers was this concept of misinformation. A lot of people we spoke to said there are these myths floating around that said things like black people cant get coronavirus. We know that is wholly untrue, but it was so prevalent that the cdc had to create an entire web portal designed to tell people that this myth is something thats simply not true because we see this virus is affecting all people. The uncomfortable question, morgan, were going to ask out of this is going to be the following. How many people died from this virus because they had they didnt have equal access to health care . In some form or another. Either throughout their life span, in a short period of time or long period of time . Thats got to be the question that gets asked, one of the questions that gets asked in the afteraction report. I have a feeling well have an uncomfortable answer. Morgan radford with that reporting, thanks. We turn to wisconsin where despite the states stayathome order, the primary is under way today. Folks are now casting their ballots in person despite fears of spreading coronavirus. Already there have been long lines at polling places raising concerns about social distancing. Look at this picture. Joining me from milwaukee, one of our political reporters, Shaquille Brewster. Shaq, im just seeing that picture there. It looks like i dont see a ton of masks. I dont see a lot of six feet. In three weeks, were going to find out if this was a catastrophic mistake by the political leaders in wisconsin. Thats right, chuck. Not to mention you listen to local Health Officials here. They believe theyve been seeing signs of optimism in their control of this virus. They say this is exactly what you shouldnt be doing when having a pandemic like this. What were seeing here in milwaukee and, remember, normally milwaukee has 180 voting locations. This is just one of the five they have around the city. You see people in line. No, theyre not maintaining that social distancing youre seeing but this line goes all the way around this high school here. Most of the people that ive been seeing have been Wearing Masks. And what you see inside is a little different. Inside people get hand sanitizer. Theres tape on the ground enforcing and encouraging social distancing. And then people go theres a table where people drop off their photo i. D. And then go ahead and vote. Another opportunity that voters have, people who are handicapped, probably feeling symptoms are what you see right here. This is driveup voting. The cars come around. They hand their photo i. D. Someone brings them a ballot. This is one of the several options people have despite the fact and frustration that people are express with the fact they have to come out amid a pandemic. Shaq, as youve talked to people from a social distance, have you gotten any sense anecdotally if this is hampering turnout, if people arent showing up, deciding not to leave their houses . Its hard because these are the people who are showing up. These are people of all ranges. People who are sick who need assistance walking with canes. Somebody walking in with oxygen. People who should not be out if you listen to the Health Professionals but they say its their constitutional duty. This is not just the president ial primary. Theyre not just having the option to vote for Vice President biden or bernie sanders. There are serious races locally here. Theres a state Supreme Court seat thats up. The Supreme Court part of that body that made the decision to continue that overturned the governors executive order and made the decision to continue this election. People are furious about that. Theyre frustrated about that and that helped drive them to the polls because they realize how important that is. They dont want to be here and many have been absentee balloting, but many people have said there have been problems with that system where they never receive their ballot or just didnt trust that system. Chuck . Yeah, Shaquille Brewster on the ground in milwaukee. Please, stay safe out there. I know you took the face mask off for us but hurry up and get it back on. It will go right back on. Wisconsin has had a decade of this polarization thats basically hamstrung it as a state. Congratulations. Welcome to what its delivered you now. I want to bring in our medical expert, dr. John torres. Dr. Torres, i guess were going to see a real live experiment of what happens when you get rid of social distancing for a day. Open the door for a day. Were about to see it tested out in wisconsin. When will we find out whether this was a catastrophic mistake . Chuck, unfortunately, youve seen a couple experiments happening. One of them if you remember, the cruise ships. People talk about that being a failed experiment. Now we know you cant keep people isolated like that. Even more importantly here, weve been touting the message. And the White House Coronavirus task force this week said give us a week. Stay home. Dont go out. Even to Grocery Stores or pharmacies. Its that important. Yeah, at the same time theyre opening up voting in this area and saying, hey come on in here. We know you should stay home but come on in anyway. 50 of people will get symptoms in five days. Start looking for the up tick in symptoms. Almost everybody by day 12. So over a twoweek period well see what happens with this. Unfortunately, i think its going to be an experiment youll start seeing numbers creep up and maybe even go up. Hopefully they dont shoot up exponentially. Hopefully people are doing what they need to do to keep as safe as they can. Plo theres people out there on oxygen with chronic lung problems and probably other Health Problems that can make them more worrisome when it comes to coronavirus. Well see what happens. Im not very optimistic. Yeah. The only state that didnt move its primary in the month of april. I want to jump to the other story we were covering with Morgan Radford. And that is the fact that this is basically, and perhaps we shouldnt be surprised that if you have an underlying condition, if you dont have equal access to health care, you may not know your underlying conditions and it may make you more vulnerable to this virus that clearly your station in life makes you more vulnerable to this virus. Thats a very uncomfortable fact were discovering. It is a very uncomfortable fact. What we know is the africanamerican community, the latino community, even more so, the native american community, they are more susceptible because they have more of these underlining conditions. Asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes. These are prevalent for a few reasons. One because of lack of access to health care. Thats a big issue. On top of it also food deserts. Theyre not able to get the healthy food and education of how to keep themselves as healthy as possible. Those underlying conditions will make it not more likely to catch coronavirus but more likely that they suffer consequences. The catching part of it comes from what morgan was talking about. They tend to have those jobs they cant leave the jobs. They have to go to them and be mixing with somebody else. They cant do that social distancing like other groups can. No, its, again, this is going to be i think its going to have fallout on our politics Going Forward for quite some time. But in the meantime, its something that Everybody Needs to be facing with just with the facts in their face. Dr. Torres, thank you very much. Coming up with major supermarket chains reporting their first coronavirusrelated employee deaths were seeing increasing worry among grocery workers as supermarkets are among the essential businesses mostly staying open amid the deadly outbreak. Folks on the front lines of get toing getting groceries to you and theyre the ones getting impacted the hardest. Well talk about that, too. Ut t [squawks] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You should be mad at tech that makes things worse. But youre not, because you have e trade whose tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. Dont get mad, get e trade. As essential businesses like Grocery Stores remain open during the coronavirus pandemic, theres growing concern about the safety of Grocery Store workers. The Washington Post reports four supermarket employees from walmart, giant and trader joes have recently died from covid19. Dr. Deborah birx, a member of the Coronavirus Task force, suggested families cut back their Grocery Store trips to prevent the spread of the virus. We want every american to know that what theyre doing is making a difference, but we need to have solidarity of commitment from everyone to really so maybe once every two weeks we can do a Grocery Store and pharmacy shop for the entire family. Joining me now is dr. Jha, director of the Harvard Global health institute. Lets start with that issue here. Are we letting people go to Grocery Stores too much . I grew up in the 70s and 80s. In the 70s, we have specific days depending on whether you had an odd number or even number on your license plate of when you could go to the gas station. Are we going to have to go to something more strict for Grocery Stores in order to save lives . So its a great question, chuck. Thanks for having me on. The issue is weve thought about doctors and nurses on the front lines. Weve not thought about Grocery Store workers on the front lines. And i think the first responsibility is from Grocery Store owners, from the businesses to figure out how to protect workers. It means making sure theres real social distancing happening in there. There are Grocery Stores where theyre putting up plexiglas to protect some of the workers, the cashiers from the consumers. Obviously, everybody should be Wearing Masks in Grocery Stores. I can emergency Grocery Stores requiring if you want to come in, you need to wear a mask. Beyond that, are we going to get into society saying were going to i do think its a good idea for people to voluntarily do it. Im not sure were ready for communities limiting how often people can go. But weve got to do a lot more to protect these workers. Theyre allowing us to eat and get access to our medicines. Thats essential. I have to say, i dont think you or i need to go into how you design a store. I wouldnt be dropping pallets of stuff in the middle of aisles. You force people and i may be saying something to my Grocery Store. Im not going to say which one, but you are forcing people, theres no room to move because they are just trying to put people on the floor, which i get that othat front. But i guess it comes down to, you know, do you think Grocery Stores should be the one perhaps providing some security that essentially says, you know, the way you would in front of a nightclub. No, keep track of a number of people in your store . I notice a lot of stores arent doing that outside of some spots in new york city. Yeah, my personal experience has been also that its very haphazard. I went this past weekend to a trader joes. They were doing a pretty good job of that. Went later to a different Grocery Store and they werent. And they didnt have wipes, they clearly just werent taking it seriously. So i think where policy can come in is cities and states can basically put in some basic Good Practice requirements. And then do spot checks to make sure the Grocery Stores are following them. Didnt have to be onerous but limiting how many people are in there. Making sure aisle ways are clear. The stuff youre describing. This is common sense stuff. It keeps Grocery Stores open and our workers healthy and alive and allows us to get food. This should be a top priority and we can make it a priority. We just have to focus on it. Absolutely. Its a reminder to a lot of you staying at home. Grocery store workers an essential worker. After all is said and done about the reckoning and where we value different jobs in this country. Dr. Jha, thank you for sharing your expertise. As weve been discussing, the coronavirus pandemic has shed a light of economic disparities in this country. So who is fighting for the americans struggling right now . Some relief is on its way. The governments first stimulus checks should start going out this week or early next. 1200 for folks making less than 75,000 a year and its a little less up to 99,000 a year. There may be another round of checks on the way. A second round of those payments . We could very well do a second round of direct. I would do it direct. Thats under serious discussion . It is absolutely under serious consideration. Joining me now is nbc capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. I want to deal with two stories with you. One is what is clearly momentum. I saw Kevin Mccarthy put out a note that basically endorsed essentially replenishing the Small Business loan account and these direct payments and checks. What else could happen in sort of phase three, part two . Well, a couple of things, chuck. It seems republicans in the administration are pushing to try to put more money in the Small Business fund right away. And without addressing any of these other concerns. The administration is going to ask for that formally this afternoon. But i cant get democrats in the senate or the house to say that mnuchin has even been in touch with them. They are so far keeping it very close to the vest as to whether theyre going to go along with that or not. Theyd have to for that to happen as soon as this week. And i think thats partly because they do want to think about this in these broader terms. Its widely acknowledged, congress is going to have to do more as this crisis continues. But there are some stumbling blocks. And right now, even getting that first round of checks out the door has been a real logistical nightmare. Americans havent seen it yet. So ive been listening to the president. Hes mentioned he did on sunday night and again. He talked about the next round and wants to do it differently. Ive been putting that question to my sources on the hill throughout the morning and no one so far has been able to say what hes been talking about. We dont have Additional Details on that at this point. They really do have to get this sorted out. One, two senators senator doug jones and a republican colleague put out a letter saying the irs should start sending people debit cards instead of paper checks. I think were facing so much trouble just getting this first round out the door. Its hard to have a conversation about a second round. I was just going to say, it feels like, i think the intentions are there. Its the logistics of delivering that needs to get ironed out before we can Start Talking about replenishment. Theres been a lot of movement on another part of the story and that is this the idea of having an Inspector General for this 2 trillion in congressional money. Some confusion that the president veto the position completely, get rid of the person. Doesnt look like hes fired the individual but hes trying to, i guess, fire the concept. What do we know here about the removal of the acting ig, defense who i know has not been fired, fired but has been removed from this process. Can you provide some clarity here . Sure. This is a fastmoving story, chuck, we were just learning about in the hour or so before you and i came on the air here. This is glen fine, the acting Inspector General at the Defense Department who was on track to basically head up one of the most significant layers of the oversight congress put in place for the spending of this 2 trillion. And while youre right, the president didnt fire him completely, he moved somebody else into that job of acting ig at the Defense Department which makes glen fine ineligible to be part of the pandemic Oversight Task force. So thats got a lot of people up in arms on the hill. Even chuck grassley, longtime republican senator, sending out a tweet, not naming fine directly but seeming to suggest that this was not the right idea for the president. So this is a fastmoving developing story that youll hear a lot about in the next 24 hours. Oh, i think so, too. Considering this is the second ig he seems to have an issue with just in the last 72 hours considering what happened with the intel committees ig. Kasie hunt covering capitol hill for us. Thank you. Up next the creative ways some Nursing Homes are trying to bring families back together in this time of quarantining, selfisolation and social distancing. Youre watching msnbc. At t has connected us every day for over 100 years. And were here for you especially now, doing Everything Possible to keep you connected. Through the resilience of our network and people. We can keep learning, keep sharing, keep watching, and most of all, keep together. Its the job weve always done. It is the job we will always do. No no no no no, theres no space there maybe over here . Hot hot oven mitts oven mitts everythings stuck in the drawers im sorry oh, jeez. Hi. Kelly clarkson. Try wayfair oh, ok. Its going to help you, with all of. This yeah, here you go. Thank you oh, i like that one [ laugh ] thats a lot of storage perfect. Youre welcome i love it. How did you do all this . Wayfair speaking of dinner, whatre we eating, guys . Its starting to people are surprising themselves the moment they realize they can du more with less asthma. Thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. Dupixent isnt for sudden breathing problems. It can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. Its not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. Dont use if allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. Tell your doctor right away about signs of inflamed blood vessels, such as rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and before stopping any asthma medicines, including oral steroids. Du more with less asthma. Talk to your doctor about dupixent. A lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. I tell them, it may be your detergent. Thats why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum. With the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. For sparklingclean dishes, the first time. Cascade platinum. Coronavirus cases continue to overwhelm Nursing Homes and Rehab Centers around this country. The Major Concerns about these recent hot spots, the most atrisk population that lives there and the shortage of protective equipment for those who care for them. The cdc says more than 400 facilities have reported cases. 172 increase from the week before. A tragic story in almost every state about some facility having more than one person die of it. Cynthia mcfadden reports on one nursing home using creative ways to keep spirits up and keep its staff and vulnerable residents safe. Reporter high on a hill outside pittsburgh how are you doing . Im doing okay. How about you . Im doing okay. Reporter bill and kim pope married for over 50 years are reconnecting after two very long weeks apart. Weve never lived through anything like this. Reporter with Nursing Homes around the country closed off from the outside world and many seniors inside, unfamiliar with the technology that can connect us, this center is getting creative in bringing families back together. This van converted to a viewing pod. Youve never been out there. Isnt that nice out there . Where kim can see and talk to bill while hes safe inside. Oh, this is great. We can see each other and talk. Rather than through the window, right . Exactly. We havent been able to interact that way. So today, you know, when we could sit across from each other. That was just very emotional. Cynthia, i want to show you something. Reporter james cox who owns the home along with a dozen more like it in five states came up with the idea after seeing one of his residents gazing off through a window. He looked at me and said, i guess this is my new life. I guess that im not going to be able to see my daughter anymore. Reporter all over the country, many members of americas greatest generation have been separated from loved ones. Nursing homes fearful that the virus could rampage through their facilities as it did at this Life Care Center outside seattle, washington where 37 are dead. If this thing starts to excel in a way it is accelerating in new york city, how worried are you about trying to keep everybody safe . Im extremely worried. Reporter nbc news did not go inside for everyones safety. But cox and his team did. Bringing their own camera. And this is our dining room. Reporter now empty and closed. With patients being hand delivered three meals a day. Cox is worried about keeping his nursing staff safe as well. With very few masks and gowns left, theyre busy improvising. Weve taken a coffee filter. Weve folded it. Weve put a paper clip on the nose section and taped it. And then, in the end, you can use this as a mask. We are going to fight. We are absolutely all hands on deck. I know, mom, i miss you, too. Reporter back inside the van, mary lou scharff hasnt seen her 92yearold mom blanch in over two weeks. Two weeks too lorngs honey. Im used to seeing her every day. How are you doing . Okay . I knew she was going to cry. And i knew i was going to cry. And im not a crier. Whenever i see her, i just get very, very, very emotional. She says she loves you. New ways of connecting and bringing hope in these difficult times. It was wonderful. I really believe that shes going to be okay and shes going to make it through this. I do. I do. Trying to help the situation. James cox tells us in the 13 various institutions, longterm care facilities he owns, so far only one Health Care Worker has been diagnosed with the virus and one resident. So those coffee cup filters, i guess, are helping. Chuck . Cynthia, there are no words to express just my disbelief at the coffee filters. Heres the thing. Bottom line, as soon as im done with this show, im calling my grandma again. Thats the bottom line. Thanks for that piece. Its so important. Nice to see some trust me. Im very concerned about depression happening for those folks stuck there without human connectivity. Theyre already seeing an increase in having to use medications with people who are sometimes confused and sometimes really depressed. Its a depression. Cynthia mcfadden, thank you for that piece. Coming up im going to be joined by an icu nurse fighting the virus on the front lines in boston. First, we wanted to provide some good news. Nita kadir, a doctor in california tweeted this tiktok after her icu team saying, yes, patients do recover and, yes, my icu team does do an extubation dance every time we liberate someone from a ventilator. Its a great reminder that people are recovering from this virus. Weve got something to celebrate. This is my body of proof. Proof i can fight moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Proof i can fight psoriatic arthritis. With humira. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin in psa. Humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Humira is proven to help stop further joint damage,. And its the 1prescribed biologic for psa. Want more proof . Ask your rheumatologist about humira citratefree. And arent necessarily great for your teeth. The acid can actually wear away at the enamel which over time can cause sensitivity and a lot of people start to see their teeth turn yellow. I like to recommend pronamel to my patients to help them protect their teeth and keep the enamel strong. I like to recommend pronamel to my patients we cant offer much during this time of crisis, but we can offer what we have. So from all of us working early mornings on the farm, long days in the plant, or late nights stocking shelves doing all we can to get you the milk you need. We hope it makes your breakfast a little brighter. Your snacks more nutritious. And reminds you when it comes to caring, there is no expiration date. Milk. Love whats real. [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. Thats why lincoln offers you the ability to purchase a new vehicle remotely with participating dealers. An effortless transactionall without leaving the comfort and safetyof 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. Now to some news that i hope will make you smile a bit. We continue to see communities coming together in support of one another during this time, like this past weekend in boston, where friends and family of icu nurse natasha katchatori organized a parade of more than 50 cars to show their appreciation and support. [ horns honking ] she normally works in the burn and trauma icu, but is now assigned to covid19 patients in the icu. Joining me now is natasha katchatori. So never before have honking horns meant so much, i imagine, to you. Look, you working in a burn center, ive heard stories about that and can only imagine what you deal with then. And now youre thrust into this. What whats it been like, being on the front lines here . Its been quite an experience. You know, were dealing with sicker patients than weve ever dealt with on a totally different level. They seem to be trending better and feeling a little bit better and then all of a sudden, they decompensate very, very quickly, so we have to be ready to pick up on very subtle signs that we know that theyre going to decompensate and act pretty quickly. They are also taking a little bit longer to heal. Were used to trying to get patients off ventilators pretty quickly, but because of their respiratory distress, its taking a little bit longer now, so its a big change. How have you changed your habits at home to stay safe . So home is a big change, because i dont want to bring it home. I have a 2yearold and my husband at home, so were doing the best we can to change our clothes while were at work, put on clean clothes. I have separate sneakers, a separate bag, nothing that i take home from work comes out of my car. The hospital is providing cleaning for our scrubs. I go right into the shower as soon as i get home, so i dont spread it to them. Do you feel safe or do you feel, in the back of your mind going, im mostly safe, but i feel like im playing a lottery here, and i just hope i dont get the wrong number . Its thats a tough one, you know . We have what were supposed to have. That being said, theres so little known about the virus itself and were learning new things, literally, by the minute. Theres always that level of anxiety that, you know, i could be next or my family could be next and thats certainly very concerning. Your anxiety level, how do you manage that . My son. My son. I know you saw little glimpses of him from the parade. My days off are dedicated to him and my family and, you know, a lot of face time with our family, because were clearly not in physical contact anymore. Im so afraid to spread anything that i potentially may have to anybody that i care about or anyone else. I cant imagine not being able to hug my kids for a while, so i can only imagine that heartache that youre feeling now. And we can only hope we can get to the other side of the curb so we can all hug again. Yeah. Natasha, thank you for being on the front lines for the rest of us. Thank you. That wraps up this hour for me. Ill see you right back here tonight at 5 00 p. M. Eastern for meet the press daily. And a reminder tonight, join lester holt for a live primetime special on the coronavirus pandemic. Thats tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern and pacific on all of the channels of nbc news, nbc broadcast, msnbc, and of course, nbc news now. Thank you for watching. My colleagues and katy tur and Brian Williams pick up our coverage right after this quick break. K break. Tallation. Like way more vanities perfect for you. Nice. Way more unique fixtures and tiles. Pairing. Nice. Way more top brands in sinks and faucets. Way more ways to rule your renovation. Nice on any budget, with free shipping. Wayfair. Way more than furniture. 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. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had mental Health Problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Talk to your doctor about chantix. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. Good day. As we start the 2 00 p. M. Hour here on the east coast, Brian Williams along with katy tur here with you. Were just a few days into a week that, lets not forget, the experts have roundly warned would be the hardest that a lot of americans have ever faced and the death toll continues to rise across our country. There are currently 386,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the United States. Remember, we have no accuracy number of how many people hav