country that the pain is not going to be worth it. the argument we make with them is that the path we re proposing gives you a stronger recovery. that plan estimates national testing, tracing and isolation would cost $15 billion a month. compared to the cost of stay-at-home orders, $350 billion a month. and if no action is taken, and restrictions lifted, there would be a sharp increase in deaths, costing $15 to 20 trillion. the researchers say economic growth and testing go hand in hand. we can do this, again, no laws have to be broken, it is purely of question of delivering on the capacity that we already have. stephanie gosk, nbc news. i m jake ward in san francisco. if we are going to reopen america, experts say we need a way to keep track of who is infected, who is not, and where their paths have crossed, we don t have enough investigators to follow each other around. a human researcher could track down the past contacts of maybe two people a day.
streets. open it up. open it up. reporter: protesters are angry their state is shut down, their schools closed and their businesses facing bankruptcy. we do have a problem. certain parts of the countries are over-stepping our liberty. give us a plan. give people hope. give that small businessman he can open up a week, two, three, whatever it is. but they can t stay closed forever. we re here to stand up for our god given rights of the constitution of the united states of america. reporter: in some states many carried guns, many carried american flags and signs with a message for their governor. some of the most popular, freedom over fear. end the shutdown. jesus is my vaccine and stop crying wolf. this was the scene in denver, kro colorado, when a small group of people dressed in scrubs blocked protestors in the street. land of the free.
the tension between saving jobs and saving lives on full display. the protesters, with the man in scrubs standing right before them. and the concern now over your heart. blood clots, the potential for heart attacks. we ll carefully get to it all. we ll start with whit johnson leading us off in new york. reporter: tonight, these stark images from denver illustrating the difficult decisions facing leaders at all levels of government, how to balance the pressure to reopen with the need to protect public safety. in the new york epicenter where the pandemic has inflicted weeks of pain and heartbreak, tonight, signs the state has turned a corner. look at the curve over the last month. the number of people admitted to the hospital trending downward. governor cuomo urging caution. the question is now, how long is the descent and how steep is the descent? and nobody knows. reporter: one doctor seeing that decline firsthand. when we first met dr. matthew bai almost a month
r:te coronavirus closures that have society and the economy shut down and john smith out of work. so, the coronavirus is very real, it s very scary and it s affecting a lot of families and it s very tragic. but the means that we are implementing are not justifying the ends. we re going to hurt millions more people than the tens of thousands that may die from coronavirus. reporter: in denver, counter protesters wearing hospital scrubs blocked traffic. similar scenes this weekend in california, florida, texas and washington, in defiance of stay at home orderers and warnings from health officials. i certainly can understand the frustration of people, but my main role in the task force is to make recommendations to protect the health and the safety of the american people. reporter: president trump friday tweeted, liberate michigan, minnesota and virginia. maryland s republican governor telling cnn the president is encouraging protests that go against his own policy, sending mixed
in high school every morning to start our day. sean: and in hard times reciting the pledge of allegiance, rain or shine, can really help bring a community together. but that s not all teachers are doing. educators across the country are driving by students homes to reunite, spread some cheer, yes, with social distancing since the school year was unexpectedly cut short. teachers at an elementary school in pennsylvania say this is a way for them to make a connection with the students they love. take a look. it s just a very different time that none of us have ever experienced before, so it s just an idea that we re still making contact and still having those relationships with people but just in a different way. i think at the end of the day i hope this just makes everybody, their spirits a little bit uplifted, makes them realize that we re all in this together. [background sounds] sean: it is truly inspiring to see how so many americans are