Interview. Mass cancellations. We see the teams heading back to the locker room. The nba suspends its season after a player tests positive just moments before a game. Something out of a movie, and you just dont expect it to happen in real life. March madness tournament still on but without crowds. One of the nations largest parades postponed for the first time in 258 years. How america is adjusting to the new normal of social distancing. And stunning announcement. Hollywood legend tom hanks and his wife rita wilson revealing they have the coronavirus, the couple now in isolation. Their message to fans on their health and what its like to have the virus. Today, thursday, march 12th, 2020. Announcer from nbc news, this is today, with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Welcome to today, were happy you joined us on this thursday morning. Nice so see you on a busy morning. A lot has happened when it comes to the coronavirus. Its now been declared a global pandemic. Theres a lot to take in and process. Were going to walk you through everything. Yes, we are. In a desperate attempt to slow the threat of the virus the president has announced significant restrictions on travel from europe to the u. S. It will start on friday and last for at least 30 days. Meantime the nba is going dark, suspending its season until further notice after a player for the utah jazz tested positive for the virus. Also, overnight, tom hanks took to instagram announcing he and his wife rita wilson have contracted the virus as well. And in yet another development a passenger aboard a jetblue flight from new york to palm beach, florida was diagnosed when the plane reached its final destination. That was a big scare for fellow passengers. Were talking live to Vice President mike pence. He is overseeing the governments response in the matter. We begin with tom costello. Good morning. A congressional doctor is he talks about a travel ban from europe, stocks are sinking. Travel sector down big. Dowjones industrial now down 1800 points, almost 8 at this hour. For awhile this morning, they stopped trading because it sank so quickly. Some news in the travel sector, princess cruise ships are suspending operations because of the virus. We can also tell you airports like this one here emptied out from normal passenger traffic because of coronavirus. Now travelers all over the world are trying to figure out what they should do. My fellow americans reporter in a primetime address President Trump announcing suspension of all travel from europe to the u. S. For the next 30 days. We are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American People. Reporter using some of his most pointed language yet when talking about the coronavirus. This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history. Reporter the restrictions, which go into effect friday at midnight only apply to foreign nationals, not u. S. Citizens or their family members. The travel ban to 26 European Countries does not include the United Kingdom and only impacts people, not goods. The European Union failed to take the same precautions. As a result a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from europe. Reporter this morning the state department is raising the Worldwide Travel advisory to level three, urging all u. S. Citizens to reconsider traveling abroad. Meanwhile the president also announcing new measures to protect americans from both medical and financial toll of the disease. Including waiving all copayments and extending Insurance Coverage for coronavirus treatments. Offering lowinterest loans and deferred tax payments for Small Businesses in affected areas. And Financial Relief for those quarantined and their caregivers. Each of us has a role to play in defeating this virus. Wash your hands. Clean often used surfaces. Cover your face and mouth if you sneeze or cough. And most of all, if you are sick or not feeling well, stay home. Reporter the action comes as the World Health Organization is now classifying the spread of the virus as a global pandemic. On capitol hill Top Health Official dr. Anthony fauci with this warning. Bottom line its going to get worse. Reporter and pushing back on those who downplayed the severity of the situation. We would hope as we get to warmer weather it would go down. We cant proceed under that assumption. Weve got to assume its going to get worse and worse and worse. Listen carefully to his numbers. The flu has a mortality of 0. 1 , this has a mortality of ten times that. Were checking in live with the dowjones industrial, down 1900 points. What dr. Fauci said has people concerned. I heard this yesterday S Johns Hopkins command center in baltimore where theyre watching the virus and preparing for its impact. This virus has a ten times the mortality rate of the seasonal flu. The concern, the virus could claim more lives than seasonal flu. We already lost 20,000 due to seasonal flu. Back to you. Thank you. Joining us now is Vice President mike pence. Mr. Vice president , good morning to you. Good morning, savannah. Lets start with what dr. Fauc said and settle this once and for all. This is much more lethal than the seasonal flu, correct . It is, savannah according to all of our Health Experts on the White House Coronavirus task force it does not, as we look at global data, present as much a threat to younger americans, particularly children under the age of 15 but for Senior Citizens with serious Underlying Health conditions it represents a threat of very serious consequences its one of the reasons why the president took the unprecedented step yesterday of suspending all travel from europe, just as he has done so in january with china, and were going to be screening and asking every american who returns from europe over the next 30 days to selfquarantine for 14 days. Its a we want to focus on those that are most vulnerable but we also want to work on ensuring that the coronavirus is not further brought into our country from europe. And were obviously continuing to focus in areas of california, Washington State and new york where weve seen what the experts Call Community spread. Its that combination of efforts that were addressing because of those because of the threat. Im hoping that we can just get a lot of facts out in the few minutes we have together. Sure. Just leveling with people, the president has said, as recently as two days ago, this will go away yesterday dr. Anthony fauci said you can expect millions and millions to get it, the worst is yet to come. Congresss own doctor said that a third of the American Population could get coronavirus. Do you agree with that number . What do your experts tell you the number of infected americans is likely to be, im looking for a number if you have it. Well, let me be clear that from early on the president has declared a Public Health emergency, suspended all travel from china, we limited we limited travel and issued advisories for portions of italy and south korea. Yes, but on the number now suspension of travel from europe, precisely for the reason that we know there will be thousands more cases of coronavirus in this country. Thousands or millions well, ill leave it to the experts to make the estimates of how many people may be infected. And its important for your viewers to remember, savannah that the vast majority of people that even contract the coronavirus will experience flulike symptoms and theyll fully recover. But its because of the vulnerable population, seniors with serious chronic Underlying Health conditions that were focusing so much attention on nursing homes, were communicating so much with Health Officials and families that have seniors in a vulnerable condition were looking at the most vulnerable were combatting Community Spread but the action the president took yesterday, again unprecedented action, suspending travel from europe for 30 days, is all because we know there will be more infections. Yes. In the days ahead and were trying to hold that number down as much as possible. Thats the reason the president took the action regarding europe. No question were seeing unprecedented actions on behalf of sports organizations, companies, travel, all across this country. Right. Lets talk about testing. Theres no catching up to this or even trying to slow it if you dont test south korea, whose onset roughly around the same time as the u. S. , testing roughly 15,000 people a day and tested more than 100,000 people overall. Every indication is that the u. S. Has not tested anywhere near that number of people why not . Well, from early on in this effort weve been addressing the testing issue. We made changes through the fda that allowed for state labs and University Hospitals and hospitals to engage in testing and im pleased to report every state lab in america can do testing now. Many University Laboratories are doing it Washington State, the university of washington is doing extraordinary work but we are literally working hour by hour do expand the to expand the testing and we think the key, savannah, is going to be what we call commercial laboratories like labcorp and quest, who are already spinning up production at the president s direction last week on tests that can be available on a broad basis in the days ahead for the American People were making real progress, but rest assured were going to continue to drive forward. But anyone that feels that they may have contracted the coronavirus should call their doctor their doctor can contact the state lab and determine where testing can take place today in all 50 states. Was there a little bit of a lag time, slowness about testing, in particular the World Health Organization in february sent out a coronavirus test to 60 countries, but the u. S. Was not among them because the u. S. Wanted to develop its own test was it a mistake to not just take that w. H. O. Test while we waited for our own test so the testing could ramp up earlier . Well, its a fair question and dr. Fauci and i were talking with congressional leadership in both parties last night and that topic came up. What the doctor said was thats actually not the way we do it in the United States. Frankly, were the world leader in infectious diseases, our cdc and then our fda produce and approve tests through our Incredible Health care system in this country so thats more of a reference of that decision according to what dr. Fauci said your viewers should know that we are continuing to lean into this effort the president tapped me to lead the White House Coronavirus tas homes, b force about two weeks ago. We brought in all of the leadership of, of course, Health Insurance industries, nursing homes, bankers yesterday but we brought in those commercial labs like quest and labcorp that are already on their websites, already producing more tests for americans. The good news, as the president said last night, is any american who feels that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus or has symptoms can know that because of the president s leadership all of our Health Insurance companies have waived copays on testing. On testing. Have agreed to extend coverage for treatment and weve made sure that medicaid and medicare recipients in this country have the exact same benefits, financials persons in financial situations should not be a barrier to being tested, nor should the risk of losing your job. The president s going to continue to drive for family leave benefits for hourly workers, for Small Businesses so that anyone who feels they may have been exposed can stay home without fear of losing a paycheck. Mr. Vice president , i know you have another interview ive got to jump i just want to ask you real quickly, unfortunately this has been infected by politics like so many things and some people think this is just hysteria and media hype, i mean the president himself said on monday the Fake News Media and their partner, the Democratic Party is doing everything to inflame the coronavirus situation. There are people out there who believe this and they are going about their business like nothings going on and we have about 10, 15 seconds for you to get your message to them, for people who arent afraid of coronavirus and think its just politics and hype. Well, obviously theres been some irresponsible rhetoric. But the American People should know that President Trump has ne people of this country higher priority than the health and safety and well being of the people of this country you can go to coronavirus. Gov right now to find out what every american can do to keep yourself, your family, your workplace and your school safe. Thank you. You can rest assured were going to focus on communities where weve had Community Spread and the president s action yesterday suspending travel from europe is one more example of how hes putting the health of america first. All right, i know youre taking it seriously, mr. Vice president , thank you very much for your time. Ill let you go. Thank you. Craig joins the table now as does nbc news medical correspondent dr. John torres, and stephanie ruhle. Dr. Torres, what did you hear from the president , from the Vice President about the way were handling this situation . Theyre taking it more seriously than we thought they were taking it initially weve been behind the eight ball in getting prepared and taking action and thats why its spread throughout the country and now theyre taking steps to try and get it contained weve already broken through containment so were almost in mitigation stage we know its going to spread but lets make these steps to try and not let it spread too much and bring the curve down. A lot of things you read are about testing and lag time, people are going about their business not quarantined while they wait for results of the test do you hear from the Vice President encouraging words in terms of now ramping up the testing. Thats one thing i didnt hear much of, how were going to ramp up testing. Without the tests you cant tell where the clusters are without knowing where the clusters are, you cant keep it contained. Thats extremely important that test is one of the linchpins to getting this thing under control. It hasnt quite been there yet. Hopefully it expands and gets better i read something yesterday that i found troubling all of those being diagnosed with the coronavirus and the deaths related are those numbers being reporting to the cdc we have a fragmented system in the country vaping in the past, those numbers werent reported directly to the cdc. We need to get a system that does that. Theres 50 Public Health departments, each state has theirs and so that reporting process is difficult at best in this country. Bring in steph. Right after the president spoke the dow numbers just tanked. Tanked. What exactly did he say that caused that . The market investors, companies, saw the president not assessing the risk very clearly not saying how were going to increase testing and what the numbers are this is all about Risk Management you have to assess how widespread is this and what do we do about it people keep saying this is a financial crisis its very different from the 08 financial crisis where we really were in economic straits this is a Public Health crisis there was a Tipping Point yesterday, when americans watch, famous people with corona, the nba cancelling the season, the country of italy is shut down. When you see that suddenly were realizing the best way to contain and mitigate this is basically ndhen when everybodys better come back out. To your point, the administration rightly says, i mean, i think, the fundamental what youre saying its not an underlying problem with the economy now we have economic problems because of the Public Health response thats required here. Thats exactly it this is a Public Health crisis that thus far has been addressed with pr, with politics, trying to downplay it for whatever reason and because of that we are now facing an economic crisis when you cancel the nba season, and thats the right thing to do from a health perspective, think about the trickle down effect. We talk about social distancing, how important that is, six feet apart, in a homeless shelter, cots are six inches apart, six inches. Well, stephanie, thank you, dr. Torres, thank you. Let us turn now to mr. Roker for a first check of that weather. Good morning, weve got really Severe Weather to talk about, affecting folks in tennessee. You can see showers and thunderstorms firing up. Weve got an enhanced risk for Severe Weather 17 people at risk. Tornadoes, hail, damaging winds. Thi