Battered and bruised the entire u. S. Economy affectedsttion considering a 1 trillion rescue plan, including possible Cash Payments to all americans. This is not an ordinary situation, so it requires extraordinary measures. Just ahead how soon could help be on the way. And clean sweep. Joe biden takes a nearly insurmountable lead as voters head to the polls in three states as the nation faces a health crisis, the growing pressure to end the democratic primary. Today wednesday, march 18th, 2020 announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today the coronavirus pandemic with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. Hi, everybody welcome to today. Thank you for joining us on wednesday morning. Things look a little different i feel a little lonely here. Im missing my partner in crime. Im usually 6 feet away here miss guthrie, where are you . Now were really socially distancing, arent we . Its unusual. Im at home. Im in my basement right now here is whats happening i wasnt feeling my best a sore throat, sniffles, i wouldnt have thought any of it but were in a different time. To model the vigilance cdc is asking all of us we followed the advice of nbcs medical team here i am, working at home, as we speak were still together and were going to get this show on the air and we have a lot of information we want to get to our viewers this morning. We certainly do were going to get caught up with the latest overnight with West Virginia reporting its first case of the coronavirus. It has now reached all 50 states in total there are more than 6200 cases and at least 111 deaths from coasttocoast as you can see, that is a significant increase in recent weeks. We had some breaking news in chicago overnight, the tower at Midway Airport temporarily closed, flights grounded, after several faa workers tested positive this morning the white house is pushing a huge stimulus package to the tune of 1 trillion to boost the hard hit economy we do have complete coverage from cities from coasttocoast as they go to extreme lengths to slow the spread of this virus. Well start with nbcs Gabe Gutierrez who joins us with the latest hey, gabe, good morning. Good morning. Many iconic landmarks have shut down including statue of liberty. Macys closed all its Retail Stores across the country, including flagship behind me now mixed signals from the governor and mayor whether new york city will order its more than 8 million residents to shelterinplace from the city that never sleeps now on the verge of complete silence. The casinos closing temporarily along the vegas strip to schools, Shopping Centers and businesses empty coasttocoast. Much of the u. S. Is now staying home new york citys mayor said a decision to shelterinplace could come within the next 48 hours. I think new yorkers should be prepared for the possibility of a shelterinplace order. Many pars and restaurants here are devastated, no longer allowed to let customers dine in. Is it sustainable to just fulfill takeout and delivery orders no. Whats your message to purchase. To president trump. We need help now. Now. They are choking us slowly and taking the air out of us. Parents across the country are stressed out the governor said schools in los angeles could be closed for months. Its unlikely that many of these schools few, if a, will open before the summer break. Small businesses in austin, texas, already reeling from the cancellation of the citys massive south by southwest festival are facing new restrictions. The Service Industry is devalued so much, but we will know in the next couple of months how important we are to quality of life. Floridas governor refusing to shut down the states beaches, which are packed with spring break tourists. The most drastic steps so far are in the San Francisco bay area a sweeping shelterinplace order is keeping 7 Million People home for the next three weeks. One area of American Life still in place tuesday, voting. I think its my duty as an american to come out and do my patriotic duty. Poll workers cleaning, primary workers mark their ballots in florida, illinois, arizona, a striking scene amid empty streets. The virus is really reshaping american politics. Joe biden swept the primaries in all three states but ohio postponed its voting due to health concerns. Back here in new york, the governor expects infections will peak in about 45 days. Savannah. All right Gabe Gutierrez leading us off. Meanwhile there is great concern this morning about the effects this pandemic is already having on families and businesses the white house not talking about massive Government Action to shore up the economy, including, perhaps, a check to every american nbcs tom costello also working from home. Hi, tom, good morning to you. Savannah, good morning. Hotel chains are now furloughing employees. Weve also seen retail outlets closing down for weve seen businesses, Small Businesses, big and large. Weve also seen retail outlets closing down for now gyms and restaurants and bars. All of those people unable to work right now without pay now were watching the government talking about this massive financial injection, the potential for a 1,000 check to every americans. With Many Americans temporarily off the job and the stock market on a roller coaster ride, the white house is pitching a massive stimulus plan that will inject a trillion dollars into the economy a quarter of that would go directly to the american public. Americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now, and i mean now in the next two weeks. So far few details on how it would work but mnuchin said the relief would not be for the wealthy. We dont need to send people who make a Million Dollars a year checks. Also in the white house stimulus proposal, assistance for small bests and relief for the airline industry. We dont want airlines going out of business. We dont want people losing their job. At the other end of pennsylvania avenue, the senate has yet to vote on a Coronavirus Relief bill passed by the house. That measure, which has support from the president , would provide up to 10 days of paid leave for some workers and free coronavirus testing for anyone whose doctor says its necessary. Speaking from a freshly disinfected podium, mitch mcconnell. Do it anyway. Hell urge republican members, including those who disapprove of certain parts of a bill, to prove they can work in a bipartisan manner. This is not an ordinary situation, and so it requires extraordinary measures. Meanwhile, with tax day fast approaching, the government is trying to ease the burden, pushing back the april 15th deadline by 90 days. Even with the recent wild swings on wall street, the head of the New York Stock Exchange says now is not the time to panic. We will get through this. So trying to react to these major market moves right now in their 401 k s is probably not the wisest move. It all comes as coronavirusgh sites in many statesan be long this backup in birmingham, alabama, stretching all the way down the highway with stricter screening guidelines in place for travelers flying into the u. S. , the European Union is rolling out its own restrictions to stop the spread, implementing a 30 ai day ban for most external travel weve talked a lot about social distancing experts say its the best way to slow the spread of the virus specifically the American HospitalAssociation Says weve got to do whatever we can now to hopefully preserve icu beds as well as all of the ventilators that are going to be needed and protective gear. Even with these measures Johns Hopkins says, listen, we may not see any impact on the data for a week to 10 days. Then you dont know what you dont know, so youve got to keep trying and keep this virus in check savannah, back to you. All right tom costello, thank you. We are joined now by the nations top doctor, the u. S. Surgeon general, dr. Jerome adams. Dr. Adams, good morning to you, sir. Good morning, savannah. How are you feeling . Im feeling well enough thank you for your kindness in asking i want to ask you, do you feel like people are getting the message here we still see people out and about. You had three States Holding votes yesterday. Do you think people are sensing the urgency . Well, i think were starting to turn a corner and people really are its because its starting to affect people who they see and know i have a 15 and 14yearold son at home, and they dont care what dad says even if dad is Surgeon General of the United States they know kevin durant has it and they are taking it seriously. We want them to know, look, chances are you dont have coronavirus. If you do youll recover based on korea data, 99. 3 people recover. What we dont want to do is have you or other people out there spreading it to people who are at higher risk. Absolutely. These new cdc guidelines announced this week advise no gatherings of more than 10 people for the next 15 days. Youve said we can do anything for 15 days. But give it to us straight isnt this going to be longer than 15 days how long do you think people should expect to be at home essentially . What youre talking about is our 15 days to stop the spread initiative were telling people that we really want them to avoid gatherings of 10 or more we want them to avoid any unnecessary travel we want them to work from home if at all possible or not go in. The reason why we framed it that way, our numbers from italy are two to three weeks ago we have a choice to make right now as a nation. Do we want to go the way of italy and see our numbers increase rapidly or the way of south korea and china who aggressively leaned into mitigation measures and were able to level off their peak and announcing significantly decreased number of cases. We really feel like if we can get america to all pitch in for the next 15 days, we can flatten the curve, which is a term youve been hearing a lot, not overwhelm our Health Systems and get through it. 15 going to be enough 15 days wont be enough to get all the way through but we really need to bend into it now so we can bend the curve in 15 days at that point well reassess. Let me ask you about a new study published yesterday in the new england journal of medicine. It found the virus was somewhat airborne it can stay suspended in the air for a half hour before ascending and settling on surfaces i dont have to tell you this is different than what the World Health Organization said, that its not suspended in the air. Whats your information on this issue . This is a new virus we learn more about it every day. I talk to tony fauci many times a day. They still believe the primary mode of transmission for coronavirus is by droplet. Again, social distancing is going to be the most effective thing you can do when you talk about surfaces, thats why we emphasize washing hands and cleaning surfaces. If we do three things, cleaning surfaces, washing hands and staying 6 feet away from people, thats how we will most protect ourself from this disease. Doctor, lets talk about testing. I dont think theres much dispute cdc was slow to get testing going. There have been delays even now we see lines of people trying to get the test, even though they are widespread weve only tested 59,000 people in the country when south korea was doing 10,000 per day the question is what is the status now of testing . Are there enough tests out there, and are they being processed in a timely manner fair question, savannah i really feel like weve turned the corner on testing this week. Its important for people to know the cdc stood up a test for this in a week but the cdc was never equipped, staffed, or intended to provide testing for hundreds of millions of people. We were always going to rely on the commercial market and private industry now with the fda approval emergency use authorization for a highspeed test last week, youre seeing testing increase what American People really care about is can i get a test in my community. Youre starting to see that. The small Rural Community i grew up in offered drivethrough testing this week. Were starting to see more and more people get testing. Here is my point, change your approach to mitigation measures based on positive or negative test you can test negative and be in the incubation period and spread the virus. If youre sick, stay at home we should be acting as if we have the virus, as tony fauci says, so we can protect one another. Real quickly because im almost out of time i want to drill down on the reason were trying to flatten out is so the Health Care System can manage the sick. Are you confident enough we have enough respirators and ventilators to protect patients and protect frontline helpers. Great question. When you look at modeling, again, youve got curves that look like italy and curves that look like south korea. The best way not to run out of ventilators and ppe is to drive down demand so you dont need them thats why were leaning into the next 15 days i want americans to know we have a National Strategic stockpile working with public and private to increase production thats on the supply side. If our curve goes the way of italy, theres every chance we could run out of devices thats why its so important to lean into mitigation measures now, flatten the curve. Some suggest invoking the defense production act to ramp up ventilators and respirators just to make sure. Maybe well never get there but wouldnt we rather be prepared now . Everything is on the table. The president and Vice President have been in contact with industry on a daily basis trying to ramp up that production right now as Surgeon General, my job is to talk to the American People what the American People can do is drive down demand by staying at home, washing your hands, social distancing. Dr. Adams, i got the message. Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it i know its a busy time. Another important point you can still go out and give blood. Were worried about potential blood shortage in the future social distancing doesnt have to mean social disengagement. Im glad you mentioned that we definitely want to make sure they have the supplies they need thank you, sir appreciate it. Thank you. Hoda, over to you. Thank you, savannah here to help us dig deeper into developments dr. John torres, Senior Business correspondent Stephanie Ruhle. Lets pick up where the Surgeon General left off we were talking about masks and ventilators. I cant help on twitter ppe, get me personal protective equipment. Anecdotal stories of people having a single mask they are spraying with lysol sounds ridiculous doesnt sound like we have enough masks. Especially in the United States with big manufacturing capacity most of the country its not an issue. Hot spots its becoming an issue. Getting anecdotal reports. As a nurse or doctor youre making a decision to walk in the room, youre trying to say i walk in theres a potential i can get contaminated, my family could, you walk in, not something we should be doing you should have those masks. Yesterday they said, hey, Construction Company donate n95s that will help a little bit, a drop in the bucket but help. You would think someone would get up and start making them the number of cases was shocking 1,000 cases, we went from 1,000 to 6,000 of 500 increase. Is that shocking to you or did you expect that number. You remember last week we talked about it. Somebody asked me what number would surprise you, if we went to 10,000 over two weeks would that surprise you. No, it wouldnt surprise me because were testing more whats surprising me is the number of deaths the deaths of going up too its spreading more and were testing more we definitely need to get a better handle on it. Lets talk money. Secretary mnuchin went on tv and said a trillion dollars. Huge number. People thought, okay, the question is when do you think people are going to get money in listen, secretary mnuchin said i want people to get a check in two weeks youre actually seeing widespread support from democrats, from republicans, but also from medical experts, and here is why. Are you living paycheck to paycheck lets say youre not super sick lets say youre savannah, you just have a sore throat and your option is should i go to work and feed my family or stay home and be extra cautious, the right thing to do is be extra cautious if its about feeding your family or not youll go to work. Getting that 1,000 check will matter the question is how many 1,000 checks we dont know how long it will last not a finite number, its open ended. We want to talk to Business Owners who are scared. You, too, dr. John we have a lot to talk about. We want to remind you, live prime time special from nbc news er 10 00 p. M. Eastern on nbc, msnbc and news streaming services. Lets pause, lets take a breath and check in with mr. Roker who is joining us from his house hey, al, how are you doing honey. Doing great, hoda unfortunately our friends in texas not doing as well. For tonight we do have a severe risk of weather. Were looking at anywhere from 10 to 12 Million People at risk, damaging winds, hail, tornadoes possible tomorrow that expands out into the Central Plains 17 Million People at risk texas to ohio heavy rains for texas. Dallas under flash flood warnings they have had about 2 to 3. Heavy rain later today, ohio river valley tomorrow b