Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by life isnt a straight line, yourself heading in a new direction. Fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpected, with Financial Planning and advice for today, and tomorrow. Carnegie corporation of new york. Supporting innovations in education, democraticme enga, and the advancement of International Peace and security. At carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. E woodruff at ite house tonight, President Trump is ending pandemic shutdowns. Across the nation, officials have put out new numbers on covid19s toll in lives, and livelihoods more than 32,000 out of work. Ions more thrown amna nawaz begins our coverage. Nawaz as the covid19av pandemic rages the economy, another 5. 2 million americans filed for unemployment last week. That new jobless claims total, ofllion people, means that all the gains of the last 10 four weeks. Wiped out in just the economy also lost 70,000 jobs in march, ending a 113 month streak of job growth. A stunning turnaround after hitting 50year unemployment lows, just months ago. The economic freefall is further fueling President Trump andrs otefforts to end shelter inplace rules and reopen parts of the country. On a call with all 50 governors today, sources tell the newshour the president laid out a threestage approach for lifting restrictions, with guidelines for employers and other groups, like schls, bars, and hospitals. He cold governors, they could call their own shoon when to open. Earlier today, louisia governor John Bell Edwards underscored the need to reopenbu statness. Were not going to go back to normal until we have a vaccine or some effective therapeutic treatments, but were not going to wait until then before we start to reopen the economy, get nawaz but, new york city d mayor bill de blasio ware president s rush to restart could bafire and cause aan boomeffect. If hes smart about it and careful about it we can aually get to a restart of the economy thate can sustain. If he jumps too soon, itll be horrible, itll set us back further. Nawaz the centers for and seven governors in the midwest announced theyll work rdination to reopen the economies, following similar agreements earlier this week by governors in the northeast and the immediate effects of the economic downturn are already being felt. Food pantry providers say demand have declined. But donations in dallas, texas today, cars snaked alonghe highway, waiting for National Guard troops to distributeoxes of food and, millions of americans anticipating their 12 stimulus checks will have to wait longer, as technical glitches kp those who filed taxes with Services Like turbotax or h r block from receiving those funds. As they navigate the economic burden americans also face n gr developments in the Public Health crisis. Sioux falls, south dakota is now a new national hotspot after more than 640 cases were traced back to a smithfield pork plant, since shuttered. In a small new jersey town, the virus continues to devastate nursing home populations. Cording to the new york times, police there discovered 17 bodies inside one facility, where 68 people died recently. 26 had tested positive for covid 19. Countries around the world are also still grappling with containing the virus and mitigating the financial fallout. In northeastern france, an optical Business Owner says hes looking at months of lost buheness and doesnt know ho can safely reopen his shop. translated when it comes i dont see how we can fit glasses on people wearing maskdo masks that wt yet have at the moment in any case. I dont see how i can ask my employees to work without masks nawaz authorities in greece have tightened restrictions ahead of sundays orthodox easter. Police are stopping and questioning drivers anyone traveling for the holiday fa30s a fine of euros 326. A similar lock down in japan, with more than 9,000 covid19 cases and nearly 200 deaths. Wh and ere Prime Minister shinzo declared a nationwide emergency to discourage travel during an upcoming holiday. translated we ask lol governments to urge residents not to take nonessential, none trips back to their hometowns or any trips that involvetravel between areas and prefectures to avoid the sprd during golden week. Hold as the world gl toon on stop the virus spread. For the pbs newshour, im amna nawaz. Woodruff we had planned to bring you an interview with Vice President mike pence. His office had to reschedule and we hope to have that conversation soon. Now, this country is experiencing a sudike of job loss not seen since the great depression. 22 million lost jobs in about a month with many more cuts to come, and a sense that these mbers dont fully captur whats really happening. We are going to focuivon this extey from a number of angles. Lets start by hearing from some who have lost their jobs or have had to shut down most of theirsi ss and are struggling. Im kamesa carter. I live in jacksonville, florida. And before the covid 19 pandemic, i was a substitute teacher. My name is josiah welch. I live in longview, washington. My name is jennifer. S am here in las vegas, nevada. My namestin mcmullen, 31 years old, living up here in raleigh, north carolina. Im sunyatta amen, the head of calabash tea and tonic in washington, d. C. Im alanaalhoun, and i was previously working for an interpreting agency. I bought some food for myself and for my family so thecan have some food to survive. And right now, i jjust dont have nothing in my bank account. I just, not even savings. Its just been really tough. Between both shops, were used to serving 400 and upwards people a day. And so to go from that to noay people aas tremendously rsheartening. But you still hat and you still have lights and you still have bills and you still have staff. Its intense. I was in sales for a major Hotel Company and i was living on 100 commission, so that is completely pulled out from under me. Im a single parent of two together and ive alking with a lot of my creditors to make arrangements and to gio exte on a lot of things. L you knoe ive always been the one to suppormy family and just its really hard right now, like to think about everything. I ended up getting immediately furloughed the day iter i had moved everythi and returned my uhaul, so i didnt actually technically get to woreven one day. It was just a devastating knock to the stomach that almost hard to, like, overcome. And i went to a dark space, but like a self reflecting like, what in the hell am i going to do for about a couple fter i hang my hat, ow, take a lot of pride in being an employer and have so for years and being able to offer Health Insurance and things like that through our ss. Its heart wrenching to have to say to half your staff, look, you guys have to stay home. Approaching your parents basically with your tail tucked between your legs as an adult saying so any way that you could help me through this . Is not an easy thing to do at all. If it werent for my parents assting me, i wouldnt kno that ill be able to have all the ducks in place to make sure i isnt lose my home before is over. Right now, im fortunate in i fear that im nog to bet now. Able to pay our bills, that eventually were going to become homed ss. At scares me. Ju it its just been because you expect that every two weeks or every week youllng get a check con, so you can stay afloat. But with all this and people not having jobs, its like that little anchor has go and its just, its just terrible. Woodruff and we so appreciate each one of you telling your story. The primary engine of the u. S. Economy is Small Business, and they are some of the hardest hit. And a new blow hit today theli massive 349 B Relief Program for the aid is now out of money. Li ou desjardins joins me to tell us what is happening in congress to try to get help to Small Businesses and their employees. So, lisa, tell us what did happen on all this today. And what exactly does this program mean for Small Business . Judy, the fact thsat thi program is now out of money means no more relief will be going out until congress fixes this problem an adds more funding. What this program is judy, is essentially the most widesweeping lifeline ever to businesses in america. It is intended to help sm businesses stay open. And it would give Small Businesses an urecented amount were relief eight weeks of payroll that the u. S. Government will essentially pay for entirely, as well as lease and utility costs. So it is something lot of Small Businesses say they need. But, judy, because of the demand rising so fa, a tsunami of demand from Small Businesses, that 349 billion isready gone in just two weeks. Udy, that14 days, amount of relief is more than the smalliness administration has given out in 14 years. So its rather remarkable what theyve done, but it st shows how immense the need is. Woodruff so, lisa, ho it this one program and whether its continued or not is going to matter so much . Right, and i should say there is a second progr also for Small Businesses that has similarly reached its maximum funding. But this one is more funding for businesses. Judy, talking about how important Small Businesses are the reason for program look at this Small Businesses make up 48 of the workforce in the united states. The number of those businesses,i were tal about 30 million Small Businesses. Most of them would ble eli for this money. But, judy, because of the money running out, just 1. 6 million of those businesses were able to get this money approved. And, judy, tonig, many businesses dont know if they got that money or if n. For example, the tea shop owner in that lovely story that we just said, owing about peoples needs, she has applied. Ings not sure if shes gett the money yet or not. Woodruff and, lisa, youve been reporting on theat negons about all this under way between members leaders in the congress, the trump admatistration. Ne point you said it looked promising. Whats happened . Well,the promise is that it seems republicans may be open to some ideas from bmocrat let me back up and explain whats happening. Democrats are the ones who are essentially refusing to add more fundinjust on its own. So lets look at where the two sides are. First of all, the republicans r heht now, they have proposed for over a week, adding a quarter of a b to this program, just that, nothing else. Democrats, however, say tha they need some of that money to specifically go to some eas that are underserved, that they dont think that money is reacthng right now. Also want more money right now for states and for hospitals. They say those arrgent needs as well and need to be passed immediately. So, judy, its a strange situation where nearly everyone agrees all of these areas need money, but they disage over timing. And, judy, the pressure will be on democrats over the weekend t nd of if theres a political fallout from them block more money for this ogram. It will likely be days, least until next week, before congress can pass any fixes for this. Woodruff and just quickly, lisa, whats the difference then in who would get money, what the republicansment versus what the democrats want . Wl, in general, everyone the same group of people would get money. Its sort of a matter of timing. Democrats plan would probably help more community banks, places that dont see these loans often, not as big of a but i wa also mention an tnk. Important group, the selfemployed. That is the blk of Small Businesses, individuals like plumbers, accountant, farmers they all can apply for this mone however, they were not allowed toapply for it til a week after everyone else. Thats because the guidelines for them are morcomplicated. Judy, they are at the back of the line and they are the most likely to have been frozen out of this program right now. Woodruff and finally,kl qu lisa, where does it stand . Right. Continuing, talks go on. Weve heard from all offices tonight. But as i say, judyth, even if reach the deal over the weekend, even if congress is meeting right now which is barely meet ago i dont think any deal could actually become law until late next week, but talks continue. Woodruff lisa desjardins, thank you very much for staying on top of this for us. Woodruff even as the otpresident and congress nte over further relief and aid, the job losses are staggering. So far, they are roughly equivalent to the number oncjobs created the last painful recession. Elise gould is a senior economist with the economic i polititute, a nonprofit thinktank in washington, d. C. Elise gould, thank you very much for joining us. As we said, these numbers are almost imssible to comprehend 20someodd million americans out of work. I mean, how do you put this in some context . Do you explain it . Whats going on . Its a great question. Theyre devastating numbers, just like those s were devastating that you aired, all those people in so much pain. There e millions of th as you said, there are more than 20 million. Think about the economy. Outhere are 150 Million People working in the economy. That represents one in eight, e more than one ht. If you look around you, more than one in eight workers have now filed for employment insurance. Those are devas. Tating loss woodruff and you described to us how this is happening in waves, how there was a first wave of people, but now, we are seeing this casce into virtually all sectors of the economy. At first, we saw it mostly in leisure and hospitality, when we t w the tourdustry begin to shut down. Now youre seeing it in restaurants, and youre seeing it retail. Its its really cascading. Woodruff and youve also talked to us about how its not just people worrying about their Economic Security. Se its healthrity on the line as well. Right. When you think about whats been ing in this pandemic, there are two ways this is affecting people. One is there are the frontline workers, right, those essential workers whether thy be Health Care Workers or Grocery Store workers or worrs in transportation all those essential workers every day are putting their own health on the line, health of themselves, of their family members. They may live with people o are at risk, in particular, risk of their health. So we have to think abut those workers. And then we think about the other group of workers, tho people facing devastating economic insecurity. So those people who have lost their job, who have been furloughed, who have their urs cut, who have no hope of geting employment any time soon. Woodruff elise gould, you also told us maye theran undercount involved, that were not seeing the true numbers, even en we look at these devastating numbers that are coming out. Thats right so some of what we passed in the last legislation, the cres act, allowed additional people to be able to file for Unemployment Insurance. Thats just coming up on line now. So tholfemployed workers, those gig workers who can now apply, workers who had to qt their jobs to take care of their kids when their kidschool closed, were going to now start seeing all of those numbers of peop applying for Unemployment Insurance in the comumming weeks. Woodruff and finally,h elise gould,e Economic Policy institute has taken a deeper look at how women may be mor affected by these job losses than men. What did you find . We what, were seeing is the sectors that are more likely to be affted initially, in particular, in leesure and hospitality, those that sector has more women in it, and so were seeing more women affected initially. Sectors, women areamong those disproportionately affected so even more than their sector would suggest. Woodruff and is th something you expect to continue as these again, the waves of people who are affected begin to show up ando seeking unemyment benefits . Unfortunately, i do. I think that its really important for us to track as many demographic characteristics as we can with the data moving forward to see who is really being hurt by this recession. Woodruff and just quickly, in terms of benefits, in the past, whether its women or men, i mea for many ofthese people, theyve never had to ask for Unemployment Benefits inli theies. Thats right. We are seeing unprecedented numbers ofpeople filing for Unemployment Insurance. These are people we know, people in the economy today, have lived paycheck to paycheck. They cant go without tha paycheck that they need to be able to put a roof over their head, to be able to put food on the table. It is absolutely nas that money come through, and that that money continue until we get on the other side of chis pande ask can be used as stimulus to make sure the economy gets back on track. A woodruff awe heard so vividly from thoe americans whose voices were shared with us just a few minutes ago. Elise gould, the Economic Policy institute, thank you. Thank you o woodruf of the business sectors hardest hit by the pandemic has been air travel. Passenger volume is down a stunning 96 n the u. S. , while Airline Losses havlltopped 300 n worldwide. Economics correspondent paul solman has our story on the its part of our regular Series Making sense. Reporter clear skies; barren airports; sidelined jets as far as the eye can see. I think its going to be probably 21 before we see a return to normalcy. Reporter brian pearce is chief economisof the industrys worldwide trade group. The airline industry, not just in the u. S. , but worldwide, is in a complete crisis. Markets have evaporated. Just to survive. Sh at the moment reporter and theyll be federal bailout, the first 25 pay employees through september 30th. B 1ut more th,000 in the industry work for subcontractors, as herbertt stew philadelphia does. We had a massive layoff at m. Company he they laid off about 600 to 1,000 employo s. I will als, as well, probably laid off. So this is going to hit me dramatically ere the frontline worke and we were the first ones to go and i think well be the last ones to go back. Reporter laidofon skycap joseph travers, father of four. My concern is once this is all over theres gonna be millions of people out of work. And theres only gonna be so many jobs because companies are losing money. Theyre not gonna want to bring us back and its scary. Its a scary situalyon for any fa reporter also left out of the federal responseo the airline crisis the grounded public. Its frustrating to have to be going to your gate, and your gate sayits canceled. And the next flight is six hours away, and then you wait that six hours and that one is canceled. Reporter and if youre canceled . Theyre really avoiding any commitment tgive a refund to anybody. Reporter sign language interpter Betty Colonomos had paid thousands for flights to teach five upcoming seminars. Shes refunding her customers. But she cant get her money back, not even from travel insurance. And i feel bad for the peopl like myself e not getting a paycheck, who need, who need money to live. I mean, if they bail the airlines out, then they definitely should be runding money to people. Reporter but business is dead, says economist pearce. Amounts to somethie 35 refunds billion in the second second quarter. Of business. Are going to go out em i dont want o go out of business. I dont want to go out of i mean, i think th ridiculous argument because they have not been operating a just breakeven level, lets face it. Theyve beerunning their businesses completely recklessly. And why is it that were holding the bill here . Reporter the federal airline rescue is fundamentally flawed, says antitrust expert tim wu. They been running a game where they squeeze people into tiny seats, do everything they can to extract every last dollar out of everybody, to make the most profit theyould and then thrown that all into stock buybacks. And to realize after all those billions being spent, they didnt keep anything for a edictable event like this. Reporter well, they didnt know there was gonna be a pandemic. Actually, they warned about it in their stock in some of their documents, warned about the possibility of a pandemiin g their business. Reporter but how could they have prepared for a near standstill, ks Airline Blogger brett snyder. These were relatively Healthy Companies that could withstand significant downturns. Just not a complete destruction of all demand. I think thats hard to say that a company should hold on to multi billions and billions of dolls of cash just in case this type of thing were to happen. Reporter meanwhile, pilots helming e few flights still operating have their own beef with the fedal government. E have over 200 reports of test positives. We have three deathsr reporter fight attendants have died, 250 have tested positive. Exmarine joe depete, a pilot for 33 years, now head of the Airline Pilots association, asked for mandatory regulations from the federal aviatio Administration Last month. One was the cleaning and disinfecting of our airplane to make these ready for flight. The second was the notification to other crew membs who may have been exposed to someone who tested positive. The other was to use cleang solutions and productshat were recommended by the c. D. C. To be effective. Reporter depete says he got no Immediate Response at a time when, for his pilots, every day counts. Risks, unnecessary risks,tional preventablrisks to me is unconscionable. Reporter the f. A. A. Gave us this statement in response the reports of Airline Failures to follow this Crucial Health guidance. Any allegation to the contrary is inflammatory and inaccurate turbulent time thousands of Flights Canceled daily, future bookings down almost 100 . Friendlier skies, perhaps a long way off. For the pbs newshour, pl solman. Woodruff in the days llher news, watreet managed small gains, despite the latest job losses. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 33 points to close at 23,537. The s p 500 added 9 points, and, in south korea, the ruling party has won big in parliamentary elections held wednesday. Ters had to wear masks and plastic gloves, and get their temperatures checked. Th but turnout wahighest in nearly 30 years. The outcome maboost president moon jaeins efforts to improvi relation north korea. Israeli Prime Minister benjamin nenetanyahu and rival gantz are still deadlocked over forming a government. They missed a new deadli today, and the countrys president gave Parliament Three weeks to find someone who can fashion a coalition. Otherwise, israel faces s fourth election in jer a year. Wo d war two veteran in britain reached his goal today and raised nearly 16 million for Health Care Workers battling the pandemic. Tom moore is 99 years old. He pledged to walk 100 laps in his garden, and online donations went viral. R,today, moving with a wal moore finished his feat, as a military honor guard saluted. He said he was overwhmed by the response. Its unbelievable that people would be so kind to give thatf sortney to the National Health service. And maybe i was responsible for starting it, but not deliberately. Woodruff moore turns 100 years old on april 30t and, the actor Brian Dennehy has died. His representative says he passed away overnight in new haven, connecticut, of natural causes. Dennehys many film roles included the sheriff in first blood, who battled Sylvester Stallone as rambo. On stage, he won two tony awards, including one as willy loman in death of a salesman in 1998. Brian dennehy was 81 years old. Still to come on the newshour the origins of the virus the competing theories of how covid 19 began. On the frontlineat an embattled Veterans Hospital in new york. The delicate and necessary work of decontaminating ling masks. H plus mre. Woodruff from the moment covid19 began to spread, there tre questions about its origin. This weere have been reports u. S. Diplomats have been concerned about a lab in wuhan, china,he city where the outbreak began. Nick schifrin examines what the u. S. Knows, and doesnt know, about how coronavirus spread. Schifrin today in wuhan, the markets sellive animals. The shop keepers insist their product is clean, and had nothing to do with the covid19 outbreak. Et sey of state mike pompeo seemed to agree with the shopkeepers, and raised on fox news last night, another source. This virus originated in wuhan, china. We know there is the Wuhan Institute of virology just a handful of miles away from where the wet market was. There is still lots to learn. Schifrin the Wuhan Institute of virologys website includes these photos, showing off its technology. Ff u. S. Ials tell pbs newshour theyve long been concerned about lab security. And they consider thepo ibility, that covid19 was accidentally released by a lab employee working with animals that carry coronaviruses. More and more were hearing the story. We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation. Schifrin but t Intelligence Community has not happened. For sure thats wh u. S. Officials tell pbs newshour its still posble the market, was the source. The results are inconclusive, if you will. Weve had a lot of intelligence, take a hard look at that. And i would just say at this schifrin last inase. Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the us military for spreading the via s. Chinese meve even blamed italy. Today, spokesman zha tlijan said it early to know the source, but denied it was the lab. translated this is a ulscientific issue which sbe studied by scientists and medical experts. Many wellknown medical experts in the world alsbelieve that aims of the socalled laboratory leaks have no scientific basis. Schifrin we turn to dr. Luciana borio who served on the National Security Council Staff as the director of medical and biodefse preparedness policy during the first two years of the trump administration. Shes now a Vice President at inqtel, a nonprofit, Investment Organization that funds technologies the interested in. Munity is rio, thank you very much. Welcome to the newshour. Those two scenarios i just laid out, some kind of accidental release from a lab in wuhan, and a possible release in the nearby wet market, are either of those thats right, nick. So the National Biodefense strategy contemplates three general categories of biological threats the deliberate threats, an accident from a lab exposure or release; and naturally occurring exposure. We dont believe the strain has any features that it was a deliberate event at all. Its a natural strain. Whether its a human exposure that led to the pandemi initially occurred in a Laboratory Setting or a wet market or Something Like that is going to be very difficult to ascertain and we dont know how would you. Sorry to interrupt you. How would you ascertain that, if it is so difficult . What information would you need . Thats right. It might not be possible just through scientific means of analysis of thetrain. It may need some other type of investigation undertaken by the Intelligence Community to see what other information may have been available with respect toco unications, for example, around the time. But it may be very difficult. And we knocathat biolo threats in general can be very difficult to attribute in a but, you know, theres, again, either way, what we have to remember todais that we have a pandemic on our hands. And the most important thing nto focusright now is to contain it. There will be a time when were going to be able to go back and say, what happened . And i have to say that theres more to do globally to minimize human exposure to wildlife in those wet markets, because, clearly, they po a threat to our security. And theres also more that we have to do to be able to make sure that experimentations with path gens of pandemic potential, a way that meet very stringentn biological safety standards. O, obviously, there have been questions by u. S. Officials about the safety stndards within these labs, as well as concerns that china isnt closing the wet markets. Al among the u. Sconcerns is the original virus, the original genome. When it comes to actually finding out what happened, how important is it that china share information that it has from patients, presumably from as early as december . Yes, so the more information scientists have, the more theyll be able to understandvi thisus. You know, theres a lot of work that was done early on when a sequence was exposed. It allowed the development of a diagnostic test, having the virus in the right hands and the right labs can help facilitate product development. Its very important to share information about something th really impacts the entire world, impacts everybody. And we have to be able to worko together able to contain it. Lastly, in the 30 seconds or so we have left, your last point we have to Work Together s contain it. How important iit at the end of the day to actually know the origin of covid19 . The most importa thing that we have to do is to be able to stabilize and restore our Economic Security and h ourealth security. So thats going to be the most important thing. We cant lose focus on that. We may or may not be able to ascertain the origins, and, you know, the important thiat is we coain this. Dr. Luciana borio, thank you very much. My pleasure. Woodruff as part of our continuing series with frontline healthcare workers, William Brangham spoke today with maria lobifaro. Shes a nurse workinat a v. A. Hospital in brooklyn, new york thats been nverted to care only for coronavirus patients. Lobifaro is a member of nurses in the counregisterede as youll hear, she says her job often comes with too little otection and support so, you know, every days different. Ive worked on a weekend where we were reusing the same gown from nurseo nurse, the same protective gown. So when my shift finished, i had ne pass that gown on to th nurse. And then the next day i came back to work and we had gowns. And go. Really been very touch as far as staffing, i think that was one of the major issues thah in the hospital, especially in the i. C. U. Just tripled our capacity overnight and so there was definitely weeks i would say all of last monthwhere the i. C. U. Was really struggli. One nurse with five critical patients on ventilators. And thats aatio tts really unheard of. Brangham whats the ratio normally . So the only state that has an actual ratio is california, and they have a 1to1nd they have laws protecting that ratio. Brangham one to one, one nurse. To one patient. Brangham and you guys are at 5 to 1. Yes. So recovid, generally it was like two patients to one nurse. These patients are. So much sicker, than the averag. Patient. And now a nurse is dealing withe five ps. So at times it mean most of the time it was really just unbearable. It was really to the point where a few of us had to actually put our foot down and refuse a sixth patient. Ot it has been a struggle. As far as p. P. E. Ective covering and protective gear its like lacking on the c. D. C. Level. If you do a simple google image search, italy p. P. E. , china p. P. E. And then look up a p. P. E. , its you dont need to be a nurse or a doctor or a medical professional to tell that our country is lacking seriously. I mean, in other cou, if you look at the health care infection rate, significantly lower an what the u. S. Is at right now. And why is that . Like other countries are in a fullon astronaut suit, where they dont have any part of their skin exposed. But yet for the u. S. , were just in like a little thin paper gown and sometimes youre reusing that gown how many more medical professionals need to get sick or even die for them to realize that. But its a serious problem. Brangham thats got to be incredibly fstrating because here you are doing this lifesaving work, really. The country is tasking you with helping stamp out this pandemic and yet you obviously feel like we dont have your back and some substantive way. Well, i mean, prior to this, we dealt with patients with Infectious Diseases all the time. You know, berculosis and, you know, and, you know, the things that were doing today, if we seriously reprimanded. D be and its very discoura because im going into the room, not the head of the c. D. C. , theyre at home. And, you know, its my skin thats exposed, not their skin. So its been overwhelming, to say the least. Brangham when you see all of the support, when people are clapping, when theres a shift change or people posting signs or tying ribbons around trees, and what do you make of all of that support . Im very conflicted on that topic. T so p me feels, you know, so proud that my city is supportive. T im really overwhelmed by the supp the public. On the other hand, im just doing my job every dv, a job thatalways done. E, an i. C. U. Nuou dont go see death. Ield expecting to not tits expected, but i thi amount that ive been seeing b lately hn overwhelming, combined with the just the public. Youre a hero. It just really sets a i guess, an unrealistic expectation of how i can perform at work. Brangham youre not bulletproof. Exactly. No and ia superhero. And if i was a superhero, i wouldnt have to make ons every day. Whose beide do i stand at . Do i stand that the patient who ns a heart rate of 20 rig and is probably going to die in the next 10 to 15 minu or do i go to my other patient whos, you know, went to the bathroom on themselves and unfortunately has been in that for two hours now because ive just been so busy. So if i was a superhero, i wouldnt have to make these you know, i couldnt feel as further from a superhero as i feel sometimes. Brangham well, maybe not a superhero, but you feel pretty close to one, to me. Thank you so much. Brangham maria lobifaro, thank you very, very much for your time and thank you for all of the work that youre doing. Oh, thank you so much. Ou and i hopetay safe and you and your family as well. Brangham you, too. Thank you. Woodruff and now a look at what some hospitals hope could be a stopgap solution to o shortaa critical piece of protection for those heroes on the frontlines n95 masks. John yang has r report. Yang for Health Care Professionals on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, masks like this, called an n95, are essential equipment. The overall situation is terrifying. Is s the closest thing ive done to going to war yang Sidney Longwell is an Emergency Room Physician at Tulane Medical Center in new orleans. The patients that we are seeing are a threat to u if youre gonna go into someere where your someones coughing or youre putting aon tube down sos throat with, you need a shield for your eyes, you need goggles and an n95 as a basic minimum. Yang the virus has sprd rapidly in new orleans. Like the rest of the country, the city has a shortage of n5 masks. Theyre designed to block 95 ob ne particles and droplets that can carry the coronavirus. Use a new disposabask fors would each new patient. And now . Were issued an n95 in the morning and you do your best to protect it. Yang when that practice began, longwell started taking his masks home for a personal recycling program. The oldest is to the left and they circle around to the right to the newest. Yang he sets them out on a table for at least seven dayse nd whats believed to be the viruss lifesp. This is our version of the super bowl. Everyone wants to stay in the game. So thats why im recying here, so that if the supply chains cut, i can at least continue to work for a couple of weeks before i would have an issue. G yow Tulane Medical Center and hospitals on long island, boston and other cities have developed official recycling progra. Were in complete crisis mode. Yang Angie Birnbaum is tulanes director of biosafety. As a biosafety professional, i never thought that id be in a situation whe were actually questioning how to decontaminate n95 masks. But this is where we are during this pandemic. Yang tulanes program, which is awaiting government approval, uses a technique developed by battelle memorial institute, a Scientific Research nonprofit. L the ba system, which was approved recently for emergency use, treats used masks with vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide, which has been employed for years to sterilize sensitive equipment. Ap ous Hydrogen Peroxide is a great decontaminate because it doesnt leave hazardous residues behind. You will basically have a nice sterilized piece of equipment that can be reused by our health care providers. Yang as a test of how effectively the system decontaminates, tulane researchers add hardtokill microorganisms to the masks befo the process. If those are eliminated by the vaporized hydrogen peroxido they rson, the coronavirus. Not everyone is convinced. In a statement, the ecutive director of National Nurses united, the Biggest Union of egistered nurses, said thereli is no ted, Scientific Evidence that multiple reuse ot deination of n95 respiratory masks is safe, and will protect a Health Career wo the food and drug administrations letter approving the battelle system for emergency use said its known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks. And the National Institutes of health said results of its stu indicate that n95 respirators can be decontaminated and reused in times of shortage for up to three times with vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide. Is if successful, the system supply of usable masks. D t and it just could keepys ians like Sidney Longwell on the front lines. When this started we were trying to figure outat point we would tap out and say, if it gets to this point, i dont feel safe coming to work. An adequate respirator is where we all drew the line. I know i wont fl safe going into a room without an n95. Yang he says hes more conerned about his family t about himself. His father died of noncovid19 causes late last month. The harde thing for me about coping so far has been not im literally a biological threat to my mom. I havent been able to go to baton rouge support my m. And that sucks. Also, like ive had a fewie patientsand thats like. Yan protecting loved ones, protecting patients and otecting themselves th balancing act facing frontline healthcare workers across the country. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff we return to the o new guidance othe white house, as the president and Coronavirus Task force continueh r evening briefing. Our Yamiche Alcindor is here with the latest. Shes just come from that briefing. So, yamiche, tell us what president and his team are saying about their plan to begin to reopen the country well, the big news today is that the president has now laid out a threephase plan to try to reopen the american ecomy. And hes doing that by leaving a lot of the Decision Making to states antoovernors. He said he had total authority r but heally saying im allowing the states to make these decisions. These three phase would happen flike this theirst phase is people would still be focused working from home,im ming nonessential travel. The second phase would be where things start to loosen up,where you would have schools and day cares opening back up. U ght, also, the administration sailed have churches and bars opening back up, but that would be largely with social distancing still in place. And the third would beyo phase wher would have big arenas, concerts, and less social distancing. Woodruff and, yamiche, what is the president saying in terms of whether he expects these orders to be followed by e 50 states . The president is essentially tying that hes not really orderie states any more. On a call with governors, hes saying now theyre the ones calling the shots, those were his exact words. Were seeing the president back away from the idea hes forcing governors and states to ake decision. Hes saying i am allowing them to mwne theirecisions. There is a big idea in the administration to ramp up testing, b mcause y people, executives and state officials, still say testing in this country is not where it needs to be, and there are still large numbers of people who cant gett for the coronavirus when they need them and that will, of course, be essential to opening uphe country. Woodruff we know, yamiche, the president met with numbers of different groups, including governors and Business Leaders hes been talk to. E what ee you able to learn about how the white house is handling and managing this crisis . Well, what were learning is that the white house is reallyy managing this focusing on what the Health Officials say wpresident rump also thinking about his own political instinct. Weve heard arguments from white house officials saying that they think leaving the economy closed, that it would make more people die, eitherhrough Mental Health or economic hardship, that people would be hurt more by keepinghe economy closed. So what were hearing is the president is really leaning in on the idea at hes eager to have america open back up, but also said, he stres,sed today this is based on data and science. Were hearing from some formerf republican ials, including one that our producer, meredith lee, talked, to that these are reasonable guilines so we hea the president is still leaning into his Health Officials. Woodruff rter, Yamiche Alcindor, following it all, whats going on at the white house this evening. Thank you, yamiche. Thanks so much. Woodruff tonightar from kat zwick, who tested positive for covid19 last moh. She spent 20 days quarantined in her bedroom in Northern California and spoke to our ceief but spectacular team then about the experi so, im sitting in my car and i get a call actuall urgent care and they tell me that ive tested positive for covid. And i dont know how to properly explain or describe, both thek shd kind of the immediate grief, i think, that i felt. And almost like, this cannot be. Its been 10 days sinci tested positive. I have been in my bedroom now for 14 days. I run a therapy clinic in santa cruz, and in oakland. On march 7th i was in new york city finishing up a conference for the American Group Psychotherapy Association and woke up and felt mildly sick. And then it was on monday the 9th that i was back home and i was getting hit now with sort of like waves of fatigue. So i contacted my primary care doctor and they asked me, have you had any exposure to covid . I was like, i think there might have been someone at my conference that left early, butt it had sng to do with covid, but i dont really know what. Tor said, well, you nee to go to urgent care and be triaged in your car. You actually cany come in. A om the conference emailed the listserv of all the htendees and said he inde tested positive for covid. And i was reading through his schedu, and i realized that he and i both attended the dance, i had been on that dance floor, s which was pretll for at least three hours. And so, then i was like, oh, my gosh, ive been directly exposed, and then, three more people emailed and said they also had tested positive that same day, and they also shared teir schedules and i was at two events with all m. And urgent care said, you need to come on dowand we probably need to get you tested. , it was that afternoon, on the 17th, that i got way sicker. It was just like severe amount of nausea and dizziness, and i just had to sleep. My fever went up to, i think, 101. 6 or sometng like that. And i was the most physically uncomfortable i ve ever been in my life. It was almost unbearable. Like, i could not stand up, or i would fall or. I wanted to just see my husbands face, and i couldnt walk. And so i was crawling on the floor out of the bedom, just to see him in the kitchen. That level of sevety lasted about three days. Ri the worst of it last week, i felt extremely terrified. Nd my huss calling me like a covid activist. Because the thing i feel mostut passionate as people staying in their heriously and right now, a symptom that you have could be covid. Niand not to freak out or about that, because panic doesnt help your immune system. But to just stay inside. The amount of support that ive received, i mean just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of. Peop the emotion that comes up is just overwhelming gratitude and recognizing that this mightd sorange coming from a therapist, but recognizing that i matter more to peopl maybe i usually think that i d when you find out that you matter and you didnt necessarily conceive of yourself that way, i think that does alter, you know, how you show up in the world. My name is kat zwick and this is my brief but spectacular take on surviving covi19. Woodruff kat, thank you so much for sharing. Kat is no longer in isolation and while r health has improved she is still recovering from the virus. Millions of viewers watched her video online and shes responded facebook page. R questions on our and you can find all our brief but spectacular segments at and thats the newshour for tonight. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, stay safeso and see yo. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ford foundation. Workg with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. A by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and impred Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. This program was made fossible by the corporatio public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wg access. Wgbh. Org my favorite comfort food is spaghet and meatballs, absolutely, and my mother made the best. When ias a kid, i would wait around in the kitchen, and shed sneak me a meatball with a little bit of. Today, were going to calabria in southern italy,th wherfamous san marzano tomatoes are grown, and then, inspired by these incredibly sweet tomatoes, well make spaghetti and meatballs topped with a big spoonfu of creamy ricotta cheese, and ill also show you how to make homemade spaghetti. I love to travel the globe in search of new food and wine discoveries. For me, its about more than returning home with a handful of new recipes. s about taking the spir of austria, of italy, of greece, od of the danube river and injecting sotheir magic into our everyday lives. Food has a unique abil to transport us. Join me as we discover new plates and places on