And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. America. Reporting from new york city, i am laura trevelyan. President trp changes course on disbanding the Coronavirus Task force, saying he never knew it was soar pop this comes amid warnings at the outbreak is just beginning in the u. S. And brazil, the out break is th latest threat to neighborhoods plagued by poverty and violence. The president s handling of the crisis provokes an angry reaction. Plus, we look at one of the most polluted parts of california and why people there feel they are rolling back environmental protections. For all of you watching on pbs and around the globewelcome to world news america. President trump has reversed course and will keep the task force in place indefinitely. Aymr. Trump the nation is battling a crisis worse than 9 11 and pearl harbor. Even so, more and more u. S. Meeting the federal guidelines,h h say Coronavirus Infections should be declining for at least two weeks. There are more than 1. 2 million cases in this country and more than 72,000 people have died. Our reporter has more. Reporter as the coronavirus drastically and quickly altered american life, the whiteouses task force sought to offer guidance on the way forward. So when the Vice President who has l the group for months said it would probably wind down before the pandemicsnd criticism was swift. Today in a series of tweets, President Trump reversed course. He said the tk force would continue on indefinitely, but with a focus now on safety and reopening of the country. In the oval office, he said he changed his mind because he didnt realize how popular the task force was. The president was honoring americas nurses as cases oti infections ce to rise in the country. Pres. Trump this is the worst attack whave ever had. This is worse than pearl harbor. Is is worse than the wor trade center. There has never been an attack like this. And it should have never happened. Reporter restarting an ailing economy that is crucial to his reelection prospects is the president s priority. It will be no easy task though. Parts of the country are still seeing dangerous trends. In iowa, 730 workers at a tyson foods pork plant tested positive. Dan deaths in the state surged to a new high on tuesday. Ein the ecenter of virus, new york is still desperately trying to protect residents. Extraordinary times calr extraordinary measures. Rerter cleaning crews have begun disinfecting trains nightly. Itirs the f time in the subways history that an entire planned. Of the system has been each morng, regular service e. Es r nomy bbc news. Laur joining me now to talk about the u. S. Response to the growing coronavirus outbreak ise dr when, and emergency physician who is baltimores Public Health commissioner. Thank you for joining us. We heard today from dr. Omas frieden, former head of the cdc, who set the ohebreak in u. S. Is bad and it is just beginning. Do you share that assessment . I do. Unfortunately. The vaccine the virus, rather, has not changesince the beginning. We still do not have a vaccine. We still do not have a care. What we have in place to present social distancing. Nsmission is the moment we start removing thes restrictions, we will see an increase in the number of cases because we, the. S do not have the capabilities of raining and the virus. We doot have the testing, we dont have the Contact Tracing in place. So in essence, we are deciding that we are ok with these escalating numbers, because that is what is going to happen when we reopen without these other key capabilities in place. Laura so is the president right then when he says there may be deaths as we rpen . But we have taken the choice not to keep our economy closed. Well, whave somehow made this decision as a society. But we need to talk about what the toll is going to look like. We are going to see a new york style infection. An o country. L across the because as it is, we are seeing that the numbers in new york are finally leveling off. But ife you tw york out of the equation and you look at where the u. S. Is, minus the new york area, the number of infection the infections i b going the day. And that is with our social distancing measures in place. So you take that away, im afraid we are going to see escalating numbers, ppd outbreaks ing all around the country, especial in areas that we dont even know about. Hot spots in places that dont have Robust Health care infrastructure as it is, and that is a lot of deaths, preventable deaths, at this point. Laura the president is saying Coronavirus Task f wind down the but how effective has it even been . I thinkt is important that because there need to be one cce entity that rdinating this whole of government response. It has been effective in some ways, at least we know there is one place out of which guidance is coming fr. The problem of course is that we have not had this National Coordinated effort in the way that we need. This National Effort to secure the number of tests needed to get also the other critical supplies, the ventilators, the masks, the gow. And fastforward, we will have many more needs going forward. If we one day have a vaccine, we we need the vaccination. We need vials, syringes, we need these medications to be produced. All of that requires a coordinated response. Im glad the tase is in place still. But i hope it will do a lot more laura dr. Lena when, thank you for joining us. Though new Coronavirus Infections in new york are declining at long last as she was saying, hotspots are emerging elsre in the country. Take illinois. There have been more than 65,000 infections. The governor unveiled a phased reopening plan today. The city of chicago has been hardhitn the state. Adanns j uois now. Thank you for tight for finding time. Tellow . E overall, we hthses e increa. When the virus really hit chicago hard in early to mid march, we were seeing a doubliny of the cases ewo days. We are now seeing a doubling of the cases every 15 days. That is clearly progres what w are still in the midst day in the number of cases and the number of deaths. We have not seen a decline yet. So we are continuing to work on containment efforts. Laura are the fault lines in america of race and poverty being exposed by this crisis . Those fault lines were always exposed. The reality is thathen you see the disparity across black brown communities in particular, the lack of access to health care, the lack of access to healthy food choices, the kinds of jobs that many people in black and brown communities, not rojust in chicago, but the isuntry that are open to them, that put them atbecause they are essential workers and dont have the luxury of teleworking, they are on the front lines. Not surprisingly, those disparities have also led to Underlying Health disparities. Higher rates of diabetes, Heart Disease and upper respiratory illnesses that we know that this virus ruthlessly attacks. Those are the kinds of thingse thate seeing laid bare as we see the increase in the disproportionate number of casee in latinx community, the black community, both in infections but sadly, also in deaths. Laura speaking of deaths, cook county which includes chicago is reviewing deaths as far back as november. Do youuspect coronavirus might have been circulating then . Well, i think they are going back as far as december. And i think it is prudent for the medical examiner to g sback accurate accounting of howan people died. Getting that vital blic Health Information is ctically important. Just as important as making sure we understand who has been eyaffected, how ave been affected, in getting that underlyi demographic information tt we have emphasizing now for some time here in chicago. That information is important so we can measure impacts on communities and the devise of hyper local specific interventions. Ur the plan to reopen illinois is much, much stricter than the federal government guidelines. Why is not . Do you think t federal government was too lax . Ied think theal government is looking across 50 states. Illinois is looking across one state. And we have to be driven by, as i know the guidelines are,coy weatheitio are on the ground in illinois. We have not seen a decline in cases. Quite the contrary. We continue to see an increase day by day. Rthee of increase is definitely less. But we still have not seen a decrease and a sustained decrease which we will need to be open toully to open fully backup. The guidance that was rolled out by the state is helpfu tomorrow we will be issuing some chicago specific guidance. And that will be imalrtant to re inform residents in our city what the state of play is with the arc of this virus in chicago. Laura mallory lightfoot, thank you for joining us. My pleasure. Thank you. A results president isng farowing pressure over his response to the pandemic whichop hinents call chaotic. President bolsonaro who suggested the worst of the crisis is over, en as brazil w its largest increase in the death toll. Our correspondent katy reports from sao paulo. Reporter in brazil, coronavirus is seen as a ch mans disease. Ought in from abroad. But they know that the poor will suffer the most. Death ever present in these often violent neighborhoods. Ancovid19 has becomher killer, leaving it weaving its w into these narrow streets. She use to earn a five dollars a day as aleer. Now both she and her husband are unemployed. Bringing up three lite girls d on handouts anations. Social distancing is not an option here. And authorities are not around to enfor any rules. They are angry with how their thisident is dealing wit crisis [speaking foreign language] bolsonaro is wrong. He tells people to go to work, then people die. And then he will just sayno er one died. Well, it is not my son. What he should say is stayathome. Gyre bolsonaro is not dead trump str nothing. Juike his american idol, he has been railing against lockdown. As crisis escalates, so too doei. Tranator yesterday he said the worswas over. Then came the biggest number ever. Reporter he got the top job because he promised brazilians angry with corrupt politics a change for the better. But wh families in the amazon bearing their dead burying their dead in maskescollapse, mf feel they we a lie. State governors are ignoring the president , introducing quarantine and lockdown to protect the public. The man in charge of brazils wealthiest state has become when you have two viruses to combat, the coronavirus and bolsonaro virus, it is not time to discuss ideology, politics, campaignsal or indivi positions. This is the wrong way. The right way to save lives and to respect the science. Reporter in sao paulos eastern suburbs, quarantine offers. Ittle opportunity. Verty mixture of that. The most vulnerable are waiting in line for governmentanuts, and in doing so, they are the most expos brazilians are confused. Y do t listen to their local politician saying stayathome or to work . Increasingly, rules are borng bent aed and it could not come at a worsee time for country. Meven tt famous landmark has been enlisted in the fight against coronavirus. If christ the redeemer cannot dissuade bolsonaro to don a mask, nobody can. Ty watson, bbc news in s paulo. Laura in other news now from around the world, the number of coronavirus deaths in the u. K. Has risen to over 30,000 people. In parliament, the Prime Minister said italy regrets the idemic in nursing homes. They have the highest reportage ein and a second only to thunited states. Uber h become the latest company to announce huge job cuts as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The ridesharing firm is cutting 3700 jobs, abo 14 of its workforce. U. Th secretary of state has doubled down on his claim tt there is evince the virus originatedn a will hand laboratory. A briefing in washington day, he once again criticize the chinese governmenthandling of the pandemic. Our ate Department Correspondent pressed mr. Pompeo over whether there have been inconsistencies in the administrations messaging. Dci f said there was evidence that indicated the virus evold in nature. Barbara, barbara. We have been through it. And so on. Im wondering. And also s thetement last week it does not talk about evidence. Are you basing your sherman assurance on information that these parties do not have . Barbara. T me put this to bed. Your efforts to try to find to spend your whole life trying to drive a little wedge between senior american officials, it is just false. Barbara, everyone of those statements is entirely consistent. Laura ra here is what barad to say about that exchange, reporting from the state department. Reporter the issue is that mr. Pompeo said at the weekend that there was evidence that the virus had emerged in a chinese laratory. And that assertion seemed to contradict earlier comments he made, as well as those of his top general and other u. S. Officials who have been more cautious. That is why we were challenging him. This or pompeo used the press conference to deliver another salvo in what has been a torrent of criticism from the Trump Administration against china, sang that the chinese withheld information in the early days of the epidemic, and that allowed it to spread globally, killing ds of thousands of peopl and creating an economic downturn. And that the chinese were not being transparent so more lives were being lost. Is true other countries have criticized chinese behavior and some of them have called for accountability. In terms of the Trump Administration, critics say it wants to divert attention from its own slow response to the paic, especially in a president ial year, and that is one of the reasons why ng has been hiteijing so hard Laura Barbara reporting there. You are watching bbc worlnews america. Still to come on tonights program, a public sign of appreciation from the worlds most private artist. Thanks he leaves work for hospital staff in britain. Angermanys llor it has reached an agreement with regional leaders on relaxing coronavirus restrictns. Angela merkel says social distancing will stay in place until june and face coverings must be worn on public transport. Other elements can resume. Heres jenny health. Reporter this countris in a good position, the infection rates have been calling falling. Spare. Is hpital capacity to that has put Angela Merkel under pressure from 16 states who desperately want to restart their local econoes. At the meeting today, we are told it was very stormy, they agreed they can open shops, restaurants, hotels, albeit with strict social distancing measures, and that germanys professional football ague, the bundesliga can resume mahes, although they must behind closed doors. There are important cavts. People cannot go out and meet up with whoever they would like to. They still have to wear face masks. And the authorities will continue to test and Contact Trace aggressively. Ura lets turn to our planet matter series. Are focused tonight is the salt in see in californias imperial valley, one of the most polluted areas of the golden state. The Obama Administration introduced policies to limit environmental damage there. The Trump White House wants to roll those back. Reporter this is the salt and see, californias largest lake. A vast inland oasis created over a century ago when alo in Colorado River was accidentally diverted into the desert. Hi ts is the story of the miracle sea in the desert. Reporter a the rich famous flocked to its reserve its resorts in its heyday. Ynow it is contaminated pollution, and it is drying it. As the salt and see receipts, its white shores growth. It is no secret there are sinister chemicals in the sand and they are causing childr to che. This tox dust is a major part t the problem. For past few months, millions of parents around the world have been keeping their children at home to protect them from what is outside. That is nothing new for communities here. They have had to do that for years. In the neglected communities living in the sweltering valley, many children are battling to breathe. One in fiveave been diagnosed with a chronic respiratory disease. For their parents, covid19 is a terrifying pspect. It feels like you cant breathe. Reporter sixyearold just aya te hes tough anasthma doesn him. Itt sce scares his mom, though. She knows a severe attack could kill him. Recently it has gotten a lot wors the first few times, i was not so scared i think because i did not know the severity it. I was not familiarith what it can do. Nowt is a lot more scary because im more familiar with acks are getting worse. Reporter of the World Economic forum in january, preardent trumde americas skies and seas cleaner than they have been for decades. With its rollback of environmental protections, his administration seems to be moving in the opposite direction to what people here say they need. Those who see the suffering say that can only exacerbate conditions that have already global pandemic. To the if you can trace the poor r qualy and map it out in our country, the vast majority of the time, they are near communities of color, for communities. Very rural so by removing these protections, those are the communities who will now be left more vulnerable, more exposed and at the whim of covid19 that can potentially die at even a highmi, more al rate than they already are. Reporter those monitoring air pollution around the salt and sea say the combination of toxic dust, agricultural waste and factory pollution has created a disaster waiting to happen. These pandemic conditions can be the source,an be ground zero for the next pandemic. That will affect the state, it will affect this country. We can be the cold worked the culprit for the next pandemic. We still live in our own backyard here, we are home to the most polluted river that crosses the international border. It is bacally an open zero or sewer. Reporter the Trump Administration points blame ame co for much of the waste and dis that flow into this basin. That makes littlerence to people here. Pollution has as little resct for borders ashe pandemic. They need to step up and implement the clean air act. Not only the diesel generators i can be replaced, but there is lots of other things and managing the agriculdure that can the air quality. Theres all sorts of things that could be done. But the