Many students today take the s. A. T. During the spring, during the school day. Thats about 700,000 students who missed that chance. Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by life isnt a straig line, and sometimes you can find 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. The william and flora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. At www. Hewlett. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Major new developments in the covid19 pandemic. The United States reaches 90,000 deaths out of 1. 5 million cases, as more of the country loosens restrictions. There is potentially promising news about a possible vaccine. And President Trump drops his own medical bombshell. John yang begins our coverage. President trurch played a startling disclosure. He has been taking the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive against covid19. Im taking the two, the zinc and the hydroxy. And l can i tell you is so far i seem to be okay. The president s use of the drug outside a hospital setting goes against the food and drug administrations warning about the risk of heart problems. Mr. Trump has long touted the antimall ar why medications potential even though its effectiveness sun proven. He made the disclosure amid possible signs of progress on a vaccine. Drug maker moderna reported that limited data from early human testing suggests the experimental product is safe and triggers an immune response. This all comes as the nation takes tent tiff steps toward reopening. The before dawn in michigan today, ford auto workers returned to work for the First Time Since this plant closed in midmarch due to covid19. At least for now, everybody is going to have to take their temperature daily and fill out that screening. And theyll have to go through the me screening process every morning when they come to work. Yang michigan recorded 11 new deaths sunday, the lowest since march 24. Governor Gretchen Whitmer said that in coming weeks some counties could lift restrictions. I want to encourage everyone to stay smart and to stay safe. States like florida and massachusetts are meanwhile, states like florida and massachusetts are issuing their own guidance on a gradual reopening. Florida Governor Ron Desantis announced gyms and Fitness Centers can resume operations. And, restaurants can open at 50 capacity. San francisco took a small step today, allowing retailers to reopen with curbside pickup. But, in the epicenter of the countrys outbreak, new york city mayor bill de bsio warned that lifting Safety Measures too quickly will lead to more infections. We cannot have a boomerang. We cannot have something where we have to shut down again. So were going to be really but across the country, some are defying measures meant to stop the spread of coronavirus. Several protesters stood outside a new jersey strip mall this morning in support of a gym that opened in defiance of state guidance. Gym coowner ian smith insisted its safe and proper safety precautions were in place the gym has been sanitized top to bottom by a professional cleaning crew, everything in the gym is six feet apart, erything will be marked, there will be masks. Alcindor covid19 is taking center stage at the annual assembly, held by Video Conference this year, of the 194member World Health Organization. Chinas president xi jinping today pledged 2 billion over two years to support Recovery Worldwide efforts. In washington, the whiteouse dismissed it as a token to distract from chinas failure to warn the world of what was coming and, the w. H. O. Is facing questions about how it handled the pandemic. The european union, along with countries like the United Kingdom and new zealand are pushing for a probe into the response. New zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern this is one that does not seek to lay blame, it seeks to learn from an experience that i think every citizen around the world would know we would need to learn from. Yang across hardhit italy, signs of new normalcy as churches, shops and even venices gondolas reopened today. A nun and priest, both Wearing Masks, entered st. Peters basilica today, open to the public for the first time in nearly three months. And, in denmark, for this first time in months, some enjoyed a cup of coffee brewed outside their kitchens as cafes and restaurants resumed service. The country was the first in europe to enter a lockdown in march, and was the first to being easing those rules last month. For the pbs newshour, im john yang. Woodruff reports of positive results from an experimental vaccine boosted wall street today. So did oil prices, closing ave 30 a barrel for the first time in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained more than 900 points, nearly 4 , to close near 24,600. The nasdaq rose 220 points, and, the s p 500 added 90 points. Today the World Health Organization hosted an annual summit, designed for World Leaders to coordinate in their fight against covid19. But the World Health Assembly was dominated by tensions between the u. S. And china, and criticisms by the rest of the world, of a vacuum of global leadership. Nick schifrin joins me now. Soo nick, what is this is central tensi between the u. S. And china . Udy, the World Health Assembly basically became a proxy battle for the political tensions between the u. S. And china. What we heard today was much of what we heard over the last few months, tensions between these two countries over the origin of the virus, over the worldwide leadership of this crisis and of course whether the who itself did a good job. Now xi jinping was the first world leader to, he promised to share any chinese vaccine, he pledged 2 billion forth entire world for covid19 19 and defend the who and chinas efforts. We have acted with openness, transparency and responsibility. We have provided information to who and relevant countries in a most timely fashion, we have released a genome sequence in the earliest possible time. Xi is really respond towmpleght. Is criticisms that in the early days of this outbreak local authorities silenced doctors and beijing authorities cenalized or even destroyed some of the vy rugs samples. So what did we hear flt u. S. That was lead by alex azar, secretary of health and human services. He gave a short speech but right out of the bat blamed the who and china. In an apparent attempt to conceal this outbreak at least one member state made a mockery of their transparency obligations with tremendous costs for the entire world. We saw the who failed at its core mission of information sharing and transparency when Member States do not act if good faith. This can not ever happen again. Woodruff so nick, we know based, listening to secretary azar just now, the u. S. Has been talking about reform so that this doesnt happen again. Have any of those reforms been adopted . In a word, no, judy, at least not yet. The u. S. Shas wanted tie want to become the own observer at the who and the u. S. Has want fundamental reforms to the who, allowing it to enforce countries reporting their outbreaks early on that the u. S. Says china did not do. Both of those efforts were shelfed even before this assembly began. U. S. Officials telling me that they are going to try again later this year. And this wasnt really the ideal venue in order to do that. But what the u. S. Believed it succeeded was to get china to agree to an investigation into covid19. But judy, this is important. In order to get that resolution passed, it was watered down, it does not mention the word china. It does not mention the word wuhan nor does it call for an investigation into the origin of the disease, instead all it calls for is the International Community to identify the animal source of the virus, determine how it entered humans and to create a kind of Lessons Learned project but only after the pandemic ends. Woodruff and nick, outside the u. S. And china, what other countries say . Many other countries defended the who and called for Global Solidarity including u. S. Allies, countries the u. S. Will need to pressure china, namely frangs and ger annie germany. Now there was a real battle over global leadership, gli jinping mf side the money, solidarity. What the u. S. Officials i talked to say look, we have already pledged 2 billion to the world, on top of 10 billion that the u. S. Pledges every year, a 100 billion that the u. S. Has been given to africa, but none of that was highlighted today. So china might not give more money, judy but even u. S. Officials im talking to admit that it advertises better and prioritizes events like today much more nan the u. S. Ever has. Woodruff and nick, a different subject but also the u. S. And china, and that is tensions between the two countries over the tech giant w. How has the u. S. In the last few days been increasing pressure over this . It is really at the technological battle, st a hundred billion dplor phone and technologys jugger nawtd and the u. S. Took the most aggressive step that it has against wawei as much of a mortal blow to the company as the u. S. Is capable of delivering. Basically any supplier whether foreign or the u. S. That makes chips for wawei measures chips for them, sells any technology at all, if that supplier has any u. S. Intellectual property, even like the software that runs the machine that prints the chip, that company will now not be able to sell to wawei unless it gets a u. S. Exemption. The experts i talked to say this will set wawei bark about 18 months and cost them a considerable amount of money. They add politted today if would set them back but also said beijing wouldnt sit back and let the u. S. Destroy the company, judy. So expect some kind of retaliation from china, perhaps against u. S. Companies that still rely on chinese supply chains in what really has become a technological cold war. Woodruff a lot gng on, between the u. S. And china right now, nick schifrin, thank you very much. Thank you. Woodruff in the days other news, federal Officials Say a saudi gunman who opened fire at a u. S. Naval base in pensacola, florida, had ties to alqaeda. The saudi officer killed three sailors last december, before being killed himself. F. B. I. Director Christopher Wray says data recovered from his cell phone shows ties to the Al Qaeda Branch in yemen, known as a. Q. A. P. He wasnt just coordinating with them about planning and tactics, he was helping the organization make the most it could out of his murders. And he continued to confer with his a. Q. A. P. Associates, right up until the end, the very night before he started shooting. Woodruff wray and attorney general william barr sharply criticized apple for not helping to unlock the gunmans phone. F. B. I. Agents finally managed to break the encryption, after four months. Attorney general barr also says he does not expect criminal probes of former president obama or former Vice President biden. President trump has claimed they may have committed crimes related to launching the russia investigation. Barr dismissed that claim today, as he discussed u. S. Attorney john durhams review of the investigation. As to president obama and Vice President biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information i have today, i dont expect mr. Durhams work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. Our concern of potential criminality is focused on others. Woodruff President Trump said later that hes surprised that barr is not planning criminal probes of obama and biden. Democrats say the friday night firing of state Department Inspector general steve linick may be linked to a saudi arms deal. Representative eliot engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee, said today that linick was investigating the 7 billion deal. President trump said he does not know linick, but that secretary of state mike pompeo wanted m fired. Well explore this, later in the program. A federal prosecutor who oversaw cases against two trump allies, could be getting a big promotion. Its widely reported that u. S. Attorney tim shea will take over the Drug Enforcement administration. Shea helped push a lighter sentence for roger stone, a trump friend and adviser, and for dismissing criminal charges against michael flynn, the former National Security adviser. In israel, a jewish extremist was convicted today of murdering an 18monthold palestinian boy and his parents. The court found the defendant threw firebombs into the familys west bank home as they slept, in 2015. The boys grandfather welcomed the nviction. translated the trial will not bring my family back. But, i dont want there to be more children to go through the trauma that we went through. We went through this trauma for fiveears, a whole year at the hospital, and i dont want another family to go through this. Enough already. Woodruff defense lawyers claimed police used torture to force a confession, but they offered no evidence. Back in this country, disabled and minority voters in wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit over the upcoming august primary and november general election. They want more poll workers, plus absentee ballots for all voters, among her things. Wisconsin held its president ial primary last month, despite coronavirus fears. And, the years first named storm in the atlantic swirled off the coast of North Carolina today. Tropical storm arthur brought heavy rain and rough surf to the outer banks, before turning out to sea. Hurricane season does not officially begin, until june 1. Still to come on the newshour Public Health concerns remain as most states continue to relax restrictions on public gatherings. The trump administtion fires a state department watchdog, t latest in its dismantling of oversight. How the pandemic hastens a nationwide move away from often unequal aptitude testing for College Admissions. And much more. Woodruff in all but two states, stayathome orders are being lifted. Many states are still restricting how widely they will reopen and only will do so gradually. But theres no doubt questions are increasingly focused on how that can be done, while minimizing risk to the Public Health. Dr. Atul gawande is focused on that and its the subject of a piece he wrote for the new yorker website. Hes a surgeon at the brigham and Womens Hospital in boston and the chairman of haven, a joint Health Care Venture created by amazon, berkshire hathaway, and j. P. Morgan. He joins us from boston. Dr. Gawande, it is so good too have you with us again. You are reminding people that even as we moof a ahead it is important to keep the basics in mind. So tell us again what are the basics . Well, i think the basics come from the fact that there have brn a group of workers who have been going to work right through this epidemic and those are health care workers. And we have managed in the United States to manage so we can go to work and not spread the virus. And there are four components to what i have called a combination therapy. The components are ones you all know. But each of them are flawed. But when you put them together it stops the virus and we are demonstrate thrag in health care. So what are they. Number one is hygiene. Number two is distancing. Number three is screening. Screenk people for even very mild symptoms so they stay home rather than go into work. And four are masks. And the main value of the masks is that we can spread the disease. We now know, before we have developed symptoms. And the best way to keep from infecting other people is a mask beuse it is our respiratory drop lets, when we talk, when we breathe, when we cough that we have the ability to spread the virus. Woodruff assuming they can get the test and have access to the test. But as you look around the country, dr. Gawande and you see how these states are opening up, and as we said most of them are now trying to open up to one degree or another, what do you see that gives you hope, that makes you feel reassured. And what do you see that is worrying you. So the things that give me hope, inch one, we are finding that we have managed the lockdown successfully enough that we did not exceed the Hospital Capacity. And in most parts of the country there is enough Hospital Capacity for the cases to open. Number two is that we have Testing Capacity actually has increased significantly in a lot of parts of the country. Reports are flow coming out in many states that we havent used up the capacity enough. People arent coming in for the tests and we need to call up your doctor or go to one of these drive thru spots. Dbscvs, riteaid, walgreen, and get tested, if you have even the slightist symptoms. Those are what gives good flus. We are finding that and it is getting better. Now what am i worried about . What i am worried about is were having this debate about our culture, of what were going to do to secure safety for one another. Its a did he bait