Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20200419

Governors for what he calls getting carried away with orders designed to keep people safely apart from one another. To keep people safe and alive. Heres the president just a little while ago over at the white house. There are a lot of protests out there. And i just think that some of the governors have gotten carried away. You know, you have a lot of people that dont have to be told to do what theyre doing. Theyve been really doing everything weve asked them. We have a few states where frankly i spoke to the governors and i could have gotten them to do, if i wanted, to do what would have been perhaps politically correct. But theyve been doing incredibly anyway. The president also blaming governors over and over again for not doing enough testing right now. Even though many states are reporting dire shortages of critical testing supplies. And also a shocking revelation today. Federal Health Officials now confirming to cnn the reason the United States was slow to roll out coronavirus testing in the early days of the pandemic. Fda officials now say contamination at a cdc laboratory caused weeks of delay, beeweeks of delay that greatly impacted the u. S. Response to this Public Health emergency. With the governments first explanation for what stalled those early initial crucial tests. Lets go to Jeremy Diamond, our white house correspondent, right now. Jeremy, what were some of the major takeaways from what we heard a little while ago from the president . Reporter well, wolf, from what he with saw from the president earlier today at the white house was his latest airing of grievances. And the president in particular shifting the blame and responsibility for the testing shortages that were seeing in several of the major hot spots around the country to governors, democratic governors in particular. The president at one point even suggesting that some of those governors dont want to use the Testing Capacity thats available. And now theyre giving you the other its called testing. Testing. But they dont want to use all of the capacity that weve created. We have tremendous capacity. Dr. Birx will be explaining that. They know that. The governors know that. The democrat governors know that. Theyre the ones that are complaining. Reporter now, wolf, we see the president there going after some of those governors despite the fact that his own Public Health experts have acknowledged some shortfalls with the testing issues across the country. Of course we know tham of these places are not able to test as much as they could. Some of these labs in fact are sitting unused because of the fact they are missing some of these critical supplies. And its not just democratic governors. Weve also heard from republican governors including the governor of ohio who said they are missing critical supplies including that chemical reagent that is needed to actually conduct these tests and to ramp up the scale of the testing that they are actually conduct across the country. But wolf, this was the latest attempt by the president to shift blame onto others. We have seen this president repeatedly. And testing chk has been one of the major issues throughout the entirety of this pandemic. The president earlier had said that he takes no responsibility at all for the testing shortages. Ip stead we have seen him blame a rotating cast of characters, wolf, everyone from the media to the Obama Administration to the World Health Organization and even china. That was a big focus today. Of course, wolf, there are different issues to criticize china on for the way it responded to this, its lack of transparency. But then wolf, the question is raised as to why the president during those critical weeks when the virus began spreading in the United States, he wasnt criticizing china. He was in fact praising its transparency. Wolf . Yes, he was. Jeremy diamond at the white house, thanks for joining us. As we saw tonight, the president continues to stoke his feuds with different governors. But the nations mayors are also playing key roles in this fight. The former chicago mayor rahm emanuel previously served as chief of staff to then president obama. His new book by the way is entitled the nations city why mayors are now rung the world. Mayor emanuel, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. As you probably heard today, the u. S. Conference of mayors issued a statement. It was an important statement. Let me read it to you. In part. Without federal support many cities will be forced to lay off employees and make cuts that will hurt public safety. Whats the worst case scenario, that the mayor of chicago, mayor of new york, mimelyi, l. A. , so many mayors around the country are facing right now if they dont get a lot of federal Financial Support and dont get it soon . Well, wolf, theyre going to make theyre going to be faced and the publics are going to be faced with horrible choices between public safety, Public Health and all the basic services mayors are trying to keep going in their cities. Just think about also all the sanitation youre going to need and the capacity. Look, the economies in their cities have been adversely affected. Its true across the country. And the ability to keep funding basic functions of municipal government are going to be adversely affected which is why the congress and the white house, and i know the congress under Nancy Pelosis leadership understands and hears the not the complaints so much as the aspirations of the mayors and governors across the country to keep basic functions of the city operable and you need the United States government to be that partner. Theyre not asking them to do the job but asking them to be the partner in helping execute that job and putting the resources there. Otherwise these cities are simply going to go broke because theyre not going to have money to pay the bills. Well, its broke but its also remember, its to pay the bills of a police officer, an emt worker, a firefighter called on an emergency, Garbage Services that keep a certain level of sanitation. Your own city in chicago, you have Six Community Health Care Clinics that provide basic Preventative Care throughout the neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods. All those kinds of functions and more would be adversely affected. So its more than just keeping the lights on. Its actually delivering essential services as we as a Community Come together and try to help the most vulnerable in our cities. As you heard, the president just said a little while ago . Governors, hes referring to democratic governors, have gotten carried away, his words, with social distancing measures. Does that put pressure on state leaders to open up their states more quickly . You know, wolf, look, i really wish the president focused as much energy on how to bring the country together, lay out a clear concise plan with milestones, what needs to happen so those milestones could be achieved, as he does trying to figure out who to blame and shift responsibility. Look, early on china was clearly putting a Disinformation Campaign on. Unfortunately, President Trump was also acting in a totally dysfunctional manner. And the truth of the matter is you need testing. You need an entire Public Health system set up to handle whats going to be waves of obviously sickness here. Everybody wants to see some level of the economy and society and their Community Come back. But to do it in a responsible way requires a partnership between federal, state, and local governments with clear capacities, understanding, and one of the things that we just say to you is what is i think we should all take note of. While theres a lot of blame to go around, theres one place i would put one particular. Praise to the American People for taking on the responsibility of understanding what it means their role in Public Health. They have been incredible. And if youre honest and forthright with them and say here are our four milestones over the next four months, heres what its going to take from you, heres what were going to do, the American People will go forward and understand their role and function that way. Look, every governor, democrat and republican, who have been clear with the public, heres how were going to change your life, they have seen their poll numbers go up even when theyve been honest about something tough. The public will handle this. Dont lose sight of that. And rather than shift blame, try to point fingers, be forthright. Everybody wants to see the same thing, a balance of good health and Public Health with the ability to have some sort of normalcy return, knowing that were never going to be normal until fully normal until theres a vaccine. And given that, just be upfront with people, tell them the role they have to play, heres what were going to, do and if we all do this we can actually achieve the balance between saving our lives and saving our livelihood. Rather than making this an either or choice. I just want to get your reaction, mayor, to what the president just said. He was Jeremy Diamond was just reporting he blamed a lot of various institutions, people for the awful situation that the u. S. Is going through, the world is going through. But he also specifically blamed the Obama Administration. You were the white house chief of staff under president obama. He said, we inherited a broken, terrible system. Our cupboards were bare. We started with garbage. So whats your reaction when you hear the president go after the former president are in a way like this . Look, there have been repeated pandemics. And you know, president clinton in 1999 set up the first reserves. President bush in 2005 really built it up. President obama was very clear about what we needed with an Early Warning system around the world, how to put the reserves in place so we could actually be on the front end. The key to any pandemic, which is why president obama set up the system inside the National Security and our Early Warning system around the world, is what you do in those first weeks will allow you to stay ahead. And those first eight weeks President Trump was dithering, was dysfunctional, in denial about what the problem is. Those are lost eight weeks that are not like any other eight weeks. Now, rather than as i said, rather than try to spend all this energy trying to poind fingers at either china, president obama, governors, the media, take responsibility, not just the authority. And if you do that the country will respond. But he is spending all his energy trying to divide america and figure out who to blame rather than be accountable and responsible and being forthright with the American People. I actually ive said this before, wolf. Everything thats required of a leader in a crisis, being honest, being forthright, being a unifier, being understanding, what it takes and being clear about what it takes, are all going to run against his instincts. He wants to spin. He wants to not follow the science data. He wants to divide, not unite people. This is a challenge, and its going to work against donald trump because it runs against every instinct of his. And crisis require a level of leadership, of forthrightness, unity, and also understanding what the facts are. And none of those things in his last four years have you seen him been actually those are things he has aspired to or been transparent about. And i think its going to be a real problem for him as youre seeing right now. Mayor rahm emanuel, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Coming up, despite new cases and a lag in testing texas could be the first state to reopen in a matter of a few weeks. 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Let us work let us work protesters gathered today in austin, texas calling for the state to reopen one day after Governor Greg Abbott announced a may 1st target date for exactly that, which means texas is now potentially on track to be the first state to reopen despite lagging far behind other large states when it comes to coronavirus Testing Capacity right now. The governor assembled a task force to look at incremental steps for reopening as he balances pressure to reignite the worlds tenth largest economy with warnings from medical experts about the deadly consequences of a too early restart. Cnns ed lavandera is on the scene for us with more. Reporter texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced what he describes as a phased approach to reopening the texas economy. He made four major announcements. The first being that texas schools le main closed for the rest of this Academic School year, they will all remain online. Second hes outlining what he describes as retail to go. Essentially allowing Retail Stores to reopen in a limited way, allowing customers to come up to the doors and place orders and drive away with whatever it is that theyre buying. Thirdly, Texas State Parks will reopen on monday. And then the fourth announcement that the governor made is that an easing of restrictions on what kind of surgeries can take place in hospitals, and governor says in the next ten days or so they will even consider allowing more elective surgeries. All of this happening as the governor says the stay at home order will remain in place through the end of this 340 but that he will reevaluate that depending on the medical data that we have in flattening of the curve here in texas and where the coronavirus cases stand. But all of this really happening under a huge cloud here in texas. This is a state with 29 Million People, and it has a dismal rate of testing, coronavirus test at this point. Less than 1 of the population has been tested. The governor says a massive amount of private lab testing will come online by the end of april into early may, but there are few details about how many tests would actually be online and exactly how all of that would unfold and actually play out in reality. Thats where we stand now. As many leaders in cities like houston, dallas, san antonio, and austin have expressed a great deal of concern about the low levels of testing in the state. Ed lavandera, cnn, dallas. Thanks very much, ed, for that report. With governor abbotts target date of may 1st less than two weeks away he says, texas is past the worst of the virus. But the states data this week shows texass trend line in cases and deaths is still on the rise. The houston mayor Sylvester Turner is joining us right now. Mayor turner, thank you so much for joining us. Do you agree that the worst of the pandemic as far as texas is concerned is behind you . Well, wolf, we havent yet reached our peak yet. Some say were getting very, very close. But today, for example, we added another 121 cases confirmed positive to the citys total. We are now right at about 2,700. The good news for the city of houston is that we didnt add any deaths. Were the fourth largest city. We have 31 deaths from covid19. But were still in the storm. The very positive signs, im encouraged by that. There are fewer admissions to our hospitals. Our medical professionals are telling me it does appear well be able to handle the case load. But the existing capacity, all thats good news. But the testing has been very limited. And we need a lot more of that before ill start to feel even more comfortable. At his News Conference a little while ago President Trump mentioned your governor, greg abbott. I want to play those remarks, and then well discuss. Listen to this. I can tell you the governor of texas, greg abbott, he knows what hes doing. Hes a great governor. He knows exactly what hes doing. So what do you think . Is that may 1st target date that the governor has set, is that realistic as far as houston is concerned . Let me just say this. Were all anxious to reopen the economy. Im certainly anxious to reopen the city of houston. Thats important. But it is important how you do it. I do agree with the governor that it needs to be in stages. It needs to be incremental steps. I do agree with him in canceling school, classes for the rest of the school year. And i do agree with the retail stopping, picking up and taking the items away. I agree with all of that. But the precursor to opening up this stage, to opening up the economy, is the testing. And the testing needs to be robust, ubiquitous in nature. And right now its just not enough. For example, for the two public sites that we have set up by fema in the city of houston we reached out with Maximum Capacity at about 3 00 this afternoon. We were scheduled to go until 700. So we tested a total of 1,000 people. We need a lot more of that. And then we know that there is more Community Spread. Even though its 2,700 cases, i know theres more Community Spread within the city of houston. So before you can open up you need to know where this virus is so that you dont open up too soon. As long as were acting in accordance with the medical professional advice that we have robust ubiquitous testing, we have plenty of supplies and plenty of capacity within our hospitals, then we can take those next steps toward opening up this economy. Well, we hope youll get to that point, get there soon. All of us want to see it but everybody wants to be safe at the same time. Mayor turner, good luck to everyone in houston. We appreciate your joining us. Thanks, wolf. Thank you. Some states like texas look to open. Many are lagging behind in this critical issue of testing. Were going to tell you why proper testing is simply so important to getting back to any sort of normality here in the United States. 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But as many areas are starting to see the important flattening of the curve right now, the focus turns to reopening and figuring out the new normal. And thats where testing comes in. But not everyone understands its full importance. Listen to this. I spoke to one of my daughters last night, who shall go nameless. But she said to me what are they all talking about testing . Which was sort of sobering. I think im communicating information, facts, and my daughters are probably some of the most informed people on the situation given the hardship they endure being my daughter during this period of time. And she was like, i dont understand all of this about testing. Which is, again, its a wakeup call to me. Lets discuss with the former Surgeon General of the United States, dr. Vivek murthy. Also dr. Jennifer nuzzo is joining us from the Johns Hopkins center for global security. Dr. Murthy, help us understand why widespread testing is so critical right now. Well, thank you, wolf. And its good to be with you. Heres a simple way to think about testing. Tests serve the function that our eyes serve. They allow us to see what is going on in our community and around us. And if we wnt see where the infection is, it makes it hard for us to direct our efforts at containment and certainly at treatment. And thats whats happened, actually, over the last few months, is we havent had the ability to see clearly. And so the virus has run rampant and weve detected it too late and its run the rix of overwhelming some of our health care systems. So thats why as we think about Going Forward we know that in order to open up youve got to have the ability to test really broadly in the population because what we dont want to do is after having asked people to make extraordinary sacrifices, to stay at home, to take economic hits, to keep their kids home from school, to make all the gains that weve made right now, we dont want to risk another massive spike because we dont have the ability to test and contain infection clearly. And finally, keep in mind this. That when we talk about testing there are actually three components that are kitt critical. One is the number of tests were able to do per day. Also the distribution of tests matters. We need to make sure theyre widely available everywhere. And third, the turnaround time matters. Right now there are still place thats are waiting three, four, five days for results. Thats time and delays that effectively lead us to burn through more protective equipment in hospitals and make it harder to really make our containment efforts efficient. So testing is at the heart of what we need to do if we want to open up quickly, if we want to open up safely. Its critically important right now. Jennifer, the United States is what, doing about 150,000 tests a day. But some harvard researchers say the u. S. Will need to get to 500,000 tests a day to successfully reopen. How do we get there . Well, its a good question. One of the things that we need to do is to understand what the bottlenecks to testing are. Its shifted over time. Initially it was because we couldnt roll out the tests to the state Public Health labs. Thats no longer an issue. The state Public Health labs can do it. But there now seem to be other bottlenecks like shortages in the supplies that the laboratories need in order to run the tests. Shortages in the supplies that clinicians need in order to take a specimen from a patient and send that specimen to the lab. And critical shortages and personal protective equipment thats needed for the people to use when they are taking the specimens. We dont want them to get sick while theyre right up in someones face and obtaining a specimen. Thats a very important point indeed. Dr. Murthy, we now know, cnn has confirmed, that contamination at a cdc lab was likely the cause of some critical early delays in rolling out a covid19 test. How does Something Like that happen . Well, wolf, when youre dealing with a new entity, in this case a new coronavirus, and youre trying to both learn about it and act at the same time and youre trying to do all of that quickly, things can break. So i know that in many of the responses that weve had in republican and democratic administrations youve seen stumbles, but the real question, though, is not always is there going to be a stumble because there will be, something will go wrong. The question is how quickly do you recover from that . What do you learn from that . And can you be honest and transparent with the public while youre going through your response effort . And i think what weve seen is that while there are incredibly bright people in the administration, in the cdc, across hhs who are helping to work on this pandemic, and i know this because ive worked with many of them in prior years, weve seen an uneven effort i think when it comes to communicating clearly and making sure that decisions are being driven by science instead of by other sort of means. And so i think as we move forward whats going to be really important for the administration is to make sure that it is really hitting on all cylinders and pulling out the stops to make sure that the three critical things that we need in order to open up are Testing Capacity, our ability to trace and quarantine, and our ability to treat effectively, which means we have all the ppe and other materials that we need. Theyve got to be making sure that theyre pulling out the stops on that. And to me what that means we need at this point, given that we do not have time to waste, this time equals lives lost, is we need to have a pandemic production board. We need the government to take over the supply chain, critical lchlts testing as well as protective materials, and we need that production ramped up quickly and coordinated by a board the way president roosevelt did during world war ii with his wartime production board. Time is really of the essence and time equals lives lost. Thats why i worry and so many other Public Health experts do that every moment we waste, not using every resource at our disposal to ramp up production is time that we cannot get back. Very quickly, jennifer, did those faulty early tests leave the u. S. Blind to the spread of this virus . Absolutely. We lost a tremendous amount of time. I mean, we should have back in january been thinking about how we were going to expand testing. One, to figure out the virus was already here and how widespread it was. But now weve essentially only really started thinking about this in march. And so thats several months lost that we basically allowed cases to accumulate to the point where our Health System was on the brink. Dr. Nuzzo, thank you so much for joining us. Dr. Murthy, thanks to you as well. Thanks to both of you for what youre doing. There are some shocking and truly sobering images from across the country this week, and theyre revealing the growing number of americans who simply cant put food on the table. Coming up, how states are trying to make sure families simply have enough to eat. You know, new customers save over 1,000 on average when they bundle home and auto with progressive. Wow, thats. And now the progressive commercial halftime show, featuring smash mouth. Hey now, youre an all star get your game on, go play thank you goodnight [ cheers and applause ] now enjoy the second half of the commercial even renters can bundle and save where did that come from . The kitchen. It was halftime. [female vo] restaurants are our family. The cornerstone of our communities. And our family needs help. Right now theyre facing a crisis. And theyre counting on your takeout and delivery orders to help them through. Because if we dont treat restaurants like family today. 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Since mid march four weeks ago the total number of americans who applied for these Unemployment Benefits is a staggering 22 million. Many are simply turning to food banks to feed themselves and their families. But even as demand is soaring, farmers are actually being left with little choice but to destroy some of their products as demand from restaurants has simply dried up almost overnight. Joining us now, the former agriculture secretary under president clinton, dan glickman. Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us. Its amazing because farmers in california, theyre actually letting crops rot in the field. Other farmers, theyre simply pouring milk away. But people in so many cities right now who live paycheck to paycheck, are unemployed, they are hungry. They need food on the table. How do you get this kind of food to the people who really need it . Youre right, wolf, this is just such an enormous anomaly thats happening. A lot of farmers and ranchers cant get their food to the table for a lot of reasons. Meat and poultry plants have shut down for the short time. A lot of other processors have shut down because their workers have tested positive for the virus. So theres no place for them to take their food. A lot of this food needs to be refrigerated. In the short term ironically its being thrown away. Thats one big problem. And the other problem is that weve never had such an increase in the number of poor so quickly. Even greater than the great depression. So while a lot of these people may qualify for food stamps or the snap program, in the meantime theyve got to get food to survive and weve got to find a way in this crazy but very complicated supply system for food that we have to get food directly to them. So far i think were going to be able to do that. But if this thing continues for a long time and if restaurants arent buying, if schools arent in session, its going to be a really tough problem for the suppliers of food and for farmers as well. Were seeing more and more Food Processing plants simply shut down due to these localized outbreaks of the coronavirus. How great a risk is this to the overall food supply in the United States right now . Well, its not a risk to food safety per se. The virus is not a problem in terms of the safety of food. But if you dont have people working in the meat and poultry plants and if other processing plants are impacted, lets say fresh vegetables and fruits are affected, its going to affect supply. And because food needs to be refrigerated and trucked and sent all over the country it could have an impact on what people can buy in the grocery stores. Right now there is no crisis. The biggest crisis is for the poor, this just dramatic increase in unemployment. Making sure that these food banks have enough food and making sure that people know how to qualify for food stamps and the snap program. Thats the biggest challenge right now. But weve not seen a food supply problem like this probably ever. Even the great depression. The systems going to have to open up. As your previous speaker said, we need much more testing in order to get regular order going. So the plants can reopen and so that people can get food. But a big chunk of this problem is the traditional supply of food to restaurants, hotels, colleges, universities. Those are just completely shut down right now. Speaking as a former agriculture secretary, a former member of congress from kansas, whats the one thing that keeps you up at night right now when it comes to americas food supply . Well, two things actually keep me up. One is lots of poor people not having access to food. I think we in our generosity, the private sector, the public sector, the charitable organizations, the nonprofit world will do our best to see that from happening. The other thing that really worries me is that if you get an increase in the virus, and these plants often have people working very closely together, meat, poultry, and other Food Processing plants, weve got to figure out a way where those plants are safe enough for the virus where the virus is reduced so they can operate, even at a somewhat reduced level. Otherwise, what will happen is there wont be any markets for farmers. And so youre going to see farmers and ranchers hit really hard. At a time when the people of all the country, rich and poor, need food but particularly the poor are the ones that are going to be hurt the hardest. Secretary glickman, thanks so much for joining us. Well listen carefully to everything you said. Appreciate it very much. Youre welcome. Thank you, wolf. All right. Communities of color have been disproportionately hit very hard by the coronavirus. And a new cnn special later tonight hosted by our own don lemon and van jones will take a very close look at the effects on those communities. Both of them, theyre standing by live, will do a preview when we come back. At tmobile, we know that connection is more important than ever. So were making big moves to help those who need it most. Introducing tmobile connect. A prepaid plan to help keep america connected. Starting at just 15 a month, it gives flexibility for Uncertain Times. Visit tmobile. Com connect to learn more. You can also manage your account, and make payments online. Stay connected with tmobile connect. Many of lifes moments in thare being put on hold. Are staying at home, at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just cant wait. Thats why the new way to buy and sell a car is also the safer way. 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You worked with the Trump Administration to pass what was called the first step act, which focused on criminal Justice Reform here in the United States. What needs to be done now to prevent situations like this one in ohio . I think people have to understand that the prison population could really super accelerate the virus for everybody. People say oh, people are in prison, i dont care, ive got my own problems. Weve got 2. 4 Million People in prison. Its the biggest prison population in the world. A quarter of all prisoners. And the virus is spreading at five to fifteen times the rate there. Which means that as the guard comes in, food sources come, in theyre going to be reinfecting that population and then the community, thats dangerous for everybody. So what youve got to do is three things. Youve got to take the old folks, the sick folks, and people with minor charges, get them out through compassionate release, have them in home confinement. Number two, youve got to stop putting people back into prison for minor little offenses, probation violations. Because any arrest right now could be a death sentence. Sow want to only put in people who are serious. The last thing, youve got to rush in masks. Youve got to rush in medical supplies because people in the prison cannot socially isolate. So ppe becomes a life or death matter in the prisons. So what you want to do, get people out safely, intelligently, dont put more people in unless you have to, and then rush in those medical supplies. The department of corrections under trump has given orders like that but were going too slow in implementing them. And then youve got all 50 governors across the country, the National Governors association, we need action quickly before it gets out of control. There are foundations that are helping out, for the past three weeks, theyve bailed out more than 200 people in 10 cities. Going to other cities, getting people with even small violations, as little as 25 and up, bailing them out of jail because theyre coming into contact with covid. And people who cant afford to get out of jail for 25. Im sure theyre saving probably hundreds of lives, or people from at least getting sick, thats kerry kennedy, thats what theyre doing to help people who are incarcerated at this time, making them no longer incarcerated. Courts should just drop the bail and get people minor to zero out. Don, give us a preview of what we can expect in your important special tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. Van and i want to talk about along with some very important people, on the front lines of this. Talk about why people of color seem to be affected more by this. Its not because people have a genetic predisposition to this. Its because, number one, there are Health Care Disparities when it comes to this. Quite honestly, its because of race, economics, where people of color have been placed in this socie society. And i dont want to blame the victim, but we need to look at the structure of racism in our society and why people are more prone to not just this particular tragedy or pandemipa why as the governor of new york said, there werent rich white people on roofs or rafts during katrina. Why it seems to be affecting black, brown, latino people in this country and beyond. And well have some famous faces talk to us, and also van jones, our criminal Justice Warrior and race warrior to talk about it as well. Speaking of famous faces, i want you to listen to this. Heres william. I want to take this moment in time to share love and appreciation for all the doctors and nurses on the front lines. Also the drivers and delivery folk, and people working in the supermarket, keeping the world moving. Without you guys, the world will really be a mess. Thank you so much. I also want to thank the mentors and teachers teaching online, and the students doing a great job focusing during these times. I know firsthand, these kids, especially the kids in lowincome communities, how hard it is for them if they dont have laptops and wifi. Thats why were equipping students with laptops and wifi. Our students are focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and these are the fields that will be needed right around the corner. If you want to help out our students and the foundation, please look under i am Angel Foundation online. Thank you so much. Thats what im focused on during these times. And we could use the help. Thank you. Very nice. Van, who else among the personalities, special guests that youll have later tonight will join you . We have sean diddy combs, america ferrara. An unbelievable display of love, support, and hope. Its not just the hardhitting facts that we need to get into. Breakdowns can get into breakthroughs if we use them right. And it will be beautiful tonight at 10 00 p. M. Well watch it very, very closely. Thank you to both of you and to cnn for orchestrating a really important hour well see later tonight, 10 00 p. M. Eastern, right after our special situation room. The color of covid, coming up at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. More coming up in the situation room. As numbers start to come down, President Trump is pressuring governors to reopen their states. Well talk to the governor of alaska, and ask what he makes of the president s approach. More coverage coming right after this. Im your mother in law. And i like to question your every move. Like this left turn. Its the next one. You always drive this slow . How did you make someone i love . That must be why youre always so late. I do not speed. And thats saving me cash with drivewise. My son, he did say that you were the safe option. And thats the nicest thing you ever said to me. So get allstate. Stop bossing. Where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady . [tina] youre an old lady. Thats why working together ist more important than ever. At t is committed to keeping you connected. So you can keep your patients cared for. Your customers served. Your students inspired. And your employees closer than ever. Our network is resilient. Our people are strong. Our job is to keep your business connected. Its what weve always done. Its what well always do. 450degree oven, to box, to you, know that from our its our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. And were taking extra steps, like no contact delivery, to ensure it. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to the viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer, this is a special edition of the situation room. 2. 3 Million People contracting the coronavirus around the world, more than 159,000 passing away. The number in the United States, passing 38,000. And that number continues to rise. But tonight, President Trump stood over at the white house and lashed out at some state governors. Not only accusing them of failing to use their available testing ability, but said some governors are overreacting,