They say ride it like a cowboy. Just ride it, ride that sucker right through. Thats where the 2. 2 Million People come in. Would have died maybe, but it would have been 1. 6 to 2. 2. And thats not acceptable. But there are a lot of people that said, i thought about it. I said, maybe we should ride it through. You always hear about the flu. I talk about it all the time. We had a bad flu season. Were in the midst of a bad flu season. You know we had a bad season last year as an example, a bad flu season. And you have 35, 36, 37,000 people die, sometimes more, sometimes less. But this is different. And part of this is the unknown and part of it also is the viciousness of it. I had a friend who went to a hospital the other day. Hes a little older and hes heavy, but hes a tough person. And he went to the hospital and a day later hes in a coma. I call. Hows he doing . Sir, hes in a coma. Hes unconscious. Hes not doing well. The speed and the viciousness, especially if it gets the right person, its horrible. Its really horrible. Please, go ahead. Thanks. Mr. President , this may be good for some of the advisors as well. We heard rumors louisiana is going to get hit hard next. Theres a possibility that mardi gras have you seen data to back that up, whether its contributing to the spike in louisiana . I dont think its a rumor. Its a fact. Louisiana has been hit hard. Louisiana is an example. It started off with nobody for so long. I spoke to the governor. But deborah or tony, either of y you if youd like to talk. You know, i think you heard us talk about a week ago we were very worried about the numbers and how they were increasing in louisiana, how they were increasing in cook county, how they were increasing in dear borne and detroit. Those are areas were still watching carefully. Like president said, when people get this virus, some people do very poorly. And when certain metro areas get exposed to the virus, we see this really very rapid expansion of the virus. We think it may have been circulating there a couple of weeks. We dont like to i dont like to look backwards, i only like to look forwards and really we are putting all of our effort into ensuring that the people of new orleans, the people of the detroit region sort frankly, the people of new york. Some of the fastestgrowing counties are not new york itself. New york city, when you look at per 100,000, its rockland. Its bergen. So, i mean, these are all all of these places are people that have transited through cities and thats why we really did want the travel advisory just to really warn people to watch out for their own health, to really take their temperatures. And so it can go from 50, 100, 500 cases, the next thing you know its 2000, 4,000, its 10,000. And because it then gets across all communities, people get very sick. You know, you made the comment about new orleans. This can happen anywhere, and thats really one of the issues were concerned about. And why we were so reluctant to pull back at a time when we need to put our foot on the gas as opposed to on the brake. And as with dr. Birx said, this is exactly what you see. There are a number of communities, cities, states, what have you out there, in which theyre trickling along like that. Dont get complacent about that because thats exactly the way the virus works. It goes like this, then like this, and then it goes up like that. Thats exactly what happened in new orleans. Thats what happened in a terrible way with new york. Thats what were trying to avoid in multiple locations throughout the country. So we shouldnt take any solace when we see low levels in different states, different cities, different areas because theyre very vulnerable to an explosion. And, mr. President , last question from me, sir. Just real quick. I asked the vicepresident a week ago, i think we talked about it last week as well. You took the test that first time. I remember that, and i think you took it last week, mr. Vicepresident. Have you had a chance to take it again . Does it get easier the Second Time Around . How are you feeling . I think im waiting for that little 45minute test. I sort of like that. Now its down to 5 minutes, i understand. But, no, i havent. But i think i will take it again if its appropriate. I dont feel theres any symptoms. I dont notice have you noticed any sniffles . Nothing, right. So far i havent felt that way. But you know, there was a big strong point made originally. I think it still holds. Take the test if you need it. If you have the symptoms. If you dont, dont take it. Thats put out by the professionals. So i dont have i would take it. I just wanted to say one thing also about what tony had mentioned. So, i grew up in queens, new york, and right next to a place called elmhurst queens. And they have a hospital thats a very good hospital, elmhurst hospital. Ive known it, ive known where it is. I can tell you the color on the outside, the size of the windows. I mean, i know it very well, right. I was near my community where i lived and ive been watching that for the last week on television, body bags all over in hallways. Ive been watching them bring in trailer trucks, freezer trucks. Theyre freezer trucks because they cant handle the bodies, there are so many of them. This is in my, essentially in my community in queens, queens, new york. Ive seen things that ive never seen before. I mean, ive seen them, but ive seen them in television on far away lands. Ive never seen them in our country. Elmhurst hospital, unbelievable people. I mean, when i see the trucks pull up to take out bodies and these are trucks that are as long as the rose garden and theyre pulling up to take out bodies. And you look inside and you see the black body bags. You say, whats in there . Its elmhurst hospital. Must be supplies. Its not supplies, its people. Ive never seen anything like it. So were doing these people are doing a fantastic job, and somebody else who is doing a fantastic job is sitting here who is the head of the task force and i just maybe want to finish off because id like to ask mike, what do you think about what weve done and where do you think were going and how do you feel also and you studied this so closely. How do you feel about the curve and the june 1st date . And thats a very thats aspirational, but i think thats really modified aspirational because i think were going to hit it. And maybe well even beat it. Okay . Mike, please. Thank you, mr. President. And let me just join you in thanking the American People for the efforts that the people of this nation have made over the past 15 days, and that we know they will continue to make over the next 30. You heard the president speak today about the modelling. And on tuesday he will share with the nation a full range of council, of the team he assembled at the White House Coronavirus task force. Well layout to the country what could have been, what were continuing to work to make a reality. But in the meantime, every american i think every american should have a grateful heart. First and foremost, all the Incredible Health care workers that are on the front lines at places like elmhurst and elsewhere. Every single day. As dr. Birx said, getting just a few hours of sleep and going right back into work. I mean, they are the hands and feet of american compassion and i want to say on behalf of your president and on behalf of a grateful nation that we are with you. Were going to continue to work tirelessly with these outstanding leaders at fema to make sure that you have the protective equipment to be able to do your job safely and go home to your family. Were going to continue to work with these incredible distributors. Literally, the aircraft that landed at jfk this morning is the first of 51 aircraft that are going to be coming in from around the world, and its all headed to support our Health Care Workers and people that are on the front lines. But also, mr. President , i want to say thank you to american businesses whose generosity is shining forth every day. The two Insurance Companies that you mentioned have waived copays and are providing full coronavirus coverage to americans for the full treatment that people that are enduring this virus are experiencing. But american businesses all right. We are going to get out of this press conference for now. Im joined bayou Gene Robinson of the Washington Post who has been listening along with me. I think the big news out of this is the president said the peak and death rates are likely to hit in two weeks. Remember, two weeks was the day that he had decided he wanted to open up america. Hes now saying the peak in death rates is likely to hit in two weeks. Didnt cite any statistics that would tell him why thats the case, but it does indicate that this idea that america is going to remain shutdown will continue until the end of april now, april 30th is the day the president is using versus april 12th, which he had been using. But, you eugene, theres a lot of misleading stuff that was in there, including a new number that the president has repeated several times. He had fauci talk about it. He had dr. Birx talk about it. 2. 2 Million People, and he keeps talking about how if we hadnt done anything, 2. 2 Million People were going to die of coronavirus in the United States. He actually very specifically said, we had a lot of people saying we shouldnt do anything, just ride it. Ride it like a cowboy. Eugene, i dont know because we werent at every meeting. I didnt hear anybody say ride it like a cowboy. I heard people saying, i think we have to take this seriously. If we look at whats happening in wuhan and italy, this thing is coming our way. This administration didnt seem to be taking it seriously on numerous occasions. Now the president is using the bar of 2. 2 million dead if no one had done anything, which no thinking person was calling for to happen, eugene. Yeah, no one was calling out for that. That was never going to happen. So, you know, its clear what happened happened, right . We cant just be in fact, the president at first did not take this seriously, compared it to the flu and didnt really want to make a big deal of it. And certainly didnt want to shutdown the economy. But he did. He got, you know, got to the point of the 15day social distancing, so i really think the big news from today is that, you know, were going to be home for another month. The month of april, the country is essentially going to continue shutdown, and that is a big deal. And beyond that the president spoke of june 1st as a date when perhaps well be getting back to normal, leaving open the question of what happens to that month in the middle, may. But if you kind of fill that in with the imagination, you can imagine that that is projected to be a time when maybe things gradually open up place by place as the wave of infection hits various communities and then dies down in various communities, the peak in new york, for example, is supposed to be is even coming before the peak, say, in los angeles. So you can imagine that sort of process happening in may. But, you know, from that standpoint, i think this is by far the newsiest of these briefings weve had since the ones two weeks ago in which it was announced that the sort of st stayathome guidelines would take place for 15 days. I think there was news yeah, the idea that we now have april 30th, this april 12th thing seems to have gone by the wayside. Reopen by easter. The president now talking about the peak in deaths happening by two weeks from now. The country essentially staying closed or at least the closures in place, staying in place until april 30th. And as you said by june, the president saying expecting some normalcy. Eugene, as always, my friend, thank you for being here with me. That wraps up my coverage. Im going to hand it over to my colleague kasie hunt. Kasie, there was this added matter of the president discussing some supplies that had gone missing. Were still trying to run that down to understand what hes talking about. There seem to be some allegation that hospitals in new york are hoarding masks and supplies. He didnt substantiate that despite being asked several times by some of our colleagues there, so were trying to get to the bottom of that. But otherwise over to you, my friend. I think a very good point, ali. We are going to be keeping a close eye on the reporting were doing as teams try to figure out yet again we are Fact Checking this president in real time. Ali, thank you very much. It has been, of course, a pretty grim day. Anthony fauci said the u. S. Could see between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths as a result of covid19. And at the briefing that we just saw, we heard that again from dr. Fauci, but we also heard from the president himself. Watch. If we could hold that down as were saying to 100,000 its a horrible number maybe even less, but to 100,000. So we have between 100,000 and 200,000. We all together have done a very good job. And joining me now is the director of the Harvard Global health institute. Dr. Jah. Thank you very much for being on the program tonight. I want to start with this estimate weve heard today from dr. Fauci and again from the president of the United States that we could expect between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths from this virus if we continue to do everything right. Does this estimate fit with all of the data and the evidence that youve seen about how this is spreading across the country . Yes. Thank you for having me. And those are grim numbers. And 100,000 to 200,000 americans dying from this disease t was completely unnecessary, but here we are and looking forward. If we do a good job moving forward, and that requires social distancing finally getting our testing up and running and getting our hospitals ready, yeah, that is within the sort of range of what we might experience. No one should feel solace that thats great, a great job done. That is a completely horribly high number. Do you think that this was potentially avoidable . Does the number that looks like this put us at the very top of the list of countries dealing with this crisis . Oh, it was completely avoidable. And, look, we all know that for two months our government didnt take it seriously. We know that. Thats been sort of thats a wellknown, well established. Even in the last few weeks as the reality has become very, very obvious to most americans, there are still political leaders who have not taken it seriously. We still had spring breakers in florida who probably have now spread those infections across the country. We still havent gotten our hospitals ready. So im hoping that this press conference marks a turning point where everybody begins to take it seriously. I think a majority of americans have, but there have been too Many Political leaders who have still been acting like this is not a serious problem. Yeah, weve got a chart up right now. We did a second ago for our viewers, showing those trend lines that you mentioned with florida creeping up at that same rate that weve seen from new york. And i know we somewhere have a picture as recently as yesterday, the day before as some of these counties have tried to close with people still on the beaches. So, the other piece of news, dr. Jha, of the press conference, the president extending the social distancing recommendations through april 30th. We know he had previously said, oh, by easter, the pews will be filled with people and america will be back to normal. That, of course, april 12th. That no longer, it doesnt seem, part of the picture. Do you think april 30th gives us a realistic time frame to try and get this under control . You know, im reminded of a line dr. Fauci said a couple of weeks ago which i think is perfect. He said, we dont get to make the time line, the virus makes the time line. So i think all of us knew that april 12th, easter was just unrealistic. Is april 30th realistic . Well, it all depends on what we do. If we get very serious about social distancing, if we really ramp up testing and develop an extensive testing plan, then, yeah, there are parts of the country that might be able to open up by april 30th. But its if we do all those things. If we sit around and dont do those things and act like this is business as usual, april 30th wont be a realistic time line. And just to followup very quickly before i let you go, doctor, how do people who currently live in communities that have not yet or it doesnt seem have yet to be touched by this, what do we need them to do . How do we need them to act in this period to protect everyone . So, the key thing that this virus has taught us is that the time between when you act and when you see the results of those actions is two to three weeks. So, the flip side of that is you may be living in a community where there is not much virus and or not that youre aware of because we may not be doing much testing. You may feel like things are fine, im going to go about my regular day. But by the time the case loads start rising, by the time the Emergency Departments and icus get full, its really late in the ball game. We know this virus is spreading across every community in america. So i think its extremely important that everybody take it seriously, implement social distancing, and then we Start Testing much more broadly across the country to figure out where the country really is. All right. Dr. Ashish jha, thank you very much for your time tonight, my friend, on another difficult night as we try to grapple with this crisis. Thank you. Thank you. Just in from new york city, 104 people have died since yesterday. Joining me now, democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand of new york. Senator gillibrand, thanks for being here amid another very difficult night of news for your state. I just want to start by asking you about the president s news conference. And my colleague ali velshi mentioned he made this claim that there seemed to be masks that are disappearing from new york, perhaps out a back door, he suggested. We want to make sure he pointed out he suggested this without any evidence. We are, of course, working to fact check those claims. But yi was hoping to get your response to what the president had to say along those lines. I think his allegations about new York Hospitals were beyond absurd. I talk to most of our hospital heads throughout new york city and the state and i can tell you their Hospital Personnel are the heroes of this moment. They are working 24 7 to save lives. Theyre begging for ventilators, masks, gowns, supplies. I have one of the suny schools making masks for an upstate hospital because they were out of