Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20200512

In a question in a moment. But there was a span of time from january 24 through march 5 that i hope the American Public looks at. And it gets back to what is wrong with our Health Care System in general. Early testing from what im seeing was created by the fact that the cdc said that it was going to do its own test. The south korean test that gets cited so often was not going to be looked at. We had to do our own. I know the fda worked with the cdc. But the long and short of all of this is that for nearly a month this was in that bureaucratic swirl. The fda prevented private and Academic Development of tests for weeks. The cdc kdenied access to functioning tests as i cited in south korea. This created through all the red tape and bureaucracy to where we had to come up with a one sized fits all approach due to the uncertainty of the virus. And we are stuck with that now. I dont want to dwell on that necessarily because i think that those are mistakes that we made. Im tired of having it heard that it is the administrations fault. Dr. Hawn, id like to ask you this question. In that spirit of what we talked about during your nomination process, here going forward, will we shed some of that sto y stodgine stodginess, will we look to get therapeutics and vaccines through the system in a quicker method because i fear if we dont, and if we treat through bureaucracy how we did the early period of testing, we belabor this into the distant future and the at that point there is going to be not only the carnage from the disease itself but from the economy to deal with. So id like your comment on that one month stretch, what accountability the fda and the cdc have and then whether it looks better in terms of moving more quickly into the future. Thank you for the question. Our time line of that period demonstrates that we began working with Test Developers beyond cdc on january 24th and had double digit number of test develops working with us. One of the issues that we identified was in fact availability of the virus and other supplies to actually get that Test Development done in a timely fashion. Senator, i agree that this is an opportunity for us to take the look and determine how we can do things better and i think that that is a really important thing for all of us do and certainly the fda will promise do that. Looking forward, sir, i can commit to you that we will look at every one of our regulatory authorities. We have done so during this outbreak. We have provided significant flexibility and have tried to provide the right balance into regulatory flexibility and enabling of the great Test Developers and Therapeutic Developers in this country with the need to ensure that our Gold Standard of safety and efficacy is in place. We have leaned in with manufacturers, we have learned a lot from them as well as the other stakeholders and we will continue to learn and we will i commit to you implement the changes necessary to make sure is that we can act in a are more nimble way but still protect the safety net of the medical products. Thank you. Dr. Fauci, taking a page from your antiaids playbook that had a treatment review pathway, can we do that for covid19 in a similar pair rely track that you put into place back then in the 90s . In fact, ive got a bill called the promising pathways act that is based upon that protocol you put into place. Can we do that more quickly get through to therapeutics and vaccines with covid19 . Well, it is a different story, but some similarities. If you are referring to the parallel tract that i put into place back in the late 880s, which is when there was no availability of drugs at all for hiv and when we were testing drugs, within a protocol that we would make it available outside of the protocol, in what has ultimately turned out to be compassionate use. So what we did, we didnt want to interfere with the integrity of the protocol to determine the controlled way what was safe and effective, but there was a dire need for some sort of accessibility to those drugs outside of the Clinical Trial for those who might even have some chance 6 having it. And in fact that was really in many respects the birth of the really firm concept of compassionate use. And in fact there is a version of that which ill hand to commissioner ha commissioner hahn, when you have drug s that have not been yet fully proven, so there is a somewhat analogy between what i did in the 1980s and what is being done with the fda now. So steve, if you might want to comment on that. I think that is right, dr. Fauci. The emergency use authorization process by statute allows us to have flexibility and assess the risk benefit ratio in a Public Health emergency. And weve done that on the therapeutic side on three separate occasions and continue to look at those requests. Thank you very much. Senator rosen. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for bringing this hearing. And i want to 2457thank the dedicated doctors for their lifetime of work and study and passion. Were a grateful nation for all of your life long commitment in fighting disease not just in the United States but around the world. And as i talk to nevadians about safely reopening the economy, one question that frequently comes up is when are we going to have a vaccine like everybody has talked about. And travel and tourism of course is a life blood for us and the Jobs Associated with those industries can only fully come back if we know that it is safe to travel and visit or work in our hotels, casinos and restaurants and attractions. Ultimately we have to build confidence in our visitors that it is safe, we need a vaccine and that research is extremely important. However understanding that this takes time to develop and ensure both safety and efficacy, id like to hear more about what research is happening regarding preventive Medication Research and could be helpful in the time frame before a vaccine. And especially before one is widely available. So id like to ask if this could be part of the path helping us to begin to reopen our economy safely and bring visitors not only back to nevada but across our country. So dr. Fauci, what research is currently happening to identify potential monoclonal preventive treatments and other therapeutics, if the right antibody can be identified, could it be used as a preventive medication to block covid19 virus from latching on to the host cells much like the treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis or asthma and other diseases, and secondly, would Preventive Options like this help complement the effectiveness of a vaccine once it is available. Thank you for that question, senator rosen. That is an excellent question. And in all of the therapeutic interventions that we are developing, and you mentioned several of them, they could be direct antivirals along the line of remdesivir, but that is just one of a number of possibilities since there are several viral targets in the replication cycle. Using con have a less seva con other modalities are feasible and will be pursued in parallel with development of the vaccine. The model of using drugs and other interventions that are effective treatment is really a Great Success story for the issue of hiv aids because many of the interventions that were developed for the full treatment of an infected person are exquiz itaex exexquiz italy effective in preventing hiv. So that is the kind of model that we work out in parallel with treatment for disease using as treatment as prevention. I believe that that will be a part of our effort at the same time that were putting a full court press on trying to get a vaccine. So it is an excellent question. Very relevant. I know i have a short time left so ill just kind of an abbreviate this. The second most important question that i get, what does the next generation of ppe need to look like for all of us as we go about our lives . Not just as workers depending on your work you may need something stronger, more specific, but as all of us as we want to go out to shop or eat or whatever those things are, get on an airplane. Should masks be made of a certain material, gloves, handkerchie handkerchiefs, can you talk about ppe for the general public . Well, you know, the best ppe for the general public if possible right now is to maintain the physical and social distancing. But as weve said and i think all of us would agree, there are certain circumstances in which it is beyond your control when you need to do necessary things like go to the drug store and get your medication, go to the Grocery Store and get your food, that in fact you need some s supplement tags than just physical distancing. So i believe dr. Redfield made the recommendation about getting some sort of a covering. We dont want to call it a mask because back then we were concerned that wed be taking masks away from the Health Care Providers. But some sort of masklike facial covering. I think for the time being to be a very regular part of how we prevent the spread of infection. And in fact the more and more as you go outside right here where im sitting in washington, d. C. , you can see many people out there with masks on which gives me some some degree of comfort that people are taking this very seriously. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Senator leffler. Thank you all for being here and for your service. Admiral, before i start my question, i want to recognize your new role as the u. S. Representative to the world health organization. Mitigating a resurgence of this pandemic will take global cooperation. In order to do that, we need accountability and transparency at the w. H. O. This organization was established to ensure the timely flow of accurate unbiased information on Global Health emergencies just as this. Reforms must be made in order to restore the trust that we need here. I hope that you will work with our allies to push for these reforms. This question i have two questions. The first is for dr. Redfield and dr. Redfield, georgians are wondering how we got here today. 1400 deaths, a third of georgias workforce out of work. Im incredibly concerned about the coverup and misinformation coming from china and their efforts to suppress lifesaving information at the outset of this outbreak. As we continue to reopen our economy safely, we have to take steps to ensure that another outbreak cannot take hold of the world in this way. I understand cdc has worked with the chinese cdc on Global Health security for decades. Can you comments on t on the led timing of the information that you received and relied upon from your chinese counterparts as this virus emerged . Thank you very much, senator. And i want to echo how important Global Health is security is as a National Security priority for this nation. And well need to be able to respond to that as long as we are a nation. Cdc has had relationships with various countries around the world. We have offices in over 45 countries right now. And one of those happens to be china where we have a us cdc that is with the chinese cdc and weve worked together for decaddecade decades particularly on emerging infect issuious diseases. And that has been a productive collaborative. And when this original outbreak came from the original seafood market, there were obviously discussions between the u. S. Personnel and chinese cdc. I personally had discussions early i think the cdc did as early as january and myself january 3 with my counterpart. So at a scientific level, we had very good interactions. That is different than the broader Chinese Government level. And a question for each of our great witnesses, and it is one that my constituents often ask me. Ed the Mainstream Media and some of my colleagues in the senate seem to the want to paint each of your relationships with our president as confrontational and being laing c inin ining lackin. Can you say to the American People today whether this is true or untrue . From your testimony today, ive seen a very coordinated effort to address this with the administration to combat this pandemic. Can you give me a sense of what the characterization is whether it is true or untrue . Thank you. Id ask dr. Fauci to answer that first. No, there is certainly not a confrontational relationship between me and the president. As ive mentioned, i give advice and opinion based on evidence based scientific information. He hears that. He respects it. He gets opinions from a variety of other people. But in no way in my experience over the last several months has there been any confrontational relationship between us. Thank you. Dr. Redfield, dr. Hahn. And i would echo what dr. Fauci said. Were there to give our best Public Health advice and that is what we come grounded in data and science. And ive always felt free to give the best Public Health advice that i think needs to be given at the time and it has always been done in a very professional way. Senator, this is steve hahn. I do not have a confrontational relationship, have not had a confrontation at relationship with the president. He asks questions. I have given him my honest answers rooted in data and science. And he has listened respectfully to those incorporating that into his decision making. And i have nothing else but to echo my colleagues. We work very closely together, all the scientists, all the physicians. Of course the ambassador and other scientists within our group. And we have a very productive working relationship with each other and also with the president and Vice President. It would not be confrontational and i certainly feel that we have the ability to honestly state our opinion bes as and recommendations and it has been that way since the beginning. Thank you. Senator murray, do you have closing comments . I do. And if it is all right, two quick questions. Sure. Thank you. You know, dr. Fauci, while President Trump may think otherwise, there is no question that an essential part of reopening our economy safely is successfully distributing a vaccine for covid19. We need to plan now to deploy a vaccine once it is proven safe and effective, but it is absolutely crucial this planning process from a Clinical Trial to distribution and administration recognizes and addresses racial and ethnic disparities in our Health Care System that as we all know for too long have been overlooked and unacknowledged in this country. And we have to ensure equitable access to this vaccine for everyone. Dr. Fauci, let me start with you. What steps is nih taking to make sure that Clinical Trials for covid19 vaccines and therapeutics account for racial and ethnic disparities . Thank you very much. That is a very relevant question. And in fact in the design of our Clinical Trials and the sites that we have chosen in our Clinical Trial network, it will be very representative of being able to get minority populations and populations most at risk to be part of the trial so that we know during the trial what the relative efficacy as well as potential adverse events. It is something that we started back in the days of hiv when we tried to get good demographic representation and well do that with these. Thank you. And dr. Hahn, tell me what steps fda is taking to make sure that the United States is prepared to produce a sufficient number of vaccines including the necessary manufacturing supply chain capacity for supplies like vials and syringes. Thank you, senator. This is an effort that started as a partnership with the Vaccine Developers and the nih and their efforts. So one of the most important things, maam, is data trance parn transparency, sharing of day it so that we with understand what the capacities are, what the needs areday it so that we with understand what the capacities are, what the needs are and how to sthans tha so if one vaccine doesnt go forward, we can use the capacity of that manufacture for another manufacturers vaccine. And im happy to woreport that e work has led to that effort. It is somewhat complicated in that we may very well have hopefully five to seven candidate vaccines that may need different supplies oerkts assoc with them, but weve been upfront working with the manufacturers to make sure that they are available. Thank you for all of our witnesses. It is clear that we have more work to do before we can safely get back to work and school and some semblance of normal life in our country. We still need testing to be fast, free and everywhere. And we need the white house to lay out a Detailed National plan to make that happen. We still need adequate personal protective equipment both for our Health Care Workers and for workers at our businesses and schools. We still need guidance from our experts so that our communities have the information that they need to reopen schools and businesses safely, confidently and competently. And so Public Health workers and Health Care Providers haves information they need to keep their patients and communities safe. And while experts have been clear that the day that we can safely reopen may be a ways off, there is plenty for us to do in the meantime both to plan ahead for example to make sure that once we have a safe and effective vaccine that we can produce and distribute to everyone at no cost and to address the immediate challenges for example making sure that there are appropriate Mental Health resources for everyone who is coping with the challenges that are presented by this virus. From the stress of physical isolation, loss of income, to the trauma and anxiety of patients and workers who have been on the front lines. So im going to keen pressing congress and the white house to provides action and leadership that our communities need. And i hope, mr. Chairman, that well continue to have opportunities like this to hear directly from the experts and ask pressing questions about how to get our country through this crisis. It is clear weve got a lot further to go, a lot more to do. And so i hope that as our efforts continue, well be able to bring many of you back, our witnesses, for another hearing soon and again, thank you to all of you for joining us today. Thank you, senator murray. Ive got a clarification question and a couple of quick comments and then well thank the witnesses and wind up. My clarification is i want to make sure i didnt create some confusion by the way i asked the question about going back to school. I asked dr. Fauci first about treatments and vaccines and then about testing. But i thought i heard that dr. Fauci said that vaccines are coming as fast as they ever have, but it will be later in the year at the earliest before we see that there are treatments that are modest but promising. There could be more. But that that doesnt mean that you shouldnt go back to school. That would be more of a testing strategy. Am i right . You didnt say you shouldnt go back to school because we werent have vaccines by the fall. Absolutely not, mr. Chairman. What i was referring to is that going back to school would be more in the realm of knowing the landscape of infection with regard to testing and as the admiral said, it would depend on the dynamics of the outbreak in the region where the school is. But i did not mean to imply at all any relationship between the availability of a vaccine and treatment and our ability to go back to school. You can quite correct. Thank you. And what i heard from the admiral is that youre ramping up current technologies, you are hope hopeful, but in any event, you would expect to have the capacity in the fall of 40 to 50 million tests a month. And that ought to be adequate for the principal of a middle school or chancellor of a campus to design a testing strategy that could provide for example a test to screen all the students . The school if necessary. Is that correct . Yes, sir, mr. Chairman. Again, we want to makes a many tests available as absolutely possible. What i said is what i feel comfortable witha many tests available as absolutely possible. What i said is what i feel comfortable with knowings protection schedules, being in the thinks of being able to work with the fda and cdc that we will have 40 million to 50 million tests per month that need to be deployed in a smart way. Still having testing even widely does not nullify the need that well have to change our practices in terms of sanitation, personal cleanliness, distancing, face masks, things like that given what the dynamics could be. Thank you for those comments because given that number of tests that will be available in, say, three months, or as we ramp up to that number three months from now, that should give every principal, every chance alreall every 5,000 campuses and 100,000 schools some reassurance that testing as well as the common sense hygiene practices that you talked about could be used to develop a strategy for reopening school is in august. And then two quick comments. One is, senator murray talked about the National Plan which was in the legislation that we all voted for. There is a bit of a push and tug between what is national and what is federal, what washington should do and what the states should do. Ive always thought that it is a mistake to say federal equals national. In other words, covid19 is clearly a national problem, but that didnt mean that the federal government is supposed do everything. For example, in testing, the law actually requires states to tell you, admiral, what their plans an needs are. And you said during the month of may you had a series of state plans that identified 12. 5 million tests and you thought that you could help meet that. On the other hand, youve also noticed a deficiency in the marketplace where some supplies that the federal government is buying those and allocating them to the states. So we dont want to get into the situation where the admiral is telling the states what to do. Governor lee doesnt want you to tell him what to do, he wants to tell you and let him comment on it. I dont think that Governor Cuomo wants President Trump telling him what to do. So a push and tug between what washington does and what states do. I think that we have a testing Contact Tracing isolating National Strategy and plan led by the governors, designed by the federal government as a National Effort and then National Effort clearly is to do the research for the treatments and vaccines. And what weve heard today is that is coming along on a faster track than weve ever seen before. Finally, i want to reitreiterat thought this was a helpful hearing. I thank the senators for the questions. And i think everybody would be impressed from the honest hanss from four remarkable experts who are in the midst of this every day. I want to reemphasize what i said earlier, that i intend to make sure that we focus, senator murray suggest more hearings, agree. We need to make sure that were ready for the next pandemic. What can we learn about faster treatments and vaccines for the next one, what can we learn about the stockpile, how do we manage it for the next one. What can we learn, can we learn anything about having hospital beds so we dont have to shut down hospitals and bankrupt them and what about states and hospitals that seld 06 the sell between pandemics, how do we keep our focus in between pandemics when we have so many important things to be worried about. How do we make sure that we in congress sustain and fund all the things that we need to do. And i want to make sure that we do that this year. Our collective memory is short. So while were all worried about this, we need to not only deal with this crisis, but get ready for the next one. I thank the witnesses for their extra time. I hope that they get a sense that our job we see is to create an environment in which you can succeed because if you succeed, our country succeeds which is what we desperately want. The hearing record will remain open for ten days. Members may submit Additional Information for the record within that time if they would like. Thanks to everyone for being here today. The hearing issed a sdwrou adjo. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. Im chuck todd. The senate has just wrapped up its hearing. The Senate Health hearing. And were awaiting an update from Governor Cuomo. With me is katy tur. You know, katy, part of me almost wants to say that this Committee Hearing if you watched it from soup to nuts you might have felt that you were on earth too. It was very businesslike, professional. Every senator there maybe they had a partisan point to makes but they had a piece of information that they certainly seemed concerned about surfacing. It was a reminder and in fact big picture, listen to Lamar Alexander, to me he was trying to nudge the administration. So what youre saying is if Testing Capacity is ramped up, then maybe universities and schools have the ability to do that. So what was lamar saying . Here is your deadline. You got until august 1 to ramp up testing to the point that you have 5,000 campuses and 100,000 schools can be relatively safely opened. It seems like a very to me realistic and important deadline to set. And i thought Lamar Alexander at the end there essentially was telling the administration there is your metric, do that and ill shut up. And you have to remember that in order to get the general economy back up, you have to reopen schools because parents need to be able to leave their houses. If there isnt school for their kids, they can the caregivers and so you have to stay home. Testing with this administration though has been so confused and confusing. In fact i think you said this this weekend, the entire response was confused and confusing. And that is a perfect way of summing it up. We were trying to get more clarity and more clarity was brought to light during this hearing and fauci took the opportunity to say multiple times that he is rooting all of his advice, and he was clear it is advice, in science. But he did say that the death toll is likely higher. He did say that this virus wont just disappear because it is so infectious. He will not promise that kids are safe even though rand paul tried to get him to go there. He said we need more testing and he didnt quarantine that advantaging seen will be effective. And the science isnt out there yet, but we did get a better insight into what our Health Experts are thinking and what they are looking at right now. You know, there is one other you mentioned a lot of what dr. Fauci said. I thought dr. Redfield had a pretty tough hearing. On one hand, mitt romney excoriating the cdc, what is going on, what is your ability not to do realtime data. Something i think that you and i have been making an issue of on this hour and some other hours. And then Kelly Loefflers question, she hit on explain the relationship that the United States cdc has with the chinese version of the cdc. And my guess is that that answer isnt going to be satisfactory to those that believe he needs to answer for that. So here is redfield who i thought was getting hit almost like not to say romney is from the left, but sort of center right, but romney on one he said about where have you been domestically, loeffle represent hitting the cdc on the other end of a lot of conservatives who think that china needs to be blamed for everything that were going through right now. And let me just bring up what senator murphy said to redfield. He was talking about that shelved cdc guidance and he said his state of connecticut needs more information. That is what weve been hearing from a lot of states, they want more guidance. And redfield responded by saying that that guidance is under interagency review, murphy pressed and said when do we expect to see it and his response was soon, which is not saying anytime specifically. But he did mention that if any states need more guidance, they can call the cdc. It is notable that the cdc which is usually the leading agency when you are looking for what to do, should i leave the house without a face mask or should i touch this surface, how long does the virus live on this surface, when can i get a vaccine, et cetera, the cdc is where you go and they have been lost in the mix during this response. Katy, today is the greatest argument ever by the way for all day news channels. While that hearing was going on, you had the Supreme Court oral arguments about the president s tax returns. Jay sekulow who is a familiar face from the last time we spent a lot of time on capitol hill has been arguing that. We have Governor Cuomo who is going to be in johnson city in a few minutes here with his briefing. We gts tot the white house brie in an hour. So you ever wonder why we have news channels all day . Today is the day for it. Lets get to Garrett Haake. And so it was interesting to watch how many did it from afar, how many went into the room. Give us a little bit of florida color that you got to at least witness a bit. I know that there was a pool, reporters werent allowed in the way that they normally are and the public wasnt allowed in either. Reporter yeah, i suppose that is part of the color, the fact that what would anonymously be a crowded hearing room, it was empty. Majority of senators present but about a little less than half did attend that hearing remotely. You saw, you know, the mask usage of less senators. The room itself is unusual. They are using a larger hearing room for most of the Committee Hearings that have been happening the senate so that you can have a full committee in there and that people can distance. But this was largely free of any of the zoom gremg liny gremlins all of us all trying to wok completely. Garrett, i have to cut you off. Governor cuomo has begun. But well be back probably in about 45 minutes. He is in johnson city new york. Three day rolling average, that is down. Intubation rate is down. Just about where we were when we started, literally closed down. Lives lost, 195 yesterday. That is the most devastating number thatdo have to deal with every day. It is actually up a little bit from the day before, but overall the trend is down. And if look at the number of lives lost, again, were just about where we were when we started before we saw the onslaught of the virus. And then dealt with it and changed the trajectory of the virus. Never forget what we did here. What new yorkers did by their actions and sacrifice. They saved hundreds of thousand of lives because that projection of what the virus whatas suppos do was much worse than what it wound up doing. So were making progress. But there is also no doubt that it is no time to get cocky or arrogant. This virus has deceived us every step of the way. We have been behind this virus from the very beginning. And it still surprises us. We thought initially that it didnt affect children. Were now dealing with an issue that is very disturbing. We have about 100 cases of an inflammatory disease in Young Children that assigns to be created by the covid virus. And this is something that is just starting and new york is leading the investigation of this situation. The symptoms of the children are analyzed to the kawasaki disease or toxic shocklike syndrome, but it can affect the heart. Weve lost three children, a 5yearold boy, 7yearold boy and 18yearold girl. The ages of the children affected in these 100 cases is all across the board as you can see. Less than one year old. Predominantly 5 to 14. But we lost a young lady at 18 years old and we have some cases up to 21 years old. So this is a truly disturbing situation and i know parents around the state and around the country are have concernvery co should be. If we have this situation in new york, it is probably in other states and probably hasnt been diagnosed yet in other states. Because again these children dont present the usual covid symptoms. They are not respiratory symptoms. And that is why one of the reasons why people havent found it yet. But they know what the symptoms are. If your child has the symptoms that they are saying are symptoms that should cause an alert, we need parents to be advised, we also have the state department of health telling hospitals and medical providers to priortize testing for the covid virus for any children that are demonstrating these symptoms. At the same time, while were not cocky or arrogant, were talking about reopening. We have to get back to work would. We all do. We talk about new york being tough, but tough also means smart. And we have been smart all through this. You look at where we are today, the curve in new york, new yorkers is on the decline. You take new york out of the number for the rest of the nation, the nation is still on the incline in the number of cases. So we have been smart. We got hit worst because the virus was coming through europe and nobody even told us, nobody even knew. But we took the worst and we turned the curve and we have a better curve now than you see in many of the states and certainly as the United States as a whole. So reopening, yes. But we still need to be smart. What does that mean . It means following the cdc guidelines to begin with. Follow the data, follow the science. We said that from day one. Dont fall subject to emotion and politics, stay with the science and the data. Listen to dr. Fauci. Even this morning he said if you dont follow the cdc guideline, you run a real risk of triggering and outbreak that can get out of control. What is out of control . Out of control is when the number of people infected going to your Hospital System overwell him your Hospital System. And that is what happened in italy. That was our worried fear here in new york. But that is a very real situation that people have to watch for. Smart means learning from the mistakes of others. Were not the first one down this path. Study what china did and south korea and germany did. Look at what is happening in the other states and inform your actions by what happened in other places that went through this same process. And you will see many of the other places rushed reopening and actually had to backtrack and then close again. That is the last thing that we would want here in new york. Smart means regional management, local government, managed and engaged. And citizen participation because this all turns on what people do. This is not about government. Government can offer advice and suggestions and guidance, but it is about what people do. Why did we turn the curve in new york . Because people acted responsibly and intelligently. And we also have to do it in a way that is totally transparent. I want every new yorker to know all the facts. Because it is up to new yorkers. It is up to the people and how they respond and then give them the information and trust their judgment. Trust their judgment. What did we learn in here . That when people are informed of facts that they actually believe, which is saying something, but if you give them the real facts that they believe are real facts and not partisan facts and not spin, not hype, not some rhetoric from a politician who is trying to get something for themselves action if you give them the real facts, they will respond intelligently. But you have to give them the real facts. And that is transparency. That is what smart means. And that is what were doing here in new york. All the facts are on the website. All the facts for your region are on the website. You know exactly what i know. I dont know anything more than im telling the people of the state of new york. And you can see the changes in your region, kapcapital districn new york changed overnight, you can see the changes in the direction in your region. And then what are we doing . We have our handson the reopening valve and were turning it and starting to reopen it. But were calibrating it and were monitoring it. Right . The first monitoring device is the diagnostic testing. Positive or negative. People need to go, people need to be tested. We have more tests than ever. Were testing more than any other state in the United States. We have come up to speed faster than any other state. People have to take the tests. We have it available in drivethrus, in pharmacies. And you watch that testing rate day to day to see if the testing rate is going up. More people testing positive. And then once you test, then comes your tracing and then comes your isolation, operation, et cetera. Second monitoring device is you are doing Antibody Testing. The Antibody Testing tells you how many people have had the virus and have recovered from the virus. There is a little lag in the Antibody Testing because it is really telling you who was infected two weeks ago gor two and a half weeks ago. But if you see the number going up, you know more people have gotten infected. You then have the hospitalization rate. Which is very important. You know every day now because of the system we put in place how many people walked in to a hospital with covid. Watch that hospitalization rate. If you see the hospitalization rate going up, you have a problem. And watch the hospitalization rate in terms of the capacity of the hospitals. That is what weve been dealing with for the past two months. Weve said you have to have a 30 3wu6er in tbuffer. So if the inspection spikes, you have a 30 buffer in terms of capacity. But watch that hospitalization rates. And they will then give you the infection rate. The rt. They will tell you those gauges will tell you the rate of transmission one person to another person. And 23 one person is infecting more than one other person, 1. 1, that is the outbreak that dr. Fauci was talking about. And you can compute these rates. You can monitor exactly what you are doing. There is a science to this and there is a methodology to this that erases all the theories. Everybody has a theory. I think this, i think that, i think warm weather will make a difference, i think god will do something. Yeah, i know everybody has a theory. Just are tell me the facts. Tell me the numbers. And that is what i want to tell the people of the state. And 13507respond to the facts. Local region on that manages the system. They monitor the numbers, they control that valve. They make sure businesses are complying with the safety precautions when the businesses go back. Every business are will say don worry, ill have safety precautions. Are they actually doing that, are we staying away from large gatherings, are we making sure . That is up to the local government. And then builtin is a Circuit Breaker that when those gauges hit red, turn off the waffle. Ho valve. Hopefully you dont get to that point because you are monitoring and you hadjust it a little bit at a time. But worse case you turn off the vof valve. That is what other countries have had to do. No other state had this accurate or transparent a monitoring mechanism. But i want people to know exactly what is going on in your Community Day today. Because you are the ones who are determining what happens in your community. Nobody else. No governor, no senator, no laesk laek elected official. It is what our neighbors do. The Regional Control Group are the top academic officials, Top Health Care professionals in that region, that community. And they are the ones who will have to make it work. But this will be online every morning or every day. And everyone can see exactly what is happening literally daytoday. No other state has this system. No other state is as transparent. No other state is gathering local data so it can present data statewide every day. Were doing it because the secret of our success has been exactly this. The secret of our success, the one thing i did right was communicate to people and trust people that with the right information, they will make the right decisions. This is the most advanced way in the nation to give people, to give citizens the information they need to lead their lives correctly. And that will be online in the next couple of days, but friday, may 15th, is the opening date and this will be online smartly, right . We all have heard washington say many, many times the governors are in charge of reopening. Thank you very much. So the governors are in charge of reopening. But that doesnt mean the states are on their own. The governors are on their own. Weapon need federal help. We need federal assistance. And theyre talking about passing a piece of legislation in washington this week. It has to be a smart piece of legislation this time. What does that mean . No handouts to greedy corporations. No political pork, and no partisanship. Sometimes, there has to be a time in history when the federal government is willing to stop playing partisan politics. And if its not through this experience, through this crisis, it will never be. Thats the first definition of smart for the federal government. The bill has to fund state and local governments. It has to fund working families. It has to fund state testing and tracing. Everybody talks about testing and tracing. Its up to testing and tracing. It is. No one has done it before. No state has this Testing Capacity. No state has this tracing capacity. We have to build it. We can do it, but its a heck of a logistical endeavor. And we need funding to do it. And we need a real economic stimulus. This economy has been damaged. Through no fault of anyone, through an act of god with this covid virus. But to get this economy back up and running, were going to need an intelligent stimulus bill from washington. When i say no pork barrel, what does that mean . When they pass a piece of legislation in washington, every senator sees it as their opportunity to bring home bacon to their state. This is supposed to be about the covid virus and repairing damage from the covid virus. Keep it about the covid virus. Last bill when they did it, they were talking about providing money to states that didnt really have a major covid problem, so how would the state spend the money . They were talking about building a new state capital in some states. Because they didnt have enough covid cases to justify the federal allocation, so they were looking for ways to spend the money. How ludicrous is that, right . This is somebodys money. This is a taxpayers money. They worked hard. Theyre willing to help solve the problem of covid, but keep it about the covid virus. Second, i understand businesses need to recover. This doesnt have to be a give way to the rich millionaires who are doing just fine anyway. And it doesnt have to be a giveaway to big business. It shouldnt be that another episode in history where somehow the rich figure out a way to get more assistance. When it is supposed to be about helping average americans. And thats the people who really need help here, are the working families. The families that go paycheck to paycheck. Theyre the one who struggling. And the essential workers, who have been so great for so long, police officers, firefighters, nurses, schoolteachers, the people who literally need food. I mean, i have people literally saying, i need food to feed my family. We have Unprecedented Demand at food banks. Those are the people who really need help. And those are the people who are State Government funds. New york state, we know what happened to our economy. We know what our budget looks like. We need 61 billion in federal support or we will wind up aggravating the situation. Because when you dont fund the state, who does the fund state . The state funds schools, local governments, and hospitals. You really want new york state to turn around and have to cut schools and cut local governments . You know who local governments are . Thats police, firefighters. You want me to cut hospitals . Hospitals are the nurses and the doctors who just got us through this and everyone celebrates as heroes. If you dont fund the state, thats who youre cutting in terms of finances. Now, this is not a red issue, blue issue. Yes, im a democrat. But this is not about politics. I have democrats, i have republicans in my state. I have independents, i have short people, i have tall people. New york, we have everything. If youre going to be an effective statewide leader, forget red and blue. It does not work. And every state. Red states, blue states, they all need funding. You put the governors in charge, the states are heading the reopening. They need funds to do it. Theres an Organization Called the National Governors association, nga. Democratic and republican governors. Its headed by a republican governor, governor hogan. Im the vice chairman. Im a democrat. Were doing a joint Statement Today saying, states need funding. And not pork barrel funding and not funding that flows through the states but gets to their special interests. Thats not what we want. We want funding to allow us to do our job. Democrats and republicans working together are going to make this statement. And washington should listen. The federal bill should also be responsive to working families. What are the problems that working families are facing . They come to me with . I cant pay my rent. I cant pay my mortgage. Im afraid that once this forbearance period ends, the bank is going to send me three months worth of mortgage payments. Im not going to be able to pay it. Im afraid that once this forbearance period ends, im going to get a bill for three months of back rent and i cant pay it and im going to be evicted. Thats what real families are talking about now. Theyre afraid that theyre not going to get their job back. The funeral costs for families, funeral costs are devastating. Thats reality for working families. And you have homeowners in this state and many of the States Affected by covid, massachusetts, new jersey, california, michigan, same states that have the covid problem, that just were have an additional tax from washington when they repealed whats called salt, state and local tax deduction. It was a theft to increase taxes on certain states, new york is one, massachusetts is one, california is one, and it hurt homeowners, because you cant deduct your state and local taxes anymore. It was punitive, it was political, it was wrong. Do you want to help taxpayers, you want to help homeowners, up to help the places that were hit by covid. Repeal salt. And thats what should be done in this bill. And you also have to fund state testing and tracing. We can put together the operation. Its not going to be easy. Its going to entail thousands of people in this state to test and trace, but we need funding from washington to make that happen. And if you want to be creative and aggressive and smart, which is what we need more than ever, the bill shouldnt just reopen america. Now is a chance to actually reimagine america, okay . You need to stimulate the economy. You need to create jobs. You need to get people back to work. Now is the time to invest in building and rebuilding. Invest in Public Infrastructure. Build airports, bridges, mass transit. Build the Public Health infrastructure, so we can handle a situation like this next time. The investment in Public Infrastructure is long overdue. Theyve talked about this for years. There are dozens and dozens of reports that will talk about the bad shape of our roads and our bridges and how bad our airports are compared to International Airports and our youve been listening to governor Andrew Cuomos latest update. It is worth noting there at the end, if youre Chuck Schumer or nancy pelosi, perhaps they even either hes coaching them on what to ask for or vice versa, are they working together . If theyre not, their messages sounded very similar when it comes to outlining what the next package would look like there. Just Something Interesting to watch and follow and listen. And also, by the way, he unveiled a tenregion breakdown of new york and how the opening process would work. Theyre tracking process. Looked to me like a good blueprint for a lot of other large states as they try to figure out different ways out of this. So good afternoon. I am chuck todd. It is just after 11 00 a. M. Out west, 2 00 p. M. In the east. And we start with the facts as we know them at this hour. The white house will hold its scheduled press briefing any moment now. Press secretary kayleigh mcennayny will take the podium and will almost certainly face questions about dr. Faucis testimony on capitol hill. Fauci warned about reopening too quickl quickly. What ive expressed then and again is my concern that if some areas, city, states, or what have you jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks. And President Trump isnt the only world leader to see the coronavirus pandemic touch his inner circle. The spokesman for Vladimir Putin has been hospitalized after contracting the disease. Hes one of several senior russian officials infected by covid19. Their prime minister, also, got na nabbed as well by the virus. Let me bring in my coanchor for the hour, katy tur. And katy, you have some of the latest numbers as we know them right now. I mean, its worth showing, things are getting slightly better. Lay it out. Lets go through the numbers all around the country. Cases of the coronavirus continue to climb nationwide. Just about every state, and well show you a graphic, the ones you see in red, continue to report new infections. Although some of the states are seeing a decline in the overall infection rates. The only state not recording new infections is manhattan. Despite the nationwide climb, more than half of the country is making plans to reopen in some tomorrow. Ton friday, stayathome orders are set to expire in new hampshire, vermont, and louisiana. So chuck, heres the story. New york is seeing its infection rate decline. Thats because weve been locked inside now for, i cant even count how many days, frankly. I think its been over two months. And there are other places in the country that have had more relaxed lockdowns that are seeing the cases rise. But so its good news and bad news mixed together. Look, the increase in testing two weeks i think weve got two weeks in a row, 400,000, right . Were on a pace of a 400,000 testing week, still short what we learned in this hearing. That obviously is an increase. But lets be realistic here. We all and i think the question is, is it a twoweek lag, a threeweek lag . We dont know what the lag is. We know theres a lag. Were going to know in two to three weeks, katy. I think well know on june 1st how well these reopenings went. And if this curve is bad, i think that changes a lot of fall plans. If its not, then we may see sort of this stepbystep, you know, continuation until we hit a point where we think, oh, thats too much. All right, lets go through more of the hearing and just remember go ahead, katy, finish that thought. Sorry, i got your pause. Just remember, the more we do the testing, the more that we are likely to see a rise in the number of coronavirus. Remember, we were doing very little testing for quite a long time, so the numbers were smaller. As we test more and more people, well get a rise in the number, because well have more reach. The goal is to lower the death toll. At this point, getting a high case count is actually might be a good thing if were also able to track, trace, and quarantine. That actually, the higher the test count on that front, if were doing all the other stuff, the lower our death toll is going to be. During the hearing today, it was senator mitt romney who strongly contradicted the president s frequent claim that the u. S. Is a leader in testing. Yesterday, you celebrated that we had done more tests and more tests per capita, even, than south korea. But you ignored the fact that they accomplished theirs at the beginning of the outbreak, while we treaded water during february and march and as a result, by march 6th, the u. S. Had completed just 2,000 tests, whereas south korea had conducted more than 140,000 tests. So partially, as a result of that, they have 256 deaths and we have almost 80,000 deaths. I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever. The fact is their test numbers are going down, down, down, down now because they dont have the kind of outbreak that we have. Ours are going up, up, up, as they have to. Well, for more on all of this, were joined by nbc News White House correspondent, kristen welker. Kristen, its not surprising that mitt romney is going to be is willing to be tough on this president. What was interesting is he went after him hard on testing. And while democrats certainly did too, in some ways, not as directly as mitt romney. Really good point, chuck. Mitt romney, one of the republicans who has been critical of President Trump, obviously. Look, he went after President Trump on this issue a day after the president , from the rose garden, said that the u. S. Has prevailed on the issue of testing, chuck. And i think thats another reason that it really stood out. Look, yesterday the president announced 9 million tests so far. Certainly, that is an increase. But medical experts say it needs to be far higher if the entire country can open and can do so safely. And so i think you heard there senator romney really underscoring that point. Now, caylee mcennayny, the press secretary, will undoubtedly answer that when she takes the podium at the briefing moments from now. They are quite defensive on this issue, not only as it relates to the rest of the country, because of course this has hit home for the white house. You have the Vice President s press secretary, katie miller, who tested positive last week, and its raised the question, how can the Administration Call on the country to start to reopen when the rest of the country does not have the widespread testing that is available at the white house, this daily testing that we are seeing, chuck. So thats really put this administration under increased scrutiny. Yesterday, President Trump said anyone who wants a test can get one, and then it was admirthe al who came forward and said, actually, anyone who needs a test can get one. That is a difference and a disparity when you think about Contact Tracing. Were just not there yet at the levels that medical experts say we need to be welcome chuck and katy. And again, it has to be with the white house is serving as an example of how to do it and how to do testing and tracing and quarantining. Thats why you do it so frequently. Theyre a Success Story and right now theyre acting as if theyre defensive and no one should see it. No, actually, this is how to do it. Hopefully at some point theyll embrace in as a success, as well. Thats how you lead by example. Chuck, we mentioned in the last lower an Exchange Chris murphy had with cdc director redfield. He has talked about what he perceived as mixed messaging on the threat currently posed by the coronavirus. I think youre all noble public servants, but i worry that youre trying to have it both ways. You say the states shouldnt open too early, but then you dont give us the resources to succeed. You work for a president who is frankly undermining our efforts to comply with the guidance that youve given us and then the guidance that you have provided is criminally vague. Nbcs Garrett Haake joins us now from capitol hill. So he called the guidance criminally vague. What are we expecting, what more are we expecting to get from people like redfield and the fda commissioner and others in the coming days and weeks . Well, look. A lot of that will be determined by the administration. Were seeing the limits of congress ability to hold their feet to the fire here in an oversight capacity, because the administration isnt making those officials available to the house side of the operation here. This is the one Senate Hearing in which dr. Fauci and company were being allowed to testify. They will not be allowed to appear at all in front of the house. When the house does their oversight, theyre mostly talking to former officials, who have expertise, but not specific knowledge about the way the government is acting. To senator murphys point, think about all the states like my home state of texas, that have already reopened, lacking any of that guidance in any kind of published form from the federal government. The states are very much jammed up. And we are seeing the limits of what congress can do to help them out right now. Garrett haake from capitol hill, with what did you call it, garrett, the worlds most highly anticipated zoomin. And i have been corrected. They were not using zoom. They were using a different software. But i feel like zoom is like xerox or google. Its a verb and a brand. But i digress. Or kleenex and ketchup. Garrett haake, thank you very much. Chuck, over to you. Thank god it wasnt zoom, guys, because my daughter was asking if it was zoom and i said, no, and she goes, oh, i wanted a zoom bombing. And i was like, thats why its not zoom, honey. But, anyway. All right, guys. Thanks. Speaking of trying to avoid zooming, these guys arent zooming. Theyre at least in the audio stages of live events and that is the Supreme Court. They heard two highly anticipated cases of President Trumps taxes and financial records. The central question is this. Will prosecutors in congress get to see them . Oral arguments were heard via telephone Conference Call this morning. Heres part of it. The first case we will argue today is case 19715, donald trump versus mazars usa. Mr. Strawbridge . The subpoenas at issue here are unprecedented in every sense. Before these cases, no court had ever upheld the use of congress subpoena power to demand the personal records of a sitting president. Council, in so many of these prior cases, there was a cooperation for example, tax returns. Every president voluntarily turned over his tax returns. So it gets to be a pitch battle here, because President Trump is the first one to refuse to do that. Well, the man who was listening in on that Conference Call for us, as his job, is our chief justice correspondent, pete williams. Pete, what i found interesting was, i was reading through our wonderful weve got a team of people here that take these great notes and reading some of this transcript here. It seems as if all the justices were a little bit skeptical of jay sekulows argument about blanket immunity for the president. Right, thats the second argument. The excerpt you just played from was the second argument about congressional subpoenas. And my sense is youre right, theres going to be a split here. The court is very skeptical of sort of an Unlimited Authority of congress to just subpoena anything at once from the president for two reasons. The president s lawyers, strawbridge there you heard there, Patrick Strawbridge of boston appearing as a personal lawyer for the president. First of all, he says, number one, when youre trying to get something from the president , there has to be a heightened need, hes not like anybody else. And secondly, they say, congress does not have unlimited subpoena power. It can only subpoena when its considering legislation. And i think a majority of the court seemed concerned that this is sort of an openended thing that congress can subpoena when it wants to do case studies or if theres just some very tangential connection between President Trumps personal records, his familys records and maybe tax reform or something else. And very tellingly, at one point, one of the courts liberals, stephen breyer, said hes worried about a future mccarthy using this against a president. I think for that reason, they will not fare too well. But on the second case about the president s taxes, the president s lawyers youre right, jay sekulow, the president s lawyers says the president is absolutely immune from any criminal process while hes president including grand jury subpoenas. And i dont think that had any takers among the courts nine members. They seemed more receptive to that they didnt seem to agree with sekulows fallback argument, which was, if you unleash 3,200 local prosecutors around the country, theyre going to overwhelm the president. And so my impression was, and its always a little risky to base your conclusions on just hearing the oral argument, that theyre going to have a hard time sustaining the congressional subpoenas, all three of them. Maybe theyll find that one committees subpoenas are sufficiently tailored that they would stand. But probably, more favorable to the cy vance efforts to get the president s tax returns for a grand jury investigation. I was just going to say, i thought one of the more intriguing followups in that part of the argument, and i believe it was chief Justice Roberts, pete, who followed up to jay sekulow. Because i guess jay sekulow was making an argument, a distinction between federal courts and state courts. And he seemed to say, so, youre saying, had paula jones filed an estate he brought up clinton versus paula jones, which was a lot of precedent here about, can you do this, cuffan you have a civil trial while a president is in office. It was fascinating chief Justice Roberts reminding jay sekulow of arguments hes made there before. Right, and the jones v. Clinton thing is a hard thing for the president. Because there the Supreme Court said, yes, admittedly, it was a civil trial. But the argument of distraction, the Supreme Court said, you know, the president is not above the law. And, you know, you cant haul him around to appear before a grand jury for testimony, you cant give unlimited depositions, drag him around like that, but no president can say, you know, i cant spend any time on this, any time at all would be a distraction. The court has already done away with that argument in the clinton v. Jones case. Whether it was kavanaugh or gorsuch, they all seemed a bit skeptical, not understanding, how do you create a civil versus criminal standard. I mean, they were poking a lot of holes through that argument. I think your take there well see, you never know when you try to interrupt this stuff in realtime. It was a fascinating dichotomy. Cy vance feels a lot better today than nancy pelosi . I think what theyll say is, you have to demonstrate some specific need, show you need this stuff now. The president s whatever the records youre going through, you have to be some sort of heightened standard, but still willing to entertain it. Fascinating there. Pete williams, thank you very much. Katy, over to you. And chuck, after a quick break, well get more reaction on todays coronavirus hearing from a member of the committee, indiana senator mike braun. Plus, dr. John torres joins us to talk about the new covidrelated illness were seeing in children. What do parents need to know. We get more information every day. And later, how Contact Tracing was used to successfully track down an outbreak in one west coast city. West coast city. Today, were adapting to staying home and finding new ways to take of ourselves. But you can still screen for colon cancer. Because when caught in early stages, its more treatable. So, dont wait. Cologuard is colon Cancer Screening done at home. You can request it from home too. Ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Or learn more about online prescribers at requestcologuard. Com. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask about cologuard today. Lets be honest. Quitting smoking is hard. Like, quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So try making it smaller, and youll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette. Swithout even on yoleaving your house. Starting small can lead to something big. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need saving you up to 400 a year. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. More cases of a mysterious covidrelated illness in children are being reported across the country. It has now been identified in 13 states and washington, d. C. Earlier, dr. Anthony fauci expressed concerns before the senate about opening up schools too early and the unknown effects the virus could have on children. As much as i respect you, dr. Fauci, i dont think youre the endall. I have never made myself out to be the endall and only voice in this. Im a scientist, a physician, and a Public Health official. I give advice according to the best scientific evidence. The second thing is, you used the word that we should be humble about what we dont know. And i think that falls with the fact that we dont know everything about this virus and we ought to be very careful, particularly when it comes to childre children. Joining me now, nbcs dr. John torres. So dr. Torres, that exchange right there was senator paul pointing out that very few fatalities with this virus have been in children. And making the case that opening up schools in september is important, not for a number of children not to be left behind. Dr. Fauci didnt say it is absolutely safe to do so. Can you explain why . I think what youre hearing there is not completely disassociated. The priority here is to keep them safe and although weve been saying that children seem to be somewhat protected from the coronavirus, that seems to be the case, but theyre not completely safe. And there are some things that are happening to children that can be dangerous and in some cases fatal. And what were seeing is this pediatric multiflammable syndrome cropping up in children. Part of that is because we simply havent noticed them and the numbers werent being put together. But more and more children are getting it not just here, but in other parts of the world, as well. Were still not exactly sure why that is happening. That combined with the fact that we know childrens viral loads, the amount of virus in their body can be as high as adults, plus, they tend to have more contacts when they go back to school. Its important to put all of that together and say, if we get them back to school in the fall, we need to make sure we do it very carefully and have those things in place to make sure if we do start seeing cases, we start getting those under control before they get out of control. So Governor Cuomo announced theyre looking into a hundred cases of this in new york alone. Does that mean that the virus has mutated and its just suddenly appearing as the natural process as it starts to affect more people. The picture is still a little muddy on what exactly is happening here. What we dont think is the virus is mutating and specifically targeting children in this area. Instead, a couple of other things might be going on. One, is it starting to get more recognized . Remember, this virus has only been around for a few months. Were getting higher numbers, plus, because the cases are rising so high in the u. S. , the number of children with these rare issues like this, theres only been a couple of hundred, are starting to rise further and further up, so were starting to notice this is happening more often. Plus, we think there might be some genetic component to it. Either the genetics of the virus itself or the genetics of the children, because it seems to be affecting u. S. And european children, specifically. Didnt hear about this coming out of china or japan or any of the other asian countries. Not sure why thats happening and theyre putting a lot of effort into trying to figure that out right now because we want to keep all of our children safe, katy. And that image of that poor little girl is so hard to look at, but so useful for parents to see what a rash like that, how concerning that might be. Chuck, i know you have a question. Its about this issue of genetics at this point. Considering the range of ways this virus seems to attack the human body, it seems as if there are more and more scientists that are convinced that it really is it depends on your genetic makeup, necessarily how you react to how this virus reacts in your body. And while almost more son th th other viruses, is that what were starting is that what makes this so difficult im sorry, every week, theres a new symptom, right . Were not narrowing things down, were broadening. Chuck, exactly. I think thats exactly whats going on. And i think two, five years from now well look back and say, okay, people with a certain genetic profile were more at risk for certain things. Things we simply cant do because we dont have the numbers or the Research Capability this quickly to determine that. But one thing we are seeing, especially in children, one of the reasons we think this is happening is because those that get infected with it, usually they recover from coronavirus. And weeks later, even up to six weeks later, they come down with this syndrome. They think its because they have a hyperacute immune system. For some reason, these particular children, their immune system goes haywire and starts to attack their organs and heart. The symptoms that parents should look out for, if you notice these symptoms, you want to get to the emergency room as quick as you can. Were talking prolonged fevers for more than five days, severe abdominal pain, especially if you have diarrhea or vomiting. The skin rash, you saw the pictures there, blotchy, blue, or pale skin. Trouble breathing, lethargy or rapid heart rate. These are the things you want to watch out for. This is not a call doctor tomorrow or the next day, this is seek immediate help right now, because things can go downhill very quickly. You want to make sure your child is taken care of. Write it down and pay attention. Dr. John torres, thank you very much. Chuck, over to you. Lets turn back to capitol hill now where the senate just wrapped up that hearing with members of the White House Coronavirus task force. Joipg us now, a lawmaker who was in that hearing, senator mike brawn. He serves on that committee and senator braun, as i said, as your guys hearing closed, this is a reminder, this is a very there are a lot of committees on capitol hill. This is a more highly functional one. You guys have less partisan edges than perhaps collectively im not saying there wasnt partisanship, this is washington. You had a very specific question about what you seemed to point out as a lost period of time. Why did you choose to highlight that, sir . Well, you know, theres been so much discussion about testing. And ive been a proponent of it. Everything and you just mentioned about the peculiarity of this virus, now to where there might be predispositions, even among kids. Take it all seriously, but out of the gate, my staff put together an unbelievable timeline from january 24th through march 5th. And the reason i went that way is when i interviewed dr. Hahn for the reasons on the help committee, where we were looking at how to make the Health Care System more agile, more nimble, will you be entrepreneurial, on that respect . And there we did have a month to where the cdc didnt want the south korean test, wanted to do our own. It stumbled. Had to get rid of it. And it wasnt until march 5th that we really got the ball rolling, and one other thing, chuck. I talked to some of the pharmaceutical ceos. And he said from the moment theyve had the genome, theres been more enthusiasm and entrepreneurial activity about getting not only a vaccine going, also therapies. So thats why i mentioned it. Not all the administrations fault. And you saw where senator burr said, has the administration ever put an impediment in front of testing, and i think dr. Fauci said, categorically, no. No, sadly, its not an impediment, its just, as you said, we just seem to have hurdles that we dont know how to clear, right . Its not an intentional impediment. But we seem to let our we got in the way of ourselves on this a little bit. Let me ask you one quick follow up. Senator alexander there towards the end, i felt like was essentially saying, theres a deadline here for you guys to meet on testing and Contact Tracing. And it is basically august 1st. Its when we can get kids safely back to campuses, whether college or secondary schools. Is that fair way . Is that the deadline to put on this administration . Come on, guys, the plan for you and all 50 states has got to be testing and Contact Tracing, so we can get kids on campus safely. I dont know why the administration wouldnt be motivated to do that. And i think its the totality of what we have here in the federal government. And i came in to try to reform some of that stuff. And we were really along the way for the normal Health Care Issues so i think its good to throw that gauntlet out there. Because you are right in the sense that until we get something happening on testing, vaccines, therapies, you can see some of the states that have reopened, Business Owners havent even felt comfortable going back, let alone customers coming in. Its all intertwined. I dont like the fact that you try to blame one component of it. And i think throwing a gauntlet out to get this place moving more quickly is good in any case. Its an evennumbered year. Blame game is always more important in an evennumbered year. Katy, youve got a question for senator braun. Thats always a good point. Senator braun, your state is starting a phased reopening. I wonder, when you look at what to do and how to move forward, Everyone Wants to reopen their businesses. How much weight do you put on the Health Experts and how much weight do you put on the economists who say, hey, listen, we need to get things going. Dr. Fauci today suggested that hes worried that if we reopen too quickly, were going to see an increase of cases and there will be needless pain and suffering. So i think the health care p pros have to be relied upon and weve done that since the time we started tackling this until now. We are very close to where if we dont straddle, due both, were going to have many issues that will cascade in terms of company bankruptcies, structural demand and supply destruction. And that is on the cusp. And the sad thing is, weve got to do both at once. We did it county by county back in indiana. We need to do it state by state. Were going to have to take a little mitigated risk, or im afraid that we could end up with the worst of both worlds in terms of the virus itself and the economy. And i, in talking to Business Owners, they know they have to state disciplined on the new protocol. Thats why i was glad our governor did it. And i think across the country, we use the laboratory of states to learn from it. And i want to air on the side of moving in that direction rather than a onesizefitsall approach that weve taken up to this point. Senator, has this made you rethink the social safety net in this country, the social contract we have . Do we need to rework how we go about our regular business . I think so. And im one of the most outspoken critics of structural deficits weve got. And probably twothirds of that is driven by the programs that everybody likes, social security, medicare, and medicaid. We have to have an honest discussion, can we keep those healthy . The Medicare Trust fund gets completely depleted in six years. This is a catalyst to relook the whole way weve been doing things over the last few decades. And its going to take some tough choices and discipline to fix it. Very little political will ive seen here since ive been here. And senator, very quickly, the house is going to have their bill. How soon do you want the senate to put up a response . So the house bill, which is talking about maybe at least another couple of trillion. And the one thing and i know Business Owners are concerned about it, is that protection on specific issues arising from covid19, this is going to be more difficult, because im nearly certain most republicans are not going to think the price of Liability Protection is worth a couple of trillion. Thats my particular opinion, but we need to look at it. Thats going to be the issue on our side. Maybe we can carve out something thats reasonable. Senator mike mann, republican from indiana, thank you for coming on and sharing your views with us. It was a fascinating hearing to watch and such an unusual circumstance. Thats for sure. Thank you. Up next, we head to california for a look at an example of successful Contact Tracing. An example of successful Contact Tracing. Alright, i brought in ensure max protein to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you dont. [grunting noise] ill take that. Yeeeeeah 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar ensure max protein. Now available in twelvecount. Stock up today now available in twelvecount. phone ringing a phones offers big button,ecialized phones. And volumeenhanced phones. , get details on this state program. Call or visit and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. phone ringing get details on this state program call or visit senator tim kaine today pressed cdc director Robert Redfield on why the u. S. Has trailed other countries when it comes to Contact Tracing. South korea embraced a rigorous Contact Tracing program right from the beginning. The United States still has not engaged in a Contact Tracing program unfortunately, as the cases rose, it went beyond the capacity and we went to mitigation. So we lost the containment edge. Meanwhile, Public Health officials in california said Contact Tracing allowed them to successfully identify a cluster of coronavirus cases, all linked to a Birthday Party in pasadena. Joining us now is nbc news correspondent, steve patterson. Steve, what did they find . Reporter katy, i dont have to tell you it is Old School Cold calling followed by oldschool detective work. Authorities here essentially got a tip there was this unregulated party at a time in which the stayathome order in california is still very much in place. Were talking 30 to 40 people, no one wearing masks, no one safely social distancing, in an enclosed space. And someone, by the way, at the party that is coughing and is telling people in a joking manner that, oh, i may have coronavirus. Well, it turns out that person did have coronavirus. Through Contact Tracing, they were able to identify who that person was, notify people that that person came in contact with, and find, eventually, that there were at least half a dozen cases of coronavirus due to that one person effectively stopping the spread of another outbreak here in pasadena. That was done effectively and they notified the entire city to basically say, we need to stop this, stop this cavalier attitude. So they have done that. Meanwhile, though, there are concerns about privacy. When you get in granular into peoples lives, there is some concern about violating their medical privacy. We addressed that with the lead doctor here, who talked about that challenge and why this was so important to them. As you can imagine, personal Health Information can be very sensitive. Sometimes, it can be very embarrassing. It can also be admitting that they may have done something against the law, like this example, where they broke Health Officer orders. It so really is about establishing trust between the Health Department and the individual to give us the true story and explain that this is about Community Mitigation prevention and good infection control. Of course, this is happening in cities all over the country, but states are trying to get onboard to scale this up. California is training some 3,000 people a week to be contact tracers. They want to beef that up to 20,000 in order to keep the phases of reopening going. But a key, crucial component to getting any sense of normalcy back, at least here in california, katy. Steve paterson with a great example. Steve, thank you very much. I saw some polling that suggested that americans werent so trusting of Contact Tracing, especially if it was done by the federal government. But they were more trusting of it if it was done by a health agency, like the cdc. Well, its sort of funny. Dont trust the federal government, but trust the cdc. Dont tell those people that the cdc is part of the federal government. But, yes, i think that you do see some of that, and ill tell you, if you want to get on somebodys cell phone and that app, i think youll have a harder time doing that in this country, because it did seem as if there would be some cooperation at that level, but the more intrusive it got, the less cooperative folks got in a hurry. I think the privacy issue is a big one, not a small one when it comes to this contact train station issue. Up next, democracy in the age of social distancing. The two special elections underway today, plus another primary contest in another state that could tell us a lot about novembers vote. That could telusl a lot about novembers vote. Keep track of rs and i dont add up the years, but what i do count on. Is boost high protein. And now, theres boost mobility. With key nutrients to help support. Joints, muscles, and bones. Try boost mobility, with added collagen. Confident financial plans, calming financial plans, complete financial plans. 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If you dont love downy wrinkleguard, well give you your money back. Its velveeta shells cheese versus the other guys. Clearly, velveeta melts creamier. Special elections are underway in two states today, in wisconsin and california. And californias 25th Congressional District, voters are deciding who will replace katy hill, who resigned last year. The last few weeks of campaigning were upended by stayathome orders and social distancing. Nbc Steve Kornacki is at the big board and he joins us now. A lot of eyes on this california race, as potentially being a harbinger for november. Yeah, the interesting thing, there are two races. The reason all eyes are on this california race, remember this map mere, 2018, the blue wave, democrats get control of the house. Remember, democrats flip a net of 40 seats nationally in 2018. In this california race were talking about, it involves one of those seats. Take a look at this. This was california, heading into the 2018 election. If you remember this, going back a little bit here, there were these seven republican districts, seven republican members of congress who represented districts heading into 2018 that had not voted for donald trump. These were ripe targets for democrats in 2018. They were hoping to flip as many as they could. And of course, they flipped them all. It was a big part of that blue wave story in 2018, turning those red california districts blue. And one of those democrats, katy hill, you mentioned, who flipped that seat. Of course, she resigned. Scandal. So there is a special election in one of those blue wave districts here, the 25th district of california, the recent voting history, favorable for democrats. It was Hillary Clinton by seven points in 2016. It was eight points for katy hill in 2018. Theres a question now, can republicans flip this back . Because the longer history in this district, if you go back before 2018, this was a more republicanfriendly district. Were talking about the area north of los angeles. Talking about the Santa Clarita valley, the antelope valley, simi valley, that area here. And the republicans think they have a real chance at this one. Mike garcia is their candidate. They think they have a couple of things working in their fair. Might be lower turnout, more republican turnout. The democrats have been running adds featuring donald trump. Well see if theres a trump backlash here, too. Interesting one to keep an eye on. Chuck . Well be watching it. Steve kornacki, thank you very much. And chuck, over to you and that one, by the way, mark murray thinks keep a look out what could be a tenpoint penalty for scandal, which could hurt democrats, which is why so many people think theres a coin flip race. Thats why were looking at a race that by the way we wont know the results for probably for a few days because its california. Lets move to wisconsin. Voters in wisconsin are headed to the polls for the second time in a little more than a month. This is a special election. Its in the states seventh Congressional District. Voters who were unable to file a mailin ballot will have to go to the polls. Our own Shaquille Brewster joins us from a polling station in wausau, wisconsin. So shaq, what do you see . Reporter well, youre seeing some similarities and some differences from that election about a month ago. The similarities, the same safety precautions are in place. People are going in. Theres a handwashing station before they go in. Theres plexiglas up. People have masks on. Social distancing is being enforced. But this is a special election. Its limited to just this one Congressional District thats more rural than what you saw. There arent those lines that you saw just about a month ago. Despite that, voters have mixed feelings on having to come out. Listen to what a couple of voters told me just earlier today. Do you normally vote ste absentee . No, i dont. Why did you do it this time . Strictly because of the covid situation and being safe at home. My wife is her health right now is compromised, so were being extra careful right now. I dont like the idea of so much mailin stuff. I think its just easier to commit fraud when you do that. And like today, there was absolutely no reason why someone couldnt have come out and voted, unless they were sick, of course. Reporter and this was the special election called after congressman sean duffy retired back in the fall of last year. He retired because of personal reasons. The governor did try to move this or said he wanted to try to move this election, as well, as he tried to move the april 7th election. But we know that in wisconsin, it takes that bipartisan agreement, which wasnt there in april, and wasnt there again this time around. You hear what the voters say. Theyre back at it again, voting in the midst of a pandemic. Chuck . Katy . And the republicans should hold this, but the margin in here will be interesting and a lot of people will read into it, depending on what you view of the swing state status of wisconsin these days, which is mighty swinging. By the way, nebraska is holding its regular primary today. One of the races were keeping an eye on there is the democratic primary in nebraska, too. Thats the omaha Congressional District. One worth watching. Up next, a look at what doctors in canada found that might be able to zap this virus from your system. Yes, we said zap. M your system yes, we said zap wayfair has way more ways to renovate your home, from inspiration to installation. Like way more vanities perfect for you. Nice. Way more unique fixtures and tiles. Pairing. Nice. Way more top brands in sinks and faucets. Way more ways to rule your renovation. Nice on any budget, with free shipping. Wayfair. Way more than furniture. And right now, is a time for action. So, for a second time were giving members a credit on their auto insurance. Because its the right thing to do. Were also giving Payment Relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. Right now is the time to take care of what matters most. Like weve done together, so many times before. Discover all the ways were helping members at usaa. Com coronavirus what if you could stop the spread of the coronavirus by using light therapy to eliminate it right out of your nose . Well, one company says it has the technology to make that happen. Warren petty from our chicago affiliate has the story. Reporter it may look unusual, but this red light therapy could help stop the spread of the coronavirus. This is a very simple intervention, a couple of minutes. Its inexpensive. Its portable. The machines over my shoulder. Reporter dr. Nicholas lobel is the chief Technology Offer for a canadianbased company with offices in chicago that developed this sterowave technology. In our case, we dont see any adverse effects. Any adverse effects over a decade in 60,000 patients. Reporter approved in canada for use before surgery to help avoid infections like merca. We know it works against this particular virus. Reporter the process involves swabbing the nose, where studies have shown the virus tends to colonize with a bluecolored chemical compound and using fiberoptics to turn on a red light, which is a visible light found at the safe end of the spectrum. When you shine that light in the presence of the photosynthesizer on the virus, it basically blows the virus up. Reporter dr. Meredith biel says the science is there. Its really establishing the Clinical Trial. Its a very doable trial. Its a panelist, short treatment. Reporter Ondine Biomedical says trials are underway in canada. We have discussing with the fda how we can move the system into the u. S. The goal would be to disinfect front line workers first, possibly after every shift. It wouldnt replace the need for ppe, but work in conjunction with it, if the Technology Gets fda approval. Lauren petty with that report. Lauren, thank you very much. Chuck, my question is, maybe you can do that within the nose, but how quickly does that virus go from your nose and into your bloodstream . And if its very quick, i wonder how effective that would be, unless its, you know, you breathe something in and are immediately putting those things up your nose . Right. Well, we did learn that you can wipe this virus out with some kind of ultraviolet ray. Obviously, you dont want to put that in the body, but theres clearly some of this technology is certainly interesting as you see the research on it. And, you know, thats the one upside of this pandemic is forced innovation, right . And there will be some Great Technology for us in the future that will come out of what is forced innovation. That is it for us today. Thank you for trusting us this hour. Much appreciated. Couple of hours. Nicole wallace and Brian Williams pick things up right after this quick break. Rian williams pick things up right after this quick break whether youre facing unemployment. Have bills to pay. Or just trying to keep your family healthy. Its hard. But when it comes to your pfizer medicines, we want to make things a little simpler. We know you may have new questions. About affording your medicine. We want to help you find the right answers. If you make under 100,000 for a family of four, or 50,000 as an individual. And have prescription coverage for your pfizer medicine but cant afford your insurance copay. Or you have no prescription coverage at all, pfizer may provide your medicines for free or at a discount. Just another way were here to support you. Learn more by visiting www. Pfizerrxpathways. Com today no uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. Swithout even on yoleaving your house. Nnnnono just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need saving you up to 400 a year. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Good day. Im Brian Williams. 3 00 p. M. In the east, 12 00 noon on the west coast. Nicole wallace with us momentarily. But first, lets take a look at the headlines and facts as we know them at this hour. Over 82,000 americans have now died from the coronavirus. That number up about 1,200 from when we came on the air, just 24 hours ago at this hour. As the toll keeps rising, members of the White House Coronavirus task force testified before a Senate Committee by Video Conference and were often at odds with President Trump and his push to reopen the country. The nations top Infectious Disease specialist, dr. Anthony fauci, said reopening too soon could lead to more death and suffering and cdc director Robert Redfield made it clear we are far from finished with this virus. Those experts also told lawmakers that if everything goes as planned, the u. S. Will be capable of performing at least 40 to 50 million tests per month by september. Now, to reach that goal, there would need to be massive increases in testing, to roughly 1. 3 million tests per day, up from the 0. 3 million or 300,000 a day were currently doing. Finally, were keeping an eye on House Speaker nancy pelosi. Shes about to unveil another huge Coronavirus Relief bill. The package would include money for state and local governments, Health Care Systems, more stimulus checks to americans, other priorities. But its already been rejected we Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell. And at this point, we are joined by my friend and colleague, Nicole Wallace and nicole, watching this mornings hearing was interesting for who was willing to be tellers of the truth. Mitt romney had a very interesting moment, where he called out the Trump Administration for bogus testing numbers, especially a bogus comparison to south korea, which acted so early in testing. And of course, all eyes were on dr. Fauci, who came prepared with a brief bit of that and well get your reaction on the other side. As states or cities or regions, in their attempt, understandable, to get back to some form of normality, disregard to a greater or less degree the checkpoints that we put in our guidelines about when it is safe to proceed in pulling back on mitigation. Because i feel if that occurs, there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control. Which, in fact, paradoxically, will set you back, not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to trying to get economic recovery. So nicole, thats the whole equation right there. You know what it reminded me of . So you have kids. When i am trying to listen to something and my 8yearold is shouting at me about something that excites him, i only hear bits and pieces of what im trying to listen to. You realized hearing fauci firehose the senate with facts, data, and truth, without donald trump popping up to the podium to say inane things or spin things or political things, that the facts are so clear. And when you take in the facts without any of those interruptions from donald trump, the facts are black and white. That we have to keep doing a lot more of what were doing. And if we inch towards anything resembling a prepandemic normal, it will look entirely different. And i think that there have to be some serious conversations going on at the white house about why they continue to lie. And i think the fact that even mitt romney i mean, i wish mitt romney had been available yesterday at 4 00 to fact check donald trump in realtime. His press conference in front of those north koreanstyle propaganda banners are just taking on a new level of off dasdas audacity in terms of the lies hes willing to tell. So it was like salve to the weary soul to hear all of these facts and all of this data today from dr. Fauci and the others who testified. Amid bits of partisanship on both sides, i must say, our mutual friend, Garrett Haake, has been watching todays hearing. He is at the u. S. Kmcapitol for us. And garrett, i found it notable i know you covered mitt romney, i found it notable his role in this today. Kind of from out of in where for temporarily, kind of blew up the discussion. Yeah, he really did. And building on the questioning of a couple of democrats before him, i thought that was probably the single most interesting backward looking moment in what we know about testing. You had romney puncturing, popping the white house balloon in declaring victory on testing. Pointing out that the numbers that we have now dont matter nearly as much because we have them now and didnt have them in march. Lets play that moment here really quickly. March 6th, the u. S. Had completed just 2,000 tests, where south korea had conducted more than 140,000 tests. So partially, as a result of that, they have 256 deaths and we have almost 80,000 deaths. I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever. The fact is, their test numbers are going down, down, down, down now because they dont have the kind of outbreak that we have. Ours are going up, up, up, up. So you hear the senator there putting this in really clear context, the importance of timing. That is context that the white house that has deliberately stripped out of this conversation. And i think there are a couple of other moments that are important forwardlooking, nicole. The conversations about Contact Tracing is just not something that is part of the national conversation, as its probably going to need to be when we get it back into really serious reopening. You heard that come up at this hearing. And then i thought there were really good questions about what goes into vaccine creation and distribution. How it will work on children, questions from bill cassidy, who is a medical doctor, to, will it be affordable and provided to everyone, questions from bernie sanders. So i think you actually got, while there was lots of political moments in this, some insightful questions leading us into the next phases of this. Not just looking back at how we got here. Garrett haake, thank you for watching it with us and for us. Its nice to see you, my friend. Joining our conversation now, phil rutger, pulitzer prizewinning White House Bureau chief and coauthor of the book very stable genius, and dr. Erwin redlener. Both, lucky for us, msnbc contributors. Phil rutger, how is all of that truth telling from dr. Fauci and the other scientists as well as the tough questioning as we just played from mitt romney landing at the white house today . Not that well, nicole. We saw a press briefing in the last hour by kayleigh mcenany, the White House Press secretary, who tried to reiterate the message that the president sought to deliver yesterday and in the rose garden, which is that the administration, the country has prevailed, has met these testing challenges and is ready for the economy to reopen, and yet there was such a jarring disconnect watching that hearing today. And it started actually at the very beginning from the Senate Chairman Lamar Alexander, a republican from tennessee, who said in very direct and plain language that this country needs more wraed testing aidespread ty millions more tests will be needed for people to be able to safely return to work. That is completely different from what President Trump said yesterday in the rose garden, where he said that this country had met the test and had, indeed, prevailed. Were hearing that truth telling not only from the scientists who were witnesses, but even from some of the republican senators who are ostensibly the president s allies here. But not all of them, rand paul had a particularly harsh and personal and derogatory tone towards dr. Fauci. Lets listen to that exchange about kids and how coronavirus increasingly impacting kids with a new syndrome. Lets listen to that and talk about it on the other side. As much as i respect you, dr. Fauci, i dont think youre the endall. I dont think youre the one prn that gets to make a decision. We can listen to your advice, but there are people on the other side saying, theres not going to be a surge and that we can safely open the economy and the facts will bear this out. But if we keep kids out of school for another year, whats going to happen is the poor and underprivileged kids who dont have a parent whos able to teach them at home are not going though learn for a full year. And i think we ought to look at the swedish model and looking at let our kids back to school. Its a huge mistake if we dont open the schools in the fall. We dont know everything about this virus, and we particularly better be very careful, particularly when it comes to children. The more and more we learn, were seeing things that this virus can do that we didnt see from the studies in china and europe. For example, right now, children presenting with covid19, who actually have a very strange inflammatory syndrome, very similar to kawasaki syndrome. I think we better be careful if we are not cavalier in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects. Dr. Redlener, every parent in this country, it is obviously harder on some families than others, and i wont say that it is hard for me, but it is something that no parent is going to trade off. The benefits, and they are many, many, many, many, many of being in school, are just not worth potentially exposing our kids to what dr. Fauci describes, something similar to kawasaki syndrome, which is terrifying. Yeah, so, nicole, i spoke to a number of pediatricians around the country just yesterday and nothing is really reported yet officially in the literature. But this new syndrome, which is called pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, is actually can be very dangerous. Theres not really a cure for it. It can be lethal. But really, only rarely. And i think its something that were never going to see the number of cases or fatalities in children, i dont think, reach what it is in adults. But its still, like you said, this is a very emotional, terrifying issue for parents to even think about, that this may be happening. But my conversations with colleagues around the country tells me that theres several hundred children, at least, hospitalized, some in pediatric intensive care units, and theres been at least four or five known fatalities, and there may end up being more. In the greater scheme of things, its not anything like what were experiencing with adults. The other thing, in terms of what rand paul was saying, this is a very i mean, the one point that he does have, hes had many, many points that have been sort of off the wall, but this point about the impact on children of this entire covid19 thing, we just posted on the washington post, an oped about an hour ago, which talks about the pandemic generation. A lot of children who will be growing up under tremendous stress and the children who live in poverty and face other adversities, who have lost much of this school year and may lose a really good part of next year, are going to be even farther behind the eight ball than they were before covid started. Including in the in their ability to finish their educational trajectory. And were going to be seeing steep increases in child poverty. So we do need to get things back. But the point is that fauci was making that we cannot forget is that early, premature reopening of our local businesses is going to be a death sentence for people. Theres no question about it. Were going to see surges. We already are seeing a surge in georgia, which is the first state to really reopen. And much has changed, also, about our prospective on testings. I dont really care how many tests, the number of tests being done nationally. Now what i want to know is your nail salon, is your beauty is your barbershop, are the restaurants that youre going to in your local neighborhood, of t the people that work there been tested so its safe for you and your family safe to go into these establishments . I think any state should even be thinking about reopening until we can do daily, regular, reliable tests at point of contact, point of care, everywhere. And were far from reaching that goal, nicole. Hey, doctor, you just used the rword, reliable. For people fortunate enough to have the ability to get tested, is there, in your line of work, a benchmark . Is it brand name to brand name reliability for the fewest false positives, false negatives in the business . You know, theres really not. The fda has been testing close to 400 tests for both and antigen, the presence of the virus, and for the immunology, the igg and so forth. And all of those tests are a lot of them are being put out now as emergency use authorizations, which means, not fully checked for safety and efficacy, lots of false positives and false negatives. The best bet right now, brian, is tests that you can get or tests that you can get at the your major academic medical centers. For example, here in new york. Very accurate tests can happen at mt. Sinai, at nyu, at columbia presbyterian. It so depends on where you are. But i think to be safe, if you wanted absolute reliability, thats where people should be going. Eventually, well have some more commercial brands that people can feel very confident in. And right now, i would not endorse any of them, in particular, brian. Hey, phil rutger, its been at least 15 hours since we last spoke. Just as a matter of housekeeping, the president has been the kind of central subject at the Supreme Court so far today. He has been just slightly in the background at a Senate Hearing all day today. Are we scheduled to see and or hear from him today to get his name and voice out there . You know, i dont believe that he has any other public appearances planned today, but somebody can check me on that if im mistaken. But you mentioned the Supreme Court proceedings which are really important and in any sort of ordinary news environment would be the leading story of this hour and every hour today. This has to do with the president s tax records and financial records, which investigators both in the congress, as well as in the new York State Attorney Generals Office have been pursuing for some time now. Trump, as we all know, has his legal team trying to protect those records, trying to keep them sealed and prevent the president from having to share them with those investigators. And this is a decision that the Supreme Court is going to be making today. Its something that the president cares intensely and intimately about and well see what that ruling looks like. As if to prove your very point, its our next segment. Phil rutger, dr. Irwin redlener, thank you very much for your time again today. A break for us. When we come back, the internal white house documents showing coronavirus case spiking in heartland communities. Well have that new reporting, which again stands in stark contrast to what we heard yesterday from the president , what weve heard from the start from the president about those states with, quote, wide open spaces. Also at this hour, a big question as phil mentioned for the United States Supreme Court. Does a sitting president have absolute immunity from criminal and congressional investigations . The president s attorneys are making the argument that he, indeed, does, all in an effort to block the release of his tax and financial records. Ial recor. Youre constantly weakening that enamel structure. Pronamel repair allows more minerals to penetrate deep into the enamel layer and it repairs it. It is pretty phenomenal. Our bargain detergent couldnt keep up. With us. And it repairs it. Turns out its mostly water. So, we switched back to tide. One wash, stains are gone. Daughter slurping dont pay for water. Pay for clean. Its got to be tide. Look, this is this president has to focus on whats going on here. Were in a situation where theres a great crisis. Dr. Fauci talks about if we open needlessly, there will be needless deaths and we have to have things in place. The president hasnt done his work. The president hasnt done what hes supposed to do. He hasnt provided the materials. This is ridiculous the way hes talking about. You heard the president yesterday, this isnt politics, this is life. Joe biden this morning on gma from his home in wilmington, slamming the president s leadership or lack of it in this coronavirus pandemic, urging the president to trust the experts to lead the nation of this crisis. Bidens comments come one day after the president made a slew of misleading statements in public, in a briefing, in the white house rose garden, including this statement about the current number of coronavirus cases. Our country has been incredible. And you see the numbers. Theyre dropping very substantially. The numbers are coming down very rapidly, all throughout the country. Thats not true. In a new previously undisclosed report from the president s task force reveals that is not true. Hours after the president made that claim that cases are on the decline, nbc news obtained a white house report that covid19 cases are, indeed, spiking in heartland communities across our country. Nbc news. Com senior political analyst and veteran journalist, jonathan allen, is among the authors of that report. Jonathan, i heard a reporter a couple of weeks back with much apology for oversimplification, say that in the blue states, this is being seen as a Public Health crisis. In the red states, its being seen as an economic crisis. I guess it was inevitable that like Everything Else in our life, a virus is now seen through the red prism and the blue prism. But thats an intractable part of what where you write about here. Absolutely, brian. What were seeing is that a virus doesnt look at a state border line or electoral votes or county border lines. What weve seen is spikes all over the country in places off the coast. Whether youre talking about kenosha or racine counties, amarillo or texas, what youve seen in the task forces own reporting about whats going on in the country is that there are surges, little brush fires all over this country right now, as the president is going out and telling folks that all over the country, the numbers are subsiding. Hes telling a story that is absolutely at odds with what administration officials, even working on his own task force, even his own appointees are finding. You know, jonathan, your story broke last night, tony fauci testified this morning. I want to read a piece of your story and take us there that reporting. You write, the spiking infection rate suggests that the pandemic is spreading quickly outside major coastal Population Center that were early hot spots, while governors in some of the states that are home to new hot spots are following trumps advice to relax stayathome restrictions. Thinking of your reporting and listening to fauci today talking about leapfrogging steps, i get a terrible, terrible pit in my stomach. You seem to be setting up the exact calamity that dr. Fauci described in his testimony toda today. Thats right, nicole. And weve got more reporting forthcoming soon. But suffice it to say, the task force has said that it doesnt have enough testing. That it does not have treatments available for people. That it doesnt have the communitybased resources set up for the states. The federal government is not providing the states, what the states need to be able to do to prevent the spread of the disease. And as a result of that, youve got the concerns of dr. Fauci and others inside the administration who say there is a huge possibility for a massive and brutal second wave if governors and local officials and the president of the United States dont encourage people to stayathome when they can and to practice social distancing. Its really just an amazing clash between whats going on behind closed doors that we were able to get a peak at and whats going on at the podium at the white house. Hey, jonathan, not unlike tracking a disease through kind of graph spikes. We hear different talking points at the white house. Well hear them in use, in vogue for a couple of days at a time. One of them centers on a piece of reporting you have. And that was the air bridge that the president and Vice President were so proud to talk up and talk about. What is its current and future status . The task force decided last week to stop scheduling new flights for airbridge, so its got about 31 remaining on the schedule. And basically, the government pays for fedex and other private carriers to bring goods over to private companies in exchange for the government getting 20 of the goods and being able to direct 40 of the goods. Thats why you sometimes hear about people complaining that fema rerouted their ppe. Its not actually fema doing, but the task force has control of about 60 of the private goods that come over. Not the money from them, but just where they go, which has empowered the president. That is going to be winding down. Project airbridge. The good part about it is that it expedited getting material over from overseas. The criticisms of it is it hasnt brought the material that its supposed to. Private companies are being paid by the government. Sometimes exorbitant product and ones that werent bid out. And ultimately ones that the president has not, in the view of a lot of recipients, distributed these in an apolitical way, that is to say hes rewarded his friends and punished his critics. Jonathan wing i speak for nicole. We would normally see a lot of you during political season. Its good to see you. Its good to see your home and proper placement of the power broker by robert k. Rowe over your shoulder. Jonathan allen, our guest in this segment, our friend and colleague at nbc news and msnbc. When we come back after another break, a big day at the United States Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments over whether President Trump can block the release of his own financial records. An update on that case right after this. Records. An update on that case right after this soft music [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. And theyre counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. Grubhub. Together we can help save the restaurants we love. [music] [music] especially in times like these, strong Public Schools make a better california for all of us. Phil rutger took the words right out of our mouths. At any other time, this might have been our lead story during this hour of the afternoon. The u. S. Supreme Court Hearing arguments via Conference Call over whether the president can be shielded