the april jobs report is out this morning. united states lost a record 20.5 mill jun jobs last month. the unemployment rate has spiked to 14.7%. that's up from just 4.4% in march. it's the highest level of unemployment in the united states of america since the great depression. right now more than 1.25 million cases of coronavirus so far, more than 76,000 americans have died. just this morning, president trump says he'll be getting tested in the future for coronavirus antibodies. we have our doctor on duty, dr. cory ayber is with us. we want to start with our team of reporters covering the devastating impact of the jobs numbers. let's go right now to nbc's senior business correspondent stephanie ruhle. steph, what are you hearing from small business owners? >> reporter: well, obviously 20 million people in a month is a massive number, but remember, those people are receiving unemployment benefits, so they do have some sense of financial security. but what i really want people to remember, there is no historical perspective. these jobs weren't naturally shedded because there was no demand. there is demand. we turned off the economy. look where i am on the atlantic city boardwalk. all these businesses would love to be open. they're not open because we're facing a pandemic. so demand is still there, trust me. i have $10 in my pocket. dog. i can't because we're addressing this pandemic. so demand will come back, but you can't expect it to come back with gusto. right now one in five americans who still have a job have faced a pi cut. we still have huge health issues out there. so people won't be rushing back to spend. yes, $20 billion is a big number. when the number is that big and the demand comes back, it's going to take some time for that to happen. i will say, the number one thing i'm hearing from small business owners right now is they're scared, craig, they're scared they're going to get squeezed out. this shop sells beach chairs, surf boards and games. they're not entirely closed. you can go down the block to a walmart and brie hand sanitizer, toilet paper and paper towels, but you can buy all those other goods. my takeaway is the biggest will survive. the small guy out there is getting squeezed out. they're getting squeezed out now while they're shut down. they'll likely get squeezed out as we push forward and they struggle because they have no idea when they're going to reopen. >> steph, to your point here, you mentioned the markets. they're up. in fact, we were just showing viewers at home how up they are, if you will. why isn't there more of a correlation between the stock market and these abysmal employment numbers? >>. >> reporter: listen, there's clearly a disconnect and maybe there will be some level of a catch-up. remember, the stock market is forward looking. u.s. stocks are still considered better than other places around the world. you've got to think about all the support coming in from the fed. the really sad truth is, they're going to squeeze out the little guy. those big giant businesses are going to be able to pivot. they're going to be able to test their employees. they're going to be able to do the temperature takers. it's the small businesses here, the restaurants that can't switch to fast casual and drive-through and pickup, the mom and pops. they're going to lose out entirely. we could lose main street america, and those big box giants might only get bigger. those are the ones you see in the stock market and publicly-traded markets. >> stephanie ruhle for us on the boardwalk in atlantic city, thanks as always, my friend. we got one signal this morning from new jersey governor phil murphy with regards to those beaches and towns all along the jersey shore. earlier on "today," the governor told me he's looking at the possibility of reopening beaches in time for memorial day weekend with some caveats. >> assuming the health curves continue to go in the right direction, and that's the big, most important if, and secondly, if folks accept it won't be the same, in terms of it will be a new normal. probably capacity restrictions, enforcing social distancing, at least those two things. but we're going to try to give guidance to folks sooner rather than later. let's head west now to arizona where some businesses are being allowed to reopen today. nbc's vaughn hillyard is in covid-19 nicks. we're seeing some shops reopen today, even though there have been three consecutive days where the death toll hit new highs. how is it going to work there? >> reporter: exactly, craig. this is a state where the governor is efforting, trying to open up businessing, small and medium sized businesses are allowed to reopen today as well as barber shops and hair salons. at the same time, you just said it, the last three days have been the three highest single day death tolls that the state has recorded from covid-19 to date. all this while the state is trying to reopen the economy. of course, just in the last two months, more than 500,000 arizonans have filed for unemployment claims. that's why when you're talking to folks in the retail business and places like this hair salon, people are eager to get back to work and begin, not only to see their customers, but bring in a little money. i want to introduce to you my hairstylist and friend laura who i grew up with, over to my left. i've antagonized her enough over the course of my life, i want to introduce you to her friend valley sierra. you're opening up. give everybody your take. >> well, precautions we're taking are, we have a list here. i'll ask if they had a temperature, are they coughing, any symptoms of the covid? if they say yes, they have to go home, see their doctor. once they get in here, i'll offer a mask if they don't have one. we'll do things like get rid of magazines and make sure everything is clean. we have our lysol and hand sanitizer, and, of course, regular precautions we do as hair dresser. we're mandated by state law wash your hands and keep your combs clean which are standard in hair salons, but we're going to ramp it up. >> you've essentially had no business over the last almost two months. what does it mean to get back now? >> what it means is yay! it means happy customers, getting back to some normal see -- >> are you supportive of the governor's decision? zblim' supportive of his decision, yes. >> you can also do this while keeping safe? >> yes. >> reporter: craig, that's valley here from phoenix. >> vaughn hillyard in phoenix, thank you. let's go to pennsylvania now where that state is split. you've got 24 counties starting to partially open back up. the rest of the state is still under a stay-at-home order. msnbc's senior national correspondent chris jansing is in bucks county, pennsylvania, where that order is still in place. chris, how do people there feel about remaining under the stay-at-home order when they've got neighbors who are able to go out and conduct business? >> reporter: that is the key question. look, everybody wants to stay safe, wants to stay healthy, but there is growing concern and confusion about what's happening here in pennsylvania. i can show you a map. the state has a three-tier reopening plan, red, yellow, green, just like a stop light. the yellow areas today are able to reopen. a lot of the retail, in place, to reopen. where i am in bucks county is the red. stay-at-home order and only you come back here, take a look at this beautiful place where i'm standing. this is peddler's village. it's lots of charming shops, restaurants. they have live events here evidence every month. all this remains closed because they're remaining in the red. right at the start of the busy tourist season, they get weekenders from new york city, from philadelphia. a big concern i've heard over and over again is they're worried that even long-time customers will choose to go elsewhere. places that are in the yellow, you just talked to the governor of new jersey. they go to new jersey and maryland beaches if they're open. here is what a local restaurant owner told me just a short time ago. >> you literally could have a situation where you go an hour, two hours to the west, you can go to a restaurant, retail shop, maybe even a movie. so we probably will lose business to them if we trail them by a month or two or three months. that's a real concern. we're very worried. it's the difference between even being able to reopen, losing enough money where it's not sustainable, you can't stay open anymore. >> reporter: so how do they decide who stays closed? it's based on the number of covid positive cases. the folks, the commissioners here in bucks county, similar to the state, have said, look, most of our cases are actually in nursing homes. we believe the rest of this county is safe and we should be able to reopen. the answer they got is no. so everything is up in the air, and one more level of confusion, right around the corner from where i am is this darling little shop that sells honey, honey products. he got a letter this week saying actually you are an essential business because raw honey is considered medicinal, you can reopen. take a look. where is the foot traffic. he says he only does about 2% of his business online. the businesses i've talked to are doing between zero and 20% of sustainable and no indication of when they'll be able to reopen. craig. >> chris jansing in bucks county,pa. thank you so much. let me bring in acting secretary of labor under president obama, seth harris. seth currently teaching at cornell university's institute for public affairs. seth, as we dig into these numbers a little more that came out a few hours ago, the struggles of small businesses specifically, businesses that chris was just highlighting. what concerns you the most? >> i'm concerned that a lot of those small businesses may not survive this economic recession we're experiencing. i think there's some expectation that we're going to very, very quickly bounce back, and steph was talking about pent-up demand and people were going to come out and shop. we're seeing a lot of hesitance among customers to go into retail shops, restaurants, other small businesses just because they're worried about the health risk. in the latest jobs report you were talking about earlier in the show, we saw that almost 90% of workers believe themselves to be temporarily laid off. if that's true, then that's good news for the economy, and those people will bounce right back and get back into their old jobs and they'll be able to support their families. but it will be intriguing to see over the next month or two if that number stays quite as high. if people are, a, not able to get back into their old jobs, if their businesses disappear or go into bankruptcy and shrink dramatically, our recovery is going to be slow and even more painful than it is right now. >> you noted on twitter yesterday that roughly one in five workers in our country has filed for unemployment since mid march. to put that into some perspective -- again, it's difficult to put things in perspective these days because these waters are so uncharted. this is the third time in 70 years that unemployment has jumped past 10%. seth, is it true that that number may not actually totally be accurate, that the number may be several percentage points higher if that's the case? how can they be? >> the unemployment rate reported today, 14.7% does understate the effect on our economy. so a number -- a few other numbers that will help to clarify it, craig. the number of people who simply left the labor force meaning they're not looking for work anymore, that number doubled. the number of people working part time when they would like to be working full time, that number doubled, and there was a dramatic growth in a classification that bls uses that calls employed but on leave, employed but absent from work. unclear whether those people are being paid or not being paid. if you add all of those folks up, we could be at a 24% or so out-of-work rate which would be the highest since the great depression. so we have to be a little careful about latching on to one number. on the whole the report gives us a dismal picture, accurate picture, but we have to look broadly across the report to understand all the implications. >> according to the governor, new jersey sent out about $1.9 billion in unemployment in just two months. the treasury department says california has been the first state to borrow federal money to sustain unemployment benefits. how long can states, seth, how long can states survive this burden? >> they'll be allowed to borrow for their statement unemployment benefits, trust funds, as long as they need to. i have no question in my mind that the federal government is going to allow that borrowing probably at no interest or very little interest. i think we don't want states to have to worry about whether they can pay unemployment benefits right now. there will be a reckoning down the road where we're going to have to work with states so they can ramp up either their taxes or cut their benefits so that they can afford to refilm their trust funds, but in a crisis, that's not what we do. we just let them borrow from the federal government and pay what they need to pay. remember, craig, the demand that steph was talking about earlier in the show really depends upon ordinary working people, including those people that were unemployed, having enough money to spend. 70% of our economy is built on consumption. if consumers don't have money in their pockets, if they can't pay their bills, if they can't buy online, if they can't pay for groceries, that's really going to send us into a long lasting economic depression. those unemployment benefits are critical, and i think people in washington and the states understand that. >> seth harris, former acting labor secretary under president obama. thank you very much, sir. our doctor on duty is dr. cory abare, a practicing physician, assistant professor at louisiana state university and tulane. good to have you back, sir: there's a new abc news/ipsos poll out and they asked people whether they agree with this statement. opening the country is not worth it because it will mean more lives lost. 64% agreed. dr. abare, from a medical perspective, is right now the right time for businesses across the country to be reopening? >> i do not think this is the right time for businesses to reopen. i'll tell you, craig, it's very, very straightforward. we have to chase facts. that's what's most important. we have to deal with data and not dates. once we start to do things that will endanger people, that's when we start -- we have to get really, really careful about how we do this. don't get me wrong. we all know the economy is very important and it has to drive everything. when we look at the response of this, we did not do a real good job at the beginning and now we're trying to catch up. but also pivot to say some people's lives are not as important as other poem's lives. when you open up a big city like new york city or l.a., when we know those are unite tis areas for the infection, when you do that, who is going to be operating the hair salons, the food chains and all these things. it's going to be poor people or people of color. they're going to be on the front lines, let alone the people dealing with the actual front line care of the covid-19 patient. we must understand that we do not want a boomerang effect. what will happen is, in the next 120 days, if this starts to come back up and we also have flu season and we know the virus has mutated, so it's hard for us to have a vaccine in january that we know, and there's going to be a big flu outbreak at the same time, do we really want this just so we can actually go have a hamburger, and i think it's a very faulty way to do things. i think it should be more of a consolidated approach at the federal level as opposed to a bunch of cowboys in different states deciding what they want to do. it's not appropriate. even the cdc came out with the guidance to reopen and it was shelved by the white house for their people. we have the cdc, the most comprehensive research facility in the entire world and their reopening plan got shelved. public health is a four-legged school. politics, economy, public outcry and science. science is always last but it should always be first. public outcry is pushing for these things to reopen. public outcry can never be the number one reason we do anything when it comes to science and health. >> dr. herbert, thank you. stand by. i want to come back to you in just a little bit. 74 days after an unarmed black man was shot and killed while jogging in georgia, his family is seeing something they were not sure they would, murder charges for the two suspects. ahmaud arbery's father will join me to talk about his son on what would have been his 26th birthday. i'll be joined by the family's attorney to walk us through the next steps in this case. rough t next steps in this case. confident financial plans, calming financial plans, complete financial plans. they're all possible with a cfp® professional. find yours at letsmakeaplan.org. they're all possible with a cfp® professional. hey allergy muddlers... achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec muddle no more. our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. with us... turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. you have likely heard his name by now. ahmaud arbery. you've likely seen the video of his fatal shooting while apparently jogging through a neighborhood in brunswick, georgia. those final moments are beyond hard to watch. we actually want to avoid showing them this morning again because his father is standing by to talk to me. 74 days, 74 days since that shooting on february 23rd. the two men accused of shooting and killing arbery have been arrested. they both face charges of aggravated assault and murder. they claimed they thought he was a burglar. they say they shot him in self-defense. in just the last hour, the naacp has rallied in support of arbery in front of the glenn county courthouse in brunswick, georgia. across this country people are planning to run 2.3 miles in honor of ahmaud and what he was doing when he lost his life. today would have been ahmaud arbery's 26th birthday. i want to bring in marcus arbery, sr. he is ahmaud's father, and ben crump, attorney for the arbery family. marcus, i'm so very, very sorry for your loss, sir. tell us a little bit about your son. who was ahmaud arbery? >> he just was a young, very well respected young man. he just loved people, and he was the kind of young man that, if he had a dollar and you asked him for that one dollar, he would give it to you. his heart was bigger than life. i tell you, he just loved people, was a good young man. he just was outgoing with everybody. he just loved the people. he just didn't deserve to go out like that. >> today, again, would have been his birthday. what did he like to do on his birthday? how would he have likely celebrated turning 26? >> hang around with friends and stuff like that, try to put some meat on the grill. he'd just want to be around all the friends. he was a people young man. so those are the things he'd try to do, just trying to keep everybody happy. >> marcus, how did your son want to spend his life? >> working out, training. he always loved to work out. he was a workout fanatic. he picked that up from me because that's what i did all my life, keeping my body in shape and stuff like that. he was the same way. he loved to keep his body in shape. >> how are you holding up, sir? i can't imagine losing a son. how are you doing this morning? >> i'm doing pretty good. it's hurtful, though. i've just got to be strong for the rest of my family. i've got to be strong for my two children and for their mamma, too. >> ben crump, let me turn to you for a moment, sir. the two suspects, both white, father and son. they've been charged with aggravated assault and murder. what's next in this it clear, craig, the reason we got an arrest was not because the law enforcement officials saw the video. it is because we saw the video. they saw the video from the beginning, and yet they did not arrest this murderous duo who executed ahmaud arbery on that horrific video tape. so the d.a. who is now on the case, he saw the video, too, craig. and for all this time, they failed to arrest these killers. there was probable cause from day one when you looked at that videotape. so we have to make sure we remain vigilant. we're very distrustful. we are asking for a special prosecutor to be put on this case because this d.a. had all this evidence, but yet did not make an arrest until the public outcry. it wasn't until we saw the video that they arrested them. >> ben, when i saw the video the first time -- actually the only time because i could only watch it once, i was reminded a number of years ago in north charleston when an officer shot and killed walter scott. that cell phone video generated outcry and arrest as well. there's now talk that whoever shot that video could be in trouble, that that person could be arrested. do you know -- first of all, do you know who shot the video? are you at all concerned that if that's something that happens in the future, cases like this could go another way? >> craig, we're always concerned when a black person is killed by a quasi white law enforcement official, because the history is that normally they're not held accountable. we have these two justice systems in america, one for black america and one for white america. we really have to have one justice system for the united states of america so people like ahmaud arbery and so many countless other hashtags won't be swept under the rug, and this accomplice. his name is believed to be william bryan who was in the other vehicle who recorded the video, it is our understanding that the georgia bureau of investigations is going to arrest him as well. >> any idea when? >> well, it's 75 days and counting now. it has been ten weeks. we believe, craig, if the roles were reversed, as marcus arbery had said on many occasions, if it was he and ahmaud in that pickup truck with a shotgun and a 357 magnum and they chased greg michael's unarmed young white son while he was jogging and killed him, they know they would have been arrested on day one, and they probably would still be in jail now with no bond. what we expect is whatever you would have done had the roles been reversed, is what we expect you to do in the name of justice for ahmaud arbery. we cannot allow this to keep happening in america because marcus and wanda and their family, they want more than anything else, an arrest was a good birthday gift. but what they really want is ahmaud back. >> marcus, this case has gotten a lot of attention and has caught the attention of former vice president and apparent democratic nominee joe biden. he says your family deserves justice. there have been a number of high-profile folks who have come out and said the same thing. marcus, what does justice look like for you and your family? >> it should have been going like it's going now from the jump. those guys, doing a lynching like that, they should have been arrested on the spot. they shouldn't let them go home and rest in their beds for 72 days. they should never have been free that long. justice should have been served. law enforcement, quit failing america because ain't no man above the law. this never would have went this far. they would have been in jail. >> marcus arbery, again, sir, so very sorry for your loss. thank you for your time this morning. >> yes, sir. >> ben crump, thank you as well, thank you for your time as well. >> thank you, craig. >> we'll be right back. today, we're 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, it's more treatable. so, don't 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. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask about cologuard today. we've worked to provide you with the financial strength, stability, and online tools you need. and now it's no different. because helping you through this crisis is what we're made for. woi felt completely helpless.hed online. my entire career and business were in jeopardy. i called reputation defender. vo: take control of your online reputation. get your free reputation report card at reputationdefender.com. find out your online reputation today and let the experts help you repair it. woman: they were able to restore my good name. vo: visit reputationdefender.com or call 1-877-866-8555. we've got breaking news right now. a member of vice president mike pence's staff has tested positive for coronavirus. let's go to nbc's hans nichols at the white house. hans, roughly the same time yesterday word that one of president trump's valleys tested positive. now someone close to the vice president. what more do we know? >> reporter: we know this person wasn't scheduled to travel with the vice president today. the vice president had his flight delayed, though. members of the pool that always travel with him, did see some staff members and the vice president leave the plane. the plane took off without them. what i'm told according to a senior administration official is that the staffer who tested positive on the vp's staff was not on the plane. as you mentioned, this comes about 24 hours after we learned that the president himself, his own valley, one of a few valets that serve him in a personal capacity tested positive. now, the president this morning said the last time that he had any contact with that valet was on tuesday and that both hee and the vice president had been tested since then and had tested negative. we're also told that they're doing daily tests at the white house for all staffers that come in close proximity to the white house. that had been more on a weekly basis. so some of the protocols had changed. we'll get back to you when we have anything more on this staffer, how much contact that staffer had with the vice president, potentially the president and other members of the west wing staff. as you know as well as anyone, craig, people work in close proximity, and the insight we have into the west wing, there's not a lot of indication that people are wearing masks inside. that's not to say that some people aren't, but the information we have indicates that -- >> hans nichols at 1600 pennsylvania, thank you. we talk a lot on this broadcast about how coronavirus is hurting america's big cities, but it is spreading to rural areas as well. up next we'll share the story of one woman who lived in an isolated georgia town. she took every precaution and she still died. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. talk to your doctor about chantix. ...little things... ...can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. while most of the world is being asked to stay inside, there are people out there giving it their all. so, to everyone who is helping keep us safe against covid-19 day in and day out, all of us at amgen say... thank you. all of us at amgen say... step by step... focused and undaunted. they are compelled to step forward. to the front lines. and into the unknown. for all of us. for every step. that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ here's a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard. brushing only reaches 25% of your mouth. listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ this morning we are seeing more devastating examples of how this virus is affecting rural america. that includes places like rural georgia where even small isolated communities in the appalachian mountains are seeing the slow spread. nbc's ellison barber is in raven gap, georgia. it's a tragic story of one family's battle with coronavirus. ellison, what happened here? >> reporter: in the state of georgia, coronavirus cases continue to climb. we are now close to 32,000 confirmed cases in georgia. here in northeast georgia, the virus has been slower to spread, but when it came knocking on one family's door, there was no stopping it. >> reporter: when the sun rose over these appalachian mountains, you would find terry ahern here reading her bible in the rocking chair. her husband sam remembers the first time he met her. >> her beauty first, just stunning, stop you in your tracks. her outward beauty was very much surpassed by her inward beauty. >> reporter: for 44 years they built a life together. she became a mother to her daughter and mimi to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. >> she wanted everyone around her all the time. she just laughed, it was contagious. >> reporter: two weeks ago terry went to bed with a headache. the next morning it was worse, so sam drove her to a nearby hospital thinking it was a stroke. >> i got to hug her and kiss her and tell her i loved her. little did i know, little did i know -- >> reporter: it was the last time sam saw terry. as doctors battled to save her life, medical tests revealed shocking news, terry had covid-19. somehow in this remote, isolated part of northeast georgia, coronavirus has nestled in these hills. >> she has masks and gloves all in her car, hand sanitizer, everything we've been told to do she's done. >> reporter: a week ago the family had to say goodbye like so many families in this coronavirus time in a video call. >> when we told her we loved her, all she could muster was a grunt, but we know she heard us. we just know. >> it's just unimaginable to say goodbye to your mother over a zoom call. it's just not fair. >> reporter: a nurse asked sam if terry had a favorite song. she did. "victory in jesus." with the nurse holding her song, terry heard her favorite hymn again. a short time later she passed away. >> i'm still in shock, and i can't oh of it's hard to grasp. >> reporter: on monday at rabun gap presbyterian church where my dad is the minister, family and friends came to honor our be loved terry. >> i'm so sorry. >> reporter: for over an hour a recession of some 250 cars paid their respects. >> i can't wait to hug you and not let you go. >> reporter: socially distanced with mags, air hugs and blown kisses. as the cars drove away, a last hymn to celebrate the life of terry ahern wafted from the church, her favorite. ♪ >> reporter: "victory in jesus." terry kept a bag packed by her door at all times. her family says she wanted to be ready to go in case her children or grandchildren needed them, to get in the car and go in a moment's notice. they say that's the most devastating thing about all of this, that when she needed them the most, they couldn't be there. craig. >> ellison barber for us there in rural georgia, thank you. thank you for sharing her story, ellison. meanwhile, in the last few minutes, president trump has made his way to the world war ii memorial in washington, d.c. this is the 75th anniversary of ve day, victory in europe day. president trump there with first lady melania trump at the memorial, marking the occasion with a wreath laying ceremony. there's the scene there at the world war ii memorial. meanwhile, countries in europe are slowly starting to open back up. there are a lot of lessons we can learn from those countries. we're going to go inside an italian hospital that's using some pretty innovative methods to deal with the virus. first, though, we want to take a moment to hear from two medical workers who are fighting the virus here at home. >> my ses saj message to nurses front lines is that i know this is tough and every day is an unknown, but you can do this, and we have to stay strong. if anyone can be in and out of ppe all day long and holding the hands of our sick patients when their family members can't be there, it's us nurses, and you really are a true life superhero. >> my message would be for everyone to just hang in there and find support in your co-workers, your friends and your family. this morning hospitals in italy are finally seeing a dramatic decrease in the number of coronavirus cases. there just a few days ago that country saw its lowest dale dwrij to daily death toll since march 9. now more people have recovered from the virus than are currently infected. we went inside one of the hardest-hit areas in all of europe to see where things stand now. >> reporter: this is the covid ward in bargh amow, one of the hardest-hit cities in all of italy and some say the hardest-hit place in the entire world per capita. just weeks ago this hospital was receiving 100 patients every single day, many in severe conditions. there are still patients here but not nearly the same number as before. now they're only receiving one to two new covid patients each day. before about 75% of the staff in this hospital were dedicated to treating covid. now it's down to about 15%. some of it a doctor said is because this virus hits like a storm. it comes, it hits hard and then it moves on. but he said it doesn't move on, on its own t can shorten the time by doing the most damage from social distancing, wearing a mask. and also they've gotten smarter about dealing with the disease inside the hospitals themselves. one of those things is right here. this line on the ground. it may seem like a small thing. but on one side of it is the most dangerous area, the place where the patients are kept. this line on the ground serves as a visual reminder for the doctors that when they cross it and they go near the patients, they need to have all of this protective gear on. so they're getting smarter about dealing with it and with the numbers going down, they're finally optimistic. richard enle, nbc news. >> let's bring in our dr. hebert. what should we be learning from italy as its recovering from the toughest point of this pandemic? >> i think what italy did and you should always do during a pandemic and that's have a true acknowledgment of what's going on, believe it and have a willingness to act at all levels. you should consolidate your entire supply chain and have regular uniform standards generated so the whole message can be the same and then the goal will be flattening the curve. if you see that in that way, we have devised these things so you can actual politic it through a covid-19 pandemic in your particular area but those steps are the steps you need to handle to make sure they're okay. and ask if we didn't do that in the united states from the beginning and that's why we're in the situation we're in and they're in the situation they're in. >> dr. hebert, really quickly, going back to allison barber's great report that we also just saw before the break, do you expect we will see more cases in rural areas as we move forward? >> absolutely. it is an infectious prairie fire about to start in rural america. they have no access. their food insecure. about 40% of the people don't have any place to get food, especially after the covid-19 outbreak. we know their hospitals are 30 miles per hour at best and we're talking about not having ventilators in places, these places don't necessarily have hospital or hospital beds. so when you think about the children in this population who god forbid that dire situation in england starts to come over here, that's going to make a dire situation more devastating for our children. they have a really bat setup for failure. so what we must do is do the thing i mentioned and get everything on one page for their survival, i think so. >> dr. corey hebert, thank you for your time this hour. try to enjoy your weekend if you can, sir. that's going to do it for me on this friday. new york governor andrew cuomo set to give his dale kbriily bra few minutes from now. he's in poughkeepsie today. when it starts, we will bring it to you live. also next hour, eric garcetti will join andrea mitchell. can, sir. mitchell.mitchell. .mitchell. you doing okay? yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington continuing our breaking coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. we're awaiting now new york governor andrew cuomo's daily briefing and continue to follow breaking news for the nation. the economic pain in america reaching historic levels. the unemployment rate today now is 14.7%, the worst number in the post world war ii era for april. more than 20 million people across the country lost their jobs in april, including massive layoffs in the retail, education and health care sectors. kevin hasan, the top economic adviser for president trump, saying this morning may's unemployment report will be even worse. those numbers don't include people who have not been able to file jobless claims at all. and