Good evening. I am chuck todd continuing msnbcs special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. We are, of course, expecting in this hour, the white houses Coronavirus Task force briefing. We expect it to begin in roughly 15 minutes, at least, thats the latest time theyve given us. We hope its going to be informative. Basically, were looking for the tell it to me straight, doc approach. We will be doing our best to dip in and out of these briefings, to bring you the most important and relevant moments and will be, of course, Fact Checking what was said on the other side. Now, for this briefing, the president and members of the task force have said that theyre going to show us the data, which convinced them that drastic action was still needed and that the country should basically stay closed through the end of april in order to slow the spread of the virus. Aka, flatten the curve. Hopefully, that means were going to get an unvarnished look at how long Public Health officials are realistically expecting this crisis to last and how bad they think its really going to be. And bade on the data we have right now, the projections are expected to be grim. A coordinator for the white houses Task Force Said yesterday that 100,000 to 200,000 americans will die in a bestcase scenario. Now, we dont know how exactly theyre calculating that figure, but we do know that this is just one of the models they trust, as dr. Birx said to me on sunday. It comes to the institute for Health Metrics and evaluation. Which is part of the university of washington. Now, we showed it to you last week, and its been updated since then. Their estimate has it in this range, with current restrictions in place, roughly 83,000 americans will die. The Hospital System will still be overrun, and tens of thousands will not get the vital care you need. Again, this is the rosy model compared to the white house estimates that dr. Fauci and dr. Birx are now saying, which puts the death toll perhaps as much as 2 times higher, even in that bestcase scenario. Bottom line, we better be prepared to hunker down, as a nation, for a while. Which could have profound implications for our economy, our society, and our democracy. And as you can see, we are at least 14 days, give or take, from the peak of the crisis, according to those projections. When the death toll is expected to be at least 2,000 per day, but some states like virginia are still two months away from their projected peak, which is good news, because it means theyve got a better shot to flatten the curve, which savvis lives. But it also means residents will have to stay hunkered down longer in that state. And as you can see, the total number of confirmed cases, according to the latest figures from nbc news, continues to rise rapidly across various parts of the country. The distribution of cases around the country is not uniform, which means different areas are going to peak at different times. What this all means from a practical standpoint is that we could be dealing with months of closures, months of shutdowns and months of other restrictions across the country in an attempt to limit the death toll and ease the overall burden on the u. S. Hospital system. As you can see, the burden on our Health System is just beginning. Meanwhile, the White House Task force is now considering new guidelines to recommend members of the public wear masks when they leave their residence, which certainly suggests they believe the virus could be more transmissible than we thought, or more pervasive than we feared, or the only way theyll be able to open up this economy even halfway is to do this. And as we prepare for the daunting challenges before us as a nation, i havent even mentioned dr. Faucis prediction that were likely going to be hit with another wave of this virus when things cool down again in the fall. Joining me now is somebody whos been doing it a tell it like it is approach, its the governor of maryland, who yesterday ordered all residents to stay at home. Governor hogan, thanks for coming on today. And it was not lost on us, particularly us in the dmv that you, mayorbowser, this seemed to be a uniform announcement. It seemed after a little bit of a start where each entity was operating solo, you guys are operating more as a joint set of leaders. How did that come about . Well, so i think we were all trying to make the best decisions for our states based on the facts on the ground. And weve been trying to communicate as a region. We had a call yesterday, actually after i made the announcements, we had a call we did that in the morning about what we were going to do in maryland and we have a call in the afternoon with mayor bowser and Governor Northam and Governor Northam told us he was going to be making those same basic steps in the afternoon, and that was quickly followed by mayor bowser. I think it makes sense for us to work as a region. We are all concerned about the fact that in the washington, maryland, virginia region, that we saw quadrupling numbers and just skyrocketing, exponentially, the growth here in the region and the nations capital, surrounding all of the nations leaders that are supposedly fighting this crisis, that well be impacted right here. So we decided it was time to take even more aggressive action. What do you tell the residents in the western part of your state that say, look, we get whats happening around baltimore. We get whats happening around the nations capital. But we dont know this strict you know, were already were already a bit physically distant. We dont need these strict rules. What do you say to them . Well, weve now got outbreaks in all but one county throughout maryland. This is not just the washington area. When i say the dmv, i mean all of maryland, all of virginia, and all of the district. Weve got just as big of a problem in the baltimore region as we do in the washington region. And weve got cases all over western maryland and the Eastern Shore and southern maryland. This is not restricted just to our urban areas and our suburban areas. Its something thats happening all over the state. Were faced with the growing numbers everywhere in our state. Its impacting everybody and i think all of these steps are necessary to try to save lives. Yeah. Where are you on your ventilator situation . Are you at a point yet where you believe at your peak, you will have enough beds and enough ventilators . Or are you not in that situation yet . Well, chuck, i think were in the same position that just about every other governor in america is. And that is that were working with our Hospital Systems and talking with really smart folks about what happens if were not able to flatten this curve. And if we have this spiked demand on our hospitals, nobody has enough ventilators or enough personnel or enough hospital beds and icu beds to handle this. Which is why were taking these kind of drastic actions and were you know, were all hoping and kind of shooting blind with the lack of testing and the lack of data to hope that all of these actions will be successful. And stretching this out over a long period of time, because nobody has enough of these things. Its not just the situation in new york. Were just a few weeks behind whats happening there. Im curious, governor, i saw that new york state, Governor Cuomo is trying to institute a hospital resource sharing system. And looking at the fact that your peak appears to be two to three weeks sooner than virginias peak, it seems like thats an ample opportunity, perhaps, for the two states to, in the same way you work with each other in storms, you send your power guys over, they send their power guys over, could we be looking at a formalized hospital relationship for the dmv that could do the same thing that Governor Cuomo is trying to do in new york . Well, im not sure all the modeling really matches up and nobody can really agree on exactly when the peaks are going to happen. I think you can talk to a lot of different experts and theyll tell you, its anywhere from two weeks or four weeks or six weeks and we just dont have enough data to make those decisions. But were definitely working in the region about cooperation and about surge capacities. And many of our Hospital Systems operate throughout the region. In other words, they have hospitals in washington, in virginia, and in maryland. And were talking with all of them and talking with the leaders on an almost daily basis. And the final thing, the testing situation. I understand it came up again on a call with governors and the president. It does feel as if theres a disconnect here. Are you ever going to be able to let everybody out of their house, essentially, lift these guidelines, if you dont have enough Testing Capacity to know where this virus is in your state . Well, look, i think everybody, once they get to that point where we can get life back to normal. But the way were going to know its back to normal is we have enough data to know that weve started to go back down and bend that curve down. We cant do that without getting enough test welcome and to see those numbers going down, seeing the ventilators going down, hospitalizations and see the infection rate going down spop testing is still a big need that we have to ramp up. What is the biggest problem with testing . Is it the kits . Is it the personnel to do it . What is the bigger hold up right now . It seems as if you open up a testing site and they run out of tests before they run out of people. Yeah. So weve got testing sites open all across the state and not enough kits. And its really thats the issue across america. I know that the federal administration is taking steps and making progress and so are all the states, but thats where were way behind. Its on the actual materials, the tests themselves. On the other side of the equation, its ventilators and personnel in the hospitals. Thats the big issue. There it is. Ventilators, personnel, testing kits. Governor hogan, thank, sir, for giving us this information. And as always, stay safe and healthy. Thank you, chuck. Much appreciated. Joining me now is another official battling a recent surge of new cases and that is the new orleans mayor, Latoya Cantrell. Madam mayor, thanks for coming on. Lets start with the basics here. Tell me your ventilator situation, your bed situation, and your Testing Capacity. Well, good afternoon. First of all, our ventilator situation, my governor, John Bell Edwards of the state of louisiana, did request 5,000 ventilators from the federal government. Yesterday, we were told that we would be receiving about 150 out of the 5,000. You know, were grateful to receive, you know, any number, but, of course, we must keep pushing and were we know were not in this alo need for ventilators for our people. People are getting on them and theyre just not coming off of them. And so we believe we have a few more days, five, maybe ten more days as we have been seeing some good work happening at our University Medical center on the ground here. So ventilators still a priority. Ppe continues to be a priority. Not just for our medical professionals, but absolutely for them. But also other essential personnel. Our coroners, our bus drivers, individuals who have to, you know, funeral homes, mortuaries, and the like. So were continuing to advocate, to meet the demands that we do see on the ground. I understand youve had a real problem, tlooeat least thee that. I think theyve identified 28 senior communities, essentially, that have become hot spots. Senior centers where the viruses run rampant. How you handling that in your city . As it relates to the Senior Living facilities, as well as those who are special needs, we are absolutely focusing in on them. We had a significant yourk in one of ours, where we lost upwards of 12 people. We believe it is contained at this point. But we have guidelines that we are making sure that Nursing Homes follow and, as well as individual living facilities, as well. That sometimes get left out when youre talking about Nursing Homes. Were making sure there is a presence there daily. Initially, we did ask for the cdc to provide us with technical assistance. And i have to say, they did do that, but now, theyve left the city. However, when we had this outbreak, i am so grateful that we did have boots on the ground to bring that particular nursing home under control. Ventilators, you and the governor have both just made it clear, you think youre within, perhaps, less than a week that youre going to run out of ventilator space. What else is what else would be priority right now besides ventilators . Is it testing kits . Is that your next greatest need . Beds themselves. What is your next greatest need after the ventilator situation . Sure. Right now were at 1834 in terms of cases and we have 101 deaths. We have been preparing for our surge capacity, working with our National Guard, working with the state and federal partners to stand up about a 3,000 bed at our convention center. Its for those individuals that will be discharged from the hospital, but still recovering from covid that will then be plac placed at our convention center. In addition to that, were looking to house those who are under investigation. So people who are not positive, but could very well be. So were up 250 units right now for that. Were gear. For the deaths that we believe will be increased. For every 100, were seeing 5 deaths. Weve made a request to the federal government of refrigeration, for capacity for our morgue, for our coroners particularly. These continue to be issues on the ground, vision to individual assistance to our people who have been laid off and have no adequate means to stay in their homes, and of course, feed their families. Mayor Latoya Cantrell of new orleans, louisiana, i know youre bracing for the worst. Obviously, were all hoping for the best. Good luck out there, and were all pulling with you. Thank you so much. We are awaiting todays briefing from the white house Coronavirus Task force. Once that begins, well bring it to you live. 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Learn more about aarp Medicare Supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday. Or retirement. In advance. Welcome back. As we wait for the White House Briefing to begin, weve got a lot of questions that were hoping to get answers to from the Coronavirus Task force today. Weve also got a lot of questions for the medical experts that weve got with us right now, such as, should we be Wearing Masks during those rare moments that we do leave the house . Can we get back to, quote unquote, normal anytime, even remotely soon if we dont have enough tests, and how sure are we that you cant catch it twice . Joining me now to help dig into all of this, dr. Vim gupta, a pulmoologist. And dr. William shatner with vanderbilt University Medical center. Let me start with you, since it was the university of washington. Since it appears some of the decision that were made for the white house they were basin