cases of coronavirus here in the united states. the death toll now climbing to 297. across the country, local leaders sounding the alarm, warning of a dwindling number of supplies to protect those on the frontline of the pandemic. >> if the president doesn't act, people will die. >> we need millions of masks and gowns and gloves and the rest. unfortunately, we're getting still just a fraction of that. >> we will continue to see these numbers go up exponentially. the problem that we have right now is that we don't have enough test kits. i heard your conversation with the man from fema. we need test kits. >> this as the administration works to reassure state officials that help is on the way. >> the resources that are being marshalled are going to be clearly directed to those hot spots that need it most. clearly, that's california, washington state and obviously new york is the most hard hit. not only is new york trying to get resources themselves, but we're going to be pouring it in from the federal government. it will be a combination of local and federal. >> bipartisan negotiations are underway on capitol hill. leaders pelosi, mcconnell, schumer and mccarthy are meeting right now. they are hashing out details for the third coronavirus aid package that would include dr h direct payments to taxpayers. we have it all covered for you. let's go first to josh. where do things stand right now on the negotiations with this latest -- the third coronavirus stimulus package? >> reporter: at this hour, the top leaders of the senate and the house meeting here at the u.s. capitol trying to hammer out an agreement as quickly as they can after several days of delay, unable to reach a final deal. we know the scope of what they are looking at has increased, particularly as democrats have pushed for additional assistance to be added. treasury secretary mnuchin was on the sunday shows this morning. listen to what he said about what they are trying to craft today. >> i hope this gets passed monday. we need the money now. i would say we're looking at this from anywhere to a ten to 12-week scenario. this is moving quickly. we need to get the money into the economy now. if we do that, we can stabilize the economy. we're putting money into the hospitals. i think the president has every expectation that this is going to look a lot better four or eight weeks from now. >> reporter: democrats not particularly optimistic as they have been speaking this morning. we heard from nancy pelosi who flew back to washington for the discussions saying, they are still apart, democrats and republicans on this, sweas well senate democrats putting out what they see as some major sticking points, including they are concerned corporations under this proposal would be have to keep employees on staff to the most extent possible. they think that is not strong enough. there could be companies that take this money and then go ahead and lay people off anyway. another concern from senate democrats, weak restrictions on stock buybacks, where a company might take bailout money and instead of using it to keep their operations going, use it to buy back stock to shore up their bottom line. one other concern that we are taking a look at from senate democrats, the fact that there's a two-year limit on increasing executive compensation, pay for big executives at these companies. democrats want a longer prohibition on that. we are being told at this hour that they still hope to have a vote later this afternoon here in the senate setting up final vote on this tomorrow. >> can you give me just a sense from your reporting, how far apart are they right now? you are talking about the verbiage, details of these things, the incombinatip inclin agree but they want a measure that ensures it's all executed properly. >> reporter: it's been difficult to figure out how much distance there really is. the comments from pelosi and from democrats this morning suggested that there is still a pretty wide gap they are trying to close between the two sides. we know both parties understand the urgency of this. that's why they say they are still so committed to trying to have a vote today and a final vote on this tomorrow. >> concentrate, you leaders. let's get this done. let's go to new york state, today being called the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak here in the u.s. just moments ago, governor cuomo announced more than 4,000 -- 4,000 new cases bringing the state's total to 15,168. that's 15 times more than any other state. there are 9,045 cases in new york city alone. we marked 374 deaths statewide. bill de blasio telling chuck todd, things are only going to get worse. >> new yorkers and all americans deserve the blunt truth. it's getting worse. in fact, april and may are going to be worse. right now, we are a third of the cases in the country. that's going to get worse. we're about two-thirds or more of the cases in new york state. that's going to get worse. >> the entire state is getting ready for the mandatory closure of all non-essential businesses. it happens tonight at 8:00 p.m. it's under cuomo's new york on pause plan. joining us now from the upper west side, colleague lindsey riser. what are you hearing from new yorkers out there on the street? there's not many of them. there are not supposed to be. with those you speak, are they preparing for this? are people going to play by the rules? >> reporter: you know what, they are. they have been hunkering down. we are on the corner of 96th and columbus here. take a look past me here. take a look going this way. you see some stragglers. normally on a sunday around this time, this area would be packed. we are near a trader joe's and whole foods. people are hunkering down. also there's a liquor store over here that i spoke with. liquor stores have been deemed essential in this closure. the owner tells me that normally on a sunday, these sidewalks would be full of people. let's talk about what tonight means, the pause you mentioned that's effective 8:00 p.m. all non-essential businesses are closing. we will get to what businesses are considered essential. what else does this mean? there's a temporary ban on non-essential gatherings of any size. when people are out in public, they need to be social distancing, trying for six feet apart. if people are wreck aoutside, n contact activity. people are supposed to limit the use of public transportation. let's go back to what is considered the essential businesses versus non-essential. what is staying open, of course, hospitals, health care facilities, nursing homes, power utilities, also grocery, of course, we know that. pharmacies, as i mentioned liquor stores, farmer's market, restaurant takeout, hardware stores, mail service, laundromat. you get the idea. i talked to people about whether they are prepared for tonight at 8:00. they tell me that they have -- they have already been doing this. in fact, a lot of them have been home for about a week or two. they are kind of hunkered down. tonight is a little bit more of usual. when there are places in other states, people in other states and not really quite dealing with this yet, but new yorkers are ready for what andrew cuomo is calling pause. >> a lot of people are watching and seeing you and hearing this report and thinking, i wonder if this is heading my way. for many it's a sure bed it is. thank you very much. the dallas morning news has reporting that many texans are waiting to get tested for coronavirus. sam, what are you hearing from the health care workers about this? >> reporter: i'm hearing that there is no textbook on how to handle the coronavirus outbreak here. we don't know how long this will go on for. right now at the texas medical center, the largest in the world. i have a doctor with me. he is the regional director for houston methodist seven emergency rooms. what is the strategy like right now? >> i think our strategy is multi-pronged. we have been working around the clock for the past two weeks to make sure we can take care of patients and community. we are looking at this from different angles, whether supply, masks, ppe, how we're going to take care of our most critical patients, also we're going to take care of the majority of our patients who will get this virus and be safely released home. this has been a time for us to increase our bandwidth on multiple levels. >> reporter: how are your physicians responding, when we learn about new guidance as it pertains to repurposing equipment. how is that going over? >> this is something that we have never seen in the health care arena. as we talk about repurposing masks, this is something which if we had done two or three months ago, it would have been grounds for dismissal from a hospital. now under these particular desperate times, we're doing what we can to make sure we can cleanly and safely and in a sanitary way take care of our patients. our physicians while they have panic and fear sometimes, they have been fantastic. they are here for our community and they are here to take care of patients. >> reporter: you did mention physicians were so unnerved by the guidelines they actually have stepped out for the time being. you asked others to step up in their place. >> that is correct. we have had a few physicians who have resigned or asked not to work during this crisis. what we have seen is an outpouring of support. physicians engaged, emergency medicine physicians prepared for the frontline. ready to provide top care for our community. >> reporter: it's incredible to hear those words and absorb this. everyone doing whatever they can. we don't know what the time line is going to be. you are flying by the seat of your pants in the sense that it's changing every single day. >> absolutely. extremely uncharted territory. we don't know what's going to happen next. we are preparing for the worst. we have never seen our hospitals close like this. we have never seen elective cases get canceled. this is something which is completely unprecedented. we don't have a textbook for coronavirus. >> reporter: thank you for your time. as texas gets more confirmed cases, 300 plus yesterday, that's a number that is going to spiking in the days to come. >> sam, tell the doctor noofrpgz bei thank you for being a hero. joining me now a former white house health policy director during the obama administration, and the assistant professor of medicine at boston university. both are medical contributors. let's listen to dr. tom frieden. here it is. >> i would feel a lot safer if it were clear the cdc is both at the table where the decisions are being made and at the podium where they are being explained in order to do more and protect people more. we need their full involvement. fighting this without cdc central to the response has never been done with an infectious disease whether. it's like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. >> that's not a great description. what do you make of that? >> it's disturbing. the cdc just thinking back to my experience with swine flu and what the white house did in coordination for something that has nowhere near the cases we have for coronavirus, the cdc was not only front and center but so were all the other potential arms of the federal government. the defense department. not only is it troubling to hear this, but that's why you are seeing doctors putting up web pages and asking for help when we should be getting that help -- let's be clear. it's not the career and public service folks that are at the cdc. this is coming from the top and a lack of leadership out of the white house. >> very disturbing. let's get to an article on nbc.com which describes the first phase of the illness as being a slow burn saying very often people start off with minor physical complaints like cough, headache, low grade fever that gradually worsen. one doctor said patients have symptoms for a week before either getting better or getting really sick. wheth when do you know if you need to get tested? is it possible that right now people are walking around with coronavirus and they are completely unaware? is it more likely that if you feel a little something, whether you acknowledge it, you may be on to it? >> the difficult part about this is, yes, of course, any of those symptoms could be coronavirus. it could be influenza, something else. the important part is why the social distancing becomes critical. if you are an early part of the disease, you can transmit. people before they potentially develop symptoms could transmit to other people. that's why the extreme measures that you are seeing on the public health leveavvel become important, keeping the six feet distance becomes importance to ensure that you are not passing to other people. the critical signs in terms of medical care, the good rule of thumb is, seek medical care for coronavirus the same way for severe influenza. when you see symptoms that are -- you know you can't take care of at home. shortness of breath, chest pain, confusion, feefvers that don't break. when you see that it's something more severe than the regular cold or flu. >> may i ask quickly, i have a friend self-isolated at home with her family. sure they have been suffering from coronavirus. they believe they are on the upward swing. i'm sure like many home right now and treating with over-the-counter medications. how long does this last for the average case of those that can self-treat at home? >> the difficult part about the covid-19 or coronavirus is it's an emerging infectious disease. the first 10,000 patients are guiding to the next 100 to 200 to 300. from what we understand with this disease, for most people it's a mild disease. it's a week or two. more severe cases, it could be a hospitalization that's three, four, five weeks. we saw that from experiences in china as well as italy. now our own experiences in hospitals here in the united states. >> yesterday we had dr. fauci who said not every person needs to get tested. who does and how is it determined? >> the highest priority are people who actually fit a symptomatic pattern who have the need to potentially require more intervention. let me just break that down. people who probably would need to come into the hospital as well as health care workers themselves who have some sort of symptoms, because as we are watching this emerging data, we know that health care workers from home health aides are actually a source of transmission to other patients. unfortunately, i will tell you -- dr. frieden or any other epidemiologist would agree, we need to get to community testing. that's the only way we're going to be able to have light at the end of the tunnel to tell americans when we are going to start seeing improvement. absolute high priority, people who are symptomatic, who are going to require further treatment or intervention of some kind, including health care workers. >> bring on those test kits. we need them. ladies, thank you so much. also for what you are doing on the frontline. disregarding the call for social distancing, the mayor of washington, d.c. joins me now to talk about these pictures. that was yesterday. 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>> absolutely. we need the federal government to step up in many ways and recognize that this is not a one-state issue but this is a 50-state and every jurisdiction issue, including washington, d.c., which in every way is one of the states of the union. >> absolutely. the pictures that we saw coming into this, both beautiful and alarling. the d.c. cherry blossoms are drawing sizable crowds, as they do this time every year, despite the festival's cancellation among restrictions in place. maryland governor hogan expressing his concern, talking with nbc a little earlier. take a listen to this. >> the social distancing is not taking place. it's crazy to see people at cherry blossoms. you are endangering yourselves and your fellow citizens by not listening to the warnings. >> what are your thoughts when you listen to the governor, see the crowds at the trees? are you concerned? >> what we want everybody to know is we're very proud of our d.c. cherry blossoms. we have had them over 100 years. we will have them next year. people need to heed warnings and stay home. this morning, i put my police department out on all the streets surrounding the tidal basin to restrict vehicular traffic. we will work with the national park service who has the responsibility of actually closing the park. they have done that. they closed the parking lots. there are no rest rooms. there are no open restaurant or bars. the museums are closed downtown. stay home. don't come down to see the cherry blossoms this year. stay home because with crowding, it's impossible to maintain social distance. >> absolutely. we understand people's need to get out, have fresh air, get out from a cooped environment. i took a walk with my daughter yesterday in my neighborhood. we walked on opposite sides of the street. when we saw people, we waved. we didn't get very close. we thought that was the thing to do. >> we want people with their families to get out and enjoy the outdoors. to avoid group exercise, even throwing frisbee or football or baseball or any group activity to stop doing those. we have in our city, we sent out the message to stay at home. our government, our own government is modified and working mostly remotely. our entire economy, our businesses are impacted by this. we all recognize our duty to flatten the curve. we know if we can contain the spread of this virus, we can conserve our very pressure our medical supplies in beds, icu beds and ventilators for people who become very ill with this virus. he would only have to look to new york to see what happens when we have this medical surge happening now in the very, very serious draws on our medical resources that can happen. we shouldn't look at it in isolation but think of it as what might be coming to all of our jurisdictions. know that we're dealing with a health emergency, but we're also dealing with an economic emergency. for cities and states across our nation. when you shut down economic activity, people are out of work, businesses are shuttering. all of the taxes and revenues that come to cities who are in the frontline of this response are also incredibly depleted. that's why it's so important that congress gets to work, puts money in the hands of americans, comes up with programs to help businesses but also gets those dollars directly to jurisdictions like mine. because we still have to put out those critical first line resources to our residents. >> absolutely. let's hope congress is listening and they get the job done today and agree on this aid package. the mayor of washington, d.c., best of luck as you get through this. thanks for your time. >> thank you. with more countries shuttering their borders and commercial transportation becoming less available, thousands of americans who traveled abroad are now finding themselves stranded. let's go to steve patterson, he is following this from our l.a. bureau. steve, we have the state department that's having to step in to do what? do we have any idea how large, how many americans are having trouble getting home? >> there's no precise number. there are thousands of americans who are stranded, desperate for a way back home. for many, the original messaging from the state department and the administration wasn't very encouraging. just telling citizens, if you can get on a commercial flight, get on one immediately. the problem is in a lot of the countries, as you mention, there aren't options. the borders were shut down quickly and without warning. there are more draconian methods adopted to slow the spread like curfews and nothing open f. those stranded can't get on a bus to the airport, let alone a plane. you have clusters of americans in places like peru, morocco, haiti, honduras, all of them stuck. several of them aren't just vacationers. these are athletes, doctors trying to help nations. students studying abroad who are terrified they can't get home. the state department has changed their tune. they are doing all they can, trying to repeatriate as many americans as possible. 264 americans were flown from lima to d.c. there was a flight to miami. there's a broad effort to get charter planes into about 1,000 people stuck in morocco. you may be wondering, what about the u.s. military? they have been activated. the messaging to people that are stuck abroad is to get in touch with the embassy, raise the flag as much as possible until help arrives. obviously, that has to be done in isolation. a lot of people out there worried. >> you can bet. steve patterson, thank you so much. another angle for us to cope a close eye on. state and local officials say they are overwhelmed. where is the federal assistance? we will get an update on that next. 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>> reporter: that's right. deep uncertainty about the path forward for this rescue bill. to lay out for you how far democrats and republicans seem to be at this moment, we just heard from mcconnell saying he is optimistic about what they are putting together on that they plan to hold a vote today at 3:00 p.m. from nancy pill elosi, she says democrats are putting out their own bill, their own version of what they want to see. in fact, one of our producers overheard her telling her staffers a few minutes ago, we are so far apart. there does not seem to be agreement at this point between democrats and republicans. that raises the question, what exactly are they going to vote about today? mcconnell says in a news conference a few minutes ago, they will invoke the shell of a bill. they will have a procedural vote that kicks things going and starts this clock moving into tomorrow, even though they do not yet have any kind of a final agreement about what's going to be in that legislation. the goal seems to be to try to take what democrats are pushing for and what republicans have put together and find a way to merge them together in the next few hours to be able to hold a final vote tomorrow. at this time, it does appear democrats and republicans have not majorly narrowed the gaps. >> i gotta tell you, there are americans who are listening to this report from you who are probably not very pleased to hear what you are saying. see what you can do in the next 20 minutes, we will check in with you at the top of the hour. joining me now, former acting administrator at the centers for medicare and medicaid services. welcome to you. what do you think of what we heard about how far apart it seems to be between republicans and democrats on capitol hill trying to get forward this desperately needed third coronavirus package? >> they need to get in a room and they immediate to not leave until they hammer out a deal. i will tell you, a deal that doesn't help low-income americans, it doesn't provide help to health care work force but only provides help to the industries that are hurting is not going to be something that really is where the american public wants to be. i hope what they come up with -- i think everybody has the right intentions -- is something that hits the hardest hit areas, gives people reaslsurance if thy stay home, they will have income support. if they are on the frontline, they will have support financially that this country owes them. as for president trump, i understand his need and his desire to want to be optimistic. we all want to be optimistic. that's his nature. i would urge him to be fact based, let the scientists talk, not push things that are not yet ready, whether drugs or other kinds of things. we will be with him. even critics of his will be right behind him. he has to be transparent and let us judge for ourselves, not give us too much optimism. >> give me the top thing you think the federal government needs to be doing right now that they are either not doing or not doing quickly enough. >> right now, that urgent situation is step forward and say, we are going to purchase with federal government money 500,000 ventilators and 1 billion masks. i promise you, they make that announcement, they put the money behind it, factories will start whirling open. the president wants to see himself as a war-time pre. he can't wait for things to get worse, when we have a case count growing exponentially. we need to do that to act now.h worse, when we have a case count growing exponentially. we need to do that to act now. >> do you see any light at the end of the tunnel anywhere? even a glimmer? if so, how long to get through this tunnel? >> absolutely. i know this is very scary for people. there's a lot of anxiety here. we will get through this. the only question is how many people will we lose? there's a path here that the scientists say will work that's a difficult path and a lot is in our hands. it begins with #stayhome. that's hard. i know we're getting boo it int spring days. stay home. in the process, if be want to open up small businesses again, we will need to have thermal testing so we can say, you want to open, that's fine. but you have to make sure everybody who enters your establishment had their temperature checked and we start with lower capacity limits. through that, we can create normalcy. there will be folks who would be immune. they will have had it. then i think we will see in the not so distance future announcements of work on anti-viral. of course, ultimately, a vaccine. it's hard for people to do because we have a history of individualism in this country. what the health commissioners are telling you is absolutely 100% true. you can save people's lives if you stay home. >> andy, sobering but actually the right words to be saying. thank you so much. a nurse recovering from coronavirus explains what it's like to have the disease and the massive equipment shortages putting health care workers at risk. >> woman: what's our safelite story? 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how is your recovery going? >> thank you. my recovery has been very difficult. but i'm doing much better. yesterday was my best day yet. i feel like i'm definitely on the monday and getting healthier. >> that's good. a couple questions. how long have you felt poorly? do you know how you contracted the virus? talk about your symptoms. >> so i have -- my symptoms and my illness have lasted about 4 1/2 weeks. on february 18. i'm just now feeling a little bit more energetic. yesterday i went for a little walk with nobody out there. my symptoms started off with a runny nose. i didn't really have that many symptoms. then i had a tiny, tiny cough. then my muscles and my joints started aching really bad. i went and got a massage. i felt better. i volunteered for a race in our community. then on march 1, 2 and 3, i started having fever. then on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th is when i had shortness of breath, lower back pain down by my ribs. on march 8th, i asked my husband to take me to the emergency room to get checked out because i just felt like every time i wanted to -- every time i stood up, i wanted to collapse. i felt horrible. i have been on isolation since march 8. they did the test march 8. i got the results back on march 11, so four days later. i have been hanging out at home. today is actually day number 15 for me. tomorrow i'm going back to get another covid-19 test. i have to wait for the results. i could be on isolation for another week or two right now. the testing is taking so long. >> lisa, this is extraordinary. for 4 1/2 weeks you have been feeling poorly. granted it was -- it seems to have been a slow evolution. did you have any inclination it was anything different than just a common cold with a runny nose? >> i didn't. i had no idea that it was covid-19. i would not have gone out and performed my normal activities of daily living and gone into the community if i would have known. i also saw patients in my clinic as well. when i was feeling good. i didn't know. the testing right now is not rapid enough. it's very scary as a health care provider going back into the clinic. right now, the federal -- the cdc is saying we need two covid. i state is saying i don't need to be cleared. i told them that i want to make sure i'm cleared with the covid-19 test before i go back to work. they are getting me testing right now. >> you mentioned your husband -- you live with your husband. talk about the isolation. has he been living elsewhere? have you been living with masks and gloves and just staying in separate rooms as best you can? >> no. that's a good question. we have been in isolation together. he actually got out of isolation on -- a couple days ago. he was never tested. i have five members i was in direct contact with. i'm positive. none of them were tested. that's very -- it's frightening to me. people are walking around that are possibly symptomatic. we don't know. it's such a weird virus. >> it sounds like someone is there with you, perhaps that is your husband. is he feeling okay? >> my husband is feeling great. he has been out. he is walking. he is out back country skiing. he is keeping his social distance. he is staying by himself. we just need to protect our health care workers without the ppe, we need our lives safe but we need that -- we can't save your lives if we don't have proper protection and the rapid testing. >> point very, very well taken. we have said it earlier to physicians on the frontline and to you, thank you so much. you are heroes. appreciate it. get better soon, completely. thank you. soon completely. nicholas kristoff joins me from "the new york times" and talk about his latest column "the best case outcome for the coronavirus" and brace yourself for the worst. ♪ ♪ everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. expedia. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide pods free & gentle. it's gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. tide free & gentle. safe for skin with psoriasis and eczema. giving you a look at the nationwide numbers this sunday, 29,262 and 368 total fatalities. nicholas fistoff and the author of the book "tight rope, americans reaching for hope", that is something we need to do. and talking about your latest column "best case outcome for the coronavirus and the worst." i was grateful you started with the best case and got to the worst because by the time i was reading the worst case scenario, i thought i don't know if i would have gone on. the numbers are extraordinary. tell me what you felt like as you were writing this? >> well, one of the things that really struck me was the uncertainty about so many really crucial factors. warm weather might have an impact on the virus. we just don't know. you could make a case that it will and that it won't. what is the prospect of patients and the virus and how are they affected. we don't know. we even really have a good sense of the mortality rate. in italy it is horrendous. and right now it is above 8% and singapore has had 200 confirmed cases and not one death. so epidemiologists are concerned about what goes into each patient. >> and you mentioned singapore and that is among the cases that you think that the united states has a possibility of emulating that. what do we need to do to make sure that we do that because that number, 200 confirmed cases and zero deaths and we're well beyond that but is there a way to slow things down an follow the singapore model and implement them here in the united states? >> well, so, the problem is we kind of have to go back in time to do that. that all of the successful places, whether singapore, hong kong, taiwan, south korea, what they did was they were vigilant right at the beginning. they took this seriously and immediately and that enabled them through monitoring to track cases and then engage in tracing of contacts which is the standard tool box. but right now we have more than 100,000 cases and -- [ inaudible ]. -- though it is hard to see how at this juncture we can move toward the singapore model. there is a case that we can, indeed, slow this down with the economy by social distancing and then we go back to slow the spread and that maybe over time we can recover those tools. one little ray of hope in the u.s. is that the university of washington has done quite a bit of testing and the rate of positives had a been pretty stable and there are a lot of really des couraging things and signs across the u.s., that is the one hope that i cling to. >> i'm going to let that be the last word because it is ending on a somewhat positive silver lining but for anybody is understanding, "new york times," it was posted on friday. nicolas kristof, thank you so much. appreciate your time. federal officials are saying if you don't have symptoms, please do not get a test. so who gets tested and who gets turned away. we'll get an answer from a testing center in illinois, next. with red lobster to go, you can enjoy the seafood you love from the comfort of home... if it ever makes it there. spend $30 and get free delivery at red lobster dot com. and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. a partner who makes sure every step is clear, ♪ here's a razor that works differently. the gillette skinguard it has a guard between the blades that helps protect skin. the gillette skinguard. >> woman: what's our we were on a camping trip... ...when our windshield got a chip. >> man: we drove to safelite autoglass for a same-day repair. >> woman: and with our insurance, it was no cost. really? 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(vo) get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. good day, everyone, from msnbc headquarters in new york, welcome to weekends with alex witt. the coronavirus and the government's response front ant center on the sunday talk shows. >> so whether it is supplies, vents, you name it, we are finding it, identifying it and shipping it to those who have requested it. >> do you have any specific numbers on how many masks the federal government has been able to acquire and how many have gone out of the door to hospitals? without a number it doesn't feel people with confidence. >> i'm not sure it is about an act number. >> we need millions of masks and hundreds of thousands of gowns and gloves and the rest. >> just stay home. unless you're essentially. >> this physical separation at the same time we're preventing an influx of cases coming in, i think that will go along way to preventing us from becoming an italy. >> we have a team of reporters and analysises following the very latest and we'll begin with the breaking news on the coronavirus pandemic at this hour there are 29,262 confirmed cases of coronavirus here in the u.s. the death toll climbing to 368. now across the country, local leaders have sounded the alarm. they're warning of a dwindling number of supplies to protect those on the front lines of the pandemic. >> if the president doesn't act, people will die who could have lived otherwise. >> we need millions of masks and hundreds of thousands of gowns and gloves and the rest. and unfortunately we're getting still just a fraction of that. >> we're going to continue to see these numbers go up exponentially. the problem right now is that we don't have industry kits and i heard yu conversation with the man from fema. we need test kits. >> this is as the administration works to reassure state officials help is on the way. >> the resources that are being marshalled are going to be clearly directed to those hot spots that need it most. and clearly that is california, washington state, and obviously new york is the most hard hit. so not only is new york trying to get resources themselves, but we're going to pour it in from the federal government so a combination of local and federal. on capitol hill congressional leaders are working through the weekend, hashing out the details for the third bipartisan coronavirus aid package. mitch mcconnell, chuck schumer, nancy pelosi, kevin mccarthy, they're wrapping up a meeting just in this last hour. so first up let's go to political reporter josh letterman joining us again from capitol hill. you joined us some 20 minutes or so after the speaker -- the majority leader had that news conference or brought an update on things and they didn't look too good. did you learn anything else that a glimmer of hope things will get done today in the last few minutes. >> we've heard from other republican leaders including kevin mccarthy, but so far, alex, the sense of dire urgency th americans are feeling has not seemed to break the log jam here on capitol hill. we're hearing from republicans that they feel that they're very close to a deal. mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader say they still plan to have a vote today in a couple of hours. basically a procedural vote that would set things in motion to allow them to have a vote tomorrow on an actual piece of legislation. fingers crossed that they actually have a deal to vote on at that point. but we also heard from nancy pelosi, the house democratic leader, who rushed back in from california to be able to work on these negotiations and i want to hear about what the leaders had to say at capitol a few minutes ago. >> we're working toward bringing this together. i think it is safe to say we're very close. we have integrated a number of ideas that the democrats had over the last 48 hours with the working groups that you're familiar with. now we're at the point in the discussion where people will shortly say yes or no. >> we'll be introducing our own bill and hopefully it will be compatible with what they discuss in the senate. >> so no deal that is bipartisan at this point? >> yes. >> reporter: and you heard nancy pelosi saying democrats plan to introduce their own bill. that does not bode particularly well for resolving all of this quickly and making sure they could have a final vote tomorrow. we have been hearing from mcconnell, other republican leaders saying they don't think it is productive at this late stage in the negotiations for democrats to be putting forth a new separate bill that that only makes it harder to get everybody on the same page and get a law passed. but from nancy pelosi, we overheard her speaking to her staffers as they were leaving a meeting today saying we are so far apart. alex. >> josh, what you just said there about senator majority leader mitch mcconnell that he doesn't think it is helpful for democrats to put forward their own bill at this point. does that smack of the blame game? are you getting a sense of blame game during this heightened intense time? >> absolutely. the republicans have a point there is an urgency now they need to do everything they could get something out of the door as quickly as possible. but democrats have some very serious concerns about the legislation as it stands right now. most particularly about the restrictions or lack of sufficient restrictions on how companies will use this money to make sure they put it to use in the way that will most benefit americans who are struggling as opposed to shoring up the bottom line of the major corporations. >> so that is very important. so democrats basically trying to word-wise put in insurance that the money allotted to the businesses is properly used or at least for the intent that this bill would provide, right? that it would be used for singular americans, for employees and, that is what your sense is of this. >> reporter: that is exactly right. democrats don't want this money to be used for companies to give big balloon payments, major golden parachutes to executives or be used by companies that are then going to lay off workers and to be used by companies to buy back their own stock to improve their numbers on paper as opposed to making sure that they use that money to make sure they continue to pay workers and get it out to real people. >> extraordinary that you're telling us these two sides feel very far apart according to nancy pelosi staffers. stay on the story. as soon as you have say update, come back on the air. we appreciate it then. thank you. monica alba. you have the local officials and the state officials and all officials sounding the alarm on the shortage of medical supplies for one. what is the administration saying on this. >> reporter: the administration is saying we hear you, we understand your frustration, some of these items are on the way. but when pressed on a specific timeline or where these desperate states and local officials can receive them, they were very short on specifics. and they had another message to the other states that aren't as had hit as this point. they said if you have a way of obtaining some of these items on your own, you should go ahead and pursue that. take a listen to how fema administrator pete gainer framed the pry orders when asked this morning. >> they have been distributed. they've been distributed over the past couple of weeks. they're shipping today and ship tomorrow. we find more and more masks to ship because we have developing great partnerships with the commercial sector out there through donations, ramping up production. we're trying to focus shipments on the most critical hot spots in the country, places like new york city, washington state, california. that is our priorities. >> reporter: so how will a lot of the products be produced and then distributed? that is where the private sector comes into play and the president is delighted this morning to share the news that companies like ford, general motors, tesla, are going to be making ventilator and other metal items and that is something they pitched the white house on themselves. the companies same and said we're happy to help and that is something that the president is happy to take and receive. but again, the big question here, alex, is the timeline. while the companies are stepping up, it is unclear how long it will take to produce and distribute and where it will go. we hope to press the task force later on this afternoon when they brief at the white house. >> the president is very happy on those large companies trying to help in the way they can. monica alba at white house, thank you. in less than seven hours the entire state of new york will be placed on lockdown under the governor cuomo new york in place, all executive orders all nonessential places are to be closed and new york is now the epicenter of the outbreak in the u.s. 374 people have died and more than 15,000 cases across the state. that is nearly half of the total number of cases in the u.s. and let me just remind you, we had had to downward put that number of deaths. it was misspoken but only by me but by the governor. it is actually 114 deaths. let's make sure we have the number correct. joining me now from the site of a potential temporary hospital in new york, mora barrett. we're near the center, near a convention center, a place for political activity, gatherings of all sorts, not for a hospital. what is the likelihood this place will be used with hospital beds and how many numbers might they be able to hold? >> reporter: it is looking very likely, alex, because just within the last hour the governor gave an updated press conference essentially saying that he approved the state's side of using this space as a temporary hospital. the center has up to 2000 patients in addition to 2 other -- 3 other temporary sites in the state. and he's approved all of the state locations, two at state universities up state and another at the westchester convention center. so he hopes they will o set the over loading other hospitals but can't do it without federal support. even though we have the approval for the temporary hospital, that doesn't mean they have the staffing or the supply so the governor is asking for expedited approval from the president, as you heard from monica we don't have details on that yet exactly. but basically there are over 15,000 cases in new york state and the governor said that only 13% of those positive cases are currently being hospitalized. so the staffing supplies are essential in order to get the temporary hospitals going. he did say if approved and they could move forward, they could get construction going in a couple of days. he also was presented as kind of angry in the latest press conference because he's frustrated with the amount of crowds we're seeing in public spaces and parks and farmer's markets here in new york city specifically. we saw them yesterday on the air with you, alex. and he noted that young people are not taking this seriously. here is what he had to say in his press conference the last hour. >> i want to make sure we're clear so there is no confusion. fact one, young people can get the coronavirus. they're wrong when they say they can't get it. they can get it. 18 to 49-year-olds represent 53% of the total cases in new york. >> reporter: so he's extremely frustrated. young people kind of the word on the internet and twitter is young people aren't taking it seriously because they think they can't get it but he's noting you might be a carrier if you're in the younger age range even if you're not showing any sims so the guidance from health officials is to keep six feet social distancing and wear gloves, wash your hands, don't touch your face and all people need to be taking this extremely serious as we see the numbers spike in new york state. >> and what it mean tods -- means to be a carrier, it means all of your friends who you are hanging out, your loved ones, your parents, siblings, grandparents, if you're a carrier, you could give it to them. so you're a young person and you may feel vibrant and healthy typically, but you have to pay attention to this and not expose yourself as best you can and stay home. okay. mora barrett, thank you. to illinois. a stay in place mandate is in effect there. we have more than 700 confirmed cases. illinois has one of the highest number of infected people until the u.s. and joining me live from a testing center in illinois is garrett haake. so you've moved from chicago. what are you seeing there in north lake? >> reporter: alex, this is one of two testing sites that were set up by the hhs in conjunction with walmart. they're trying to essentially doing this as a pilot. you could see the testing site behind me. we're operating at a safe distance as prescribed by hhs. what the testing site is designed to do is process up to 150 people a day in their cars. if they come here. this is not for the general public. this is only for first responders or medical professionals and even then only for people in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus. that is in part because of the limitation on testing. these two sites, one in north lake and in joliet, illinois, could only process 150 tests per day. we took a lap around the parking lot a little while ago and there was 25 or 30 cars here lined up. the testing sites are only open for a few hours, about 10:00 to 4:00 every day. just trying to get the front line people, the folks who need to be out there help the rest of us, police, firefighters, doctors and nurses and so forth to get the testing that they need to know whether they are safe to continue to be out doing their jobs. but again i urge people who are watching, if you are somebody who thinks they might be sick or want a test, this is not the site for you. talk to your doctors. don't come out here if you don't fit the description of what i've already described. you mentioned that stay-at-home order that the governor put in place yesterday afternoon. look, a lot of governors, particularly in states not named new york, are taking political appreciate for this for acting so strongly on the front end of this to try to prevent the outbreak getting worse. you mentioned 700 plus cases in illinois thus far. this morning on another network the governor defended his decision. take a listen. >> unless we tell people to stay home and stop interacting in the way that they were, we're going to see more and more, tens of thousands of more deaths than we otherwise would. so that is why i had to take the actions that i did. i don't relish it. frankly this is a competition in the decision-making between saving lives and saving livelihoods. >> reporter: so there you hear j.b. pritzker the governor of illinois, defending that position in front of a lot more governors pretty soon, i think, alex. >> garrett haake in north lake, thank you there. with me now dr. vin gupta, a policy health expert. welcome to you. how are medical professionals determining who is eligible for a test and who is not. you heard garrett haake talking about the drive-thru centers. how does somebody know if they could go through the drive-thru center. >> in a lot of cases this is employer sponsors and so hopefully you had access to information and modeling material that said where you could go to gret a drive-thru test. this is not information that is demmock rattized because you have to know it is happening and have a benefit for this is not broadly available to the public yet and hopefully that will change soon and will be relief soon for testing. to your question about how determines are determining who should and should not be tested, we're testing people with a high pre-test probability of having symptoms, shortness of breath, fever, cough, symptoms we know are consistent with the virus. did you travel to an area because nowadays the united states is a global epicenter but we frame who gets a test and who doesn't. it is imperfect. the way we're approaching this is completely imperfect and i would push and challenge really the utility of broadcast testing at this point as dr. fauci and others said in the daily briefings, at this point broad testing is what we should be doing as opposed to other mitigation efforts. >> and i appreciate what you are saying. there will thoughs who listen and say but look, i would be better served myself dealing with my symptoms understanding that what i have is maybe not just a cold or strain of the flu, given that we are in the flu season, if i could get a test. so the very way this could be passed along, does it stand to reason that at some point it makes sense to get everybody tested? >> in the aspiration ally dealized world, everybody gets a test. that is what we try every year with the flu. if you're having consistent symptoms you should have a flu test. but here is the problem and the problem that i anticipate we're going to face with coronavirus, just because we have all of these rapid tests now available, hopefully this week broadly, doesn't mean they'll perform well. we hope they'll perform well. but every year with the flu, the rapid flu test that you've gotten previously and i got this year, that's falsely negative 30% of the time. so i think we need to be careful viewing testing as a panacea for the outbreak. that is why people are messaging appropriately on stay at home, we need a national lockdown because testing is not going to cure it all. it is going to -- i worry it is going to give people a false sense of reassurance because we have no idea how the tests will perform in realtime. we hope it will perform great but who knows. >> yeah. certainly unchartered waters here. we've heard the president, prompting the promise of two long used malaria drugs stull -- still unproven against the coronavirus and dr. fauci has made that clear but they are being tested in clinical trials. more research is needed. how about you? where do you come down on this? >> i personally cared for patient that are empirically in medicine we say to sometimes being put on some of the drugs on case-by-case basis. like plaque menno, a drug used to treat lupus and a let potent form of chloroquine and i couldn't agree more with dr. fauci and i don't know a public health official or pull monologist who doesn't agree with dr. fauci which is to say we don't know if the combination of -- >> dr. vin gupta, i think we've had a hiccup with our connection with him and i'm very sorry. i'm told he's back. if you were back, you were wrapping up an answer with regard to how you felt about the tests overall. but i did want to have you listen to one thing first and get your response and that is what former cdc director dr. thom frieden said this morning on fox and this is important and i want to get your reaction on the other side. >> i would feel a lot safer if it were clear that the cdc is both at the table where the decisions are being made and at the podium where they're being explained. in order to do more and protect people more, we need their full involvement. fighting this without cdc central to the response has never been done with an infectious disease threat in the u.s. before and it is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. >> what do you make of that assessment? >> i couldn't agree more with dr. frieden. of course our cdc officials need to be scientists and epidemiologists, those are the right ones to lead and be informing -- when i was cut off a finished a question on zith zithromiacin and i'm sure the cdc has an opinion on that and because they are experts on this field we need randomized control tests in the real world and is this combination effective. i was saying earlier that we're empirically starting them on the drugs without knowledge whether it is beneficial and they do have side effects so it is important to know and to really lean on our experts here. so yes, couldn't amplify dr. friedman's comments enough. >> thank you so much. the crisis in italy. we have a live report from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic there and the warning that doctors have for right here in america. hot! hot! no no no no no, there's no space there! maybe over here? oven mitts! oven mitts! everything's stuck in the drawers! i'm sorry! oh, jeez. hi. kelly clarkson. try wayfair! oh, ok. it's going to help you, with all of... this! yeah, here you go. thank you! oh, i like that one! [ laugh ] that's a lot of storage! perfect. you're welcome! i love it. how did you do all this? wayfair! speaking of dinner, what're we eating, guys? 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. as of now the numbers are continuing to increase. what we're working very hard to do is to keep the rate of increase of the spread of the disease to a level that we can manage it in our hospital system. we have 53,000 hospital beds available. right now the curve suggests we could need 110,000 hospital beds and that is an obvious problem. >> andrew cuomo anticipating a shortage of hospital beds and the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise here in new york. which is now considered the epicenter here in the united states. new york city residents, they are out on the upper west side today. the weather is zen -- that is decent and preparing for the new york on pause order beginning today at 8:00 p.m. and it says people should limit outdoor activity, limit gathers and requires all nonessential businesses to shutter. some new yorkers we spoke to say they are already practicing social distancing. >> i think it is already kind of happening. especially in this neighborhood. so i have a dog so i usually walk my dog around 9:00, 9:30 and there is nobody on the streets. >> we've been at home for the last two weeks, so for us, we really haven't been out much other than to buy food and now we're -- trying to go to trader joe's but we're not going back to our local store. >> even before the official shelter in place or lockdown we were trying to practice that social distancing so i think my hope is that this just reinforces for maybe people who weren't taking it as seriously and just kind of gives them that extra nudge of hey, this is a serious thing. well joining me now from the upper west site is msnbc lindsay riser. lindsay, notably, there is one kind of business not closed tomorrow and that is liquor stores. what is the guidance from the governor's office that makes this an essential service? >> reporter: yeah, that is really interesting. right, alex. all nonessential businesses closed tonight at 8:00 but grocery stores will stay open and hospitals and liquor stores. first i want you to look at what is happening around here. it is sunday and usually you see more people on the sidewalk and one person said it looks like an apocalypse and there are people out and about because the grocery stores are open. there is a whole foods down that way and a trader joe's this way. and this is a place still open tonight. columbus avenue wines and spirits we have a socially distance line and a rule on the sign limit three customers at a time. and i spoke with the owner here of the liquor store about why he thinks that this is considered an essential business. >> i think everybody has their own response and need in life, but as i said, i think clearly wine is a way for people just to relax and mitigate some of the stress that they're feeling. >> reporter: so, alex, he also told me that he thinks if liquor stores or stores that sell wine, beer and liquor weren't considered essential he thinks that might people make this pandemic worse by traveling across state lines to try and get it. >> it is funny you talk about that social distancing in the market. i was inside of a cvs and on the floor there were blue tape markers that were a number of people apart and people were staying in their square and it was fascinating and people adhered to the rules on that. let me ask you, yes he's lucky that the liquor store will stay open from a business standpoint financially speaking. how long can he sustain? is he worried about a drop? >> reporter: so i asked him that very question and he said right now they're really busy. i said people are treating them like a grocery store. people are going in and stocking up. maybe not hoarding like toilet paper but so stocked he's worried about filling shelves again with restock through all of this. but he did say he is just trying to keep his employees on the payroll. he's trying to keep the doors open. so he'll do whatever he can to keep these employees working to be beginning them hours. >> lindsay riser there on the upper west side of manhattan, thank you so much. to the latest from italy which is the global epicenter of the virus. the numbers of deaths and new cases still climbing every day. 793 people died in italy yesterday. even as some italian cities are entering the third week of being on lockdown. matt bradley is joining me from rome. heartbreaking is to say the least what is going on there. but are you at all able, matt, engage how people are reacting to the latest numbers. are they heart broken? what are they doing to stay positive? >> reporter: it is hard to tell. because here in rome we're on a nationwide lockdown. walking around the streets today, i saw very few people. everybody who i did see was on some kind of business. they seemed to be going out mostly to get food, to go to the pharmacy. people didn't seem particularly upset but people who are in their homes, i think there is a lot of fear that is going around, especially as these numbers continue to climb. you mention 793 yesterday. that was a record-breaker. not just for italy but worldwide for the coronavirus. 793 in one day. it is hard to beat. but italy today just announced the numbers in the last 10 minutes. it is now at 651 deaths in the last 24 hours. that is not as high as the 793 but that is a huge number. they also said that there were 5,560 more positive tests in just the last 24 hours. bringing that number to nearly 60,000. among them placido domingo, the famous opera singer who announced on he had tested positive for the coronavirus. and he mentioned in the facebook announcement, he doesn't have symptoms and it is not that bad and we're hearing that from a lot of people and why this is such a pernicious illness. you wouldn't know that going into the hospitals at italy. my partner from sky news visited a hospital and produced this report which is heartbreaking and spoke to doctors and nurses and take a listen. >> it is very bad. it is a disaster. it's a tsunami. >> open the side to intensive care only yesterday. don't think that it is happening here and it can't happen everywhere else. >> reporter: we also saw just today spain had nearly 400 deaths and france is coming up right behind them. all of the countries will start registering sky high numbers. maybe not, hopefully not on the level of italy which has been a complete disaster. but alex, this is a europe-wide spread and it could wash up on american shores before you know it. >> talk about the numbers so many and so high and if you break it down and think each individual whose life has been lost and those loved ones who are mourning. some of them not even able to have funerals and the like because funeral homes are overwhelmed. and you have churches serving as morgues right now. it is just -- it is stunning. but nonetheless we thank you for giving us the reality check from rome. matt bradley, appreciate that. we have a nurse talking next about how hospital workers are coping with a devastating medical equipment shortage. >> woman: what's our safelite story? 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(vo) call 1-800-miracle to start your 30-day risk-free trial and schedule your free hearing evaluation at your locally owned miracle ear today. unlike ordinary memory wsupplements-neuriva? has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. new calls around the country today for the president to use the defense production act to allow the federal government to impose some controls over private industry in order to make items like ventilators and masks. >> the defense production act, we know the president invoked it. has it been -- is it being used or not or are you wanting companies to voluntarily pitch in here and you're only going to use it if they don't voluntarily pitch in? >> i think it is an insurance policy. it is a lever if we have to throw that lever we will. we haven't had to use it yet. will we have to use it? maybe. >> we'll see on that. jean ross with national nurses united. welcome to you. what is it like being on the front lines of this pandemic? >> well, it is actually quite scary. we're being told by everyone from the white house to our employers to the cdc how valuable we are and how necessary, but actions speak and we are being treated as if we're expendable. >> how so? expand on that. how are you being made to feel that your expendable? >> well we asked repeatedly, we are begging, we're demanding the right and proper protective equipment, the ppe, we just did another national survey as of march 20th, 55% still don't have access to n-95 respirators on their unit and 27% have access to papers, the powered air purifyi purifying respirators and places are conserving because there is not enough and we know that will likely come to a head but right now we're not at that point so where the equipment? >> so look, on the issue of marks in particular, the president spoke yesterday about what doctors are doing to try to embrace this shortage of masks. take a listen to what he said. >> we have very good liquids for doing this, sanitizing the masks and that is something they're starting to do more and more, sanitizing the masks. >> and we should say the president said that because he doesn't like seeing what he perceives as being the waste of the masks. and he's wondering if this is a new way to approach things. what are your thoughts on that? are there dangers of not disposing after each use? >> yes, there are. it is not sufficient to use nondisposable. you're supposed to have a one-time use. for the n-95s, they need to be properly fit. they need to be fit tested. but for the droplet precaution, the masks used instead of the n-95, well you can ruin the efficacy, it is insufficient to use anything other than an n-95 in this situation. >> okay, jean, i know your organization made news after the cdc weaken the guidance on the health care worker restrictions and give me your opinion even though we understand the ending result is bringing more health care workers into the fold. >> what they need to do is strengthen their precautions, not loosen them. it feels like a battlefield, triage here. which if we don't get this stemmed it is going to be. but right now we are told that there are supplies. where are they? the hospital nurses that talk to us and say they have had them in their hospital, they're under lock and key. the nurses can't get to them. this is ridiculous. and we are also hearing from our nurses who have been -- had positive symptoms and are home if the fever is gone away they should come back to work. this is unconscionable. >> jean ross, very important statements you have made and i hope that many have heard you there in minneapolis. best of luck. our thoughts are with you. let's go right back to capitol hill. that is where my colleague josh letterman has some breaking news. what do you have, josh? >> reporter: that is right, alex. disappointing news. we learned that senator rand paul of kentucky has tested positive for coronavirus. the senator's office putting on twitter that he tested positive for covid-19 and his office saying that potential paul is feeling fine and is in quarantine and that he is aso many tom -- is asystematic because of the events held recently and he was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person. but obviously very concerning news. this is the first member of the u.s. senate to have been tested positive for coronavirus. we know that two members of the house of representatives at this point have also tested positive for coronavirus. but obviously this is an illness that is not sparing people of any part of society, alex. >> josh, do we know if every member of the house and/or senate are able to get tests if they want them. because the point you're making about senator rand paul who didn't knowingly come into contact with someone but does travel as so you described it out of an abundance of caution decided to get a test done. is every member of congress able to get one if they want to? >> reporter: we don't know the answer to that exactly, alex. and this is varying from state to state based on the availability of tests in the state. and so members of congress are coming from all different parts of the country. but there is a lot of scrutiny on whether people who are in positions of power, the wealthy, the well connected are able to get access to tests in a way that is different than the average american. we've seen basketball players able to get tests very quickly, the vice president was tested yesterday and got his results back very quickly. obviously there are some legitimate reasons why you want to make sure particularly that people who are in congress and are responsible for passing the legislation that we need right now to help people in this crisis are able to make sure that their health is preserved but there is very real questions about how tests are being dolled out and whether people such as members of congress or other politicians might have special access. >> any indication where the senator is self-quarentining? has he gone to kentucky or a home in potentially washington, d.c.? >> reporter: we don't know exactly where he is but we have not seen senate paul at the senate today. there are a lot of senators here working through the negotiations. senator paul apparently not one of them. >> and obviously i know you joined me and everyone else in wishing him the best as he recovers and hopefully stays asymptomatic. and the news you gave us about an hour ago now was that we have both the democrats and republicans very far apart with regard to the third coronavirus aid package which congress desperately needs to pass, get to the president's desk and get the money funneled to those who need it the most. any news or glimmer in terms of the negotiations between them in the last hour since we've spoken? >> reporter: well we've been told by aides on both sides they are still in discussions. it is not as if they've packed up and gone home for the day. they are continuing to work this out. in anticipation of a vote they say is still planned for 3:00 p.m. it is a procedural vote, it the not the final deal. they're trying to move in the right direction today. >> we'll keep a close eye on that at 3:00 p.m. with your help. thank you. and people are rushing to the grocery stores, more gof governments are imposing the lockdown and that is putting a strain on the food supply and with our host with "what's eating america." that conversation is next. now through march 31st. get 0.9% apr for 60 months on all 2020 models. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. ♪ ♪ you work hard for your money. stretched days for it. ♪ ♪ juggled life for it. ♪ ♪ took charge for it. ♪ ♪ so care for it. look after it. invest with the expertise of j.p. morgan, either with an advisor or online, through chase. after all, it's yours. chase. make more of what's yours. we do it every night. every night. i live alone, but i still do it every night. right after dinner. definitely after meatloaf. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum. a load with as few as 8 dishes, is all it takes to save water. an energy star certified dishwasher uses less than four gallons per cycle. while handwashing uses that, every two minutes. so, do it. run your dishwasher every night with cascade platinum. the surprising way to save water. navigators of the turf and keepers of the green. to the rural ramblers, back to the landers, head turners and stripe burners. run with us on a john deere mower. because this is more than just grass. it's home. search john deere mowers for more. shoppers in some areas like chicago are still faced with empty shelves when they try to stock up on supplies for the lockdown. rrts -- retails have been limited and some food banks will help those in need. america is not short on food though. but a huge burden is placed on the supply chain since the beginning of the pandemic and now nbc is reporting that soo p soourp -- supermarkets are not able to hire workers fast enough to fill grocery store shelves and farms are expecting shortages in labor there as the state department is delaying visa workers from mexico and other countries. joining me now, host of "what is eating america" andrew zimmern. and your thoughts on the shortage of labor, the shortage of not being able to get those grocery store shelves stocked quickly enough. >> my fear, alex, good afternoon, is that it is slowly going to get worse. you have to remember that when there is a crisis of this magnitude and this is certainly the greatest global crisis, national crisis of my lifetime and i'm 58, it reveals the flaws in every single piece of the system. we're seeing this in our health system in terms of getting ppes and we're also going to see it in our food system in terms of certain policies and things that people have been shouting from the side lines for for a generation to get fixed, those problems are now coming home to roost. so just look at the -- the supply chain when it comes to food. you have to remember that a huge portion, from 50% to 75% of the supply chain workers in the field, meat cutters, people who work on fishing boats are all immigrants, a lot of them come through the h2 programs and as people shut borders and begin to get sick we'll see fewer and fewer people showing up for work. the other big problem is because we have a face down immigration reform, we have kept an entire group of people as much as 25%, maybe as much as 40% of our agriculture labor force are illegal immigrants. those people are being marginalized and have been for so long they're not going to slow up at the local clinic or report symptoms because they're afraid of being deported and they're hypermotivated to work when they are sick because they have nothing to fall back on and most vulnerable living check to check and vital to our supply system. so keeping that clean and going is -- is of greatest concern for many. i want to unds sco-- to undersc, we do have a lot of food in america and it is distributing, including truckers on the highway that concerns me. and we have to remember we're coming into the spring planting season for a lot of the country. so as it begins to warm up, what is going to happen to that farm labor crisis that you mentioned? i believe anecdotally as well as by sitting down and doing the math myself on the back of a napkin, there is no way as the country gets sicker and we quarantine more and more, we're not going to have more people showing up to do those jobs, we're going to have less. >> yeah. andrew, i had wanted to play a clip of the show tonight, i wanted to get your thoughts on all of this for which i'm grateful to get. i want to let everyone know that it is the fifth, the final episode tonight, it has been a fantastic series, original programming here by msnbc, "what's eating america." folks can watch it at 9:00 eastern f i eastern. if i'm not mistaken, this is about school lunches, the kinds of foods kids are eating, those that are dependent on school meals for their nutrition. it is all encompassing and it is going to be great. so thank you, andrew, for speaking to us about so many different facets of that which we consume every day. appreciate it. good to see you. and the mayor of cincinnati, ohio, is going to join me next on the effort to contain this virus in his city. (snoring) what's going on? it's the 3pm slump. should have had a p3. oh yeah. should have had a p3. need energy? get p3. with a mix of meat, cheese and nuts. and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but at fidelity, we'll help you work through the unexpected. with financial planning and advice for what you need today... and tomorrow. because when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. now to the midwest. it is not the epicenter of the coronavirus, but it is still very much affected by it. in ohio, there are 247 confirmed cases, three deaths reported thus far. joining me now, cincinnati mayor, john cranley. mayor cranley, look, it seems like the coast are grabbing a lot of the attention. the middle of the country has gotten overlooked to some degree. i would like you to give me a real time snapshot of what is happening in your city there. >> well, we are taking every precaution necessary to make sure that we can continue to provide police and fire and clean water and sewer services, the city government is continuing. in addition, we have instituted social distancing throughout the state, and frankly ohio has been leading on that front. we're trying to keep people as safe as we possibly can at the beginning of this crisis which we know is going to go on for several weeks. >> absolutely. you mentioned you have been aggressive from the get-go. the ohio governor right from the beginning did a few things in the state of ohio correctly. maybe things at the federal government did not do. do you see a discrepancy there. are there things you did in ohio that you think ought to have been done by the federal government? >> yes. and right now what we really need are respirators, we need testing, we need masks and gloves for our police officers, our firefighters, our healthcare workers. we need these things mass produced immediately. and i believe that over the next several weeks we will need military assistance throughout the country, and the wonderful medical assistance that -- expertise that our military has to offer, although candidly, as we ask for that kind of assistance, we also want to ensure that as people get called up, that police and firefighters who are in the reserve, many of whom in our own city, are left in cities because they are going to be on the front lines, ambulance calls, front lines, taking people to hospitals, et cetera. but right now, what we need are mass produced respirators, mass produced masks, and gloves, and ultimately since we think this pandemic could come back in the fall or, you know, ongoing, we can't allow our economy to shut down the way it has again and so we need to really model the examples of taiwan and hong kong with temperatures and the ability to isolate people the way that won't be as damaging as what we have to do now on an emergency basis to save lives. >> yeah, mayor cranley, are you worried about the number of cases climbing given you don't have the tests you need yet? >> absolutely. i mean, at the same time i'm extremely proud of the effort that we have instituted at the state and local level and i have support governor dewine's bold and courageous steps over the last several weeks and we're implementing several measures at the local level. we are prepared for this. we are prepared to provide clean water, we are prepared to continue to provide ambulance and medical services. and we have -- our five major hospitals in cincinnati, we are communicating on a daily basis to prepare for the surge. obviously it could exceed all expectations. but we have a very good plan in place. >> john cranley, very assuring to speak with you. best of luck in cincinnati. appreciate your time. for all of you, want to share breaking news, german chancellor angela merkel is now under self-quarantine. her doctor, her physician, has tested positive for the coronavirus. so she now is staying at home in an abundance of caution. officials say she will be going through testing over the next few days to see if she has caught that virus. of course, we just recently told you about senator rand paul of kentucky having tested positive, he as well in self-quarantine. that's a wrap for me on a busy day of news here on msnbc. i'm alex witt. joshua johnson is up next. he has all the news about senator rand paul testing positive for the coronavirus. tv sports announcer: five seconds left. oh ho! yeah, that's my man there. tv sports announcer: time out. let's go to a commercial. nooooooo! not another commercial! when you bundle your home, auto and life insurance with allstate you could save 25%. in fact, the more you bundle the more you can save. put the other game on if it's important to you allstate can protect it. ...home auto and life insurance you could save 25%. if it's important to you allstate can protect it. what? 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