What would you risk to reopen the country . Soledad im soledad obrien. Welcome to matter of fact. Reopening the country is not like flipping a switch. A safe return to any kind of new normal requires planning. Are we there yet . Infectious disease experts are warning the president and governors to take it slow. As governors in texas, south carolina, florida, georgia and tennessee are already lifting restrictions to reopen some businesses. I spoke to doctor tom frieden, the former director of the cdc and president and ceo of resolve to save lives, a Global Public health organization. Dr. Frieden, thank you for talking with me. Six states so far say theyre going to be opening up in the definition of whatever that means. Sort of varies a little bit. But how do you feel about that . What would your advice be to those people who run those states . Dr. Frieden this is a very hard decision. We need to follow the data and we need to understand the pace of the virus, even though it spreads very quickly. P d it begs spreading, we wont see that for three to four weeks. That means we need to go gradually and in phases. And there are sensible things that people are considering, like picking up groceries or other things at the entrance of a shop rather than going in or opening parks that are outdoors. But we really do have to be careful. We have to make sure that were tracking the virus that is decreasing steadily, that our Health Care System isnt going to get overwhelmed, that were able to box it in by testing isolating, Contact Tracing and quarantine. So weve put the virus in a box and we can come out more broadly. Soledad youve said testing a lot. You talk a lot about testing. What is appropriate testing . Where are we now, what would be appropriate testing, and how would you structure that . Like, who first, and how do you make sure that their tests are accurate . Dr. Frieden thats exactly the right question. Who first . Because the frank truth is we do not have enough tests today. If we tested just the highest priority people, it would be about three times more tests than we have today. We want to make sure that anyone who is admitted to hospital gets tested. We want to make sure that any Health Care Worker whos got cough or fever gets tested. We want to make sure that anyone in a nursing home or other congregate facility, like a shelter or jail or a housing where everyones together and has symptoms. They need to be tested. Why . Because if we can isolate them, we can prevent an explosive spread of this virus. Soledad are you comfortable that the tests are accurate . Do you feel like overall were getting an accurate picture of how many people have been affected and infected with corona virus . Dr. Frieden there are two kinds of tests. Tests for the virus itself and tests for antibodies. The tests for the virus are generally accurate. However, the sampling has to be done quite well. And antibody tests are a whole different story. There are many tests on the market and many of them are quite inaccurate. Were in kind of a wild west of antibody tests. I wouldnt trust anything out there until theyre much better standardized. Soledad if someones asymptomatic, can they give the disease to other people . Dr. Frieden weve seen that people without symptoms can infect others. Thats one of the things that makes this virus so hard to control. Its going to take a long time until we have a vaccine, which could take years. Were going to be living in a different type world. Were going to go back out again. But its not going to be back to normal. Its going to be the new normal. Soledad so then should it go county by county . I mean, there counties in wisconsin where theyll say, listen, we have three cases, we can manage this. Its insane that we are shut down when we know the three cases that we have. Were not new york city. Dr. Frieden there is an Important Role for having different approaches in different states and different parts of the state. The same guidelines, the same principles, but applied locally. If you reopen today a little bit and you say, oh, a week later, everythings fine. Youre really fooling yourself because its going to take three to four weeks if spread resumes before you see that in a huge number of patients coming in. We all hope that people will reopen safely. And as we reopen, it wont come roaring back. But we shouldnt be lulled into a sense of false security. Soledad dr. Tom frieden, thank you for talking with me and thank you for the data. In a time when it seems like theres so much conflicting information understanding the , facts is really important. I really appreciate that. Matteroffact not being able to see my friends as much. How do you help kids with special needs navigate new routines . Plus. We are the first inhabitants of this country and we are usually the last served. Are native americans on their own when it comes fighting covid19 . And, how libraries lend a helping hand during a health crisis. Frustrated that clean clothes you want to wear always seem to need an iron . Try bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets. The bounce wrinkle guard shorts have fewer wrinkles and static, and more softness. Its the worlds first mega sheet that does the job of three dryer sheets bounce out wrinkles. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Soledad providing special education can be a challenge for schools and families under normal circumstances. But in these times social distancing magnifies those difficulties for teachers and students. According to the National Center for education statistics, 7 million children receive special education services. And right now schools are trying to figure out what services theyre legally required to provide their students. How do schools provide speech, physical therapy Occupational Therapy or any other type of therapy remotely . Our correspondent Jessica Gomez has more. Jessica soledad, many of us are worried our kids education. Are they getting what they need before schools reopen . But for those millions of families with special needs kids whose lives and routines have been upended, academic progress isnt the only concern. Its going fine. Jessica 13yearold evan bondioli, like so many kids across the country, adjusting to his new Virtual School day. How has it been going on your work . Jessica but evan, who is on the autism spectrum, has even more responsibility than he did just a month ago. Both parents are pharmacists and with no childcare now, that means, some days, he and his 9 yearold brother, are on their own. Everything changes every day. We sit down in the morning like a morning meeting. Jessica according to evan, it working. With one downside. Not being able to really see my friends as much. For kids like evan with autism, they do have to actually practice speaking and communicating with other kids, interacting with other people, and right now hes not getting that interaction. Is a weird energy. It is normally so full of life. Jessica socialization for kids with auism. Part of why special Education TeacherMargaret Fairbanks and her husband mark started islands of brilliance. Their son harry, now 21 and in college, is on the spectrum. What we do is create a space where they feel welcome. Jessica today, quiet reminders of the creativity usually inspired here. Normally buzzing with activity, the nonprofit offers art, design and stem workshops for kids on the spectrum. Each, paired with a professional mentor. We are just kind of hanging out and drawing right now. Jessica the fairbanks, with help from their older son charlie and mentors working remotely are now rushing to connect their community of kids, virtually. Can anybody hear me . Jessica overcoming the technological bugs so they can design some real ones. Regression is a huge fear. If youve gotten to the point where you can communicate, you can have backandforth turntaking, you understand what it is like to be polite, shared conversation. If you dont practice that skill, just like anything, you lose that skill. Im good at drawing the bumblebee stripes. Jessica from austin, texas, 6th grader morgan kase logging on for the islands of brilliance doodle class, a Welcome Break in her day. It helps mom kathy as well. She sees me not only as the mom, as the teacher, the caregiver, all day long. So to have that time quote unquote away with her friends, socializing, helps us regroup. Jessica for kids like morgan, her mom says, a consistent routine is important. They make their beds every day, try to keep things as normal as possible. We are getting ready for the day , not just slumping in our pajamas every day. There are days, but not every day. Jessica whole family. There are times when we just kind of make a decision to have our Mental Health be first and school and thats what it takes. Second. This is a long time, we dont know how long we are going to be in this situation, Mental Health is always first. Jessica creating together. Margaret fairbanks says it can help ease the anxiety some kids may be feeling. I had a parent share with me that her daughter was doing really well, but now shes afraid that everybody is going to die. We need to give them hope. And some sense of joy and a place to connect. Because without that, its a lot harder. I would say he needs to do three assignments. Jessica despite some frustrating days for evan, his parents say hes stepping up. With my parents being pharmacists, i understand how their job is really important. If nothing else, the kids will learn, sometimes you have to be flexible, sometimes you have to make good of a bad situation so there are still lessons being learned. Jessica for matter of fact, im Jessica Gomez. Soledad School Districts are trying to be flexible as they navigate distance learning. But many are struggling. Some districts have asked the department of education to waive some regulations that require equal access to learning, or whats called equitable learning. They say its impossible to meet that requirement right now. Education secretary betsy devos has until the end of april to ask congress to waive special education rules. Coming up. Are states violating the constitution when it comes to getting a fair trial . But first, protecting native americans during a p soledad major cities are the focus of conversations about covid19. Tribal lands appear to be even more vulnerable. Hardest hit, the navajo nation. It stretches across three states. Arizona, utah and new mexico. Its home to about 175 thousand people. Lack of access to water combined with Health Inequities is fueling the spread of the virus among the navajo. I spoke with dean seneca of the seneca nation. Hes an Infectious Disease expert who spent nearly 20 years as a Senior Health scientist for the centers for Disease Control and prevention. Dean, thank you for talking with me. I certainly appreciate it. Lets begin with the scope of the problem. How bad is it across all of indian country, not just the seneca right now . Dean well. You know, navajo nation, the albuquerque area, areas withiniy hard. I believe theres close to 1500 cases combined in that area. We have a few in the high double digits kind of in the portland area, i believe. And then sparsely throughout the rest of the country, a handful in alaska. But, you know, so were doing pretty well. But given the fact of all of the conditions that native people are subjected to regarding lack of funding, high health disparities, not having the equipment, you know, relying on others for for assistance and help, the situation, in my opinion, could be much worse. Soledad so the pandemic, we know hasnt hit rural areas as hard as its hit some big urban areas. Are your hospitals, our rural hospitals prepared if there is an influx which is expected . Dean what we are seeing, no. They are struggling with what many of the urban hospitals are suffering from. That is lack of ppe, lack of proper equipment, lack of infrastructure, not having the qualified workforce, lack of ability to do proper testing. Rural america is impacted just as much as urban america. We need about three times the money that we get right now our tribal Communities Just to have equal Health Service per capita with the rest of the population. Thats huge. Soledad whats your status right now on the tests . Are there tests available . Dean im not seeing that. The last day i did see was that indian Health Service was purchasing 9000 test kits. Now 9000 test kits for 5. 5 million people, close to 6 million people, you could figure that out. Thats not nearly enough. Soledad what is social distancing like on an indian reservation . Dean when you have a native community, its very common to have the great grandmother, the grandmother, the parents and the kids all in one household. Its very cultural. Given that situation, its very, very hard to do, say, social distancing, because you have all of these folks in a very crowded area in a home and its hard to to stay apart. And these are not the best equipped facilities to be homes and provide, you know, proper living conditions, you know. Soledad final question for you. The stimulus, 8 billion to cover the nearly 600 tribes across the nation. When do you get that money . Is that enough money . What are you going to use it for . Dean well we asked for 20 and we got eight. No it is not nearly enough money. Its really just a drop in the bucket. And we need much more. Soledad dean seneca is a member of the seneca tribe and also epidemiologist. Mice to talk to you. Thank for being with me. Is justice really blind . A recent Supreme Court ruling says maybe not. And check it out. How libraries go above and beyond to put a book in your hands during social distancing. Soledad welcome back to matter of fact and a segment we like to call were paying attention, even if youre too busy. Last week, the u. S. Supreme court ruled that juries must reach a unanimous verdict to convict someone of a serious crime, like murder. Most of us probably thought that was already the law. But two states, louisiana and oregon, allowed convictions on a 10 to 2 vote. The courts decision, written by justice gorsuch, said the laws were rooted in a racist history. Allowed to serve on juries, the states movedckurors could not stop a conviction. In short, he said, only a unanimous verdict guarantees a fair trial, which is a constitutional right. This ruling stems from the case of a man convicted of murder in louisiana in 2016. Since then, louisiana has since changed its constitution to require unanimous verdicts. But it only applies to crimes committed after 2018. The Supreme Court ruling could lead to the retrial of thousands of cases. Still ahead on matter of fact, even with their doors closed, libraries are booked and busy. We love the new apartment. The Natural Light is amazing. Hardwood floors. There is a bit of a clogging problem. clog dancing at least geico makes it easy to bundle our renters and car insurance. Yeah, helping us save us even more. For bundling made easy, go to geico. Com when you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets 24 7. So where you go the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. [female vo] restaurants are facing a crisis. And theyre counting on your takeout and delivery orders to make it through. Grubhub. Together we can help save the restaurants we love. Soledad finally, a Community Lifeline make sure it still serves its patrons even during a pandemic. Libraries are hubs in many communities. They host lectures, book clubs, and programs for nearly every age group. And those with limited or no Internet Access frequently head to the library to get online. Covid19 forced thousands of Public Libraries to close their doors, but not their services. In ohio the Columbus Metropolitan Library created Internet Access sites in parking lots. The williamsburg Virginia Public Library converted bookmobiles into wifi hot spots, then parked at grocery stores, churches, and schools. The Saint Louis County library in missouri opened a drive Community Members in need. And, in el dorado, california, the library delivers, with a Service Called zip book. Often when lots of people in one house are using devices at the same time, its easy to get knocked off wifi. So some libraries are offering residents the chance to borrow mobile hot spots to use at home. Because libraries are awesome. Thats it for this edition of matter of fact. Im soledad obrien. I will see you back here next week. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] hello and welcome to Asian Pacific america. Im robert handa. I guess i should say welcome back to Asian Pacific america here on nbc bay area and cozitv. Weve had a hiatus because of the covid19 concerns. We are back. It will look different but we hope youll find the remote interviews we do still informative and enlightening. Well start with george hawn, the Deputy Director of the Santa Clara Health department, one of the first agencies to respond to the coronir