Viewers like you. Thank you. This is bbc world news america. I am laura trevelyan. Ericans are told to avoid gatherings of more than 10 ople as the white house tries to contain the conavirus. Pres. Trump i have to say that our government is prepared to do whatever it takes. There i a market meltdown on wall street as the dow drops 3000 points. Nees are freyed. An how britains advising the early 70s to stay safe. For all of you watching on p and around t globe, welcome to world news america. New york city is eerily quiet. S drastic ste taken to contain the coronavirus. Presidt trump says that there may be recession in america and wall street plunged further. The government has announced strict guidelines over the 15 days. Nick bryant starts our coverage. We live in a world where so much looks familiar but almost everything feels different. On a monday morning Staten Island ferry, these empty roads were a measurecof community ern. A global badge of fear. People are worried and we dont know what to do. I was thinking this morning about how apocalyptic it felt. Like, this is a movie. Unbelievable. Never seen it like this in my life. Rk on the new ubway system, socialou distancing wld usually be impossible in the middle of the rush hour. Thorning it felt like a ost train. The city of perpetual motion is shutting down. Bars, restaurants, school systems. It is frightening for workers like liz santana. It is very emotial for all of us. Timesor square ismally the pulsing heart of manhattan. The only activity was on its big screens. Images from a chinese news channel now playing out here. They call times square the crossroads of the world, but body wants to meet here anymore. The nationesque of a capital looked like a scene the Nations Capital looked like a scene from a dystopian drama. Ams also the economic fallout after another cous day on the market which took another hit after he answeredhi question. Is the u. S. Economy heading pres. Trump it may be. There is tremendous pentup demand in terms of the stock market and theconomy. Once this goes away, youll see surge. Ndous u. S. Allies50 are seeking a billion government bailout. One sector of economy is experiencing a dramatic spike in sales. The cue in los angeles was for g uns. Markets went tumbling. The dow suffered its worst drop three decades after a halt ino trading failedmit market worries. Why is this the worst day for the dow since 1987 . There arepl few issues at. On sunday, the u. S. Federal reserve made an unprecedented move on sunday. They cut Interest Rates to nearly zero. Theyre spending 0 billion to buy these instruments to put liquidity into the market. You would think that is a good move but because there is a limit to whasethe federal e can do, investors on wall street of taken it as a sign that the Federal Reserve is throwing everything they could at the problem and perhaps too quickly. We saw that markets fell dramatically when they started trading. As y pointed out, during that prs conference with donald trump, when asked about the possibility of a recession, he said, we may well be there. Is this market roller coaster the new normal . I think that the problem is thates irs are in uncharted territory. One person on the floor today said, we have never seen anything like this, even compared to 28. At least there was some idea of where this was going to hit. In thisarticular instance, every single part of the economy is being impacte theres no real area for investors to hide or wait until this blows over. Thats the other issue we heard from the president that this could go to august. That rattled investors because that is a long time to be dealing with that what does the plunging market mean for regular americans . It meansfhat iou are invested in any kind of stocks, if you have a 401k or investments, they are taking a nosedive. If youre playing the long game, experts will say dont touch anything. If you needed your money in the short term, thats a differe calculus. In terms of any longterm investing, you probably might be ok, but its anyones guess. Laura for more on the impact, i was joined by diane swan, chief economist at Grant Thornton in chicago. Wahow ba today . Diane it wasloy. Uncharted waters. I consider it a riptide. The oy way to get ou of it is to move with the tide to the side, not towd the shoreline. It mea you have to go with the flow and deal with the health crisis. We have to maksure that we get that tamped down to get some sort of footing for the market and where the economy can come back from. Laura can the federal government doo moreave off a recession . Diane ty cannot stave off a recession. No matter what they do we are going through this huge stop. This is something we dont have can the government blunt the blows so that on the other se, individuals remain solvent . The iceberg is there. Make sure that everyone has lifeboats this time. Laura does this feel like 2008 or of those things wely i know all 1987 was my first crisis. We dont kno the governments reaponse has been but its not enough. We need a t lot a clock is ticking. Until wall street sees efforts to keep people paid and keep these firms afloat, not picking winners and losers, ware talking bailouts, the whole nine rds. This is what we need now unt we get on the other side of this health crisis. That was southern that couldnt happen at the beginning of 2009. No one wanted to catch the falling knife. Low Interest Rates on the others this will matter. They dont matte as much until the other side. We dont want to sli through in to these covid tainted waters. It is critical to get sick pay for regular americans, to get anyone who is losing wages support right away. We cannot wait until they make unemployment claims. We cannowait for a process. They need money now. The job losses are immediate. That happened in008, this is worse. Has chinas economy been affected . Diane the chinese economy has been decimated. The fact that they are admitting how much was decimated. This is the first negative quarter in 30 years and the worst crisis they have faced in a long time. The second largest economy in the world slipped well into negative territory. Seven of the largest economies in the world reflect negative the first quarter. The u. S. Barely grew in the first quarter. Ill slip negative in th second quarter. Laura that is the economic fallout. How about efforts to contain the virus . The director of harvards Global Health institute joined me earlier. What do you think of the u. S. Governme is but 15 days of extreme social distancing guidelines . Cannot help . Can that help . I think that will be helpful. C are pretty far behind where we should be hasntry. A 15day period where we have extreme social distancing is a good srt to catch up. Laura without widespread testing, can we know how far and fast the h virus spread . Right now, we have identifiet 3500 people wi disease. Most experts believe that we have tens of thousands ofaf americancted. We dont know whereo hey are and ey are spreading it to until we get testing. Laura the u. S. Surgeon general says that america could be like italy. Hawhat is your reaction to . As we know, northernittaly has beenarticularly hard. Many hospitals have bn overwhelmed and many have died unnecessarily. We have a choice. Ouwe be like 80 or we could stave off that like italy or we could stave off that fate. It depends on what we do over the next 1015 day its not going to happen unless we act aggressively. Talsa are americas hos ady to deal with a huge influx of patients if that happens . We have a great hospital sydem with great doctors an nurses. The problem is if hospitals act like it is business as usual, they are not going to be ready. Some hospitals are getting aggressive abo canceling elective procedures and thinking through how they expand capacity. Other hospitals are dragging their feet. We need all hospitals in america to get proactive. If the do, they can get ready for what is coming. Laura how would you rate the federal governments response so far. Esent trump gave himself a 10. I would give him a 10 out of 100. Its not 100 o out of 10. By every objective measure, the american responsam has been ically behind everyone else. We still dont have widespread availability of testing. We have had two months of mixed messaging from the government im happy to see that in the last four or five days the federal government is starting to turn it aroun but that is one misstep after another after another. It has been an abysmal failure. I finally feel that in thefe lat days the federal government has begun to understand what challenge we are facing. Laura how long do you think the coronavirus could be with us . The president said until july or august. Its hard to know. This is a novel virus. This is the first time that humans have encountered the virus. Its reasonable to assume it wont be a quick fix, that we int be back to wofour weeks. It coulde with us for a long time. It could be with us forever. The question is how long will it continue to disrupt our lives . Ti seet in weeks to months, not in day sand not days and not in years. Laura thank you for being with us. Thank you mor having laura there is a lot of virus news to cover tonight. Here are a few of the other headnes. The u. S. Supreme court has delayed hearings for the first time in a century. Over a dozendelays cases including one on whether President Trump can keep hisax returns from coming public. Canada has closed its borders to citizens. Ationals except u. S. From minister trudeau is in isolation after his wife contracted the virus and urged canadians to stay at home. Idris elba has announced he has tested positive for covid19. The star has been isolated since he found out about his exposure. He says he doesnt have symptoms and feels ok and will keep people updated. Youre watching bbc world news america. Still toome, european nations close borders and clamp down at home with frce and spain among those limiting movements on their people. For the past few weeks, wel been told the best thing to prevent the spread of coronavirus is not only not not only washing our hands but not touching our faces. How hard is it to stop the habit of a lifetime . The tasha has these tips for those of us natashaas these tips for those of us who are tempted to touch our faces. Dt touch your face. Pres. Trump i havent touched my face in weeks. Its part of our dna. We are hardwired to do it. Every timel you telyourself stop touching your face, dont yourself to do something that is entirely unnatur to you. What we are really doing ises combing ourseown. When we touch certain areas of the face, we certain pressure points which activate something called the parasympathetic nervous system. We can see the same response in dogs and in cats. Children model the same behavior as their parents. Whilst its almost impossible to totally stop touching your face, a key way to make it easier is you to do it. He habit that leads that mine that might mean wearing glasses instead of contact lenses. It might also mean creating habits around how you use your hands. Rather than always moving around or having your hands like this making it so easy to land on your face, making an effort to cross yourands on you r helap, the urge comes, you will be more aware of what you are d ing. I cleane hands before i touched my face. Laura spainsovernment has allowed sweeping measures to allow it to take over private health care. The number of cases has risen to almost0. 9 300 people have died. Spain has placed the country on partial lockdow this ispain under, war footing the military under mobilized the fight the virus. Keep apart, police warned people in madrid. Day one of a state declared emergency. if you dot have a mask, improvise. Youre only allowed to go out if youre heading to work or buying food. These italian stude ss are stuck in indefinitely as all flights to italy have been grounded. They think t lockdown is justified. Do you think this is necessary . Y. Absolut its the only way to fight this situation. This is now a Europe Capital livg under extraordinary measures. The buses are running but they at the museum, police scan mobiles for the latest information. Th main train station is still working but only for essential journeys. Tthe risk virus is all around. A doctor is trying to get back to her hospital urgently. She was studying in the usa but received a call saying they need her here. I guess that this is an emergency and anything that we can do to help is what we have to do. Is thihy spains hospits, a Health System under severe stress, there is a desperate need to slow the pace under which peofee are being ed. This hospital haset aside more than 100 beds for coronavirus patients for the pa few days. Theyre not overwhelmed but the problem is that they are already running low on stock of safety equipment. That means the medical staff are at risk. Alex tells me that the masks we are carrying are better than those the hospital staff provided. I think that it is necessary that the government takes tags me do not understand. We see what other countrie t didntnk this is the best thing to do. Those who are forced to stay at home are trying to make the most of it. An aerobic session free for everyone stuck in one group apartment. A game of communal flatbound bingo, keeping spirits up as the country shuts down. Spain is closing its borders. Nionly residents and s citizens allowed to enter. Laura in britains primeter is telling people to stay away from the pubs and workathome if they can Boris Johnson warned those over 70 to avoid allnnecessary social contact. They say the last saved the last dance for today. The older genation told they must step away from others and to minimize contact. To be told because im over 70, just, that ive got to stay home. I know its not going to be in my interest, even though the intention is good. Its like solitary confinement without having done the crime. It is mothering sunday next sunday. Am i going to be able to see my family or will i be in skype while they are in the restaunt . I think we have had rather conflicting information. On the seafront, fresh air is allowed. All of the people to avoid others,he those witth conditions shielded for 12 weeks. We kept our distance. Ar wvery social animals, but we have skype for our family. re calm and unafraid. Erwhats thrown at us. Social distancing needs to happen because whethe older generation are out and about, they cant be p sure ifple have coronavirus but are not showing symptoms. There is a clear d iger that socilation is also likely to be a big problem. I wont be able to teach from home. Readying for itself isolation is jane vallardo. Her daughter hasnt has insisted that she works online from home. Preparing to selfisolate because i am in the age group and i suffer diabeetes. Im ane vble person. I missou. The good thing about this technology is that you wont be able to get rid of me. Itsha underminedwe will be able to do nice things together. For the elderly, the anvulnerable, prewomen and their families, these are going to be difficult, split apart in the hope that lives will be saved. Before we go, lets recap some of our biggest virus stories. President trump announced a new series of guidelines, recommending that americans should not gather in groups of more than 10. Markets plunged again on wall street with the d giving back nearly 3000 points. The french president has had the country is in a state of war against the coronavirus. Emmanu macron delivered restrictions that he said are you can see us on our website anytime. I am laura trevelyan, thank you for watching world news america. Have a safe evening. Presentation of this program is provided by. Pman babbel, an onligram developed by language specialists teaching spanish, french, and more. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Mr. Rogers its a beautiful girl we are the curious. Man 1 wow tu man 1 the advenrous. Man 2 oh daniel tiger grrr woman 2 those venturing out for the firsaltime. Blast off [rocket explosion] man 3 and those who have never lost our sense of wonder. Man 4 whoa g man 5 are you seeinthis . [quacking] vo we are the hungry. Cookie monster cookie man 6 the strong. Hammad ali i must be t vo the joyful. Bob ross ha py little cloud. Man 3 we believe there is always more we can uncover. Girl more we can explore. Ev woman 3 we be. Man 6 . Inhe capacity for goodness. Vo and the potential for greatns. Man 7 the torch has been passed to a new generation of ericans. Man 1 pbs. Man 3 pbs. Girl pbs. Captioning sponsored by newshour productionsllc woodruff good evening, im judy woodruf on the newshour tonight. Avo gathering in groups of more than 10 people. Woodruff . A new reality, as covid19 continues its spread, amerans adjust to life with widespread closings, social distancing and economic turmoil while preparing for a strain on hospitals not seen in modern life then, head to head joe biden and Bernie Sanders square off in a debate dominated by coronavirus as several key primary contests draw near. Plus, the pandemic abroad report from lebanon as covid19 grips a nation already in economic freefall and the government orders a countrywide shutdown