Me. I want to take us quickly to the governor of new york holding a press conference right now following the announcement of new restrictions, really in coordination between new york, connecticut and new jersey with regard to banning gatherings of 50 people or more, and there should could be much more. Lets listen in. One set for the entire state and it should be one set of rules for the entire nation. And that is the role of the federal government and national leadership. And it is lacking. The federal government should put one position in place and coordinate it with the states. If the federal government isnt going to do what it should do, then the states have to try their best, right . And the best way is for me not only to have a uniform policy within the state of new york, but to the extent you can, cooperate with surrounding states so you all have a common set of practices, right . I dont want to close down bars in new york but connecticut leaves the bars open. Why . Because then many people will get into their car and theyll drive to connecticut to go to a bar, which is the last thing we want. Now we have people who are drinking and driving. It makes no sense. I dont want to have one set of rules here and a different set of rules in new jersey because then i close down the bars, youll get in the car, youll drive to new jersey. Makes no sense. Well, then get the states to coordinate themselves. Yes, very hard to do. Luckily we have set a template where our regional states work together. Many of you came to our regional meeting on marijuana laws, and i have a Good Relationship that ive developed with the surrounding governors. So we have actually deployed that here. And i just did a call with Governor Phil Murphy of new jersey and governor ed lamont of connecticut, and we are adopting the same policies. So there is no benefit to try to shop new york versus connecticut versus new jersey. There will be no more gatherings of 50plus people, so if you were hoping to plan a graduation party, you cant do it in the state of new york, you cant go do it in the state of new jersey, and you cant do it in the state of connecticut. Casinos, we all have casinos. If i close my casinos, would new jersey keep their casinos open . Were going to have the same problem. All casinos will be closed effective 8 00 p. M. Tonight and they will stay closed until further notice. On all these closings, they are all until further notice, and hopefully i can coordinate with the other governors so we can have the same opening period just the way we had the same closing period. Gyms are closed effective 8 00 p. M. Tonight. I know thats a specific hardship for the people in this room, because i can all see youre in masterful shape, buff, even. There are other ways to exercise. Theaters closing at 8 00 tonight until further notice. Any bar or restaurant closes at 8 00 tonight. However, there is a Silver Lining for these establishments because were also very aware of the economic consequences for these establishments. So the state Liquor Authority is going to change its rules. Theyll have guidance up by 5 00 p. M. This evening that will allow bars, restaurants, d distilleries to sell their product off premises. So whatever you could order in the bar or restaurant or distill distillery or winery, you can purchase through takeout. We hope that goes a long way towards alleviating any economic hardship. Stay home and order from your favorite restaurant, order from your favorite bar, order from your favorite winery, order from whatever establishment that you were thinking of patronizing, just order it and stay at home, and again, the state Liquor Authority will change their rules to allow that. Its not currently allowed. We will only allow it during this period of closure. But i think it will help those businesses. As you know, weve done a lot of work from the wineries and disti distilleries in new york, and we want to protect them. Now youre at home with your kids. My kids are a little older, but i remember the old days when youre in the house with young kids, the house can get very small very quickly. The kids can get very rambunctious very quickly. Were going to waive all park fees in all state parks, local parks, county parks. So if you want to get out of the house, great. Go to the park. The weather is changing. Take a walk, enjoy, enjoy your family, and do it in an environment that is not a dense environment, which is exactly what the parks provide. Other actions, all local governments must reduce their work force by 50 minimum. Im directing all local governments to allow their nonessential personnel to stay home, work from home with a 50 minimum. Local government can go higher than 50 , but it must be a 50 minimum. Work from home, which is the same thing im asking private businesses. If we can ask private businesses to do that, government, i think, leads by example. So not just for new york State Government, which will do this also, all local governments, nonessential people work from home and a minimum of 50 of the work force must stay at home. Second, im directing local governments to make sure that all their local Police Departments and Emergency Management services are supplied with masks, surgical masks. You have Police Officers who are encountering people in all different circumstances. Ems workers who traditionally wear masks, Police Officers who traditionally do not, but i was at the new rochelle drivethrough Testing Center the other day. You know, if youre a police officer, youre walking up to a car, youre stopping a driver, they roll down the window. By definition youre within more than 6 feet. You dont know who youre talking to. People are positive who dont even know that theyre positive. I want all the Police Officers who are showing all First Responders are showing great courage getting up and going out and doing their job every day. I want them to know that we understand the situation theyre putting themselves in, and were providing the necessary precautions. So every local government must provide their local police department, ems workers with masks. New york city, nassau, suffolk and rockland, must have essential services and meal programs in place by midnight. We said that those schools will be closing. But we need to take care of the negative, the downside of closing the school. This is not an easy decision. There are negatives when you close a school. Most notably, you dont have child care for essential personnel. You dont have child care for Health Care Workers. Remember, remember, please, the greatest challenge and the greatest damage is going to be done by an overwhelmed Health Care System. Nurses, Health Care Workers, 1199 members, dont have alternatives to child care. Public education is also this states child care system. Its this nations child care system. And its not that easy to say, well, let them get a babysitter. They cant afford it, its hard to find, and we would have created a true negative situation if we lost Health Care Workers or First Responders because we closed schools and they had to stay home with their children. This is solved easily enough. Youre closing schools, dont close all the schools. Leave a couple of schools open or parts of schools open to provide child care for the essential personnel. We also have to have meal programs and Meal Services in place and Educational Services in place. On that condition, i ordered the schools closed. But its on that condition. And i want those plans, and i want them in place by midnight, and they have to be approved. We strongly advise that only services and businesses that are essential stay open after 8 00 p. M. Grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, medical facilities. We want people home, we want less density. We strongly advise this. This is not mandatory but it is strongly advised. And its not mandatory at this time. And it may be in the future, but it is strongly advised at this time. Testing, we have had a phenomenal increase in testing. Weve been able to use our laboratories, our Emergency Management team has done a very good job of reaching out to our state labs, getting them on track, getting them coordinated. Our testing numbers are way up, as youll see. Next week by the end of this week we think well be up to about 7,000 tests per day, which is an exponential increase of what we have done. I made this suggestion to the Vice President , i made it to the president. I often tell you when i am unhappy with the federal response to this state, the fairness dictates that kudos where kudos are due, and here the Vice President and the president responded very quickly. So i want to thank them for that. We started a drivethrough testing facility in new rochelle, westchester, why we have one of the highest clusters. Its one of the first in the United States, i believe the first on the eastern seaboard. It has worked very well. Its safe for everyone. You drive up in your car, you never get out of your car, youre tested in your vehicle. They take the test kits back. The time that it takes to take the test is actually faster than we thought. It doesnt normally happen in government. We allotted 15 minutes per car. Its actually running ahead of that schedule. We want to replicate that because its just smart. The worst thing is a person walking into an emergency room. If you are positive, you infect other people. If you are negative, you may get infected by walking into the emergency room. So this is the best way to test someone. We said we were going to open one on long island after the positive new rochelle experience. Were also going to open one on Staten Island. Staten island does not have an abundance of hospitals. Staten island is a community where people drive, and Staten Island, i believe, is an appropriate location for this. I also think that Staten Island feels that they have not gotten the level of attention of Health Services that they need. And ive spoken to max rose, ive spoken to senator andrew lanza, and i believe this is going to make a difference. Well also open one in Rockland County on the same theory. Were going to a new phase in this entire process. We talked about early detection, weve talked about testing, we talked about containment. You see those numbers are going up. That means youre moving towards a mitigation phase, and youre moving to a phase where you must expect a significant inflow into the Hospital Health care system. Now, again, this is the great curve they talk about, plus or minus. Flatten the curve, flatten the curve, flatten the curve. Thats what you hear every day on tv. You see this curve, we must flatten the curve. The concept is right. Flatten the curve, slow the spread so the Health Care System can handle it. When they say this, i dont think of a curve, i think of a wave. And the wave is going to break and the wave is going to break on the Hospital System. Were doing everything we can to flatten the curve. I believe weve taken more dramatic actions than any state in the United States. I believe weve had the most Effective Response than any state in the United States. I dont believe were going to be able to flatten the curve enough to meet the capacity of the Health Care System. So in this business, plan ahead. Plan forward. Anticipate whats coming down the road and get ready for it. Expanding the capacity of the Health Care System for a state is virtually impossible. Building a hospital is a very elaborate, extensive, expensive undertaking. Again, we need the federal government to play its role. The federal government has tremendous capacity. I was in the federal government. I was a cabinet secretary. I worked with the military. I worked with the army corps of engineers. They have tremendous capacity. This is what they do. This is what they do. They build airports, they build bridges, they build hospitals. This is exactly what they do. Deploy the army corps of engineers to come work with states to build temporary medical facilities. Get us backup beds, so when the hospital is overwhelmed, we can have some of the people who are in the hospital beds go to a backup medical facility. It makes all the sense in the world. And if you dont do it, you know what is going to happen. Youre going to overwhelm the hospitals. You only have 53,000 hospital beds. You only have 3,000 icu beds. Why . Because our Health System is basically a private system. They dont build capacity that they dont need. They dont build extra icu beds just in case. An intensive care bed is very expensive. They dont build the wing of icu beds that sit vacant for ten years on the off chance that theres going to be a Public Health emergency and youll need the beds. They dont. Its not economic. Its not a Good Business model. So we dont have them. We have the capacity that people use day in and day out. And thats not just new york, thats every state in the United States. You now have this influx, you cant handle it. You overwhelm the hospitals. You have people on gurneys in hallways. That is what is going to happen now if we do nothing. That is what is going to happen now if we do nothing. And that, my friends, will be a tragedy. We know what lies ahead. Look at the numbers from china, south korea and italy. You dont have to guess. You just have to project. The numbers are on a chart. Our numbers are on a chart. Just extend the current trajecto trajectory. Just go dot, dot, dot, dot, and youll see the numbers rise, and you compare those numbers to our Hospital Capacity, and its still math at the end of the day. And it doesnt work. The federal government must do this. Assume the federal government doesnt do what the federal government is supposed to do, which would not be a wild assumption as it hasnt happened to date. Well, then, as a fallback, the states have to do whatever they have to do. And the state has to mobilize to create backup medical facilities. And that is what we are going to do. Were going to organize the national guard, the work with the building unions and work with private developers to find existing facilities that could most easily be adapted to medical facilities. Meaning what . Meaning dormitories, meaning former nursing homes, facilities that have that basic configuration that could be retrofit. Even that is not easy because you have the construction element ask you also have the equipment element. It is very, very hard to get medical equipment now, because everybody on the globe is trying to buy the same medical equipment. Everybody wants to buy a ventilator, everybody wants to buy ox generally. Everybody is trying to buy the same equipment, and its terribly scarce. Thats why i go back again to the capacity of the federal government, which operates and maintains a medical emergency stock where they have stocked medical equipment for domestic issues or for wartime, right . When you go to war and they set up a wartime hospital, they have equipment. They have it stockpiled. Thats why theyre uniquely suited to do this. But in any event, were going to do the best we can. I need, first and foremost, to find available facilities that can be converted. And im asking local governments, especially in the most dense area, to immediately identify a number of beds in facilities that are available. Frankly, i hope theres surplus because we dont have this is very expensive and i dont want to pay money for acquisition of property and real estate, but we need the communities that are most effective to begin finding available beds. New york city, we estimate conservatively. We, at this point, should identify 5 thousand additional beds, nasa 1,000 additional beds, westchester, 2,000 additional beds. Why more for westchester . Westchester has the new rochelle cluster which, as you know, has sufficient number of people who tested positive. We will do everything we can. But we need federal assets, and we need federal assistance. I am very proud of this State Government and what it can do. And we have done things that no State Government has done before. We built bridges, we build airports, we respond to emergencies. But know what you cant do. We dont have the billions of dollars that you would need to implement an immediate Emergency Hospital construction program. This state cant do it, no state can do it. To increase Hospital Capacity of the existing hospitals in the meantime, doh is going to be suspending its regulations to allow existing hospitals to increase their space and capacity. Doh has regulations about how many beds per room, how much space between beds, et cetera, how wide a hallway has to be. Those are going to be suspended so hospitals can actually use their physical space with more efficiency. Were leaving it up to the hospitals for their discretion and prudence in making these decisions. But we do have to get very aggressive about them better using their existing space. I want the private hospitals to be on notice that we may soon be cancelling elective surgery. We are not doing it now. Elective surgery is between 25 and 35 of the beds. Some of the elective surgery is critical. Some is not critical. The noncritical elective surgery may be canceled on a mandatory basis. Im asking them now as a precaution to start to plan to cancel elective surgery that is not necessary. We will need that capacity in the hospitals when those numbers peak. Michael dowling, who was the former health kmcommissioner fo the state of new york, a phenomenal fellow. He worked with my father and was in my fathers administration. He was health commissioner, he was deputy secretary. Hes just a jewel of a human being, and hes one of the best Health Care Professionals in the United States of america. He runs northwell now, which is a magnificent organization. But michael and ken rasky. Ken rasky runs the National Hospital association. They coordinate all the hospitals. I asked them to convene all the hospitals and now start developing the maximum Surge Capacity. So if a hospitals capacity is 500, okay, what if we bring in more beds . How many more beds can you hold . What if we brought in more staff, et cetera . We also have a number of efforts going on on finding more staff, more doctors, et cetera. Not just for the Surge Capacity but also for the additional facilities we may open. These are the new number of tests. Were up to 7,000 tests, so its a dramatic increase. 1,600 new tests. What happens when the Testing Capacity increases . The number of positives increase by definition. So the number of new cases has gone up 221 to 950 cases. And you can see new york city is increasing, westchester is still disproportionate to the population of westchester. That still represents the new rochelle cluster. Nassau 109, suffolk 63, rockland 16, albany 12, orange at 11, dut dutchess 10, monroe 9, ulster 7. Number of cases, new york city and westchester, some in nassau, some in suffolk. But youll see the cases rise in the most dense areas. Because thats where people are transferring the virus among themselves. Counties with new cases today, allegheny, onondaga, ontario and wyoming. You see the spread continues. Were now at 950, number one in the country, 676 for washington state. Again, these cases are more an example of how many tests youre doing and who youre testing rather than a raw number of cases in that area. Our deaths have increased to seven. Washington is the next highest at 42, total dess in the United States, 67. Hospitalizations are 158 out of 950. Thats 17 of the cases. When we talk about Hospital Capacity, just take that 17 and its always, if you notice, 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 . Run that 17 against whatever you think the total infected population will be. And then compare that to our Hospital Capacity. And that will keep you up at night. Hence, the situation that dr. Zooker and myself and my colleagues are in. Again, perspective, perspective, perspective. I went through the numbers in italy, i went through the numbers in south korea and china last night. You look at all these numbers, theyre the same story. You look at the deaths in new york, its the same story. People who had underlying illnesses, if they got the flu in a normal season, they would be in grave trouble. Instead they got the coronavirus, and they had existing illnesses and they passed away. Remember, before any of this, somebody would pass away in a hospital, an older person, and you would say how did they die, and they would say pneumonia. You would say, pneumonia, how did they catch pneumonia . Well, it wasnt really pneumonia, they had heart disease, they had em ifphysema, they were struggling with cancer. Then the pneumonia becomes an accelerant to a bad situation. Thats whats happening here. Any of my colleagues, additional points . K why dont you make them. Melissa . Nope. Robert . Questions . Reporter you said that gyms will be closed. Can you elaborate on that . And also, did you confer with city hall and mayor de blasio on this . Because he was at the gym this morning, and just wondering if he knew about the fact youre going to close the gym. He can be in the gym this morning. You can be in the gym this afternoon. You can be in the gym this evening, you just cant be in the gym after 8 00. So you can go to the gym as it is already with social distancing . Yeah, you can be in the gym . Yeah, do you go to the gym or work out in general . I have my own workout routine that i have developed over a number of years that i do alone. So i dont do it in a gymnasium. Reporter governor, have you heard back from the white house about the matter of deploying the army corps of engineers . Were having ongoing conversations. None have been conclusive. Reporter whats the overall prediction or projection for the number of people who could potentially get this in new york, and whats the overall projection for the need for hospital beds . I know weve got like a cap of 50,000 or so beds, but whats the need looking like at this point . Its an unfair question for commissioner zooker because its anyones guess, but i will recommend this to you. Google that question and you will get a range from 40 to 80 of the population. Merkel said what, 70 . 60 of her population. 40 to 60 . Take 40 to 60 of 18 million. Take a hospitalization rate of our sample of about 17 , and then compare that to 50,000 hospital beds. You will then break out in a sweat, maybe hives, you will feel great anxiety, panic attack, and youll be right. A warning and a call to action, and an announcement of a lot of measures and action being taken by new yorks governor, andrew cuomo, right there. Hes going to continue taking questions, but we have a lot to work through as these are just more announcements rolling in from new yorks governor and also other governors throughout the country while we were watching this press conference. Let me get over to brynn gingras. Shes been following the very latest on these new announcements coming from new york, coming from new jersey and connecticut. Brynn, we just heard new restrictions and new actions being put in place just now from andrew cuomo. Whats the top line . Reporter yeah, and this has been how the governor has acted. Essentially, really, its important to know, kate, he said we have to do this because criticizing the federal government saying theyre not doing enough. And really, the big headlines that come out of this, kate, is the fact that the three states, the tristates, new york, new jersey, connecticut, have banded together and sort of said that they are now going to shut down a lot of places in order to really get control of this coronavirus. So, essentially, restaurants that sell food, theyll be able to do takeoutonly orders. Bars that dont sell food, just alcohol, well, theyre going to close, as are gyms, movie theaters, casinos. And the idea here, as cuomo nicely put it, was that someone in new york, if they dont like the fact that the bars are closed in new york, they can just head on over to new jersey and go drinking there. They want to really mitigate that process. They said thats the next phase of this. Honestly, ive been on this over a week, i feel like each day is a new phase. Were seeing more and more restrictions. New jersey taking an additional step saying theyre going to have a curfew in place for the entire state. That means nonessential employees who dont have to go to work between the hours of 8 00 p. M. And 5 00 a. M. , everyone must stay in their homes. The governor there, cuomo, saying we need more states to participate. It needs to be a united effort in a sense. During his phone call with the tristate governors, were hearing that governor murphy from new jersey is going to ask the pennsylvania governor to possibly participate in this as well. Is this the beginning now of a rolling effect . We shall see, but a lot of restrictions now put in place certainly for the tristate area. Already seeing announcements coming in in regard to shutting down the restaurants and bars, a lot more coming in from other states just as we were on air listening to andrew cuomo announce these new measures. Brynn, thank you so much. Let me bring in, for some perspective on this, dr. Angie nguyen. Doctor, thank you very much. I wanted to get your reaction first and foremost to kind of the scope of what Governor Cuomo and the tristate governors are kind of announcing here. Things are shutting down. Theyre putting restrictions on where people can go and when. And then andrew cuomo explaining that he has to take the aggressive action now because of his fear of what hes calling the wave if they the wave that is going to be hitting the Hospital System if action isnt taken to slow the spread of the virus. What do you think of these measures theyre putting in place . They are exactly what we need at this point in time. We have a very narrow window thats closing. We only have eye winda window o weeks where we can stop this sudden escalation of the cases of coronavirus. Were already seeing this. At this rate well be overwhelming our hospitals. Theyre not going to have enough beds, theyre not going to have enough ventilators and we wont be able to take care of our patients. We have a very narrow window to prevent that from happening, and we can only do that by keeping people at home away from social gatherings. Were seeing increasing restrictions in different parts of the country that are a bit piecemeal. We really need a federal coordinated response. But at least governors are taking responses into their own hands. As citizens, we have to do our part, too. If schools are closed, we shouldnt be sending our kids out on playdates. That negates the point of school closures. We should not be getting together for dinner parties and birthday celebrations. We have to stay at home to protect our loved ones. Because if were at home, the virus has nowhere else to transmit and thats how were going to contain this epidemic. I spoke to the head of the American Academy of pediatrics last night who was so kind to jump on the phone with me for these questions. She said, remember, this is not a snow day on how you should be reacting when it comes to your children and school closures. Leading on your experience as a Health Official in baltimore, the leader of State Governments and federal government, andrew cuomo said very clearly were now going to have one set of rules for the interstatentire s it should be one set of rules for the entire nation, meaning we need the federal government to play its part. You have the federal government. You have mike pence. Hes had basically daily briefings, if not more than one over the weekend and will continue today. Where specifically, in this critical moment youre talking about, where does the federal government need to step up more where youre not seeing it . Testing, weve been talking about a lot. I think thats a logical one we just dont have a test we still have to ask that question of where is the testing . Despite all the promises, its kind of remarkable to have to ask where are the tests and why cant these things be put out there and processed faster . Im hearing from doctors themselves they have not seen a change. And patients are really frustrated and are showing up in ers and clogging up the waiting rooms in the ers and effectively affecting other people because they need answers, too. We need the federal government to say, heres exactly what needs to happen. The cdc issued guidelines last night about not having gatherings for more than 50 people. We need very clear guidelines like that, because otherwise were going to have piecemeal approaches, depending on the city or the county you live in. That doesnt make any sense, because if schools are closed in one area but not another, how are we going to stop the virus from spreading across the u. S. . Real quickly, drroctor, on tt cdc guideline that people shouldnt be having any gatherings of 50 people or more, at first it was gatherings of a thousand people, then 500 people, then 250 people depending on what official you were talking to. Is there something specific, unique, special about 50 people gathering that 49 people gathering together makes it safe . I think that is a ballpark figure, and ultimately the idea should be nobody should be gathering except for family members and essential purposes, as hospitals workers still have to be in close spaces, but not others. Thats absolutely right. A lot more restrictions. It certainly seems like a domino snowball rolling effect on the state and local level. Well see what comes out of the white house this evening. Coming up for us this hour, 10 Million Students are now out of class as over 30 states have closed schools. 30 states have closed schools at this point, guys. Some officials warn that schools could stay closed for the rest of the Academic Year. Were going to talk to a former secretary of education about the impact on americas children, next. And the 2020 census is how that great promise is kept. Because this is the count that informs where hundreds of billions in funding will go each year for things like education, healthcare, and programs that touch us all. Complete the census online, by phone, or by mail. Shape your future. Start here at 2020census. Gov shaif you have moderate to severe psoriasis, Little Things can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated. With an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression. Or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Turning now to the widespread school can closures in america right now, it is aimed at not only protecting children but to people across the United States. 32 Million Students are impacted and it could affect the rest of the nation. Listen. Weve told schools that we have closed for three weeks that the odds are this is going to go on a lot longer, and it would not surprise me at all if schools did not open this year. Ive been very hon ers aboes the fact that there is a real possibility that by closing our schools now we may not have the opportunity to reopen them in this full school year. Cnns Martin Savage is in a school near atlanta. Martin, whaelts the latest youe hearing about all of this . Reporter good morning, kate. You have about 32 Million Students roughly across the United States that are not attending schools, skpem beldan in that are students that rely on lunches. The Fulton School system here is trying to keep that important food system going. Looking behind me, you can see their assesetsubpoenup. There are six distribution points where on mondays through fridays, they are distributing meals to students. The student has to be present in the vehicle, but they are giving them breakfasts and lunches to carry through on wednesday, then they come back wednesday and get the same through friday. So far the flow of traffic has been very slow. Not that many people showing up. There is also a walkup point. Even though its slow, it doesnt mean it isnt going to be needed eventually. Heres one grand pareparents perspective that i talked to. If parents cant afford to get the food, yeah, theres food stamps, but they do run out. So i think its a good program that theyre offering to the kids. Theyre entitled to it. And they should have it. If the parent cant get up here, they should find a way or send somebody to get it for them. This is. Reporter this is a program that was very similar to one adopted by the schools in the summertime. Something else theyre working on, kate, they know, of course, that the food is only for students, and that means there are other family members that could be going hungry. So Fulton County schools are working with the Atlanta Food Bank and other Food Distribution people to try to get food so they can have for other family members as well when they show up. Thats still in the works right now. Kate . Thats why this considerat e martin, thank you so much, i really appreciate it. Joining me now is arnold duncan. You are ahead of the chicago of schools for years. When you hear what martin is laying out there, the millions of kids are out of school and millions of kids are not able to get more than one meal, breakfast and lunch because they are under served families and thats the only way theyre going to get those meals. What is the first thing you think and what is your first concern . Well, kate, i was the guy in chicago of 7. 5 years, never had a snow day and never took a day off. Frankly i was proud of that. This is a very different time. About 30 states closed schools and 30 million kids out of school. Does not mean learning stops or feeding kids stops or taking care of family stops. Ov they are so thoughtful and smart and committed, we have to think differently and every crisis provides an opportunity. You have School Distribution centers and chicago giving out threedays worth of food to students. You have cleveland using bus routes to drop both homework and food along the way and so we have absence of leadership at the federal level. As Governor Cuomo was talking, we have wonderful Public Health officials working together to do the right thing. I am hopeful of what we can do to continue to serve children and their family. You mention the role of the federal government here. I got two questions on that front. Betsy devoss has not been front and center if the response to the coronavirus of the federal government, not at these briefings and not speaking out at the task force where mike pence is leading the charge. What should her role be . The federal level there is no competence and credibility and interests and accountability. Again, we have great governors and great local officials stepping up. Thats where the trust is, thats whos telling the truth and thats where my focus is today. One head of education policy for Teachers College here in new york told me last week that his gut tells him that there is going to be and these are his words, zero learning during this period of time when kids are out of school. If kids dont go back to school for the rest of the Academic Year as some officials as we know are suggesting, what does it mean . I fundamentally disagree with that. It is a different way of learning. We had Online Learning for long time. We saw in boston every child is sent home are a chrome book and teachers working whhard every single day. And again you will see a combination of hightech, you have in south bend, indiana, neighborhoods dont have access to wifi, theyre putting wifi on buses to enable that. You will see hightech answer and low tech answer. In l. A. , theyre using Public Transportation to transmit lessons. We have sesame street, theyre coming back now and having conversations there last night. Learning will absolutely continue. Feeding kids and families will continue. Taking care of families will absolutely continue. Well see it happening in different ways and you can see schools superintendents work together. There are some real challenges here. How do you make that extra touch and reach out to them. Theyre talking and communicating. Well see some real successes and replicate those. Well see failures and fail fast and learning together. Learning will continue, starting today across the country. I will also say that while basically half the schools are closed and not too distance future as soon as this week, you may see all the schools in our country closed and again, nobody wants to see that. Does it feel inevitable to you . I think it is. It should happen. I am not a doctor. The only way i know how to stop spreading a disease is to stop spreading it. We need to have social distancing. The faster we shutdown things and the faster we close schools, the faster well be able to open them down the road with confidence in our children and our children be safe. We have to work together. To innovate the team to help each other and i am really, really hopeful that well do collectively to solve problems. I am going to take a little bit of your optimism as it is hard to find the bright and darkness that we are seeing and every number and bit of anxiety continue to grow. I will take what you are saying and well end with it today. Thank you for coming in today, secretary. Thank you all for being here. Well be right back. If youre 55 and up, tmobile has a plan designed just for you. And, for a limited time only, were making it an even better deal. Now you can get two lines for only 55. That includes unlimited talk, text and data. With no annual service contracts. It also includes talk, text and data when traveling in mexico and canada. So if youre 55 and up, you can now get two lines for only 55. Because at tmobile, we have a plan designed just for you. Welcome to inside politics, i am john king, thank you for sharing your day with us. The Financial Markets plummet because of deepening coronavirus. A rate cut by the Federal Reserve not enough to calm investors. Governors and mayors scrambled, closing schools and more, forcing social distancing in an effort to slow the spread. At the annual white house easter egg grow to the growing