Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim Sciutto 20200511

Key model upping its death projection to 137,000 people, from covid19 by early august. Thats in the u. S. The states to see explosive increases in mobility. Joe johns at the white house good to see you. What is the sense inside the administration as we are getting ready in a few hours to hear from the president on testing. Reporter poppy, as you know, a lot has changed at the white house since last friday, after katie miller, the Vice President s press secretary, was tested positive for coronavirus. After that, were told by reporting from a colleague that officials did spend the weeke trying to trace the contacts how we got it. They havent been success envelope figuring that out. The question now is who is quarantining at the white house and who is not. Theres not a lot of certainty. This much we know, katie miller, the Vice President s press secretary who also happens to be the Coronavirus Task force person, she is going to quarantine along with the fda commissioner. That stephen hahn the cdc director robert redfield. People not quarantining include the Vice President himself, even though his press secretary tested positive. The hhs secretary as well as the Surgeon General. Back to you. President obama has been quiet usually on the politics of the time or held his fire, but hes offering strong criticism of the administrations response efforts to covid. What is he saying exactly . Reporter yes, this was one of the occasional calls that the former president holds with his alumni, people who worked in his administration. Some question as to whether anybody knew that tape was actually going to be leaked, but the president unusually critical of this administrations handling of coronavirus. Listen. Its part of the reason why the response to this Global Crisis has been so anemic and spotty and it would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster. When that mindset of whats in it for me, and to heck with everybody else, when that mindset is operationalized in our government. Reporter President Trump did respond to the reporting over the weekend of this audiotape. He retweeted a tweet that hed put out earlier saying its administration was getting high marks on handling of coronavirus, and also denigrating the Obama Biden Administration for its handling of h1n1 swine flu. Back to you. Joe johns at the white house, thanks very much. Lets talk more about this key models projections including increasing the projected death toll from the cnn senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. Death projections, these are projections built on models but that death toll rising, is that about reopening . Is that what theyre calculating in . Jim, it certainly is. You dont need a ph. D. In immunology to know that when people get together more, the virus is going to spread more. So first, lets take a look at the u. S. Number, and this is from the respected model ihme at the university of washington that the white house often refers to and uses. Currently theyre projecting 137,184 deaths by august, just one week ago, they were predicting fewer, 134,473 because weve seen more and more mobility. To that point, lets look at two specific states. Arizona, which has been more on the opening up end of things, has 1,944 deaths more than what they thought last week. Michigan actually has 864 fewer and michigan is on the more restrictive end of things. So you can just see comparing those two states what mobility does. Jim . Poppy . Elizabeth, thank you very much. You certainly can see that. Several states are aiming to reopen even more today. Lets go to our rosa flores, joins us from florida. Many places in the state moving to phase two, so what is phase two . What does that actually look like . Reporter hi, poppy. Let me take you around the country. Some states reopening retail for the first time today, including indiana at 50 capacity. New hampshire is reopening as well, with several restrictions, including the fact that retail staff will have to get screened before going to work. On to restaurants, arizona and arkansas will be reopening restaurants today, with social distancing. Indiana will be allowing dinein service, but only at 50 capacity. Two states will be reopening manufacturing today, thats kentucky and michigan, with the three big automakers in michigan reopening their doors, but workers there should expect to get screened before entering those facilities. Here where i am in florida, Palm Beach County will be joining floridas other 64 counties in phase one of the reopening plan, that means restaurants and retail can reopen at 25 capacity. Barber shops, nail salons and hair salons will be able to reopen for the first time today. Meanwhile, there are two counties who are still under full restrictions, and that is broward and miamidade, where i am now. Jim . Rosa flores in miami, thanks very much. Lets speak to dr. Rob davidson er doctor who serves as executive director to protect medicare. Great to have you on this morning. Youre, in fact, more pessimistic about the overall estimated death toll than that white house model. You tweeted its impossible that were less than 100,000 deaths by the end of may depending on what we do next. I find it hard to believe were less than 200,000 by the end of july. Of course that white house model has it up to about 137,000 and i know these are models and based on incomplete data, but why do you see a much more marked increase in the death toll Going Forward . Well, i think the models actually show about 100,000 by next friday, so to me, it is impossible that over the next two months, june and july, 60 days plus that we have, you know, less than say 1500 new deaths a day on average. Some models suggested up to 2,000 new deaths a day and we know that we are not doing enough testing in almost every state. Certainly President Trump has suggested that he doesnt think testing is that important. Now that the white house is a hot spot for coronavirus, they are increasing their testing, so these mixed messages and the lack of adequate testing i think along with reopening and people getting together more just i think projects a pretty grim outlook over the summer. Let me ask you this. Initially, the reason for the shutdowns, the stayathome orders was to flatten the curve, in other words, lessen the rate of infection, but not eliminate it. In other words not keep everybody from getting infected. I just wonder, what is the intention now of stayathome orders . Has that become the new goal to reduce the overall infection rate around the country . Flattening the curve presupposes you decreased the infection rate. How many people one infected person may infect. Once you get that below one thats how you flatten. Flattening the curve buys us time and should have bought us time to ramp up our testing regimen in our country. Unfortunately the president refused to use the defense production act to help us do that, so thats what flattening the curve should have done and staying at home should continue to do if we can get the administration on board. If you dont get the administration on board, because the president has said as you note that testing to some degree is overrated or broadbased testing overrated even as it takes place to a great degree inside the white house, without that testing, are you saying the country will in effect have to stay largely closed until theres a vaccine . Well, if we in fact want to minimize the number of deaths and actually increase our likelihood of having an economic recovery thats lasting, thats what we would have to do. I think its obvious that that isnt whats going to happen in most places, largely from mixed messages from the white house and states not going through the white house phases of reopening, and so were just going to have to accept that there will be more deaths and we will not have a lasting economic recovery. I think the worst of both worlds is what were looking at over the next three, at least three months or so. Explain that argument, if you can, because it is often presented as a choice between a or b, right, that you keep down infections but no Economic Growth or allow Economic Growth to proceed, the economy to reopen but youre saying in effect thats a false choice. It is absolutely a false choice. 80 of people are concerned were opening too quickly. Im not going out to restaurants. I go to stores now, a Grocery Store and if i walk up to the door and see that people at the desk arent Wearing Masks or a significant number of patrons are not Wearing Masks i turn around and go to a different one. These are the decisions real people make every day. Economic activity doesnt happen magically because we say it should and as we see the death tolls going up, as we see the numbers going up, that concern by consumers is just going to increase, and again, no economic recovery will be possible. Oddly, is what were seeing take place in the white house right now something of a panic to Contact Trace the Vice President s spokeswoman who has been infected, test other people, wear masks, all this kind of stuff, with uniformity, i mean, is that what should be happening on a larger scale in the country . In other words someone is affected, Contact Trace, and figure out who else might be infected, test, wear masks, et cetera. Absolutely. Every person who is infected who is testing positive should be isolating, so not in contact with any other person, and in fact, you know, miss miller has the resources to do that. The rest of our country many people dont. We need to get the resources so they can do that and anyone with whom they are in contact should be doing quarantine so they should be staying out of the public life unless they have a Critical Infrastructure job. I would argue that Vice President pence perhaps President Trump should be in quarantine, and they can still do their job Via Teleconference getting a message out to the country they want to get out hopefully the right message but whatever message they choose, and i dont see that happening uniformly in the white house right now. Well, its notable there that the folks who are in selfquarantine are the doctors, right, at least three although the Surgeon General chose not to. Thanks so much. Good to have you on the program. Thank you. Still to come, if you thought april jobs report was as bad as it could get. White house Officials Say may will be worse. Bank of america Ceo Brian Moynihan joins us exclusively. Plus Shanghai Disney has reopened, after more than three months, but things wont look exactly the same. Cnn goes there to show what you it looks like on the other side, and every day potentially risking their lives during this pandemic. Im not just talking about medical workers. Im speaking about transit workers, so how are they protecting themselves . Technologies advisor. Me too. Me too. And if youre a Small Business, were with you. Standing by you every step of the way. Bye bye. The story where the chances are low, and the cost is high. The sacrifice is real. Its all around us. But this isnt a story about how tougher times beat us. This is our comeback story. The time when we rally and come from behind. The time when we defy the odds and get back to work while the whole world watches. Yeah, this is your comeback story. And when its time to come back, well be ready. On friday we got the worst jobs report in American History but it is going to get worse before it gets better. White house officials predicting even more dire unemployment numbers in may, 20 or higher, but white house economic adviser larry kudlow also made this prediction yesterday. Were preparing to reopen the economy, and when we do, i think according to the Congressional Budget Office and a bunch of private surveys well see a strong second half of the year, probably 20 Economic Growth. Bank of america Ceo Brian Moynihan joins us exclusively over the phone. One out of every two households in america is a bank of america customer. Thanks for taking the time. Its good to be here, poppy, thank you. So Kevin Hassett at the white house told me just last week that real unemployment, so counting the underemployed and those not looking for work is more like 25 in this country, and moodys just said its going to take until mid decade they think to bring jobs back to levels they were before this. Do you think its going to take until mid decade . I think poppy you also have to step back and remember this is a Health Care Crisis that precipitated an economic crisis, and so as the Health Care Crisis mitigates, youll see the economic crisis mitigate and a company like ours just on unemployment we have our economists and stuff which we could get into, take a view one of the roles as a major employer is to be employeecentric in our approach. We as a company said no layoffs for the rest of the year to make sure our employees do what they do best, help our customers through tough times and on the other hand on the customer side trying to help with unemployment by providing loans to our customers, companies to make it through the trough of demand and get to the other side, and we did about 50 billion or 7 billion in the First Quarter and providing to governments and consumers. The question of unemployment, this is the worst of it right now as youre hearing and may get a little worse. The reality is the key is to get the economy restarted and starting to see the economy restart before the openings the last couple of weeks, starting to come off the bottom. Bank of america said about this economy and coronavirus this pandemic will completely reshape geopolitics, societies and markets. How confident this recession does not turn into a depression . This is a severe downturn this quarter and in the heart of it right now. Our economic team, bank of America Research team the best in the world predicted this quarter would be down 30 next quarter down about 1 and the economy will be about the same size as last year. You look at the spending buy, the consumers of bank of America Today the last four weeks spending averaged what it did in the fall of 2017. Consumers are starting to grow a little bit and the question is will the amount of stimulus and stuff provide a bridge across this river that is a serious economic decline and if it does, i think well see, well come out of this how fast will be up to sort of what the demand for products and services is. I wonder about businesses that cant come back. You saw that paper in the last few days at the university of chicago and stanford. Economists predicted 42 of businesses may never come back. I mean, thats where the question of a depression comes in. What do you see . Well, what were seeing now is that the structure of this change was so different, so starting sort of mid march to midapril, you saw the collapse in employment levels just because think about dentists shutting down, dentists employee about 1 million, 1. 5 million. Theyre down about a half million in employment. They contribute a lot. The medical field was shut down except for the courageous people out fighting the virus so as that reopens and people are going to the dentist again in many cities now, youll see part of that economy come back. Thats what makes us very different, versus a general decline in Consumer Spending or general decline in Consumer Confidence or activities which was more present in the last crisis. This was a shutdown, so things that typically continue to have rise in demand were stopped. That was medical service and things like that. As they come back youll see part of the economy recover faster and take a long time for restaurants and things like that to recover. A long time is what so many of us are worried about. Youre a member of the president S Advisory Council on reopening the economy and the white house message this weekend on a fourth stimulus was clear, and it was we can wait. We can pause, and i wonder if you think this economy can or would it be beneficial to the broader economy to inject a fourth stimulus that includes for state and local governments now . I think as we look at it, stimulus that was put out, whether its the eip payments, the 1,200 payments are still going into the system, weve seen our customers have spent as best as we can estimate half that money, the other half is to be spent. Unemployment supplements out there through the next couple months and on top of that the ppp and programs to lend to Small Business are going out and hitting the street in the last couple weeks so to speak. All that stimulus is coming together so i think the debate is do you have to see that work through for a while or need more now . What do you think . The places that are hurting the state budgets because of just the stop in revenue and other things. Hospitals, they need to target this i think for people who are most institutions affected by it and people most affected by it would be the advice i give on the fourth stimulus. The issue of inequality, what we saw clearly in those jobs numbers on friday, brian, was that its hitting africanamericans and hispanics much harder. Their unemployment rates are much higher than white unemployment now in this country. Should Corporate America and government right now be doing more or what should be done to address that, because the thinking is its only going to get worse from here. I think the companies that the Large Companies in particular who believe in stakeholder capitalism, what the brt signed and what the World Business roundtable side or World Economic forum have taken employee centric so no layoffs by our teammates. We went to 20 in march of 2020 as a starting wage. We hired 3,000 plus people over the last eight weeks to supplement our workforce to help it, so i think the large employers, its incumbent to provide great benefits. We provide child care so our people can be more effective at work. We provide overtime pay and extra pay, and i think the big employers are trying to do that, who are open for business and i think its incumbent upon to us think about stake holder capitalism, the broader capitalism right now. Small businesses cant do that because the size and nature of the business, theres no demand for the products. You bring up a good point, what is the role of a corporation right now and a bigger question, is it Milton Friedman and the business is the business of business but for example child care youre providing it for everyone, paying people to hire child care right now at your company. Many economists are saying the economy cannot get back until everyone has that. Because how summer camp just got canceled. How can people go back to work without that . Do you agree with the economists . I think thats why we provided it, so i think that the benefit we provided was not only provide child care which we always provided to people in the lower pay stratas of the company but we said you can hire instead of going to Child Care Center you can hire a friend, you can hire a cousin, you can hire a teacher who is not working, whoever, to take care of your kids and we provide 100 a day and we had 400,000 days requested from our teammates to do that, and we believe thats critical so they can be productive and effective at home to everybody is serve our clien customers. As you think about the programs the questions of summer camps and schools next fall, all these things more difficult things and i think we need to think about how to get those structures in place so that people can go back to work and go back to work with confident their kids are well taken care of. You think about stimulus and other activities gear to the most help for certain people not affected by the shutdowns and child care in the context hard to provide in an oldfashioned way we need to provide that. I have a question on ppp in a moment. I have this question to build on that. All of this costs companies and costs companies a lot of money, and i guess my question to you is what is the role of big publicly traded companies in the middle of this crisis . Because it costs companies and therefore it costs shareholders. Should that not matter right now . Should a company be willing to take in less profit for as long as it takes to sustain its workforce . We need to make sure we have 210,000 teammates who can do a great job for our customers. Every day we get millions of phone calls and millions of trades so were a People Company and to have the people fired up and working, in odd times we moved 180,000 people to work from home in a few weeks. We have to make sure theyre comfortable and they feel safe and as we start to reopen offices, we have to make sure they feel safe going back to work so we have the luxury of how were planning that, is different than other companies because were open and operating every day. Brian, let me just end on this because obviously ppp the Lending Program has gotten so much attention. Theres been a lawsuit filed against bank of america and a number of other big banks arguing that basically you guys and the other big banks prioritized applications for higher loan amounts than the small guys in the first round because that would bring more money to you guys. Were ppp loan applications for larger amounts prioritized at bank of america . No. We have now done 300,000 sba loans for about 25 billion so 7 of the program in terms of numbers of loans and less than 5 in terms of dollar amounts. Were doing smaller loans than the rest of the participants in the program. We have 10,000 teammates. Its a big cost to the company but the thing we need to do and we continue to provide 300,000 Small Businesses 98 of the people have less than 100 employees and about 80 have less than 10 employees. These are the businesses the congress intended to get to and providing that money every day and applications come in every day and processing them. Brian moynihan thanks for your time and outlook on the economy and jobs and good luck to all of those employees. Appreciate it. Thank you, stay safe. You got it. For the first time in months, the disney theme park, this one is open to the public. Its not the one in california or florida. This is disney shanghai, but guests face a long list of new rules to prevent the coronavirus from spreading at one of the happiest places on earth, next. So, for a second time were giving members a credit on their auto insurance. Because its the right thing to do. Were also giving Payment Relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. Right now is the time to take care of what matters most. Like weve done together, so many times before. Discover all the ways were helping members at usaa. Com coronavirus youre constantly weakening that enamel structure. Pronamel repair allows more minerals to penetrate deep into the enamel layer and it repairs it. It is pretty phenomenal. When a stuffy nose closes in. whimper breathe right strips open your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. deep breath breathe better, sleep better. Breathe right. Make familysized meals fast, and because its a ninja foodi, it can do things no other oven can, like flip away. The ninja foodi air fry oven, the oven that crisps and flips away. For the first time in three months, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Shanghai Disney has now opened its doors to visitors. The park opened only at 30 capacity though, says tickets are sold out, which means somewhere around 24,000 people are at the park today, certainly a step forward. Cnns david culver joins from us shanghai. How do they do this . They spaced customers, they required masks, et cetera. Tell us what it looked like on the ground. Reporter part of it has to do with the capacity that you just mentioned there, jim and poppy, and 30 is the government regulation here, but what were hearing from disney is they started well below that 24,000 number for the first several days they plan to do this and it makes them feel a little bit easier as theyre Going Forward with this, and trying to implement the social distancing, trying to make sure that their new Online Ticket sales which happen to be certain intervals of time so they dont have a mass gathering at the front gate are working properly, and we also were able to get a better idea as to how they were able to pull this off after being closed for three and a half months. Welcome to Shanghai Disneyland. We are getting a sneak peek of what the new operations are going to look like for this park in reopening three and a half months after they had to shut down because of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak here in china. Normally, when youre in the park as they reopen, you have to wear a mask. Were able to take ours off because the crowds arent here yet. Theyve used this time to rethink how they have people coming in safely, keeping that social distance and avoiding any sort of contact not only with each other, but also with cast members. So its going to have things looking a little bit differently. Im going to take you outside the park to show you how we got in with senior Vice President of operations andrew bolstein. We asked our guests to do a few things differently than before. We ask every one of our guests to have temperature screening as they arrive at the resort and asked them to show their qr code a shanghai specific health code. We put a little more structured decalling and markers. These are clear dont stand here and stand in the blank space in between. We require government i. D. At entrance and capturing government i. D. Information for every guest that comes into the park not just one per party as part of the traceability measures we have in place now for the government guidelines. Reporter give us an idea as we are walking through what folks will notice thats different. One thing that stands out to me is constant sanitation. Yes. We have a dedicated team of custodial cleaners that weve even increased the numbers of those throughout the park constantly wiping down all the surfaces. Reporter im noticing that parade goby obviously at distance but you can still see the characters. Yes. Reporter not the big hug and high fives, right . Exactly. More of a selfie moment and take the photos but again gives the guests that ability to have that emotional moment and that connection. As you are walking along the line you notice places you can stop and the places you need to keep a distance. Then eventually you make it to the attraction. As i go into number one, normally you have number two to go into. Theyve got it horoped off. Stepping off the ride, the new normal and theyve got several more along the way out. As for the guests understanding for your health and safety, the table sun available. Were asking guests not to sit here, sit there and again it creates kind of that separation between all the different parties. Reporter safe spacing even for the performances, this is one of the stages, look here in the crowd. Pick a box, thats where you and your family unit will stand, keeping that distance. Were able to strike that right balance between the safety and health and confidence side and the magic were able to deliver every day. Reporter do you feel in many ways not only other parts of the company are looking here and other parks going to be reopening but other companies saying let me see how theyre doing it, maybe this could help us reopen, too. Everywhere is a little bit different. Theres different regulations, different environments, people at different phases of the epidemic but what we have can be a model, hopefully inspiration for them and theyll adapt it for what their local conditions are. Same thing with the other operators around the world. We communicate and we share. This type of environment, where we want to if focus an safety a health thats an area we share together. Reporter disney has not released exact attendance numbers for each day but we know jim and poppy, this was well below the 24,000 mark that the government has set here as their maximum. Ill tell you, Walking Around today, its now closed but i never at one point felt like there were crowds of people in one area. Perhaps during the parade you saw folks getting closer than that one and a half mooter but for the most part a lot of space to move about. The lines on the rides were relatively short and peoplego in multiple times. Its part of the advantage of not having it at max capacity, and they anticipate to do this for the coming days to test it out. Theres this cautious optimism moving forward. I will tell you also, here in Shanghai Disneyland, its actually far more conservative than if you go out for example in shanghai, where they have in public spaces decided to ease up restrictions and you dont have to necessarily wear a face mask. That was fascinating to see and i think a picture of what it could look like here in the coming months. David, thanks a lot for that reporting from shanghai. Businesses in states are reopening as you know but could that also open the door for major legal trouble for some . Well ask a law expert next. They were the first to have a vitamin verified by usp. An independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards nature made, the 1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand it means being there for each other. Thats why state farm is announcing the Good Neighbor Relief Program we know our customers are driving less, which means fewer accidents. So state farm is returning 2 billion dollars to auto policyholders for the period ending may 31st. And well continue making real time decisions to best serve you our customers. Because now, more than ever, being a Good Neighbor means everything. Like a Good Neighbor, state farm is there. Welcome back. Congress tried to approach one of the problems of this outbreak, which is the issue of when parents go back to work, what do they do about their kids if the schools arent open . It was called the Families First Coronavirus Response act. Were getting the first sense of what worked, what didnt. Joining me is former federal and state prosecutor and cnn legal analyst ellie hoenig. You say the familys first Coronavirus Response act is helpful and important to parents but may not do all its intended to do. Put that in simple terms for folks at home. Jim, this is a new law. It just hit the books in april. Theres good and theres bad. The good and people need to understand this because its out there, it provides important coverage for parents who are trying to juggle the demands of work with watching kids and child care while schools are closed. Perhaps its limited though because what it does is it provides paid sick leave for people who work for Medium Sized Companies but only for three months. Thats important, leemonths say limited time frame. The other criticism it aonly applies to Medium Sized Companies between 50 and 500 employees and one of the criticisms why wouldnt this apply to the Bigger Companies the walmarts and the facebooks. Its important but more of a bandaid than a cure. The argument that those Big Companies made was that many of them already have families sick leave policies, therefore it did not need this. Is that true in practice . The vast majority do but why not ensure it for the employees who work for big Companies Make sure theyre all protected to balance work with child care. So what happens now . As states 47 states are opening up to some degree that means some companies are giving leeway to open up, theyre opening up, people may go back to work, their kids are still out of school, so for parents at home who are watching saying what do i do . Going back to the office, what happens to my kids . What protection do i have . First of all, this law provides about three months of coverage, but its a really difficult question, and look, this is yet another risk to businesses of reopening. Sure as anything, people are going to get sick when they go back to work, customers may get sick when businesses reopen and you are absolutely going to see personal injury liability lawsuits. Those can get really expensive. So the first question is, how far do businesses have to go . Is it enough to do what we just saw disney do, to provide temperature screening, masks, that kind of thing . The law says theres a standard of reasonable care, but that has to be determined case by case, and theres the question of who pays for all this, because these lawsuits could put small and medium businesses out of business. Yes, and three months coverage of course, the fall School Starts in september, the three months coverage would not cover if schools are not open come september. Quickly, republicans have pushed for some Liability Protections in any new stimulus plan to protect companies so they dont get sued, if someone comes back to work, get infected, sue the company. Is that a reasonable legal push . It is reasonable. All it does is really shift the cost from the companies themselves either to just the workers, the employees who might get sick which i think is brutal if it goes that way. If Congress Says were going to cover these costs, as part of sort of a relief package, great for employees, great for families but that is a huge bill for congress and taxpayers to pick up. So there is no easy decision to be made here, jim. Eli honig thanks as always to put it in laymans terms. For americans who rely on Public Transportation the coronavirus pandemic has made the morning commute dangerous. What about the transit workers who have to show up for work every day and keep things going . Changing data. More and more sensitive, personal data. And it doesnt just drag hr down. It drags the entire business down with inefficiency, errors and waste. Its ridiculous. So ridiculous. With paycom, employees enter and manage their own data in a single, easy to use software. Visit paycom. Com, and schedule your demo today. And let me tell you something, rodeo. I wouldnt be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. Its just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, its helped over a million americans. A reverse Mortgage Loan isnt some kind of trick to take your home. Its a loan, like any other. Big difference is how you pay it back. Find out how reverse mortgages really work with aags free, noobligation reverse mortgage guide. Eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more. Call now and get your free info kit. Other mortgages are paid each month, but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. Discover the option thats best for you. Call today and find out more in aags free, noobligation reverse Mortgage Loan guide. Access taxfree cash and stay in the home you love. Youve probably been investing in your home for years. Making monthly mortgage payments. Doing the right thing. And its become your familys heart and soul. Well, that investment can give you taxfree cash just when you need it. Learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse Mortgage Loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio, and so much more. Look, reverse mortgages arent for everyone but i think ive been round long enough to know whats what. Im proud to be a part of aag, i trust em, i think you can too. Trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. So you can. Retire better. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. Well, Transit Systems are taking precautions to protect passengers and their workers from the virus. Starting today the morning commute will look very different for passengers on amtrak. They Must Wear Masks or facial coverings in all but a few instances. Take a look at this picture from over the weekend. Wow, thats a packed plane. A doctor tweeted this image of what appears to be a nearly full United Airlines flight from san francisco. This is a week after trying to block people with social distancing. The mta here in new york city that operates the buses and subways has come under fire largely from employees for not feeling protected enough. Reporter well, poppy, workers tell me they are worried even though transit workers want to show theyre on the right track. This is one of the busiest Transit System in the united states. Rail ridership has dropped by 90 . They want riders to come back, but they warned that your ride will not be the same. Its still fresh in my mind. Reporter as Carlos Gonzalez laid in a hackensack hospital, he worried he would join more than 100 transit workers across the country who have died during this pandemic. There is nothing there to protect us. Reporter gonzalez is a new Jersey Transit bus driver who believes he contracted coronavirus on his daily route to new york city. Were the first ones that make contact with people. You know, everything comes in through our door. You dont know who is sick, you dont know who has what. Reporter the amalgamated trains at union say more than 100 workers from staten to seattle have tested positive for covid19. They fear that number will grow significantly as states start to open up and commuters, many with no other choice, start coming back. Im concerned. Every night im still losing a member and the numbers are still going up, not down. Reporter many bus systems such as those in austin, texas have barred riders from using the front doors near the driver. On buses in washington, d. C. , distance from drivers is kept with a yellow plastic chain. But keeping six feet of social distance between passengers themselves is difficult on vehicles that are often only nine feet wide. Paul wedefeld runs d. C. s bus and rail system. Right now crews are cleaning system surfaces nightly. Cars are now empty to keep train riders distanced. They carried 60,000 riders a day. Now only 30,000. We were on a good climb in terms of ridership and i see that coming back. The idea is that transit has to play a role. Reporter they want riders mandated to wear masks, but they struggle with new norms. In philadelphia last month, police removed a bus rider whofwho was not wearing a mask and refused to get off. That Transit System has since changed its policy. I think the public is going to demand it. Reporter charles battle with covid19 is in the rearview mirror. But he knows his fellow transit workers have a long road ahead. Were all in this together, you know . For us to move forward and past this and for future, we just have to be more careful with each other. Reporter the d. C. Metro system said it may mandate masks for riders maybe by the end of this week. Transit Police Officers here will carry masks to give out to riders who do not already have one. Pete, lets look at that picture of the United Airlines flight. United had talked about steps such as keeping the middle seats empty. Clearly not the case auon this flight. What was the airlines explanation . Ive been talking to them today, and they said this flight was going from newark to san francisco. Were told that most flights on united are about 50 full. They said this one was the exception and definitely not the norm, so they are still sort of litigating and explaining their way around this one. It was a lot of volunteer Health Workers flying back from new west coast. Pete muntean, pictures speak a thousand words there. Thanks very much. Even the white house is not immune from the coronavirus. Weve gotten a lot of evidence about that in recent days. There are battles over top administrators about whether or not they need to quarantine as a result. And online tools you need. And now its no different. Because helping you through this crisis is what were made for. Lets be honest. Quitting smoking is hard. Like, quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So try making it smaller, and youll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette. When a stuffy nose closes in. whimper breathe right strips open your nose up to 38 more than Cold Medicine alone. deep breath breathe better, sleep better. Breathe right. A very good monday morning to you. Im jim sciutto. And im poppy harlow. The administrati