Of the majority, indeed the vast majority of americans. The reality remains that it is not clear the country is ready to open in my full sense. And we need to ground the conversation in the reality of now, right . This is what now looks like. On sunday, there were 16 pages of obituaries in the boston globe. 8 1 2 page out of new orleans. That is almost double the normal amount. 12 pages in connecticuts hartford current, the index on the left unkascharacteristicall stretching to the bottom. And in new york, the icus are still full and nurses like amy are exhausted. None of us in the down state area of new york can even handle anything more. Theres no way. Were full. And frankly, were tired. And theres nobody to be able to do our jobs. If you want to live, you stay home. My god, dont open up this country. If you want to live, you stay home. Today, we lost another 2500 americans to this virus. And the idea that we are definitively past the peak, that its time to sort of move on, the virus cannot get even worse once we venture back out is not supported by the available evidence. Just today, we saw the biggest jump in coronavirus cases since april 10. The covid tracking project, which has been assemble thing data and publishing it for all the u. S. States, said coronavirus deaths rose to a new single day high in their data set today. The director of the centers for Disease Control warned the second wave of coronavirus this winter will likely be worse. Telling the washington post, and i said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they do not understand what i mean. Heres the thing, the Trump Administrations own plan, the one they released to great fanfare, their own plan for states to begin to quote unquote reopen, requires the state to have a, and im quoting here, to have a downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14day period, as well as robust testing in place for atrisk health care workers, including antibody testing. Those are quite sensible recommendations, and they are in phase one of the administrations reopening plan. But it is not clear that any of the states that announced they are reopening meet those Trump Administration guidelines. Look at the state of georgia, which is about to reopen a wide range of businesses under republican governor brian kemp. The state will allow reopening of businesses including hair salons, gyms, bowling alleys, nail salons and Massage Therapy centers, followed by restaurants, and movie theaters on monday. If that sounds insane to you, were not alone. For the record, georgia does not meet the white house guidelines. It has tested less than 90,000 people out of a population of more than 10 million. Mayors in georgia are describing the governors decision as reckless, dangerous, and illogical. Stacey abrams, whose the governors democratic opponent in 2018, hotly contested, says the decision could cost lives. Were the eighth largest state in the nation, but we have the 14th highest infection rate and the seventh slowest testing rate. These jobs reopening, businesses that are reopening are going to force frontline workers back to work without access to a Health Care System to help them if they are in need. The worry is by trying to push a false opening of the economy, we put more lives in danger. Its not just georgia. South carolina and tennessee have plans to reopen. Texas and alaska are moving in that direction, as well. Colorado, run by a democrat, also has a reopening plan, though we should say the timeline is considerably less aggressive. The push, in some states, to reopen quickly, even in contravention of the white house, the Trump Administrations own guidelines, is perhaps best encapsulated by the Lieutenant Governor of texas, republican dan patrick, who argues that there are more important things than living. Like bowling in georgia apparently. But its not lean clear, and this is a really important point, that this move by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp or other state also be good for the businesses in these states. Those businesses will have restrictions lifted, but may not be able to conduct business safely and may not have any customers. So what good does it do them in one georgia Business Owner tweeted this this is kind of the point. For all the attempts of some voices on trump tv and the president to blame the governors for the predicament, the problem remains the virus. And now a state like georgia has put restauranting and nail salons and tattoo parlors in a situation where its on them to pay the bills, even if they do not have customers or to strong arm their workers to come in and giving massages. It remains the case, and i get tired of saying it, but its just true every night, that fighting and combatting and beating the virus, containing it, surveilling it, needs to be a primary concern. It is such a simple elemental truth. It somehow needs to be drummed into the heads of powerful people that seem intent on missing it. The white house today, a group of nurses held a protest over their lack of personal protective gear. They held up photos of fallen comrades, one reading the names of 50 nurses who have died from the virus. We are here because our colleagues are dying. Our health care workers, our nurses, our doctors, people are dying. I think that right now, people think of us as heroes. But were feeling like martyrs. Were feeling like were being left on the battlefield with nothing. On covid units, everyone is hungry. Everyone is thirsty. Everyone is afraid to eat or drink, because if we take our masks off, were afraid were being exposed. Im joined by the democratic governors of two different states. Governor phil murphy of new jersey and Governor Gretchen Whitmer of michigan. Governor murphy, every state has Different Things to think about. But just to sort of imagine what it would be in new jersey, if you were to say tomorrow in new jersey you can open your nail salons and your restaurants, open your movie theaters, would that work at all . Would there be any customers or commerce whatsoever . Chris, good to be with you. And im honored to be with governor whitmer, im a big fan of hers. Sign me up for the importance of living team. So with all due respect to the Lieutenant Governor of texas. My god, nobody would show up. People are a lot smarter than some of these folks are giving them credit for. They want to have not only do we want to preach stay at home social distancing, do your part, and by the way, new jersey has done folks have done a great job with that, but were not out of the woods yet. Not only do we need to give them the confidence that we have a testing regime in place, contact tracing, a plan to isolate any rebirth of this, in addition to tracking the back of the curve, but they want confidence themselves. No one is going to show up, and who can blame them . They want to make sure were on the backside of this curve, which were not there in our state. And we have a system in place that gives them the confidence that they and their families can come out and participate in the economy and the society again. Were not there yet, at least here. You know, its interesting, because i think theres been a concerted effort to produce the perception that this is a contentious issue, and polarizing issue in American Life about these mitigation efforts. But the polling out of your state was interesting. 88 approve of banning gatherings. 95 approve of requiring facemasks in public places. What im seeing when i look at the numbers is a lot more sort of unity behind the broad approach to beating back the virus than maybe some corners are trying to portray. How do you feel about it . I feel strongly thats the case, chris. At least in new jersey. Thats my complete focus. Theres a small number of folks who are protesting a lot of the steps we have taken. And by the way, they have a right to protest. I wish they would do it virtually and at home. But overwhelmingly, and by the way, across the political spectrum. Folks want to make sure we beat this virus first, that we do the things that we have to do. They may not like it, and god knows i completely understand that. Folks have cabin fever, i get it. Theyre looking at the weather getting better. We understand all that. But they understand unless we keep doing what were doing, were not going to break the back of this, and as we say, Public Health creates economic health. Its in that order. And folks get that. I want to ask about a particular population that every state has and is at particular risk, thats prison populations. Nursing homes have been the area of a lot of concern and reporting because they have been extremely exposed. Veterans homes. But prison populations also are place where is its hard to socially distance. You have exposure of employees and inmates. There was an article that a sit corrections officer in the state had to get a coronavirus test on his own. Are you satisfied there is sufficient testing and surveillance inside prisons and are you doing enough to make sure those are Safe Environments for both the prisoners and the people who work in them . Chris, first of all, as a general matter, as a nation, we came into this as a testing reality at a minimum with one, if not both arms tied behind our backs. Weve now tested the fourth most amount of tests of any american state, but its been cobbling it together with bubble gum and paper clips. And weve said consistently we wont break the back of this virus, in addition to doing the right thing by humanity, we wont break the back of this virus unless we bring everybody along. Nursing homes, veterans homes, and corrections. So were in the process. Its gotten better. Were in the process of looking through a series of steps and batches of folks that were actually considering letting go under the right circumstances. Were trying to get all the protections to our Corrections Officers, the testing they need. I read that same story and was horrified by it. We have come a long way but were not where we need to be. But thats a national story, not just in corrections. We have come a long way, but boy, we have a long way to go as it relates to testing. Thank you very much, sir. Thanks for having me, chris. I want to bring in now as i said before the governor of michigan. Governor, you know, this sort of idea of building i think a narrative of everything being polarized on this question of stay at home orders, and michigan saw some protests again, numerically a small number of people. Give me a sense of what is happening in your state. I know youve been the subject of critique in the legislature. Do you think theres broad support politically for continued efforts to attack the virus and bring the curve down . I know there is. And we see the vast majority of people in michigan are doing the right thing. We have been able to frattin lar curve and its because people are staying home. As you see efforts to reengage economies, we know its going to be essential that we are making decisions based on the best science, the best practices, that when certain sectors are slowly brought back on, that they have the ppe and the protocols they need to keep both employees safe, as well as the general public, who theyre hoping will come into their stores. I think for the confidence of our citizenry, weve got to get this right. We have to share with people how we are perceived and what our test levels are. What our ability to meet needs are if we do have covid19 growth in a particular part of the state. People need to have confidence that we have a plan that we are being methodical and data driven about this, and we are keeping their health at the center of all the decisions were making. Let me ask you the same question i had to ask governor murphy in new jersey, which is if you were to say, okay, you can open your movie theaters and your nail salons tomorrow. Do you think there would be any workers or customers for those sorts of venues at this moment where michigan is . I dont think so. And you know what . Those would be some of the last things to come online when we do start to reengage sectors of our economy. As were doing the analysis, lets have a rigorous undertaking to make sure we get this right. We dont want a second wave of covid19 to threaten our lives and our health care institutions. And so the last thing to come online are going to be the ones so intimate, especially if theres not the appropriate ppe available. And i dont know what the situation is in georgia, but i know that we are grabbing every ppe we have for our first responders, for our nurses and doctors. And then we will talk about how do we ensure that businesses have ppe for employees. But the immediate concern is both frontline people that are doing the essential jobs that are life sustaining, and we dont have enough ppe for them right now. I want to ask you the same question i asked governor murphy about prison populations, which, again, is a specific subset. There was an article about one prisoner who passed away from covid, a juvenile lifer who was just weeks away from parole. A lot of people who feel that its simply immoral and unjust for folks to essentially face that kind of sentence of sickness inside the prison. Have you done enough as a governor to keep those places safe or to release people that dont need to be there . Well, were working incredibly hard to make sure that people who are incarcerated are safe and that we are maximizing our ability to parole everyone who is in the pipeline over the course of the next 12 months. We are expediting and working seven days a week with the parole board to keep moving people out, so that we ensure they have a home to go to, and that they can be safely returned to the general public. So i think having a plan to returning citizens is absolutely essential. Were doing testing in our prisons. We dont have covid19 in every prison like some states do. But we do have it, and were taking it very seriously. Were isolating people who have symptoms of people who have tested positive. We have a number of Corrections Officers who we are trying to make sure they get the quick test so they can stay on the frontline, as well as taking care of our people of michigan. So this is something that is a challenge. We have people that are in close quarters with a virus that is incredibly contagious, and deadly. And theres no sure and no vaccine for. But the more we can test, the better. Thats for the general population, that is for our incarcerated population alike. We need the swabs and reagents to get to our double and triple capacity, which we have now, but we cant execute because we dont have all these critical supplies. All right, governor, thank you for making time for the program tonight. Thank you. Next, concerning reports from a New York Hospital where people are showing up with completely at first it appears unrelated Health Issues who turn out to have advanced cases of the virus. Ill talk to a doctor who wrote about it, right after this. She. Bringing us packages. Delivering our food. Those who are there when we need them. And the millions of americans doing their part, just by staying home. Our communities are beyond grateful. At citi, we are too. Even if were apart, well get through this together. We know how important it is to have a safe, reliable vehicle right now, so toyota is here to help. For your peace of mind, many of our Service Centers are open. If you need to replace your vehicle toyota will defer your payments for 90 days. And every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a nocost Maintenance Plan for two years or 25,000 miles. Were here for you. Contact your local toyota dealer to see how they can help. Toyota did you know prilosec otc can tstobefore it begins . Urn they can help. Heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. Prilosec otc uses a unique delayedrelease formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid. It then works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. With just one pill a day, you get 24hour heartburn protection. Prilosec otc. One pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. Which is why when it comes to his dentures only new poligrip cushion and comfort will do. The first and only formula with adaptagrip cushioning technology. Choose new poligrip cushion and comfort. Swithout even on yoleaving your house. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, youll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just 12 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Theres a lot we dont know about the coronavirus. One thing that were pretty certain about is we are missing both coronavirus cases and also fatalities due to the virus, which means we dont know how widespread it is, and also how deadly it is. New york times did a macro study where they looked at the data for Different Countries and found a spike in mortality above the official death counts in one country after another. Take a look at spain, the historical death average is in light blue. And then that red line spiking up is deaths this year. Between march and april, there were nearly 20,000 more deaths than normal. Now, about 12,400 of those were counted as coronavirus deaths. That means there were more than 7,000 excess deaths in the country of spain alone unaccounted for. Same in england and wales. Over 6 tho,000 unaccounted deat. And its the same story in each place the times looked at the data. But this is showing up in the microlevel. In this account, a doctor recounts people heading to the er for noncoronavirus reasons, turning out to have an advanced tomorrow of the virus. A patient stabbed in the shoulder actually had covid pneumonia. With patients we did ct scans, we found covid pneumonia. Joining me now is the doctor who wrote that excellent piece, dr. Richard levitan, who spent ten days in the er at Bellevue Hospital at the beginning of the month. This piece really, i read a lot of medical accounts, and this one really compelled me. Just what was your experience of the sort of finding out that patients youre treating are in fact Covid Patients . I think most remarkable aspect of this story, chris, is that covid pneumonia, actually does not cause subjective respiratory problems to most patients until it is very advanced. That there are many patients who have covid pneumonia who dont realize it. Probably, i would say in the united states, thousands and thousands who have had covid pneumonia and dont even realize it. And that the way it advances, the way it kills is with relatively few symptoms initially. It add vances to a very serious level of low oxygen, and then when people present, they are very seriously ill. So i called this in the piece in the New York Times silent hypoyia. It progresses slowly, and patients dont have a lot of subjective shortness of breath until it gets very advanced. And unfortunately, very serious. And so was your conclusion, when youre seeing these patients who are in there not initially presenting as Covid Patients, and, again, this is speculative, but im curious what your enfreinference is, th population of new york has a lot more than realize, or people coming in not realizing this is the thing driving their symptoms or whatever distress theyre feeling. So i actually think the illness of covid pneumonia spans the gamete. There are people who come in with no complaints at all, and we just check oxygen thats slightly low. But they came into the Emergency Department for falling down the stairs and they have a laceration on their head and we find their oxygen is low. And its because they have covid pneumonia. On the other end of the spectrum are the people dying silently at home and all those unaccounted deaths that you mentioned. And there is this large bunch of people obviously presenting to emergency who become short of breath and by the time they are symptomatic, their deceases are advanced. So we have a full spectrum of people with mild symptoms who maybe never went to the hospital for it who have gotten of it, or people who we coincidentally find it. Theres people in the middle who are there for the respiratory problems, but when we diagnose it, its already very advanced. And then there are many, many people dying at home with covid pneumonia, who never realized thats what was going on. That point about the hockey stick nature of the diseases progression, at least in terms of danger, i heard from other doctors treating it that they have a patient in front of them who seems fine and their oxygen just doesnt make any sense. Like what is showing up in the readings is someone who should be flat on their back, and theres a mismatch how theyre presenting and what reading theyre getting about their oxygen level. It is like nothing anybody has ever seen. The only comparison i can make is these folks have blood gases in terms of their oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, their breathing, that matches what is happening to the illogically on top of mt. Everest. These people have oxygen levels that are not compatible with life. But the way they got there, i believe is slowly and insidiously. If i were to drop your oxygen from 100 or say 95 where most of us are, and then we brought you to 50 , everybody who has that sudden drop would be unconscious or having a seizure. These people are on their cell phones, but they are dangerously close to the limits of what humans can tolerate. And then they deteriorate abruptly. Unfortunately, the way we normally detect shortness of breath, the way we normally feel short of breath is when our Carbon Dioxide rises or we get feedback from our lungs of pain or something else. These people dont get that. Their Carbon Dioxide is very low actually, so it is low oxygen, with very low Carbon Dioxide. Their breathing theyre compensating, and they do that silently until it gets to a very advanced stage and then they show up with these numbers and we look at it and cant get our head around it. But it matches physiologically what happens at extreme altitude, you know, at 29,000 feet on everest. Its insane how low their oxygens are. Doctor, it was a really fascinating piece and great talking to you tonight. Thank you for your work and your time tonight. Can i just say, chris, you know, the heros in this story are the workers in new york. The emergency docs, the nurses, the respiratory therapists who have learned a lot about this disease. I think when we look back on this, people talked about the raf, about, you know, so much was owed to so few by so many. I think that america will look back and realize we learned a lot from new york city and i just was there for ten days. But the shoutout goes to those folks. Thank you. I really appreciate you saying that, doctor. Be well. Thank you. Coming up, the Senate Reaches a bipartisan deal for the next round of Coronavirus Relief spending. But is it enough to keep the American Economy going . Thats next. No way. More exercise. More water. And more fiber is the only way to manage it. Is it . Maybe you think. Its occasional constipation. Maybe its not. It could be a chronic medical condition called ibsc, and time to say yesss to linzess. Linzess works differently than laxatives. It helps relieve belly pain and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. Do not give linzess to children less than six and it should not be given to children six to less than 18, it may harm them. Do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. Change your thinking to ibsc. If your constipation and belly pain keeps coming back, tell your doctor and say yesss to linzess. Which is why when it comes to his dentures only new poligrip cushion and comfort will do. The first and only formula with adaptagrip cushioning technology. Choose new poligrip cushion and comfort. Yothats why kubotasl. 1,100 dealers are working to keep you working. Call or email your kubota dealer about 0 financing. No payments for 90 days offer expires 5 31. Together we do more. Its my own thing that i can do for me. Since i dont have time to read, i mean i might as well listen. If i want to catch up on the news, or history, or learn whats going on in the world, i can download a book and listen to it. I listen to spanish lessons sometimes to and from work. Yea, it makes me want to be better. Audible reintroduced this whole world to me. It changes your perspective. It makes you a different person. See what listening to audible can do for you. Well, they struck a deal. The Senate Passed a new bipartisan Coronavirus Relief bill today by unanimous consent. The house expected to take it up on thursday to nearly 500 billion interim bill, which is mostly centered around the program weve been covering a lot. The paycheck protection program, which ran out of nomoney last week. The bill includes additional stipulations the democrats insisted upon in negotiations. For instance, money for Small Businesses working with community banks, as well as money for hospitals and also 25 billion for nationwide testing. That said, it leaves out money for a whole host of priorities, particularly state and local governments which are bleeding dry right now, as well as universal vote by mail in november and a lot of other stuff that will have to be in legislation that everyone seems to agree will happen, but who knows . Joining me now senator doug jones, democrat from alabama. Senator, you do not object to unanimous consent, so i assume youre thumbs up on this. What grade do you give this, people call it an interim bill . Right. I give it a pretty good grade. Its a heck of a lot better than what senator mcconnell put on the floor 10, 12 days ago. Weve got an extra 120 billion for that program now. We have money for hospitals and money for testing. Youre right, it is not everything that i would like to see, particularly for our mayors out there that are suffering so bad. But overall, i think its a good bill. Remember, all of this is a work in progress, chris. Its going to be a work in progress for sometime. So this was a good way to get more money this there and get things continuing to go. I want to ask about mayors and local governments. But first on ppe, this may be a crazy idea. But Unemployment Insurance is in the bill. It is not appropriate with a hard limit. Basically if you qualify youll get it and the cost is what the cost is. I dont understand why democrats, republicans, all you guys up there who think its a good program dont just fund ppe this way. My understanding is, theyre going to run out of money in a week and well be back to where we were a week from now. Well, as a matter of fact, chris, ive got a program that we rolled out just last week to do just that, that i hope will get in the next package called the paycheck security program. And it will do just that. It will fund things, a business of any size, nonprofits. It will go through either treasury or maybe even the irs. And it would be a grant program. You could use payroll processors. I think we talked about that about a month ago as a possibility. And it would go straight to fund payroll up to 90,000. And it would be a sixmonth program. It would give people the cushion, it would give businesses the cushion needed. And the employees the cushion that theyre needed to open those businesses back up in a smart, helpful way. Theres a lot of guard rails on it to protect it. But i think its a Great Program and im hoping that folks on both sides of the aisle can take a good, strong look at it as we go forward. Senator graham of south carolina, which boarders georgia, expressed some trepidation about governor kemps decision in georgia to reopen places like nail salons and massage parlors. Do you have concerns in alabama . Oh, absolutely. You know, about georgia i do. Look, our governor today had a press conference and she could have done the same thing. But she didnt. She stood strong. She said she was going to follow the advice of the health care professionals. She was going to look at opening at some point down the line when were sure that our case number is declining. She defied what they did in florida and georgia. You know, chris, i had to take my mom to the doctor yesterday. And the first questions they asked her, have you had a fever, have you had respiratory problems, have you traveled internationally. People from alabama are going to have to ask have we traveled to georgia or florida lately. What theyre doing in those two states i think is just crazy. Final question about the mayors and localities. Youve got a state and cities in that state that are going to be essentially bankrupt. You know, not in a technical sense, but deficits this year, operating deficits that will be even bigger next year. Are you confident that Mitch Mcconnell and republicans are going to be there to help those states and localities out, or do you worry that when it comes time to do that, the Republican Party will say now were worried about the deficit . Absolutely. I think were going to be worried about something. They havent been there yet. Democrats have been pushing to help mayors across this country from the very beginning, and theres been a lot of pushback. We were lucky to get 150 billion for states and local governments the last time, but it was only supposed to be for extraordinary covid related expenses. Democrats have been pushing to help the mayors on the front lines, provides essential Services Without the revenue that Everybody Knows they should be getting, but because of the stay at home orders theyre not. Well continue to push for that. But i dont really have that confidence. But i hope that they will. Im afraid theyre going to hang that over the cities and the mayors to, in some twisted way, to make them open the economy back up. That would be unfortunate. Senator doug jones, thank you so much for making time tonight, sir. My pleasure, chris. Any time. Right now i want to bring in a democrat from michigan, who is slated to vote on the bill with the rest of the house on thursday. Your first initial response, are you enthusiastic, are you a reluctant thumbs up, or a thumbs down . Listen, im going to be a thumbs up, but its a compromise bill, its not perfect. But thats the name of the game right now. You negotiate, you try to get things in, particularly making sure that our Small Businesses get access to the ppe loans, making sure hospitals have money, we have money for testing. But thats the nature of negotiation. You try and youre not going to love everything, and i dont. And i hope that we move on to the next conversation. The one you were just having what well do for our cities and towns. I dont think people are connecting if we dont help those cities and towns make up for lost revenue, well have a hard time paying for police officers, firefighters and first responders. So its important we get that. I wanted in this bill but it wasnt. I hope the administration does it in the next one. One thing i have spoke on the you a number of times, as well, lots of lawmakers on this program, are folks in washington, not in washington any more, everyone is at home. Are they tracking the size of what were dealing here appropriately . I think it took a while to catch up. Where do you stand right now on that . Like, this the numbers are Great Depression level. This could reverberate for years and years and be a cataclysm thats generational or staunched with good policy. Do you think the will is there for that latter route . I do. I do, because i think people are trying to absorb now what were going to need. It is different. I always think back the first emergency covid19 package that came to the congress way back in sort of mid or early march was for 2. 9 billion. Thats what the administration thought they needed to handle covid19. And then we bounced it up to 8. 3 billion, and we thought that was a big bumpup. Now were talking about unbelievable amounts of money. I do think people are understanding the magnitude of it. Right now were doing survival bills, right . Just to get people through and brinl th bridge them through to transition. Well have to have another conversation about stimulus, and were not talking about stimulus yet, and thats a whole other ball of wax. Yeah. I see what youre saying. So just to get through, and then the idea of the fact that theres going to be a kickstart thats needed to, as we quote unquote reopen, if that happens or what that looks like, which is going to be in diminished capacity, which i hope people understand who are making policy. Yeah. I mean, listen, we are suffering as an organization because we are not together, right . Congress is a pretty traditional place, where a lot of smart ideas and things happen by actually people being in a room, by holding hearings, by holding briefings. A lot of that is, you know, happening remotely or by telephone call. Its just not the same thing. Were still struggling through that. I do think were helping with these survival bills, yes. Certainly the ppe program was wildly popular and will be a lifeline for Small Businesses. Do i think its the end of the conversation that we have it all right . Of course not. Do you have concerns about some of the abuses that have been pointed out for the ppe program, just in terms of larger firms getting it, publicly traded firms got about 300 million. One headline i saw, is that scott pruitt, who lobbies for a company, a coal company, that they managed to get a so million business lone, despite having more than 500 employees. Is there sufficient oversight right now, sufficient scrutiny to your mind about who is getting this money and who is not . Yeah, we worked hard in the last bill to make sure we had inspectors general, some oversight. This is where we negotiated a different package this time. There was a real debate whether we do a straight renewal of the ppe program or make a carveout for the smallest businesses. We got 60 billion that are carved out for small and medium sized businesses. That was an important piece for us, because were picking up the phone at home and hearing from our smallest businesses saying i cant get in the door with the bank. I cant get in there. Im not competing with my biggest businesses. Weve helped, at least in the interim, to open up the capture of the program. Congresswoman Alyssa Slotkin of michigan, thank you for making time for us. Thank you. Coming up, the deadly cost of doing nothing to stop the spread. Amazing new reporting on how a pork Processing Plant in south dakota became the center of one of the largest known coronavirus clusters in the nation. A new investigation how that virus spread so quickly, ahead. Open. Remember having that feeling for the first time . The first day you opened. The first day you had a customer, the first day you taught a class, had a client, a patient, a session. Open. Remember the night before you opened . Who could ever sleep . Open. But theres a different question we are being asked now. Are you going to remain open . Even when your doors are closed . Open. Thats how we show who we are. And theres another way to be open, to pull together or push, depending on the door. And we are making it work and we will continue to make it work together. Because open we stand. A lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. I tell them, it may be your detergent. Thats why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum. With the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. For sparklingclean dishes, the first time. Cascade platinum. It has now been two weeks since the wisconsin Republican Party, along with the help of the state spoupreme court and t u. S. Supreme court forced the sit vennes of the state to vote in a pandemic. We are beginning to see Coronavirus Infections that appear directly tied to that inperson voting. Talking points memo reports that 19 people who voted in person or worked at a polling site that day have tested positive for coronavirus. One state senator told reporters today i fear this is just the beginning. Perhaps it is not surprising that in the wake of that voting debacle, a new poll found that 2 3 of americans currently support vote by mail to the National Election in november. 58 want the election rules changed permanently. Theres widespread bipartisan support for mailin voting, and it appears it was used more by democrats in the latest wisconsin election, but there has not been historically through the record any clear partisan advantage, and theres no reason to think theres a partisan advantage now. The whole point is to allow all people to participate in democracy without risking their health. That should be a nobrainer. But as we are seeing unfold day after day, the health of americans is not always the priority. That story is next. We buy a new home, and we turn into our parents. What i do is help new homeowners overcome this. What is that, an adjustable spanner . Good choice, steve. Okay, dont forget youre not assisting him. You hired him. If you have nowhere to sit, you have too many. Who else reads books about submarines . My dad. Yeah. Oh, those are progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Look at that. Wsome because ourstop. S. Communities need you. Which is why were working to keep you working. And ready to dig in. To help you keep your properties and towns maintained. Your farm running. And construction moving. Your work is essential. Kubotas 1,100 dealers are behind you. Together we will get through this. Call or email your kubota dealer about 0 financing. No payments for 90 days offer expires 5 31. Together we do more. Oh. Oh, darn wha let me help. Lift and push and push there. Its up there. Hey joshie. Wrinkles send the wrong message. Help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard. 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. A second worker from a smith field meat Processing Plant in south dakota has died of the coronavirus. Craig franken, 61, died on sunday from covid19 complications. A 40 year veteran of the plant. He was planning to retire in the next couple of years. The outbreak at this sioux falls plant is one of the worst clusters of coronavirus in the country, and workers are beginning to speak out. I started getting really super concerned when a person on my line was diagnosed with covid19. Theres people standing in line outside, theres people inside in the locker room, people walking down the hallway and theres no way to be six feet apart. A lot of us were getting scared knowing that if we didnt show up for work we might not have a job. A lot of people were worried about their family members, bringing it home and spreading it to them. There are 725 confirmed cases among plant employees. Smith field told all in quote we are doing everything in our power to help protect our team members from the covid19 in the workplace. To talk about how bad it got, wrote about the smith field plant and how it turn sbood a coronavirus hot spot. Albert, tell us what this plant is, how many people work there, what the conditions are like even before the virus started spreading. Its a pork Processing Plant, employees 3,700 employees, provides around 5 of the nations pork supply. So, this is one of the biggest porkproducing companies in the world. And how closely how close are people to themselves in the normal work of that plant . So, a lot of folks work on a conveyer belt production line where theyre chopping meat, cleaning meat, passing meat down. Theyre working shoulder to should shoulder, literally rubbing elbows as theyre working. On other floors there are people with forklifts that go up and down the floors. Lunchtime they gather at the cafeteria together. You can have as many as 300 people in the cafeteria. So, theres a bunch of different jobs and the majority involve people working literally shoulder to shoulder. So, when you think about that, you think, you know, when you conceive of places in the beginning when we first starting hearing about the virus, cruise ship, longterm care facilities, prisons, meat Processing Plants seems natural to imagine you could get an outbreak. Did smithfield take precautions early on to be proactive about the virus and how did they find out it was spreading so quickly . The extent of their precautions before they found out the first confirmed case was putting up signs in multiple languages, sort of giving hand washing instructions. Other than that, there really wasnt much, if anything. They found out in late march, last week of march, march 24th, was when some of our sources first heard from managers there had been a confirmed case. For the next week that followed, there was no policies implemented for those seven, eight days. And then on april 6 is when they closed the 8th floor which is the first time that they closed any department. And that was about a week afterwards. They left Everything Else open, continued operations as normal, and the following week was when they began to put in the plexiglass dividers, the cardboard dividers and giving out masks. The problem as we know how this virus spreads now is by the time you sort of see a small outbreak, its already too late and theres many more people infected. So, by the time the first week came when they took the first steps, by the time the second week came, they were already having a fast outbreak that they really couldnt catch up to. This is a story from wuhan, from lombardi to new york. It just keeps repeating itself. If you wait a week after you get your first confirmed case, youre fwog to have a massive outbreak. I think there have been two fatalities. The governor has been very protective of smithfield. She said this thing on april 13th sort of defending the companies in some ways saying she thought the transmission wasnt happening in the plant. Take a listen to what she said. We believe that 99 of whats going on today wasnt happening inside the facility. It was more at home where these employees were going home and spreading some of the virus because a lot of these folks that work at this plant live in the same community, same building, sometimes in the same apartments. I mean, that seems that a lot of these folks do, from your reporting and others, they do live close to each other. But its impossible to know what the source of transmission is and they are all working in the same facility. One of the things i was telling about what the governor and the company has said about this how this spread is theyve cited no other factors other than the fact that a lot of their employees happen to live close together. When i spoke when i initially spoke with representatives from the company, they didnt give me any answer to why it might have spread so quickly except initially sending me the link to the interview you just played. So, theyre using the governors words to defend their actions. And i think the thing that really caught my eye as we reported in our story is that even though the governor hasnt had any stayathome orders and even though the policies themselves are delayed, especially compared to now other companies have handled this outbreak, despite those two factors, the only factor that both the governor and the company have cited is the fact that a lot of their workers are immigrants who live close together. Yeah. Albert sa maha did phenomenal reporting about this plant. Its one of several that have really bad outbreaks. We want to keep on this story. Thank you very much. Thank you. That is all in for this evening. Rachel ma doe starts right now. Thanks my friend. Much appreciated. Thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. Im happy to have you with us tonight. I would like to start tonight by introducing you to someone. This is hannah blakely. She is a nurse in avon, indiana. Hi, my name is hannah blakely, and im a nurse in avon. I work on a med surge floor that is currently