Transcripts For MSNBCW Coronavirus Pandemic 20200427

Good evening and welcome to msnbcs continuing special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Im lawrence odonnell. We begin tonight with the numbers. The number of reported coronavirus cases in the United States is now over 963,000. As of tonight there are more than 54,000 reported deaths linked to the coronavirus in the United States. Those statistics get grimmer every day, but in some parts of the country the numbers do seem to be moving in the right direction. New york suffered 367 deaths in the last 24 hours, and that is about half of new yorks peak of deaths per day nearly three weeks ago. For Many Americans, this weekend actually felt like a weekend for the first time in a long time because they got a full weekend break from the tension of watching the president of the United States discuss the coronavirus pandemic in the White House Briefing room. That means the country has now lived through two consecutive days without having to watch the president of the United States suggest that americans do things that could kill them. That also means because we dont have a new medical threat from the president to deal with, we can go straight to our medical experts tonight to get their view of the latest important developments in the coronavirus pandemic as some parts of the country begin to try to reopen some businesses and recreational activities. Leading offer the discussion is the director for the center of Vaccine Development at the Texas Central hospital. And the director of the internal Medicine Department and professor of Infectious Disease at the university of nebraska medical center. Dr. Hotez, we are going to cross the million mark this week. This is going to be one of those weeks of real significance in the statistical pattern of whats happened in this pandemic. But in your view, where are we as some parts of the country seem to be reporting numbers moving in the right direction, other parts of the country seem more eager than others to reopen . What are you looking for this week . Right. Well, thanks for having me. You know, its unfortunately the states that are proposing to reopen are not necessarily the states that should be reopening right now. There are many states where the projections indicate that we wont really be in a position to manage the possibility of a resurgence infections unless we keep that social distancing to the early part of june. That means the entire month of may. Frankly, there are very few states that have the appetite to keen the social distancing in place for that full month of may. So were probably going to open up sooner than the models would recommend when we can do it safely. So the big question is going to be, are these states, which are proposing to reopen their economies, putting in place the belts and suspenders that we need to make certain that we can detect new cases as they go up . Are we are the states prepared to do the testing in the workplace . Are the states prepared to do the Contact Tracing . Are those states prepared to have in place the syndromic surveillance and the communication to the public . The answers im getting from city and county Health Directors is no, they dont have guidance, in many cases they dont have guidance from the cdc. Theyre on their own. They dont have detailed granular plans in place, and they need help and advice. So this is a situation that worries me where we could, therefore, see a resurgence as we move into the summer or fall. It wont happen right away. It will be a lag. But then we could start seeing a big sharp increase again. Dr. Khaleel, i know you take a worldwide perspective on this and a National Perspective on it. Because youre located in nebraska, i wonder if you could also speak to what its like in the middle of the country, in that area of the country that doesnt have the kind of population density that we see elsewhere, and what are the things to watch for in that part of the country . Thanks, lawrence. The, you know, we have not been having the prevalence that you see in the coasts, but we are still seeing substantial increase of cases on a daily basis. But whats interesting, and i think that comes to your question, the very important question that you made, is that we are not even talking about state by state. We are talking about really county by county. We are talking about, you know, region by region. So, for instance, we do have areas, for instance, in nebraska where i am where we have not had really a substantial increase in the number of cases. Contrary to some other counties west into the state. The way that the state is approaching is individualizing the opening and the social distancing and the business in each specific area. So i think this is going to be really key for our country to not only get the economy back, but also save lives at the same time. We can do both at the same time. I dont think there is any kind of issues being brought at the same time. We have this conversation where either one or the other. We can save lives and open the economy at the same time, but it has to be done in a very, very specific, almost surgical way in which you know which county, which area of your state you can do that safely or not. And as peter mentioned, the other way to that is a very close watch to the new case testing and tracing. There is no other way to do without good science. Dr. Hotez, what youve both described as the necessary condition for realistic reopenings, those conditions just dont exist anywhere in the country. There is no place in the country that im aware of where they are capable of doing the kind of Contact Tracing that youd want them to do, or even the scale of testing that you would want them to do. Do you see someplace in the country that is going to get to this level in the foreseeable future . Yeah, well, again, its not just the number of tests and its having a system in place. Its having the create not a new, but added on Health System infrastructure that allows us to do all those things. Its not that complicated, but it is very labor intensive. And it needs very granular guidance. We heard last week from the governor of new york, Governor Cuomo saying hes basically going to bring on mackenzie to advise him on how to do this at the granular level. We shouldnt be asking the governors to be hiring mackenzie or Management Consultants to advise us how to do this. And so we urgently now need to put those plans in place. What youre seeing in many cases is governors are getting out there and theyre putting in place economic recovery teams. Theyre bringing in some of the best Business Leaders in the state. They are creating this economic recovery plan. But there is a Situational Awareness missing. There is a gap missing. Its not being timed to the recognition that unless you simultaneously have that Health System in place, that infrastructure in place to detect new cases, the whole thing is going to fall apart. And im very worried as we move into the summer and fall months that all that just as we are about to show some signs of recovery, that it will collapse again. And this will be very destabilizing for the nation, especially when its going to come at a time of a very contentious election cycle in the fall. Im worried about a lot of political foment and discontent unless we can figure all of this out. Dr. Kalili i think as you know, in government when the experts make the case for what they need, the politicians and the people looking at the budgets often come back with, okay, but can we make do with this . And it seems to me that one of the comebacks that the experts are going to have to deal with within the next month are the politicians, especially in the states, saying look, we are not going to be able to hire armies of hundreds of thousands of contact tracers. What can we do if we cannot do Contact Tracing . What if we can just do testing . What can we do without Contact Tracing . Because the federal government has said, were not going to hire them. States dont have the money to hire them. Are the cities going to Fire Police Officers so they can hire contact tracers . If the government comes back a month from now saying we cannot hire people to do that work, how can the states proceed . Lawrence, this is a very important question. So, lets go back to the stimulus back from the congress, trillions and trillions of dollars. All these trillions of dollars are going to just fly away very fast. Theyre going to patch holes in the economy if we dont act simultaneously on tracing and clinical research. That would be really not a wise move to just trying to put the money in one side and not the other. If you dont put money automatically now we should be testing, tracing 24 hours, seven days a week, 360 days a year. We should be doing that right now. And whats interesting is that coming to your question, how we get this money, this we are talking about at the most, billions of dollars. If youre going to really test and trace, lets say 10 million, 20 Million People a day can be achieved in this country. The only way to achieve is spread the money where the money needs to be put, in science, scientific data. If we take a little bit, just a little bit of this money that is being is coming from the congress to hire people in Public Health states and hire people to trace to do the test, im talking about billions. Im not talking about trillions of dollars. We could stop this outbreak so fast. And i think its really its not that complicated. Its incredibly simple. I dont understand where the money is being located. The money is being allocated to so many things except where it needs to be put, in Public Health, in hospitals, in states. We could the only way to defeat the virus is with science. If you dont have science, well be chasing our tail and were going to have more economic downfalls and were going to be patching holes and its going to be a terrible cycle. The money has to go into the Public Health, to the scientific data. Otherwise, honestly, lawrence, were not going to defeat this virus. We can hope they heard you in washington. Dr. Andrej kalil, thank you for joining us. Dr. Peter hotez, thank you for starting us off tonight. When we come back, the mayor of atlanta is up next on the weekend when georgia tried to reopen some businesses. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms joins us live from atlanta next. Ext. The 3 40 midshift migraine medicine. Introducing ubrelvy™. Its the migraine medicine for anytime, anywhere a migraine attacks without worrying if its too late or where you happen to be. One dose of ubrelvy™ can quickly stop a migraine in its tracks within two hours. Many had pain relief in one hour. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. Few people had side effects, most common were nausea and tiredness. Ask your provider about ubrelvy™ or access doctors from home with telemedicine. Migraines can strike anytime, anywhere. Ubrelvy™. The anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. [ siren ] doug give me your hand i can save you. Lots of money with Liberty Mutual we customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Tums ver bell rings la stick when heartburn hits fight back fast. With tums chewy bites. Beat heartburn fast tums chewy bites theaters to reopen tomorrow, but amc Movie Theater chain is announcing that it will not reopen any theaters in georgia until at least july. More than 23,000 cases of coronavirus have been identified in georgia. 916 people have reportedly died of coronavirus in georgia. The epicenter in georgia is, not surprisingly, its largest metropolitan area of atlanta where its mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the mayor disagrees with the governors decision to allow businesses to reopen. Joining us now is atlantas mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Madam mayor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. So, what happened in atlanta this weekend . Suddenly it was legal to operate a hair dressing salon or tattoo parlor. Did people just flock to these businesses . Well, ive gotten mixed information on that. And first of all, thank you for having me. Ive heard reports of people standing outside of salons, nail salons and hair salons. I think part of that is is part of the social distancing, not allowing all of the customers in at once. But then ive heard from Restaurant Owners and hair stylists and others who said that they absolutely will not open up until its safe to open up. And i think the thing that is really heartbreaking for me personally to hear is that people are having to make this decision between putting food on their table and whether or not they go back into an environment that, by all accounts, people realize will not be the safest environment. And thats why i think it is incumbent on us as leaders to make sure people arent having to make those choices. That these Small Business loans are getting into the pockets or these loans are getting into the pockets of Small Business owners. And people who need it the most. Yeah, i mean, theres a couple things going on here. One is something ive been saying for several weeks now, which is its not up to government to decide when a private business opens. Its true that the governor can allow a hair dressing salon to open, but its up to the owner of the hair dressing salon or the Movie Theater, as amc proved, its up to the owners of the Movie Theater to decide whether to open. And its up to the moviegoing public to decide when they feel safe buying a ticket even if the theater is open. And so we have yet to see exactly what the full consumer response to these kinds of openings might be. You know whats most frustrating for me is when i hear people say they are adults and its their decision if they go out. Well, its a bit more to it than that. It may be your decision to go out, but you dont determine whether or not you get sick and whether or not you go into a hospital, take up a hospital bed, and possibly infect the men and women in the hospital who are caring for you and putting their lives on the line. So i think people need to think past the first step. Certainly there is an economic consideration, and that consideration is very real. But the consideration of choosing between your health and going to a Movie Theater or going to a bowling alley, i think its very selfish on the part of people who dont have to go to work. I think that we have to be considerate of the people who are putting their lives on the line to take care of us. And when i look at these numbers in our state, im extremely concerned. The 7 00 p. M. Numbers, the death rate was up 34 from last week. And the positive infection rate up nearly 29 . We are not headed in the right direction in this state. I want to bring a subject in we just discussed in the previous discussion, which is just the issue of Contact Tracing because there is an awful lot that we need to do that were not close to being able to do on testing in order to make it safe for people to go back to work. But every expert says in addition to testing, youre going to. Have to do Contact Tracing. If someone tests positive, we have to be able to test everyone they came in contact with. Contact tracing involves a massive government hiring program to hire people to do this. Is your budget in the city of atlanta, does that budget have room for hiring new people to do this kind of work . Absolutely not. Like so many entities across this country, we are facing a budget shortfall in the city of atlanta. Thankfully weve been very thoughtful about how we spend money in the city, so we do have a bit of a cushion with our reserves. But our revenues will be down. The state of georgia is facing a 4 billion budget shortfall over the next few years. And we arent even testing asymptomatic and people with mild symptoms yet. So we know its a part of it. The testing, the Contact Tracing, the isolation and all of these things that we have not perfected. But if we look across the globe, what weve seen is that countries that have worked to socially distance people from one another have had more success than weve had in the United States. And weve also seen that people who have opened their doors too soon have said that they regret taking action as soon as they did. And it is extremely frustrating and concerning to me, but i say this repeatedly. This is the time that i certainly hope that im wrong and the governor is right, because if he is wrong, more people in our state will die. Mayor, what do you need from State Government and what do you need from federal government . What we need from federal government is we need money in the pockets of people who are having to choose between going to work and staying home to save lives. We need to make sure that these federal dollars are getting into the pockets of the Small Business owners. We need to make sure that we have more testing in this state. We set up additional testing sites in our state, but it is still not enough. Were still lagging behind with the numbers. So even when i look at our 7 00 p. M. Numbers, i know that they arent accurate because we arent getting realtime information. We need rapid testing. We need people to be able to quarantine and to isolate away from their families when they test positive. Theres still so much work to be done, but most of all, we need leadership from the federal government. We need consistent leadership. We need a consistent understanding of what the science is and what the data is, and we dont need misleading information to communities, even implying to people if you inject or ingest household cleaners, that this somehow will cure this virus. Mayor of atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Thank you. And when we come back, the senior senator from massachusetts Elizabeth Warren wants an investigation of where the money is going in these Small Business Relief Program that the federal government has passed and now once again supplemented those funds. Massachusetts attorney general mau maura healy has questions of her own. She wants to run an investigation. Attorney general maura healy joins us next. Introducing tide power pods with cat nat. That is such a large load, dont the stains sneak through . New tide power pods can clean that. Whole situation. Its like two regular tide pods and then even more power. Even the largest of loads get clean. Its got to be tide. If we werent able to stream anything, i think theyd be lost. vo we are all home right now. Thats why verizon is giving you more of the entertainment you want. Dayley is usually watching a tv show, and mckenna is almost always listening to music. We love verizon. I get the shows i need when i need them. vo now unlimited plans come with your favorite artists on apple music, shows and movies on disney , and over 70 top channels of live tv with youtube tv. Music plays a huge role in our family. Thats how we connect. vo plans start as just 35 so your family can mix, match, and save. Shop online today. Only at verizon. Senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren and other democrats are asking for an investigation of the 670 billion intended to rescue Small Businesses under the paycheck protection program. And the senators want to know why the money has found its way to very large companies, including some with market valuations of more than 100 million. This week the house approved an additional 484 billion in relieve funds with 391 billion allocated to replenishing the program for Small Businesses. The Trump Administration had initially requested only 250 billion from congress to support that program, with virtually no strings attached. But the democrats refused. The democrats then pushed for and obtained more funding and moreov more oversight. Massachusetts attorney general maura healey is concerned about how they were handled by bank of america and other banks after her office received complaints alleging the process favored big customers of those banks. Joining our discussion now is attorney general maura healey of massachusetts. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. What investigative powers does a state attorney general bring to this that senators might not have . Well, its great to be with you, lawrence. And, you know, tonight im speaking on behalf of the more than 120,000 Small Businesses in massachusetts that employ fewer than 20 people. Think about that, lawrence. We have in massachusetts alone 120,000 Small Businesses that employ less than 20 people. For each owner and their employees, that represents families all across this state. And so my job as an attorney general is to get answers, to seek answers from the federal government, from the Small Business association. Ive talked to some of the banks. Fundamentally, this was a program that was not set up well, and our Small Businesses and i think that when people think of Small Businesses, theyre not thinking of these Major Companies that ended up getting relief from the first round of funding and thats just not fair. Yeah, one of the big problems is when the federal government defines Small Business, they never, ever define it as that classic one youre describing, the 20 employees or less. And they always describe it in a way that big corporate accountants figure out how to make a giant corporation fit into that Small Business definition, and thats what were seeing in a lot of these exploiters of the program so far. Exactly. And one of my jobs as attorney general is to protect workers, to protect consumers, and to protect fairness in the market place. You know, we know how imperative it is for these Small Businesses to be able to pay rent, to keep employees on their payroll. Just to get through this time and this pandemic. Unfortunately we got complaints from many Small Businesses who were shut out. They couldnt get through the application process. They were told that their loan requests were being processed, but others received loans ahead of them. You know, some of this has to do with the fact these are Small Businesses. They dont have the benefit of fancy lawyers and others who can help process these applications and move them through the process, so its a process designed to fail. You cannot have, lawrence, a first come, first served program if you truly want to make sure that the Small Businesses who really form the backbone of our communities are taken care of. Say nothing of the minority owned businesses and women owned businesses that are disproportionately impacted. So another round up tomorrow, i hope in future rounds a much Better Process is set up so Small Businesses can access money so that the banks can get them those funds, and so that we have a much better chance of shoring up the economy that we need to pull through. Now, one of the angles that you can pursue is how the banks in your state processed these applications, because youve got specific jurisdiction over the way those banks operate in situations like this. And we do have reporting indicating that the banks heavily favored their big customers over that Small Business youre talking about with the 20 employees or less. Yeah, you know, and were trying to find out, were trying to understand what happened here because more than anything, its imperative that we get this right for future rounds of funding. And you talk to Small Businesses. Theyre incredibly frustrated. They werent able to access these funds, even though they had been told that their loans were in process. Their loans may have been in process and others may have gotten ahead of them. It may or may not have been a fault of the bank. Ive talked to several banks, but its a problem. Its not working. And so whether its technical issues or resource issues, there needs to be right now a pri prioritization of the Small Businesses. They need help now. There is no way around it. I think about our mounting unemployment filings and families that are going to lose their homes, people facing eviction eventually because they cant pay rent even though we stopped evictions and foreclosures in the state. This is where the rubber meets the road. We want to make sure there isnt unfair prioritization by the banks, that there is an easier way for less sophisticated and well resourced Small Businesses process these funds. And that it not be handled on a first come first serve basis with any preferential treatment. And ill continue to talk to the banks. Ill continue to talk to members of congress about this. It is absolutely imperative, lawrence, if we think were going to have a shot because, remember, you know, for these Small Businesses, if they dont make it now, they are simply never going to open up again, right . Right. The startup costs are too much. Weve got to get this right. Massachusetts attorney general maura healey, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Good to be with you, lawrence. Thank you. So, how do you feel . Relaxing weekend because you didnt have to watch President Trump this weekend on television . Gene sperling, tracy kamara will join us next. Commercial halftime show, featuring smash mouth. Hey now, youre an all star get your game on, go play thank you goodnight [ cheers and applause ] now enjoy the second half of the commercial even renters can bundle and save where did that come from . The kitchen. It was halftime. Than Rheumatoid Arthritis or Psoriatic Arthritis. 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We needed to be helpful. Respectful. And compassionate. To treat people like guests. Its what we all signed up for. And now when people need this most, we will do what weve always done. Take care of people first. The rest will follow. Donald trump presumably had a more relaxing weekend this weekend, as did Many Americans because donald trump decided not to have any White House Press briefings all weekend. Donald trump benched himself this weekend, much to the relief of the majority of americans who polls show disapprove of Donald Trumps Job Performance as president. The Trump Reelection Campaign has been based, in part, on the trump White House Briefings being, in part, the kind of spectacle his rally audiences enjoy. But new polling shows joe biden ahead of donald trump in some important swing states. The Biden Campaign strategy of letting donald trump talk circles around himself at White House Briefings reached peak effectiveness the last time the president stood in the White House Briefing room on friday. Joining our discussion now, president and c. E. O. Of voter latino, and the former director of the National Economic council under president s obama and president clinton gene sperling. So, we went through a weekend without the president coming up with ideas of how they can kill themselves as he did so famously in the Briefing Room on friday. And that left us with the grimness of the statistical picture of whats happening out there without the extra madness being funneled our way from the white house. The l. A. Times reporting now that covid19 has become the leading cause of death in l. A. County, surpassing fatalities from cancer, flu, emphysema, and heart disease. And that is the reality that we are not going to be free of any time soon. The deaths have surpassed, sadly, the deaths in the vietnam war, lawrence. And this is where the president has been so cavalier with his suggestions that even when he said that people can ingest disinfectants, desperate people, poor people, they might actually take him up on it because they want to get cured. And theyre fearful of going to the medical emergency room. In San Francisco, for example, the San Francisco general hospital, 80 of the people with covid are latino. That is an explosion of folks that are poor that are right now on the front lines the president never even mentions and does not recognize the true teetering of life and death and health in the Latino Community, the wealth and health of the Latino Community are completely at stake. Whats interesting about covid is that as terrifying as it is, it exposes the inequities of our country. Martin luther king 50 years ago had been trying to talk about the institutional racism we experience, and covid has been a able to do that wide open in 40 days. Our question to our leadership, what are you going to do about it . Its not enough to provide Small Business loans disproportionately to people who can access it. African americans and latinos sadly have not recuperated from Small Businesses from the 2008 great recession. What is the government really going to do about it . The fact that the covid relief bill, you have close to 11 million undocumented immigrants and u. S. Citizens who may not qualify for relief because they live with someone who is undocumented. This is an opportunity this is a Health Crisis that were facing in this country and its up to leadership its up to the republicans to recognize they have to make sure they are keeping every Single Person safe despite what the president is trying to do. Gene sperling, i want to take you back to the subject we opened up with at the beginning of this hour, and that is the kind of precautions that Public Health officials are saying we absolutely need in order to reopen areas of the country anyway. And one of the things that everyone calls for, after testing which we still cannot do, but lets just pretend we reach a level where we can do the testing theyre talking about. Theyre all talking about Contact Tracing, which means theyre all talking about hiring hundreds of thousands of people, at minimum, around the country to chase people down to find out who has had contact with who, who might be at risk for coronavirus. President has said he has no intention of hiring any of those people. The state treasuries dont have money to hire those people. The cities dont have the money to hire those people. Whats going to happen on this issue of Contact Tracing if the federal government refuses to do it and none of the other governing entities have the money to do it . Well, you know, this is whats been so backward with the administrations view. Lawrence, youre one of the first people who really say, you dont reopen the economy by edict or by what the white house or secretary treasury says. You do it by doing the testing, the tracing, treatment that would give people more confidence to reengage in the economy. So right now youve got Mitch Mcconnell saying that we should, on top of all the pain in the economy, now tell the states to go into bankruptcy. But forget the financial aspect. What does that mean . It means teacher layoffs, police layoffs. It means not being able to hire people that would both put more people to work, help more people make a living, lower your unemployment rate, and at the same time help prevent the surges to the hospital and do something about the confidence thats going to hurt and keep this economy going on excuse me, this deep recession, or even depression going on longer. You know, weve just seen numbers suggesting from the Congressional Budget Office that were going to see the Second Quarter growth go down 39 annualized. Weve never heard of that in our history. I think unemployment will be over 20 . Secretary mnuchin says maybe things are bouncing back. The estimate for loss of growth this year is about the same as 1931. So the things that both give us more confidence like tracing, like hiring essential workers, giving them the hazard pay they need, giving them the paid sick leave they need, these are all the double wins. These are things where youre going to help people and do the real things that could help reopen the economy as opposed to debating by edict how thats going to happen from the white house podium. Maria teresa, we know where to find the people who need the work as contact tracers. Thats exactly right. There are individuals filing right now as you and i speak, filing unemployment claims. They are individuals in the restaurant, hospitality industry, retail industry. The majority of folks, especially folks of color, only 23 of them are eligible to work from home. Working from home is a luxury. They are the individuals that right now we should make sure we provide them with essential gear that they need, but also that they can be the contact persons if they choose to come out and work. Most americans want to work. They want to feel useful in this battle against the covid crisis. Thank you both for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thank you, lawrence. Thank you. And when we come back, for years tribal communities have dealt with under funding for indian services. And so those communities now are struggling more than ever in the coronavirus pandemic. Thats next. Ext. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. 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. 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Take on ra talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. Rinvoq. Make it your mission. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. Listen to doctors from the start. The coronavirus. What would joe biden do differently . Restore the white house pandemic office. Open 10 mobile testing sites per state. Faster hospital expansion. Produce enough safety gear. Vaccines at no cost. And extend obamacare enrollment. When im president , we will be better prepared, respond better and recover better. Unite the country is responsible for the content of this advertising. After new york and new jersey, the Navajo Nation has the highest Coronavirus Infection rate in america. With 1,600 reported cases and 59 reported deaths. Unlike new york, the Navajo Nation has not reached a peak yet in the infection rate. Turning to democratic congresswoman sharise davis, who represents the 3rd district of davis, one of the first two native american women elected to congress, both democrats, both elected in 2018. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. And im sorry to say that we are just getting around to this subject now with the Navajo Nation ranking third in infection rate. I suspect this is not a surprise to you, that this Public Health crisis is hitting the tribe so badly. Well, thank you for having this thank you for covering this topic tonight, lawrence. Im really glad to be here and address really what has been a huge problem for Indian Country and for native communities and tribal communities. And that is the issue of invisibility. The issue of invisibility has actually been part of whats led to the devastating impacts that this pandemic has had on the Navajo Nation and other tribal communities throughout the United States. I think one of the important things to note is that you mentioned chronic underfunding. The Indian Health service, which is the primary point of contact for Health Services for a lot of tribal communities, is chronically underfunded. It has been for a long time. And thats exacerbating this pandemic in native communities. Were also seeing that tribal communities are facing a lot of the issues that im hearing about here in kansas. A lack of personal protective equipment, no access to widespread testing, and this is one of the reasons that were seeing tribal Communities Just being hit so hard with this pandemic. And you know, i guess i want to tell you another thing that i think a lot of people dont realize is that native americans are not a monolith. And there are actually the vast majority of native americans dont live on a reservation. My family and i live in suburban kansas. Im still a proud hochuk, but definitely what were seeing on the Navajo Nation highlights the need to address the underfunding and lack of resources to tribal communities thats taken place for far too long. What has it been like for you in congress . Here you are, your first two years in the congress. Dealing with these issues, with tribal issues, since you are from a tribe yourself. Is it as difficult as you expected it to be . The answer is yes and no. You know, you mentioned earlier, i serve alongside deb hall land, i am so proud to represent the kansas third congressional district, she represents a district in new mexico. But the two of us together have really been working on raising awareness of issues facing native communities. And i think that if it were not for the two of us both getting elected in the midterms, i think we would have a much harder go of it. But you know, the congress on both sides of the aisle, from my colleagues in the republican caucus, there are two native americans that serve on the republican side of the aisle. The four of us come together and try to make sure that were getting the resources that we need to get to tribal communities. Because frankly, its a responsibility that the federal government has. And its our job to make sure that everybody, not just in the congress, but doing things like this, which is why i appreciate you raising this issue on your show tonight. What happens you represent a district thats a varied district. Do people in your district, are they concerned that you might in some sense try to overrepresent native American Communities . You know, the folks in my district know that i am here working really, really hard for the kansas third district. In fact, earlier you were talking about Contact Tracing. And i was thinking how often folks dont realize the work thats going on here in kansas. In fact, winedot county has a really strong volunteer base from the university of kansas medical students that are doing some really robust Contact Tracing. And i think that the folks here in kansas know that i am working as hard as i possibly can to get the resources that we need here in this district. Congressman davids, we want to have you come back and talk about that Contact Tracing, which i believe is going to become a bigger and bigger issue as people realize how difficult it is to do. We need your experience with it. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you. And thank you, the viewer, for joining us tonight. Up next, our partners at sky news take you inside the heart of the outbreak, inside some of the busiest hospitals in brooklyn and new orleans. Americas reckoning is next. Od with Healthcare Professionals in this time of crisis we run with them, toward those in need. 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Sky news correspondent Cordelia Lynch gets amazing access as the pandemic hit the city. Then she takes us to the deep south where the virus is affecting a community that has already seen its share of hardships. Youll hear from a First Responders who says he is not the last line of defense but the first, as