problems. plus both the embattled new york governor loses support of state democratic leaders, including the state senators. governor andrew cuomo said he won't go. >> let the review proceed. i'm not going to resign. >> will it work? >> i'm jake tapper in washington, where the state of the union is moving forward. we have just under 70 confirmed deaths as we all scramble to adjust, to life in a pandemic. one year ago tomorrow marks 16, 2020, president trump announced 15 days to slow the spread. it would have been difficult at the time to imagine we would still will living under restrictions one year later. in some ways, this moment does feel a bit optimistic. one in five americans has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to cdc. nearly 3 million yesterday alone. in his first prime time as president, joe biden outlined an aggressive time line saying the u.s. will have enough doses for every adult by the end of may. pointing to the fourth of july is the beginning of america's independence from the virus. they relax restrictions in air level reaches the largest since 2020. health experts are warning that now is not the time to return to normal. we explain what's next. chief adviser dr. fauci. thanks for joining us. the government of italy is imposing another lockdown tomorrow as new variants cause cases to surge there. in some cases, the vaccines are less effective in combating the variants. how worried are you about that happening here? >> well, it definitely is of concern, jake, which is the reason why i and so many of my public health colleagues say that although we are going in the right direction and things look really quite bright in the sense of positive thinking concerning the vaccines, which every day we get better and better with it. we've had, as you mentioned, 3 million doses going into people's arms just yesterday that we're going in the right direction. but if you look at the numbers, jake, even though the numbers have gone down, over the last couple of weeks, they've plateaued. when you see a plateau at a level as high as 60,000 cases a day, that is a very vulnerable time to have a surge to go back up. that's what exactly happened in europe. they had a diminution of cases. they plateaued and they pulled back on public health measures. you see the pictures in the paper and on tv. they've opened restaurants. they've opened some of the bars. the younger people particularly stopped wearing masks. all of a sudden you have a surge that went right back up. that's where we are right now. we can avoid that, jake. we can avoid that if we continue to vaccinate people, get more and more protection without all of a sudden pulling back on public health measures. we will do that. we will gradually be able pull them back. if things go as we planned, just as the president said, by the time we get into the early summer, the fourth of july weekend, we really will have a considerable degree of normality. we don't want to let that escape from our grasp by being too precipitous in pulling back. >> so we have been living with this virus for a year. there is so much we do not know about the coronavirus. what is the biggest outstanding question for you about this virus? >> well, i mean, there are so many things. the one that is obviously the ruling one is the issue of what impact these variants are going to have? you know, we know that when you get a very high degree of anti-bodies resulting from the vaccination, that even though it isn't specifically directed against the variant, that high level of anti-body can protect to a certain degree and certainly protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death. so the best way that we can avoid any threat from variants is to do two things. get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we possible can. to continue with the public health measures until we get this broad umbrella of protection over society that the level of infection is very low. you know, there is a term in virology that is so true, jake. and that is viruses don't mutate unless they replicate and replication means it's spreading around in the community. if you can blunt that, you will be blunting the evolution for sure. >> so president biden promised to have vaccine produced for every adult in america at the end of may. of course, that's a big difference between having enough supply, getting those shots into arms. when do you think it will happen that everybody who wants a shot has gotten a shot? >> well, i who ep that's just going to be a couple of months after that, hopefully, by the time that we get into the summer and toward the end of the summer, logistically, let me tell you what's going on, why i feel optimistic about that. what the president is announced is happening is the opening up of community vaccine centers, up to 500 of them. over 900 of the community health centers to get people vaccinated in those centers. number two, to give the pharmacies a lot more leeway of being able to administer vaccines, particularly in areas of the country that are poorly serving in the sense where minorities are demographically represented to a high degree. getting mobile units out to get to poorly accessible areas and get a lot more people that can do vaccination. that means the military. that means retired physician, nurses and healthcare providers. so you are absolutely right. there are two issues, getting enough dose, which we will have with the new contracts with the pharmaceutical companies, but once you get those doses, to get it into people's arms. that's the reason why when the president said by the fourth of july, we believe strongly that if we do all these things, we will reach a certain degree of normality by then and well into the summer, we will get better and better towards normal there so let me ask you about that. biden said, there is a good chance people will be able to gather for cookouts. the cdc has guidelines for masks and distancing. do you think people will return to a sense of normality without masks, without distancing on the fourth of july? >> yes. first of all, there will be a greater degree of confidence. when you have a situation where you have 70,000 infections per day, i mean that is a feeling that you don't feel very secure about mingling, about having people around feeling comfortable about it. if by the time we get to the fourth of july, with the rollout of the vaccine, we get the level of infection so low, i will not be able to tell you exactly what the specific guidelines of the cdc are. but i can tell you for sure they will be much more liberal than they are right now what you can do. >> the cdc released guidelines for people fully vaccinated. those people are not allowed to have medium-size gatherings. they're still not allowed to travel according to cdc. why? what do you as a health expert need to see to say it's good to travel or be in a crowd. it doesn't make sense to a lot of people. >> well, jake, let me tell you how it goes with the regard to the cdc. the cdc is a science-based organization. so they really would like to get the data that would allow them to get to the next step. if they don't have the data, they will do modeling. if they don't have the modeling, they will use as you say common sense expert opinion. so, what we've seen was the first installment of what you can do if you are vaccinated. then that's what you just mentioned, what you can do in the home setting, with vaccinated people together or vaccinated people with an unvaccinated person. you will see very soon similar types of influence for the american public with regard to travel, the pork place, all kind of different things that you are asking right now. you will imminently be seeing those types of guidelines coming out. they just want to make sure that they get it right. now, some people think that is a little bit too slow. but they will get there. and they'll get there soon. >> so in terms of the cdc guidance. as you know, the guidance for social distancing, there is a discrepancy, some places, some health organization say 3 feet or a meter is enough. but here in the united states we say 6 feet. >> right. >> there is a new study from researchers in massachusetts just out this week, they found no significant difference in coronavirus spreading in schools, where there were 6 feet of distancing, versus 3 feet of distancing. but that 6-foot requirement, that's one of the main hurdles to re-opening schools. >> yes. >> does this study suggest even 3-feet good enough? >> it does, indeed. that's exactly the point i am making, chuck. what the cdc wants to do is they want to accumulate data. when the data shows that there is an ability to be 3-feet, they will act accordingly. they have clearly noted those data. they are, in fact, doing studies themselves. when the data are just analyzed. it's going to be soon. jake, are you asking the right questions and the cdc is very well aware that data are accumulating making it looking more like 3-feet are okay under certain circumstances. they're analyzing that. i can assure you within a reasonable period of time, quite reasonable, they will be giving guidelines according to data that they have. >> so any -- >> it won't be very long, i promise you. >> any mayors or governor or school district that's listening right now, if they hear you and they say it sounds like dr. fauci think 3s-feet is good enough. that will enable us to open our school, that's right? >> well, jake, i don't want to get ahead of official guidelines. i can tell you and promise you, i talked to the cdc, to dr. wolinski every single day. she is acutely aware of the accumulation of data and the fact that her team will be acting on the data the way they always do. >> all right. >> just stay tuned. it's going to come and it's going to come soon. >> we are staying tuned, for a lot of us who want schools to open, safely, safely, of course. dr. fauci, thank you very much. i really appreciate your time today. >> good to be with you, jake. thank you for having me. maryland's governor surprised many in his state when he lifted covid restrictions this week. why risk another surge? governor larry hogan is up next. shouldn't we consider as many legal voters to vote as possible? stacy abrams is with us. stay with us. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. i have a question for you. what are you doing today to reach your weight loss and wellness goals? we can't do this wellness journey alone right. find that right coach, the one that speaks to you and you'll hear that thing that you needed to hear. we've all got your back. team lisa, this week alone, has lost 4,000 pounds. we're all here to help you succeed. kickstart your weight loss with the new digital 360 membership from ww, weight watchers reimagined. go to ww.com to check out today's limited time offer! alright, i brought in ensure max protein... ...to give you the protein you need weight watchers reimagined. with less of the sugar you don't (grunting noise) i'll take that. yeeeeeah! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar drink, play, and win big in the powered by protein challenge! that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be one hundred percent recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle, and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back. among my patients i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. that completes the circle, and reduces plastic waste. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity and gum gives us a dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. still your best friend. and now your co-pilot. still a father. but now a friend. still an electric car. just more electrifying. still a night out. but everything fits in. still hard work. just a little easier. still a legend. just more legendary. chevrolet. making life's journey, just better. rely on the experts at 1800petmeds for the same medications as the vet, but for less with fast free shipping. visit petmeds.com today. welcome back to "state of the union." i'm jake tapper. as health officials plead to relax covid restrictions, on friday, maryland became the latest state to move forward anyway, lifting restrictions on restaurants, bars, games, other businesses. joining me now governor hogan of maryland. let's start with your decision to relax restrictions just hours before your announcement, fauci told local marylanders, now is the time to 'tut foot on the accelerator with public health measures. you heard him saying we should not be relaxing restrictions. why are you pushing ahead with that anyway? >> well, i have a tremendous amount of respect for dr. fauci and we've worked together over the past year, very closely. we also had his former colleague, dr. redfield, who is one of our advisers along with a whole team of public health experts and ep deem also, we meet with nearly every day. we didn't lift restrictions. we did raise capacity limits. we kept the most serious measures in place, which is masking and distancing, which many states have changed. we did not. i think we took a kind of a ble balanced approach to keep people safe and get back to work and support our small businesses. our metrics in every category from positivity rates to infection have been better than in many months. dr. fauci is right, we're not through this. we're going to continue to follow the public health guidance and keep everybody safe. >> it is prime time a-- in his prime time address, president biden called on every state eligible to get vaccinated by may 1st. in maryland, residents under the age of 65, including those with underlying health conditions are still not eligible for maryland for the vaccine the cdc ranks your state 30th in terms of vaccines administered per capita, why are you lagging behind? >> well, we're really not. there the a lot of different numbers you can utilize. it's all based on supply so we're 13th in the nation in the total number of doses. we're number one in america in utilizing the j&j vaccine. i think we're 15th and 16th in several other categories. that one number you are talking about, a percentage of vaccination is based on false numbers, the federal government is counting doses that went to the federal agencies that we don't have anything to do with or have any control over. but it's all about supply right now. we can do 100,000 shots a day. we hit 56,000 yesterday. we're actually doing a much better job than at least 30 or 40 other states. >> hmm. >> i think it's great they're promising to get us more doses and we sure hope they can meet these time frames. we're just waiting for more doses. we utilize 90-some percent we get almost immediately. >> you say you hope you can make the may 1st deadline. so anybody who is eligible can sign up. do you think you are going to be able to make the may 1st deadline? >> we can do it today. all we need is the vaccines from the federal government. we can't purchase vaccines. we can't manufacture vaccines. so if the president and his team is able to deliver, we don't have to wait until may 1st, we can get there faster. >> the biggest problem in vaccine skepticism is among trump supporters. a new poll say half do not intend to get vaccinated. president trump, he got vaccinated. he did it secretly before he left office. he did not participate in a joint awareness campaign with all the other presidents. do you blame him for this hesitancy among your fellow republicans? >> well, i think it certainly didn't help any with his messaging throughout the pandemic on masking and not speaking out strongly enough on the vaccines. you can't pin all of it on him. there is a lot of disinformation campaigns out there from the right and the left. a lot of people who are vaccine hesitant and we're doing everything we can to overcome that with public information, spots, spending millions of dollars to convince people. i think we are doing pretty well. we have vaccinated more than 65% of the eligible population. we are going into communities where we really need to get more people vaccinated. we're doing everything we can think of. we're going to have to get more people vaccinated and everybody willing to take this vaccine, if we're going to get it under control and get life back to normal. >> president trump said during his prime time address. he condemned the wave of racist attacks against asian americans. he called it unamerican. your wife is korean american. you tweeted out your appreciation for the president's remarks along with the picture of your family. it's a gorgeous family, by the way. we have been horrified in this spike against violence in the asian american community. what has the past year been like for your family? has your family faced discrimination or harassment? >> it really has been a serious problem. my wife, my three daughters, my grand kids all asian and they felt some discrimination personally. they also have close friends, friends of my wife from church. some of my daughter's friends who have been treated pretty terribly. hate crimes, in general, last year were down 7%. but it was up 150% in the asian community. it's outrageous. it's unacceptable. i think it was great that president biden property this up. i have been focused on. we feel it with my daughter who is sometimes afraid to visit us. with people who had best friends that were being harassed at the grocery store or, you know, being called names and people yelling ability the china virus, even though they're from korea and born in america. it's something we have to get under control. i wish more people would be speaking out and i appreciate the president's remarks. >> yeah. it's hitting us. i want to ask you about your successor as the head of the national governor's association, new york governor andrew cuomo. the majority of new york's congressional delegation, democrats, including majority leader senator chuck schumer have called on cuomo to resign over both hess hiding the data about the nursing home deaths and allegation of sexual harassment, do you think governor cuomo into evidence to step down? >> well, look, these are obviously serious allegations that do need to be looked into and it has to be investigated. you know, i don't think it's up tore me to be speaking for the people of the state of new york. but i think, obviously, there are investigations under way and, hopefully, we will get to the bottom of this. because it's pretty serious allegations and growing every day. >> all right. narld governmaryland governor, hogan, thank you for your time. i'll ask my next guest whether she agrees whether it's right or wrong. stacey abrams will be here. stay with us. >> . welcome back to "state of the union, i'm jake tapper. many are reversing rules meant to make it easier for citizens to vote. while president biden and democrats want to expand voting options. it's not clear they will be able to get a senate vote on the floor because of the filibuster. joining me voting rights advocate, stacey abrams. thanks for joining us. so republican state ley lawmakers in your home state, georgia, have introduced almost two dozen bills to make it more difficult to vote. they are going to end no excuse mail-in voting, which has been there since 2005. they will reduce voting on sundays, ask for stricter i.d. requirements, take away drop boxes, senate majority leader chuck schumer in d.c., he called this effort by georgia republi