Was working at kept taking ppe away from us, and it was scaring us. The intense pressure for these frontline workers forced to isolate themselves from loved ones and the devastating news for this family. New hope. The experimental treatment doctors are working on gaining attention. Antibodies from recovered patiwill it be the answer to treating covid19 . Instastrike. Employees for Delivery Service instacart preparing for a massive strike. Their list of demands this morning including hazard pay. And tornado outbreak. Twisters tearing through parts of the midwest and south. Homes and businesses destroyed. Our weather team tracking more Severe Weather expected today. And good morning, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us on this sunday morning. Lets get right to the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic. Overnight, an abrupt reversal from President Trump who briefly floated the idea of imposing a quarantine on new york, new jersey and connecticut. That notion was met with a swift pushback from the governors of those states after which the president said he would instead issue a travel advisory. Also overnight, a significant jump in the numbers here in new york city where we now have more than 30,000 cases and almost 700 deaths. Nationally, were at more than 120,000 cases, and more than 2,000 deaths. We have Team Coverage this morning and we start with abcs Stephanie Ramos right here in times square. Stephanie, good morning to you. Reporter dan, good morning. The governors of new york, new jersey and connecticut reacting strongly against the president s idea to quarantine the region, calling it an illegal lockdown. The cdc has now put in place travel warnings instead as covid19 cases in new york go up. This morning, new york city alone now has more than 30,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. And more than 200 deaths in just the last 24 hours. President trump tweeting overnight that a federally enforced quarantine of the region will not be necessary, and is instead having the cdc issue a strong travel advisory, urging new york area residents to not travel domestically for at least 14 days. The decision coming hours after new yorks governor hit back at a quarantine proposal floated by the president , raising fears that the government would shut down major parts of the northeast. If you start walling off areas all across the country, it would be totally bizarre, counterproductive, antiamerican, antisocial. Reporter trump has said governors from states less affect bid the virus asked him to look into a quarantine for the tristate area. I dont believe it would be legal. I believe it would be illegal to say you cannot leave the state of new york. Reporter some states implementing stricter measures to prevent the spread of covid19. Florida, south carolina, maryland, texas, and rhode island ordering visitors from new york to selfquarantine for 14 days. The Sunshine State even setting up checkpoints on i95 looking for new yorkers. In rhode island, the National Guard scouring neighborhoods, looking for cars with new york plates. Folks from new york present a different kind of danger to the people of rhode island. I know this is unusual. I know its extreme, and i know some people dont agree with it. Reporter Governor Cuomo threatening to sue rhode island if they dont scale back the policy of tracking residents from the empire state. New york, the epicenter of the crisis is still in need of medical supplies. In the midst of traveling warnings and social distancing, the president traveling to virginia to send off the u. S. Navy hospital ship as it sails to new york city. But outside of new york, the pandemic hitting another grim milestone, claiming its youngest life yet in illinois. There has never before been a Death Associated with covid19 in an infant. If you havent been paying attention, maybe this is your wakeup call. Reporter illinois preparing to become one of the nations next hot spots. The governor there fearing they wont be able to shore up supplies while competing against other states, and the government for orders. For those at the bottom of the list may not see ventilators until, you know, potentially months after they peak in terms of their Covid Patients in their hospitals. Reporter and a dire warning in louisiana covid19 cases spreading fast after mardi gras, 3,000 people infected. Hospitals, full. The mayor of new orleans said she was not encouraged to cancel the festivities. Instead, Administration Officials publicly stated the virus was being contained. We were hearing from the federal government that the virus was contained. Reporter a louisiana senator hoping one of the navys floating ships can be sent there, too. In california trails and beaches closed. Law enforcement taking to the sky to enforce restrictions. If you do not leave you will be arrested for trespassing. Reporter Governor Newsom said the golden state has received more ventilators from the National Stockpile but 170 of them are broken. Telling our matt gutman theyll be up and running soon. They may not be working, but were fixing them. So the fact is we have the asset. We have the mindset, and were going to solve the problem in 72 hours. Reporter californias governor has also touted that the state has administered 90,000 covid19 tests, but they have only received tests for about 30,000. The governor says people are waiting seven to ten days for those results and thats a sign of a possible surge in cases to come. Whit . Yeah, the timing of those results continues to be an issue. Stephanie ramos for us, thank you. In the meantime, many states are projecting the peak of this pandemic is still weeks away leaving President Trump with some Big Decisions to make over the countrys next steps to slow the spread. Abcs rachel scott joins us from the white house with more. Rachel, good morning. Reporter whit, good morning. In the next 24 hours the white house will be approaching the end of its 15day initiative to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Americans to practice social distancing, to work from home when possible, and now the president will have to decide whether or not he wants to loosen or tighten those guidelines. The president will be discussing how to move forward with his Coronavirus Task force team, but hes made clear he would like to see parts of the country that are not badly affected getting back to normal by easter. Now Vice President mike pence has said that goal is aspirational. But Public Health officials have warned against that. They say moving too quickly would only cost more lives. More than 800,000 physicians from across the country sent a letter to the white house with the plea to keep that social distancing in place. Now pence said that theyre reviewing the data by county and will be giving guidance to different regions of the country in coming days. Dan. Rachel, thank you. For more on all of this, lets bring in Martha Raddatz whos also in d. C. , where shell be hosting this week later this morning. Martha, good morning to you. So on this question of locking down versus opening up the economy, do we have a sense of where the president s head is at right now . First, he said he wants to reopen the country by easter. Overnight, floating the idea of a quarantine on the new york area. Whats the direction here . Well, i think, dan, you hit the nail on the head when you said floated. I think in the last couple of days and all this week youve seen President Trump floating these ideas. Would it work to open things up by easter . Would it work to have a complete lockdown in new york city and connecticut and new jersey, and i think hes clearly getting pushback on this. He clearly got pushback from andrew cuomo about basically locking down all of new york city. The president now says hes consulted with these governors, and there will be a travel advisory. So i think he is getting that feedback. Hes also getting feedback from cdc officials and scientists about whether this is really feasible, but i think ultimately, he does want to loosen some sort of restriction on parts of the country where its not hitting hard. Certainly in new york and in california and louisiana and places like that right now, they are overwhelmed in so many ways, but in the middle of the country, they are they are not feeling it as much, but the problem is, dan, they werent feeling it very hard a month and a half ago in these cities that are now in very, very bad shape. Thats a really hard decision. It comes on quick. Lets talk politics here for a second. The president s poll numbers have been surging during the crisis. Overnight, some new numbers from an abc News Washington post, while joe biden has a slim lead against the incumbent. Theres a huge Enthusiasm Gap. Only 24 enthusiastic support for biden. The president s at 53 . How does biden cut through this National Crisis . I think its very, very difficult. I think the Enthusiasm Gap for the election itself is not very large. Joe biden has to walk that line of not being too critical of President Trump in a time of crisis in the country but also trying to let people know he thinks he could do a better job but its very tricky and i think this will play out over many, many months. The election isnt until november. And its taking place under extraordinary circumstances, this campaign. Martha, thank you very much. I want to remind everybody, martha has a big show this morning. Shes going to interview the governors of new jersey and louisiana, both hit hard by the coronavirus. Shell also go oneonone with the president s chief economic adviser larry kudlow. Thats later this morning on abc. And while i have you, in this busy, unprecedently busy news era, dont forget to tune into our new streaming service, abc newslive. Joining us to answer more questions about covid19 from newton, massachusetts, is dr. Todd ellerin, an Infectious Diseases physician. Thank you so much for joining us. Lets get right to it. There was talk of a federal quarantine in the new York Metro Area but theres also been talk about getting things back up and running by easter. Wheres the balance . Remember, i think that message is the same social distancing is key. Staying at home is very important. So, you know, whether we call it quarantine or not some of that is semantics. Those are the key messages. As far as opening the country right now or opening up new york, we are not there yet. Remember in two weeks were going to have easter. People who are infected right now may be displaying their symptoms then. So before we start to give a firm date of when were going to start to open, we have to see how many infections there are, what does the epidemic curve look like . More important than the specific date. We have now seen the first infant to die of covid19. What does this tell us and should parents be concerned . Yes, so, neonats are a vulnerable group. Its not the same as saying children where we know children tolerate this virus much better. We have to do the best to protect this vulnerable population. The way we do that is to protect mom and her partner from developing the infection. Again, social distancing. We keep coming back to that, hand hygiene, staying away from mom if shes pregnant if you are sick. Th veryimportant. The other thing is remember, during labor if mom is infected, we have to follow the protocols, okay . The personal protective equipment for mom of the baby as well as her partner. This is evolving and its very important, but this is a vulnerable group, so we have to be careful. Dr. Todd ellerin, thank you so much for that insight. Whit. Eva, turning now to the medical workers and hospitals filling with patients trying to stretch their resources. Some now taking to the streets pleading for help. Abcs trevor ault is outside the new temporary hospital at the Javits Convention center here in new york. Trevor, good morning to you. Reporter well, whit, good morning. One survey says 90 of mayors nationwide say they dont have enough masks or tests and those shortages are putting the strain directly on American Healthcare workers who are already being pushed to the limit as they try to tackle this pandemic headon. This morning, as the count of coronavirus cases climb higher, nurses outside hospitals, demanding access to more personal protective equipment. In new york,he father of the nurse desperate for his daughters safety. Have you asked your daughter not to keep going to work . I have. And what does she say . She says she has to. She loves her job. Reporter but for some amid growing shortages of masks, gloves and more, the risk has become too much. One nurse we spoke with named ashley saying she didnt feel properly protected by her hospital, and despite loving the work, decided to quit. The current hospital that i was working at kept taking ppe away from us and changing the guidelines, and it was scaring us. I felt that it was unsafe work conditions. So thats why i left. Reporter other nurses say guidelines from the cdc ve procedures for safety eq that would have been required before the crisis. Meredith johnson, a Critical Care nurse in south carolina, says she feels unprotected. We shouldnt be scared. This is our job. I did sign up for this, but i didnt sign up to do it without the right equipment. I didnt ever expect to be in a position where i would be sent to work and literally risking my life. Reporter the risk of those on the front lines contracting the virus themselves has grown so great, many like arkansas dr. Jared burks have moved out of their homes to protect their families. Dr. Burks captured in this viral photo getting as close as he can to his 1yearold son. It feels kind of crazy to be married to a doctor right now. Theres a lot of uncertainty and so while im proud of him and very, very thankful he does what he does, theres this kind of fear of what might come. And this morning, we do have a pretty devastating update from that family in that viral photo, as if they werent going through enough. The wife alyssa burks says yesterday, they were in the path of an arkansas tornado. While the family is okay and theyre safe, their house was destroyed. Dan . Im really glad theyre okay, but thats terrible news. Trevor, thank you very much. That home was destroyed by one of at least 17 reported tornadoes in the central u. S. Rob is right here, tracking all of this. Good morning, sir. Good morning, dan. It was a rough 24 hours from over 190 damaging storm reports including this tornado that ripped through jonesboro, with debris flying through the air, around 5 00 p. M. , terrifying time for the people of northeast arkansas. Reporter severe storms across the central u. S. Producing this destructive tornado. Jonesboro, arkansas taking a direct hit. Terrified workers inside this cell phone and Computer Shop watch in fear as the twister causes transformers to explode and tosses debris into the air. Oh, my gosh a tornado on the ground. A big tornado. Oh, my gosh reporter watch, as this Traffic Camera captures the tornado moving just north. Tornado sirens blaring as the tr zone. The tornado leaving little behind but rubble in its path. Crushing cars and ripping businesses to pieces. Fortunately, many had been closed because of the covid19 outbreak. I hate to say this, with the coronavirus, not as many people in that building and it could have been much worse. Reporter the tornado blamed for at least six injuries, luckily no deaths. Guy riggins capturing the scene on video. The twister roaring by his apartment. They say it has a unique sound, like a freight train. But my experience, it was much louder. Definitely nothing like i have ever heard. Watching this play out on the radar and on television yesterday was terrifying for myself. The point of the covid actually being a benefit here, had this happened any other time, there likely would have been fatalities. This storm is not over. The squall line cutting through tennessee and parts of alabama. Flash flooding across parts of ohio, cleveland, i90 problems there. With snow still falling across parts of minnesota we have wind alerts. This is going to be a real big windmaker. If you are not getting Severe Weather, youll see winds 40 Miles Per Hour to 50 Miles Per Hour. Possibly some strong thunderstorms in pennsylvania and the midatlantic as this thing eventually pushes out to sea tomorrow. In replace of that, the next item up for bid, some Severe Weather and likely heavy rain that got hit by the tornado on monday, and then the Severe Weather threat goes tuesday across parts of the florida scattered showers, these two. Good morning to you. Some showers, some heavier downpours then they could linger through the early afternoon hours. Otherwise partly cloudy for some of you today, and then more sunshine to start the work week, although north bay will hold on to a chance of showers into your monday morning. Level one system later on today, 60 in oakland as well as san jose. Mid50s at the coast. So the rain comes down, scattered about throughout the Morning Hours and turning partly cloudy and milder the rest of the week. Weather s en qu re getting into Severe Weather season. Tornadoes in april, may and june. On top of everything else. The idea of social distancing when youre dealing with a tragedy is pretty difficult. But as you said, the social distancing could be useful in that people are inside. I think yesterday it did help. Thank you, rob. Lets go over to janai. Shes been doing the right thing and staying home given that she is pregnant, and she has a story this morning about some Police Officers who like so many people these days are going abo