I call it transition to greatness. Mothers day weekend mess. Bitter cold and wintry weather, even snow this morning for the plains, to the east coast. More than 125 Million People feeling the chill with some places even colder than they were on Christmas Day. Will it warm up by tomorrow for mom . Dylan is back with your forecast. All that, plus remembering the real tiger king. Roy horn after the legendary duo Siegfried Roy dead at the age of 75 after contracting coronavirus. From his vegas stage show, the tiger attack he survived, well look back at his imagine al life today, saturday, may 9, 2020. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with peter alexander, Kristen Welker and dylan dreyer. Welcome to today. We thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. It is a big saturday morning because we could not be happier to welcome back our friend dylan from maternity leave. Welcome back and just in time for mothers day. Just in time for mothers day. Just in time for cold weather. I didnt think the whole world was going to change while i was gone. I just want to reach out and hug you guys. I miss you in person. We want to give big hugs to calvin and ollie too. We hope they make it through the broadcast. If they show up, we wont complain. Hugs all around. Well see how it works. We want to put you right to work. The headline, more than 125 Million People under these cold weather alerts this morning. Whats it looking like for mothers day weekend in terms of weather . Well, for the eastern half of the country, guys, it is going to be cold and snowy to start off this weekend. We already have the snow falling across upstate new york, through central and northern new england, boston even seeing snow. New york city we had a little light snow overnight. This storm system will bring in that cold blustery air. This is some of the coldest weather weve seen for many areas. Were looking at breaking low temperatures this morning as well. Well, of course, see some of that lakeeffect snow. The highest snowfall totals will be up across maine, where they could see 6 to 8 inches of snow through the course of the day. Windy and blustery, too. Look at the freeze alerts for this morning. 142 Million People under freeze alerts. And a lot of trees and flowers have already budded and that means that those could be killed off with the really cold temperatures. In fact, marquette, michigan, 23 degrees to start off the day with the same windchill. Cleveland, 31 degrees. Below freezing. Windchills at 20 to 30 degrees. Its very cold if youre out and about early this morning, perhaps walking the dog. Brace yourself. As we go into this afternoon, temperatures running 15 to 25 degrees below average. Highs in the 40s and 50s. Then tomorrow morning, its a little better than this morning. Were still looking at record cold temperatures. The coldest here, it could last into early next week and hopefully we can turn the corner. Peter . Thats what we call breakfast in bed day for mom. Dylan, thank you. Well get the rest of your forecast in a few minutes. Great to see dylan. We want to get to the overnight developments on coronavirus. Heres the latest. Vice president pences press secretary has come down with coronavirus. The vp was checked on friday and tested negative. A staggering new jobs report shows how much damage the coronavirus has caused to the economy. Unemployment rising to 14. 7 . These are the worst numbers since the great depression. As more states ease restrictions this weekend, the number of coronavirus cases in the u. S. Is rising to nearly 1. 3 million. The number of deaths right now, more than 78,000. We do have reporters covering this story all around the world. We want to begin with Kelly Odonnell who has more on the latest white house staffer to test positive for coronavirus. Kelly, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, kristen. Just as the white house is urgently trying to steer the country to a safe reopening, here they are confronting the very contagious nature of this illness. And there are now two staffers who have in their roles direct contact with the president and Vice President who have contracted the virus. An unexpected hotspot, the white house itself. There is a member of the Vice President s team who is positive for coronavirus. Pences press secretary katie miller has been handling communications for the Coronavirus Task force. An official tells nbc news, she showed symptoms friday. Thursday she was part of the vps event in virginia. Friday the Vice President continued with a trip to iowa where he did not wear a mask. Officials say he tested negative. Complicating west wing contacts, millers husband, steven miller, is a Senior Adviser to President Trump who also attended their february wedding. Shes a wonderful young woman. Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of a sudden today she tested positive. Miller is the second staffer since thursday to test positive. She follows an unnamed military valet who was last with the president tuesday. This probably the safest place that you can come to. Chief of staff, mark meadows, insisted the environment is safe. Weve put in some additional protocols over the last 48 hours and well continue to monitor. The president who is tested daily. You have a mask on your face. Chose not to wear a mask with elderly world war ii veterans friday but kept a distance. I would have loved to gone up and hugged them. The wind was blowing so hard, if the plague ever reached them the president said he expects coronavirus flareups as people return to work. But he rendered a scientific opinion at odds with many experts. This is going to go away without a vaccine. Its going to go away and its were not going to see it again. Kelly, theres also news about the former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency who was removed from his job recent. What can you tell us about that . Reporter thats right, kristen. Rick bright who had been in chash charge of the governments plan, had filed a whistleblower complaint says there are reasonable grounds to show that he was retaliated against by the trump administration. Bright had been concerned about the president s comments about a drug thats unproven and had been trying to sound the alarm early about the scale of this pandemic. He also says that he is not a disgruntled employee. Thats a charge the president leveled against him, claiming that bright was disgruntled and trying to help democrats. Kristen, peter. President watching that closely as well. Kelly odonnell at the white house. Thank you for that. Also this morning, we want to turn to the historic unemployment numbers. Nearly 15 unemployment in the u. S. The worst since the great depression. Experts say it could be even worse than that. Nbcs Geoff Bennett now with the latest on all of it now. Geoff, good morning. Reporter peter good morning to you. The april jobs report shows in brutal detail how much the Coronavirus Crisis has pummeled the u. S. Economy. As you mentioned, youve got the Unemployment Rate soaring, the u. S. Economy shedding more than 20 million american jobs. Its the fastest and sharpest downturn in u. S. History. This morning, devastating new jobs numbers as the Coronavirus Crisis delivers yet another economic gut punch. More than 20 million jobs lost in the month of april according to the department of labor. The biggest decline on record. The Unemployment Rate tripling to 14. 7 . The highest level since the great depression. Im basically at my breaking point. Worried, nervous, scared. Few corners of the economy or country were spared. Although some groups felt the impact more than others. With 19 of hispanic workers, 17 of black workers and more than 15 of women now unemplo d unemployed. Dawn was laid off from her job as a medical technician at an Animal Rescue league in florida. Youre an honest american that pays taxes and you would never think that this would happen in a million years. The Hospitality Industry especially hard hit. 7. 7 million jobs vanished in april, including more than 5 million at restaurants and bars. Lisa rodriguez was furloughed from her server job in tucson and says shes scared of going back to serving customers in a pandemic. Its frightening, especially because we cant imagine how people are going through the Labor Department says the real Unemployment Rate could be almost 5 higher than reported because some jobless workers are incorrectly classified. But President Trump says hes in no hurry for congress to pass more stimulus measures to help boost the economy. Were in no rush. The president instead offering an optimistic outlook. Were going into transition and i call it transition to greatness. Reporter white house economic adviser Kevin Hassett expects the Unemployment Rate will hit 20 in may. That says the job cuts extend to white collar workers, office jobs. Look, its a tsunami of job losses being felt painfully and sharply all across the country. Kristen and peter. Geoff bennett, thank you very much. Lets bring in ali velshi now, the host of msnbcs velshi which airs weekend mornings on msnbc and hes hosting a suspicion virtual town hall on the covid special virtual town hall on the covid economy. Were so glad you could join us. Lets talk about the big picture. These job losses staggering. Its illustrated in todays New York Times which literally shows the unemployment dropping off the page. Higher than 14 . Yep. I think a lot of people want to know, as bad as this is, do we need to brace for worse. Kevin hassett at the white house saying its going to get worse. Ive heard a few economists saying this is as bad as it gets. That doesnt make sense because the way the numbers are arrived at means theres a calculation thats done in the middle of april, sort of stops around the middle of april. Any jobs that were shed from april 15th to may 1st were not measured here. Were talking about 20. 5 million jobs lost in april, plus 770,000 actually more like 840, lost in the month before. We know that there are more jobs in this loss. The Unemployment Rate itself is 14. 7 . Again, weve got the end of april and weve got all those people who are not actively looking for jobs who dont get counted in there. The estimate of what that real number is already is over 20 . Were probably going to see worse next month. Ali, a lot of the people not counted are the furloughed workers who think they have a job to return to at some point. Should we expect those jobs to return any time soon . To some degree. Think about the airlines, right . They furloughed a lot of workers who they keep on pay until the end of september. Now the airlines say, were only going to fill the planes about 50 . Thats not profitable for airlines. Restaurants that reopen, have to have social distancing, thats not profitable for restaurants. A lot of the companies after the paycheck protection program, the payroll help ends september 30th. If businesses arent back, they wont be able to reopen or close after a few months. Thats the problem. This is as much a health issue as a psychology issue. We dont know how people will reengage with the economy over the next few months before theres a positive treatment for coronavirus or a vaccine. Ali, pllet me followup with you. He said a recovery is just around the corner. Yet, you have a number of polls which show americans are more concerned about getting sick than they are about returning to work. So is the recovery just around the corner . Not a chance. The fact is, as i say, this is psychology, governors and many can open their states, but there are a lot of people say, while these transmission rates are high, while we dont know whether people have had it have robust antibodies, while we theyre not going to movie theaters or shopping malls orca sin owes. Many are not taking public transit. Until were certain about the Health Implications of this, the psyche of the American Consumer is under siege and we are not going to see a recovery. I tell you this, we will recover. The american spirit is amazing. We just dont know if this is a year away or two years away or longer. Around the corner, 2020 recovery is not a possibility. Well, we hope that recovery is sooner rather than later. Ali velshi, thank you so much for your insights. You can watch his virtual town hall on the economy and covid19 with special guest kevin oleary, suze orman and adam grant at 9 00 a. M. Eastern only on msnbc. Sad news to report this morning. Roy horn of the legendary vegas act, Siegfried Roy has passed away from complications due to coronavirus. Horn was not only one of the greats of the magic world but also his best friend. The two entertained millions until horn was critically injured by a tiger in 2003. Roy horn was 75 years old. Were going to have much more on his life and celebrated career of magic coming up a little later in this show. Magical life indeed. Also this morning, were starting to get a clear picture of how coronavirus might have gotten its start in wuhan, china. Sara harmon is in london with more on that angle. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning. Weve heard a lot of origin theories about how this coronavirus got its start. Was it a Chinese Government lab or a wet market. This morning, the World Health Organization is speaking out linking this pandemic to a wet market in wuhan. This morning, a World Health Organization scientist says samples taken from a wet market in wuhan, china show it likely played a role in the development of coronavirus. The source of the outbreak or an but the w. H. O. Maintains such markets should be improved, not banned. Given that millions of people around the world depend on them. Today, many of wuhans markets are open for business. Though the ones suspected to be at the center of the outbreak remain shuttered. Dr. Anthony fauci on fox and friends. It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human animal interface we dont just shut it down. President trump has frequently blamed the w. H. O. For an ineffective response to the global pandemic, threatening to stop paying dues. Today im instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization. U. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo has said there was a significant amount of evidence the virus came from a wuhan laboratory, but has also said there was no certainty. One theory of coronavirus is that it originated in bats found its way into an endangered mammal before migrating into humans. But this animal dont seem to get as sick as we humans do. Now a group of austrian Scientists Say their system may hold the cure. Theyre the most illegally trafficked mammals in the world. Theyre in high demand in places like asia for their meat and for their scales. China has not allowed the w. H. O. Or any other external experts to join its investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Reporter the focus of this new researc to this animal seems better able to handle the coronavirus than we humans do. They hope it leads to better treatments for us in the future. Peter, kristen . The investigation continues. Sara harman, thank you nor that report. Of course, a question on the minds of people over the last few months is when will sports return . Nba players back on the court practicing for the first time in months. Were learning about how pro basketball might make its return. Heres nbcs sam brock. The last time we saw the nba in action, it was midmarch and the entire sports universe was about to be shut down. The game tonight has been postponed. Now nbc news learned commissioner adam silver has crafted some proposals for playing bball while balancing the risks of covid19. Silver telling the Nba Players Association games in one or two cities would be less risky. Considering toronto and las vegas and orlando more likely. The new surfacing as practice got off to a slow start. One coach and one basket with one player. The league is recommending that they keep 12 feet between one another. Dallas mavs owner mark cuban says his team wont get that far. Its not going to happen. The problem is obviously we cant test people, then we cant assure anybodys safety. The schedule is out. The nfl nabbing headlines for releasing its schedules with brees and brady squaring off in week one. But commissioners across sports warning that games may look different. For athletes just waiting to get back on the field, especially in sports that thrive off the energy of fans, like professional or college football, im at fau stadium in florida, what would it look like . Something like this. Sports fans and insiders say its better than no games at all. Professional tennis players are getting a taste of that. The tennis channel airing a fourplayer tournament from West Palm Beach without spectators. No ball kids and just no fans is different. It really is. The energy, the atmosphere is not the same. But weve had eight weeks of absolutely nothing. This was a highlight for us. Riley owe pell cajuste enjoying the competition as professional sports returns. Sam brock, West Palm Beach. A father and son remain behind bars this morning charged with murder in the shooting death of a georgia man. Its a case that set off outrage nag nationwide after the video was released months after it happened. Were hearing from the attorney of the man who shot the video. Blayne alexander has more from georgia. Good morning to you. Reporter kristen, good morning. Investigators are looking into other people, including the person who recorded that video which we sh