Workers there are infected. Back to work battle, the jimenez saysw says hell decide when to reopen the country. Tonight governors are banding together and pushing back. So whom has the final say . Racing to a cure, our new series, we go inside the search for innovative treatments. Could a drug used to help people with Rheumatoid Arthritis be the key to saving people with coronavirus . And well end tonights amous opera singer brite. A famous opera singer bringing together the world with amazing grace. This is this is the cbs evening news with Norah Odonnell reporting from the nations capital. Odonnell good evening and thank you for joining us. There is breaking news on two fronts as we come on the air tonight. Nearly 60 million americans are under Severe Weather watches and warnings with high winds threatening many of those tents now being used to treat coronavirus patients. Its part of a storm system that tore through the south overnight, killing dozens and destroying homes. Well get to that story in just a moment, but well begin with those staggering new developments in the pandemic. Tonight new york state now says more than 10,000 people have been killed there. That is nearly half of the more than 23,000 americans who have died from the coronavirus. Nationwide confirmed cases now top 577,000. And yet, new yorks governor is saying the worst may be over in his state, and the nations top Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci, now says hes seeing evidence that infections are leveling off. Also tonight, dr. Fauci is defending the president , saying the president did listen to his advice about issuing guidance for americans to stay at home. Thomes after mr. Trump retweeted a hashtag to fire fauci following an interview the doctor gave on sunday. E eres a lot to get to tonight. Our team is covering every angle am it. Mola lenghi will lead off our coverage tonight from new york city. Mola . Reporter well, norah, testing continues to be an issue. Harlem hospital here is expected to be one of five new testing sites coming online in the city very, very soon, and while we are seeing fewer hospitalizations across the state, we are still coming off an Easter Sunday that saw nearly 700 covidrelated deaths. Everyone is positive. All you hear is oxygen. Reporter the echo of oxygen machines surrounded emergency lked tal in eens where patients line the hallways. Whats the situation like there right now . Its intense, very intense, but thankfully this week has looked much better than last week. Reporter new York Hospitals admitted about 2,000 newtsthaty the lowest number in two weeks. We are controlling the spread. Reporter today Governor Andrew Cuomo signaled the worst could be over. If we do something stupid, you will see those numbers go right back up tomorrow. Reporter still, fr reporter still, front line healthcare workers across the country continue to face dangers. Cbs news has learned at least 1,500 healthcare workers have suffered from covid19like symptoms in michigans largest hospital network, beaumont health. Mo menard is a director of nursing. She lost her own 47yearold cousin, a mother of four, to the ,irus, laneeka arksdale. Im a human being. This is nothing we have seen to this capacity. S reporter as covid19 spreads, ppe across the country continues to stretch thin. States like virginia are scrambling, buying them at a premium from china. A cluster of nearly 300 sick employees at this south dakota meat plant has shut down nearly 4 of the nations pork production. Still, Nursing Homes continue to be among the hardest hit. The Associated Press reports more than 3,600 deaths are linked to longterm care facilities, but the young are not immune. Voyearold jared lovos died in new jersey on friday. His girlfriend, joycelyn jimenez says he fought the virus for 16 days, then of them on a ventilator. They kept saying, hes strong, hes young. This virus is very deceiving. Someone so healthy, someone so full of life. And then i got a call on friday heartally stopped. Rt stopped, reporter well, as if doctors and nurses arent dealing with seough right now, there has been a 60 mph wind gust advisory throughout the city of new york today that. Has been a major concern for the tent Field Hospitals send up in central park treating coronavirus patients there. A spokesperson for the Field Hospital tells us those tents can withstand 65 mph winds, so certainly coming close there, but a worstcase scenario, they do have an evacuation plan. Norah . Odonnell that is good the hear, mola, thank you. Mo have more now on that deadly storm system that mola talked about. At least 33 people have died as tornadoes carved a path of destruction from texas to the carolinas. This outbreak comes as the entire country deals with the coronavirus outbreak. And tonight the storms are barreling up the east coast and 0early 60 million americans are under watches and warnings. Mireya villarreal is in the hardhit monroe, louisiana. Hardhit monroe, louisiana. Mireya . Reporter norah, 12 homes in this neighborhood are completely destroyed. The Family Living here just had seconds to find cover before the tornado ripped right through their home, tearing apart the walls and the roof before moving east to do more damage. Sunrise revealed a st sunrise revealed a stark new reality in mississippi. Massive damage left behind a surreal scene after a powerful tornado packing 150 mph winds swept through 18 counties yesterday. Hundreds of homes and businesses were swept off their s. Undations. Mississippi suffered the highest death toll of at least 11 killed. All of a sudden it quit. We were not out of it. It just went calm. Reporter some had no choice but to spend the night in a shelter, making concerns about coronavirus and social distancing an additional worry. Overnight, the storm steam rolled through 12 states from texas to west virginia. Cbs digital journalist Jessi Mitchell covered the devastation in georgia. This is the hardesthit area in chatsworth where five people were killed. Chris watson is picking up the oeces of his home. He and his wife took shelter in their bathroom when their trailer took a direct hit sunday night, sending them 75 feet away. You were in the closet . When it picked the trailer up and threw us out about ten foot apart, god was watching us. Yeah. A,ra f was watching local Church Services on their television when the Tornado Warning came through. Ten people were inside, and they all survived. As long as were here. I mean, we just have to keep surviving, keep striving, come together and make this work, help each other through hard times. Thats all i can say. Thats the only way. No other way. Keep god first. Te reporter Officials Say that this damage is consistent with an ef3 tornado and now the system that moved through here is hitting the northeast with wind gusts up to 70 mph so far. Norah . Odonnell all right, mireya, thanu so m now the here in washington where aodays daily Coronavirus Briefing was less of an update an updatedemic and more of a on defense by the president of the job he says hes done to contain it. The president even called dr. Anthony fauci to the podium to explain comments he made on sunday when fauci said on tv that if mitigation had started earlier, more lives could have been saved. Ben tracy is at the white house tonight. Ben, that was an extraordinary briefing. Reporter it sure was. The president said everything he has done responding to coronavirus has been right. And he even showed a video of other government officials praising him. This decision about reopening the country, but a lot of governors are saying its not his decision to make. The president says hes in charge of deciding when and how to reopen the country, calling it the biggest decision of his life. But some governors, including j. B. Pritzker of illinois, say the president can provide guidance, but they will decide. But it is true that its up to the governors to make decisions about the executive orders that weve put in place. Reporter california, oregon, and Washington State are working together on plans for reopening once its safe to do so, and governors from six states in the northeast, including new yorks andrew cuomo, held a call today to coordinate their plans. Its not going to be we flip a switch and everybody comes out of their house and gets in their car and waves and hugs each other. Reporter cbs news has learned President Trump has been calling his friends and associates in recent days asking about when he should reopen the country and also what they think of dr. Anthony fauci. On sunday fauci suggested lives could have been saved if the Trump Administration had shut down the country sooner. If we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different, but there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then. Reporter this follows a New York Times report that says President Trump ignored the advice of experts for a month before finally issuing social distancing guidelines in march. On sunday night, the president retweeted an attack on fauci from a failed g. O. P. Congressional candidate that included the message, time to fire fauci. Today dr. Fauci backtracked, saying President Trump followed rst and only time th the first and only time that dr. Birx and i went in and formally made a recommendation to the president , the president listened to the recommendation. Reporter there is some sad news from the u. S. Navy tonight. A sailor on board the u. S. S. Theodore roosevelt has died from the coronavirus. The ships captain, brett closer, was fired after a letter he wrote pleading for help leaked to the media. There is now an investigation under way. It is possible that he may get his job back. Norah . Odonnell odonnell we may hear more on that investigation this week. Ben, thank you. Now to the need for testing nationwide. Life may return to while its still not clear when life may return to normal, but the answer might be found in the blood of those who have recovered from coronavirus. Carter evans reports tonight on Antibody Tests and if they could help get americans back to work. Reporter a single drop of blood could soon determine if youre immune to coronavirus. The Los Angeles County health nepartment is now randomly testing 1,000 people for antibody, which are produce 234 our blood to fight infections. Dr. Neeraj sood is heading up the study. So that will tell us what the trajectory of this epidemic looks like. Are infections rising rapidly, when is this epidemic going to end. Reporter that could determine when its safe for americans to return to work says Stanford Universitys dr. Lloyd miner. The hope is the information from the Antibody Test and other rs to ke informedenable policy decisions about when shelter in place and social distancing can be relaxed. Reporter so far more than 70 Companies Want to sell Antibody Test kits with very little f. D. A. Oversight. Some are already available online. Presently the ones on the orket are not very accurate. Reporter thats a huge problem says cbs news medical contributor dr. David agus. If i do a test and say, hey, youre immune and youre note, you can spread it to somebody who may be very vulnerable. So the decisions on this test really are critical. So id rather no test than a faulty test. Reporter as these tests get better and more people are checked, the Health Department should get a better idea of just how far this virus has spread. The first results from the n los angeless in los angeles should be in by the end of the week. Norah. Odonnell carter, thank you. The three vaccines with the most promise are still in the early stages of testing and are 1218 months away. Ti the same time, there are no approved treatments for covid 19. So tonight were launching a new series, racing to a cure, to take a deep dive on the scientific advances to help beat the coronavirus. Tonight heres dr. Jon lapook. Reporter with no vaccine yet for covid19, a worldwide effort is underway to find medications that target the virus and treat the symptoms, but proper drug testing takes time and patience. Some time in the summer well tart to see which are working, which are not. Reporter drugs under consideration include the experimental medication remdesivir, originally designed for ebola, and hydrochloroquine, approved to treat malaria. An arthritis drug is being tested to see if it can dampen severe inflammation caused by the vie rurks inflammation that ends up damaging the lungs. My breathing was so difficult i felt like i was drowning. Reporter dr. Anar yukhayev was the trials first patient. The only question i had for the doctors, if you were in my pl d th said yes. Of reporter still, you were kind of rolling the dice, werent you . I was. Reporter as part of the mr. See bow. N, patients are that allows researchers to compare randomly assigned either the drug or a placbo. That allows researchers to compare outcomes. Genetech has launched a trial for actemra, another anti inflammatory. The nature of this crisis will cause us to work at break neck speed to get this trial conceived and approved. Im just thankful to god that im actually sitting here right now. Reporter norah, right now critically ill patients are getting a cocktail of experimental drugs in a desperate attempt to save them. These Clinical Trials are crucial to figuring out what actually works. Odonnell all right, jon, thank you. We turn now to chicago where African Americans are five times more likely to die of the virus than whites, something the White House CoronavirusTask Force Says it is now investigating. Dnight adriana diaz takes a close look at whats being done to fight this trend. Everybody ready . Yeah reporter activists trying to stop gun violence on chicagos south side have a new message. When i say go, you say home. Go home reporter Autry Phillips runs the group target area. Theyre passing out two flyers to save lives, one on gun violence, another on coronavirus. There is an old saying that when the country catches a cold that black people catch pneumonia. Thats true. Reporter African Americans in chicago account for more than 60 of covid deaths, but are just 30 of the population. A trend theyre trying to fight with facts. You good . Yeah, yeah. Reporter and also debunk rumors. We used to hear the craziest things that the coronavirus dont affect black people. Reporter we saw the skepticism for ourselves. I dont believe it. Reporter what dont you believe in . The coronavirus. Reporter but official numbers show minority and low income neighborhoods hardest hit, new yorks outer boroughs and chicagos far south side. Thats where we found long lines for testing outside the new woseland community hospital. Dr. Tarrel applewhite, who runs the site, said no public testing on the south side until recently was compounded by a lack of representation in early media coverage. I think the things that they saw in and the individuals they saw on National Television did not appear to reflect their community, and as a result, the severity of the disease, i dernk, may have been underestimated. Reporter not by the man, who we found online. I think theyre just misinformed. Laeoe. Ke i tell them, look whos reporter adriana diaz, cbs news, chicago. Odonnell there is still ws ahead onews ahead on tonights cbs evening news. Joe biden gets a key endorsement in his race to the white house. Later, Andrea Bocellis easter gift. The opera stars powerful message of hope. Or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. Overwhelmed by bipolar depression . Ask about vraylar. So micati. Vrr ctes acutmanic and mixed episodes of bipolar i. Fullspectrum relief of all symptoms, with just one pill, once a day. 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