Development program. Why dr. Rick bright says the pandemicwh he calls the darkest winter in modern history . Lasting damage the head of the Federal Reserve sounds the alarm, his warning about what could happen to americas economy if lawmakers dont do more. Safety in the skies with passengers and profits vanishing. New moves tonight by the countrys major airlines. How they plan to convince people to fly again. And, finding a friend when youre all alone. Why so many of us are getting pets to help us through the pandemic. This is the cbs evening news with norah odonnell, reporting from the nations capital. Brennan good evening, and thanks so much for joining us. Norahs on assignment. Im Margaret Brennan. Wre going to begin tonight atct diseexpert of playing all sides of the equation about reopening the economy. President trumps rare rebuke of dr. Anthony fauci comes after the countrys Top Public Health leaders told congress they are concerned about a spike in infections if states loosen restrictions too quickly. Today, we learned cases are spiking in about half of the country even as more states move to reopen beaches and businesses. As we come on the air tonight, nearly 84,000 people have died from covid19 in the u. S. And confirmed cases nationwide are moving close to 1. 4 million. Tonight, theres also a stark new warning from the head of the federal reservme ts ntral banker, says. S economy could face lasting damage if congress doesnt pass additional stimulus. Theres a lot to get to tonight, and our team of correspondents is covering it all. Cbs paula reid leads off our coverage from the white house. Paula. Reporter margaret, chairman powell also said that the speed and the scope of this downturn is without modern precedent and significantly worse than any recession since world war ii. And President Trump continues to push to get america back to work even over objections from his own medical experts. President trumps push to reopen the country has repeatedly been questioned by his own health experts, and tonight he pushed back. Were opening our country. People want it open. The schools are going to be open. Reporter the president took issue with dr. Anthony faucis warning tuesday that there could be a resurgence of the virus and schools could be in danger. Look, he wants to play all sides of the equation. I was just surprised by his answer, actually. Reporter meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell warned of permanent damage to the economy if congress doesnt pass additional stimulus. The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent, significantly worse than any recession since world war ii. Reporter the president wants businesses to reopen and shoppers back in stores to boost the economy and help his chances of reelection, but Top Health Experts on capitol hill said the testing necessary to achieve that safely is currently insufficient. The u. S. Needs more than 900,000 tests every day to safely open up again. Were doing about a third of that. Reporter the white house relies on the abbott quick test for its staff. A new study out today showed it missed 48 of positives, though abbott disputed that finding. The head of the c. D. C. And the f. D. A. , who were exposed lastwer pulled out of quarantine today for an inperson Task Force Meeting with the Vice President , who was seen wearing a mask when he arrived to work. With the death count over 83,000, cbs news has learned that President Trump has expressed skepticism about that figure, but his top medical expert, dr. Anthony fauci, said deaths are likely undercounted. The number is likely higher. I i dont know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly its higher. Ll, rickright,heorrow on capitol administrations forme not ramped up, 20 will be the darkest winter in modern history. Brennan paula, wow. I want to also ask you about what the acting director of National Intelligence did today when he released a list of officials who asked to know the identity of michael flynn, then Incoming National security adviser, when his name appeared in classified reports back in 2016. What is the significance . Reporter well, margaret, unmasking is when a senior Government Official requests to know the identity of a u. S. Citizen in an intelligence report. Its something that happens thousands of times a year. Now, on this list of approximately three dozen officials is former Vice President joe biden. And Administration Officials here at the trump white house, theyre suggesting that flynn was targeted, in an effort to undermine President Trump. But democrats have pushed back on this and insisted that, in fact, this list illustrates how widespread the concern was about flynns activities, and that all of the appropriate laws were followed. Brennan six months from the election. Paula reid, thank you. Tonight, cbs news has learned the c. D. C. Is preparing to issue an alert to doctors nationwide about a mysterious new illness tied to coronavirus. More than 180 cases have now been reported in 17 states and washington, d. C. , and there are concerns there may be more that have not been diagnosed. Cbs Jericka Duncan is in new york, where three children have died from the disease. Jericka. Reporter well, margaret, Health Officials here in new york say that the number of children affected by this rare illness has now nearly doubled in one week. Today, the governor of new york expressed alarm at the growing cases of the mystery inflammatory illness in children. To have a child we thought that children were not especially affected by the virus to now find out that they might be, and it might be several weeks later, this is truly disturbing. Reporter of the 102 cases of this illness, the governor said nearly threequarters of them were admitted to the i. C. U. At least 17 states and the District Of Columbia are now reporting cases of children impacted by this illness, which is similar to kawasaki disease and believed to be related to covid19. Symptoms include fever, rash, abdominal pain and vomiting. Dr. Steven kernie is chief of pediatric Critical Care at a hospital in new york. He has seen over 30 children with this mysterious illness. Is this another example of how much we really dont know about covid19 . Three weeks ago, i would have told anybody who listened that this just doesnt affect kids. Reporter eightyearold Jayden Hardowar seemed fine after recovering from a fever when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest. His 15yearold brother, tyronne, a boy scout, performed c. P. R. He already started to administer c. P. R. , pumping the chest, which is he was fast. sirens reporter jayden was taken to the hospital and immediately placed on a ventilator. The next few days, his heart came back. Reporter he spent 13 days in the hospital. applause yesterday, he returned home, and today he had his first visitors the firefighters who helped save his life. Youre coming back. Got it reporter doctor says its important to note that even as we have seen more of these cases in the last week, most of these inflammatory syndrome cases, margaret, are treatable. Brennan thank god for that. Jericka, thank you. Tonight, nearly every state is taking steps to ease stayat home restrictions, even as cases in half of the country are rising. Today, the mayor of d. C. Took the rare step of extending her order until june, while on the west coast, california moved to open one of its most popular attractions. Here is cbs jamie yuccas. Reporter los angeles is riding the wave of reopening. Today, the beaches opened, so long as you kept moving. Sunbathers . Not allowed. California is seeing an increase of 17 , a new twoweek average of new covid cases, but Rural Counties are the exception. cheers restaurants are reopening, this one in eldorado hills, north of sacramento. I feel amazing i feel free. It does feel good to be out and have a sense of community. Reporter that longing for normalcy is also at work in arizona, where testing is on the rise and so are infection rates up 60 , even as more businesses reopen, a growing number not ready. These are restaurants and shops signing an online petition called too soon arizona. They say lifting orders now will cause an acceleration in cases and unnecessary deaths. The push to reopen, the pull of not going too far. Thursday in michigan, a group plans to protest that governors stayathome order. Last month, a group showed up armed at the state capitol. Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer sounded a warning. What were doing is working. So, these protests, they do undermine the effort. Reporter iowa has seen a 67 rise in daily covid cases. Covid19, its here to stay for a while. Reporter even so, iowas governor announced that restaurants, salons, and gyms will reopen. Gym owner jason bailey the constitution says we have unaileenable rights. I dont believe were putting anybody in harm, but i will say that were not putting anybody in harm that didnt volunteer to do so. Reporter even though the beach here in santa monica is now open, another los angeles icon, the hollywood bowl, will cancel its Summer Season for the first time in 98 years. Wars and the Great Depression couldnt keep it silenced until this pandemic. Margaret. Brennan jamie yuccas, thank you. Today, a group of lawmakers called on airlines to offer cash refunds, not just travel vouchers, to customers who canceled flights during the pandemic. This comes as carriers are forced to balance passenger safety with their own financial survival. Heres cbs kris van cleave. Reporter fear and frustration from fliers over what they see as overlycrowded flights. This one from san juan to miami left puerto rico this morning with 145 passengers. The airline says it blocked 27 seats. Packed flights are the exception. The vast majority look more like this domestic flights averaging just 31 passengers. Can people safely social distance on an airplane . Is that a realistic expectation . Thats why were asking all of our customers to wear masks, because, you know, when youre in an airline seat, even keeping the middle seat free, youre not going to be six feet away from someone. Reporter jetblue c. E. O. Robin hayes. His airline is blocking up to 40 of seats. All u. S. Carriers are requiring masks. Weve really had no issues with getting our customers to comply. Its its really the new flying etiquette. Reporter and what happens if somebody refuses to wear a mask . If customers will not wear a mask, we will not board them on a flight. Reporter and what if on the plane i decide im not going to wear my mask . If a customer does not wear a mask, then its its someone that we will not permit to fly on jetblue again. Reporter while the number of passengers has roughly doubled since the low point last month, travel remains down 92 from last year, and u. S. Airlines are losing up to 7 billion a month. Do you think all the u. S. Airlines will survive this downturn . We have a massive threat to our industry. We are now entering the third month of effectively zero revenue. We have a new challenge ahead of us, which is, in the era of covid19, how do we get people comfortable that flying is safe . Reporter and to that end, all of the airlines are now calling on the t. S. A. To immediately start doing temperature checks of passengers. There is no federal standard for how you social distance on a plane, so each airline has a different policy. It can be confusing. But keep in mind, even if you block every middle seat on a 737, you could still have more than 100 passengers on board. Margaret. Brennan kris van cleave, thank you. Tonight, the f. B. I. And federal cybersecurity agents are warning that hackers linked to the Chinese Government are trying to steal research on coronavirus vaccines and therapies. The f. B. I. Says the potential theft jeopardizes the treatment of patients here in the u. S. Heres cbs chief justice and Homeland Security correspondent jeff pegues. Reporter while the coronavirus was sweeping across parts of china in january, u. S. Officials say chinese hackers were already focused on the united states, trying to steal research from universities and pharmaceutical companies that were working on a cure. John demers is the assistant attorney general for national security. The chinese for years have targeted biomedical research, and theres nothing more important than covid19 research right now in that field. Reporter the hacking charges ratcheted up tensions over the virus between the u. S. And china. It should have been stopped at the source, which was china. Reporter its not just china. Iran is also on the attack. Researchers at the Cybersecurity Company recorded futures say the Iranian State targeted an executive at gilead sciences, the manufacturer of the promising coronavirus treatment drug remdesivir. But demers said china is desperate to be first with a vaccine. You called this a holy grail of information that these foreign hackers are going after. Theres nothing more important right now than these treatments. And perhaps most significantly for china, for geopolitical value, to be able to say that they were the first to develop a vaccine. Reporter tonight, in a statement, chinese officials said the accusations were without evidence, but u. S. Officials say anyone working on a vaccine should be on hyperalert. Margaret. Brennan jeff pegues, thank you. There is still much more news ahead on tonights cbs evening news. Could one person be to blame for dozens of Coronavirus Infections . Coming up, why Health Officials are so worried about what they call super spreads. And later, how Many Americans are getting through the pandemic distancing from people, but snuggling with their pets . Because i can still make my own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it like its supposed to. Once weekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. It starts acting from the first dose. And it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known Heart Disease or multiple risk factors. Trulicity isnt for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Dont take trulicity if youre allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. 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Janssen can help you explore brennan tonight, were getting a sense of how quickly getting a sense of how quickly the coronavirus can spread from just one infected person. A new report by the National Academy of Sciences Says one minute of loud speaking can generate 1,000 viruscontaining droplets that can stay airborne for at least eight minutes. Cbs Jonathan Vigliotti on how thats led to large clusters of new cases. Reporter tonight, the hunt is on for as many as 10,000 people to contain a surge in covid19 cases linked to this nightclub in seoul, south korea. More than 100 have tested r. Sitive so far. We are worried about it because it is really close to us. Reporter the cer called a super spread, and its also unfolding in the u. S. As more people violate social distancing orders. Epidemiologist zuo feng zhang. Are you concerned about super spreaders . Yes, of course. choir singing reporter in washington state, a local nonprofit choir had 53 members infected after a rehearsal in early february. Lose pd. C. Reported their singing in a close practice setting, like this one, increased transmission. At least 99 infections across six states were traced to a february medical conference in boston. And in chicago, one covid positive man is linked to 15 infections and three deaths after attending a family dinner, a funeral and a birthday party. The key will be expanding the ability to trace everyone an infected person may have exposed. As soon as we identify the cross contacts, then we can, you know, get those people isolated, then can stop the transmission. Reporter and to help trace future outbreaks, some states are actually requesting r