by may 1st, less than two months from now, he's directing all states and territories to make all adults eligible for the vaccine. you'll also want to mark july 4th on your calendar. biden is expected to announce americans should be able to gather in small groups by then. two dates to look forward to as today marks one year since the world health organization officially declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic. it's a sobering milestone with more than half a million american lives lost between that declaration and tonight. even with biden's hopeful announcement, tonight is one of those occasions when it is important to step back and remember how we got here. starting one year ago today, march 11th, o 2020, when the world stood still. >> just moments ago on capitol hill government health officials testified on the government's response to coronavirus and this statement from one of the nation's top medical experts was not reassuring. >> we will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now. >> there are now more than 1,000 cases reported in this country and so far 30 deaths. >> the world health organization has officially declared the coronavirus to be a global pandemic. >> cases spiking. >> more market stress. more liquidity stress. be careful out there is what i tell people. >> the market tumbling. >> dow is down more than 5% today officially entering a bear market. >> fear on wall street and main street. >> dow dropping more than 1400 points, its second biggest point loss ever. >> late this afternoon the ncaa announced that it will hold march madness without rowdy fans. >> this is an nbc news special report. >> we're interrupting our regular program to bring you remarks from president trump on the coronavirus outbreak, now a pandemic. >> to keep new cases from entering our shores we will be suspending all travel from europe to the united states for the next 30 days. >> moments ago rudy gobert of the utah jazz tested positive for covid-19. as a result, the nba will suspend play. the league will go on hiatus following the conclusion of action tonight. >> academy award winning actor tom hanks and his wife, actress rita wilson, have announced they have both tested positive for coronavirus. >> that's a real face now. tom and rita hangs is a real thing, a real fact for americans to consider. if it can happen to them, even though they are in australia, it can absolutely happen to anyone. i think that's a reality now through tom hanks that a lot of people might not have had. >> that day changed everything. it all just happened at once. those of us who are privileged stopped going into the office unlike the many essential workers who didn't have that option. we started talking about flattening the curve and social distancing. we were told we had 15 days to stay at home to stop the spread, days that stretched into months. schools went virtual and many students still haven't gone back. stay at home orders that started in a few states quickly became the norm across the country. the president at that time was still downplaying the virus and giving himself an a plus from the response. we now know he was very much aware of how bad the situation really was. we were told by experts that we didn't need to wear masks, something almost unfathomable when you think about it now. as health care workers struggled to obtain the equipment they needed and to deal with the mass casualties they were experiencing. while there hasn't been anything like those initial few weeks, this pandemic life of social distancing and mask wearing is the new normal. 29 million people have been infected and more than 530,000 dead. let's turn now to critical care pulmonologist ben gupta and jason johnson, two of the people we most wanted to talk to tonight. thank you both for making time. dr. gupta, let me play for you what dr. fauci actually said today. he went on the "today" show and he talked about the most dangerous thing that happened over the last year. >> we had such divisiveness in our country that even simple common sense public health measures took on a political connotation when people, you know, if you wanted to wear a mask you were on this side. if you wanted to stay in and avoid congregate settings, you were on this side. it wasn't a pure public health approach. mixed messages were coming from washington, that's for sure. >> you know, dr. gupta, it's fair to say. i remember the politization even around ebola. ebola killed three people in the united states. killed a lot more on the african continent. we're talking about something that wound up killing half a million people plus. have you ever experienced anything in the public health sector like this where something like a virus that doesn't care who anyone is becomes a political matter and that leads to death? >> you know, joy, i haven't. good to see you, by the way. good evening. what i'll say is there's a few things here. there's a deep irony, number one, that this took the journey it took. that everything got politicized because if we had just done -- you know, unfortunately president trump knew this was an airborne virus i believe on february 7th. if we had put in place the measures that anybody otherwise would on learning that knowledge, then if there was a tactical shutdown at that point, if the strategic national stockpile had been replenished, if we knew what we knew now about this virus, if that had -- information was used to inform actual public policy, this would have been less of an issue. we probably -- some estimates say we would have saved 70% of the lives now lost. imagine that, joy. imagine that. number one, it's ironic. well, it's ironic because it got politicized and it ended up obviously becoming a much bigger problem for the former president than it needed to be. number two, i'll quickly say to your question. is there precedence for this? the biggest precedence is what big lobbies do when they want to get their way. smoking lobby. smoking is still the biggest killer of people worldwide in part because the smoking lobby, tobacco lobby is quite powerful and continues to deceive. that's the most pertinent analogy even though it's imperfect. >> jason johnson, usually the easiest things for a president to run for presidency for are war and tax cuts. donald trump was sitting on this crisis in which he could have shown himself to be a leader. this was breaking around the time of impeachment. he needed another story. he had the opportunity to have another story. we're going to play him tonight. this was donald trump's incoherence, speaking of mixed messages, message on covid. >> are there worried about a pandemic at this point? >> no, not at all. we have it totally under control. the risk to the american people remains very low. this virus is going to disappear. it's going to disappear. this is a flu. 24 is like a flu. >> it will go away. you know it is going away. as an example on the mask, if people wanted to wear them they can. i just don't want to wear one. this is going to go away without a vaks even. hydroxychloroquine. >> you're not going to die from this pill. this disinfectant, is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or -- almost a cleaning. you know, our doctors get more money if somebody dies from covid, you know that, right? the minimum number was 100,000 lives and i think we'll be substantially under that number. >> just one more. we can stand it. if y'all can bear it, he called bob woodward and said this to him. >> it's a very tricky situation. it's -- >> indeed it is. >> it goes through air, bob. that's always tougher than the touch. you just breathe the air, that's how it's passed. it's also more deadly than your -- you know, even your strenuous flus. >> i mean, just as a political science matter, jason, is this the biggest blunder, public communications blunder, i guess woodrow wilson did the same thing with the spanish flu. >> yeah, i've written a lot about trump and wilson. half a million people are dead. most of us have never experienced that in our lifetimes. it's bigger than multiple wars combined and it's resulted in such a breakdown of so many fundamental things in the american economy and health care. it has left us a broken and less functional country. as of right now, we still have so many different states refusing to follow the basic rules because of what trump did. we have florida fudging the numbers because they won't listen to the cdc. other places are opening themselves up. i would say, joy, the one political consequence that can't be avoided in all of this is that covid is the reason donald trump lost. had he even remotely cared about handling this crisis last year, had he not tried to pick and choose and assumed it was only going to be a blue state problem, had he not stood against masks and said, hey, do what you want, he would probably still be president of the united states today. it was donald trump's failure to address this horrible human rights, human health crisis that led to a lot of people saying we can't have this anymore and kicking him out of the office. wasn't the racism, big grot try, corruption, cheating, it was covid. >> that is hard to argue against. let's turn the page. dr. gupta, i will admit on tv that you are the person who single handedly made me get over my nervousness about the vaccine and become determined to get vaccinated and promote and push to everybody to get vac sip nated. i haven't gotten -- my group hasn't come through yet but i'm determined to do it now. because of you i'm determined to get whichever one i can. i don't have the j&j issues and everything. let's talk about these deadlines that president biden has put up. may 1st everyone being able to get the vaccine. is that the kind of good, positive messaging that helps? or is that going to -- are you worried that might cause a rush on the vaccines on may 1st? >> i think it's overwhelmingly positive. people are clamoring to get the vaccine because they know cdc guidance is phasing in normalcy. they started small. they're going to go bigger as people get vaccinated. people are recognizing, connecting the dots. if i get vaccinated, that means i can plan summer vacation, holidays are going to be normal again. it's good they're moving up the time schedule. we have our muscle memory in place. it's wonderful news for all of us. thank you, i'll quickly say, thank you for bringing up the j&j vaccine. too many people out there think it's inferior. it's not. it's 100% effective of keeping you out of the hospital. >> i'll take anyyqqqy of them. trust me. real quick before i let you go. am i crazy to still be very nervous, if i get my j&j or whatever, i still will be a little nervous honestly to do anything on july 4st and do anything indoors in a gym. i would still be scared. am i right to be nervous after vaccination? >> so you should be reassured that you're not going to end up in the hospital. i think it's appropriate that we're going to have some residual -- some trauma, if you will, what's happened in the last 16 months. yes, people should continue to mask and distance. caution for the rest of the year, i wouldn't be surprised if that's how most people live their life. >> yeah, i'm keeping my mask. i've made them fashion. i will be wearing my mask for the time being. dr. ben masculine knit at this would make you the worst on any other night. tonight we found someone even worse than you. the big reveal is coming up. 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(burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ see every delivery... every yikes... and even every awwwwwwww... wait, where was i? introducing self protection from xfinity. designed to put you in control. with real-time notification and a week of uninterrupted recording... all powered by reliable, secure wifi from xfinity. gotta respect his determinatio. it's easy and affordable to get started. get self protection for $10 a month. america, help is on the way! now that the $1.9 trillion rescue plan has been signed. americans can expect relief and money in their accounts as early as this weekend. here's president biden moments before signing the bill. >> this historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation, working people, middle class folks, people who built the country a fighting chance. that's what the essence of it is. >> biden has vowed not to repeat the mistake president obama made back in 2009 with the administration did not get out and sell the benefits of its own economic recovery plan. so much of the public was left not fully informed of the details. >> barack was so modest as he wanted to take a victory lap. i kept saying, tell people what we did so we don't have time. not going to take a victory lap. we played a price for that humility. each piece isn't just defense sibl, it is urgent and overwhelmingly supported by the american people. it's good policy and it's good politics. >> well, with that in mind, the white house is going to taut the specific benefits state by state of the already popular and transformative package. it begins with biden's address to the nation coming up at the top of the hour. administration officials crisscrossing the top of the country. they will end the tour in atlanta which let's be clear made this bill possible by electing two senators in january. it's fitting that it will be the choice for their first joint event outside of washington since the inauguration. zero republicans supported this wildly popular bill. hours after passage mississippi senator roger whicker was promoting a portion of the bill that sent cash to restaurants. he left out the part of him like actually voting against it. if that wasn't enough, minority leader mitch mcconnell tried to plant the republican flag on the country's recovery. >> senators led the bipartisan c.a.r.e.s. act that got our country through. they built a parade marching through victory. democrats want to sprint in front of the parade and claim credit. >> speaker of the house nancy pelosi had a good word for the republicans who were playing hanger on. >> it's remarkable legislation, unfortunately republicans, as i say, vote no and take the dough. you see already some of them claiming this is a good thing, that's a good thing, but they couldn't give it a vote. but anyway, enough of them. >> joining me now is senator chris coons of delaware. vote no and take the dough. you know president biden probably better than anyone in the united states senate. what do you expect his demeanor to be like tonight. he said they made a mistake in 2009 when they didn't get out there and toot their own horn. is he going to do a little bit of that tonight, do you think? >> well, joy, since joe biden won the election to become our president, he has been relentlessly focused on getting us out of this pandemic, on relieving the burdens on middle americans and on moving us forward. i think he will be somber as we reflect on what the one year anniversary means of this pandemic, what it means to have lost 530,000 americans but i also think he'll be hopeful because we are now clearly on the path of getting out of this pandemic and towards recovery. this $1.9 trillion bill that he just signed into law is truly a big deal. it's going to deliver relief to families in stimulus checks. it's going to be the biggest antipoverty plan and it will put money into the veterans administration, into helping people stay in their homes or apartments, into safely reopening schools, into more small business lenting. joe biden ran for president to help get us out of the mess donald trump got us into. i expect for him to give us a clear shot of hope about our future. >> i don't like to play senator after senator but i'll play senator roger wicker. >> one good provision in a $1.9 trillion bill doesn't mean i have to vote for the whole thing. but it goes without saying. i've issued a statement, but i think it's a stupid question. >> stupid question? >> absolutely. i mean, i'm not going to vote for $1.9 trillion because it has a couple of good provisions in it. >> first of all, there are no stupid questions, mr. wicker. 62% of americans approve of how biden is dealing with the pandemic. are democrats in your view prepared to run against, is the democratic senate congressional committee prepared to run ads against people like roger wicker who voted no and took the dough? >> joy, i think it's important that we remind all-americans that a year ago we did come together on a bipartisan basis and unanimously passed the c.a.r.e.s. act because we saw the crisis that was this pandemic and a year later while we still have a raging pandemic, while we're still in a recession, while we still have 11 million americans collecting unemployment and looking for their next job, while we still have tens of millions of americans with their kids not in school and facing eviction, we couldn't get a single republican vote. i'm not sure what changed. seems to me that we're not out of this pandemic yet. we're not out of the woods yet. i would expect that there's going to be some accountability politically for those who refuse to help finish the job and get us out of this pandemic. there was investment in developing the vaccines. that was bipartisan. there was investment in the initial response and that was bipartisan. we're not out of the woods. why did they leave the american people behind by refusing to vote for this bill? >> respectfully i think maybe people in elected office in washington and people in the media, frankly, care more about bipartisanship as a thing than people. people care about results. people care about getting things they voted for. >> results, thank you. >> they need a little bit of tax money back and i don't think they care it's bipartisan. i say that, sir, that there are a bunch of other things people deeply care about. voting rights are being stripped from americans all over the country. there's a bill that's already passed