I dont care if a person is old. Im old by your definition. I still think i have a value, right . My mothers old. Shes the most precious person to me. So protect every life, and im not going to trade off Public Health and well figure out the dollars and well figure out the economic impact, but well protect people in the meantime, and well protect their health. Governor, you have spoken about covid overflaw facilities good day, everyone, im Andrea Mitchell in washington continuing our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. U. S. Governor andrew cuomo has just been giving his update, saying theres been a fairly significant drop in hospitalizations statewide, and Health Care Workers have tested lower for antibodies than the general population. Another good sign, underlining the importance of having personal protective equipment. He also pushed back on the idea reopening the economy is more important than preventing more deaths from covid19. And here are the other facts at this hour. Today a staggering report on weekly job claims, with another 3 million americans filing for unemployment benefits, totaling more than 33 million jobless claims in just the past seven weeks. This as we await tomorrows unemployment report on april, expected to be the nations most monthly report ever. Today the white house confirms a personal military aide to the president , who served him his meals, has tested positive for the virus. Even as the president continues to high llights stays reopening. He will meet with Governor Abbott today, who is partially reopening texas. Although that states death toll is approaching 1,000 people. And two officials tell nbc news the white house rejected new guidelines from the cdc on how the country could safely reopen gradually, with the White House Task force saying the cdc approach was, he quote, overly restrictive. Joining me now on all of this, nbc White House Correspondent and weekend today cohost kristen welker, the Washington PostWhite House Reporter ashley parker, chris lu, former deputy secretary of labor in the obama administration, now a senior fellow at the university of Virginia Military center, and john berry, faculty at the Tulane School of Public Health in tropical medicine and author of the great influenza the story of the greatest pandemic in history. Kristen, you obtained a new white house statement about that military aide, what we would call a knanavy steward, who ser meals to the president , tested positive i guess wednesday. Tell us what you know about that. Thats right. And my colleague Peter Alexander just got some new reporting. Let me read you some of the new information we have, andrea, and then we will get to the official white house statement. The white house official telling nbc news the member of the white house military on the white house campus who tested positive is one of the president s personal valets who works with the west wing and serves President Trump his meals, among other duties. As you mentioned, andrea, the valet is a man. Not confirmed what branch of the military hes from. The official said valets do not wear masks. Upon learning about this, the president was not happy, according to this sourcing. Now, let me read you the official statement we got from hogan gidley, at least part of it we were recently notified by the white house medical unit that a member of the white house military that worked at the kpous campus tested positive for coronavirus. This is the important part, andrea, the president and Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in did health. Now, important to point out that testing will undoubtedly need to be updated because, of course, if this person did test positive on wednesday, there is a delay potentially on when you would see signs or when you would get a positive test. But just underscoring President Trump not happy upon learning about this, and its our understanding that moving forward all of those who are within close proximity to the president and Vice President will be instructed to wear masks. So this is a Significant Development as the president himself, the entire trump administration, continues to deal with their response to this broader crisis, andrea. And, ashley parker, we know that the president has said his reluctance to wear a mask, why he didnt wear a mask when he was in arizona the other day, and nancy pelosi telling me that she thought it was a vanity thing that he doesnt want to wear a mask. The Vice President does not wear a mask at the mayo clinic, and then apologized for that subsequently. But what do we know about this . Traditionally the military aides who serve the president and first family are from the navy. Theyre known as Navy Stewards throughout all of the years i have known the white house. I dont know if thats the case in this situation. Well, depend, we know what the white house has told us, which is this steward did in fact test positive, was around the president. The president and Vice President have tested negative. But i think this is one of these moments where were at a pivot point at what the task force is looking to do and president is looking to do with reopening the economy. He sort of said he wants to be very focused on reopening the economy, that the American Public has to be warriors. And this sort of demonstrates, microcosm in a very closetohome way how fragile this can be when you stop taking precautions, when there are people who are not using the proper protective equipment, Something Like this can happen. And i think at large this is something were hearing from the Public Health officials and people inside the administration as you reopen the country, how do you grapple with wanting business as usual with the necessary Public Health protections . Of course, the president , someone in his orbit is not the same, for instance, reopening the state of georgia but it is an example of the sorts of challenges this white house and the nation will have to grapple with. And the president now is experiencing it firsthand. Indeed. And this in fact as ashley just to follow up quickly, we understand the cdc guidelines recommendation was rejected by the task force. I would argue it was probably we dont know this but i would suppose it was rejected because of the economic focus right now and the reopening focus, not because of the scientific of the task force. The cdc has traditionally been the goto source for any administration during a health crisis. They had not briefed in weeks and weeks. It was transferred to the Vice President. And now the guideline for recommendation was rejected for being too tough. Exactly. It was rejected for being overly prescribetive. And once the document leak, first reported by the associated press, it was notable the one thing the white house said is they were pushing back on this and they asked the cdc for revisions. And it was expressing public frustration the cdc had not gotten white house signoff on this, had not really asked for white house approval and they seemed to be almost as frustrated with that aspect as to what they said were the too strict restrictions. Youre right, theyre very eager to get the economy open. They dont want to do anything they think can hurt that and they and the cdc are not exactly marching in lockstep. And we just heard Governor Cuomo saying in his briefing today, chris lu, there should not be a conflict between health care, protecting your health, and the economy, that health has to come first before anything else can work. But we see these new numbers today and the projections for what we will see tomorrow, and theyre devastating. Thats exactly right. The president thinks by bullying states, he can magically cause the economy to recover. And it just doesnt work that way. This is first and foremost a Public Health crisis. Until you get your arms around that, the economy cannot function well. Because this is all about confidence. Its confidence about businesses reopening, about customers spending money. And what the president is doing in many ways is causing the worst of all outcomes, forcening a partial reopening so you will continue to have infections and deaths at unacceptably high levels. Meanwhile, businesses arent going to function at 100 . So its going to continue to stagnate. As weve seen from these numbers just today and were going to see really devastating numbers tomorrow, this economy is in a deep hole. But the answer to it is not a premature opening that risks further eroding confidence and ruining the did work weve already done. I want to also share what Neel Kashkari said to savannah guthrie. Hes the president of the minneapolis fed. This is what he said about his projection for the recovery when it does come. I think its becoming clear were in for a long, gradual recovery, which is unfortunate. I wish we had a quick bounceback. But were going to alert the depression scenario because policymakers are going to continue to be aggressive. And, chris, its clear theres a lot of disagreement. Almost red state blue state disagreement. Partisan disagreement about when it is safe, when you can reopen and whether people can go back in the ways the president seems to be forecasting. People are scared. Right. This is a false dichotomy and false choice between red state and blue state and Public Health and the economy. And were going to see tomorrow with those jobs numbers, the Monthly Employment numbers, numbers we have not seen since the great depression. So we should take a look not only the topline numbers but whats below that . We know, for instance, Leisure Hospitality and retail have been affected. Has this trickled into white collar professions like the financial industry . What are the Racial Disparities of people being out of work . How much have state and government started laying off police and teachers and firefighters . So thats going to really have to shape a lot of the Economic Relief packages but were not out of the woods yet, notwithstanding what the president keeps saying. And john berry joining us. You wrote the book literally about the 1918 pandemic, the influenza pandemic. A lot of this is going to again on whether this is the first onset of this new virus or whether theres going to be a big resurgence on it or whether the second hit will be worse than the first. You know, we didnt really have a first wave yet. We interrupted it with some pretty aggressive closings. Obviously, its continuing to spread anyway. Whether we have a huge wave depends on what we do. Were not ahead of it yet. Im sure everybody in your audience and you all know about the need for testing, the need for Contact Tracing. If we do things right, we still have a chance of not controlling it. It is going to spread, but of keeping it tamped down in a way that would allow some reopenings. But if have the chaotic approach that were having now, were risking essentially a Hurricane Storm surge, not just a wave, coming back at us, which will wipe out everything that people have done and achieved so far. And i wanted to share also a startling graph just to show visually what it really means. If you look at the United States and trendlines in the United States versus the rest of the world, take a look at that top line. Thats where we are headed. John barry, just as an example, here you have a navy steward at the white house serving meals to the president in the west wing, and he tested positive. Were not going to know for sure whether the president has been infected or Anyone Around him for at least two weeks, given the incubation period. Thats correct. But as your report said at the beginning, that sort of exemplifies whats happening around the country. The reopenings i think, in most cases, are premature. And cdc is always in every past administration, when theres been a health threat, cdc has always taken the lead. To shunt them aside in the biggest crisis, the Biggest Health threat in more than 100 years, its very dangerous. Absolutely. Thank you so much, john barry, ashley parker, kristen welker, and, of course, chris lu. Thank you all. Coming up shortages and surpluses. Coronavirus complications are really testing the food supply chain. Next were live at a farm with 12 million thats Million Pounds of surplus potatoes. Plus, later in the show as states start to reopen and people go back to work, whos going to watch the kids . Wild childcare is key to getting the economy back on track. Stay with us, youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. For small prices, you can build big dreams. Spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair today. For adults with moderately to severely active crohns disease, stelara® works differently. Studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before treatment, get tested for tb. 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With a network that helps give you speed, reliability and security. And enough bandwidth to handle all your connected devices. Voice Solutions Like remote Call Forwarding and readable voicemail. And safe, convenient installation. When every connection counts, you can count on us. Get the connectivity your business needs. Call today. Comcast business. The coronavirus pandemic has left Washington State farmers with at least 12 million excuse me, a billion pounds of potatoes they can sell and new crop growing now in the field without any buyers. Washingtons soil produces a quarter of the potatoes grown in the u. S. We are at a potato farm in othello, washington. That is where you have 12 Million Pounds of excess . Thats a lot of french fries. Yeah, andrea. What does a billion pounds of potatoes look like . Well, i have 12 mill here. I feel pretty darn small next to this pile. I mean, just take a look at how tall this pile really is. If you look up there, theres a red mark near the ceiling there, thats the 20foot mark. Thats how high it is. This extends beyond the length of a football field. 12 Million Pounds. Its hard to wrap your head around. This is just one warehouse of many across the state right now that look just like this and a farp a farmer who has to figure out what to do with this massive pile. I spent time with the father son duo who run this farm. These potatoes, i will pick one up here, this is a russert potato. These are ideal for french fries. You see how long they are. They make the nice, delicious crispy things we love to eat and im getting a little hungry talking about it here. But the majority of Washington States potatoes get turned into french fries. They go to restaurants both here in the u. S. But mostly overseas. The majority of restaurants around the world right now are closed so that puts these farmers in a really challenging position, andrea. They have to figure out what to do. Its hard to wrap your head around the fact right now we are seeing incredibly long lines at food banks and im standing next to a surplus of food here. You think you can just put two and two together but it is not exactly that easy. Theres a lot of cost and challenge that comes with getting this to people, but the farmers here definitely are trying. Theres actually a truck outside here that is going to be loading up a good amount of this. But its still not quite putting a dent in this. Theres a gofundme page right now in Washington State to get a Million Pounds of potatoes to people in need. But that just is a tiny crack here, andrea. If this doesnt tell you the problems with the Food Supply Chains in america right now, i dont know what will. Now, its absolutely the most graphic example and you can understand how the farmers cant just load everything up and pay the transportation and weve got to get somehow find these surpluses and get them to the people who need them. Dasha burns, thank you very much. We will talk about the food supply on the east coast, as all of those restaurants that are not serving french fries or other kinds of potatoes are struggling to su