Cant handle the bodies. Theres so many of them. This is, essentially in my community, queens, new york. Ive seen things ive never seen before. Over the bridge from queens, there is now an emergency Field Hospital being built in central park to help deal with the overflow of those sickened by the coronavirus. This is the new grim reality on this monday morning. Streets lined up with refrigerated trucks, acting as makeshift morgues, while hospital staff and First Responders struggle to keep their heads above the dizzying death toll. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is monday, march 30th. We begin with the many fastmoving developments on the coronavirus. The Trump Administration is now extending its guidelines on social distancing. Instead of the president s goal of easter, the guidelines will now extend by more than two weeks, to april 30th. The death toll is increasing rapidly, now at nearly 2,500. It took a month for the u. S. To go from 1 to 1,000 deaths. According to the nbc news counter, the number of deaths from thursday to yesterday increased by more than 1 rksz,2. Dr. Anthony fauci issued this new projection on the numbers of deaths and cases here in the u. S. Looking at what were seeing now, i would say between 100,000 and 200,000 cases. I dont want to be held to that because its excuse me deaths. Were going to have millions of cases. The number i gave out is based on modeling. I think it is entirely conceivable that if we do not mitigate to the extent were trying to do, that you could reach that number. Yeah, yeah. Its possible. I mean, you could make a big sound bite about it, but the fact is, its possible. When i heard the number today, first time ive heard that number because ive been asking the same question some people have been asking i felt even better about what we did last week, with the 2. 2 trillion. Because youre talking about a potential of up to 2. 2 million, and some said it could be higher than that. Youre talking about 2. 2 million deaths. 2. 2 Million People from this. So if we can hold that down, as were saying, to 100,000, it is a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job. Was floating easter a mistake, you think . No. Tell us why. It was just an aspiration. We actually will be hitting, potentially this was with our meeting before. Easter could be a peak period. That could be the peak, sadly to say. That could be the peak number of deaths before it starts coming down. No, that was aspirational. We had an aspiration of easter, but when you hear these kind of numbers, and you hear the potential travesty, we dont want to do anything where, you know we dont want to spike up. We dont want to do it soon, then all of a sudden, youre coming down, and then you start going up again. We discussed that could happen. We dont want that to happen. Weve gone through too much. So that was an aspirational number. I didnt say easter. I said, itd be a great thing if we could do it by easter. We know much more now than we knew two, three weeks ago. Jeyou said on the air, and i our household, easter deadline was a marker. It wasnt something he was completely going to hold to, but it was showing different assets, different faucets of what is impacting this country, including the economy. Some guidance that could be moved. It has been moved. You know, there were a lot of distracting traits in the News Conference that came out yesterday that can be very, you know, deflecting from whats going on. Overall, you could see that science and the scientists have moved this president to can the 15 days to slow the spread and start to spread it out to the june 1 date that you were talking about all along. Well, of course, the president listened. This is the headline. There was a lot of ground noise, a lot of things that i know a lot of people found disturbing, like how he treated our friend yamiche, attacking cnn. Talking about his ratings. Ratings. Guess what . Thats what he does. Thats the ground noise and, yes, we all have a right to be deeply disturbed by that. But you look at the signal, which is that the president listened to dr. Fauci and dr. Billio birx, instead of listening to larry kudlow. Larry has been a friend of mine for a very long time, but i wouldnt get medical advice from larry kudlow, and i probably wouldnt get stock advice from dr. Fauci. The president listened to who he needed to, and for good reason. As dr. Fauci and dr. Birx really leaned in and started talking about those numbers that the Imperial College was suggesting, up to 2. 2 Million People could die, if we do nothing. If we do nothing. As dr. Fauci said, the American People are doing a lot more than nothing right now. Because of that, because of social distancing, dr. Fauci is talking about 100,000 to 200,000 people dying. Lets hope that the curve is bent unfortunately, deaths, it continues to go straight up. New infections slowly, slowly, were starting to see a bend in that curve. Instead of infections doubling every two days, it is moving towards doubling every three days. We still have a long way to go. Just the numbers though. For people that said this is the flu, or people that mocked reporters and scientists for listening to the Imperial College study, dr. Birx said yesterday, every single study they looked at, every model said itd be between 1. 6 and 2. 2 million americans dead if they didnt take dramatic actions. Of course, thats more numbers, more americans dying than in every war since 1776. Now, just to let you know some of the grim milestones the president was looking at, you know. By the end of the day likely, more americans will have died from this pandemic than died on september 11th. Already, more americans have died from this pandemic, that a lot of people tried to dismiss as a hoax on tv, than died in our 18year war, our 19year war in afghanistan. Just in a month, more americans have died of this pandemic than died in afghanistan over the course of two decades. By the end of this week, more americans will have died from this pandemic than died in iraq, in the iraq war. You could also talk about vietnam. Chances are very good by this time next week, if the numbers keep going the way theyre going, more americans will die than died in our decadelong war in vietnam. Think about that. That is not the flu. That is a pandemic, where the deaths just keep doubling. Of course, if dr. Faucis numbers are right, and he i know he hopes theyre not going to be right, that were going to do make dramatic actions to bend that curve downward, but if it is between 100,000 and 200,000, if the trend lines go the way they look like theyre going, dr. Fauci suggests more people could die from this pandemic in america than died in world war i. So the president had a lot of good reasons to do what he did yesterday. I will remind everybody, again, theres a lot of distractions on these press conferences. And like that admiral told me, mika, long time ago, son, dont listen to the ground noise. Focus on the signal. The signal is, mika, science. The president followed science yesterday and not his economic advisers. That gives us a chance to bend that curve. That gives us a chance to save lives. Weve got a number of cities that are becoming hot spots beyond new york city. By the i with a, w way, we have the New York Times, ed. Dr. Scott godley points to several cities experiencing a rapidly increasing spread, as the coronavirus emerges in these cities, making them multiple epicenters of the u. S. Outbreak. In particular, the city of chicago now accounts for more than 2,000 cases. Almost half of those confirmed in the entire state of of californias over 6,000 cases. In addition to new orleans and detroit, another city to watch is miami. Miamidade county accounts for almost 800 of floridas nearly 5,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Joe, another thing i noticed with trump yesterday is there are people close to him who are getting it. He talked about a friend who had it, and it was suffering. I cant imagine the news about Boris Johnson and several of the folks high up in his administration, in his government, i should say, have it, as well. Right. Its getting close to home for trump and people like trump. Well, when the president said he called Boris Johnson, as somebody who has been an ally of his, and someone who also expressed spe eed scepticism ea is he said the first thing Boris Johnson said, not hello, but we need ventilators. It paints it in stark release. He spoke yesterday of a friend of his who went to the hospital, and the next day was in a coma. Well, thats happening more and more often. It is not just older people. We keep hearing stories of people in their 30s and 40s who are getting infections, some dying very quickly, some very healthy with no preexisting conditions whatsoever. So this is a deadly pandemic. The weight of that pandemic is seeming to finally really, really the president finally seemed to feel the weight of that on his shoulders, at least by the decisions he was making. Lets go to ed. Thank you so much for being with us. I unfortunately start my early mornings with a bit of a grim, grim tradition now. That is, i go to the Financial Times, and i look at the countrys rates of infections, deaths, the cities. I look at the trend lines. Some of the trend lines are starting to bend, but in the United States, certainly on deaths, we continue to go straight up. It seems like the president got the message yesterday, and at least for that press conference yesterday, it was the scientists who won the day. Yeah. Ncouraging. As you say, if you screen out trumps sparring with journalists and needling with journalists, the ultimate message from yesterday was good. He is listening to the scientists. I think where the real concern is, while new york, while Governor Cuomo continues to show it, what it is like to have a strong, singleminded chief executive in charge, there are other states, like florida youre getting disturbing signs in miami and texas that arent taking this as seriously as they could take it. Lessons from other countries is that youve got to have quite disciplined nationwide social distancing if you want to flatten that curve. Britain, you just mentioned, which has a higher increasing death rate, doubling every two days, britain hasnt been observing that until recently. It is beginning to pay the price. The fact that the Prime Minister, his chief adviser, cummings, the heir to the throne, prince charles, michael hancock, minister of death, and the medical chief officer all have coronavirus is, i think, a demonstration effect like no other to ordinary people. This virus is indiscriminate. We all need to socially distance. You know, the thing is, and you bring up a very good point about how those in britain didnt take this seriously until recently, there is a two or threeweek lag. So the United States has started to take this a bit more seriously. The white house is taking this more seriously. That doesnt mean, david ignatius, over the next two weeks, we arent going to continue to have bad news. The next two weeks, i think, the president said, and also dr. Fauci said, the next two weeks may even be even if were doing everything right, even if were moving in the right direction on masks, on ventilators, on tests, on social distancing, were going to be paying for what we did three weeks ago. Bluntly, ive seen a lot of people where i am who still dont seem to get it. Joe, the numbers that dr. Fauci and dr. Birx used yesterday were pretty stark. Up to 200,000 deaths is a lot of people. President trump was touting that as a success. We can only have 100,000 to 200,000 deaths. Well regard that as serious. Your point that so much of this is still unknown, the rates of increase in some states, floridflorida seems to be particularly worrying to those who look at the numbers. Other potential hot spots means we cant yet make firm predictions. But i think everybody felt happy that President Trump listened in this case to his medical experts. He backed off from his earlier almost defiant assertion that wed be roaring and ready to go on april 12th, easter day, and has something more realistic. Well have to watch carefully. Theres some hopeful signs. In the seattle area, in washington, after real social distancing measures, that the rate of increase in cases is going down. Much as youd predict from the evidence that weve seen from asia, from china, south korea. Still, im struck, mika, by how much we dont know about the disease and how it passes and just how many cases there are in the country. And jonathan lemire, it seems to be taking on different characteristics than it even took on in china or europe. Younger people are dying in the United States. Thats something that dr. Birx and dr. Fauci are still trying to figure out. Still cant exactly figure out transmission exactly how its done. There are though some positive signs. New york times reported yesterday about all the shipments that were coming in, going to start coming in from china and around the world, medical supplies. You had this weekend the head of emergency at columbia in new york saying that they look like they may be starting, at least in that hospital, to turn the corner when it comes to masks and gloves and gowns. Just one week after the New York Post showed pictures of people wearing trash bags. You had, again, the president listening to science, following science yesterday, instead of those economic advisers that were saying, open the country back up. Can you tell us we started to see a suggestion of this on friday in his press conference, when he said he was going to be talking to his doctors over the weekend. They were going to make the decision. He said he was going to defer to them on friday, and thats exactly what this president did yesterday. Can you walk us through the weekend, and what was it, from what your reporting suggests, that turned the president and got him more narrowly focused to shut things down, possibly until june the 1st, which is the date ive been hearing for a long time is the date that most Scientists Say, doctors say, we need to wait until we really reopen the economy in june. What got him there . The president eventually got to the right place, the date the Health Experts and scientists believe he should. It was a winding path to do so. A scatter shot weekend. Lets recall that on friday, youre right, he did hint that he would be willing to extend the easter deadline, if you will, the target date, on saturday, for seven hours, he floated out there the idea of a quarantine of new york city, of parts of new jersey, parts of connecticut. An idea that, first of all, there is real belief the federal government didnt have the authority to do. There was no consultation with the governors of those states. Andrew cuomo was asked in real time at a News Conference how the discussion had gone with President Trump about a quarantine. Cuomo said it was the first he was hearing about it. Our reporting, the president floated the idea after consulting with Governor Desantis of florida. You pointed out hes been slow to enforce restrictions. Horrible. There were some beaches still open this weekend in florida. He had been sounding the alarm that he didnt want new yorkers to come down to that state. The president decided to move on that, to float the idea in part as a political calculation. New york, new jersey, connecticut, blue states. To signal to florida and other parts of the country, perhaps where more of his supporters are, look, im taking care of the issue. Science won out though. Dr. Birx and dr. Fauci have been working on him subtly in public interviews and behind closed doors, in the west wing, saying easter was too soon. Showed him a lot of data the last few days. Imperial College Study for one, and others, as well, showing what a disastrous effect it could be if the country reopened too soon and things went in a worstcase scenario to the 2. 2 million number, which stuck with the president. Yesterday, as a final point, joe, the reporting shows there were two things that really struck the president. There was that number, the 2. 2 million. Even 100,000 is a huge number of deaths but, as we heard him say, itd be an improvement over that. It was also some of the images coming from his hometown in new york. It was the construction of the makeshift hospital beds in central park. It was the sight of a what was it refrigerated delivery truck being loaded with bodies at a hospital here that went around social media yesterday and made its way to the cable newscasts. Yes, in particular, the scenes at elmhurst hospital, not far from where the president grew up in queens. It was striking to him and seemed to hit home the scene thats happening in his homet n hometown, which could be created across the nation. That sort of fueled this decision to at least slow down the reopening, to push back well beyond easter, extend lent, if you will, toward the end of april. These images will be coming out of new york city at least for the next ten days to possibly two weeks. The worst, actually, is still ahead for new york. Lets hope that that curve starts to be bending a little bit to the right. Mika, just again, when we listen to the president , im not saying it makes it right, and im not saying this is what he should do, but when the president says, im going to open the economy by easter, and you know thats not possible, that millions would die if he did that, if you listened to the study, chances are good hes sending a signal. In that case, he was sending a signal to the markets and Small Business people, hey, im on your side. Im going to fight for you. Were going to actually have a balance between the health of the nation and the health of your Small Business, and also for a lot of people who are out of work now. You know, the same thing this weekend when the president talked about possibly just shutting down new york and the tristate area. Well, immediately, he cant do that. Constitutionally, he cant do that. If hes saying that, hes saying that for a reason. Hes sending, again, a political messa message. Again, doesnt make it right. That just makes it the reality. Its b