Been just the last hour, the governor of new jersey announcing schools in the state will stay closed for the remainder of the academic year. And jay crew has filed for bankruptcy. The first retailer to do so during this pandemic. We have our nbc news team of reporters spread across the nation, on the ground, ready to help break down todays stories. One question this month is how state leaders will continue to grapple with the mounting public pressure to reopen, particularly in this struggling economy. Warm temperatures and sup this weekend brought people from the country to come outside in many places. We saw bustling malls and businesses around atlanta, georgia, all the way out to central park and new york city. Meanwhile, in states like virginia, testing has been ramping up. Hospital admissions are relatively stable. All eyes on the governor to see how he may extend the ban on nonessential businesses. Joining us now is katie beck. Katie . Reporter thats right, ari. Its supposed to expire on friday. The question is will Governor Northam let that ban expire or extend it and how will that pair with his stay at home order that goes until june 10th . The governor said he was going to be spending the weekend trying to come up with the best possible plan for reopening the commonwealth. And he basically said hes going to be thinking about all those things he has been talking ab i about. In virginia, we are seeing a decline in cases, but the governor has said this is going to be phases and a long process, even indicating it could be years before the economy here in virginia is back to where it was. Now, at 2 00 p. M. Today, the governor is going to have a press conference and give guidance on what is next for the state of virginia. Hes facing mounting pressure. There have been protests and rallies here in virginia. Many saying the economy is suffering. And that the dwogovernor needs act faster. President trump saying virginia is acting too slowly. So all eyes will be focused on the capitol and the press conference at 2 00 to see what his plan is next. He did let the ban on elective surgeries expire on thursday, but will he extend possibly the stay at home order beyond june 10th . Virginia was the longest stay at home order in the country before the Oregon Governor recently put his into july. So theres a lot of questions about what is next for virginia, and certainly a lot of pressure on this governor. Ari . Katie beck, thank you very much. Today beaches in clear water, florida opening back up. This is the First Time Since the large crowd of spring breakers were there in march drawing s i criticism. Nbcs sam brock is on the ground in florida. What are you seeing . Reporter a lot of people right now, ari. The optics are obviously very important. I dont mean that in a figurative sense but a literal sense. If you would look over my shoulder, there are thousands out here, and there are. But by and large, theres generally really good spacing when it comes to what families and friends are going on the beach right now. You mentioned this is the start of beaches opening in clear water. Thats been a topic of conversation, because that spring break episode from six weeks ago was right here on this beach, clear water beach, where there was so much criticism about the way florida is handling the closing of beaches. In terms of whats going on right now, there are roughly 300 Law Enforcement officers that we have seen up and down these 35 miles of pristine sand that we opened. About 30 of them on atvs. Maybe another couple hundred out by the access point and you see the orange cones. Theyre driving up and down and making sure people are social distancing. Ive seen them so far come into groups of friends and family to tell people to step aside. You can see how many people are coming out to enjoy the sun. So many people i talked to, whether its College Students or family, say they need this as a Mental Health break, but are trying to be as responsible as possible, because they know like what we saw in california, the beaches opening for a short period only time, it was a bonanza and the governor closed them. They know this is a privilege that can be revoked at any point in time. So were keeping our eyes out. Plenty of Police Officers frying to ensure if people come back to florida, that if we dont have a repeat, theres concern about whats going on in beaches here in the sunshine state. From our vantage point, its hard to get a sense of the distance behind you, but in your reporting and Walking Around, how much social distancing are you seeing from group to group . And where are you seeing it clumped together . Reporter a healthy amount. I would say group to group, largely people who are isolated here, are just coming to hang out with a couple of friends. Youre seeing a good amount of distance. If i were to go over here, theres a family here with their kids. Just over their shoulder is another family. The distance between these two groups im going to say is at least 12 to 15 feet. Yes, there are people together, but theyre families. But the spacing out of these groups is pretty on point so far. But the concern comes when youre seeing large groups of friends beyond ten huddling together with families and more groups of people. Thats what would draw a tag. Although i have not seen any citations. Sam brock, thank you very much. Surfs up. Potential showdown brewing at a tyson Processing Plant. The president signed an executive order keeping the plant open, raising all kinds of questions about what do you do with the food supply and balancing that against worker safety . Joining us is our reporter, dasha burns. What are you seeing . Reporter hey, ari, a lot of interesting developments here. For weeks, county officials in Black Hawk County asked tyson to close down this plant, which has about 2700 workers. That you were concerned about worker safety, concerned about spread of coronavirus. It turns out they had a right to be. 90 of cases in the county are linked to this plant. The county now has more than 1500 cases. Ari, you will be surprised to learn that people were upset when they heard that order from President Trump. But we did talk to tyson and they told us they are not planning to reopen this facility until Public Health officials here agree that its safe for workers to return. But i did talk to Black Hawk County supervisor Chris Schwartz that led the charge to get this plant to shut down. Take a listen to what he said. Yeah, absolutely. I mean hes the socalled leader of the free world, and when hes mandating that something opens, thats a lot of pressure for a company to be under. And were worried that hes just going to rush things, that all of the safety mitigation strategies theyre working on arent going to be complete because of this pressure theyre receiving from the president. And because the governor has failed to react this whole time, as well. Reporter and ari, i also spoke to the sheriff here, sheriff Tony Thompson who in close talks with tyson. He told me hes very encouraged by the dramatic changes theyve been making here. Hes optimistic about the progress, but tells me what happens here in the next week or so is going to be critical. Ari . Thank you very much. Now we turn to dr. Pa tell, who worked on h1n1 for the obama white house. What do you see as important as we quick off another week in different states and in transition . A couple things, ari. Number one, as youre seeing, states that have reopened will see a bit of a lag in terms of whether the reopening directly affects positive cases, a spike in cases. But were seeing some emerging data even from the cdc itself that demonstrates that reopening will in fact probably contribute to an increase in cases. So not only are we going to this week be looking at these states closely as the reporters have, but look at what theyre doing to trace and isolate people, because that is going to be a huge factor in whether or not, you know, virginia reopening can actually be a smart thing to do in the future. And then, ari, just another point. Were seeing that virginia right next to d. C. , where we have an increase in cases. You know, the United States is not hermetically sealed, so theres a big if factor from around the world. That if we reopen in pieces that yes, in fact, all the good were doing in some parts of the country to stay socially distanced could roll backwards. And thats a big issue for the week. Take a listen to dr. Birx, who was speaking out again this weekend. Its devastatingly worrisome to me personally, because if they go home and infect their grandmother or their grandfat r grandfather, who has a comorbid condition and they have a serious or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of their lives. So we need to protect each other at the same time were voicing our discontent. What do you think of the import of what shes getting at there, which most folks there has the president was tweeting out people should go to these liberate protests. Yeah, absolutely. I think shes doing the responsible thing. One could say she should be more emphatic about it every time she can. But she is trying to at least put some signal out there without directly contradicting the president. But ari, we have the president last night talking about a vaccine being available. So were getting mixed messages. I think dr. Birx, dr. Fauci, dr. Adams, others are trying. Buff its a little chaotic with mixed messages. Yeah, you mentioned that. Well play here is the president on fox news. Certain states are going to have to take a little more time in getting open, and theyre doing that. Some states frankly arent going fast enough. You have some states virginia, they want to close down until the middle of june. A lot of things i believe you can go to parks, beaches. You keep the spread, you stay away a certain amount and i really think the public has been incredible with thats one of the reasons were successful. If you call losing 80,000 or 90,000 people successful, but its one of the reasons were not at that high end of the plane. How much of this is doable in the sense that we are hearing and people on the ground experimenting with social distancing but the risk rate is higher if youre out of the house. What is the key metric here for those places . Is there a way to say oh, theyve overdone it and that you have to retrench . Yeah, absolutely. So a couple of metrics to keep in mind. We have already talked about the numbers of cases, but we should be looking at how what we call the kind of r transmission rates, the level of infecttivety. We want to see if one person gets infected, ari, a couple of months ago thatment three or four other people could get covid. We want that number to be below one. If you get infected, the chances of infecting someone else is just one person. And then we look at how Health Centers and hospitals are doing. If they see an uptick in covid, thats another metric. The other is the preparedness of your city, state. You need 30 contact tracers for 100,000 people and only a handful of place s meet that criteria right now. So those are the metrics well be looking at. But its critical for the public, anybody watching or listening to this, to do what you can to stay at home. And then when you are out, wear a mask, practice hand hygiene and keep the social distancing. Doctor, thank you very much. Coming up, a new report that talks about china, and its roll at the forefront of the pandemic. Leaders demanding answers about the origins of this virus. Well be right back. Unpredictable crohns symptoms following you . 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. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or flulike symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. Alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. These may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. Some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. Talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. Remission can start with stelara®. Explore cost support options. Ibut nothing makes me feel like pnew always discreet boutique. Outside, its soft like underwear. Inside, it turns liquid to gel. For incredible protection, that feels like nothing but my underwear. New always discreet boutique. Staying connected your way youre just a tap away from personalized support on xfinity. Com. Get faster internet speeds with a click. Order xfi pods to your home in a snap. Or change your Xfinity Services with just a touch. All in one place. Youre only seconds away from all of that on xfinity. Com. Faster than a call. Easy as a tap. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Today, leaders in the u. S. And around the world are searching for answers. Secretary of state pompeo saying without any specifics that theres enormous evidence that the coronavirus originated in a chinese lab. U. S. Intelligence agencies have not pub llicized any conclusionn the issue. Im joined now by keer simmons. Thanks for joining. Just walk us through this big picture, what is actually publicly known and whats the context for this apparent blame game . Yeah, weve been doing a lot of reporting on what you could describe as, you know, where did the coronavirus come from . And the simple answer is, we just dont know. There isnt right now the evidence to come to a conclusion on that. Most scientists who we have spoken to are clear, that it was not in their view deliberately created or spread. The secretary of state saying over the weekend that he does not believe that it was man made while at the same time suggesting again that it could have actually have been leaked from a lab in china. So when you look at reporter chinese leaders intentionally concealed the severity of Coronavirus Infections, according to a new fourpage Intelligence Report seen by the associated press. A. P. Says the documents claims that in january, china increased imports and limited export s of Protection Equipment and then denied it did so. Sunday, the Trump Administration repeating accusations that the coronavirus originated in a chinese laboratory. They made a horrible mistake and didnt want to admit it. I can tell you there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in wuhan. Reporter but the World Health Organization says so far theres been no invitation from china to help investigate what happened. We know that some National Investigation is happening, but at this stage, we have not been invited to join. Reporter a journalist, who visited a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of virology just last year. Telling nbc news the cite where they study infections like the coronavirus, was expanding. The building was under construction. Reporter the Human Institute of virology denying any connection between the pandemic and its labs. A view repeated by Chinese Government officials in an interview on today. Translator those claims are preposterous. Reporter a diplomatic war of words. And even cartoons. This bizarre animation tweeted by the Chinese Embassy in paris. We discovered a new virus. Its dangerous. Reporter propaganda accusing america of ignoring chinas warnings. In the middle of the politics, there appears to be a growing consensus that there should be an interNational Investigation. Lawmakers in sweden and germany, even australia saying that that investigation ought to take place. Representatives from the World Health Organization there saying they think an investigation is happening inside china, but so far it has not been invited to get involved. And then in australia, where they have made these calls for this investigation, the Chinese Ambassador there threatening a boycott of chinese wine and food. So raw emotions and tough politics playing out amid what is, in the end, a scientific question. Very important stuff. Kier simmons, thank you for the breakdown. Researchers in south korea say people cannot be infected with covid19 more than once, as the country will ease social distancing on may 6. Our reporter has more from seoul. Reporter ari, scientists here in south korea have been looking at these 260 or so patients who looked as though they had fully recovered. They were released from the hospital and tested positive again several weeks later. This is a real head scratcher for them. They were concerned possibly these patients were not developing immunity. They were getting worryingly the virus was going dorment and reactivating later. So they looked at the tests they were using, which they were very confident in. And they looked at the test results and found what was happening is that the tests couldnt differentiate between live viral cells and dead cells. So what the testing were picking up were dead viral cells still in the body residually from that infection. A very positive and encouraging [ no audio ] popping up, not just here in south korea but in china, italy and japan and other countries. Now theyre finding not a reactivation, simply remaining virus within the body that is already dead, the person is no longer infect shown. Ari . Kelly, thank you very much. Up ahead, arizona kicking off their reopening process. While the president is preparing for a trip to that state tomorrow. What will he do when hes there . We have a report coming up. When you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. So you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com the cdc has made it clear that you wear a mask to prevent you from conveying the coronavirus