31,000 people have now died. But as we warn every single day, both of those numbers are likely a lot higher because only 1 of the population has been tested. Globally reported cases of the virus have now topped two million. New york Governor Cuomo is ordering all new yorkers to wear a mask or other Face Covering when in public. Social distancing is not possible. Today he said failure to comply could result in a civil penalty. And this morning, dr. Fauci warned that americans will need to be humble in their understanding of the virus. And while he believes that antibodies will p antibodies will prevent people from getting sick again, he still could not say that he knows that for sure. We dont have all the answers. The thing we dont know is that in general with virus thats we deal with all the time, when you develop an antibody after infection, it almost invariably means youre protected. We dont absolutely know that for sure yet. I think it is going to be the case. I can say i think it will be. The other thing that we dont know is the durability of protection. So are you protected for a month . Two . Three . Half a year or year . We need to get experience to know that. Thats where we stand and across our country on this wednesday. Communities are still grappling with the worst of this virus. L. A. County saw its worst day yet with 40 lives lost. Even as the state of california discusses how and when to lift restrictions. Thats a day far in the future. Washington, d. C. , is adding further restrictions. Requiring anybody staying or working in a hotel, riding in a taxi, buying or selling food to wear a mask. City also extended the Public Health emergency through the middle of next month. The centers for Disease Control nonetheless part of a team working on a plan to reopen the economy in stages. According to a draft document linked to the washington post, cdc looking to ramp up testing capabilities as part of an effort to reopen some low Impact Communities sometime after may 1st. We have a team of reporters in place across the country this afternoon. We want to begin in san pedro, wall wall, with our nbc news correspondent. He is in front of the u. S. Ns mercy which has now seven reported cases of covid19 onboard. Right now the safy says that cases have been contained and everything has been resanitized. But its still really a mystery as to what happened here because, one, the mercy wasnt supposed to be taking on covid19 patients and to their knowledge they havent. And, two, the navy says that all the crew members were screened before they boreded to maboarde journey up here. There has been a small outbreak of at least seven crew members coming down with covid19. And more than 100 other crew members potentially exposed by proxy. So now the seven who were potentially exposed now the seven in addition to those hundred that were exposed have been moved on shore to a nearby base. But if there is any good news to any of this to be found here, its that this floating hospital really hasnt been needed as much as los angeles feared because weve had fewer than expected hospitalizations so far. W. The state really working on shoring up californias Health Care Sector in case there is a surge like the surge were seeing in new york right now. Katy . Brian . If that doesnt show you how hard it is to stop the spread of the virus, im not sure what does. Thank you very much. Lets turn now to sioux falls, sout south dakota. Shes at smithfield Meat Processing plant after 500 employees tested positive for covid19. Blaine, the plant there is responsible for i believe 5 of the pork across this country. What is that going to do to the supply chain, the Food Supply Chain . Experts do believe that we could start to see an impact at the grocery store. You know, just within the past few minutes i spoke with the acting chair for the food inspectors union and she told me there is good news. Were not expecting to see a food shortage but she said within the next week or two or within the next month that we could start to see Grocery Stores limit the amount of meat, the amount of pork or beef or poultry that were able to buy when we go to the grocery store. She likeneded it to what we saw with toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic that stores are going to start to put limits on one or two packages per person. So its not just because of what were seeing here at smithfield foods. You know, 518 employees just from this one plant alone had tested positive for covid19. They now shut the doors indefinitely. But its because were seeing similar things at other plants across the country. Having to either close indefinitely or close their doors temporarily because covid19 is spreading among their employees. Blaine alexander, thank you for that report from south dakota. Yeah. Im sorry. Go ahead, katy. No, brian, were still working this out. Dont worry. Were going to figure it out soon. I have one quick question if you dont mind, blaine. That is the social distancing policies and the stay at home orders up there in the state that youre in right now. Is the governor reconsidering not putting a stay at home order in place after finding whats going on at this Meat Processing plant . So fantastic question. We were expecting to hear from the governor later on this afternoon. Shes giving a news conference. They are strongly pushing back on that. We spoke with a state represent theyve saw us reporting on msnbc, came over to speak to us to really press upon us what she says is the urgency of putting in place some sort of stay at home order. She says without that order in place, people just dont get it. So thats why youre seeing local officials, the mayor take some sort of action urging the governor to put the actions into place, guys . Blaine alexander, thank you for that. And with that, and on that point, lets bring in the director of colombia universitys National Center for Disaster Preparedness dr. Irwin. Lets take the case of south dakota, if you watch the White House Briefing yesterday and it was not for the faint of heart, you heard this increasing drum beat of reopening pieces, beautiful pieces of the puzzle as the president put it. South dakota is, i think, undoubtedly one of the states hes thinking of. Of our president has his own image of the states especially to the west of the mississippi. But i think anything west of about cleveland as being wide open spaces. Governor nome is a big time trumper. She resisted a lot of the standards of the more heavily populated states. So what happens if statewide south dakota, wyoming, montana, idaho, so on and so on they get the advisory, go on, head out with precautions but go back to work . Well have pools of the virus that has not been controlled and they will be sources of reinfecting the rest of the country. So i think we do this peace meal at our own peril. And we need to go along with the program which is keep safe, keep everybody separated until were really ready to go back. Doctor, what is the balance that needs to be struck . The president is looking at it. He has various counsels. What is the balance that needs to be struck between Public Health and finding a way to make sure our economy doesnt completely fall apart . Well, the president and others have really created this into a sort of a pitch battle between the people that are worried about the economy and people that are really focused on the virus itself. Lets have a vigorous, robust ability to support businesses but also to support families who need the income. Its going to be some multiple of the 2 trillion already on the table. We have to do that. Otherwise, its going to cost a lot of lives. There is no question about that. Were simply not ready from the Public Health point of view. The president seems to be saying that, yeah, okay, i get that. But were going to put the economy back in place anyway. And we do that at really great danger to the public. I wish we werent doing that, katy. And, doctor, there is such a lag, it seems, between the densely Populated Areas of this country and those that are not generally. Just today Governor Cuomo of new york said if youre outside in most all cases, you need a Face Covering. I think the governor is right and we need to keep the foot on the accelerator. There is about 65 Million People who live in Health Professional shortage areas way before covid19 appeared. They have really limited access to medical care. This is all throughout the country. And they are incredibly vulnerable to significant outbreaks of this virus. And i really think that we need to put pressure on them. This is a matter of life and death. These governors of the rural states, other states seem to be just towing the line that the president is putting forward. Na theyre taking a huge risk to their population of their states. Doctor, i know the best Case Scenario is that we get testing ramped up very quickly. Thats an unlikely scenario considering that were still only at 1 . But consider the best Case Scenario for a moment. When were all allowed, or at least some of us are allowed back out our homes to go to work, what is the new normal going to look like . The new normal is going to be very, very different. Were learning a lot of things. Maybe some positives that have come out of our ability to be resilient and to adapt. But there are three incontrovertible facts we need to understand. Number one, we need at least a million and a half rapid tests to be done per week every week for the foreseeable future. Secondly, its inevitable well get a second wave of the covid19 situation in the fall or in the winter. And, thirdly, this is not going to be resolved really until we get a functional vaccine. So everything that we do now to let people sort of back out and to gradually get back to normal, its not going to actually be any kind of normal that we are familiar with. But its going to be a dangerous situation. We have to recognize those three facts as we make our plans going forward, katy. So a year to 18 months for a vaccine at the very earliest. Doctor redlehner, thank you for that dose of reality even if it is hard to swallow. Today joe biden picked up a coveted endorsement from a former rival, Elizabeth Warren. In a four minute long endorsement video, the massachusetts senator lays out why she says she is supporting her former adversary. We cant afford to let donald trump continue to endanger the lives and livelihoods of every american. And thats why im proud to endorse joe biden as president of the United States. Joe biden is a selfless public servant. He is committed to the fight for social, racial, and economic justice. Joe biden will lead a government that works for the american people. For biden, warren makes three. On monday he got the endorsement of another former rival, senator Bernie Sanders and yesterday he got the formal backing of the president he served alongside for eight years, barack obama. Joining us now is nbc news correspondent mike memaly who knows all things team biden. So when i was listening to president obama yesterday, i noticed he used the phrase big structural change. That is a warren line. Is there any use to reading the tea leaves on that and what it may mean for biden veep stakes . Yeah, absolutely. I noted that as well. Obama, some who chooses words very carefully, i dont think that was an accident. We have also seen president obama in recent weeks singling out Elizabeth Warren for the plans praising her, for instance, on the coronavirus response. Some of the ideas shes put forward. Its also worth noting some of the language both in senator warrens video today endorsing the former Vice President and in his statement accepting her endorsement as we read these vp tea leaves. While they disagreed on key issues during the course of the primary campaign, of course, that hes not afraid to be persuaded. Hes not stubborn in that regard. Weve seen that. My reporting along is they had conversations since she ended her campaign as he moved in a more progressive direction on some policy areas including free college, Free Public College tuition. Also endorsing flatly her plan for bankruptcy reform. And biden in his statement talking about the need that hes going have if hes elected president to welcome warren in as a governing partner. He called her authentic and issue oriented and as did the president he referred to some of the language she used in her campaign talking about how important it was the example she set for women and the need to dream big and fight hard. And as i was reporting on where the Vice President s own vicepresident ial Selection Process is, a number of the democrats outside the campaign i spoke with all said some version of the same thing which is as we face this serious challenge thats joe bide woen face if hes leelects president , somebo like Elizabeth Warren makes more sense even if they did not agree as much as amy klobuchar, someone else that is on that short list. He is going to need a partner in the white house who he can give big policy areas, big challenges to work with. So biden has been consistent in that he wants this whole process to run the course though and aides say he really doesnt have a short list necessarily that hes tipped his hand to just yet. Mike memoli, thank you for that brief respite into what would normally be normal political discussion. We appreciate it. Brian . Absolutely. Would have been our lead story, as we say on a normal day. Still to come at this houshgs a new covid19 test rolled out today in the hard hit state of new jersey. It is different than those weve seen before. Why this one could be key to ramping up testing dramatically. Plus, the last thing you want to worry about if youre sick with this virus is how much your treatment will cost. Yet, it is the number one concern for so many americans. Well talk to a former Health Care Executive on what to watch out for. First, the World Health Organization helping lead the global fight against the pandemic, not as the president sees it though. 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Who is reviewing the impact of our work of any withdrawal of u. S. Funding and we work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face and to ensure our work continues uninterrupted. As part of our daily understatement watch, today the head of the World Health Organization said he regretted President Trumps decision to with hoi withhold contributions to the organization. The president announced yesterday he was halting funding pending a review of the groups response to the pandemic he claimed the w. H. O. Didnt adequately communicate the coronavirus threat after thanking them at the time. The u. S. Contributes more to the w. H. O. Than any other country. About 400 million a year. With us to talk about this is our chief Foreign Correspondent richard engel. Richard, for all those watching to whom this is not obvious, lets be truthful. The president is looking to distract and assign blame here. Well, i just spoke with a former w. H. O. Official and that is exactly what he told me. He said that the president is trying to find a scapegoat. That he is blaming the w. H. O. Because now the virus has arrived in the United States and there are many, many critics domestically who say that President Trump acted too quickly and acting quickly again to end the lockdown or to push for the lockdowns to end. And hes looking for someone else to blame. Its china. Its the w. H. O. It was initially the democrats who were hyping it and there were commentators that said it was a big hoax. W. H. O. Official former w. H. O. Official i spoke to a short while ago said this is nothing more than scapegoating for dome