Cases of coronavirus here in the United States. The death toll now climbing to 297. Across the country, local leaders sounding the alarm, warning of a dwindling number of supplies to protect those on the frontline of the pandemic. If the president doesnt act, people will die. We need millions of masks and gowns and gloves and the rest. Unfortunately, were getting still just a fraction of that. We will continue to see these numbers go up exponentially. The problem that we have right now is that we dont have enough test kits. I heard your conversation with the man from fema. We need test kits. This as the administration works to reassure state officials that help is on the way. The resources that are being marshalled are going to be clearly directed to those hot spots that need it most. Clearly, thats california, Washington State and obviously new york is the most hard hit. Not only is new york trying to get resources themselves, but were going to be pouring it in from the federal government. It will be a combination of local and federal. Bipartisan negotiations are underway on capitol hill. Leaders pelosi, mcconnell, schumer and mccarthy are meeting right now. They are hashing out details for the third coronavirus aid package that would include dr h direct payments to taxpayers. We have it all covered for you. Lets go first to josh. Where do things stand right now on the negotiations with this latest the third coronavirus stimulus package . Reporter at this hour, the top leaders of the senate and the house meeting here at the u. S. Capitol trying to hammer out an agreement as quickly as they can after several days of delay, unable to reach a final deal. We know the scope of what they are looking at has increased, particularly as democrats have pushed for additional assistance to be added. Treasury secretary mnuchin was on the sunday shows this morning. Listen to what he said about what they are trying to craft today. I hope this gets passed monday. We need the money now. I would say were looking at this from anywhere to a ten to 12week scenario. This is moving quickly. We need to get the money into the economy now. If we do that, we can stabilize the economy. Were putting money into the hospitals. I think the president has every expectation that this is going to look a lot better four or eight weeks from now. Reporter democrats not particularly optimistic as they have been speaking this morning. We heard from nancy pelosi who flew back to washington for the discussions saying, they are still apart, democrats and republicans on this, sweas well Senate Democrats putting out what they see as some major sticking points, including they are concerned corporations under this proposal would be have to keep employees on staff to the most extent possible. They think that is not strong enough. There could be companies that take this money and then go ahead and lay people off anyway. Another concern from Senate Democrats, weak restrictions on stock buybacks, where a Company Might take bailout money and instead of using it to keep their operations going, use it to buy back stock to shore up their bottom line. One other concern that we are taking a look at from Senate Democrats, the fact that theres a twoyear limit on increasing executive compensation, pay for big executives at these companies. Democrats want a longer prohibition on that. We are being told at this hour that they still hope to have a vote later this afternoon here in the Senate Setting up final vote on this tomorrow. Can you give me just a sense from your reporting, how far apart are they right now . You are talking about the verbiage, details of these things, the incombinatip inclin agree but they want a measure that ensures its all executed properly. Reporter its been difficult to figure out how much distance there really is. The comments from pelosi and from democrats this morning suggested that there is still a pretty wide gap they are trying to close between the two sides. We know both parties understand the urgency of this. Thats why they say they are still so committed to trying to have a vote today and a final vote on this tomorrow. Concentrate, you leaders. Lets get this done. Lets go to new york state, today being called the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak here in the u. S. Just moments ago, Governor Cuomo announced more than 4,000 4,000 new cases bringing the states total to 15,168. Thats 15 times more than any other state. There are 9,045 cases in new york city alone. We marked 374 deaths statewide. Bill de blasio telling chuck todd, things are only going to get worse. New yorkers and all americans deserve the blunt truth. Its getting worse. In fact, april and may are going to be worse. Right now, we are a third of the cases in the country. Thats going to get worse. Were about twothirds or more of the cases in new york state. Thats going to get worse. The entire state is getting ready for the mandatory closure of all nonessential businesses. It happens tonight at 8 00 p. M. Its under cuomos new york on pause plan. Joining us now from the Upper West Side, colleague lindsey riser. What are you hearing from new yorkers out there on the street . Theres not many of them. There are not supposed to be. With those you speak, are they preparing for this . Are people going to play by the rules . Reporter you know what, they are. They have been hunkering down. We are on the corner of 96th and columbus here. Take a look past me here. Take a look going this way. You see some stragglers. Normally on a sunday around this time, this area would be packed. We are near a trader joes and whole foods. People are hunkering down. Also theres a liquor store over here that i spoke with. Liquor stores have been deemed essential in this closure. The owner tells me that normally on a sunday, these sidewalks would be full of people. Lets talk about what tonight means, the pause you mentioned thats effective 8 00 p. M. All nonessential businesses are closing. We will get to what businesses are considered essential. What else does this mean . Theres a temporary ban on nonessential gatherings of any size. When people are out in public, they need to be social distancing, trying for six feet apart. If people are wreck aoutside, n contact activity. People are supposed to limit the use of public transportation. Lets go back to what is considered the essential businesses versus nonessential. What is staying open, of course, hospitals, health care facilities, nursing homes, power utilities, also grocery, of course, we know that. Pharmacies, as i mentioned Liquor Stores, farmers market, restaurant takeout, hardware stores, mail service, laundromat. You get the idea. I talked to people about whether they are prepared for tonight at 8 00. They tell me that they have they have already been doing this. In fact, a lot of them have been home for about a week or two. They are kind of hunkered down. Tonight is a little bit more of usual. When there are places in other states, people in other states and not really quite dealing with this yet, but new yorkers are ready for what andrew cuomo is calling pause. A lot of people are watching and seeing you and hearing this report and thinking, i wonder if this is heading my way. For many its a sure bed it is. Thank you very much. The Dallas Morning News has reporting that many texans are waiting to get tested for coronavirus. Sam, what are you hearing from the Health Care Workers about this . Reporter im hearing that there is no textbook on how to handle the coronavirus outbreak here. We dont know how long this will go on for. Right now at the texas medical center, the largest in the world. I have a doctor with me. He is the regional director for houston methodist seven emergency rooms. What is the strategy like right now . I think our strategy is multipronged. We have been working around the clock for the past two weeks to make sure we can take care of patients and community. We are looking at this from different angles, whether supply, masks, ppe, how were going to take care of our most critical patients, also were going to take care of the majority of our patients who will get this virus and be safely released home. This has been a time for us to increase our bandwidth on multiple levels. Reporter how are your physicians responding, when we learn about new guidance as it pertains to repurposing equipment. How is that going over . This is something that we have never seen in the health care arena. As we talk about repurposing masks, this is something which if we had done two or three months ago, it would have been grounds for dismissal from a hospital. Now under these particular desperate times, were doing what we can to make sure we can cleanly and safely and in a sanitary way take care of our patients. Our physicians while they have panic and fear sometimes, they have been fantastic. They are here for our community and they are here to take care of patients. Reporter you did mention physicians were so unnerved by the guidelines they actually have stepped out for the time being. You asked others to step up in their place. That is correct. We have had a few physicians who have resigned or asked not to work during this crisis. What we have seen is an outpouring of support. Physicians engaged, emergency medicine physicians prepared for the frontline. Ready to provide top care for our community. Reporter its incredible to hear those words and absorb this. Everyone doing whatever they can. We dont know what the time line is going to be. You are flying by the seat of your pants in the sense that its changing every single day. Absolutely. Extremely uncharted territory. We dont know whats going to happen next. We are preparing for the worst. We have never seen our hospitals close like this. We have never seen elective cases get canceled. This is something which is completely unprecedented. We dont have a textbook for coronavirus. Reporter thank you for your time. As texas gets more confirmed cases, 300 plus yesterday, thats a number that is going to spiking in the days to come. Sam, tell the doctor noofrpgz bei thank you for being a hero. Joining me now a former White House Health policy director during the obama administration, and the assistant professor of medicine at boston university. Both are medical contributors. Lets listen to dr. Tom frieden. Here it is. I would feel a lot safer if it were clear the cdc is both at the table where the decisions are being made and at the podium where they are being explained in order to do more and protect people more. We need their full involvement. Fighting this without cdc central to the response has never been done with an Infectious Disease whether. Its Like Fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Thats not a great description. What do you make of that . Its disturbing. The cdc just thinking back to my experience with swine flu and what the white house did in coordination for something that has nowhere near the cases we have for coronavirus, the cdc was not only front and center but so were all the other potential arms of the federal government. The defense department. Not only is it troubling to hear this, but thats why you are seeing doctors putting up web pages and asking for help when we should be getting that help lets be clear. Its not the career and Public Service folks that are at the cdc. This is coming from the top and a lack of leadership out of the white house. Very disturbing. Lets get to an article on nbc. Com which describes the first phase of the illness as being a slow burn saying very often people start off with minor physical complaints like cough, headache, low grade fever that gradually worsen. One doctor said patients have symptoms for a week before either Getting Better or getting really sick. Wheth when do you know if you need to get tested . Is it possible that right now people are Walking Around with coronavirus and they are completely unaware . Is it more likely that if you feel a little something, whether you acknowledge it, you may be on to it . The difficult part about this is, yes, of course, any of those symptoms could be coronavirus. It could be influenza, something else. The important part is why the social distancing becomes critical. If you are an early part of the disease, you can transmit. People before they potentially develop symptoms could transmit to other people. Thats why the extreme measures that you are seeing on the Public Health leveavvel become important, keeping the six feet distance becomes importance to ensure that you are not passing to other people. The critical signs in terms of medical care, the good rule of thumb is, seek medical care for coronavirus the same way for severe influenza. When you see symptoms that are you know you cant take care of at home. Shortness of breath, chest pain, confusion, feefvers that dont break. When you see that its something more severe than the regular cold or flu. May i ask quickly, i have a friend selfisolated at home with her family. Sure they have been suffering from coronavirus. They believe they are on the upward swing. Im sure like many home right now and treating with overthecounter medications. How long does this last for the average case of those that can selftreat at home . The difficult part about the covid19 or coronavirus is its an emerging Infectious Disease. The first 10,000 patients are guiding to the next 100 to 200 to 300. From what we understand with this disease, for most people its a mild disease. Its a week or two. More severe cases, it could be a hospitalization thats three, four, five weeks. We saw that from experiences in china as well as italy. Now our own experiences in hospitals here in the United States. Yesterday we had dr. Fauci who said not every person needs to get tested. Who does and how is it determined . The highest priority are people who actually fit a symptomatic pattern who have the need to potentially require more intervention. Let me just break that down. People who probably would need to come into the hospital as well as Health Care Workers themselves who have some sort of symptoms, because as we are watching this emerging data, we know that Health Care Workers from Home Health Aides are actually a source of transmission to other patients. Unfortunately, i will tell you dr. Frieden or any other epidemiologist would agree, we need to get to community testing. Thats the only way were going to be able to have light at the end of the tunnel to tell americans when we are going to start seeing improvement. Absolute high priority, people who are symptomatic, who are going to require further treatment or intervention of some kind, including Health Care Workers. Bring on those test kits. We need them. Ladies, thank you so much. Also for what you are doing on the frontline. Disregarding the call for social distancing, the mayor of washington, d. C. Joins me now to talk about these pictures. That was yesterday. howling wind howling wind you can enjoy the seafood you love from the comfort of home. If it ever makes it there. Spend 30 and get free delivery at red lobster dot com. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Talk to your doctor about chantix. We aint stoppin believe me go straight till the morning look like we wont wait, were taking everything we wanted we can do it all strength, no sweat howling wind howling wind we need more test kits. Its hard to really make an educated decision and to know what you are really confronting without data. We need millions of masks and hundreds of thousands of gowns and gloves and the rest. Unfortunately, were getting still just a fraction of that. The Economic Impact is overwhelming for workers, for Small Businesses. We need the federal government, we need congress and the president to send direct cash assistance. Leaders of states are sounding the alarm as needs grow as fast as the coronavirus seems to be spreading. Joining me now, washington, d. C. Mayor. Thank you for being here. Test kits, financial assistance, masks, is that what you need as well in washington, d. C. . Absolutely. We need the federal government to step up in many ways and recognize that this is not a onestate issue but this is a 50state and every jurisdiction issue, including washington, d. C. , which in every way is one of the states of the union. Absolutely. The pictures that we saw coming into this, both beautiful and alarling. The d. C. Cherry blossoms are drawing sizable crowds, as they do this time every year, despite the festivals cancellation among restrictions in place. Maryland Governor Hogan expressing his concern, talking with nbc a little earlier. Take a listen to this. The social distancing is not taking place. Its crazy to see people at Cherry Blossoms. You are endangering yourselves and your fellow citizens by not listening to the warnings. What are your thoughts when you listen to the governor, see the crowds at the trees . Are you concerned . What we want everybody to know is were very proud of our d. C. Cherry blossoms. We have had them over 100 years. We will have them next year. People need to heed warnings and stay home. This morning, i put my Police Department out on all the streets surrounding the tidal basin to restrict vehicular traffic. We will work with the National Park service who has the responsibility of actually closing the