JUDY WOODRUFF: A new week has dawned in the era of COVID-19, and the pandemic keeps burning
through the U.S. population.
Infections across the nation are near 160,000 and still rising, with some 3,000 deaths.
The spread has now put Washington, D.C., and its neighboring states into lockdown, and
New York state is urgently appealing for outside help.
We begin with this report from Amna Nawaz.
AMNA NAWAZ: At the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, New York undertakes new steps to
care for the continuing tide of patients, as state health officials anticipate a peak
in two to three weeks.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo:
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): You have to prepare before the storm hits. And, in this case,
the storm is when you hit that high point, when you hit the apex. How do you know when
you're going to get there? You don't. There is no crystal ball.
But there is science and there is data and there are health professionals who have studied
this virus and its progress since China.
AMNA NAWAZ: The death toll here has now exceeded 1,200, and known confirmed COVID-19 cases
surpassed 66,000,. As New York's health care system overflows, help arrived today on the
Hudson River. The U.S. Navy ship Comfort docked in Manhattan, bringing with it 1,000 hospital
beds for non-COVID-19 patients.
Part of New York City's Central Park, normally bustling in the springtime, is now crowded
with white tents, a makeshift field hospital to handle an influx of patients, and, at the
Javits Center, lines of empty hospital beds. A convention center is now a clinic in waiting.
New York is not alone in seeing a rapid increase in cases. Across the country, surges in cities
like New Orleans, Detroit and San Francisco are straining health care systems from coast
to coast.
Officials in Michigan saw an increase of 1,800 cases in just two days.
DR. JONEIGH KHALDUN, Michigan Chief Medical Executive: We are still in the early stages
of spread in Michigan, and cases have not yet peaked.
AMNA NAWAZ: Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland became the latest to issue stay-at-home
orders.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan:
GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): No Maryland resident should be leaving their home unless it is
for an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking
urgent medical attention, or for other necessary purposes.
AMNA NAWAZ: Even President Trump, once eager to reopen the country by Easter, is now extending
federal social distancing advisories for at least another month.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We picked the end of April, the last day,
April 30, as the day where we can see some real progress, and we expect to see that.
And then, by a little short of June, maybe June 1, we think the -- it's a terrible thing
to say, but we think that death will be at a very low number. It'll be brought down to
a very low number.
AMNA NAWAZ: That number, White House experts say, could still be up to 200,000 dead.
Meanwhile, overseas more measures to stop the spread, empty streets in Moscow, as Russia
locks down, prohibiting any nonessential outside movement.
In India, the sweeping 1.3 billion-person lockdown continues. And in Spain, where known
case now top 85,000, a sign that social distancing is starting to work.
MARIA JOSE SIERRA, Spanish Deputy Health Emergency Chief (through translator): From the day that
the general social distancing measures began throughout Spain, from 15th to the 25th of
March, the increase in average cases was about 20 percent, and since that day, it is about
12 percent.
AMNA NAWAZ: The World Health Organization warned that, worldwide, the most vulnerable
communities will be the hardest-hit.
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, Director General, World Health Organization: If we are closing
or if we're limiting movement, what is it going to happen to those people who have to
work on daily basis and have to earn their bread on a daily basis?
AMNA NAWAZ: Back in the U.S., the U.S. the economic hits keep coming. Today, department
store powerhouse Macy's announced it will furlough most of its roughly 130,000 employees,
leaving tens of thousands of more Americans facing an uncertain and uneasy future.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Wall Street, for its part, rallied again today, led by health care companies
working on potential coronavirus tests and vaccines.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 690 points to close at 22327. The Nasdaq rose
271 points, and the S&P 500 added 85.