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NEW DAY SATURDAY

Hospitals Straining As U.S. Tops Coronavirus Cases Globally; Rhode Island Among Four States Reporting No COVID-19 Deaths; Joe Biden Recommends National Lockdown As COVID-19 Crisis Grows; First Responders Under Strain Due To Lack Of Protective Gear; Italy Reports Highest Daily Jump In Virus Deaths; One-Hundred-And-Two-Year-Old Italian Woman Recovers After 20-Plus Days In Hospital; President Trump Signs Historic $2 Trillion Stimulus Package. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired March 28, 2020 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those in favor say aye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news, the House just passed the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill. This is the largest aid package in history.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This will deliver urgently needed relief to our nation's families, workers and businesses and that's what this is all about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I became a nurse, I never thought that I'd have to choose between my job and my family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 100,000 confirmed in the U.S., new hot spots expose a growing need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've now got doctors and nurses on the front lines who are using one mask for their entire shift.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have the support that I need and even just the materials that I need physically to take care of my patients.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Want to wish you a good morning and thank you so much for being with us. There is new hope to tell you about in the fight against coronavirus this morning. The FDA is green-lighting a 15-minute test for the virus. Now, the test-maker expects to deliver 50,000 of those per day beginning next week.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And the number of coronavirus confirmed cases in the U.S. has risen significantly. The U.S. has become now the focal point of the global pandemic with more than 101,000 reported cases. On Friday alone, the virus killed more than 400 Americans. That's one day. Brings the number of people who have been killed in this country to nearly 1,600.

PAUL: Yesterday, President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act. He's requiring General Motors to produce more ventilators. Now, a source at the company told CNN the act didn't change their plans, insisting that GM was already offering to produce ventilators at cost.

BLACKWELL: Now, across the country, supply shortages, it's really one of the biggest hurdles while emerging hot spots, we're talking Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, they're seeing these rapid increases of cases. Officials there say they just don't have enough of those resources.

PAUL: Hospitals in New York, meanwhile, are saying they are overwhelmed. More than 44,000 cases have been reported there, the state's governor warning they may be weeks away from hitting its peak. Want to begin there with CNN's Athena Jones who is outside New York's Elmhurst Hospital where this week 13 patients died within a 24-hour period. Athena, we're so glad to have you here. Tell us what you're hearing this morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. Well, as you mentioned, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that this state, the state that accounts for almost half of the cases in the whole United States, may not reach its peak in coronavirus cases for another 21 days. That's three more weeks and each of these weeks -- these are really long weeks at a hospital like the one we're outside here at Elmhurst Queens.

This has been called the epicenter of the epicenter. It got a lot of attention earlier this week when an ER doctor shared footage of what is going on inside this hospital. We know that they have been struggling. We also know that the city has been trying to help out. They've been sending supplies, thousands of face masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment. They've been -- they say surging healthcare workers here, whether it's ambulance staff or clinicians, nurses, doctors and the like have been coming to help this particular hospital.

I can also tell you, though, that they are -- they're very overcrowded inside. We got an account from a physician inside this hospital who describes stretchers that are packed in metal to metal, stacked three deep, head-to-toe with no space for doctors to move around. This doctor said that when patients begin to deteriorate, you hope, as a physician, that from across the room you can make it all the way through this traffic jam of stretchers to make it to your patient.

So that's just a little bit of a look inside this hospital and, you know, the agency that runs the city's public hospitals says that many hospitals will be like this. This is just kind of a hospital that's ahead of the curve, Christi.

BLACKWELL: Athena, let me ask you about this approval, this authorization from the FDA of this 15-minute test for COVID-19. What do you know about it? JONES: Well, I can say that this is something that, you know, Vice President Pence teased earlier in the week saying that this was coming and so now it's here. The FDA has given its approval. They authorized the test for what is called emergency use. That means that they believe -- the regulators believe that it's, you know -- they validated it. It's something that works.

One caveat here is even though this is a 15-minute test that can very much help speed up the process of learning who has COVID-19, experts point out that there is still the issue of PPE and the like in order to be able to do the test.

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The people who are conducting the test have to be properly protected. Back to you guys.

PAUL: All right. Athena Jones, good point to make. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. So New York of course grappling with an increasing number of cases and death. Its neighbor Rhode Island has reported no coronavirus related deaths. A total of four states across the country say they have no COVID-19 deaths. That includes Hawaii, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Now, in order to help prevent the spread of the virus in Rhode Island, officials there have begun monitoring highways, pulling over drivers with New York state license plates. Officials say they're asking people if they've been to New York and requesting their contact information and starting today, state officers and the National Guard are going to be going door-to-door looking for people who've been to New York recently.

BLACKWELL: In a few hours. President Trump will head to Virginia to see off a Navy hospital ship bound for New York. He continues to defend his use of the Defense Production Act to force GM to make ventilators. Let's talk now with CNN's Kristen Holmes.

She's live in Washington with more for us. Kristen, good morning to you. Questions yesterday at this news conference about why, considering all the people that will have to travel, the president is going to see this ship off and the continued confusion over the Production Act.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Victor. The confusion over the Production Act has really occupied a lot of our time, but just to kind of break this down, remember, the utilization of the Defense Production Act comes after a week of intense criticism by the nation's governors essentially begging for medical supplies, saying that they were only getting a fraction of what they needed to fight coronavirus.

We know New York Governor Andrew Cuomo among others was pleading with the administration to utilize the Defense Production Act not so much for manufacturing, but instead for distribution. They were trying to create a system or hoping to create a system in which the states didn't have to compete with one another, with the federal government, with international forces and hospitals to get the supplies they needed.

Now, so far, the White House had really been resistant. Despite the fact President Trump had utilized, had invoked the act two weeks ago, he had not authorized it, he had not done anything to move it forward. Now, yesterday, we heard an announcement from General Motors and a ventilator company called Ventec Life and they said they were going to work together to make these ventilators in a factory in Indiana that belongs to General Motors.

Now, hours later, President Trump said that he was going to force General Motors to make these ventilators and make them quickly. The company says that nothing has changed. Even with the Defense Production Act, it's not going to be any faster or provide any more units, that they were already doing this, but you have to remember something.

President Trump has gone back and forth on all of this. He's gone back and forth over whether coronavirus is as serious as others say it is. Now, of course, he is in the camp with these medical professionals saying it is serious. He's also gone back and forth over the need for ventilators. Take a listen to what he said just yesterday.

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TRUMP: I think their estimates are high. I hope they're high. They could be extremely high. We're doing even hospitals based on pretty high estimates, you know, I'm doing them anyway. If we do not need them, that will be wonderful and we can help a lot of great people all over the world, we can help them live, but I think -- I think his estimates are going to be very high. We're going to see.

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HOLMES: While President Trump may say that that's a high number, medical professionals say they need as many ventilators as possible. We know in New York and some of these hospitals are actually putting two people on one ventilator, but despite the pushback from the nation's leaders, from these state leaders, Americans in general are feeling pretty positive about President Trump's response to the coronavirus.

I want to pull up a poll here. This is very high approval ratings for President Trump. It says how is he handling coronavirus? Approval rating at 52 percent, disapproval rating at 45 percent. Now, he's also seeing overall the highest approval ratings of his presidency. Forty percent approve of the job he's doing as president, 48 percent disapprove. Again, these are the highest numbers we've seen of his presidency yet.

PAUL: We know that he's heading to Norfolk today to greet this ship and we know that he was asked about the necessity for him doing so last night. Talk to us about what his answer was and are we expecting a briefing from him today?

HOLMES: Well, look, that's a great question. We've seen a briefing from him every day for about two weeks now. There's nothing on his schedule, but it wouldn't be surprising if, one, he held a briefing or, two, he talked to reporters on his trip to Norfolk. He's saying he wants to go say goodbye to this ship.

He said he's going to go blow it a kiss on its way to New York. Now, remember this is a huge medical ship. It's going to be filled with a lot of supplies and doctors and it's not going to treat patients with coronavirus. It's actually going to help those hospitals that are overwhelmed with patients who have COVID-19.

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This is going to be for the people who don't actually have the virus right now to get treatment that they need.

BLACKWELL: Kristen Holmes for us in Washington. Kristen, thank you very much. During last night's CNN town hall, former Vice President Joe Biden outlined how he would respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Now, he recommended a national lockdown for a period of several weeks and he suggested that the social distancing guidelines should be in place into June.

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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Based on the data I'm getting from medical experts, they indicate to me that it's more likely to be sometime after the 31st of May into June before we be in that position, but nobody knows for certain. What we do know is that it's a false choice to make saying that you either open the economy or everything goes to hell or in fact you take care of the medical side. You cannot make this economy grow until you deal with the virus.

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BLACKWELL: Now, during the roundtable with first responders, the former vice president also congratulated the president for invoking the Defense Production Act.

PAUL: I know that you wake up in the morning and there's a lot to absorb right now. All of us are experiencing some form of social change or anxiety obviously. We want to make sure that you know there are really good things happening from some really good people out there as well. For instance, in New Jersey, former healthcare worker Michelle Gomez and her -- Gomez and her mother-in-law saw the need for masks in medical facilities so they decided to start sewing them by hand.

Look at this. They've delivered about 500 cloth masks to nursing homes, hospitals, personal residences, nurses and a lot of other people who need that protection and this weekend, they're at it again. They're making more. Michelle,

I want to thank you and your mother-in-law and everyone who's stepping up right now. They're not the only ones doing this, but we wanted to give them a shout-out because we know that the medical community needs it and we need to take care of those people who are on the front lines as well. BLACKWELL: And any opportunity we can take to say thank you, we are going to do just that.

PAUL: Amen.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the doctors and nurses who are caring for the people flooding into hospitals with COVID-19. They're not getting the protective equipment they need. We're going to talk with two nurses working in New York at hospitals there about what they face each day.

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BLACKWELL: And our first responders who are on the front lines of this pandemic, they're facing real concerns of contracting the virus. The doctors and nurses inside hospitals, they're still not getting the protective gear they need.

The simple equipment, the masks are running low, you know, that many nurses now and other healthcare workers are reusing them to stretch them for five days. This is a picture of a nurse with a mask that's stapled together after the strap broke and two nurses working from inside New York hospitals, they say they have never seen anything like this.

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LAVITA PAYTON, REGISTERED NURSE, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: We are at the front lines. We didn't enlist into an army. So we are being asked to go out and protect the people, which we love doing, but they're asking us to do it ill-prepared.

SARAH BUCKLEY, REGISTERED NURSE, KALEIDA HEALTH HOSPITAL: Now we have to -- feel like we have to choose from being able to risk possibly our own lives and the lives of our families to be able to take care of our patients and it's not a position any of us should be put in.

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BLACKWELL: And one of those nurses is joining us now. We have with us Sarah Buckley, a registered nurse at Kaleida Health Hospital. Sarah, first, thank you for what you do and thank you for being with us this morning.

BUCKLEY: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: So you said in that video that you recorded that you risk your own and your family's lives taking care of patients. Is this exclusively the protective gear? And give us an idea of just how scarce resources are.

BUCKLEY: Well, I'm in a -- I'm outside of Buffalo and we are not even at the surge point that some of my colleagues in New York City are, but already we are forced to reuse substandard masks through many patients, we are wiping down goggles, things we would never have dreamed of doing just weeks ago.

BLACKWELL: And you say this impacts your family. Tell us how.

BUCKLEY: I don't know if you can imagine but, you know, you come home from work and you see your child who has asthma and, you know, they brighten up because they want to -- they want to see you and they want to hug you because you're home from work and you like hesitate because you're like what am I bringing home to you because I wasn't provided the proper equipment?

You know, healthcare workers really want to take care of their patients. There's nothing more -- I mean, I have co-workers, you know, who've been trying for years to get pregnant, they're pregnant. Another co-worker who has been hospitalized twice this year for lung issues, but, you know, they want to run into this virus that everyone else is trying to avoid through these drastic measures --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BUCKLEY: -- we just need the protective gear, which we could get through the DPA if it were fully used.

BLACKWELL: We've got Lavita Payton who is a registered nurse at a hospital there in lower Manhattan joining us as well. You saw her video. Thank you for what you do and thank you for being with us. My first question to you, you said in your video that in 25 years of being a nurse, you have not seen anything to this magnitude. I want to hear a few of the specifics at the hospital where you are.

LAVITA PAYTON, REGISTERED NURSE, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Well, I want to say that, for example, what we used to see was a lot of patients who had like strokes and heart attacks.

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Right now, our emergency room is about 95 percent with COVID patients. So it's like you're walking into a war zone, you're seeing people on ventilators alone and it's really saddening and I even saw a husband and wife couple, you know, that both ended up on ventilators because they both had the disease and this is a very serious matter.

And in the midst of all this, healthcare workers should not have to worry about their PPE, our personal protective equipment. We should not have to worry about rationing masks, gowns or gloves. We should have plenty of that so we could do our job to our best ability. And so President Trump really needs to enact the Defense Production Act to its fullest extent. We should have tons of masks stockpiled somewhere that we can utilize because this is just the beginning and we have to think about the whole country --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAYTON: -- not just New York. BLACKWELL: Lavita, let me ask you, because the president has invoked the DPE for ventilators and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that the state will need 30,000 to 40,000, still thousands short and Henry Ford Health Systems in Michigan, they're circulating a memo and I want to read it for folks at home and then ask you about what's happening in New York.

PAYTON: OK.

BLACKWELL: They call it their worst case scenario, but it lays out a protocol of who would receive ICU treatment and eligibility for a ventilator. The memo reads, and this is part of it, "Some patients will be extremely sick and very unlikely to survive even with critical treatment.

Treating these patients would take away resources for patients who might survive." It goes on to say that, "Patients who are not eligible for ICU or ventilator care will receive treatment for pain control and comfort measures." Lavita, is there a protocol at your hospital that you know of of who will receive or who is eligible for a ventilator or ICU treatment?

PAYTON: Well, right now, I have not seen protocol, but as a prior -- you know, I have emergency medicine experience and there is mass casualty criteria. So what would happen is --

BLACKWELL: All right. We're having a bit of difficulty with Levita's signal. Let me come to you, Sarah. Have you prepared yourself for those conversations with families when potentially life-saving equipment will not meet the needs to save the number of lives that are necessary?

BUCKLEY: I don't think there's any way, as a healthcare worker, that you can prepare yourself for that, but I think all of us are braced right now for that possibility from what we've seen in Italy and just the scale of this crisis.

BLACKWELL: Will there be a moment at which, you've talked about the threat to your own life, the fears for your children, that you will say that it's too great of a risk to continue to go to work or will you continue go to work even if the PPE runs out and you have to improvise?

BUCKLEY: Yes. I know there's -- in some of the guidelines, there's a contingency plan about wearing a bandanna and I can totally picture myself and my coworkers working together with bandanas because that's what we do and that's what we want to do and that's what we will do.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Buckley, Lavita Payton who we lost because of her signal, again, thank you for what you do and your dedication to your patients. I hope that you get the supplies you need so you can do the work that all of us need to be done during this crisis. Again, Sarah, Lavita, thank you both.

PAUL: We cannot get through it without these people and we have to -- we have to take care of them, right? We have some experts joining us a little later in the morning. Are there any questions that you want answered from them? Just tweet Victor or myself. My handle is Christi_Paul. Victor is at VictorBlackwell. We really do appreciate hearing from you. We love to hear from you. We want to get your questions answered. That is our job, so do give us a tweet or you can get us on Instagram as well.

A grim new milestone in Italy this morning and a spike in cases in several other countries. Millions around the world are living under coronavirus-related restrictions. We'll give you the latest. Stay close.

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BLACKWELL: Twenty-eight minutes after the hour now. Nearly a third of the world's population is living under coronavirus-related restrictions. Several countries are grappling with really grim milestones this morning.

PAUL: Yes, Victor. Let's talk about Italy. The number of people dying rising by 969. That's the biggest daily jump since this crisis began. More than 9,100 people there have died and the highest number of any country is right there. India reporting too 149 new cases yesterday, the biggest jump in a 24-hour period thus far there. China reporting 54 new cases, saying all of them are from travelers to that country. Now, today, China begins new restrictions banning most foreign nationals from entering.

BLACKWELL: South Korea, praised for its response so far, reported its own spike in cases, 146 new infections, but more people are being reported as recovered than in the hospital and if there is any silver lining to this story, there's one here. Satellite images show the pandemic has caused a noticeable reduction in pollution across Europe over the past month in part due to travel restrictions impacting millions of people.

PAUL: It is pretty -- it's just intriguing to see how that has changed environmentally this whole thing.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Rome. He has more on the record number of COVID-19 related deaths just reported there within the past 24 hours. Ben, we've been so closely watching Italy because it has been impacted so devastatingly. Talk to us about what is happening there now. How are people holding up?

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PAUL: Italy because it has been impacted so devastatingly. Talk to us about what is happening there now? How are people holding up? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look Christi, we're now two weeks into this nationwide lockdown. And it certainly has changed life in ways nobody could have imagined. We're in a part of Rome where normally on a Saturday morning, there would be cars out, sometimes there's a market across in the park across the street. That park is closed so people can only go out if they really have to, walk the dog or something like that.

But, yes, and basically this country holds its breath every evening at 6:00 p.m. when the latest numbers come out. Now, as you mentioned, 969 deaths reported Friday evening. That is the largest daily death toll, yes, yet in this country. Also another milestone, Italy has now surpassed China in the total number of reported cases, more than 86,000 reported cases last night, compared to 81,000 in China.

However, despite all of this grim news, there's one silver-lining. We've learned that 102-year-old Italica Grandona (ph) of Genoa, a woman who was found positive with coronavirus, she was hospitalized for 20 days, has now been reported as recovered. She -- his -- her nephew told CNN that she defeated coronavirus. She's now in a rest home. This is a woman who was born in 1917.

She survived this 1918-1919 Spanish flu, and she apparently was a fan of Freddy Mercury, a woman who enjoys music and dancing and now she has recovered. So at least we have that one piece of good news. Christi?

PAUL: Ben, that is extraordinary, 102. She's probably one of those people that no one thought could do that. I think we need to -- we need to talk to her and find out what her secret is to a long life for sure. Ben Wedeman, so glad that you're OK, something else seen in Italy in that way that I'm sure you never thought you would. Ben Wedeman, thank you there for us in Italy.

And the unfolding tragedy there, and the ongoing lockdown with all of that, you talk about how music has been a big part of her life. Well, musicians like Yo-Yo Ma are trying to bring happiness through their art.

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PAUL: Boy, if you just let yourself absorb it for a minute. It really -- it's calming, isn't it? Yo-Yo Ma, they're dedicating that song from the legend of 1900 to Italy. He's shared a lot of performances during this pandemic, and he shares them under the hash-tag, songs of comfort if you'd like to see more.

BLACKWELL: Well, there's some help on the way for some businesses and families that are really struggling through this shutdown in most places. You've seen the shelves. The question is, will the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill be enough? We're bringing in a financial expert with some answers. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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PAUL: Two trillion dollars will soon be headed to businesses and families across America. I know many of you are struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic. The funding is part of a historic spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump. Here's the question on Capitol Hill right now. Is it enough? CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent -- excuse me, Manu Raju reports.

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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, after several days of intense bipartisan negotiations, Congress approved a sweeping $2 trillion rescue-package to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus crisis in the United States. This is the biggest rescue- package that Congress has ever enacted in American history, and it will touch all facets of the American economy, small businesses, big businesses, all who have been impacted by this pandemic.

They'll be able to apply for loans, state governments who have been hit hard also will be able to get federal dollars. In addition to jobless, expanded jobless benefits and the like, and people also will get direct payments. If you make a certain -- under a certain income threshold, you'll get direct checks from the U.S. government. The question is how quickly can all this get implemented and will it be sufficient enough to keep this economy which is -- and could fall into a recession, could it keep it afloat?

Now, this came after days of talks that happened first beginning in the Senate with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer along with top officials of the Trump administration and the Republican leader in the Senate after an intense back-and-forth, they passed their legislation earlier this week. And then it came to the house. And on Friday in the house, things were uncertain because one Republican member was threatening to force all members to come back essentially and have to vote on this legislation which was going sail through anyways.

[06:40:00]

And members had to come back to Washington to ensure that they could prevent him from using the process to force all members to return. So about half of the 435-member house came back for this. A lot of them were not happy that they were forced to deny this effort by Congressman Thomas Massey of Kentucky to prevent him from forcing a vote.

Nevertheless, they all -- they've overruled his effort, they pushed back, people were upset, but at the end of the day, this bill did pass, signed into law by the president. Now, Americans could start sensing some relief, the question though is, what will Congress do next especially if this is not enough. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PAUL: Manu, thank you so much. Financial expert Ted Jenkin is with us now. Ted, it's always good to see you. I like to take a nice deep breath that is behind you, he's with Oxygen Financial, it all goes together. But let's -- let me get into what we really need to dive into today. You have to help save businesses, and you have to help individual families simultaneously in order for this to work. Do you see this working?

TED JENKIN, FINANCIAL EXPERT: I mean, I guess this is the whole theory of the chicken or the egg, Christi. You know, families will get some money here in a stipend, $1,200 per adult for single individuals that make less than $75,000, it will be $1,200. For married couples that make less than $150,000, it will be $2,400, and you will get a $500 stipend for kids that are 16 years and younger.

And also unemployment benefits will go up, they'll be extended. There will be a stipend of $600 per week on top of your state unemployment benefit, which is good. That will last four months. But the real chicken here, Christi, is when the stimulus money gets in the hands of the large businesses and the small businesses, will they be able to hire Americans again because we can do a second stimulus and a third stimulus, but businesses have to be able to hire people and put them back to work.

PAUL: Well, not only that, but I'm thinking and I've heard some people talking this week that this could be ripe for mismanagement of these funds. What oversight is there for some of these companies?

JENKIN: I mean it's $2 trillion. It could be ripe for mismanagement. But there will be some oversight. There's going to be especially appointed independent inspector general. The government is supposed to publish statistics every seven days so we can see where the money is going. But Christi, I think this is going to be like small business owners going to a birthday party with a giant pinata, and it just got cracked open.

And money is going to fall on the ground and there's going to be a cash-grab here because it's going to go on a first come, first serve basis. So, you can't save all the businesses and at the same time investigate them all. So, money will slip through the cracks here.

PAUL: What about -- what about any pork that you found in this bill? I know that you really scanned through it.

JENKIN: There's a lot, Christi. I mean, the Kennedy Center is getting $25 million -- I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Corporations are getting tons of money out there. The corporate for public broadcasting is getting $75 million, and if you read through this bill, you'll find out there's not only millions, but billions of dollars that are going to different organizations.

PAUL: Do they -- do -- assuming that those organizations are saying they need that money to keep the day-to-day processes open, they have to pay people?

JENKIN: And as for the Kennedy -- Kennedy Center said that, Christi, the Kennedy Center said we've got to clean, we've got to make sure we get back open. But there are lots of centers like that. So, why should one get more than the other?

PAUL: I see what you're saying. Listen, Peter Navarro this week said the jobless claims that we saw, the 3.3 million were totally expected. You're in this industry, was it expected full scale from people who oversee all of this?

JENKIN: I mean, the guesses were all over the place. But I'm shocked that he was shocked about this number. Look on Thursday, 1 percent of all Americans filed a jobless claim. Christi, in 1982, where the height of jobless claims were filed, there was 695,000 people. Even in the financial crisis of 2008, it was 665,000 people. So, this number is four and a half times as large as anything than we've ever seen before.

And to boot, Christi, here's a real head scratcher. The Dow on Thursday, it was up 1,351 points. Tell me how that makes sense.

PAUL: I know. There's no rhyme or reason it seems right now to how all of this is playing out. A lot of people though want to know, will the economy stage a comeback? I know that that's just a prognostication you can't fully make, but give us some indication of what the sense is in the economic world of how long it's going to take to get things back to normal, so-to-speak?

JENKIN: Yes, I mean, we're not even in a recession yet. Typically, you need two quarters of negative economic growth to get in a recession. So the earliest it would be is the end of June, likely to be the end of September. And typically, Christi, the average recession takes 11 months, even in the 1918 flu pandemic, it took seven months for the recession. And my guess is, at a minimum, you might see enough swing at the very end of 2020 but not likely for a full recovery if we get there, Christi, in 2021.

[06:45:00]

PAUL: OK, real quickly, I want to get to a question somebody sent me on Twitter. They said, "what's going to happen when the money runs out? They say part four", meaning a fourth rescue package is being put together. "Money doesn't grow on trees. Where will the money come from?"

JENKIN: Well, apparently it does grow on trees. I mean, we are -- we'll probably keep printing money and do whatever we need to do, trying to make sure that American families are OK and small businesses and large businesses get back to normal. So, I think they'll raise the debt ceiling and you'll see more money be printed here.

PAUL: All right, Ted Jenkins, always appreciate your insight, thank you for being here.

JENKIN: Thanks, Christi.

BLACKWELL: You know, if you want more information about the cases in the U.S., you can visit our website at cnn.com. Still ahead, one man did not just walk a mile, he ran 100 miles to benefit healthcare workers on the frontlines of the pandemic.

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BLACKWELL: The first two NBA players who tested positive for coronavirus have been given a clean bill of health. Good news though --

[06:50:00]

PAUL: Coy Wire -- yes, Coy Wire is at home this morning, but still with us.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes --

PAUL: Yes, we appreciate seeing you, so --

WIRE: Good morning to you, Christi and Victor --

PAUL: So -- hey, you too, you too. so this has to -- I mean, it's got to be such good news considering that they and their illness is what helped set off the unprecedented shut down of the sports.

WIRE: That's a really good point, Christi, and it's incredible to think about that without Jazz players Rudy Gobert's and Donovan Mitchell's positive test, we may have had a March Madness and so many of the other sports that have been cancelled. A lot has changed, though, as we know in the last couple of weeks. The team released a statement yesterday, and they're saying that, "in part, the state health officials determined that all Jazz players and staff including Mitchell and Gobert no longer pose a risk of infection to others.

The team also saying that the entire organization will continue to adhere to CDC recommendations for social distancing. Now, Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers, he has come out and said that he was just minutes away from being trapped in Peru as the nation shut down its airports last week due to COVID-19. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, QUARTERBACK, GREEN BAY PACKERS: When we rolled up to the airport, like 7:00 in the morning, it was wall-to-wall people, and you couldn't move. And I was thinking this isn't very safe. Not many masks on. And there was definitely a panic in the air. There was some moments where we were worried we were not going to -- not going to get out. It was absolute pandemonium at the airport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, the only reason he said he got out, Victor and Christi, it was because he had a private plane. Now, you can call this next story going live to save lives. There's a star-studded roster including John Legend, Garth Brooks, Aly Raisman and 49ers superstar Richard Sherman and more. They're all teaming up to walk for twitches, Stream Aid 2020, it's today.

Live music and some intense video game action for a live stream fundraiser benefitting the World Health Organization's coronavirus relief efforts. I asked Sherman why he thinks so many pro-athletes are drawn to gaming.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

RICHARD SHERMAN, CORNERBACK, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: Just like we're drawn to fans of sports, I think pro athletes have that same issue, the same desire to want to disconnect for a second, and I think gaming does that for a lot of athletes to give them (INAUDIBLE) performance --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

SHERMAN: The stresses that they deal with every day.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WIRE: Stream aid 2020 going live today from 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight Eastern, teaming up for a good cause. Now, this next story absolutely incredible. Ultra-runner David Kilgore ran 100 miles in Florida Keys yesterday, to raise funds and awareness for frontline healthcare workers in New York.

He says he's going to use the money to buy gift cards from struggling specialty shops in New York City, then donate those cards to frontline medical workers who can use them to buy new supportive footwear for their long days out working so hard for so many who need it.

Whether it's Kilgore or whether it's Sherman and other athletes using their stage and sports to help raise money and awareness in a time of need. It's something we see often from the sports world, and it's much needed right now.

PAUL: Yes, they never fail to try to make it right.

BLACKWELL: Fantastic.

PAUL: Coy, thank you so much, really appreciate it.

WIRE: All right, you're welcome.

PAUL: And do stay with us. Next hour, we're going to have more on the FDA approving that new COVID-19 test. What this could mean for you and for all of the people on the frontlines, the doctors and the nurses and the medical personnel. NEW DAY will be right back.

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[06:55:00]

PAUL: I think this is a look at the world that we have never seen before. There are cities around the globe, usually filled with tourists sitting in silence now as the coronavirus pandemic forces people to shelter-in-place or limit their activities.

BLACKWELL: I mean, there -- really it's silent in so many places. Let's now take a step back now and just absorb this. Watch and listen, the world frozen.

It's remarkable to see some of these places, just with no one there. If you're looking for ways to impact your community, really impact the world and help those affected by the coronavirus, visit our Web site, cnn.com-slash-impact.