Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Saturday

President Trump Declares Emergency As Crisis Spreads; U.S. Travel Ban On 26 European Countries Now In Force; House Passes Coronavirus Relief Bill; Scientists Scramble To Find Coronavirus Vaccine; Biden, Sanders To Debate With No Live Audience Amid Outbreak; Finding Balance When Working From Home; Viewers Share How Outbreak Is Affecting Everyday Life. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired March 14, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just stockpiling some things because my health is important. I don't want us to be in a situation like Italy.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, Americans have a role to play in defeating this virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In New Rochelle, New York and drive thru coronavirus testing center, just open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have six lanes we can do about 200 cars per day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least 15 million kids, home from school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything we're doing is to try to save lives are doing these things now, and not waiting will in fact save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, life as we knew it is let's say it's on pause this morning. There's this new reality here in the United States as President Trump calls on emergency powers to combat the coronavirus. One of the most important questions is still out there though. Where are all the tests?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: So, early this morning the House passed coronavirus response measures including paid emergency leave, free coronavirus testing as well.

PAUL: There are now more than 2200 cases here in the U.S. At least 49 people have died now and nearly every corner of the U.S. has been touched by this virus impacting daily lives of millions of you.

BLACKWELL: At midnight, the travel ban on 26 countries in Europe that went into effect, U.S. citizens are still allowed to fly at home, but they'll have to return through specific airports and undergo what's called enhanced entry screening.

PAUL: We'll have the latest on the international headlines in a moment. We want to begin here in the United States, though.

BLACKWELL: The House passed that coronavirus response bill at 1:00 this morning. It came after a day of pretty intense talks between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House. The president, he tweeted his support for the bill last night. Still, 40 Republicans voted against.

PAUL: The relief bill goes to the Senate next week now so CNN White House Reporter Sarah Westwood is with us. Sarah, walk us through what specifically is in this bill.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning Christi and Victor. And yes, this bill offers some relief for workers who might not be able to go into work over the next couple of weeks. The main thing that this bill will provide is two weeks of paid sick leave for those workers, in addition to three months of paid family and medical leave.

That's for people who, for example, might have to leave work to take care of a family member who is ill. It'll also ensure free coronavirus testing. Now that's crucial. It's also free for people who don't have insurance anyone who needs to get tested and it will expand unemployment and food programs for people who are struggling financially because they might not be able to work.

Now, initially, the Democrats had wanted to make some of the pay leave provisions in this bill permanent that was a major sticking point for Republicans for the White House. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi more than a dozen times over Thursday and Friday as they work towards a solution. Republicans, the White House especially, had weighed putting the payroll tax in that bill. That's something that President Trump wanted to see happen, but Democrats managed to keep that out of the final legislation that they passed late last night early this morning, depending how you look at it, Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Sarah, let's speak about the president specifically because in all of it happened overnight, we also overnight got a statement from the White House about why he has not been tested for coronavirus. What did you learn from it?

WESTWOOD: That's right. We got a memo from the President's doctor, the White House physician talking about why President Trump at this time is not going to be tested for coronavirus despite his known exposure to at least three people who have since tested positive for the COVID- 19 virus.

I want to read you part of that memo from the White House doctor: "These interactions would be categorized as low risk for transmission per CDC guidelines. And as such, there is no indication for home quarantine at this time." Then he goes on to say, "Additionally, given the President himself remains without symptoms, testing for COVID-19 is not currently indicated." Now, President Trump yesterday while speaking in the Rose Garden,

declaring a national emergency sort of discouraged people from going out and getting a test unless they have symptoms, unless they have that known exposure. He was trying to discourage against unnecessary testing, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And we don't want people without symptoms to go and do the test. The test is not insignificant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, despite that President Trump told reporters yesterday that he's still likely to get tested at some point. He's just needs to work it into his schedule, take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doctors have said you might have it even if you don't have symptoms, are you being selfish by not getting tested and potentially exposing --

TRUMP: Well, I didn't say I wasn't going to be tested.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to be?

TRUMP: Most likely, yes. Most likely -- not for that reason, but because I think I will do it anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you let it us see the results?

TRUMP: Fairly soon. We're working on that, we're working out a schedule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:05:05]

WESTWOOD: This comes at the administration has struggled to explain why they don't seem to have the ability to ramp up testing capability the way other countries who have been struck by coronavirus have been able to do. And the White House hasn't had a lot of satisfactory answers either about what the timeline looks like for having tests widely available for people who need to get them in the days ahead, Christ and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood for us there at the White House. Thank you, Sarah. Listen, we are getting more reports, more numbers all day overnight as well. And we'll update you with all the numbers as we get them. Take a look at the map. There are more cases in the us this morning than they're were at this time yesterday. Touching every region of the country. More cancellations as well.

Dozens of schools and universities across the country, they've closed. Major sporting events canceled millions of social gatherings concerts postponed or shut down. We have with us, Natasha Chen, she is following the latest of the impact here across the country and it is growing.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. So, these numbers keep changing. So, we'll bring you the latest of what we know. But if we look back at that map, we are talking about 49 out of 50 states affected right now, more than 2200 cases, at least 49 people have died and most of those folks are from Washington State.

Now, we are told that these numbers will climb as more people are tested. But the test kits themselves are an issue right now. President Trump mentioned yesterday that within a month's time there will be five million coronavirus tests available. But Dr. Anthony Falchi, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases did testify in front of a congressional committee on Thursday that the U.S. system for testing right now does not meet the country's needs.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo echoed those sentiments and said the log jam is in the lack of laboratories able to process those tests, and he also spoke about the New Rochelle containment zone in New York. One of their tactics there is to start drive thru tests which was also done in Colorado. Here's Governor Cuomo talking about the drive thru test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): What this drive thru does is you call, you make an appointment, you stay in your car, you drive in just like a drive thru. The medical staff comes to you. We have six lanes. We can do about 200 cars per day. And that can ramp up you drive off and then we call you with the results. So, as a way to bring this testing up to scale safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And in order to keep a lot of schoolchildren safe, more than eight million American kids are now home, out of the classroom doing distance learning and that's creating quite a challenge for parents and caretakers and especially the kids who rely on meals at their schools around the country.

And of course, remember, we are still in an election as well. Louisiana has postponed its primary from April to June. And no matter where you live in the United States, there is probably some business, organization, event that you consume or rely on, on a regular basis that is postponed or flat out canceled.

Here is -- here's just some examples of sports events that are canceled or postponed, including the NBA, NCAA, MLB. And of course, we're seeing other businesses announced closures as well. We're talking about theme parks, including Disney that has only really cancelled or closed parks a handful of times in 65-year domestic history for things like John F. Kennedy's death and 9/11.

And of course, Netflix and Disney TV studios confirming the postponement of some of their shoots for a few weeks. So, that's just putting into context how many things are on hold for us right now?

BLACKWELL: Natasha Chen, thanks so much.

CHEN: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you. So, let's talk about travel around the world because we know that that's been impacted by the spread of coronavirus. I had to call Delta. They called me back nine hours later. Wow, that just shows what they are under right now that, that one airline specifically.

BLACKWELL: And Delta is making some huge cuts to their flight, international especially. CNN's Allison Chinchar, she's with us with more on that, the number of commercial flights taking a big blow. That also means cuts and vulnerability for some jobs for a lot of people. What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And it's also not just the planes too. You're talking travel as a whole because when you get to another country, sometimes you rent a car too. So, you're also talking car, car emissions as well. So, let's take a look at what this is.

This is a current map right now from flight Raider 24 showing all of the flights out there. And when you look at Europe, which is right here, it's hard to see under all these planes, this is Europe, it looks as though you wouldn't see that much of a difference. It should look like this. But it's deceiving because the numbers are down.

[07:10:00]

Commercial flights globally are down almost five percent, 4.9 to be exact, in the month of March. Now, here's the thing, the blue line is 2020, this year. The green is last year. So, you can see normally throughout this time of year, you don't see many changes. 2020, you see that big dip around early February, that was when they started making a lot of travel restrictions to China here, you start to see just a little dip here towards the end, or towards March 11. Again, now showing some of those restrictions around Europe. Here's the one thing to note: we talked about fewer planes in the air, but also fewer cars.

This is a map of Italy. This is pre-quarantine Italy. You can see those bright orange and red colors. Now look at Italy, not quite as many. This is nitrogen dioxide levels in the air, Victor and Christi. And you're seeing those come down not only because there's fewer flights out there, but also people aren't in their cars. They're not out driving because they're told to stay inside their homes.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you make a good point there that I hadn't considered. Alison Chinchar, thanks for watching it for us.

PAUL: That is a fascinating map isn't it?

BLACKWELL: Yes, it is.

PAUL: See the change in that. And, and of course, we know that this is taking a toll on your daily life and the kids are out of school. All of a sudden, for several weeks on end, you might have to stay home and we want to make sure that you can do that without a lot of undue anxiety.

So, let's get to the CDC recommendations walk you through these. If you or someone you love happens to be sick. First of all, we know the symptoms and the symptoms of coronavirus: fever, cough, shortness of breath is key symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure just to give you some context there.

And there are emergency warning signs here to be aware of if you develop any of these, please get medical attention immediately including persistent pain or pressure in the chest. This list is an all-inclusive, we want to point out, so consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that seems severe or something that's consistent or concerning to you.

If you do get sick, yes, they say stay home stay away from other people. CDC is saying stay away from your pets. We're going to talk about more about that later too. But before going to get medical care, it's a good idea to give your doctor a heads up. This is going to help their office take steps to keep other people from getting infected or exposed and to keep other people safe.

Don't wear a face mask if you can keep your hands things you touch clean. If you're under home isolation, don't leave home until somebody gives you the green light to do so. Now, we know that older adults ages 60 and up are more likely to get seriously sick from Coronavirus.

So, if you're in that age group, the CDC says cancel all non-essential doctor appointments. See if you can schedule maybe telehealth sessions for appointments that you can't miss that might help. And if you are caring for someone who's over 60, know what medications they're taking, make sure they have extra medications on hand and if you can switch to a 90-day supply or maybe considering ordering them by mail.

You should also monitor the food and the other medical supply needs and stock up if you need to. For those in a care facility, monitor the situation make sure you know what the price protocol is if there is an outbreak. Now, CDC is recommending you may change, the things may change here as officials learn more about this virus, so monitor your local health department and the CDC for updates as well.

BLACKWELL: Christi, valuable information, thank you very much. As these numbers of coronavirus cases, the number goes up, the race continues for a vaccine. We'll talk to an expert who's working with a team of scientists to get to a vaccine and the challenges of this new virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:38]

PAUL: Well, as the number of coronavirus cases grow around the world day by day, the race upon a vaccine is becoming more pressing. In the U.S., there are more than two 2200 cases now of coronavirus and 49 deaths.

BLACKWELL: The President Trump said that the private sector will provide five million tests within a month.

PAUL: With us now, Dr. Paul Duprex, the Center for Vaccine Researches Director in Pittsburgh. Dr. Duprex, thank you for being with us so much. I understand that your center was one of the first in the U.S. to receive samples of the virus. So, how are you? How are you developing a vaccine? And how long do you think it will take? Those are the two questions I think most people are most concerned about.

DR. PAUL DUPREX, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR VACCINE RESEARCH: OK, so let's cover the first question. Yes, we got the virus pretty early. And what we do is grow that virus in the laboratories. The reason why we can do that here is because this is a biosafety level three virus, and you need very special laboratories to grow that virus.

PAUL: And how long do you think it might be before they'll be able to develop a vaccine? We've heard the one-year mark pushed out there, is there any indication to you what could happen before that?

DUPREX: So, you have to remember that there are lots of different types of vaccines and the old way that we developed vaccines in the 1950s for example, I'm speaking from Pittsburgh where Salk developed the polio vaccine. And what he did was he grew lots of virus, and he produced it at very, very high amounts, then what they did is they inactivated that.

You know, in the past that took a long, long time. Modern technologies has speeded up vaccine development for sure, we can do things that that Salk could really only have dreamed about it. But nevertheless, what's really important to communicate is vaccines are not fast, and especially vaccines, which have to be cultured in the laboratory.

PAUL: I wanted to ask you about something else that I think a lot of people are wondering about is the potential mutation of this virus because if it mutates, like the flu, and there's a different strain out there, vaccine may not be so effective. When you work on one vaccine, if once you get that solidified and that's cleared, and there's a mutation in the virus? How easy is it to then modify that vaccine to deal with the strain you're looking at?

DUPREX: So, that's where it's really interesting to think about vaccines and that's hard, because we use the word "vaccine" and that covers a lot of different interventions that we have. There are killed vaccines, there are live vaccines that replicates, and there are are very different types of vaccines. The flu is a great example. If you think we know absolutely everything about when the strains will come, where they will come from, we know we need to manufacture it, we know we need to generate this inactivated flu vaccine.

And every single year, we know that will happen and that takes six months with all of the wind behind our sails, with the boat moving forward really quickly. So, that's, that's how long it takes to generate that because there's a real fundamental difference between generating a clinical, phase one clinical trial vaccine and generating something which can be given to many, many people like the flu. So, why do we flu vaccine every year? Well, we make a flu vaccine every year because that virus is also ready to mutate. It changes it evolves. This is what viruses do all the time.

What we think about the biology of coronavirus and remember that we're still understanding this virus because it's very, very new. When we think about the biology of that coronavirus is, it will not retain as much as influenza. Nevertheless, we have to do the basic science to understand that virus so that we are prepared. So, if you think about a flu vaccine, and you think about the coronavirus vaccine, we might be in a position where we don't have to generate a coronavirus vaccine year on year on year. They're rather different.

PAUL: They're very different. All right. Dr. Paul Duprex, we appreciate you taking the time to be with us. Thank you, sir. Best of luck to you.

DUPREX: Nice to talk to you. Thank you very much.

[07:22:10]

BLACKWELL: Social distancing. It's a term we're all learning about. It's something we're learning to do now. Well, 2020 presidential campaigns, they have to learn about social distancing, too, and figure out how they're going to get out the vote. If the voters are being told to stay at home. What's that mean for the next primary? Four of them on Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:44]

BLACKWELL: The spread of the coronavirus is altering the 2020 presidential election. Campaigns are now trying to figure out how to cope in this new social distancing environment.

PAUL: Yes, President Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden Senator Bernie Sanders all canceling campaign amid these warnings from health officials about the risk of large gatherings.

BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, Biden Sanders, they're preparing for tomorrow's Democratic debate. There will be no live audience. As a precaution, the DNC moved the forum from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., to limit campaign travel. Let's talk about it. We have with this CNN Political Analyst and Axios Political, Politics and White House Editor, sorry about that, Margaret Talev. Good to have you this morning.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning. Great to be back. How are you this morning?

BLACKWELL: Good to have you back. I hope you're well. Let's start here with this new sales pitch that these candidates have to make. We see what the President did yesterday. But Vice President Biden, Senator Sanders, now have to package themselves as crisis managers. How are they doing it? TALEV: Yes, well, Victor, it's going to be really interesting. We'll see a little bit more of this, when those debates actually unfold. But so far, we've seen Biden and Sanders both try to take the lead even before President Trump had scheduled that sort of midweek address. Biden is saying, he was going to make an address to the nation on coronavirus. And that kind of helps expedite the White House's out- front nature in the days that followed.

All of these candidates, including the sitting president tried to show that they've got sort of a long-term strategic view in mind here. So, we've seen Biden proposed things like these 10 centers per state for testing. Sanders talking about a national emergency, which of course, the President went ahead and declared.

And we've seen Biden and Sanders both go to virtual events, or go to events, really with no live audiences and turn increasingly to text and Twitter, social media engagement, that kind of amplification to get their messages across. But the real question behind all of this is can you really have a campaign without the people?

I mean, politics has always been about engaging people. And even in big states where not everyone can get to a rally, some of that energy and momentum, everything right down to like the canvassing the door knockers the people who work for a campaign who communicate with other people. All of that is being dialed back. Sanders asking his folks to work from home, Biden this weekend, pulling back field offices and having people do their engagement by text and by phone. So, it's really fundamentally changing the landscape of how these politicians and these candidates are communicating with future voters.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's really counterintuitive in this campaign, you try to get out the vote, but people in their respective states are being told to stay home. And you know, I don't know how likely I'd be to stand at my front door and have a face to face conversation with someone for 10 minutes about why I should vote for candidate x? Let me ask you about the impact of this new social distancing model and the cancelling of, of these huge rallies.

[07:29:55]

And it's really, Senator Sanders who benefitted from those. Even in 2016, what was remarkable was his ability to have these massive 20, 30, 40, 50,000 people in some areas. Without that, how does this impact his momentum, his ability to close that delegate gap?

TALEV: Yes. The delegate momentum is already a very difficult situation for Senator Sanders. I think we're going to begin to see the first sort of real test of this in the primaries that are coming on Tuesday.

As you know, there are some important general election states like Florida, Ohio, Arizona, as well as Illinois. But these are important primary states for a different reason, which is that a lot of there are large, older voting populations in all of these states.

And so, election officials themselves and the candidates are trying to adjust. Biden and Sanders both telling people, if you're sick, don't go out to vote, but please vote if you can. And encouraging people to do early voting mail-in ballots.

Meanwhile, The states working very quickly to try to sanitize polling stations.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

TALEV: To try to move locations out of senior centers, obviously, out of nursing homes, readjust. And a big emphasis on trying to have hygiene practices so that people who are volunteering at the polls won't get sick. So that people who are opening mail-in ballots themselves won't get sick from touching all of these ballots.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you, specifically, the debate is tomorrow night.

TALEV: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And after the last primaries, we heard from Senator Sanders on Wednesday. And here is a bit of this -- the speech that was pretty interesting, pretty peculiar. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT): While our campaign has won the ideological debate, we are losing the debate over electability. I cannot tell you how many people our campaign has spoken to, who have said and I quote, I like what your campaign stands for. I agree with what your campaign stands for. But I'm going to vote for Joe Biden because I think Joe is the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, it was interesting to hear him admit that, but then he went on to just list questions who would ask Vice President Biden during the debate, he didn't make any points of what he wants to do. What should we expect? Any indication of what's coming from Senator Sanders tomorrow?

TALEV: I think because of coronavirus, what we're going to hear a lot about is health care. And Bernie Sanders, his argument is going to be the system badly needs reform and you can see it in this time of crisis. Probably, Biden's argument is going to be during your time of crisis, do you really want to upend the whole system?

I think a lot of tomorrow's debate may revolve around issues of how this crisis affects how we govern going forward.

BLACKWELL: Right here on CNN, Margaret Talev. Thanks so much for being with us.

TALEV: Thanks, Victor.

PAUL: Still ahead, I know it's been a roller-coaster week on Wall Street. That's because of the coronavirus. The impact on your money. What the government is going to give all of us some relief? We're going to talk about that in a moment. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:37:58]

BLACKWELL: 37 minutes after the hour now, investors are recovering from -- let's call that a week of whiplash because of the coronavirus. Yesterday, stocks rebounded to their best day since 2008. That was the day after the worst day for stock since the crash of 1987.

The Dow rallied during the president's news conference declaring a national emergency. And the president he was pleased, so pleased to get this. He sent the sign chart to supporters afterwards.

Yesterday's 1,900 point jump caps off this week that also saw the end of an 11-year bull market, and a move to a bear market that's a 20 percent off of a recent high.

So, which industries are taking the hit? Well, first you got airlines, huge. Delta announced it's making deeper cuts than after the 911 attacks. Airline is reducing capacity by 40 percent, parking up to 300 of its planes.

Delta CEO also urged employees to consider a voluntary leave in a bid to help save some cash for the company.

PAUL: So, I know you're sitting at home going, I don't know what this means for me? Between that, the government's response to all of this.

Financial expert Ted Jenkin of oXYGen Financial is with us now. All right, I want your, your first take this morning when we're hearing about these airlines, and these, you know, potential deals that they want to give or, you know, to their employees to say, sayonara. I think this is frightening for people.

TED JENKIN, FOUNDER, OXYGEN FINANCIAL: I mean, this is a real tug of war right now, Christi. You can't fight the virus and sort of flatten out this curve without damaging the economy at the same time. When people are quarantined and they have travel restrictions.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Yes.

JENKIN: You have sporting events that are canceling. And Apple even today, one of the nation's largest retailers said we are going to shut our doors for two weeks. So, that's the immediate pullback.

I think what we need to see over the next two to three months are layoffs, Christi. Will big companies, will small businesses start to lay off employees? Unemployment was at 3-1/2 percent. But I think we're going to see that rise pretty quickly here.

PAUL: So, how long might it take for the consumer pullback to do any lasting damage on the economy?

[07:40:03]

JENKIN: Oh, I mean, we're seeing the damage already, just what Victor just talked about Delta right now.

PAUL: Right.

JENKIN: Think about this over the next month, they said that they had negative net bookings, Christi. What this means is that more people are canceling flights and are actually booking flights right now. You're seeing conferences cancel all around the country right now.

PAUL: But we know that we know, you know, ideally and logically, we know that this is temporary. Right?

JENKIN: Yes.

PAUL: I mean, at some point, the swings are got to come back up. The question is, how long might that last? It does that all dependent on what the government responses in the coronavirus, and how it grows?

JENKIN: Yes. I mean, certainly, there's a stopgap that was put in place. You know, what the Fed did is they lowered interest rates by a half a percent, and they just infused about a billion and -- a trillion and a half dollars into the economy right now. So, businesses have monies to sustain themselves.

But I think that we're going to see this stay for a while right now, maybe six to nine months or 12 months before we see any recovery.

PAUL: Which you wonder how that's going to be affect a presidential election, obviously coming up. Short term, coronavirus economy plan from the president, is it feasible?

JENKIN: I mean, I don't know if it's feasible or not right now, we just saw there's some short term lending right now $50 billion for disaster relief, we're seeing that interest is going to be waived on loans right now for student loans. We're seeing some paid sick leave.

But this is I think, just the first measure. You're going to see maybe bailouts for the airlines, you're going to see more measures that are going to have to happen. I don't think we acted quick enough. And they talked about this whole payroll tax that would really only affect people I think that are wealthy. A lot of the lower-income families would not get any effect from that.

It would probably cost somewhere in the nature of $800 billion, I think. So, there's going to need to be more measures that are done right now to sustain the economy short term.

PAUL: So, people that are at home right now say they have obviously a finite number of -- value of money in their -- in their bank account.

JENKIN: Yes.

PAUL: Or who depend on day-today work for themselves.

JENKIN: Right.

PAUL: What do you say to them?

JENKIN: Here's what I would say, look, people have been going to the grocery store like crazy right now, Christi. They're buying peanut butter and bread.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Yes, and toilet paper, which I've heard from so many of you I know. Why are people buying toilet paper? But still, we're spending our money on things we think that we're going to need. But how long do you think this is going to go on?

(CROSSTALK)

JENKIN: All right, so, was, well, I'm saying why wouldn't people stock up on financial staples right now? Like don't spend that bonus, don't spend that tax return, get an emergency reserve. Look, 25 percent of Americans could not make a $400 bill right now.

PAUL: Barely.

JENKIN: So, you've got to build a cash reserve or you can get the doctor's visits in, get the dentist visits in, while you're on quality health insurance from your corporation, or you paid into it this year? Take care of those right now because that's the best financial move, stock up right now.

One worries much about the markets if you're a long term investor, what it be working worried about now is your personal economy, the short term economy for you.

PAUL: So, this 401(k), this things that people are looking at right now, you're saying just pull back and let it ride out. They shouldn't move a lot of funds?

JENKIN: Well, right. If you need the money in a year or two, you have no business being in the stock market at all. But if you're 40 years old and you have 10, 20, 25 years to retirement, this is not something to panic about. These cycles have happened in 2008 and 2000. I would not panic.

PAUL: All right, people are still panicking.

JENKIN: They're still panicking.

PAUL: Don't stop panic -- and he knows that I don't think this man has slept in three days.

JENKIN: Not in three days.

PAUL: Ted, thank you for being here.

JENKIN: Thanks, Christi.

PAUL: Always appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Well, as the coronavirus spreads throughout the country, people are being advised to log on and work from home, but there are real challenges to being productive when you're out of the office.

We're going to tell you how you can manage this new work-life balance when all of that is happening at home. Plus, what we can learn about past pandemics to fight future outbreaks? Watch the CNN film, "UNSEEN ENEMY: PANDEMIC". It airs tonight at 11:00.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:47:49]

BLACKWELL: All right, there is a good chance that you'll soon be working from home if you're not already. And this highly contagious coronavirus has employers around the world asking people to telecommute, even top government officials, like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are doing it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: I want to be clear, I have no symptoms, and I'm feeling good. And technology allows me to work from home. Of course, it's an inconvenience and somewhat frustrating. We are all social beings after all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: He just started 14 days of self-isolation. His wife tested positive for coronavirus. But working from home, that can be a real challenge, especially if you're not used to it.

So, let's talk to Rachel Miller. She's a deputy editor at VICE. Her piece, "How to Work From Home and Not Feel Like a Lonely Garbage Slug." Listen, it's full of advice, but it's true if you're at home all the time, you start to feel really unproductive.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Like a lonely garbage slug?

PAUL: Maybe.

BLACKWELL: All right. Well, no one wants to feel like a slug. So welcome, Rachel. Thanks so much. And listen, I read your piece, I read the one about not knowing your roommates too.

RACHEL MILLER, DEPUTY EDITOR, LIFE AT VICE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: But let's start here with the very basics. You right at the very least, wash your face, brush your teeth, and put on clean underwear. It seems simple, but some people just roll out of bed and grab a laptop.

MILLER: Yes, I think it's really hard if you're in the habit of checking your e-mail first thing in the morning to not do that, but when you don't have the process of getting ready when you don't have your normal morning routine, your normal commute, it's easy to just stay in your bed, and not realize it, and then, it's suddenly 11:00 a.m. and you've been there and you feel disgusting, but then you're kind of in this sort of position there -- where you don't want to get up and change your clothes.

So, I think let making a point to decide, these are my working hours for the day, I will start at 9:00 a.m. I'm not going to check my e- mail before that. I'm going to have breakfast, I'm going to take my dog outside. I'm going to change my clothes, you don't have to put on a suit and tie, you don't even have to put on jeans, but you should change into something clean. What I call your day pajamas, so you don't feel like you don't -- like you just woke-up.

BLACKWELL: I like to get into a nice dress basketball short. I think it's beginning to like a fancy basketball shirt. That's how you go to work when you working from home.

[07:50:01]

PAUL: Is that how you do it?

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. I think it is.

PAUL: I might just change pajamas.

BLACKWELL: Oh, worry, all right.

PAUL: That just put on different pajamas.

BLACKWELL: A day pajamas.

PAUL: But, I -- what's interesting, I was reading something I think you said was, actually get into another room. That alone, like moving into another room will make a difference.

MILLER: NO, I think you want to mentally shift your home into your office for the hours that you're at work so that you can just mentally not be thinking on, so just at home and my computer is open, you want to be thinking I'm at work. And it feels a little different than just a normal Saturday.

So, I think you could change positions, move from the bed to the couch. I think also that helps with boredom, it helps break up the day. It can get really lonely these days can stretch on and you can find yourself working really late without even realizing it. So having little things throughout your day that break things up and force you to kind of reconnect with your environment and what's around you are really helpful.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about productivity, and you suggest don't worry too much about that. Why is that important?

MILLER: Well, I think right now, we are working from home for health reasons, everyone one's health and our own. So, I think it's really important to remember to get some rest, and think of your immune system, and think of what you're doing to take care of yourself right now, and to feel good.

But it's also, I think a lot of people, when they're working from home feel like, oh, this is a huge privilege, I don't want to lose it, I want to make sure that I'm getting everything done and Bensons -- and end up working even harder than they would if they were at the office.

So, I think it's good to remember that if you were at work, you would probably stop what you were doing every now and then to go stretch and get coffee or talk to your co-workers. And it's OK to do those things when you're at home too. And you shouldn't get so caught up and in sort of performing productivity that you actually don't enjoy your day or relax at all, or just let yourself, you know, click around the Internet for a few minutes and see what's happening.

PAUL: Is it -- is it smart to give yourself a certain number of hours, say, you know, say, this is how many hours I'm going to devote to this today. And is it OK to fluctuate with that?

MILLER: Yes, it's really smart to do that actually. To say these are my working hours for the day, and also plan something for the evening. In this case, you might not be able to go out or anything like that, but you can just say, I'm going to stop working at 5:30, I'm going to take the dog for a walk, and then, I'm going to come back and make this recipe for dinner.

And then, maybe set a phone alarm to let you -- to remind you to do that, because I think it's actually really easy to just totally lose track of time. So, I think, if you're just really disciplined about that, it can make it, it can make you just feel so much better by the end of the day.

BLACKWELL: Rachel Miller, deputy editor at Vice. And it's how to work from home and not feel like the lonely garbage slug. Rachel, thank you so much.

PAUL: That's a great -- such a great article. Thanks, Rachel.

So, the coronavirus obviously impacting all of us but we want to know how the outbreak is affecting your life. Tweet as @VICTORBLACKWELL and @CHRISTI_PAUL, use the hashtag New Day weekend. We'd love to hear from you. We're going to be sharing some of your stories next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:57:36]

We've been asking for you to share your questions and concerns about the coronavirus outbreak here in the U.S. We'll listen, there are lots of people who have a lot of questions because this is new for all of us.

Here is a tweet from a viewer. We're going to go through some of these. "Wife is a chemo patient. We are under doctor's orders to stay home except the appointments. Nervous about our treatment plan and overall impact of our healthcare system."

PAUL: Understandably. Deborah tweeted, "What scares me is the mutation that may occur, what worries me is will my daughter be OK being an EMT. I worry about my team grandchildren and when this dies down, will it come back with a vengeance?"

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's a concern because, you know, sometimes with the flu, what vaccine works for one strain one year --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Watch the fall. Right, right.

BLACKWELL: And you go to another year and it does, it's not as effective. This is from Cindy, "I teach preschool, had only two-thirds of our children today. How do you decide when to shut your doors and for how long? Local schools are still open. Our county has not confirmed the cases." We'll try to get an answer to that.

PAUL: And ask for how life has changed. Listen to this, someone tweeted, "Church is canceled. No sports. Dairy Queen postponed "Free Ice Cream Cone Day," with a sad emoji face. Every little thing and just compound.

BLACKWELL: Throw the whole day away if free ice cream day is canceled at Dairy Queen. Listen, we have a lot of those tweets. We will continue to bring those to you. And some of your questions, we will get answers to those. Tweet us @VICTORBLACKWELL and @CHRISTI_PAUL, use the hashtag New Day weekend. Tell us how the outbreak is affecting your life. We'll be sharing your stories throughout the morning.

PAUL: And you can also ask our medical team questions for that. Go to CNN.COM/CORONAVIRUSQUESTIONS. And thank you so much, we appreciate hearing from you, for watching.

Well, the House has passed an emergency funding bill to help all of us offset the unexpected cost of coronavirus.

BLACKWELL: So, just the head will tell you what's in this new package and how this could affect your family. The next hour of your NEW DAY starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I am officially declaring a national emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As uncertainty grows, Americans are stocking up for the long haul.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just stockpiling some things because my health is important.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want us to be in a situation like Italy.

TRUMP: All Americans have a role to play in defeating this virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In New Rochelle New York, a drive-thru coronavirus testing center just open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have six lanes, we can do about 200 cars per day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least 15 million kids home from school.