JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: The U.S. death toll, by far the highest in the world, continues to climb, as new hot spots emerge around the country.

Then: Unrest turns to uproar.

Protests in Minneapolis take a violent turn.

We examine the collective trauma of the African-American community and potential steps forward.

Plus: home work.

The pandemic forces millions of Americans to do their jobs from home, raising questions about the future of the workplace.

NICHOLAS BLOOM, Stanford University: Maybe a year or two from now, when firms relax and say, look, you can come back into the office if you like, you can come back in two or three days a week, and spend the other couple of days at home, that's, you know, the promised land.

But that's definitely not where we are now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is on vivid display again tonight.

New numbers paint a stark picture of the cost to the nation in human and economic terms.

John Yang begins our coverage.

JOHN YANG: It's a death toll of epic proportions.

More than 100,000 Americans have now lost their lives to the coronavirus.

Health officials fear that, because of testing shortages and unreported cases, the actual number could be even higher.

Newspapers from coast to coast marked the somber occasion by honoring the dead with tributes emblazoned across their front pages.

President Trump acknowledged the toll in a tweet: "We have just reached a very sad milestone.

I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy and love for everything that these great people stood for and represent."

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: KAYLEIGH MCENANY, White House Press Secretary: The president recognized that landmark before we even hit it.

The president, that was -- after all, it was the impetus behind him lowering the flag to half-staff.

He did that for several days.

But the president has said one death is too many.

He takes this very seriously.

He said before this is the hardest part of his presidency.

It's something that no one wanted to see happen.

JOHN YANG: At least 44 of those deaths have been workers at meatpacking plants.

The country's largest meatpacking union estimates that more than 3,000 of its workers have been infected by the virus.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 continues to inflict a devastating economic toll as well.

The number of people losing jobs since the pandemic began hit nearly 41 million, with today's report that another 2.1 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week.

In Washington, the House tried to help, passing a bipartisan bill to make the terms of the Paycheck Protection Program more flexible and give small businesses more time to take advantage of federal loans.

The measure now goes to the Senate.

As companies slowly reopen their doors, some are looking to hire.

But they're trying to do so smartly and safely, in Pasadena, California, an open-air job fair in a parking lot to maintain social distancing.

JENNIFER NICHOLS, Job Applicant: It's for safety.

And I support everything about the safety and the health of everybody.

And I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep everybody healthy and safe.

JOHN YANG: Farther north in California, the Solano Town Center in Fairfield is back open for business.

It's the first indoor mall to reopen in the San Francisco Bay Area, but foot traffic remains light.

MAN: I'm not really worried as long, as I keep my distance from anyone.

JOHN YANG: In Colorado, skiers can hit the slopes again at the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area in Summit County, but face masks are required and admittance is capped at 600 skiers a day.

WOMAN: It's great to get back out for sure.

You know, I mean, it's just getting the legs back from noodles to muscle.

JOHN YANG: Overseas, COVID-19 cases continued to spike in India today, with more than 6,500 new infections reported.

The country's two-month-old lockdown is scheduled to end on Sunday.

Spain is in the midst of a 10-day mourning period for the more than 27,000 lives that country lost to the virus.

And, in Paris, health care workers and hundreds of their supporters protested outside a hospital to demand better work conditions.

PHILLIPE TRICAUD, Hospital Worker (through translator): We are afraid that, ultimately, public hospitals will collapse.

Health is everyone's matter, for you and for us, and we need to preserve it.

It is one of the pillars of our democracy.

JOHN YANG: That comes as the European commission in Brussels pledged to be better prepared in the future.

It announced plans to set up a permanent stockpile of essential drugs and medical equipment.

STELLA KYRIAKIDES, Health Commissioner, European Commission: Never again do we want to see our health care workers having to choose which patient receives lifesaving equipment.

JOHN YANG: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The other main story we are following is in Minneapolis, where many are reeling tonight from the death in the hands of police officers of George Floyd, from the strained relations many residents feel with law enforcement, and as a result of how protests have changed over the past day.

Yamiche Alcindor begins our coverage tonight with a report on the latest.

Then, Amna Nawaz speaks with a community leader from the Twin Cities.

This reporting is part of our ongoing series Race Matters.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Violent protests, a community reeling, and a case that continues to capture the nation.

Minneapolis in daylight, smoke still billowing from burnt-out buildings, debris scattered on the ground.

For a second night, demonstrations broke out over the death of George Floyd.

And again there was violence.

Amid the chaos, one man was shot dead.

This afternoon, the National Guard activate in response to the unrest.

The city has been on edge since the Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for some eight minutes.

Floyd, a black man, had no pulse by the time he was loaded into an ambulance.

The 46-year-old later died at a nearby hospital.

Today, Mayor Jacob Frey acknowledged the city's pain.

JACOB FREY (D), Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota: Last night is the result of so much built-up anger and sadness, anger and sadness that has been ingrained in our black community, not just because five minutes of horror, but 400 years.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Yesterday, the protests started peacefully.

Hundreds stood in the streets just south of downtown, protesting Floyd's death.

But pockets of rioting spread.

Looters broke into a Target store, smashed pawn shop windows, and set an AutoZone aflame.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo: MEDARIA ARRADONDO, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police Chief: The vast majority of people that have come together have been doing so peacefully.

But there was core group of people that had really been focused on causing some destruction.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And he accepted partial responsibility for the city's unrest.

MEDARIA ARRADONDO: I know that there is currently a deficit of hope in our city.

And as I wear this uniform before you, I know that this department has contributed to that deficit.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Today, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said President Trump has been briefed on Floyd's death by the attorney general and the FBI.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, White House Press Secretary: He was very upset by it.

It was egregious, appalling, tragic.

And it prompted him to pick up the phone, or the chief of staff to pick up the phone, and say we need to expedite what was already an FBI investigation.

He wants justice to be served.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: That comes as the officer who kneeled on Floyd's neck and the officers who witnessed the incident have been fired.

Mayor Frey has called for them to face charges.

Across the country, police chiefs in places like Houston and Los Angeles have condemned the officers' actions and praised Arradondo for their dismissal.

That comes as police departments have put more resources into things like de-escalation training and building community trust.

In the wake of the violence, community members and Floyd's family have cautioned protesters to remain nonviolent.

Today, that was echoed in a prayer vigil nearby the grocery store where Floyd was detained.

It was led by Reverend Al Sharpton.

AL SHARPTON, Civil Rights Activist: But there is a difference between peace and quiet.

(APPLAUSE) AL SHARPTON: Some people just want quiet.

The price for peace is justice.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Sharpton urged the community to stay engaged while they mourn.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Yamiche Alcindor.

AMNA NAWAZ: We take a further look now at the events overnight and a sense of what residents of the Twin Cities are feeling today with Tyrone Terrill, a longtime community activist and president of the African-American Leadership Council.

It's a local community engagement group.

Tyrone Terrill, welcome to the "NewsHour," and thank you for being with us.

As you well know, the eyes of the country are on Minneapolis right now.

And people are looking at those images from overnight and the unrest and struggling to make sense of it.

We heard Mayor Frey talk about the anger and sadness.

But what can you tell us about what unfolded last night in Minneapolis and what's happening there now?

TYRONE TERRILL, President, African-American Leadership Council: Well, what's happening now -- and, first, thanks for having me.

But what's happening now is, we want justice, and justice meaning that we want the officers not only terminated, which we got from our - - to our meeting on Monday with Mayor Frey and Chief Arradondo.

But we want the officers charged by our local Hennepin County attorney, Mike Freeman, to charge these officers, have them arrested, have them put in jail, and, need be, make bail, but to serve as any other criminal who committed murder in our city.

And Mr. Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer.

And that officer needs to be treated as the criminal that he is.

AMNA NAWAZ: Does what you have seen so far, the swift firing of the four officers, Mayor Frey publicly calling for charges -- we just now had a press conference from the U.S. attorney in Minnesota and the FBI saying it's a top priority.

Does all of that give you a sense that there will be justice?

TYRONE TERRILL: I have a sense of justice from our U.S. attorney, Erica MacDonald.

We have spent a lot of time with her in the last six to eight months.

So I believe, if she gets the right report on her desk, that she will find this officer guilty of violating the civil and human rights of Mr. Floyd.

But it's really important that our county attorney does his part.

He prosecuted his first officer, which was a black officer and who is in prison now for killing somebody.

We want the same thing done when a white officer kills a black person from our community.

AMNA NAWAZ: I need to ask you about the video.

There's been a lot of debate and discussion about this over the last just few days.

We all know the truth in America.

We know that law enforcement disproportionately kill black men, and every time there is a video documenting that devastating truth, people will think, well, this will change things, this will help.

It doesn't.

It keeps happening.

So, I want to ask you, what is the collective impact of video after video documenting this?

Is it helping?

Is it leading to change, or is it just contributing to the trauma?

TYRONE TERRILL: Well, it leads to change, because, without video, whether it was Philando Castile, whether in this case with Mr. Floyd, without video, there would be nothing happening, because, normally, people side on the side of blue.

And so the videos are very, very important, because the public firsthand gets to see untampered, un -- you know, so it's a finished product.

So, people need the video.

Without the videos, we don't get them fired.

The video got him fired.

The video got the four officers fired.

And so, without that video, I keep telling everybody, keep videoing.

Those videos are very important.

And they're the only way that we have a chance to get justice.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's been called by some as contributing to a collective trauma, that, especially when there isn't any action on the back of video after video, it can end up making things worse for people in the African-American community.

Do you agree with that?

TYRONE TERRILL: Well, what has to happen -- and I have said this numerous times -- President Obama had it for community policing six pillars.

The seventh pillar -- or the first pillar should be valuing humanity of block people as you do white people.

If you make a stop in the same way you do a white person -- officers would not have done that to a white person.

So, when you don't value our humanity, you don't value us as humans, and you treat us as animals -- and that's the way Mr. Floyd was treated.

He was begging for his mother at the end.

It's just painful to even think about that none of us want to die, but to die in that manner, in the hands of somebody that's hired to protect and serve, in the streets he was raised in, or as adult living in Minneapolis, it's unheard of.

And it has to stop.

And we keep saying it on each one.

I think, as the mother of Eric Garner said here today, that if it had stopped five, six years ago, when her son was killed, when he said, "I can't breathe," we wouldn't be doing it again today.

And so it's not just going to take black America, but all Americans say, enough is enough with these kind of killings.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr. Terrill, in just a few seconds left, I have to ask you.

There's been rallies in other cities sparked by Mr. Floyd's death, in Memphis and Los Angeles.

Does this moment in any way feel different to you?

TYRONE TERRILL: It doesn't feel different.

I understand the pain, but this is a marathon now.

After the rallies are gone, those of us in Minneapolis will still have to fight this fight to get a verdict of guilty from our county attorney or from, hopefully, our U.S. attorney.

So this is just the beginning of a long race that many of us will have to endure.

But we're going to do it, because Mr. Floyd deserves justice.

He doesn't deserve all the other stuff that's going on right now, but a 46-year-old man lost his life, was murdered, because he was black in America.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Tyrone Terrill, president of the African-American Leadership Council.

Thank you so much for being with us tonight.

TYRONE TERRILL: Thank you for having me.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: China's National People's Congress ratified plans for a national security law to tighten Beijing's control over Hong Kong.

The ceremonial legislature's action means that the new law could take effect in September.

The proposal has sparked new protests in Hong Kong.

We will take a closer look later in the program.

Back in Washington, House Democratic leaders have shelved a bill to renew surveillance tools after President Trump promised a veto.

He has linked provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, to what he calls abuses in the Russia investigation.

Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blamed Republicans for following his lead.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The president said he would veto the bill, so all of the Republicans then abandoned their commitment to security, and said that they were going to vote against the bill.

This has always been bipartisan.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Progressive Democrats in the House also came out against the surveillance bill.

Today, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended the Republicans' reversal in the light of the veto threat.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): There was a concern that this was not going to be signed.

So I said, why don't you pause, and why don't we work on this with the administration?

Because I'm not interested in doing some political game, because I believe FISA is very important.

And let's solve the concerns and let's make law.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The bill originally passed the House with bipartisan support, but was amended in the Senate.

Now the two chambers will negotiate.

President Trump signed an executive order today aimed at social media companies.

He accused them of bias against conservatives, and he directed federal agencies to consider rolling back their legal liability protections.

The president acted after Twitter instituted fact-checks on two of his tweets.

The tweets claimed, without proof, that mail-in voting is rife with fraud.

A battle over balloting in Texas is moving to the federal courts.

That's after the all-Republican state Supreme Court blocked mail-in voting for those who cite fear of the coronavirus.

State Democrats favor expanded voting by mail, and they say they will pursue a separate federal lawsuit.

On Wall Street today, stocks fell, as U.S. tensions with China rose.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 147 points to close at 25400.

The Nasdaq fell 43 points, and the S&P 500 gave up six.

And the Boston Marathon has been canceled for the first time in its 124-year history due to the pandemic.

The race had already been delayed until September, but organizers officially scratched it today.

Instead, runners who verify they ran a marathon on their own will get a finisher's medal.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the head of the San Francisco Federal Reserve discusses the economic calamity of COVID-19; China's government passes a law to exert more control over semiautonomous Hong Kong; we mark how passing 100,000 deaths will reshape the U.S.; and much more.

The economic toll of the pandemic and the shutdowns is growing.

More than 40 million people have lost a job so far.

The economy is expected to pick up momentum as businesses reopen, but there's a growing debate about what more needs to be done.

Mary Daly is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, one of a dozen regional Fed banks around the country that help support the economy.

Mary Daly, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

So, looking at today's report on the number of unemployment claims filed, some are looking at that and saying, well, we see a slight decline in the number of people filing; maybe that's good news.

How do you see it?

MARY DALY, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: Well, first, thank you so much of having me.

The numbers of the over 40 million really filing for unemployment insurance so far is really the number to pay attention to.

It's an astoundingly large number.

And then, of course, as we have gotten more people who have been dislocate, displaced onto the unemployment insurance program, you see a smaller and smaller number filing each week.

But it's really important we stay focused on that top-line number and not get too, too excited about the declining number of unemployment insurance claims.

If you even look beyond unemployment insurance, there are countless people, thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people who have left the labor force altogether because they're not eligible for unemployment insurance.

And so this is the single biggest dislocation we have had in our economy in our recorded history.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You have made this comment that people at the lower end of the income scale -- and this came out in a Federal Reserve report -- are -- have been at least twice as likely to be thrown off the rolls, off the worker rolls, as anybody else, and -- in other words, to be suffering in this pandemic.

Why is that?

What does that mean in terms of our ability to get back to where we want to be?

MARY DALY: Well, think about the -- let's put some faces to the people.

This is one of those crises that is being borne most heavily by the people least prepared to really get through it.

And if you put face to those people, those are people with disabilities, people with a high school education, people of color, women, people who only just came into the economy and really got their legs under them at the end of the expansion.

And now they're out again.

These are individuals that often occupy high-touch jobs, the jobs that are in service of us in our economy.

And so, as we sheltered in place, of course, those are the very jobs that are displaced.

Now, what's rally important as we open up and we see that some of those people are still left behind is, we have to go back and make sure that all of them are reintegrated into the economy, because we really can't afford, as a country, to leave any of those people on the sidelines.

We need everyone if we're going to get back to the growth rate that we need to move forward.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And what are some of the best ways to do that?

As you know, Congress right now is debating how much aid, if -- and where the aid should go, whether it should go to the unemployed, whether it should go to small businesses.

The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has said there is a role for the federal government, for Congress, particularly among - - well, among other things, in supporting state and local governments, who employ these front-line workers.

How do you see that?

MARY DALY: I really want to expand our conversation away from trade-offs.

I don't think it's state and local or small businesses or the unemployed.

It really has to be everyone.

I feel really good about what we have done as a nation to get money into the hands of the unemployed really quickly.

The PPP program is getting money into the hands of small businesses.

States and localities, they're the first line for the communities that we all serve, and they're going to need resources.

So, as Congress looks at this, they're debating, where do we -- where are the pockets where there is still pain, still suffering, where we still need to treat,?

And the important thing is that we're still having those conversations, and that we're all recognizing that we need a bridge, because it's over the coronavirus, past the pandemic, and the bridge is likely to need to be longer than we thought just two months ago.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And what does that mean exactly in terms of support from Washington?

Because, as we know, states are running out of money.

Local governments are running out of money.

MARY DALY: Well, what I hear being discussed - - and I think we're all listening to the same news on this -- what we hear being discussed is, how do we take care of states and localities, so they can support health care professionals and health care facilities, that they can support educational facilities as they figure out, how do you deal with educating people from kindergarten all the way through college in a way where you have to social distance?

And so I think these are really important conversations, because, ultimately, you know, when we get through this, we want to be on the best footing.

There are two essential ingredients to doing that well, maintaining the health and safety of our population, and ensuring that education and skill training continue, so that, when we get past the pandemic, we can really grow and expand and include everyone in the economy with the skills necessary to take the jobs that are created.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In fact, I have read where you have used the term -- you said, this pandemic has put a giant magnifying glass on this country's inequities in education.

Is this a time when the country can afford to redress that, to do something about that?

MARY DALY: Yes, I think the way I think of it is, we can't afford not to.

This was something that was not simply about fairness before the coronavirus.

It was essential to increasing our potential growth rate going forward, ensuring that the pie grows for our entire economy.

We have to include everyone.

That's important.

It has become more important now, when we see that social distancing and other kinds of things are going to be important.

If you have a college education, you're much more likely to be working from home.

There are jobs that are going to be created that allow all of our citizens to do that, all Americans.

But we need to ensure they have the education that's required.

And my view of this is, an investment in human capital is one of the greatest investments we can make.

It's the most durable.

And that kind of investment is one we can definitely afford to make, and it's definitely one that will help all of us.

JUDY WOODRUFF: There are also questions, Mary Daly, about what the Fed itself can do.

Of course, it's already done a lot.

A lot of money has been made available to businesses for lending.

But I think there are still questions out there about the Main Street Lending Program, whether it's going to reach enough businesses to make a difference.

What's your view?

MARY DALY: So, again, we're one of many players, right?

So, the Paycheck Protection Program, that's really meant to treat those small businesses.

Larger businesses, you know, very large businesses, have access to capital markets, which the other facilities we opened helped settle.

And then the Main Street facility is really targeting those businesses that are bigger than the small businesses and not in the Paycheck Protection Program, and smaller than the very large businesses, by giving them access to lending facilities that allow them to bridge themselves over it.

So, we will keep doing what we have been doing, which is, put this facility out there, see if the -- if there's still pockets of need, pockets of concern, and then do our best within the limits of our power, in combination with the Treasury, to really figure out how to reach those (AUDIO GAP) in need.

The main thing that I want to emphasize, though, is, the Federal Reserve is not just opening facilities.

We're also supporting the economy through, you know, lowering the interest rate through monetary policy, and giving forward guidance that says, we're committed to doing that until we have weathered the coronavirus and we're back on track to achieve our dual mandates, price stability and, importantly, full employment.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mary Daly, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, thank you very much.

We appreciate it.

MARY DALY: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: China's moves to impose greater control over Hong Kong continued today, with a formal legislative process set forth in Beijing.

In response, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada denounced the move.

And the British foreign secretary raised an extraordinary prospect if Beijing persists, citizenship for 300,000 Hong Kongers holding British passports, which date back to before the city's handover to China.

Here now, Nick Schifrin.

NICK SCHIFRIN: This is how Hong Kong activists say liberty dies, to thunderous applause.

(APPLAUSE) NICK SCHIFRIN: The National People's Congress, Beijing's rubber-stamp parliament, endorsed a legislative pathway that could effectively end Hong Kong's special status.

The vote was 2,878-1.

In a press conference, China's second highest ranking official said Beijing was maintaining security and stability.

LI KEQIANG, Chinese Premier (through translator): The decision adopted is designed to ensure the steady and long-term implementation of one country, two systems and Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Pro-democracy activists say, this is Beijing's version of stability, police slamming a reporter to the ground during yesterday's protests.

For more than a century, Hong Kong has provided its citizens freedoms, including to demonstrate.

Those freedoms do not exist in mainland China.

And pro-democracy advocates fear this legislation would be a death blow.

ALVIN YEUNG, Hong Kong Legislative Council Member: To a lot of people, this is at least the beginning of the end of freedom.

And now, if you take away this essential element of this wonderful city, what would be left?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Alvin Yeung is a pro-democracy legislator who's protested against Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government.

He says, young people started filling Hong Kong's streets last year to fight an erosion of freedom.

He says now they fear they have lost, and they are considering leaving.

ALVIN YEUNG: They thought maybe it's time to bring their kids abroad, so that their kids will be free from all this fear.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What can you do?

Can you really fight this at all?

ALVIN YEUNG: Well, to be perfectly frank, I would be extremely irresponsible if we -- if I say there are lots of options.

In fact, our options are limited.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The National People's Congress did not write the final law.

That will be done by the Communist Party's most senior body later this year.

But their authorization to draft the law includes two major changes to Hong Kong.

For the first time, it allows relevant national security organs of the Central People's Government to be based in Hong Kong.

And it says any activities that could subvert state power, split the country, or seriously endanger national security will be punished.

Beijing says those protests last year turned violent and became -- quote -- "homegrown terrorism."

And Beijing argues these demonstrators were encouraged by the U.S. Today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Beijing was pushing back on American interference.

ZHAO LIJIAN, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through translator): If anyone insists on jeopardizing the interests of China, China is sure to take all necessary measures to fight back resolutely.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Beijing's assertiveness is an attempt to end what the Communist Party calls the century of humiliation.

Hong Kong used to be part of China.

But, in the 1800s, foreign powers attacked, and the British forced China to lease the city.

In 1997, the British handed the city over.

And under a deal known as one country, two systems, communist China promised Hong Kong could keep its British-written laws and independent judiciary.

The administration says Beijing has not kept that promise, and is debating how to respond.

Senior administration officials say they are considering sanctions on senior Communist Party officials or even ending Hong Kong's special economic status that's led to 1,300 American companies currently based in Hong Kong.

But the business community warns the administration that it's not time to erode that special status yet.

CRAIG ALLEN, President, U.S.-China Business Council: By introducing this legislation, it doesn't mean that Hong Kong is suddenly a part of China.

Hong Kong will retain Hong Kong's individual identity.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Craig Allen is the president of the U.S.-China Business Council, which advocates for U.S. businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong.

He wants the administration to go slow, but also warns that American companies could leave Hong Kong if the city's rule of law is eroded.

CRAIG ALLEN: Most of those 1,300 companies are there because of the rule of law.

And if the rule of law is going to be compromised, then Hong Kong's value from a business perspective is greatly diminished.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Some longtime China experts believe that Beijing could still change its mind about Hong Kong, if the administration's response is judicious.

Doug Paal is with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

DOUG PAAL, Former National Security Council Official: I think, if we're discriminating in the way we respond, we can create more debate in China about whether or not Xi has chosen the right tools.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the pro-democracy protesters who have suffered from Hong Kong and Beijing's crackdown call that naive, and are asking for the U.S. to respond harshly.

JOSHUA WONG, Pro-Democracy Activist: Partial sanctions, embargoes or even freeze the separate economic entity in Hong Kong would also be the weapon of equipment for the world to let Beijing to know that it's a must to completely stop the implementation of national security law.

NICK SCHIFRIN: President Trump says he will announce the U.S.' response tomorrow.

The fate of Hong Kong as a global hub is in the balance.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It is a toll unimaginable to many before the pandemic started.

More than 100,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 so far.

To try to get some perspective on this moment, I'm joined by presidential historian Michael Beschloss and Andy Slavitt.

He's former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

He's been a notable health voice about all of this.

He hosts a podcast, "In The Bubble."

Welcome to both of you.

Michael Beschloss, to you first.

This is a number that's, I think, almost impossible for us to conceive, this many deaths in such a short time, just a matter of three months.

Is there any calamity in American history, what -- or maybe I should ask, what calamity can you compare this to in American history?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, Presidential Historian: Well, this is -- even if the deaths did not grow any larger, this would be one of the great calamities and one of the terrible experiences of American history that our descendants will unfortunately be reading about.

And you have to go back to the flu pandemic of 1918-1919.

That was 670,000 Americans who lost their lives.

But that was over a century ago, and that was the time before modern medicine.

To think that we could suffer losses like this, and they may be growing and they may be a lot larger, that's something that's going to loom very large in American history.

It's a somber evening.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Andy Slavitt, I looked it up.

This -- the United States has something like 4.5 percent of the global population, and yet our number of COVID deaths are around 30 percent of the global number.

And yet here we are, the richest country in the world, with some of the most as advanced medicine and science.

How could this have happened?

ANDY SLAVITT, Bipartisan Policy Center: Well, I think we're going to have a couple of levels of regrets.

You know, first, I think, in advance of the - - of COVID coming here, not recognizing what was going on in Beijing, and then in Wuhan, even as we were being warned, not keeping a stockpile ready, not being prepared to contain the virus, you know, those are all things, I think, that are pretty well-known.

And I think there are some estimates on lives that could have been saved.

I think, once things came here, our response was a little bit more hands-off and tepid than in other countries around the world.

I don't think the federal government wanted to embrace ownership of the challenge, as had happened in other parts of the world.

And so you -- even seeing the president come out every day wearing a mask would have made an enormous difference, in taking a little bit of medicine early, so that we could have saved some lives.

We would have opened up the economy earlier.

And, today, I think we're still in a similar spot, where we are declaring victory in a manner of speaking, deciding that this is over, when the virus is really still here.

It's still as deadly.

It's still as contagious.

And so I worry that we continue to make some of the same mistakes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Michael Beschloss, how do you compare this president's leadership at this time with the leadership of other presidents who have led this country through war, through pandemics, and the rest of it?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Right.

That's really what you have to compare it to, Judy.

And here's a case where, you know, in a time of war, a time of Great Depression, you know, you want a president, first of all, to show empathy, that he understands what's going on.

Abraham Lincoln, for instance, at the height of the Civil War, so many people were dying.

They came to Lincoln and they said, we need to build another cemetery.

Where do you want it?

And Lincoln said, build it near my summer home, so that every single day I see the graves being dug, and I'm reminded of all the casualties that are occurring because of the decisions that I'm making.

People might say Lincoln was making mistakes, but they never doubted that his heart was in it and he was trying to work 140 percent to try to get this war over as soon as possible.

Another thing that people expect in a crisis like this is a president to unify the country.

That's part of his oath to defend the Constitution, you know, make this a more perfect union.

You don't normally, in crisis times, see a president who is doing any less than that, any less than trying to get Americans to come together behind a plan.

And the other thing is that, in a political year -- you know, we have had presidents run for reelection before.

1940, Franklin Roosevelt was running for a third term at a time that many Americans were terrified of a war with Japan or Germany that might kill members of their family.

Rather than try to say, I'm an isolationist, to get votes, Roosevelt said, to try to keep war away, we need to strengthen our defense, and we also need a military draft.

Lost him votes, but it was the right thing to do.

That's what great leaders do in time of an election year that's at a time of crisis.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And pick up on that, Andy Slavitt.

You mentioned masks a moment ago.

You mentioned the slowness in some quarters.

Clearly, there are some people who praised President Trump for closing the country off to visitors from China.

But there's also been a lot of criticism.

What else do -- does one look for at a moment like this from a president, at a moment of health crisis?

ANDY SLAVITT: Well, look, I think Michael has it exactly right.

What I think, from a communications standpoint, the president probably underestimated and I think still underestimates is Americans' tolerance for bad news delivered straight that helps them.

I don't think the public here expect any more of a miracle than we - - was expected anywhere in the world.

We expected competency, direct facts, transparent information.

And I think, if he would have delivered that -- look, it's impossible to get an A in this.

This is not a crisis he invented.

He inherited it.

But, as David Frum said to me, it is easy to get a B.

And getting a B is a lot about what Michael talked about.

It's about showing empathy.

It's about being transparent.

It's about being straight with people.

A number of governors have done that.

And while those things, day in and day out, may not have been as important as some of the things that I mentioned earlier in terms of preventing lives, they would have helped keep this country sustained and get people through a difficult time, and probably, for his own political standpoint, would have been a -- I think he would have been rewarded politically.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Michael Beschloss, I want to finally ask both of you about the American people.

How have Americans come through crises like this, calamities like this in the past, and what does that say about how we're likely to come through this?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Well, the good news, Judy, is, look at all the things we have been through since the beginning of this country, from Valley Forge, to terrible natural disasters, to depressions and wars, and all of that.

Here we are in 2020.

The American people have this amazing ability to bind together and to be resilient, even if their leadership is not perfect.

So, I would say that, if history tells us anything -- and, in my line of work, we think it tells us a lot -- it would suggest that the result of this will be, assuming that we survive and assuming that the country sticks together, we will survive and prosper in a way that might even make this a better society.

At the end of World War II, we came back from Europe and from Asia, our soldiers did, and said that we only finished part of the job when we defeated the Germans and the Japanese.

Now we have to bring equal rights to all Americans.

We have to make sure that every American gets the blessings of American prosperity.

That had not happened before World War II.

So, the optimistic view is to think that perhaps at the end of this crisis, we will be in a situation where we discover needs and ambitions that we didn't know before.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Andy Slavitt, just in about 30 seconds, how do you see the American people coming through this?

ANDY SLAVITT: Well, look, I'm not going to repeat what Michael said, because he's exactly right.

What I think we should do on a day like today is just salute and thank every single first responder, essential worker, health care provider, doctor, nurse.

They have been true heroes.

And we owe them a debt of gratitude that is going to be very difficult to repay.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For sure.

And we cannot say that often enough.

We thank each and every one of them.

And we thank both of you, Andy Slavitt, Michael Beschloss.

We appreciate it.

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Many of us, including me and most of our "NewsHour" staff, are working from home these days.

And it's far from clear how soon people can, will or should go back to their workplace.

This could have significant repercussions for workers, for companies and for the marketplace.

Paul Solman is going to explore these transformations in a two-part look, beginning tonight, for our series Making Sense.

DAVID KENNY, CEO, The Nielsen Company: This has worked for other things, but it's not working for you.

PAUL SOLMAN: That's CEO Dave Kenny, our first interview for this story about working from home.

MAN: You got to move the mic.

DAVID KENNY: Yes, I'm used to having people to do this.

PAUL SOLMAN: That'll be a unique angle on the work-from-home problem.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID KENNY: Exactly.

PAUL SOLMAN: The CEO of Nielsen... NARRATOR: Any time you tune in or turn on... PAUL SOLMAN: ... the company famous for measuring television audience ratings, Kenny used to think working from home was a bad idea.

DAVID KENNY: When I came to Nielsen at the beginning of last year, which had a work-from-home option, I was really quite opposed to it.

The people who were in the conference room were talking to each other.

Those who were working from home and phoning in or even videoing in were largely not in the conversation.

PAUL SOLMAN: I don't mean to use this phrase lightly, but has it been for you, in a sense, a conversion experience?

DAVID KENNY: It's been a big event in my life, because I was forced to look at a total system change, as opposed to an incremental change.

I don't think I would have had the courage to go big and have everyone try this if we weren't forced to.

But it did open my eyes.

And it did tell me some things, if you do them big, they actually work.

PAUL SOLMAN: And it's not just Nielsen, of course.

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook's 45,000 employees: MARK ZUCKERBERG, Chairman and CEO, Facebook: I think that it's quite possible that, over the next five to 10 years, about 50 percent of our people could be working remotely.

PAUL SOLMAN: Nielsen's policy?

DAVID KENNY: Most people will work remotely as long as they can, allowing people to have much more of a hybrid model in the future, where they're really only coming in when they need to.

PAUL SOLMAN: But, for now, the third of the U.S. work force that can work from home is doing so, full time.

Economist Nick Bloom: NICHOLAS BLOOM, Stanford University: Maybe a year or two from now, when firms relax and say, look, you can come back into the office if you like, you can come back in two or three days a week, and spend the other couple of days at home, that's, you know, the promised land.

But that's definitely not where we are now.

PAUL SOLMAN: Now, work from home has long had a surprisingly bad rap, as Bloom illustrated in a 2017 TED Talk.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: If you go to Google or to Bing and you punch in working from home into image search, what do you get?

A lot of pictures of basically... (LAUGHTER) NICHOLAS BLOOM: ... naked people, cartoons, people juggling way too many babies to actually be doing anything constructive.

PAUL SOLMAN: But Bloom, wanting to actually study the economic effects, found a willing partner, Ctrip, China's largest travel agency.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: Here's a picture of their headquarters in Shanghai.

They're interested in working from home because Shanghai is a phenomenally expensive place to run a business, very Dilbertesque, lots of desks and cubicles, and thousands of people working, taking calls.

PAUL SOLMAN: Two random groups of 500 workers each were studied.

The results?

NICHOLAS BLOOM: We found, amazingly, that the working-from-home employees were 13 percent more productive, which is huge.

That's almost a day extra a week.

And when we looked at the data, it turned out about a third of that was, it's quieter.

They said they don't get distracted.

My favorite anecdote was, I spoke to a woman that said: You know, the person in the desk next to me, she clips her toenails.

I see her leaning below the desk, and I hear that clip, clip, clip.

It's horrible.

And then the other two-thirds of the gain was actually people working from home work more hours.

They also took less sick leave.

PAUL SOLMAN: The 500 work-from-home employees were so much happier, in fact: NICHOLAS BLOOM: Quit rates dropped by 50 percent.

Ctrip, they reckon they'd made about $2,000 more profit per person at home.

They were super positive.

They rolled it out to the whole firm.

PAUL SOLMAN: And the U.S. experience mirrors Ctrip's, says remote work consultant Desmond Dickerson.

DESMOND DICKERSON, Cognizant Consulting: Welcome to remotopia.

PAUL SOLMAN: Working from home himself for five years.

DESMOND DICKERSON: Reports show that folks are more productive and take less sick leave when they work remotely.

And a huge advantage -- and I think this is going to be a game-changer -- is that the pool of applicants grows.

Now we have folks that traditionally couldn't make it into the office.

Maybe they have a disability or a chronic illness, or they're not in these places where these high-tech companies or major corporations are based.

So, that could be, you know, minority folks, or it could be folks that live in rural areas.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: And now they have basically the same access to the types of working-from-home jobs that everyone else does.

PAUL SOLMAN: No wonder, then, that Nick Bloom estimates working from home will increase three- to four-fold post-pandemic.

But wait just a second.

He, himself, a Stanford professor, is hardly working in a remote paradise.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: You can probably see I'm in a bedroom.

I had a call with two different people that were working in clothes closets.

I could see a shirt hanging behind somebody's ear, kids coming in all the time.

PAUL SOLMAN: As if on cue: You can bring her in.

Bring her in.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: You want to say hi?

CHILD: Hi.

PAUL SOLMAN: Hi.

Now, what do you call your daddy?

What do you call him?

CHILD: Doo-doo.

PAUL SOLMAN: Doo-doo?

(LAUGHTER) PAUL SOLMAN: But that's not nice.

(LAUGHTER) NICHOLAS BLOOM: Post-COVID, kids will be back in school.

But now -- I mean, I don't need to say anything else, I don't think.

PAUL SOLMAN: As for the childless?

So, you're the typical young worker who must love working from home, right?

JAMIE ANDES, Compass Real Estate: It has its ups and downs.

PAUL SOLMAN: Jamie Andes works for a New York real estate brokerage.

JAMIE ANDES: Mostly it's difficult to find the work-life balance, because it's really easy to continue to work into the night, and then it's bedtime, and you have had no time to yourself.

Folks will burn out if they're working those additional hours.

PAUL SOLMAN: And then there's the bugaboo most remote jobs now entail: JAMIE ANDES: Meetings, meetings, meetings, that's all we do every day.

It's difficult to pay attention to everybody, talk when you're supposed to talk, listen when you're supposed to listen.

People talk over each other, all of that kind of stuff.

So it's a lot more mentally draining than you would think.

I'm craving human contact right now.

So I want to go back into the office.

I want to be communicating with everybody in person.

PAUL SOLMAN: And that might actually help her career, since work-from-homers are promoted less, for two reasons says, Nick Bloom: NICHOLAS BLOOM: One is, out of sight, out of mind.

They get passed over, potentially forgotten about.

The second is, you may genuinely need to be in the office to develop the kind of skills to manage people.

PAUL SOLMAN: Skills that just aren't that easy to hone at home.

NICHOLAS BLOOM: I probably should have locked the office door, I think is the thing to do.

PAUL SOLMAN: This is Paul Solman, working from home, for the "PBS NewsHour."

JUDY WOODRUFF: Cute daughter.

Well, there is no doubt there's going to be a lot more working from home when all this is over.

And that has implications for, among other things, the value of commercial office space.

That will be Paul's next Making Sense story.

Now we hear from Todd Johnson.

He is the youngest pastor in Warren, Ohio.

And he preaches at the oldest black Baptist congregation in Trumbull County.

Johnson is driven to help the people he serves, especially during difficult times, and when a community member was killed by police in January of 2019.

Our Brief But Spectacular team spoke with Pastor Johnson before the pandemic.

PASTOR TODD JOHNSON, Warren, Ohio: As I preach to my congregation, I am ever mindful that I am preaching and teaching to people who lived through segregation and Jim Crow, and some who participated in protest and advocated for change.

So I always have in the back of my mind that I'm another link in the chain of progress, and I have this legacy that I get to look at every day to encourage me that, yes, it can be done.

I have wanted to be a pastor since I was a little boy.

It's a pretty significant thing for me to be able to minister in the same city that raised me.

In communities like Warren, it's kind of that place where everybody knows everybody.

And when you are working with a justice system in a community like that, there's a lot of distrust of the system because you're well aware that the officers, the prosecutors, the judges, the lawyers, they all know each other very well.

And, in our view, that might affect how tough they're willing to be with one another in matters of justice.

There was an incident with a young man of color named Matthew Burroughs.

He was originally slated to have a court hearing.

And that hearing was canceled.

And on his way out, an officer of the court attempted to stop him in regards to another matter.

And Matthew chose to flee the scene and go home.

A chase ensued.

And, as Matthew pulled into the apartment complex where he lived, neighbors and witnesses describe sort of slow standoff that culminated in a very quick firing of weapons by Niles police officers, resulting in his death.

Many feel that he was not a threat to the officers at all.

So, we have been fighting all year long for the officers to be held accountable for their actions.

Unfortunately, our Trumbull County prosecutor decided not to pursue charges, and the grand jury did not indict those officers.

I have always had a positive view of law enforcement.

I was taught to respect police officers and judges.

At the same time, I'm always cognizant that there are those who don't always respect all people the same way.

I worry that our community will give in to despair.

I worry that, sometimes, we can get so stuck in the successes of the past, that we don't see the promise of the future.

In some areas of our city, it's often seen as violent or crime-ridden or rankled by drug activity.

And while those things do exist, it's really not the prominent story of our community.

We really do have a wide swathe of individuals who are working in community organizations, churches, students who are excelling.

And we're not just another Rust Belt city that doesn't have any hope or any promise.

I think it's vital for young people to be a bridge with the historical knowledge that we have.

When I'm letting some young person know that they really do have a future ahead of them, and I'm letting some older person know that their best days really aren't behind them, that's when I feel the most free.

My name is Pastor Todd Johnson, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on being a young black pastor in Warren, Ohio.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And you can find all of our Brief But Spectacular segments online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Join us again here tomorrow evening, when I talk with former Vice President Joe Biden.

For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.