April 15, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Much of the recent news about the coronavirus pandemic has focused on the globe's richer countries. But how is the developing world, where health care resources are strained in the best of times, preparing for COVID-19? To find out, special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reconnected with some of the social leaders he has interviewed in Asia and Africa. It’s part of our series Agents for Change.

The U.S. death toll from novel coronavirus is approaching 30,000. Though President Trump is eager to lift the restrictions prompted by the pandemic and “reopen” the economy, other leaders continue to express concern that doing so would undermine efforts to contain the virus. Trump is also battling with the World Health Organization over their initial response to the outbreak. John Yang reports.

In our news wrap Wednesday, it has been one year since fire gutted Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The pandemic has halted reconstruction work, but French President Emmanuel Macron vowed it would continue. Also, the world’s 20 richest countries are freezing all debt payments for poorer nations to allow them to spend more on health care and vulnerable populations amid COVID-19.

President Trump said Tuesday he will cut U.S. funding for the World Health Organization, accusing the body of being too trusting of China’s early assertions that it had the novel coronavirus under control. But critics of the move say that WHO is playing an integral role amid the pandemic -- and that no other organization is poised to take its place. Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Florida is among the U.S. states seeing cases of COVID-19 grow significantly. Its surgeon general now says residents will likely need to wear masks in public for up to a year. But for health care workers, protective equipment measures are much more extreme. William Brangham talks to Joseph Falise, a nurse with the University of Miami Health System, about the physical and mental strain involved.

South Korea has transformed from a COVID-19 hot zone to a leader in the global fight against the virus. Companies there are now making millions of test kits for export, and the public is voting in a parliamentary election despite the disease. Special correspondent Bruce Harrison reports from Seoul on how South Koreans have worked together to make progress -- and aim to prevent a virus resurgence.

At the White House's Wednesday Coronavirus Task Force briefing, President Trump announced that guidelines for reopening parts of the country would be released on Thursday. Yamiche Alcindor joins Judy Woodruff to discuss Trump’s intended timeline and why he’s receiving criticism for it, his new working groups of business and industry leaders and his desire to have his judicial nominees confirmed.

Schools across the U.S. have now been shuttered for weeks, forcing kids to stay home and parents to help orchestrate their online learning. But the adjustments to remote study and social isolation aren't easy for young people. NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs, our journalism training program for high school students, shares some of the ways teenagers are coping in the age of social distancing.

Dr. Mark McClellan and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, both former commissioners of the FDA, have been planning how to reignite a U.S. economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. But the gradual reopening they lay out would happen only after several key milestones are reached. McClellan, now director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

During these confusing and unprecedented times, we all have questions. The NewsHour is beginning a new weekly segment in which viewers submit theirs to us online and via social media, and we’ll do our best to track down some answers. Amna Nawaz has our first installment of “Ask Us" with Dr. Ranit Mishori, professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

During a period when art lovers can't simply visit a museum or gallery, a new social media phenomenon has arisen as a creative outlet. Participants isolating at home amid the pandemic are encouraged to recreate a prominent work of art using everyday objects. Jeffrey Brown has the story as part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.