April 24, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The White House spent part of Friday addressing concerns about President Trump’s apparent conflict with his medical advisors at Thursday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing. Yamiche Alcindor reports, and Amna Nawaz talks to Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy about Trump’s tendency to make claims on a “non-scientific basis.”

COVID-19 is ripping through the Navajo Nation, infecting and killing people at rates that are above U.S. averages. Located across three states, the Navajo population is already vulnerable, with a high prevalence of underlying disease, a lack of infrastructure and limited access to care and supplies. Stephanie Sy reports on how the Navajo community has taken on the challenge of caring for its own.

In our news wrap Friday, the U.S. Navy wants Brett Crozier to be reinstated as captain of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. Crozier was fired after he appealed to evacuate the ship as COVID-19 broke out on board. Also, the Congressional Budget Office says economic damage and federal relief bills will drive the U.S. deficit to $3.7 trillion this year -- nearly four times more than last year.

After a particularly brutal week caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City, ICU nurse KP Mendoza considered one final task: writing a will. He's only 24, but working in the heart of a global pandemic, it felt as if death was stalking him. William Brangham talks with Mendoza about the psychological impact of seeing so much death and health care workers' struggle to help patients survive.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar was running for president just a few months ago, and now political rumors suggest she could be former Vice President Joe Biden's running mate. But Klobuchar says she’s focused on helping her state, and the country, to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. She joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the virus in Minnesota, federal aid for states, mail-in voting and her fears for rural America.

We take a moment to honor a few of the tens of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives to the novel coronavirus. It’s part of our continuing effort to remember the human impact of the pandemic. Judy Woodruff reports.

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including President Trump’s controversial medical commentary, the respective roles of federal and state governments in the crisis, American public opinion on pandemic restrictions, congressional pandemic relief and how they’re handling social distancing.