JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: an uncertain future.

Reopenings continue, despite an expected spike in infections, as the president oscillates on dissolving the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Then: empty skies.

The airline industry implements safety measures to increase travel by the summer, but questions remain.

I talk with the head of Southwest Airlines.

Plus: hesitant to seek help.

An increasing number of Americans are choosing to forego medical care, even critical procedures, to avoid exposure to COVID-19 at hospitals.

DR. HARLAN KRUMHOLZ, Yale University School of Medicine: Maybe we have underestimated the kind of fear that now is pervading society, that's keeping people at home, that are making them think that the hospitals aren't safe places to be.

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

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: COVID-19 lockdowns are loosening in more countries tonight, but others are seeing new spikes of infections, with more than 260,000 deaths worldwide, including nearly 73,000 here in the U.S. Stephanie Sy begins our coverage of this day.

STEPHANIE SY: It's an unprecedented sign of the times.

New York City's normally round-the-clock subway service ground to a halt in the early morning hours, so crews could disinfect the trains and stations.

SALLY LIBRERA, New York City Transit Senior Vice President: We're trying out antimicrobial treatments to keep surfaces virus-free longer.

We are looking at ultraviolet light technology that can immediately eradicate the viruses.

STEPHANIE SY: The country's largest mass transit system will now be suspended from 1:00 a.m. until 5:00 a.m. daily for cleanings.

More than 80 employees, including at least 50 who worked in the subway, have died from the coronavirus.

Elsewhere, restrictions are progressively easing.

Meanwhile, President Trump reversed course.

One day after saying the White House Coronavirus Task Force will wind down, Mr. Trump signed a proclamation for National Nurses Day, and said he will name new members to the task force by Monday.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I had no idea how popular the task force is, until actually yesterday.

When I started talking about winding it down, I would get calls from very respected people, saying, I think it would be better to keep it going.

It's done such a good job.

STEPHANIE SY: But the White House faced news accounts that response efforts, coordinated by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, have been marred by inexperienced volunteers, making supply problems worse.

The devastation of the nation's airline industry was also a prime topic at a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing this afternoon.

NICHOLAS CALIO, President and CEO, Airlines for America: Passenger volumes have fallen over 95 percent.

More than 3,000 airplanes have been put in storage.

That's 50 percent of the United States' active fleet.

We're averaging 17 passengers per domestic flight and 29 per international flight.

STEPHANIE SY: Across the country, the pandemic continues to inflict a toll on the nation's food supply.

With meat production plants closed in several states, and customers panic-buying over fears of a meat shortage, local butcher shops are feeling the pinch.

Ken Stoysich is head of Stoysich House of Sausage in Omaha, Nebraska.

KEN STOYSICH, President, Stoysich House of Sausage: It's getting a little bit harder every week.

But, this week, it's a little bit more of a challenge than it was last week, but we seem to always come up with a little bit of meat to sell.

STEPHANIE SY: The economic fallout is also worsening in Europe.

The European Union today projected a recession of historic proportions this year, with the pandemic cutting output by 7 percent.

And while some countries are reopening for business, others are battling new waves of infection.

In India, a large outbreak was reported in the southern city of Chennai.

About 1,000 cases are linked to a single market that remained open during the country's lockdown.

Health officials in Africa reported the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the continent has risen 42 percent in just the last week.

And in Brazil, Sao Luis, the capital of one of the country's poorest states, Maranhao, became the first major city there to impose a lockdown by local decree.

Flavio Dino is the state's governor.

FLAVIO DINO, Governor of Maranhao, Brazil (through translator): We have a national challenge, where the federal government has an attitude of sabotage related to efforts to face this national crisis.

STEPHANIE SY: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the pandemic and said only the elderly and high-risk populations should stay home.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: The U.S. Supreme Court is again considering religious objections to contraceptive coverage under Obamacare.

The justices today heard arguments on the Trump administration's attempt to let more employers opt out of coverage for religious or moral rationales.

We will get the details after the news summary.

A black family in Georgia pressed today for authorities to act after the shooting death of their son.

Ahmaud Arbery was killed after two men, white men, chased him.

Now video of the incident has emerged.

Yamiche Alcindor has our report.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: A graphic video, a shocking shooting, and many unanswered questions.

This cell phone footage is believed to show Ahmaud Arbery jogging in a South Georgia neighborhood before coming upon two men in a truck.

The 25-year old tries to get around them.

And then: (GUNSHOT) YAMICHE ALCINDOR: The video, released yesterday, has brought national attention to the incident, which took place back on February 23.

Some believe this is yet another example of an unarmed black person shot and killed unfairly.

Charges were not initially brought against the two men, Gregory McMichael and his son Travis.

But after the video's release, a Georgia prosecutor announced he plans to call a grand jury.

WANDA COOPER, Mother of Ahmaud Arbery: He was a happy-go-lucky person.

He loved his family.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Wanda Cooper is Arbery's mother.

In an interview yesterday, she said the process has taken too long.

WANDA COOPER: A lot of time has passed, and I'm ready to get these people who are responsible, you know, in jail.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Gregory McMichael told police he thought Arbery looked like a suspect in a nearby burglary.

He said he and his son followed Arbery and told him to stop.

Then, McMichael said Arbery -- quote -- "began to violently attack them."

McMichael had been an investigator in the district attorney's office and a police officer.

And, according to The New York Times, one of the original prosecutors on the case argued there was -- quote - - "insufficient probable cause" to arrest the two men.

But he later requested to be removed from the case because his son worked in the prosecutor's office with Gregory McMichael.

Today, the local president of the NAACP called for immediate action.

JOHN PERRY, President, Brunswick NAACP: Right now, we're calling for a law system that operates in integrity.

And we believe that begins with the dismissal of the police chief that was in charge at the point of this incident.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Meanwhile, Georgia courts remain closed until at least June 13 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

An attorney for Arbery's family tells "NewsHour" the grand jury process would likely begin sometime after courts open back up.

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

JUDY WOODRUFF: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said today that it has now opened its own probe of the shooting.

The U.S. Department of Education released final rules today with new protections for the accused in sexual assault cases on college campuses.

The overhaul narrows the definition of sexual harassment, and it requires live campus hearings and cross-examinations.

We will return to this later in the program.

The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may go ahead with forming a new coalition government.

That is despite the fact that he is facing trial on corruption charges.

Netanyahu says that he is hoping to swear in the new government next week.

There is word that the coronavirus pandemic is doing serious damage in North Korea.

Lawmakers in South Korea were briefed today on new intelligence.

They said that the costs of food soared in the North after China closed its border to stop the spread of COVID-19.

KIM BYUNG KEE, South Korean Lawmaker (through translator): Due to the anxiety over unstable prices of goods, North Koreans have been panic-buying daily necessities.

North Korea's cabinet and security department have implemented various measures to stabilize prices, such as cracking down on market cornering.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The South Koreans say the pandemic is also why North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has stayed largely out of public view.

The North maintains that it has had no infections.

Today marked 75 years since Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies in World War II.

The news touched off mass celebrations in London in 1945, after Britain had endured nearly six years of fighting.

The war in Europe formally ended the next day.

Back in this country, President Trump has vetoed a congressional resolution that would bar him from using military force against Iran.

In his veto message, he called it -- quote - - "very insulting" and harmful to the national defense.

The resolution passed after Qasem Soleimani, who was a top Iranian commander, was killed in a U.S. airstrike.

And on Wall Street, recession fears weighed down much of the market.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 218 points to close at 23664.

The Nasdaq did gain 45 points, but the S&P 500 slipped 20.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the Supreme Court continues to hear cases of great consequence from a distance; Republican Senator John Thune discusses the federal government's latest coronavirus response; an increasing number of Americans forego critical medical care, for fear of entering hospitals; the CEO of Southwest Airlines on the industry's plans to reopen travel; and much more.

A closely divided Supreme Court considered two cases today.

The first was on the future of exceptions to a birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the second a challenge to a federal law banning robo-calls.

John Yang walks us through the arguments on both sides and the challenges that can come with doing them remotely.

JOHN YANG: Day three of socially distanced Supreme Court arguments brought a big dispute over whether the Trump administration may allow some employers to limit women's access to free birth control under the Affordable Care Act.

An order of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor is joining the administration to defend federal rules expanding the religious exemption.

This exchange between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, speaking from a Baltimore hospital room, where she's being treated for a gallbladder condition, and solicitor Noel Francisco got to the core of the issue.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: So, you have just tossed entirely to the wind what Congress thought was essential, that is, that women be provided these service - - these services with no hassle, no cost to them.

Instead, you are shifting the employers' religious beliefs, the cost of that, onto the employees who do not share those religious beliefs.

NOEL FRANCISCO, U.S.

Solicitor General: Yes, respectfully, Your Honor, I think I would disagree with the premise of your question, because there's nothing in the ACA that requires contraceptive coverage.

Rather, it delegated to the agencies the discretion to decide whether or not to cover its in the first place, and we think that that also includes the discretion to require that most employers provide it, but not the small number who have sincere conscientious objections.

JOHN YANG: Marcia Coyle of "The National Law Journal": MARCIA COYLE, "The National Law Journal": I don't think anyone questions the genuineness of the religious beliefs of the religious nonprofits, and they want very much to be completely free of any kind of role in providing contraceptive health insurance.

The estimate of women -- number of women who would lose that coverage is between 75,000 and 125,000, which is a substantial impact.

JOHN YANG: This is the third time this issue has come before the justices.

MARCIA COYLE: And today during the argument, there was a certain amount of frustration, I think, expressed by several the justices.

The chief justice himself said at one point that he felt that neither side wants to make the accommodations that have been existing in the law for some time work.

JOHN YANG: For nearly three hours, the nine justices heard arguments on this case and another on whether federal restrictions on robo-calls to cell phones violate the First Amendment.

Like millions of Americans, the justices are adjusting to working remotely.

Justice Stephen Breyer had some phone trouble during the robo-call argument.

STEPHEN BREYER, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: Thank you.

I'm sorry.

The telephone started to ring, and it cut me off the call, and I don't think it was a robo-call.

(LAUGHTER) STEPHEN BREYER: And we got it straightened out.

JOHN ROBERTS, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Justice Sotomayor?

JOHN YANG: More than once earlier this week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor had trouble unmuting.

JOHN ROBERTS: Justice Sotomayor.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court: I am sorry, Chief.

Did it again.

JOHN YANG: For lawyer Lisa Blatt, her arguments to the justices were unlike any other.

Instead of the marble column courtroom, she was at home, among her spectators, two dogs.

LISA BLATT, Supreme Court Advocate: I think I spent about two days getting the dining room set up to look like as much, as I could, the courtroom to have a podium and where the briefs would sit and where my co-counsel would sit and my timekeeper, my daughter, would sit.

My husband also was bouncer, so he was in charge of making sure that everyone in the neighborhood was cleared away.

JOHN YANG: One surprise from the new format, frequent questions from Justice Clarence Thomas, who has, at time, gone years without speaking.

LISA BLATT: In 40 arguments, I have never gotten a question from Justice Thomas.

And so to have one from Justice Thomas to come in 2020 was a career highlight.

So, that's the only perk, was getting to hear him.

And he's on fire.

He's absolutely on fire in every argument.

JOHN YANG: For Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Michael Fischer, on the other hand, today marked his first Supreme Court argument ever.

MICHAEL FISCHER, Chief Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General: I was worried that it would - - you know, that, in the lead-up, it wouldn't quite feel the same because I wouldn't be going to the Supreme Court.

But that, frankly, didn't happen at all.

And it felt, you know, more conversational in some ways.

JOHN YANG: When the justices dial in for oral arguments next week, they will hear the politically charged dispute over subpoenas for President Trump's financial records.

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

JUDY WOODRUFF: As Congress eyes the next coronavirus relief bill, lawmakers are divided over whether it should include funding for cities and states that are reeling from the economic impact of coronavirus.

Democrats and some Republicans cite governors and mayors who say that aid is needed to stave off thousands of additional layoffs.

But others, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, say that such funding would amount to blue state bailouts.

The "NewsHour" spoke with a number of state and municipal workers, many of whom are on the front lines of battling this pandemic.

BOB PHILLIPS, Fire Chief, Macomb Township, Michigan: My name is Bob Phillips, fire chief for Macomb Township, Michigan.

We're about 20 miles north of Detroit.

We're located within Macomb County, which, in Michigan, is one of the hot spots.

We have all taken an oath to help the public to do whatever has to be done for those that we don't know.

And this pandemic is no different.

Our job is to help anyone in their time of need.

And we're going to do just that, regardless of what the conditions are.

DESHA JOHNSON-HARGROVE, Wife of Coronavirus Victim: My name is Desha Johnson-Hargrove, and I am a resident of Detroit, Michigan.

My husband is Jason Hargrove, the Detroit bus driver who contracted the COVID-19 virus, and it took his life.

Jason was a dedicated, hardworking transit worker for the Detroit Department of Transportation.

And he loved his job.

I would hope that Jason's death is not in vain.

No deaths should be in vain at this point.

Do what you need to do to help protect all of our heroes out here, because that's truly what they are.

JARED ROSENBERG, Greenburgh, New York, Police Department: My name's Jared Rosenberg.

I work for the town of Greenburgh Police Department.

We have been working real hard to just find and get adequate supplies.

We're looking at a $7 million shortfall for the whole entire town.

So, of course, that's always going to lead to the possibility of job layoffs.

BILL JONES, Corrections Officer: My name is Bill Jones.

I'm a corrections officer for 30 years.

And I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

We have approximately 10 officers that have it.

We had 15 inmates that have it.

And we have approximately 24 people out on quarantine leave.

I know co-workers who have confided with me.

And they, like, just broke down crying, because they're so stressed out, by just taking it home to their elderly parents or to their children themselves.

And they're stressed out about it.

And then we come to work, and we don't have enough equipment to -- not enough gowns or masks for us.

CRISSY MYERS, Care Provider: My name is Crissy Myers.

I am employed at the Ebensburg Center in Pennsylvania, which consists of taking care of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

I have a sister who works at the unemployment office, a brother-in-law that works at the public welfare office.

They have twin boys.

I am very concerned for all of us, because we're all going to work every day.

SHIRLEY THOMAS, Laid Off High School Custodian: My name is Shirley Thomas.

I worked at Duval County Schools for 19 years.

And I was a custodian.

I was called into a meeting, and I was told I would be laid off.

And it kind of scared me and worried me for a while, because I didn't know how I was going to make it.

I have diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, and I had to cancel one of my procedures.

I applied for unemployment.

It's been almost a month now, and I'm still waiting.

BILL JONES: I'm worried about the pensions, obviously, as I'm getting older, and I'm ready to retire pretty soon.

BOB PHILLIPS: I would hope that Congress and those in Washington, D.C., would understand that this isn't a red or a blue issue.

It's a pandemic that we're all facing.

JARED ROSENBERG: I voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

And if I had an opportunity to speak to him, I would first off say that you're a New Yorker.

And New York state hasn't gotten what it needs.

There's going to be financial restraints on the government.

And I think it's real important that there's some type of state and federal aid to help prevent this, because it would be just horrible to think that these are the essential workers that help get you through, and then, when it's all done, there's nothing for them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For a front-row look at the tough decisions Congress is making on this and other issues, we're joined now by the second-highest ranking Republican in the Senate.

He's majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota.

Senator Thune, thank you very much for talking with us.

There is so much on the plate of you and the - - and other members of the Senate, but I want to ask you quickly about timing.

If this aid for small businesses, the so called Paycheck Protection Program, were to run out of money in coming days, would the Senate, would the Congress be able act to do something about it?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I think so, Judy.

I think that there's broad support on both sides, Republicans and Democrats, for that program.

It's been very successful and obviously heavily subscribed, to the tune of over now 650 billion or more dollars.

And so our decision, I guess, now, will be whether now we can plus-up that account, or whether perhaps we will need to extend the time period for those loans, because we are going to get through this -- we're burn through probably the eight weeks here pretty fast.

If the economy isn't up and running again, there are going to be some hard questions about, what do we do next?

And so, right now, we're in the process of evaluating exactly how fast the money that's going out the door is being used up, and then trying to come to some conclusions about what to do next and whether or not there ought to be another infusion of funding into the PPP Program, which, as I said, has been, by all accounts, very successful.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

Well, one of the main debates, as we have just been hearing and we have referred to, is over help for state and local governments.

As you know very well, these are folks who are on the front lines of fighting this pandemic.

They are firefighters.

They are police.

We just heard from a paramedic supervisor in the town of Greenburgh, New York.

He said he voted for President Trump, but he said, right now, we're in a situation where we may have to lay people off.

Governors, mayors are saying they're in urgent need of help.

Senate Majority Leader McConnell, though, has said this is something that he doesn't see as a priority, and other Republicans disagree with him.

Where do you come down?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think there are a couple of things about that.

First off, there's $150 billion that is made available to state and local governments.

Some are arguing, obviously, that that's not enough.

But I think most of us are of the view that, of those dollars -- and when they were allocated, they had to be used for something that was specifically COVID-related, costs only related to the virus.

The Treasury in the last few days has opened up and broadened significantly the definition of what that is.

And so those firefighters, police, people who are on unemployment insurance, even housing assistance now could qualify under the Treasury's definition.

So, the dollars that are out there are being opened up.

I think most of our members would rather give states and local governments flexibility on how the current dollars are used, before adding another trillion dollars to that, which is something that some of the Democrats are advocating.

But we want to see what's working, what's not working, what the need is, and how the money that we have already appropriated is being used, and whether it's not -- whether or not it's being effective.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, it sounds like you're saying there may be limit on what more can be done.

Do you see liability protection for businesses ending up as part of some kind of compromise there?

That's something that Leader McConnell's also talked about.

SEN. JOHN THUNE: It is.

And I think that there is an argument to be made, because we're already seeing reporting about lawyers lining up and filing lawsuits.

And there's tremendous amount of vulnerability out there.

You have got health care providers.

You have got grocers, people who are in some of these critical industries that could be subject to lawsuits.

And, as we start to climb out of this, and the recovery gets going, we want to make sure that we don't step on that recovery by having just the cycle of endless litigation that makes it almost impossible for businesses to keep up with the cost and, in many cases, having to declare bankruptcy.

We don't want to see that outcome.

And so some sort of liability protection, if people are doing things the right way, if they're following the CDC protocols, they shouldn't be subject to all these sort of frivolous lawsuits.

And I think that kind of protection makes sense.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about your state of South Dakota, where the governor has not issued a stay-at-home order.

Right now, businesses, public facilities starting to reopen, and yet we are learning that the coronavirus, while it may be flattening the curve in urban parts of the country, is continuing to grow in rural parts of the country.

How concerned are you that you may have a sleeper problem in South Dakota?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Well, wary and concerned, obviously, because we expect at some point that this is going to -- it's going to come out into some of the more rural areas.

It's been confined, as you pointed out, so far at least, to some of the more populated areas of the country.

And even in South Dakota, Sioux Falls, our largest city, has been where 75, 80 percent of the cases have been so far.

But as that starts to sort of break out into smaller communities and other communities across our state, I think it's something that we have to keep an eye on.

And we have to make sure that the social distancing practices, the guidelines continue to be adhered to.

Things are opening up a little bit, but, again, with -- I think, with a lot of those types of safeguards being put in place.

And I think every state governor, every community, they're going to have to be working together, looking at the data, listening to the health experts, and making sure that they're doing everything that they -- everything they can to protect life as they start to open up a little bit and get the economy back on track.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, Senator, do you think it's a good idea for the Senate -- is it safe for the Senate to be in session?

As you know, the congressional physician advised the House not to come back.

Right now, the D.C. area is considered a place where COVID-19 is still -- we're still seeing more cases.

Members of the Senate and staff, support staff, have had to travel back to Washington.

It -- how do you see this?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think that -- and, by the way, I think the House is coming in next week.

But we listen very carefully to the doctor for -- the attending physician for the Senate, as well as to those who are responsible for governing this place.

And they have been -- a lot of precautions that have been put into place.

We are social distancing.

When we vote in the Senate, we have extended the time for the vote.

We have asked people to come into the backdoor to cast their vote, and not congregate down in the well, like typically we do.

Our meetings are being conducted largely -- I was at a hearing this afternoon, Commerce Committee hearing, on the impact of COVID on the aviation industry, and everybody is seated six feet apart.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But... SEN. JOHN THUNE: So, the guidelines are being practiced here.

And I just think there are things that we need to be doing.

I mean, we are an essential industry for the American people.

And I think they expect us to be taking care and doing everything we can to get them through this crisis.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator John Thune, thank you very much.

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Thanks, Judy.

Good to be with you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Some of the most highly debated and awaited new rules around sexual assault and harassment on campus were made public by the Trump administration today.

The rules, issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, lay out how schools, both in higher education and in lower grades, should deal with and investigate those allegations by students.

As Amna Nawaz tells us, the new Title X guidance replaces Obama era rules on how campuses should respond.

AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, the new rules are a new blueprint for students to file allegations wherever they attend school, but they also increase protections for students and faculty accused of sexual assault on campus.

As part of that, the government is requiring colleges and universities to hold hearings and cross-examinations involving both the accused and the accused.

Erica Green has long been covering this for The New York Times.

And she joins me now.

Erica, welcome to the "NewsHour."

And let's jump in to explain to people exactly what is different.

The old guidance basically left it up to schools to navigate how and when and if they move forward to proceedings.

How do the new rules change that old guidance?

ERICA GREEN, The New York Times: The most significant change is that these new rules are law.

They have the force of law.

The previous rules issued under the Obama administration were in the form of guidance.

So that's akin to recommendations.

We advise you to do this in order to be compliant.

These rules are the law now.

They lay out concretely what schools must do in order to fulfill their obligations under Title IX and avoid investigations, and, at worse, the loss of federal funding.

They are obligated to hold live hearings, in the college context, not in K-12.

They are required to allow cross-examination.

Students cannot question each other, but advisers and attorneys, if they choose, may do so.

They have to allow appeals.

They have to allow both the accuser and accused to have access to virtually every piece of evidence, every piece of paperwork.

AMNA NAWAZ: Over the years, we can all recall high-profile cases in which colleges and universities were under fire for not doing enough to respond to allegations of sexual assault or rape on their campuses.

You think back to one of the highest-profile cases, right, Chanel Miller, who was sexually assaulted on the Stanford campus.

Under these new rules, how would a case like that play out?

Do fraternity parties count as something the school's responsible for, off-campus parties?

ERICA GREEN: Yes, it really clarifies that point in particular, which was actually a huge sticking point for both due process advocates and victims rights advocates.

The department initially proposed that schools would not have any control over houses, buildings, any area that wasn't within their campus setting or that they, frankly, wouldn't know or have any control over what happen in that particular context.

A significant change in the final rule is that schools now have to -- do have to be responsible for any activities that happen off-campus in a building or location that it controls or patrols, in any activity that it has some kind of substantial control over, whether it be a field trip or students going to an academic conference.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's worth reminding people, one-third of all American women experience some kind of sexual violence in their lifetimes.

Very few actually ever press charges.

For those who have studied those trends and are looking at these new rules, what kind of impact do they think these new rules will have on people's willingness to come forward with allegations in the future?

ERICA GREEN: Victims rights' advocates, women's groups who study this, researchers, academics truly do believe that it will absolutely have an impact and a chilling effect, to some extent, on the number of reports that colleges are going to see.

Just like in the law enforcement context, alleged victims are not going to subject themselves to being cross-examined and going through the legal process.

I mean, if you think about how many women or -- and men, victims who want to avoid going to the police, so that they can avoid court, many people are anticipating that students will want to avoid any courtroom-like or legalistic process that could be retraumatizing for them or not work in their favor, which could also be a deterrent.

AMNA NAWAZ: Such an important topic.

And we thank you so much for being with us to explain it all.

That's Erica Green of The New York Times.

ERICA GREEN: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And a note: When I introduced this story, I meant to say Title IX, but I said Title X.

My apologies.

Americans have gotten the message: Stay away from emergency rooms and hospitals, if you can.

But there are reports all around the country that say the message may be working too well.

Some patients who probably should go to the hospital for an urgent health problem are not.

Miles O'Brien has the story.

It's part of our regular segments on the Leading Edge.

MILES O'BRIEN: A historic pandemic may be raging, but at the EvergreenHealth Hospital in Kirkland, Washington, the emergency department is quiet, eerily quiet.

Registered nurse Holly Nelson is the manager.

HOLLY NELSON, Nurse, EvergreenHealth: Right now, our volumes are low, about 50 percent of what we normally see.

And this is a very uncomfortable feeling, having it like this, because we're used to just anything come through the doors, and, even the first weeks of COVID, being hit hard and not knowing what to expect.

MILES O'BRIEN: Twenty-five miles to the north, at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, the story is the same, empty waiting rooms, empty halls.

Physician Ryan Keay is medical director.

DR. RYAN KEAY, Providence Regional Medical Center: We normally see 240 to 250 patients a day.

Now we might see 140 to 180 patients a day, so very, very different volumes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Did that surprise you?

DR. RYAN KEAY: It did.

I have been on phone calls with medical directors from all over the region and all over the country, and some places report 25 percent decrease in volume in the emergency department.

Some places report 40 percent decrease.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a global trend.

In the U.S., the numbers are dramatically down at hospitals nationwide, not just in COVID-19 hot spots.

Jeff Tomlin is CEO at EvergreenHealth.

JEFF TOMLIN, CEO, EvergreenHealth: There is something going on.

Yes, people are choosing to stay away.

We even found that for stroke and even some of our heart attacks, there are less cases coming in now, which doesn't make a lot of sense, because you would think that there would be the same numbers that we have gotten used to over the years.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a mystery health care professionals can't solve definitively at the moment, but they fear the root of this massive drop in volume may be fear itself.

Cardiologist Harlan Krumholz is a professor at the Yale University School of Medicine.

DR. HARLAN KRUMHOLZ, Yale University School of Medicine: I think it suggests a behavioral pattern, one in which people are toughing it out.

It's highly likely that this is because people are experiencing fear and are afraid to come to the hospital.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's kind of stunning to me that someone, when they assess their own personal risk, would try to ride out a heart attack at home, when the concern is, you might pick up coronavirus by going to the emergency room.

DR. HARLAN KRUMHOLZ: I felt that way too.

And yet I think maybe we have underestimated the kind of fear that now is pervading society, that's keeping people at home, that are making them think that the hospitals aren't safe places to be.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's easy to see what kindled that fear.

WOMAN: Almost everybody is on oxygen, and almost everybody is a COVID patient.

MILES O'BRIEN: Scenes like this of overrun hospitals all over the world staffed with health care providers facing critical shortages of personal protective equipment.

But all the mitigation, social distancing and staying home has changed that picture dramatically.

And, meanwhile, hospitals have found new ways to make their facilities safer.

This engineer is testing to ensure air is not flowing out from rooms occupied by COVID patients.

The term of art is negative airflow.

He is part of a team that sprung into action when the crisis first hit at Evergreen.

Almost overnight, they modified the HVAC system to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens throughout the hospital.

DR. Francis Riedo is the medical director of infection control and prevention.

DR. FRANCIS RIEDO, EvergreenHealth: It turned out that the engineers here, who are unsung heroes in this process, could turn the entire critical care unit, which was built in 1976, into a negative flow unit.

We have, at this point, been able to convert almost a third of our hospital beds into negative flow by engineering modifications.

MILES O'BRIEN: But the question that bothers health care professionals most is:, what are the outcomes for those who choose to stay home, despite symptoms of a serious illness?

Dr. Krumholz believes they represent a sizable proportion of excess deaths outside hospitals that epidemiologists are tracking in the midst of the pandemic.

DR. HARLAN KRUMHOLZ: My hunch is that it may be a good third of the toll of people dying out of the hospital, maybe because of preventable illnesses that are not the direct results of the virus, but actually indirect result of people being fearful about getting care.

MILES O'BRIEN: The lingering impact of the pandemic and the fear have profound consequences for the U.S. health care system.

Hospitals canceled elective procedures in order to create greater capacity for a surge in COVID-19 patients.

With the disease curve flattening in many locations, executives like Jeff Tomlin are drafting plans to resume this part of their business.

After all, procedures are how hospitals make their money.

Just in March, 43,000 U.S. health care workers lost their jobs.

JEFF TOMLIN: We have almost zero procedural revenue.

And so that will be a challenge for not just us, but health care organizations across the country, because you're increasing your expenses, and then you almost have zero revenue stream in terms of how to compensate.

I think this is going to be a fine dance with the community, with government, with businesses, because we're going to have to prove that we can safely care for people as they come back in.

We have to get back to work.

MILES O'BRIEN: For now, the emergency rooms are largely quiet, except for patients with COVID-19.

And hospitals now wonder, once they open their doors wider, who will be willing to come in?

It's a question many other businesses will face as well.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Miles O'Brien in Kirkland, Washington.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, the U.S. announced that it would be providing additional humanitarian aid through the World Food Program to Yemen, including areas controlled by Houthi rebels.

The Houthis have been fighting a U.S.-and Saudi-backed government-in-exile for years.

But, as the coronavirus crisis hits a nation already at war, even deeper desperation has set in, as it has in another nation mired in conflict, Libya, where Nick Schifrin begins this report.

NICK SCHIFRIN: On the front line in Libya, the war never stopped.

So, there are now two wars, the spraying of bullets between the internationally recognized government and fighters loyal to an insurgent commander, and the spraying of disinfectant and social distancing measures to combat coronavirus.

For more than a year, U.N.-backed President Fayez al-Sarraj of the Government of National Accord and former military leader and U.S. citizen Khalifa Haftar have been fighting for control of Libya.

The fighting has driven hundreds of thousands of people into camps.

And now that the front line has moved to President Sarraj's power base in the capital, Tripoli, civilians are caught in the middle.

This bedroom was hit by a rocket that crashed through Abdel Moneim Al-Sharif's roof.

ABDEL MONEIM AL-SHARIF, Tripoli (through translator): What happened today was shelling in our area.

The shells were indiscriminate.

And this is my mother's apartment.

NICK SCHIFRIN: As Libya's confirmed coronavirus cases hit 63, Haftar is also targeting medical facilities.

Dr. Fawzi Abdalla stands outside a Tripoli hospital, where a rocket attack left cars full of shrapnel and a hole in the side of a building.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General: It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That call has gone unheeded, and, if anything, the battle over Libya's future intensified.

Last week, Haftar supporters declared him Libya's rightful leader, and he rejected a U.N.-backed political deal that's in place today.

KHALIFA HAFTAR, Commander, Libyan Arab Armed Forces (through translator): Dear free Libyans, we have monitored your response to our call to you by announcing the dropping of the suspected political agreement that destroyed the country.

NICK SCHIFRIN: President Sarraj has control of major port cities in the north, but little else, says Thomas Hill, a Libya expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

THOMAS HILL, U.S. Institute of Peace: Even though they are nominally the head of the Libyan government and Libyan state, they -- their power does not extend much beyond Tripoli.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And the fighting is fueled by foreign forces on opposing sides.

THOMAS HILL: You have Italy more on the side of the government of national accord, the U.S. on the sidelines, and on the other side, you see the French, the Emirati, the Egyptians, sometimes the Saudis, the Russians, sometimes the Jordanians, all backing General Haftar and his Libyan Arab Armed Forces.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In another intractable conflict to the east, Yemen is also ill-equipped for a pandemic.

For five years, a civil war has raged between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government of Mansur Hadi in exile.

In late march, the Houthis launched ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia.

And the Saudis struck Houthi targets in the capital, Sanaa.

In April, Saudi Arabia announced a unilateral cease-fire, releasing this statement: "The chance is still there for concerted efforts to reach a comprehensive and permanent cease-fire."

The Houthis rejected it.

MUHAMMAD AL-BUKHAITI, Member, Houthi High Political Council (through translator): The Saudi declaration is not a declaration of cease-fire.

It is continuation of the war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. had cut humanitarian funding in Houthi-controlled areas, fearing rebels diverting the aid.

But today's announcement means the funding will resume.

It's badly needed.

At a hospital in Houthi-controlled Sanaa, beds don't have mattresses, and most of the 20 ventilators are in disrepair.

Civilians all over the country who've fled their homes and now live in camps feel forsaken.

HASINA ALI, Internally Displaced Person (through translator): Neither the state nor the organizations are helping us.

They're telling us to stay inside the camp.

How are we to just sit inside when no one is helping us?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yemen's humanitarian crisis is one of the world's most severe, 1.3 million cases of cholera since 2016, widespread flooding that destroyed vital infrastructure.

A coronavirus outbreak could be disastrous, says World Health Organization representative Altaf Musani.

ALTAF MUSANI, World Health Organization: Millions of Yemenis depend on humanitarian assistance every month.

And so the virus, such as COVID-19, coming to Yemen is catastrophic.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For Yemen and Libya, where resources and patience were already thin, this is the worst time for another war.

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

JUDY WOODRUFF: With flights largely empty of passengers, airlines are taking a bath financially, losing tens of billions of dollars combined.

But they also are receiving billions in aid from the federal government.

As part of that deal, they cannot lay off their employees before October.

There are big questions about what happens in the months ahead.

Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic carrier in the U.S. Gary Kelly is its CEO and chairman.

And he joins us now.

Gary Kelly, welcome to the "NewsHour."

So, your bookings are way down.

You're taking precautions with your planes, and yet Americans, most of them, still afraid to fly.

What do you say to them?

GARY KELLY, CEO, Southwest Airlines: Well, great to be with you, Judy.

And, again, thank you for having us.

Well, yes, it's a really tough time for the world, quite frankly.

And I think people are very concerned about the pandemic.

They're concerned about their health.

Even if people want to travel and have the means to travel right now, in a lot of ways, there's nowhere to go, if you know what I mean, because, you know, the country's been on lockdown.

So, it's incumbent upon us, first of all, to keep air transportation available.

We are essential, according to the federal government.

We take that seriously.

That's also a commitment out of the CARES Act, is that we continue to fly.

So, then we need to offer a very safe product.

And that's what we're determined to do.

We have encouraged the TSA to began temperature scans, as an example.

We're doing deep cleaning in the airport, on the airplanes.

We're doing physical distancing at the airports, also on the airplanes.

So, there's a number of things that we're doing.

I'm happy to go into those in more detail.

But we just want to make the environment as safe as possible, not only for our customers, but also for our own employees.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we see some of the images of what Southwest is doing.

And yet people think about flying and they think about walking down the aisle.

They think about how close passengers are to one another.

You said you won't do away with middle seats, for example.

I mean, how do you truly make an airplane, which is an enclosed space, where people are going to be close together, feel safe right now?

GARY KELLY: Well, we will use a multilayered approach.

The first thing is, we're requiring all of own employees to wear masks.

We're also requiring our customers to wear masks.

We are not going to remove middle seats, but we won't book so many reservations, so that all the middle seats could be unoccupied, if that's what customers choose to do.

We deep clean the airplanes between flights and also at night.

I think, interestingly, we're using an electrostatic mister, which as an antimicrobial mist in it, which will adhere to surfaces, and then kill the virus upon contact for up to 30 days.

We have got hospital-grade HEPA air filters that keep the air clean and fresh on the airplane.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

GARY KELLY: So there's a number of things we do.

And we feel very confident about it being a safe environment.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But no matter how clean you make the plane, how disinfected, the passengers get on, and they bring whatever they bring with them.

I think that's what has people concerned about flying.

Is that a fear that you think can go away until there's a vaccine, which may be a year-and-a-half or two years from now?

GARY KELLY: I think that remains to be seen.

I don't think that it will take quite that long for people to become more confident to get out and go about their daily lives, travel being a part of that.

But I think all of us should have an expectation that travel will return gradually.

And that will be, I think, one deterrent.

I do think this, too, shall pass.

I do think that things will get back to normal.

But you're right.

I think we have to be confident with testing, with therapeutics, ultimately a vaccine.

We're in a recession right now.

Business travel will certainly be depressed, and probably for years, and I think we're in a low-fare environment.

Southwest is a low-cost, low-fare airline, and it really fits our business model very well.

So we're here to serve.

We're an essential part of the -- not just the U.S. economy, but worldwide economy.

And we're going to do the best we can to take care of our people and serve our customers.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Are -- is the airline industry going to survive?

Is every airline company, in your view, going to make it?

GARY KELLY: This is the worst economic environment I have ever witnessed, and I have been in business a long time.

I think it's the worst thing that's happened since the Great Depression.

So it's hard to imagine that you won't see businesses shut their doors, well beyond just the airline industry.

So I think all that remains to be seen.

We have got a duty at Southwest to protect our company and protect our people's jobs.

And we're determined to do that as best we can, do that with great service, keep our fares low, and obviously offer a very safe product.

So, that's our mission.

And I feel like our folks are very much up to the task.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How hard is it to do that, though, Gary Kelly, without, frankly, ending up laying people off?

You have made a commitment it won't happen until the fall, but how can you -- I mean, looking at the picture realistically, how do you avoid it?

GARY KELLY: Well, Judy, it's -- right now, it's way too early to know.

I think -- I certainly recognize that there is a challenge.

Right now, we're experiencing 15 to 20 percent load factors, which is well we low what break-even cash flow is.

So we certainly have our work cut out for us.

The good news is, we're seeing each week improve.

The bottoming was early April.

May looks like it will be a better month, hopefully June better still.

The bookings out in July look more encouraging.

It's going to be a gradual process.

But it's just too early to make the call.

If things don't improve, clearly, we're going to have to radically restructure.

But that's not something that we have to commit to at this point.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And can you say at this point how much more you need from the federal government, from the taxpayers?

GARY KELLY: Well, first of all, we came into this year very strong.

We have the strongest balance sheet in the U.S. industry by far.

We have got an investment-grade credit rating.

Our leverage was 24 percent in terms of the debt to total capital.

We have raised a significant amount of money and have over $15 billion in the bank as we speak.

So, we have got ample resources to see ourselves through a reasonable time horizon to fight our way through this challenge.

So, you know, the money that we got from the government so far was entirely dedicated to paying our employees.

And it's -- and it only covers 60 percent to 65 percent of the total payroll.

We did apply for a government-secured loan program and have access to that, if we choose, through September the 30th.

It's $2.8 billion.

It's just a staggering amount of money that's required, not just for Southwest, but for the whole country, to get through this crisis.

But, in the end, I don't know exactly what it's going to take, but I do feel like, based on a reasonable outlook, a reasonably optimistic outlook for the next 12 months, that we have got what we need to see our way through.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines, we certainly wish the best for you, for -- and for all of your employees.

Thank you very much.

GARY KELLY: Thank you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Join us online and again right here tomorrow evening.

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