Jon Taffer on saving the bar and restaurant industry: Trust and transparency are key

This is a rush transcript from “The Ingraham Angle," April 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is "The Ingraham Angle" from Washington tonight.

Now, we're going be examining the shifting goalposts from the meaning of flattening the curve, remember that? To whether we should wear masks in public? How can the public be confident in what they're hearing from the health officials if things keep changing?

And how do you explain the huge disparities in the cases in mortality in New York versus California? Two highly respected doctors in each of those states will tell us.

And also tonight, what will the bar and restaurant experience be on the other side of this? Jon Taffer of Bar Rescue - don't you love that show - is here with some insights and tips.

And Joe Biden's media appearances this week haven't inspired a heck of a lot of confidence. Raymond Arroyo is here for "Friday Follies" to break it all down.

But, first, my thoughts at the end of day 32, if you can believe it, America in shutdown. Now, as more COVID-19 data keep pouring in from across the globe, many key questions remain unanswered. Now, the answers to these questions are going to tell us how lethal this virus turns out to be, whether mutations affected its virulence and whether government shutdowns really worked. And then, finally, how should we proceed going forward?

Now, first, we have to remember that much of what we were told about this virus at the outset turned out to be wrong. Of course, China lied about its origins and engaged in a massive virus cover up with of course the help of the World Health Organization.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This could have been shut down a long time ago. They knew it and we couldn't get in, and in all fairness, World Health couldn't get in, and that's why I wish they took a different stance, they took a very pathetic stance and a very weak stance. But they say they couldn't get in.

But, ultimately, they got in, they got in much sooner than anybody but they didn't report what was happening. They didn't report what was happening inside of China. Now, I'm not happy with China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And trillions of global wealth and thousands and thousands of people have died as a result. And even now, the communist regime is still not giving us what we need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Do we have all the data that we want from China? What about that primary data about patient zero, and all that key data about the therapies that they've used?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No, I mean, I think any of us who have been dealing with this now for the last few months, don't feel confident at all that we have all of the data of the originally infected individuals, how long there were people in the circulation, or even now how many deaths there really are in China?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, that's somewhat of a change from what Dr. Fauci said back in February when I asked him a similar question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: The WHO has finally gotten the team of people and international group to go over there. So they're going to have ideas and boots on the ground to be able to look and verify these things. So, right now at this point in time, I believe those numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, the simple question is this, what is China hiding? And why? Now they still haven't come clean about patient zero, something I've been clamoring about now for two months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: At this point, we don't know the origins for sure. But China can't even tell us patient zero's name or anything about the first victim of this virus.

We want to know everything about patient zero.

We still don't really know about patient zero in China. A lot of that data is being withheld still from the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, today China revised their numbers of COVID deaths and Wuhan from 2,579 up to 3,869. That's an increase of 50 percent. Can we believe any of this? But let's stay on track here.

For some reason, few people seem to be asking a lot of different questions that stem from this first origination of the virus. For instance, why New York's COVID death numbers are so high compared to other cities, including China - Chinese cities outside of Wuhan and in countries neighboring China?

As of today, New York a state of 20 million has a staggering 12,192 coronavirus deaths, or 63 deaths for every 100,000. Now look at this chart. New York City has Of course 8,632 deaths or 102 per 100,000 people.

Yet in Beijing with a population of 18.8 million, it's only reporting eight deaths - eight deaths total or 0.04 four per 100,000 people. And Shanghai only reporting seven deaths, or 0.03 deaths per 100,000. In Tianjin, its three COVID deaths or 0.02 deaths per 100,000. This is totally weird out of - that's the nice way of putting it.

Well, the Beijing shut down for about two months, Shanghai and Tianjin were also locked down for many weeks. But before they all shut down, millions world allowed to move in and out of Wuhan and the greater Hubei Province.

New York will be shut down for at least that same amount of time, as all these major Chinese cities. Again, the disparities in these numbers must be closely examined. When you look around the world, New York City has a higher COVID death rate than every country in Asia.

Check out India's numbers. It's a country with 1.4 billion people. We're a country of 330 million people. We have 37,000 deaths. India is reporting 486 deaths. Look at Japan with only 190 deaths. What about Pakistan? 135 deaths.

What's going on in these countries? Is it lack of testing to - they don't have all the testing that they need. Does the widespread use of anti- malarials in some of these countries play a role? Russia closed its border with China pretty fast, was that dispositive? Russia only reports a total of 273 deaths due to the coronavirus.

Now, if I were Andrew Cuomo, I would be on the phone with the leaders of all these countries and the major cities that we referenced every day to learn about best practices, if those numbers are real, best press practices against the virus. Something bizarre is happening. If we took New Jersey and New York out of the calculus, the United States would be doing comparatively well, in COVID death, certainly compared to the hardest hit countries in Europe.

And by the way, there were more revised projections from the COVID modelers today. Remember, we were terrified last month to hear numbers like 2.2 million deaths, if we didn't know mitigation.

Then it was a 1 million, then it was 240,000 Americans dying, then it was 100,000. Then it was 80,000 last week. I guess, back to Monday it was 68,000 and projected deaths due to COVID are now at 60,000. By the way, that's slightly less - fewer people than - that we lost in pneumonia and influenza in 2017 and 2018. The 2017-2018 flu season, those numbers, according to the CDC.

Now, remember, we were told we needed to bend the curve in order to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed. Well, now it seems that the goalposts have shifted. I warned about this last month.

Elected officials are now keeping us shut down in order to quote "defeat the virus."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): We're going to get through this and we will reengage our economy when it's safe. But the last thing I want to do is to have a second wave--

GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): The order of events here, break the back of the virus, have a full or as close to full healthcare recovery as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Again, do you see what's happening? It's stop the overwhelming of the hospitals, what a noble goal. That obviously didn't happen, came close to happening in New York and New Jersey, but thankfully it didn't happen. They moved around resources, did a lot to make sure it wasn't overwhelmed.

But this is all extremely confusing and frustrating, and to millions of Americans it's really demoralizing, because they're glad the numbers are down. They're glad the hospitals weren't overwhelmed. They're mourning the people who've lost their lives, loved ones family, friends, it's devastating - devastating. But they're also seeing their worlds collapsing around them in this continuing shutdown.

There are far too many unanswered questions tonight. Too much about this doesn't make sense. And insistence of mostly liberal governors to keep states close that have had comparatively low rates of mortality, and that never came close to swapping the healthcare system, is just pushing people to the brink.

We're going to keep asking questions. Those are my thoughts at the end of day 32, America and shutdown.

Joining me now are two doctors who've been thinking a lot about the regional disparities in the coronavirus outbreaks. Dr. Neal ElAttrache is the Sports Medicine Director at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He's also the team physician for the LA Dodgers and Rams; and Dr. Georgios Syros who's the Director of Cardiology operations at Mount Sinai Queens in Astoria.

Dr. Syros, because you are in such a hotspot, Queens, I want to start with you. You recently wrote a piece suggesting that the airports are a big part of the explosion in Queens. A lot of the workers at the airports, lot of Uber drivers, a lot of people who live in close quarters with many people in apartments. But why might cities with huge airport hubs and crowded conditions in Asia, densely populated, not see the same troubling numbers as New York, thoughts?

DR. GEORGIOS SYROS, MOUNT SINAI QUEENS IN ASTORIA: To be honest with you - so, first of all, Laura, thank you for having me tonight. To be honest with you, I'm not sure about the other countries and whether their recording of cases and this is very accurate.

New York is a western country, and we are extremely good in documenting all the cases and watching mortality very carefully. Now, New York is very unique in - particularly Queens, in the in having that disease. Why is that?

So, number one is that, we are close to JFK. There's no other borough in the United States that harbors two major airports, LaGuardia and JFK in the same vicinity. The distance between the airports is minimal. So this, I think played a particular and pivotal role in seeding, in inoculating the disease.

I believe that many travelers came from Europe having the disease were not diagnosed and spread the disease like fire in Queens. The reason that Queens suffered so much is because of its unique characteristics. So Queens--

INGRAHAM: So Queens got hit - the airport hubs, understood. But Dr. ElAttrache, we had the first wave really from China coming into California, and it is a lot of virus swirling around California. A lot of close quarters, lot of people, obviously 40 million people. But it's like over 1,000 deaths compared to New York 12,000 deaths with half the population, thought?

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Hold on. Its ElAttrache, go ahead.

SYROS: Sure.

DR. NEAL ELATTRACHE, SPORTS MEDICINE DOCTOR, CEDARS-SINAI: There is a lot that we don't know regarding those statistics. You and many others have been pointing out that we really don't know the denominator.

Unfortunately, our modeling and what we do know with regard to the statistics of what's happening both in Los Angeles in New York, as we know that unfortunate part of the numerator, the number of deaths. We don't even know the death rate. We know the number of deaths.

And so a lot of the models that we're using extrapolates is based on the number of deaths, which is only one part of the calculation, we have no idea what the denominator is. So we're trying to figure out what the difference is and how the virus is behaving between a place like California or Los Angeles, and New York.

We don't even know the correct data, let alone the science of how the virus is behaving, what kind of haplotypes or mutations there are and how that might be different. We don't have the correct data. So I think the doctor is right on with saying that this is a big blind spot that we have.

INGRAHAM: Well, that's a - it's a big differential, though. I mean, it's a massive. It's a tenfold differential between the coasts, which leads a lot of people to start asking questions about genetic mutations of this virus, Dr. Syros, given the fact that the virulence might be quite different between the coasts, it's going to take a lot more testing.

But Dr. Syros so I want to get into very quickly concern about quote "non- essential surgeries" not being done now in these COVID hospitals that are seeing a cancellations of surgeries and a loss of a lot of patients and of course revenue, really quickly.

SYROS: Yes, real quickly. Just to answer the first question, the dense - the population density is very different from the coasts, OK. So LA is very different populated compared to Queens. We're much more densely populated compared to other side of the coast.

Regarding the non-essential surgeries, it's an issue. And I have personally experienced as a cardiologist and electrophysiologist that we have a lot of patients that remain home with a lot of issues and we cannot do anything about it. So there is a lot of concern in the community about this. Now how do we tackle this?

INGRAHAM: Yes? OK. I got - we're going to go on to Dr. ElAttrache, because your screen is frozen there. Dr. ElAttrache, I want to get to the Santa Clara County, California issue, because now they have only 1,833 confirmed COVID cases. They have 69 deaths. There mortality rate of 3.8 percent. But that's already pretty low.

But what if it's even lower, because Stanford released this new study today that found a higher prevalence of COVID antibodies in the county and they say it could be from 50 to 80 times more people infected than they thought. Meaning, they've already been infected. They've already --most of them going on with their lives and so that means the mortality rate Dr. ElAttrache would probably come down significantly given the widespread of this virus over many weeks. Thoughts.

ELATTRACHE: You know, lower, lower this, this illustrates an age old medical adage that this virus is being seen - has been seeing us a lot more than we've been seeing it. And the problem here is that it goes back to the data.

If we're using data that has such a big error rate, and it's - and we're using that data to help guide social behavior, and in my case, medical behavior, and it has such an enormous error, then we're not going to be able to appropriately take care of the people that were supposed to be taking care of.

And so when we need much better analysis of the data. So what we've done in addition to daily input from our major medical systems to see what impact this virus is having on our community to help guide our medical behavior, we've also reached out to data analytics people. We have - we've been working with a group of people that's an offshoot of Caltech virtual analytics that uses artificial intelligence built into the calculations that - so it's self corrects.

It machine learns and the calculation rather than being based on the number of deaths, is based on a continuing analysis of the statistics. So it corrects itself as you go. And so it continuously gets better and better and better.

And what we see is that using these types of calculations, the error rate in the typical calculations that are being used, for instance, from the University of Washington that are being used to model behavior and to guide behavior is five to six times more - has a five to six times higher error rate than the current calculations that we're using.

And so I think that the more we learn about this, the more we learn how to analyze the data, the better we're going to be able to guide social behavior and certainly medical behavior.

INGRAHAM: Well, Dr. ElAttrache we will - right, but what we've definitely learnt is that there is an enormous amount of people not getting any care for other things. I mean, you're an orthopedic surgeon renowned - world renowned. Lot of people aren't doing hip replacements, knee replacements, breast reconstruction after breast cancer. I hear this all day long cardiologists aren't a saying they're their patients. That has to be taken into account when you look at this - just the COVID issue, all the other people who are being affected, right Dr. ElAttrache.

ELATTRACHE: Absolutely. It's heartbreaking when I hear some of the stories. I have a friend that's a breast reconstructive surgeon who - his practice is geared towards reconstructing the breast of young women that are unfortunately affected with breast cancer and have had bilateral mastectomies and he can't help them.

There's people that are desperate in my profession. There's people that have been lumped into the big category of people with - of elective surgery who - their livelihoods are being affected by the problems that they have, let alone how the outcome is ultimately going to be if these things are delayed.

So we as a society need to get a handle on this, because we're going to unfortunately be living side by side as humans with this virus on this planet for the foreseeable future, if not forever to some degree. And if we don't get better data to handle this problem and control the virus the virus is going to control us.

INGRAHAM: Doctors thanks so much. And coming up, a few weeks ago, they told us we wouldn't have to change our behavior to fight COVID. Now, most Americans have entered a total lockdown for over a month. Do the goalposts keep moving? If so, why? We're going to explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: this concern about flattening that curve, why don't we talk about that, because you don't want to overwhelm the healthcare system.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, FMR SURGEON GENERAL OF THE U.S.: We're simply not equipped to deal with a massive surge of patients, that's why flattening the curve is so important.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is this desire to try not to overwhelm the hospitals. I mean, it's something that we've been talking about this flattening the curve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, that's what they were telling us a month ago, flattening the curve means making sure we don't swamp and ultimately destroy, overwhelm our hospital system. So after weeks of social distancing, sheltering in place, shut downs, we've succeeded, even in the hardest hit areas like New York. But now that's not enough we're being told.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH FAIR, MSNBC SCIENCE CONTRIBUTOR: We'd like to see some really steady decreases - almost to zero before we start relaxing those social distancing measures.

MURPHY: I wish you will break the back of the curve, the virus, bring it down as far as we can, as close to zero and begin responsibly, get back in - to get back on our feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But flattening the curve hasn't been the only shift, it's also been our - about our general behavior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should we be changing our habits and if so how?

FAUCI: No, right now at this moment, there is no need to change anything you're doing on a day by day basis.

SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FRM FDA COMMISSIONER: This is going to circulate in the background. The consumer is not going to bounce back. People are going to be afraid to go out. This virus is going to continue to change our lives until we develop a better set of tools to deal with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And finally, about the issue of masks in public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: There are things that people can do to stay safe. There are things they shouldn't be doing. And one of the things they shouldn't be doing, the general public, is going out and buying masks.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Wearing a mask is one of the best things that we can do. If you get on the bus, you need to wear a mask. If you get in a train, you need to wear a mask.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, the public needs is information they can rely on that's consistent from those who are relying - we're relying on to keep us safe. And if we don't then you can expect a lot of - people who are getting pretty upset about these lockdowns across the country.

Because the goalposts shifts, well, states all across the country getting antsy. Americans want to get back to work and the governors in states that have largely controlled the outbreak or we didn't see much of an outbreak at all, are making plans to just do that.

Well, Texas, for example, released a rolling timeline for lifting coronavirus restrictions on April 20th. They're reopening state parks on April 22nd, removing some restrictions on elective surgeries on April 24th. Retail Stores can start offering "to go" services. On April 27th, the governor will unveil more details on opening businesses like theaters and restaurants.

Joining me now is Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas and also Marty Davis, President and CEO of Minnesota's Cambria. Lieutenant Governor, let's start with you critics are saying that you all have the 10th highest number of cases in the country, so why are you ready to get this reopening thing going?

LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK (R-TX): Well, because, we're watching, Laura, the hospitalizations, we're watching the death rate. I don't know if I'm exact on this number, but I think we're the lowest per capita deaths in the world possibility. We have 29 million citizens and we've had 14 - 417 deaths as of earlier today.

So our citizens are doing it right. What we've done is working - our 29 million people, and every life is precious and valuable. We don't diminish that. But Texans are ready to get back at work. And today I joined the governor in the press conference, and we're rolling out slowly, smartly and safely, but we need to get back to work. We can do two things at once. America is ready to get back. Texans are ready to get back and we're leading the way.

INGRAHAM: Marty, Minnesota is a very interesting state for a lot of reasons. I love Minnesota. But comparatively you have few COVID deaths, thankfully. You have been able to control this pretty well, yet you have a pretty serious lockdown in place. It's been somewhat relaxed with golf course as I understand today, that's nice, that's going to be opening. But people are protesting at the governor's mansion. They're saying or done with the shutdown and they were out there and Trump's tweeting, liberate Minnesota. Marty, what's going on?

MARTY DAVIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CAMBRIA: Well, I think there's a lot there and it's moving fast. We went out on shelter in house on the 27th. So we've been out 21 days. Our governor has done a really good job in the last 21 days to steward and navigate our state.

I think what cause - it's getting lengthy to consider staying out longer. It was extended to May the 4th, and so people are getting very restless. We need to get the businesses and kids back to school, the businesses back to work to be sure.

I think what alarmed Minnesota was the regional partnership that was created a couple days ago - a day ago with Michigan and Ohio and Kentucky and Indiana, Wisconsin, and I really think that threw an alarm towards Minnesota as citizens.

Our governor, I think has corrected that or maybe not corrected it, but clarified it for us, Laura. And that - well, they're going to have a learning exchange and a collaboration at that level that, in fact, our governor is going to govern the state independently with reality on the ground here in Minnesota.

And he proved that today by opening up golf courses, opening up the lakes fishing. It's a big area for Minnesota for that aspect, as well as he opened up poultry (ph) sales with takeout and he just signed up bill an hour ago. So I'm actually optimistic that he is going to turn the corner on this thing.

INGRAHAM: Well, people are getting restless--

DAVIS: --come out of it, Laura,

INGRAHAM: People are getting restless. Yes, Dan, people are getting restless. You see in Huntington Beach, California. There been people at Huntington Beach. You had the Michigan protests. You have the Pennsylvania State Senate saying no to the governor's very draconian shut down there.

And you just get that some people - want the elderly, especially the vulnerable, to be protected. They want maybe new protocols for a while. But, Dan, there's a lot of people concern that the new normal, they say we have to live in, is what basically what they've always wanted. They want fewer cars, they - they don't like this idea of necessarily all the is a Texans in the football stadium all the time. I mean, there's a lot of people worried that their way of life is just going to go along with this virus.

PATRICK: Well, we will get back, I believe, with the president's lead and with the private sector finding a vaccine at some point. We will get back to life as it was. But we're starting now to begin that process.

And Laura, I will tell you what people are really getting upset with, and that's the Democrats in Congress not showing up to do their job. We need the PPP program. Laura, I'm a small business person. Businesses need it. We're out of money in that fund. If I were the Republicans, I would show up every day in the Senate and the house and sit at your desk and say we are here to do the people's business.

And secondly, Laura, I'm really tired of Nancy Pelosi and Congress because, you know what, they're not hurt by this, Laura. They make $174,000 a year. They have not had their pay cut. They're at home. They're doing nothing. It's time for them to get back to work. And quite frankly, I think they need to take a half pay cut. And I can speak to that clearly, Laura, because in Texas, we make, our senators and our house members and myself make $600 a month. We work 50 hours a week, we have the tenth largest economy, we meet every year. We're volunteer public servants. It's time for Congress to take a pay cut so they feel some of this pain that people at home are feeling, because Congress isn't feeling any pain. The people in the small businesses are. Get back to work and cut your pay and show that you're with us.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely. Get back to work. I've been saying this for a month, where's Congress. For a month I've been saying --

PATRICK: And they're getting full pay.

INGRAHAM: The state houses all across this country and Congress should have had their butts in their offices doing the work of the American people. It's wartime.

Marty, really quickly, really quickly, you have a lot of workers, you have 900 workers at your plant in Minnesota. Give me an example of how this is affecting the average worker, real quick.

DAVIS: I'll give you a good example of what the lieutenant governor just said. I had an employee calling from L.A. after the mayor put the policies in two days ago, and she said, Marty, I'm no longer concerned about losing my life to the virus. I'm concerned about losing the life I've built to the lockdown and the restrictions. And she's a working mother with a 13-year- old and a two-year-old who has worked her ass off her 22 years to try to build something up, and now she's losing her equity, she's losing her financial security, she's losing a lot of the viability of her career and her future forward financially. And that really is what is driving these people to the streets, I think.

INGRAHAM: I think they want to save their lives. Mothers, fathers, small business owners, we are all in this together as Americans. We want to protect and save lives, but we want to save our way of life. I've never liked the phrase "the new normal." I've never like that phrase because it portends something different coming down the road long after this virus is gone.

DAVIS: And Laura, all people have compassion for the sick here.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely.

DAVIS: That's pretty cruel to say that somebody that wants to get back to work doesn't care about the afflicted. That's absurdity.

INGRAHAM: I know Dan cares about his state, and Greg Abbott, and I hope every governor and mayor has the same goals in the end. It shouldn't be political. Gentlemen, thank you so much, great to see both of you.

Two different states, two different experiences, but coming up, a new segment, "Whatcha Know, Joe?" Spoiler alert, the answer is not much. "Friday Follies," Raymond Arroyo, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means it's time for "Friday Follies." Biden has a plan to save us from the coronavirus, if he can get it out. And joining us with all the details is Raymond Arroyo, FOX News contributor, author of "Will Wilder 3, The Amulet of Power," now available in paperback. Ray, poor Joe is doing his best to stay in our minds during this crisis.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: He is, Laura. The problem is the content. He'd better releasing statements at that point, all of which brings us to our new segment, "Whatcha Know, Joe?"

(MUSIC)

ARROYO: Laura, a large part of the Biden strategy is to try to emphasize with the people in quarantine. He attempted to share his daily routine with his visiting angel in tow on MSNBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I text with and call every one of my grandchildren, every one of my kids, every single solitary day. Everybody's doing the same. Everybody's doing the same. And we got to -- it's just -- but you got to -- we got to reassure -- look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Jill Biden is like the campaign cheerleader, Laura. Yes, right, go, Laura. I'm going to be your cheerleader. I'll be on the side just going, yes, right. It's like Steve and Eydie, they kind of backed each other up.

The look on her face, though, as he tries to tell this story of how he counseled a man in quarantine is one for the ages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I got to -- I sat with a guy yesterday on -- on the telephone. He said, I got myself in the position where I got the virus so they quarantined me, and they put me in the hospital, and I made it out, and so I'm out. But they don't want me with my family. I'm on the third floor.

I spent 15 minutes on the phone with him saying he said I have a three- year-old and a four-year-old, and they come to the door outside, and they just knock on the door and say daddy, daddy, can I see you, daddy? Can I see you, daddy? So we spent time going through what I used to do with my kids when they were little, and I couldn't see them, and we'd play games. I said knock -- make up a game. Knock on the door and say, you know, practical things. The guy is scared to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, I'm scared to death watching that.

INGRAHAM: Wait, wait, wait. Raymond, Raymond, Jill Biden's face, she is looking at him saying I don't remember that game at all. I don't remember any of these games. This is a scary game Are you there? It's like Joe, are you there?

ARROYO: Laura, if he ever makes it to the White House, his hall of president's display at Disney will feature Jill looking worried next to him, back and forth to the audience.

INGRAHAM: All right, last night, Biden appeared on CNN, and he offered this solution to the COVID-19 crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: You know, there's a, ah -- during world war II, you know, Roosevelt came up with a thing that, you know, was totally different than a -- than the -- it's call -- he called it a, you know, the World War II, he had the war production board. I don't know why we don't set up something like a pandemic production board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: A pandemic production board, Laura -- is that a board that produces pandemics? The poor man, he's lost the thread. His ideas are all disjointed. And this is a man who tells us this week he's appointed a transition team. I think it's going to transition him right into the rest home. My heart breaks watching him, it really does. Night after night you watch this thing fall apart.

INGRAHAM: It's sad. It's sad, because we all realize we could be there. I hope not anytime soon, but you work to find the word, and it's just not there, that's a tough place to be in for any elderly person. I'm serious, it's hard.

ARROYO: Laura, I blame his staff for the lame set ups. They failed repeatedly. And then you have to blame his family for letting him do this. Here was one of his better moments where no words were necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: These people are starting to understand what at least what normal could look like for out period of time. What do you think the new normal should look like, Mr. Vice president?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, he's the Charlie Chaplin of politics, he just holds up the mask. Maybe that's a better way to communicate moving forward than trying to talk. Using no words may be the best path at this point.

INGRAHAM: The Biden campaign might be the first in history where the candidate just never leaves his house and refrains from using any words, right? That's actually a pretty good deal. He did offer a serious proposal, though, right? Let's watch.

ARROYO: He did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Keep people on the payrolls, and just have straight flat payment, a flat payment where the government pays half the salary of everybody on there, you can keep everybody doing half the work they were doing, but everybody stays employed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, this is pure socialism. The government paying you to work half-time. This is a solution to the crisis? I want that deal.

INGRAHAM: Ray, our show should have ended -- Ray, Ray, our should have ended 12 minutes ago, which would have been nice for the left. The left in America would be really happy if it ended, half-time, we're gone.

ARROYO: I'll say.

INGRAHAM: Before I let you go, the gals at "The View" had Dr. Deborah Birx on their show this week, and someone should have given them a pronunciation guide, perhaps, for their guest's name. Birx, Birx, Birx, ladies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY BEHAR, HOST, "THE VIEW": Dr. Birk, I want to talk about something you said in the previous segment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Birx, we know that there is a lack of tests in this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you Dr. Ca -- Dr. Birx. We will be right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Well, I guess when you're doing the show from home, Laura, it's sometimes hard to get the pronunciation right. It's not written on the card technically that clearly. So --

INGRAHAM: She almost said Dr. Cox, right, Ray?

ARROYO: Right, the doctor on "Scrubs."

INGRAHAM: Which was a doctor on --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: He should have dropped in on the show.

INGRAHAM: Well, Raymond, the gals at "The View" are always so nice to us, so we just wanted to send them off on their weekend of shutdowns with just a little tee-hee, giggle-giggle. All right, Raymond, thanks so much, have a great weekend.

Next, business guru Jon Taffer is here on how restaurants and bars can lead America out of this COVID crisis. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a bleak time for the restaurant industry. We are giving it our best effort to stay afloat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the psychological damage done to the consumer, right? So when are people going to feel comfortable together in restaurants?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last Friday, I had the worst day of my life. I had to lay off 650 employees. I was bombarded with questions of what do we do, where do we go, where do we find money? And I have no answers for them for the first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, if that doesn't bring you to tears about this country and what people are facing, most of the country is on shutdown, lockdown, whatever you want to call it. Restaurants, bars, they're getting absolutely creamed. And a lot of owners and their employees are losing hope.

My guest, Jon Taffer, this is actually an opportunity for the hospitality industry to reset and come out on top, he says. He's the host of the hit show "Bar Rescue," he joins me now. Jon, what do these businesses need to do to prepare for reopening and surviving under these new protocols of cutting their patrons numbers by a half, a third, two-thirds in some cases?

JON TAFFER, HOST, "BAR RESCUE": Yes, when we take a look at the whole spacing requirements, Laura, it reduces capacity by about 50 percent. And what business can survive on 50 percent of its capacity?

Laura, there's a number of things that have to happen. First of all, what worries me about the restaurant industry is the government surplus that we're providing now, the stimulus, is only maintaining us, or only sustaining. But to move forward, bars have to change their operations, restaurants have to change their operations. Street clothes in kitchens won't happen anymore. Protective gear in kitchens is going to escalated. We're losing capacity. Servers that handle can't touch food plates anymore.

So we have to add employees to the process. We have to add equipment to the process. The entire economic model changes. And that's just all operations. But Laura, when we think about restaurants today, you would go to the restaurant that had your second favorite hamburger if you trusted it more than the one that had your first favorite hamburger. And that changes the entire dynamic of the restaurant industry. It's all going to be based on trust now, transparency and trust, and that's what really is a challenge for the restaurant industry, is to create that trust in the way we handle food and the way we're handling the whole situation.

To do that, I think we need to be transparent. I see web cams in kitchens, I see completely different uniform programs. I see silverware not on tables when you sit down, but brought out to you in a sanitized kind of way. All of these things change greatly, but every brand, Laura, needs to focus now on trust, trust, trust in the way that they handle every aspect --

INGRAHAM: I think it's too complicated. Jon, I think it's all too complicated. I know -- I think we have to like solve this virus and understand this virus, because while all this sounds good, I worry that it's so many layers for restaurants that operate on such small margins as it is that they're just going to throw up their hands, there's no way we can -- we are not going to be able to make a profit. More employees -- they had to lay off all their employees, or almost all of them, Jon. You know what I'm saying?

TAFFER: I do. I agree.

INGRAHAM: So that's a pickle, that's a real pickle we're in with this you have to have all the gear and you can't touch this -- I don't think that's realistic. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but to me that just doesn't seem realistic.

TAFFER: We have a restaurant concept opening in July, and we've done those things. We have robotic cooking, we have food that isn't touched by human beings. There's not raw proteins in the restaurant. There are systems that we can develop to do this stuff, Laura, but we need help. And the stimulus package we have now is only sustaining our employees, or some of them, for a period of time. Where do the restaurants get the money to get their inventories back? Every refrigerator was opened empty in the country. So this affects farmers, it affects food producers, distributors. I believe that we have to have some type of a stimulus package that gets these restaurants open again so that we can fill our refrigerators.

Also a little thing, Laura, that can make a big difference is we're entering the summertime. What if cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, allowed more outdoor seating in a restaurant? What if we realize that traffic counts are down now, can we create mall streets in areas where there is clusters of restaurants? So maybe we can help by a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. But clearly, codes have to change, maybe a little more outdoor seating, we have to create systems that build trust. Laura, at the end of the day, if we don't trust the restaurant were going to, we're not going to go.

INGRAHAM: A lot of people aren't trusting what the government is saying about various things either, so there's a trust deficit -- the media, the government, what the health officials are saying, the goalposts keep shifting on what has to be done. And do we really know all about the virus that we need to know about it. So there's a lot of things there, Jon, that people -- repairing all of that is going to take, I think, an enormous amount of time.

But guess what, Jon, some people are saying going out to dinner or to a restaurant will be a luxury. Let's watch.

Oh, I guess it's a full screen, sorry. "Restaurants in particular will have to deal with two new wrenching changes brought about by the crisis. Social distancing requirements will reduce the number of diners allowed at any one time." And then it goes on and says "and enhanced unemployment benefits and the health hazard of being exposed to the public will make hiring low-paid workers harder." So it becomes a luxury good. I guess that's what it's used to be. That's what it used to be when I was growing up. We never went out to restaurants.

TAFFER: No. We all ate home back then. But you know, Laura, in this time of uncertainty, people that are great marketers are going to bubble up, great operators are going to bubble up, great promoters are going to bubble up.

INGRAHAM: Jon, and that's you, because we love your show. Jon, thanks so much, come back soon.

And coming up, Joe Biden is the only prominent Dem struggling with modern technology. We'll show you Schumer's latest flub.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for the Last Bite. Chuck Schumer channeled his inner Joe Biden during an MSNBC interview this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I've spoken to thousands of businesses on the tele -- web things. Web cams -- I forgot what they're called. Web things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Crazy kids and they are darned inter-webs.

That's all the time we have tonight.

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