JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: feeling the pain.

The pandemic causes the largest quarterly reduction of the U.S. economy on record, as Congress struggles to react.

Then: antibiotic resistance.

The economics of antibiotic development hamstring the drug industry, as rising hospitalizations increase the need.

TED SCHROEDER, CEO, Nabriva: If we lose our antibiotic infrastructure, that's the real threat.

We lose our ability then to create the innovations we need when we need them.

And: BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: What a gift John Lewis was.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Farewell to a hero.

The late civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis is laid to rest.

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

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: The pandemic leveled the U.S. economy in the second quarter of the year, leading to the worst collapse since the Great Depression.

The gross domestic product, which is a broad measure of the country's economic activity, fell by 9.5 percent between April and June, when much of the country shut down.

If that drop continued over a full year, the economy would have shrunk by nearly one-third.

Parts of the economy have clearly improved, but the initial recovery may be slowing.

Weekly jobless claims were up again to 1.4 million.

It is the 19th straight week of one-million-plus claims.

Let's look now at the state of the economy with Ken Rogoff.

He's an economist at Harvard University and the co-author of a widely cited book on financial crises, "This Time Is Different."

Ken Rogoff, thank you for joining us again.

Worst decline in a quarter ever, just how bad is this?

KENNETH ROGOFF, Economist, Harvard University: I mean, it's stunning.

We're looking at Great Depression-type numbers.

Of course, we knew we had a very bad quarter, but we were hoping by now the virus would be calming down and things would be coming back.

But we haven't tamed it, at least not nearly to the extent Europe has or Asia has.

And so I think it is still going to be very difficult for the next six months or more.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let's talk about the larger picture.

But, before we do, I want to dig into this a little bit.

I mean, everybody knew it was going to be bad.

Everything practically was shut down in the second quarter of the year.

But what is behind this?

What do you see in these numbers that explain what's happened?

KENNETH ROGOFF: Well, we are all locked at home.

You can't go to restaurants.

Entertainment is shut down.

Businesses can't bring people in.

Frankly, I mean, I'm surprised it's not even bigger a number.

Of course, it would have been if we hadn't had pretty powerful intervention from the Federal Reserve and Congress, at least in the last round.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, as you think about it, I mean, you mentioned the restaurants, the service industry, but it goes beyond that.

I mean, what does this mean in human terms?

KENNETH ROGOFF: I mean, it just incredibly exacerbates inequality problems.

We have people who don't have a place to shelter in place that's comfortable or safe.

And there are a lot of other things going on, people getting other diseases that they're not taking care of, mental health problems, heart problems, you name it.

This is just a catastrophic situation, I think certainly the worst thing I have seen in my lifetime, the worst thing I think we have seen in generations.

And it isn't over.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Ken Rogoff, clearly, this is connected.

And we have talked to you earlier today.

And you talk about how much this is connected to what's going on with COVID, the fact that we are seeing a resurgence across much of the country, including in some places where it looked like it was getting better.

Can the economy begin to come back while this virus is still raging in parts of America?

KENNETH ROGOFF: I mean, only up to a point.

We need parts of our economy, not just restaurants, hotels and bars.

There are things like entertainment, air travel.

If people have to socially distance, there are limits to how much businesses can do.

I mean, frankly, I'm just stunned we don't have a national policy on something simple like wearing masks, which would help a lot.

Contrast us with Great Britain.

Their leader also said, oh, no problem, this is just a cold.

And, of course, he got it.

But then, when they shut down, they shut down.

And the virus is really in remission there.

Here, we kind of did it halfway, and we're just back to the starting line.

We still need to deal with it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you're saying that there's a direct, absolute connection between the economy and this virus?

KENNETH ROGOFF: Oh, absolutely.

This is a health crisis that spills over into an economic crisis.

And if you don't fix the health crisis, people aren't going to want to go out.

We're not going to have the economy come back.

It doesn't mean nothing can happen and we can't function.

We will learn to live with it.

But we shouldn't have to.

And you can -- they should do giant stimulus.

They should protect people, but there's nothing they could do that would help as much as some basic things, like improving testing, requiring people to wear masks.

Eventually, there will be a vaccine, but I don't know when that's going to be.

So, yes, as long as the virus is raging, I just don't see how the economy can come roaring back.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, we see the Federal Reserve, which has a lot of control over economic activity, saying it's doing everything it can.

And now we see Congress frozen in place, unable to come to an agreement.

How much does it matter, Ken Rogoff, whether they come up with a $1 trillion plan, which is what the Republicans are talking about, or a $3 trillion plan, which the Democrats want?

KENNETH ROGOFF: I mean, I think a $1 trillion plan is predicated on, we're just shooting up, things are going to get better, we just have to cushion things for a while.

That's not where we are.

I think you can argue at the margin of how to spend the money, but the states need help.

Local governments, small businesses need help, unemployment, the unemployed, et cetera.

No, I think the $3 trillion is much more on the mark.

And I don't know that this is going to be the end of this.

I think it's going to go on for a while.

I think it will be $3 trillion and then $3 trillion again.

I don't know what they're going to agree to.

I have to say, if they expect to get reelected, they better -- and I'm not just talking about the president.

I'm talking about Congress.

They better come up with something.

But this impasse, when people are about to run out of support, when there's so many people who are going to lose the unemployment, extra unemployment insurance, et cetera, it's -- we're on a precipice.

I mean, I think they will come up with something.

But we're just nowhere near out of this.

So, the $1 trillion is kind of dreaming that things are getting much better quickly.

They're not.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And you have said a couple of times that this -- it's hard to know how long this is going to go on.

I mean, what are we realistically looking at, next year, the end of next year?

I mean, what's the soonest this could start to look healthy again?

KENNETH ROGOFF: Well, the soonest could be, we get a vaccine, and everyone has it by a year from now.

That would be pretty fast.

But I don't think it's going to be that fast.

I mean, again, you have many experts on this program who can speak to it better than me.

But, right now, until that happens, we just don't know.

There's enormous uncertainty in the economy.

And people are in a very precarious position.

And there's certainly not going to be an exit in September.

There's not going to be an exit in November.

It's going to be well into next year.

We're a few months into this only.

It started in March.

It's still just the end of July.

We have at least the same again to go.

I mean, people are naturally going crazy from the confinement.

We need to find a solution, at least with masks or with something, so that people can function at some level, compared to what we have now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Grim forecast from economist Ken Rogoff.

Thank you very much, though.

KENNETH ROGOFF: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: A stalemate in the U.S. Senate again sidelined a pandemic relief bill.

Instead, senators left for the weekend, with federal jobless benefits and eviction protection set to expire after tomorrow.

Republicans asked for a short-term extension just for the unemployment benefits, but they needed unanimous consent.

And Democrats rejected a temporary piecemeal approach.

SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): What I'm offering today is a simple seven-day extension of the extra $600 a week for unemployed Americans, while we work through our differences on how to move forward.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This U.C.

request is clearly a stunt.

A one-week fix can't be implemented in time in, and the senator knows that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In turn, Republicans blocked Democrats' request to bring up their own relief bill.

On Wall Street, today's economic reports and the impasse in Congress ed push stocks mostly lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 226 points, to close at 26313.

The Nasdaq was the only bright spot, rising about 45 points, but the S&P 500 slipped 12.

President Trump stirred a new storm today with a tweet suggesting the November 3 presidential election might be postponed.

He claimed again, without evidence, that mail-in voting would mean widespread fraud.

Then he asked if officials should -- quote - - "delay the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote."

That drew bipartisan disapproval, including from the top Senate and House Republicans.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time.

And we will find a way to do that again.

That's November 3.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I understand the president's concern about mail-in voting, which is different than absentee voting.

But never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election, and we should go forward with our election.

JUDY WOODRUFF: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pointed out that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the sole power to set election dates.

This evening, just moments ago, the president said he does not want a delay, but he insisted again that mail-in voting would be prone to fraud and greatly delayed results.

A federal appeals court says that it will review an order to dismiss criminal charges against Michael Flynn.

The former national security adviser pled guilty to lying to the FBI in the Russia investigation.

Later, the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case.

Last month, a panel of the appeals court ordered the trial judge to grant the motion.

State lawmakers in Ohio ousted their House speaker, Republican Larry Householder.

He is accused in a $60 million federal bribery scheme aimed at passing a financial bailout for two nuclear power plants.

A federal grand jury today formally indicted Householder and four of his associates on racketeering charges.

Tropical Storm Isaias spent this day dumping heavy rain on Puerto Rico, touching off landslides and flooding, and knocking out power and water service.

From there, it headed toward the Dominican Republic and on a track that takes it near the Bahamas by early tomorrow.

NASA has launched Perseverance.

That's the largest and most advanced rover ever sent to Mars.

The car-sized rover blasted off today from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Its mission is to drill for rock samples that will be brought back to Earth and analyzed for signs that life once existed on Mars.

JIM BRIDENSTINE, NASA Administrator: If this little rover were to discover bio signatures of ancient life on Mars, I think it would transform how we think about space exploration and discovery.

I think you would see a lot of people wanting to do a lot more science and make discoveries as to what is out there, even in our own solar system.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The mission also includes a mini-helicopter that will try to take the first powered flight on another planet.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is said to be resting comfortably at a New York hospital after a procedure Wednesday on a bile duct stent.

Ginsburg is 87.

Earlier this month, she announced that she is undergoing chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer.

And former Republican presidential candidate and businessman Herman Cain has died in Atlanta of COVID-19.

He'd been diagnosed after attending President Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month.

Herman Cain was 74 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": recovery efforts are now reconsidered, as the U.S. passes 150,000 coronavirus deaths; questions about the atmosphere inside the State Department under Mike Pompeo's leadership; the economics of antibiotic development hamstring the drug industry, as bacterial infections increase; and much more.

The number of new COVID infections may be slowing a bit, but the virus is taking an enormous toll.

More than 1,400 coronavirus-related deaths were reported just yesterday.

Hospitalizations are up significantly, and at least five states reported single-day records of deaths this week.

All of this coming as the U.S. has now passed 150,000 deaths.

Many doctors and public health voices say it's time to change our approach.

William Brangham has that conversation.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Judy, in response to this growing death toll across the country, more than 1,000 health professionals have signed a letter saying that, if we don't change course and do so quickly, those deaths will only continue.

The letter is titled "Shut It Down, Start Over, Do It Right."

It recommends targeted closures in certain hot spots, far more testing, better contact tracing, and the need for unified, coherent communication.

Citing the successful efforts of other countries, it says: "We could have prevented 99 percent of America's COVID-19 deaths.

But we didn't."

One of those signatories joins me now.

Dr. Megan Ranney is an emergency physician, a researcher and director of the Brown Center for Digital Health at Brown University.

Dr. Ranney, very, very good to have you on the "NewsHour."

Can you explain to me why you wanted to sign this letter?

What's the argument, the core argument you're making?

DR. D-BOOØMEGAN RANNEY, Emergency Physician, Brown University: So, the reason why we wrote this letter and why I agreed to sign on to it is because we continue to lack a coherent national strategy to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

We're seeing a rising number of hot spots across the country, including in states that had managed to decrease the number of people who were infected.

And it is becoming clearer and clearer that, without a national plan, we are not going to get this virus under control.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, I ticked off a few of the things that you and your signatories suggest we ought to do.

Can you expand on that a bit more?

What's the order of business that we ought to be doing?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY: Absolutely.

So, the first and simplest thing is that we all need to be wearing masks all the time.

I'm not wearing one with you right now, because I am in my office that is closed, and there is virtually no one else in my office building.

Outside of this, I wear masks whenever I'm around someone who's not part of my immediate family.

And that's what we should all be doing.

We need mandates to make that happen.

We need it to be easy for people to wear masks.

The second thing that we need is, we need a coherent national testing strategy.

We have been talking for months about the need for tests.

And the reason why is showing up now.

For anyone who's tried to get a COVID-19 test in the last couple of weeks, you know that the delay in test results is growing and growing, making the point of getting that test almost pointless, right?

The third thing that we need is a national strategy for preventive personal protective equipment, things like gloves, masks, gowns.

If we don't have adequate masks, gloves and hand sanitizer, we're never going to be able to keep us all safe.

And until we can do those things, it's on us to keep people apart.

We have to do things like make going to a bar more difficult.

We have to do things like making sure that we protect the key parts of our economy, our schools and our essential businesses, before we open up places where people are likely to transmit COVID-19.

So, those are a few of the things that we're calling for.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mentioned that your letter states that, had we done a lot of these things that you are calling for, that we could have prevented 99 percent of the COVID-19 deaths.

Do you really believe that's true?

I mean, we have seen other parts of the U.S., like California that did many of the things that you're talking about, and they, too, are really struggling.

Do you really think we could have stemmed the deaths that much?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY: So, I can talk from my own experience in Rhode Island.

We put many of those measures in place here, and we relatively quickly plateaued that number of cases, and then saw a dramatic decline.

And for the past couple of months, we have kept our number of new infections and our number of hospitalizations at a very, very low level.

We did reopen in early July, and our number of cases is starting to go up.

So, our governor just yesterday said she's going to decrease the number of people that can be in a single place at any time.

By doing this, we are decreasing the deaths in our state, compared to other similar states.

And when you look at California, when they had those measures in place, they had fewer infections and deaths.

So, is it 99 percent?

Is it 90 percent?

That's a question of modeling.

But there's zero doubt that we could have a dramatic decrease in the number of hospitalizations and deaths were we following this strategy from the get-go.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, obviously, we have seen the economic devastation of the prior shutdown.

We have seen this incredible resistance to staying closed for one day more.

There's a huge push to open schools.

What makes you confident that the argument that you're making, through this letter and your appearances here, are going to change people's minds?

I mean, the tide seems to be pushing so much in the other direction.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY: So, the goal is to reopen the economy and to get kids back to school.

And that's precisely why these measures are needed.

I'm the mom of two school-aged kids.

I really want my kids to go to school physically in the fall.

I'm also a professor here at Brown.

I really want the students to come back.

And we're planning on that.

But that is not going to be possible if we don't have these public health measures in place.

Similarly, I think about all of my friends and colleagues' businesses.

Those are going to go under if people are getting infected by COVID, and are scared to go out and spend money.

In order to save our economy, in order to save our kids and their schools, we have to have these strategies in place.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Dr. Megan Ranney of Brown University, thank you very, very much for your time.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to concerns about the department that he runs during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Nick Schifrin was watching.

And he joins us now.

So, Nick, what are those concerns?

And tell us how Secretary Pompeo is responding to them.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Judy, congressional Democrats, former senior officials and even some mid-level current State Department officials describe to me a State Department in which Pompeo and his allies are protected and career officials can sometimes be sidelined.

The staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report this week detailing four concerns, number one vacancies, 11.

More than a third of senior positions are vacant or filled by acting officials.

Declining morale and confidence in leadership, as measured by the State Department's own employee data.

Increased fear of reprisal for employees who report suspected violations of the law and -- quote -- "disrespect and disdain" shown by political appointees toward career employees.

On that last point, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia challenged Pompeo over the case of Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was fired by President Trump after a campaign against her led by Rudy Giuliani that included false statements about her.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): When somebody works for their entire career for the State Department, and they are slandered with lies, and sacked for no good reason, that sends a message that could not be clearer to other State Department officials.

And it may be just a big joke.

I mean, hey, look at you smiling and laughing and calling it silly.

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. Secretary of State: Yes, I'm smiling -- I'm smiling -- I'm smiling... (CROSSTALK) SEN. TIM KAINE: I don't think it's silly to Marie Yovanovitch or the people who work for you.

MIKE POMPEO: I don't think it's silly to the United States Department of State to understand that every ambassador, every political appointee knows that, when the president of the United States finds that they lack confidence in you, the president has the right to terminate them.

It's that easy.

It includes me.

MAN: Senator Paul... (CROSSTALK) MIKE POMPEO: And you should note, I didn't slander anyone.

I did -- I did -- this was handled appropriately and properly, Senator.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Pompeo is right.

He has never criticized Marie Yovanovitch publicly.

In fact, Judy, senior officials around Pompeo say that he resisted Giuliani's campaign, at least for a few months.

But he didn't go public, to avoid alienating President Trump.

And that's the core of the criticism from former senior and current officials.

They haven't heard the public defenses of career employees of the State Department that they need to hear.

They also point out that only two and soon to be only one senior official is a career employee.

As for that Senate Democratic staff report, the State Department sent me a statement earlier, accusing top committee Democrat Senator Bob Menendez of blocking some of the State Department's nominees and -- quote -- "Notwithstanding Senator Menendez's obstruction, the Trump administration has effectively delivered on its foreign policy goals for the American people, their safety and economic prosperity."

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Nick, we know that, just last month, President Trump fired the State Department inspector general.

Steve Linick was his name.

And I understand that came up today.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, Democratic lawmakers accused Pompeo of firing Linick because Linick was looking into actions by Pompeo and his wife, Susan.

Now, Linick acknowledged in recent testimony that he initiated an audit into Secretary Pompeo and Susan Pompeo for -- quote -- "the misuse of government resources."

Linick also accused a senior Pompeo aid of - - quote -- "bullying" him into dropping a separate investigation.

And that is backed up by a recent whistle-blower complaint.

When a whistle-blower who witnessed misconduct requested clarification and guidance, they were blocked from doing so.

Today, Judy, Pompeo repeated that he did not know Linick was investigating him or his wife.

He accused Linick of -- quote -- "screwing up" the department's financial audit, and he accused Linick of leaking to the press.

MIKE POMPEO: He didn't act with integrity throughout that process in a way that inspector generals have to be counted on to behave.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Linick recently testified that he -- after he and other inspectors general were fired, he's heard that current inspectors general are -- quote -- "fearful of retribution" by this administration.

And, Judy, I have been told the same by a current inspector general.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Nick, something else that came up today, questions raised about Secretary Pompeo's travel inside the United States and dinners that he hosted at the State Department.

What about all that?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, Democratic lawmakers and former senior officials fear that Pompeo's travel was less about the State Department and more about his political ambitions.

He's traveled multiple times to Kansas, to Iowa, to Florida.

A senior State Department official tells me the travel was to recruit, to explain the department to the whole country.

And this official points out that Pompeo's predecessors also traveled domestically.

Judy, that is true, but former secretaries who traveled domestically extensively were traveling to their homes.

The Pompeos, of course, live in D.C.

The other concern from Democratic lawmakers and from senior officials that I have talked to is that these dinners hosted by Pompeo and his wife are more about collecting information from donors.

A senior State Department official counters that, telling me that all former secretaries have dinner, and former Secretary Hillary Clinton once hosted a dinner at her home with donors to the Clinton Foundation who had business with the State Department.

But the former officials I'm talking to say that those former secretaries had dinners about policy, and that these current dinners are about Pompeo's politics.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Nick, it sounds like it was quite a hearing, with some fairly testy, testy moments.

Thank you so much for following it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thanks very much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Last night, our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, reported on the ominous collapse of the antibiotics industry, just as bacterial infections are increasing as a side effect of the coronavirus.

Tonight, he explains why.

And please note, much of the video for this story was shot before the pandemic.

It's part of our regular series Making Sense.

PAUL SOLMAN: So, you warned us this was going to happen, right?

KEVIN OUTTERSON, Boston University School of Law: I wish I'd been wrong, but yes.

PAUL SOLMAN: That's antibiotics pricing expert Kevin Outterson, whom we previously interviewed in 2017, when antibiotics start-ups were worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

What's happened to the industry since?

KEVIN OUTTERSON: Four out of the last 14 drugs approved by the FDA went into bankruptcy in 2019.

And there'll be more drugs that are going to fall into bankruptcy in 2020.

PAUL SOLMAN: As a result, big pharma has dropped antibiotic development, and small firms making effective new drugs are nearly worthless.

And the pandemic is making things worse because of the need for new antibiotics to prevent and treat dangerous secondary infections in COVID-19 patients, especially those on ventilators.

LATANYA ROBINSON, Coronavirus Patient: It's horrifying, because you just can't get your breath.

And all you can think in your head is, am I going to end up on a ventilator?

PAUL SOLMAN: Here's the quandary, though.

The economic problems facing the industry were perfectly clear three years ago.

The first, as one-time pharma exec John Rex put it, doctors were reluctant to prescribe new antibiotics.

DR. JOHN REX, Infectious Disease Specialist: When you invent a new antibiotic that hits the very most resistant bacteria in the world, what we as a community want you to do with it is, sit on it, OK, and save it for just that rainy day.

PAUL SOLMAN: That's because using a new super drug too soon could spur the evolution of resistance, rendering the new drug worthless.

DR. JOHN REX: Once we have found this precious jewel, we need to protect it, because every use of an antibiotic, even a correct use, drives resistance.

PAUL SOLMAN: Stewardship, it's called, but not a great way to make money.

A second hurdle, said infectious disease specialist Lindsey Baden: DR. LINDSEY ROBERT BADEN, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Often, the treatments are short, a week or two, and intermittent.

And that's very different than for hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterol, where it's a treatment every day for the rest of your life.

PAUL SOLMAN: OK, so why not just hike the prices of superbug drugs, for the sake of discussion, oh, say $10,000 a treatment.

That's what they're worth, says Outterson.

KEVIN OUTTERSON: When you consider what oncology drugs, cancer drugs or orphan drugs that are being priced at hundreds of thousands of dollars, even a couple above a million, you know, when you think of an antibiotic that saves the life of the person, they're going to die from this infection, $10,000 is really a bargain.

PAUL SOLMAN: And that's why pharma start-ups are usually so attractive, says investor Richard Anders.

RICHARD ANDERS, Life Sciences Investor: There are a lot of drugs which make a lot of money at very high prices.

PAUL SOLMAN: But, he says, investors have come to realize new antibiotics can't be priced that high.

RICHARD ANDERS: Because the political system would be in an uproar, and the drug companies want nothing to do with that, because of all the flak they're already taking for fighting these battles on other fronts.

DR. HELEN BOUCHER, Tufts Medical Center: Because of the societal good of antibiotics, they feel like they can't charge more.

PAUL SOLMAN: Infectious disease specialist Dr. Helen Boucher.

DR. HELEN BOUCHER: The reason that we have been told that big pharma has disengaged is because they're not making enough return on their investment, plain and simple.

PAUL SOLMAN: But only big pharma can efficiently get these new drugs to market.

RICHARD ANDERS: As an early-stage life science investor, I think, when I invest in a company, how is that company going to get acquired by a larger company?

And if the larger companies aren't acquiring, then it's really difficult to invest in companies that are early in the market.

PAUL SOLMAN: Compare that to drugs for viral diseases.

Even before the frantic search for a coronavirus cure, the antiviral market was booming, more than doubling over the last decade, while the antibiotics market shrank.

But what, besides the increasing aversion to raising antibiotic prices, has changed in the last three years?

The economics of hospitals.

KEVIN OUTTERSON: If you go into a hospital with bacterial pneumonia, the hospital gets a fixed payment.

If they use the cheap antibiotic or the expensive antibiotic, the hospital gets paid the same.

PAUL SOLMAN: Not true for antivirals, by contrast, which face no such reimbursement constraints.

Meanwhile, says Kevin Outterson, hospitals have come under increasingly intense cost pressure, made even worse by the decrease in elective surgeries during COVID.

So, new antibiotics are simply too pricey, given cheaper alternatives.

KEVIN OUTTERSON: A course of treatment of a common generic might be $150 over an entire hospital stay.

And for the most expensive antibiotic, it might be $8,000 to $10,000.

PAUL SOLMAN: Ted Schroeder's drug, Xenleta, is actually just $1,000 a treatment, and even that's too much.

TED SCHROEDER, CEO, Nabriva: So, the economic problem really is a reimbursement problem.

PAUL SOLMAN: And three years ago?

TED SCHROEDER: I don't think anyone anticipated that hospital margins would fall so low so quickly.

PAUL SOLMAN: Finally, Tetraphase CEO Larry Edwards, whose drug Xerava is also $1,000 for a course of treatment, but his business was moribund.

What can he say to doctors, he asks, who tell him: LARRY EDWARDS, CEO, Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals: I had a patient that came in with an intra-abdominal infection, we gave them your drug, and it saved their life.

PAUL SOLMAN: Tetraphase sold itself in March to another small pharma firm for a song:, one-tenth its market value just three years ago.

Now, before you despair completely, there are even newer antibiotics in the pipeline.

KEVIN OUTTERSON: We have supported 56 small companies at this point, with millions of dollars.

PAUL SOLMAN: Kevin Outterson runs Carb-X, a public-private partnership that invests in new antibiotics.

This meeting occurred before physical distancing rules were put in place.

Erin Duffy, Carb-X R&D chief, says it's a constant battle against bacterial resistance.

ERIN DUFFY, Former Chief Scientist, Melinta Therapeutics: It has happened in as short as a six-month period of time, which is the whole reason that we have to keep innovating.

PAUL SOLMAN: And innovating, they have been.

But will the new drugs ever get to market?

There is a bill in Congress to allow for higher prices.

And the world's largest drug companies just announced a billion-dollar fund to help bring two to four new antibiotics to FDA approval.

But then what, asks John Rex, given the reluctance to use the new antibiotics already out there.

DR. JOHN REX: You need to have $350 million in revenue over the first 10 years in the marketplace just to break even on a cash flow basis.

That's not repaying anybody that's invested in you today.

It's just keeping the lights on, so the drug is manufactured and it's out there in pharmacies.

PAUL SOLMAN: So, as scientists exit antibiotics research in droves for other drugs, who will create the next generation to fight the next generation of germs, perhaps in tandem with the next generation of viruses?

DR. JOHN REX: We wish we had a therapeutic for COVID-19 right now.

And the lack of that is costing us -- I can't even begin to guess how much it's costing us.

You know, if we had a bacterial infection, it could have a similar effect.

TED SCHROEDER: If we lose our antibiotic infrastructure, that's the real threat.

We lose our ability then to create the innovations we need when we need them.

PAUL SOLMAN: Like now, when the dangers of underinvestment to prevent catastrophe are all too apparent.

Paul Solman from Boston for the "PBS NewsHour."

JUDY WOODRUFF: After a long hiatus forced by COVID, the NBA resumes its season tonight, and with the playoffs soon after.

It comes just one week after Major League Baseball began its delayed season and just days before the National Hockey League is set to return.

But, as Amna Nawaz tells us, there are very big questions brewing about the return of professional sports.

AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, even as the pro leagues are starting back up, they're doing it in very different ways.

The NBA has moved its league into a bubble of sorts in Orlando, limited to just players, coaches and staff.

And since mid-July, no players have tested positive.

Major League Baseball, however, is allowing teams to travel for a shortened season, and it's now dealing with an outbreak, 19 players on the Miami Marlins, that set off new protocols and delayed games.

To unpack all of this, I'm joined by syndicated sports columnist Mike Wise.

Mike Wise, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

I got to say, after all the planning, all the safety precautions, all the protocols in the MLB, days into what is supposed to be an all-out sprint to the 60-game season, this is where they are.

Are they going to make it to 60 games?

MIKE WISE, Sports Columnist: Well, as a sports journalist by trade, Amna, I hope so.

I don't think it's going to happen.

I just think the pandemic is something that is going to be, not just with society, but with sports, and for a long time.

And if I were the Major League Baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, I would have thought seriously about pushing my season back to 2021, and for various reasons.

I thought there was an almost, I don't want to call it warped, but a misguided arms race for the North American sports leagues, the major revenue ones, to get back on the field of play as soon as they could, and be the first one to capture American eyeballs.

I don't know why, because, clearly, as the Miami Marlins have shown, it makes no sense.

When you get a third of a Major League roster testing positive for the coronavirus, you're endangering not just the health of the players, but your season.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, in the NBA, it is a very different story, right?

The season restarts tonight.

They announced recently, as I just mentioned, that the 344 players down there in that bubble, that enclosed space, none have tested positive since they got down there.

So, are there lessons?

As you look at how the NBA has unpacked this, are lessons there for other pro leagues?

MIKE WISE: Well, I think the lesson is, you want to become "The Truman Show."

You want to put everything you can into a bubble, and you want to essentially hermetically seal yourself off from the world.

I think what Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, has done is pretty amazing, and it should be modeled and lionized across the country.

I also think, to work in that bubble, there has to be some sort of dissociation and almost a cognitive dissonance from what's happening outside the bubble.

I mean, we're talking 286 people died in Florida from the coronavirus yesterday.

That's the third straight day of record fatalities in the hottest spot in the country.

Some of those people who died are mere miles from where LeBron James and many of the players are staying in an opulent Disney-owned hotel and property.

And so while, on one hand, I admire the NBA, and I can't wait to see the games, there's a part of me that has to say, well, gosh, you really have to -- you really have to work hard not to see what's happening outside the bubble, because, if you do, you might realize that basketball shouldn't matter as much as it does right now.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, with the WNBA, we should mention, they have already restarted their season.

And there's been a lot of interesting conversations in the league already that the entire league dedicated their season to the memory of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home by Louisville police earlier this year, and to the Say Her Name movement.

Before the season opener, we should say, both teams walked off the floor before the national anthem.

You have players saying that they're not even coming back because they want to commit themselves to the Black Lives Matter movement right now.

There is a connection between what's happening in the league in the bubble and what's happening in the rest of the world.

MIKE WISE: This is true.

And this is where I will give the NBA especially, and the WNBA, some big credit.

We're living in an unprecedented era of social conscience among athletes.

It's almost a renaissance from the 1960s of Arthur Ashe and Tommie Smith and John Carlos putting the black power salute up in Mexico City.

These athletes are using a platform to essentially better the world and speak out about society's wrongs and ills in ways that none of us can.

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, Mike, so many people really miss sports, and they're really wanting it to come back, but safely.

Do you think that -- do you think that they will?

MIKE WISE: I'd like to think so.

I think it's important that sports resembles the resilience that we have going on in society against this pandemic, against this racial reckoning we're dealing with.

But I'm worried right now.

And I think the reason is, is that this doesn't feel like after 9/11, when the New York Yankees had sort of rallied a town and a country together, in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

It doesn't feel like post-Katrina and the New Orleans Saints, where they -- you could feel a town lifting up an area and this communal hope and bonding happening.

Right now Major League Baseball resembles the worst of society.

The pandemic is going on, and players are catching it.

And God forbid if a manager, an elderly manager, gets the virus and ends up in the hospital.

So, I'd like to see it come back.

I just don't know if it's going to anytime soon.

And that's about as -- that's about as real as I can be about it.

AMNA NAWAZ: We will take the realness.

We appreciate it.

Mike Wise, syndicated columnist, joining us tonight, thank you so much, Mike.

Good to see you.

MIKE WISE: Thank you, Amna.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The nation bid a final farewell to John Lewis in Atlanta today, after more than a week of celebrations of the life of the longtime congressman and civil rights leader.

We will hear some of the remembrances from his funeral service in just a moment, but we begin with a look back at the life and legacy of John Lewis.

On the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where, 50 years earlier, he and other civil rights leaders were brutally beaten on bloody Sunday, John Lewis reflected on their perseverance.

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): We were beaten, tear-gassed.

Some of us was left bloody right here on this bridge; 17 of us were hospitalized that day.

But we never became bitter or hostile.

We kept believing that the truth we stood would have the final say.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The civil rights icon was born near Troy, Alabama, in 1940.

The son of sharecroppers, he grew up in the Deep South in the era of Jim Crow.

He wanted to be a minister, and would preach to chickens on his family farm.

As a teenager, he began listening to civil rights leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., on radio broadcasts and would soon join the growing movement.

In 1961, Lewis volunteered with other Freedom Riders, fighting to desegregate lunch counters and public transportation across the South.

Many, including Lewis, were arrested, attacked with dogs and sprayed with fire hoses.

Some were killed.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: You believe in something that is so right, so good and so necessary, that you are prepared to stand up and be willing to die for it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: At the height of the civil rights movement, he led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC.

Altogether, Lewis was jailed more than 40 times.

He also became close to Dr. King, whom he called "my inspiration."

At 23 years old, Lewis delivered a speech at the 1963 March on Washington.

He spoke to the "NewsHour" about the experience 50 years later.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: I felt that we had to be tough.

I had to deliver a speech that reflected the feeling, the views of the young people, and also the views and feeling of the people that were was struggling in the Black Belt of Alabama, in Southwest Georgia, in the Delta of Mississippi.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Lewis was back in Washington in 1965, alongside President Lyndon Johnson, as he signed the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting.

Earlier that year, Johnson had called on Congress to pass the bill after a months-long, often violent voting rights campaign across the South, led by leaders like Lewis.

Johnson asked Congress for the legislation just days after Bloody Sunday.

LYNDON JOHNSON, Former President of the United States: But even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over.

What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America.

It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life.

Their cause must be our cause too, because it is not just Negroes, but, really, it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

And we shall overcome.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Voting rights became a part of Lewis' ongoing fight for civil rights.

After leaving SNCC in 1966, he began working with groups like the Voter Education Project, helping more than four million minority voters register.

Then, in 1981, Lewis won a seat on the Atlanta City Council.

In 1987, he was elected to Congress, where he would represent Atlanta for the rest of his career.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something!

JUDY WOODRUFF: While serving in the House of Representatives, Lewis championed what he called good trouble, continuing to push for civil rights, both in Congress and outside.

As a lawmaker, he was the voice for voting rights.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: The vote is the most powerful nonviolent instrument or tool we have in a democratic society.

And people should be able to use it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, later, gun reforms.

In 2016, in the spirit of his younger years during the civil rights movement, he led House Democrats in a sit-in on the House floor to protest the inaction by the Republican majority.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: Do we have the courage?

Do we have raw courage to make at least a down payment on ending gun violence in America?

We can no longer wait.

We can no longer be patient.

So, today, we come to the well of the House to dramatize the need for action, not next month, not next year, but now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: President Barack Obama awarded Lewis the Medal of Freedom and remarked on how he changed the trajectory of the nation.

BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: When we award this medal to Congressman John Lewis, it says that we aspire to be a more just, more equal, more perfect union JUDY WOODRUFF: Lewis stayed home in Atlanta for President Trump's inauguration, opting instead to march in the city's protest the next day.

REP. JOHN LEWIS: As a nation and as a people, we have come a distance, we have made progress, but there are forces in America that want to take us back to another time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In December of last year, Lewis announced he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Still, he kept up his good trouble fight for civil rights.

In March, 55 years after Bloody Sunday, he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge one last time.

And just last month, in what would be his final public appearance, Lewis joined a new generation of protesters in Washington, D.C., fighting for justice and equality.

For the final farewell to John Lewis today, local activists and national luminaries joined his friends and family at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached and where Lewis himself worshiped.

The funeral service for Representative John Lewis included remembrances from four former U.S. presidents, three in person, including Republican George W. Bush, who said Lewis and his faith elevated America's politics.

GEORGE W. BUSH, Former President of the United States: Listen, John and I had our disagreements, of course, but in the America John Lewis fought for and the America I believe in, differences of opinion are inevitable elements and evidence of democracy in action.

(APPLAUSE) GEORGE W. BUSH: We the people, including congressmen and presidents, can have differing views on how to perfect our union, while sharing the conviction that our nation, however flawed, is at heart a good and noble one.

JUDY WOODRUFF: From former President Bill Clinton a reminder that John Lewis, the activist, was also a committed bridge-builder.

BILL CLINTON, Former President of the United States: As a young man, he challenged others to join him with love and dignity to hold America's house down and open the doors of America to all its people.

He got into a lot of good trouble along the way, but let's not forget, he also developed an absolutely uncanny ability to heal troubled waters.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Former President Jimmy Carter sent a written message, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remembered the lawmaker she served with for decades, with whom she returned to Selma many times.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): That is what John Lewis was all about, nonviolently insisting on the truth.

He insisted on the truth in Nashville, in Selma, in Washington, D.C., at the Lincoln Memorial.

He insisted on the truth wherever he went.

And he insisted on the truth in the Congress of the United States.

He always talked about truth marching on.

He always worked for a more perfect union.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Pioneering activist James Lawson said Lewis was leaving a legacy of working against oppression of all sorts.

REV.

JAMES LAWSON, Civil Rights Activist: Racism, sexism, violence, plantation capitalism, those poisons still dominate far too many of us in many different ways.

John's life was a singular journey from birth, through the campaigns in the South, through Congress to get us to see that these forces of wickedness must be resisted.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It was left to the last of the former presidents to speak today, Barack Obama, to deliver the eulogy.

He chose to link Lewis' causes to the politics of now.

BARACK OBAMA: There are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive I.D.

laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the Postal Service in the run-up to an election.

He knew that every single one of us has a God-given power, and that the fate of this democracy depends on how we use it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The Obama eulogy was in keeping with Lewis' forward-looking final words to Americans, written shortly before he died, but published today in The New York Times and other outlets.

He wrote: "In my life, I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way.

Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last, and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war."

Late today, John Lewis was laid to rest in his beloved Atlanta.

And how much this country owes that one man, John Lewis.

And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Join us online and again here tomorrow evening.

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