Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim Sciutto 20201015

Direction in the fight against coronavirus. Dr. Fauci is warning against those pushing to lift restrictions in a move toward herd immunity. Watch. If you just let things rip and let the infection go, no masks, crowd, it doesnt make any difference, that, quite frankly, george, is ridiculous because what that will do is that there will be so many people in the community that you cant shelter, that you cant protect, who are going to get sick and get serious consequences. And despite the cdc warnings of even small gatherings, things like our thanksgiving dinners, the president is holding massive rallies with few in attendance wearing masks. Another one planned for just hours from now. Later tonight no debate but there will be dueling town halls, the president and joe biden set to take questions, make their case to voters as we close in on election day. First lets get to cnns adrienne broaddus, she is in wisconsin for more on the rising number of new infections there and also sadly across most states around the country. I feel like we talk to you every day on this kind of thing. Wed like to report better news, but the facts are as they are. Reporter jim, and poppy, youre right the facts are what they are. Behind knows new numbers were talking about people and their families, people who are hurting and suffering. For the first time here in wisconsin reports of more than 1,000 hospitalizations. The states positivity covid19 Positivity Rate is at 22 . Icus are strained. And every region in this state has at least one hospital and in some cases more, reporting current or imminent staff shortages. This morning the United States is facing a dangerous coronavirus wave. New cases are on the rise in at least 35 states over the past week and the country is averaging more than 50,000 new cases per day for the first time in about two months, recording nearly 60,000 new cases on wednesday, the highest since august. With holidays like thanksgiving just weeks away, dr. Anthony fauci encouraging americans to rethink travel plans. That is a risk. You may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering unless you are pretty certain that the people that youre dealing with are not infected. Reporter as iowa reached a Positivity Rate over 18 , President Trump held a rally in des moines with few masks in the crowd and no social distancing. Trump is also scheduled to hold an event in wisconsin saturday as the state experiences a coronavirus surge, reporting more than 3,100 new infections wednesday. A circuit judge temporarily blocking Governor Tony Evers efforts to restrict public gatherings to 25 . Just because some folks out there want to see full bars and full hospitals, doesnt mean we have to listen. The longer it takes for folks to take this virus seriously, the longer it will take to get our economy and our communities back. Reporter fauci says holding large gatherings like the president s Campaign Rallies are dangerous. When people are close to each other and you dont have virtually everyone wearing a mask, that is a risky situation that could very well lead to the kind of spreader events that we have seen in similar settings. Reporter meanwhile, the virus side lining the university of florida Football Program after at least 21 players tested positive. And alabama football Coach Nick Saban is now selfisolating at home after a positive covid test. This was routine every day, we test our players every day, i get tested every day. I feel fine. I felt fine. I was very surprised, you know, by this. Reporter as we look to the future perhaps we will end here on a high note. Dr. Anthony fauci said a safe and widely effective covid19 vaccine may be available by april 2021. A year after the start of the pandemic. Back to you guys. Thank you. Sobering headlines for sure. Still a few months to go for that for that vaccine. Well, today the president s Campaign Blitz takes him to North Carolina, another swing state, for a rally before he heads to miami for his town hall tonight. The president and joe biden will face off, kind of, in separate dueling simultaneously scheduled town halls tonight during what would have been their second facetoface president ial debate. Lets go to or john harwood, he is following the latest for us. Good morning to you, john. Its too bad that they are at the same time because not everyone is going to dvr and watch them all and thats just unfortunate, however, i wonder if the president may be more likely to actually answer questions from voters than he was from chris wallace. I think no doubt, poppy. I think were not going to see the truculent trump that we saw in the first debate with joe biden when he was constantly interrupting and hectoring, you cant do that in a town hall setting. It is unfortunate that they are both going to be at the same time and more people are likely to tune into the president because the president has better drawing power, but thats probably fine with joe biden. Joe biden is ahead substantially, hes going to have his with abc in philadelphia, stakes are much lower for him, he tends to do well at connecting and projecting empathy and thats what the town hall format underscores. For President Trump stakes are much higher, hes significantly behind in every state that hes going to be in today, North Carolina as well as florida, and the state that joe biden is going to be in, and the topic thats going to be front and center is what caused the cancellation of that debate that we were going to see tonight, the town hall debate, and that is the fact that the president himself caught coronavirus, many members of his staff caught coronavirus, he will have a rally in North Carolina where as in other states he is appearing without a mask and there is no social distancing, no masks or few masks in his crowd. All those things are relevant to the spread of the virus. The issue of herd immunity, which he has talked about, his aides have talked about, Anthony Fauci said is nonsense, and also the economic ramifications of that that we heard from Christine Romans earlier, that is, 898,000 new weekly jobless claims. The spread of the coronavirus is slowing the economic recovery, we have had 30 consecutive weeks of unemployment claims higher than in any week any single week before the pandemic and so the president is going to be on the defensive. We will see how he can perform tonight. John harwood, thanks very much. Lets speak about all of this, the pig picture with dr. Peter hotez the professor and dean of medicine at the Baylor College of medicine. Always good to have you on in the morning. So were going to see this again, right . A trump rally in a straight as it happens today, iowa, thats seeing an alarming spike in cases here, 18 Positivity Rate right now, thats well above the safe margins. What does that mean to the Overall National response to this as were seeing cases tic up in really most states. As of yesterday it was really all of the states. What does it mean . Does it mean were not going to be able to get a handle on this as a country when you see the president setting an example like this . Well, thats right, jim. I think youve hit on it. We are now about to exceed 60,000 new cases a day, so we are looking at a doubling of new cases a day over just the last few weeks. This is a very ominous sign. I think we are in for a pretty bad fall and winter and some estimates suggest this could be the worst yet so that we could double the number of deaths between now and the time of the inauguration or a week after the inaugurati inauguration. So 400,000 deaths. So this is a time when americans need to be reflective and i understand people are scared and upset and thats a normal reaction. So we can have a whole separate conversation on what to do about the countrys Mental Health and how we prepare for that, but this is not a time for rallies. This is not a time for bringing crowding a lot of people together, especially speaking loudly and cheering, which is releasing virus. This is the time when we could be entering one of the worst periods of our epidemic and one of the worst periods in modern American Public health. Im very worried for the nation. You bring up Mental Health and im so glad you did because if this is worse than it was at the outset, guess what else is worse, the unemployment. Unemployment so many millions of more people, doctor, are out of work, people are sick of staying at home, theres no stimulus deal yet and sos there no more aid for folks right now. I mean, that just seems like that is going to exacerbate this health and Mental Health crisis so much more this winter. Absolutely. Remember people are scared and remember we are not hearing any comforting words from the white house or the executive branch of the federal government. There is still no National Plan to control covid19. There never was. It was always about having the states in the lead with the responsibility of the u. S. Government to provide manufacturing support and that will not be adequate. So this could be a very troubling time for the country and this is why ive been recommending now, you know, start thinking ahead in november, december, january, who are the group of people that you want to social distance with . If you can avoid it, try not to be alone through this or at least have numbers to call, friends to call, have Mental Health counseling available even if you decide not to use it now, realize you might need it. I think this is the time when we need to built in belts and suspenders and recognize if you are going to get upset and depressed, this is a normal reaction to a very tough situation and especially since were being largely abandoned by the federal government. Dr. Hotez, can you help me understand the scientific answer to this question because you hear it a bit, youve heard it from the president make the case that in terms of deaths per population, the u. S. Is not doing so badly when compared with, say, europe, although Asian Countries ahead of both europe and the u. S. Is that a correct comparison to make . No, i mean, you can look at the for instance, if you go to the Johns Hopkins dashboard, they have a very nice in a troubling way, but a very accurate portrayal of the death rates from covid19 by country and we are pretty up there, unfortunately, and remember also that death rates vary potentially by season. There is a few papers out showing that the death rate is higher during the colder months than the warmer months. We are not entirely certain why, whether there is more virus around so that it potentially not only could we be seeing an increase in the number of new cases but potentially an increase in mortality rates. I hope we dont reach the situation like we did in march and april and that terrible time in new york city and multiple cities in the country, but that is a possibility. I hope so, too, having lived through that here in new york. Dr. Hotez, thanks very much. Let me just say one thing. Sure. The good news is this will get better. You know, this is not a time to despair, either. By this Time Next Year and probably a little earlier we will have vaccines and we will be in a better position. So its a matter of getting through these next few months. Good. Good words. Thank you, doctor. The former president , president obama, set to hit key battleground states campaigning for joe biden as we close in on election day. This as he takes on the president in a new podcast. You will hear from him next. Also this morning we are learning more about astrazenecas vaccine trial that has been on hold in the u. S. For more than a month. We will tell you why. Plus long lines, really long lines not keeping record numbers of early voters from casting ballots in texas and other states as well. Whats fueling this surge and who in particular is coming out, which party has the advantage here . When you get your flu shot at walgreens you dont just get a bandage you get assurance that we take the right precautions to keep you safe. So you can defend your crew against the flu. Get your flu shot safely from our pharmacy experts at walgreens such as high blood pressure,ve pdiabetes, and asthma. S this administration and Senate Republicans want to overturn laws requiring Insurance Companies to cover people with preexisting conditions. Theyre rushing a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to change the law through the courts. 70 of americans want to keep protections for preexisting conditions in place. Tell our leaders in washingtn to stop playing games with our healthcare. Woo go go go go on a real vacation. Visit go rving. Com or your nearest rv dealer. Well, president obama is set to hit key battleground states for his former Vice President , joe biden, but we are seeing a preview of some of his attacks on President Trump already. Have a listen. Central Foundation Stones of a democracy is the idea that you do not you do not allow the politicization of the criminal justice system, the intelligence system, the military, right, that that is stuff that you keep out of politics because its too dangerous. Lets bring in Ron Brownstein Senior Editor for the alt tim and molly baum. Good morning, guys, i feel like i used to see your face every day and im so glad you are back with us. Let me its good to have you guys. If i could start with you, ron, actually, about like this incredibly troubling piece on the economy in the New York Times this morning and as this relates to the rest of this race. Im sure you saw it and it lays out the research from Columbia University and notre dame pointing out 8 million americans have slipped into poverty since may and yet you have congress fighting and bing ring not writing a stimulus deal and karl rove writes the president must close on his strength, the economy, which is where people trust him. Is that right . Is that the right assessment . Is going going to be done for the folks in the weeks prior to the election. There are two questions. In polling the economy has been trumps one remaining strength over biden and you can go back to the Democratic Convention and say they chose to focus on the personal qualities of biden and as a good man and contrasting it with trump rather than driving a clear economic message. A lot of things they have done well in this campaign thats probably the biggest blind spot. They have not driven a strong economic message, but the fact that republican senators are not making a deal well, neither is pelosi. But i think that, you know, the fact that mcconnell and it is reporting to the white house how reluctant his caucus is a an ominous sign about what trumps chances are and their chances are and dont want to put something in place that may help a joe biden presidency. Molly, early voting has been off the charts this cycle. Washington post reports in total 15 million americans are already cast their ballots. You look at a state like georgia its already 50 up on where we were at this point in the 2016 cycle. According to the Washington Post analysis in the crucial swing states that do provide a partisan break down of who is voting early, democrats outnumber republicans two to one. I wonder if its possible that the president s attacks on mailin voting sort of is burning him here to some degree. And that you have Many Democrats coming out and saying, hey, i want my vote counted, im going to go wait in line and im going to go early. I think anecdotally thats certainly something that i have heard from a lot of voters that because of both president s attacks and the controversy surrounding the Postal Service that convinced voters that in order to make sure their vote gets counted they should vote in person but get early to make sure they get it done, dont forget or run out of time. We do see tremendous grassroots enthusiasm on both sides surrounding this election. The major worry for democrats is of course theyre happy to see these numbers but theyre very nervous to, a, keep it going and, b, make sure that those are not just people who would have otherwise voted on election day, that they are turning out all their vote frers start to finish. Ron, you write about the suburbs and how critical they are in every election, especially this election. Literally you heard the president begging suburban women, begging to vote for him. He knows their importance. At the same time as we saw in the september data four times as many women, ron, have dropped out of the workforce in a month, in the month of september than men, four times, over 800,000 em women and a lot of this is because of covid, lack of child care, et cetera. Have either candidate they all want the suburban women but i dont see major policies and them highlighting here is our plan for all these women who are being so adversely affected. First President Trump is heading for the largest deficit ever among College Educated white women and College Educated white voters overall who simply look at the way this is unfolding, the chaos, the vitriol and do not see themselves anymore in that coalition symbolized by cindy mccain endorsing joe biden. The bigger question the unresolved question is what happens to more blue collar white men, his pan mick and black women will be off the charts for joe biden. The blue collar white women, they were critical to trumps winning particularly in pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin the states that decided the election. There is some evidence that he is eroding with them and i think it is largely because they have concluded that they will remain economically vulnerable as long as the coronavirus is out of control and also as in 2018 health care is proving a powerful issue with those women and that is front and center with Amy Coney Barrett. Before we go the president s blitz strategy running up in the final days of the election appears to be a rally strategy, going out, appealing to the base, get the base out there as much as possible as opposed to expanding, going more after middle of the road voters or voters still on the fence. Do republican strategists, do republican lawmakers think thats the right approach . Sure answer is not necessarily. Going back to rons point, you know, for a lot of these particularly College Educated suburban women who have been turned off by the president , its primarily his behavior that alien yates him. You have the president going back to the tricks that he believed worked for him in 2016 where he was able to drive a message that Hillary Clinton did not have the, quote unquote, stamina and that she was not as active on the trail. The question is does that help or hurt him this time around . It may be that the very tactics that he believed buoyed him to victory four years ago are this time actually not an advantage and potentially even harming his chances. Well, lin, we are going to know, right . 19 days to go, ron and molly, thanks to both of you. I know we will probably talk about this again. Coming up still this hour, new details about why a phase three Coronavirus Vaccine trial has not yet restarted in the u. S. That from astrazeneca. More than a month after it was paused. 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But despite the rising pain and anguish made worse during the pandemic, Insurance Companies still refused to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Until now. Senator scott wiener went to work taking them on. Passing a law requiring the Insurance Industry to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Now more than ever, californians need Mental Health coverage. I wont let up until the stigma of Mental Health and addiction is finally over. Were learning new details about why astrazenecas vaccine trial has not resumed here in the United States. Remember its been more than a month now since it was halted because of a participant becoming ill. Yeah, and a source tells cnn that the fda had to wait weeks for critical safety data from astrazeneca over this. Lets bring in cnns Elizabeth Cohen for more. So that delay concerning. What took so long and do we know any more details about what caused concern about this persons symptoms . You know what, jim, there is dr so many questions here. Theres so many things that are not clear. Lets first go through the sequence of events. So this astrazeneca trial started on august 31st, big phase three tile with tens of thousands of participants. On september 9 so really quite soon afterwards this pause was announced, the Company Announced it, last week, the would he can of october 5th thats when a astrazeneca got their safety data to the fda according to the source that i spoke with. I want to note here that the course said he thought it was a technical issue, that there were records in the uk that werent in the same format as in the u. S. Because the patient was in the uk and of course the fda is in the u. S. , but i will say that the commissioner of the fda, dr. Steven hahn, he told Bloomberg News yesterday he wouldnt comment on this particular situation but he said that in safety situation there is a lot of back and forth between the company and the fda, and i spoke to a former fda commissioner, dr. Robert kayla and he said, look, the fda is going to be asking a lot of questions. You have one person with a neurological with a neurological symptoms, thats this patient, which has caused this pause, plus astrazeneca had a pause back in july, that person, that study subject, also had neurological symptoms. Youve got two people with neurological symptoms who got the same vaccine, that is concerning. He said the fda is going to be super, super careful about asking for test results, images, everything that they can think of to see if the vaccine might be to blame here. There is another trial thats also paused this, one is by Johnson Johnson. What do we know about that pause and is it a similar situation to astrazeneca or completely different . It is similar in that a patient im sorry, a participant, a study subject illness is the cause of the pause. Somebody got sick they want to make sure that the vaccine is involved but but its difficult in a really significant bay Johnson Johnson voluntarily took this pause, this he took it upon themselves to say, wait a second, somebody got sick in this trial, lets ask some questions and we are going to pause it n in the case of astrazeneca the fda put on a regulatory holed. The fda said hold on a second, we are going to ask you to hold off for a moment while we look into this. Those are two different situations. Thats why you do the trial. Good news pick picture, there are a lot of different approaches and most seem to be proceeding quite well. Great to have you on top of them. Thanks. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary committee have set a date to vote on advancing judge Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination, rejecting democrats call for a delay. What that means coming up. 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May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. Find your nunormal with nucala. Welcome back. So just a few moments ago Senate Judiciary republicans rejected democrats call to delay the vote to advance judge Amy Coney Barretts Supreme Court nomination to the full senate. Theyre going to do it. The vote is scheduled for next week, october 22nd. Committee now in day four of confirmation hearings listening to witnesses this time bottom line the Supreme Court is set to change in a very big way, big consequences Going Forward. Here with us so discuss jeff jie toobin. First on Amy Coney Barrett, she punted on a whole host of issues, whether the president can delay an election, can the president pardon himself, a question on voter end dags, even on Climate Change. I just wonder are these truly open questions as a matter of law . Ever since 1987 and the robert bjork hearings Supreme Court nominees have gone out of their way not to answer questions in any sort of substantive way, but even by those standards Amy Coney Barrett has been reluctant to give opinions on much of anything. I mean, i dont think she would have been going out on a limb to say that Climate Change is real. To say that you know, to talk about pardons in a little more detail. She really was a very protective of her own opinions, but, you know, what she did was she kept her republican support and its a republican majority on the committee and a republican majority in the full senate and that means barring some completely Unexpected Development she will be confirmed before the election. She said and made a point to say on the first day, jeffrey, i am not Justice Scalia. Im judge barrett and origin originalists can disagree but then i dont feel like we learned how so. What is the most important thing we learned about her this week or maybe didnt learn . Good point. Well, i think the most important thing we learned was that the super spreader event that a couple saturdays ago at the white house where she said Justice Scalia was my mentor, i believe in interpreting the constitution the way he does and, yes, of course its true, no two justices even who agree on most things vote exactly the same way, but when you think about the core opinions of Justice Scalia, that the constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, that affirmative action should be prohibited under the constitution, that the Health Care Laws are unconstitutional, all of that seems very much in line with what Amy Coney Barrett suggested her own views would be. So of course she wont be identical to Justice Scalia, but she will be much more similar to Justice Scalia than she will be to Justice Ginsburg whose seat she will be taking. There was a Great Exchange where senator wine house i believe it was ran through all these 54 decisions which were very consistently by that same conservative majority liberal minority now it would switch to 63. Just for folks at home on some of those issues you mentioned, what does this mean for those big legislative questions, health care, gun control legislation, Voting Rights legislation Going Forward . Under this court are those things in danger . Well, you know, much the answer is yes. I think you have to draw some distinctions, the Health Care Case the one thats going to be argued on november 10th there are a lot of peculiar facts of that case and i dont think you can take from judge barretts testimony exactly how she will vote on that. But will she vote to prohibit states from limiting gun possession and limiting ammunition and, you know, using gun safety laws . Absolutely she is going to be very tough on the second amendment. Will she allow states to restrict or even ban abortion . Absolutely. Will she vote to limit universities from using a form testify action, considering race in admissions . Absolutely. Those sorts of issues i think you know, there couldnt be any doubt about how she will vote. Big deal. Jeffrey toobin, thank you very much. All right. Nearly 300,000 people lined up to cast votes over the first two days of early voting in the most populated county in texas. We will be joined by the man leading the effort on this next. Who has time for wrinkles . Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair®. Weve got the retinol that gives you results in one week. Not just any retinol. Accelerated retinol sa. One week is all it takes. Neutrogena®. Look at this human trying you know what he will get . Muscle pain. Give up, the couch is calling. I say, its me, the couch, im calling. Pain says you cant. Advil says you can. The unfair money bail system. He, accused of rape. While he, accused of stealing 5. The stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. The Senior Citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. Voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on public safety. Because the size of your wallet shouldnt determine whether or not youre in jail. Vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. Welcome back. President trump is set to hold an afternoon rally in North Carolina today as that state begins inperson early voting. Voters lining up this morning as a federal judge issued a mixed ruling for that key swing state determining what will happen to flawed mailin ballots already cast there. Cnns Dianne Gallagher has more from charlotte. Reporter every day for more than a month now lee checks the mail an comes up empty. I submitted my application august 20th in person at the board of elections office. You have not voted yet, though . I have not received a ballot. Reporter like thousands of others in North Carolina, because of the pandemic i have a compromised immune system. Reporter zacharias is voting by mail for the first time in year or trying to. According to ballot tracks a new tool that North Carolina voters have use to check their status, hr original ballot was mailed on september 11th. She contacted Guilford County in late september and was told ballot tracks might not be accurate. To be safe they canceled the original and sent her a new ballot which shes still waiting to get. Makes me angry. Reporter across town a different kind of voting problem, 47yearold vincent gauger returned his and his 83yearold dads ballots weeks ago so he was shocked when we told him state data shows their ballots havent been accepted. Ive been doing it the same way for years. I sign his, you know, im the witness because, you know, im his son. Reporter he is not alone. So far more than 1. 3 million North Carolina voters have requested an absentee ballot and almost 40 of them have been returned, but according to state data nearly 7,200 are still under review, meaning the vote hasnt yet been accepted. A black voters make up only 16 of the total statewide ballot returns, but they account for almost 40 of the ballots listed as pending. This is no way to run an election. Reporter dr. Spearman is the president of the North Carolina naacp, he is also a member of the board of elections in Guilford County where nearly 6 of ballots returned by black voters are still listed as pending. So many of them are for the first time undergoing this process and their naivety to it is causing some of these rejections. Reporter as election workers review ballots for processing, theyre supposed to notify a voter if they find a problem. Most issues can be fixed or cured without having to fill out a new ballot, but a slue of lawsuits surrounding what to do with ballots that are missing witness information led to the state board telling counties to do nothing and just wait for court guidance. Leaving thousands of voters in limbo as the clock ticks down to election day. And people are losing confidence, theyre losing trust in the election cycle. Reporter creating suspicion in the shadows of North Carolinas ugly history of minority voter disenfranchisement. I feel like theyre trying to do voter suppression. Reporter still waiting on her ballot, zacharias is suspicious, too. I want to cast a vote. Are you afraid that your state is going to pretend you from doing that . I dont know the answer. Reporter now, the state board of elections actually just issued some guidance about those types of ballots sab that theyre still working through it because there are other lawsuits out there, but that ruling last night should allow a voter like vincent and his father to get some sort of contact from their county board of elections and tell them what they need to do about their ballot. Jim, thats what a lot of these voters just want, this he want an answer, this he want to know what to do. They want it to be secure, this he want it to be easy, too, understandably. Dianne gallagher, thanks very much. A Campaign Staffer for kamala harris, Vice President ial nominee, has tested positive for covid. Were told the senator has not been in close contact, but shes canceling her travel plans. Just under 115,000 people voted early in Harris County, texas, thats near houston. The county clerk joins us now. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Record numbers once again. Is this because its the first few days or are you expecting this until election day . It turns out when you make it easier for people to cast their ballots theyre more likely to vote. We saw a shattering of our records on first day of elections. Just yesterday we topped 100,000 again. Were seeing no signs of slowing down here. We have nearly 15,000 that have voted this morning in an hour and a half. And those lines are still moving. The Houston Chronicle reports delays in the traditionally republican west harris were lengthy where more than half of the early voting sites had 40 minute plus lines. They said they asked you specifically to deploy more Voting Machines there. Are you going to do that . Yeah. So were looking at our operations on a daily basis in every part of Harris County. To make sure we have the infrastructure, the machines to be available to accommodate as many voters who are going to vote. He said you dont there and the lines were 40plus minutes long. Hes asking for more machines. Are you going to supply those . There were lines all over the county, people are enthusiastic about casting their votes. And those lines have been moving. Were working to ensure that every voter has the opportunity to vote. I hear you but im trying to get a direct answer from a direct request from that precinct head as to whether or not theyll get the machines they need. Do you have enough in the state . We have machines in our inventory we are deploying out to locations that need more of them. Well stand by on that. Also, theres been a lot made. Its become a national story, i think importantly, the back and forth on the courts on the one ballot box per county, especially in a big county like Harris County. The latest move, the federal Appeals Court sided with Texas Governor greg abbott so now its legal to have one official ballot dropbox. Now what . You can appeal higher, is that the plan . The Supreme Court of the United States is the only court left but its unlikely well prevail in this matter. Its deeply unfortunate, its abuse of the governors power to make a county like Harris County to have a single drop off point for our seniors and people with disabilities to drop off their ballots. We do have curb side voting at every location and were seeing a number of people come in and surrender their mailin ballot to vote in person. You won an appeal on that that was brought by republicans trying to get rid of some of that drive through, if you will, if i can use that term, ability for people to drop off their ballots. But when it comes back to the governor his argument is here is to, quote, maintain the sb integrity of our elections. His response was we moved to make early voting three weeks long not two weeks long, he moved to extend it longer. Not enough . He did extend that early Voting Period and did it after i wrote a letter requesting he do it, we applaud it. But you dont get to suppress votes after you make voting easier. We should be making it easier for everyone. The process was secure, your photo id is checked, you watch as your ballot is placed in a lock box, which is transported every evening. You are 34 years old, a young leader in the party for sure. You got this job just in may after your predecessor had to withdraw for Health Concerns youve been named in every lawsuit that republicans have na brought in voting. Whats it like when you have 2. 4 million registered voters in your county . Its a huge honor to be protecting the rights of voters and we have a huge team to to protect the right to vote. Were doing things like drive through voting, early voting. Im thrilled to be doing that. We appreciate your time. Thanks, chris. Thanks, poppy, have a good one. Jim . Just in a staffer on senator harris team has tested positive for covid. Harris is now off the trail for several days as a precaution. Were told no direct contact with this person up to 48 hours before the positive test. Well be on the latest. Morning, everyone, im poppy harlow. Im jim sciutto. The breaking news this hour, day four of confirmation hearings for President Trumps Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, theyre under way. Republicans rejected democrats call for a delay on the nomination vote. The committees vote is now set for next thursday, less than two weeks before the president ial election. Well bring you any more major developments. Also new, as new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging across the nation, dr. Anthony fauci is warning americans this, now is not the time to let us. Time to let up. Its concerning, george, because as you mentioned we have a baseline of daily infections approximately 45, 50,000 per