Thats 25,000 americans dieing from coronavirus over the next three weeks. Many colleges and schools have reopened and many have seen outbreaks. One vaccine is on hold after a subject developed adverse effects. And then an audio recording from the president in february telling bob woodward how much deadlier than the flu the virus was, even as he publicly said the opposite. He said that february 7, a time when taking action might have saved tens of thousands of lives. We looked at this before, but imposing social distancing just a week sooner might have prevented 36,000 deaths. Two weeks sooner would have reduced fatalities by 84 . The president knew it was airborne and deadlier than the flu in february and continued to hold massive indoor rallies, no social distancing and no masks. He continues to hold those rallies. Tonight theres one in michigan, in violation of his own safety guidelines. Those are pictures right now. But politics and Public Health, when they intersect and intertwine, well talk about that tonight. And also tonight, well be joined by the countrys top health scientist, dr. Francis collins, director of the National Institutes of health. Hell take your questions, as well. You can tweet them to us, leave a comment on the cnn facebook page. A lot of you already sent in these questions in video form. Were going to get to as many as we can tonight. Beyond your questions for him and for us, we do have one for you. Its there on the bottom of your screen. Would you take a Coronavirus Vaccine as soon as its released or do you have concerns . Tweet cnn town hall and tell us why and well feature your responses during the show. We can do a comment on our facebook page. We have reports from across the country and the world and we start with where we are right now. More than 191,000 people have died in the United States from coronavirus with more than 6. 3 million documented positive cases. For millions of students this week, school is back in session. This as more than 500,000 kids in the u. S. Have been diagnosed with the virus. There have been more than 70,000 new cases between august 20 and september 3. On monday, a third grade teacher died of complications from the virus in South Carolina. She was just 28 years old. On college campuses, the virus is still spreading. At the university of tennessee, School Officials allege that fraternities are undermining the rules meant to keep students safe. Fraternity leaders communicating how to have parties and avoid being caught. The president has been suggesting a vaccine could be available before the november election. Well have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date im talking about. But pharmaceutical companies pledged to stand with science, weve got to regain the trust of the community. Testing in the u. S. Remains inadequate. A new report finds that at present infection rates, approximately 2 hu00 million te would be needed each month well into 2021. There is good news, as well. The number of new positive cases has been declining in hot spots like california, texas, and florida, even as the impact of the virus continues. We will end this crisis that we are in right now. Both from a Public Health stand point, and from a scientific standpoint. Sanjay, what is your take . Well, you know, more than seven months after the first confirmed case of coronavirus in this country, i feel like were still in limbo, filled with lots of mixed messages about the virus. Many places people are told that its safe to send kids back to school. But we dont know how large a role children might play in transmit thing virus and how that would affect cases in the community. We know that testing is key in helping us return to normalcy. Some said we should have enough testing in this country to test in our homes. Maybe like every morning when you brush your teeth. That may sound crazy, but we could have been there by now, but there was no warp speed for testing. We still dont have enough tests. Instead, were arguing over the basics. The cdc saying two weeks ago people without Symptoms Department necessarily need to get tested even if they had had close contact with someone known to be infected. Thats false. Thats wrong. Thats dangerous, just so you know. And admiral girard said we need to test asymptomatic people, full stop. Were moving at this fast to produce a vaccine, but only 56 of people say they would take the vaccine if one became available. In may, that number was 66 . A friend of mine reminded me of cassandra curse in greek mytholo mythology. She had the gift of prophecy and the gift of telling the truth, but the curse is no one ever believed her. We know what we need to do to control this virus. We could do it, but people have to start believing. Yeah. Sanjay, even as you lay all that out, the president continues to act as though its behind us. Tonight as we mentioned, hes holding another mass gathering which is a potential super spreader event. Caitlin collins joins us now. So this is exactly what Public Health officials on the white houses own task force are begging people not to do, what we are looking at right now. Reporter yeah, and dr. Anthony fauci said hes frustrated by seeing images like this. This isnt a rarity, this is the new normal for the trump campaign. And this is their plan Going Forward until november. These rallies where they can be half inside, half outside because theyre in an airport hangar with the door open. But people are crowded together not Wearing Masks, despite the fact that the campaign does hand them out, they do not require them. The crowd even booed the announcer when asked to put masks on. Tonight the president was in michigan. Earlier this week they were in north carolina. And the governor there has bans on gatherings of more than 50 people. There was many more than 50 people that night. And the president flouted a rule put in place about wearing a mask, something the head republican said the president should follow while there. Instead, anderson, the president has tried to turn this around that if people can go out and protest, people can come to my rallies. At the protests, people have worn masks we should note. Its so interesting to watch this. Even the people who are Wearing Masks arent necessarily wearing them properly. How many rallies has it been since that conversation that the president had with bob woodward about airborne . Reporter there have been several. But heres the thing i have to point out. This has been the biggest blowback since the book, is that the president admitted on february 7th that he knew this was an airborne virus. That is not something well known to the public, no matter what the president said. Yet for five weeks i believe after that, they held six rallies that did not look like the rally youre seeing tonight. They were not outdoors, there were not temperature checks to get in the door. I know because i was there. Instead those rallies youre seeing on the left side of the screen in manchester, in phoenix, vegas and north charleston, they were packed hike the old rallies with tens of nows indoors, crammed inside, with no windows open, no doors open, nothing like that. Yet the president knew it was airborne. Yet he still continued to put all his supporters in one room, chanting, screaming. Basically everything now that people look at and say no way. Appreciate it. Thank you. For more on the complicated situation of schools, the spikes in cases and yes, the loss of life, were joined by our analyst. Labor day, the beginning of the school year for a lot more parents. How are School Districts welcoming students back this week . Reporter anderson, its definitely not your typical start to the school year. Of the 17 largest School Districts weve been tracking that started this week, 15 of them started online. That includes cities like chicago, houston, dallas, Fairfax County in virginia, and baltimore. And those that began online have some disruptions, sweas well in terms of cyber disruptions, including in houston. And a Ransomware Attack in a hartford, connecticut. It gives you an end skags of so indication of some of the other disruptions we are seeing. We saw a cyber attack in miami last week. Im standing in front of an Elementary School that will be opening for over a million students, the Largest School district in the country will open september 21. Its a tenday delay after pushback from the teachers and Principals Union about wanting more Safety Measures put into place. Theyre now going to have testing available, extra nurses at schools and ppe as well. And in terms of colleges, we spent a lot of time focused on universities and colleges. I spoke with a lot of administrators that were confident they have the ppe and the testing and the resources. At least 40,000 positive cases have been reported in 50 states across the country. Of the 20 of universities that are offering inperson classes. It was interesting to hear you speak with admiral girard today who said the blame lies with the school themselves. Theres just not enough testing, period. I remember in july a lot of teachers writing their wills, so frightened about returning to school. Really heartbreaking. And now educators in at least three states have died from covid after the fall semester began. How do these School Districts respond when an educator dies like this . Reporter they respond with heartache and tears and concern for the parents and students and the nurses and school staff that have to return, as well. We have now confirm that three teachers passed away in three states. I want to give you their names and tell you about them. 34yearold ashley diminititis in missouri, passed away after suffering from a threeweek battle of covid related complications. Thomas slay was a High School History teacher in mississippi. He pass eed away. The High School Principal said he was like the father of the campus. And 28yearold dimitria banner from South Carolina. A third grade teacher. With her parents permission, the parents wish to remind others about the seriousness of this disease caused by the coronavirus. Every teacher and administrator i talked to complained about one thing, that is a universal plan. They have stuck with the cdc regulations that were implemented and introduced in june. They were rather strict. And all of a sudden we know what happened in august where the president came out and insisted that schools be opened, the cdc loosened some of those restrictions and now were seeing deaths and a lot of concern. Thank you. Next to china, where even the original epicenter, wuhan, the picture could not be more different than ours. What is the sat ttatus througho the country . Reporter i say this with a lot of hesitation, but this is the closest to normal really that we have lived in, in this country since i would say the outbreak started in january. I say that with a lot of hesitation. Youre seeing a lot of these restrictions ease. Youre seeing the mass policy become optional, and even inside peoplearent Wearing Masks as often. What we saw in schools were some policies in place, some of the mask policies, some of the temperature checking. But then go to wuhan, the original epicenter, and they dont even require masks for their students in school. And theyve got 1. 2 million college students, University Students in that city. They likewise are back on campuses and resuming life as it was precovid. So its strange to think this is where things are. However, i can tell you going on chinese social media, you see a lot of folks that are a bit hesitant and uneasy think thing has just passed. Yeah. David, theres been at least two companies here in the United States that are moving forward with these largescale vaccine trials. What is chinas progress on a potential vaccine . Reporter theyve got about 13 in the works right now. The majority are in phase three of Clinical Trials and i visited with one of the companies and theyre moving forward with their trials outside of china. The reason is they dont have the numbers, certainly the official government numbers are each day perhaps zero, maybe single digit reported cases coming in. So they feel like they dont have enough volunteers here so they go to places like brazil, indonesia. And the Biggest Issue theyre facing ultimately is trust, can you trust the vaccines given how quickly theyre being processed. And one of the concerns is transparency. You saw one vaccine put on hold. The questions raised, would a Chinese Company be that transparent about saying where any flew flaws were . But they cannot afford negative Public Relations at this point. If the chinese put a vaccine out into the world, especially given what happened with the outbreak and a lot of criticism coming from countries like the u. S. Following that, if its anything less than effective, it will be a huge backlash. David, appreciate it. Coming up, dr. Francis collins, director of the National Institutes of health. And later, well be joined by the cousin of the third dwragra teacher we told you about that died of covid this week. Im a delivery Operations Manager in san diego, california. We were one of the first stations to pilot a fleet of electric vehicles. Were striving to deliver a package with zero emissions into the air. I feel really proud of the impact that has on the environment. We have two daughters and i want to do everything i can to protect the environment so hopefully they can have a great future. If i could, baby id how can i, when you wont take it from me you can go your own way go your own way your wireless. Your rules. Only with xfinity mobile. Welcome back. We asked you this question, would you take a Coronavirus Vaccine as soon as its released . We asked you to tweet with the word with asap or concerns and tell us why. They are are some of your responses at the bat tom of the screen. Since our focus is on vaccines, we want to welcome dr. Francis collins to our global town hall, director of the National Institutes of health. He used to be my professor in med school. Dr. Collins, thank you for joining us. Nice to be with you, sanjay and anderson. We want to talk about vaccines. We have a lot of viewer questions about this. I want to ask about this event tonight in michigan, the president s event. For months Health Officials on the Coronavirus Task force have been urging people not to have mass gatherings, and you see a lot of people gathering together clearly without masks on. Most of them. I just have to ask, what do you think when you see these images of an event like this . It just deeply puzzles me, sanjay. How do we get here . Imagine you were an alien who landed on planet earth and you saw our planet was inflicted by a disease and masks were effective to prevent the spread. But some people were not wearing them and it turned out it was their political party. You would scratch your head and think this is not just a planet that has much promise for the future, if something that is so straightforward can get twisted into Decision Making that really makes no sense. So as a scientist, im pretty puzzled and rather disheartened. The president said were going to have vaccines very soon, maybe such sooner than you think. He hinting at this accelerated timeline by election day. What is your assessment of a vaccine timeline . So as the drek toirector of National Institutes of health, this is my consuming passion, and you talked to my colleague Anthony Fauci many times who is the expert. But we have now six vaccines that are either already in phase three trials or will be quite soon. Each requiring 30,000 participants to be sure we have enough evidence to decide about safety and efficacy. It is moving forward at a pace the world has never seen, but i will say not in a fashion that allows cutting corners with safety. I want to make that really clear. We sped up this process in a variety of ways, but not to compromise safety. In fact, i would say these trials are more rigorous than any done for a vaccine. Will we be likely to have results by november 3rd . All of us say thats very unlikely. But much more likely well have a readout on one of more in december, but late october seems beyond the likelihood that we could predict. You have emphasized this point before that its going to be a safe and effecttive vaccine. You do know that nine vaccine makers signed the Safety College this week to uphold as they said high ethical standards suggesting that theyre not going to seek premature government approval for covid19 vaccines. I am just curious what your take on it was, because it seemed to be in reaction to this erosion of trust of the fda nowadays. I hate saying it, but that seems to be what generated this. I welcomed that particular pledge. I think it was great they got together to do this. I think theyre reacting to what they see as a public concern about whether or not this is a vaccine that they should trust when it becomes rendered as safe and effective. And theyre trying to do everything they can to say wait a minute, we are also part of this very complicated ecosystem. Were committed to safety and efficacy. Were not going to push something forward that isnt up to those standards. Everybody, look at all the players here, whether its fda, the ceos, nih, we are determined that science and science alone will be the way in which this decision gets made. Theres a new Kaiser FamilyFoundation Poll showing 62 of americans believe political pressure will cause the fda to rush a vaccine. Can you reassure people in this country this process will be focused on science with no political interference . So sanjays point, we have seen the fda just recently, you know, say there would be no emergency use authorization for the plasma treatment, then reversing themselves a of the president threatened them. And then the head of the fda misstating the efficacy of it and having to walk it back and apologize. Well, i think i can provide reassurance about all the steps involved in this Decision Making. First of all, there is something called the dsmb, the data and safety monitoring board that watches over these vaccine trials. They are the only people. They are not political appointees, scientists looking at the data, watching to see who got the vaccine and who got the placebo and what happened. Nobody else knows, nobody else sun blinded. Just that group. They arent going to say hey, its time to look at this, fda, unless they see strong, convincing data this vaccine is working and safe. They might raise their hand and say its not working, give it up. Or theres a problem like there was yesterday with the trial which needed to be put on clinical hold. But they are the first gate here in this process, and theyre not going to start the ball rolling unless they see strict, Scientific Evidence that something looks like its working. Then, of course, it goes to the fda. They have their own advisory process, this vaccine and related projects Advisory Committee that will be very engaged in advising the fda about issuing or not an emergency use authorization. And we have the ceost whose said theyre not going to go to the fda unless they believe the data. They dont want their reputations to be besmirched either. There are a lot of protective steps here that will keep this from running off the rails. There is some guidance the fda provides ahead of time. They said for manufactures working on the vaccine, theyre asking for 50 efficacy, that it works 50 . Thats not normally done, is it . I was trying to look back through the type of guidance that fda provides. First of all, is this common and 50 , does that seem like enough . Theres a lot of discussion about that. I think, again, ideally you want a vaccine thats 100 effective, and we hope one of these might turn out to be that. But if you had a vaccine 50 effective and thats all you had for the next year, you would still want to use it. Look at the flu, the vaccines every year are rarely better than 50 , yet we recommend everybody get them because it saves lives and helps people who arent completely saved from a fatal outcome that they have a milder illness. So 50 , a whole lot better than nothing. I think it was reasonable. We just found out that this pause in the trial is the second pause and they never told us about the first one in july. Are you confident about whats going on at astrazeneca . Im trying to find out a little bit more about why that First Episode was not considered to be significant. There is some explanation it seemed as if this was not related at all to the vaccine trial. I have to see some more information about that. The fact that they did in this instance say okay, we need to put this on clinical hold, that should be reassuring to people. Like you said earlier, if this was china or russia, do you think they would have stopped and told the world they might have a problem . I have to wonder about that. But in this instance, they did. Thats, again, the dsmb probably had a lot to do with that and theyre doing their job, saying hang on here, we better look carefully at the thousands of people who have gotten this vaccine and see if there are any subtle end cases that other people had a similar problem. Until we know the answer to that, nobody is going to get further enrolled. We talk about the vaccine, but i wonder if i can ask about medicines trying to treat people who have covid. The nih launched a new stage trial about blood thinners to treat covid19 patients. What can you tell us about that . If someone is on blood thinners now, would that be protective and how would you assess the therapeutics or medicines for the virus right now . Well, its very important that we push hard on therapeutics, and this partnership that we have with the cdc has been helpful. The trial announced today is to do a better job of figuring out how we can prevent the blood clots that tend to be serious in people who have the most serious form of the illness. We learned in march or april, that was a significant and unexpected part of this illness. But we dont know the right way to treat that. This is a trial that aims to figure that out. And also to figure out, should we be giving everybody as an outpatient a baby aspirin or one of the platelet inhibitors . Its time to find out. Thats what Clinical Trials are all about. Jerry in indiana sent in this video. Caller hello. Can you utilize more than one covid19 vaccine . As an example, a more effective vaccine becomes available after your initial vaccination. Thank you. What about that . A lot of discussion about what would happen if one of the vaccines gets approved because it has met this high standard, but other trials are still going on. Do you ask those people who are part of those trials to continue or do you give them permission to jump over to the other one . A lot of ethical questions there, as well. I think in general, it would be difficult if you had an approved vaccine to ask anybody who is in a trial to engage in a trial where theres a placebo, and then theres the vaccine. Instead of the placebo, you would now introduce the approved vaccine and then try to see is the other one better . Recognize when we get that first approval rngs th approval, thats not the end of the story. It will probably be something pretty good, but maybe you can find something more effective, especially in high risk groups. If you can find something that doesnt require low Temperature Freezers to distribute it. All those things will be in play. He was wanting to know as a civilian, not in part of a trial, if he got the first shot, if three months later another one comes available that seems to be better, would he could he take that also . I dont know the precise answer, because that would depend on the details. But look at where we are with shingles. We had a vaccine that was pretty good, then another one that was better and everybody took both. This next question is from facebook. What do you say to close relatives who believe the disease just has to run its course and theres nothing to do about it . Well, run its course. Think that through. Suppose we decided, oh, well, lets just let it rip and give up the public measures, another 2 Million People would die. Is that something any of us would accept . I would say no. So running its course doesnt seem like an option that a thinking person would want to embrace. So wear the masks, keep six feet apart, dont congregate indoors. And while were waiting for the vaccines to kick in, its up to all of us to keep those lives that are otherwise going to be in jeopardy. Right now im talking to young people who may feel theyre somehow immortal. They might be less likely to be sick. They could be the super spreader. So if you dont care about infecting a lot of vulnerable people, go to the bar and dont wear your mask. But if you have concerns about that, its up to you and all of us. We have another question here about whether people would take a vaccine as soon as its released. This is from a viewer via twitter. You can look at it there. It reads, my family will not be taking it, referring to the vaccine. We dont take the flu shot, definitely not the covid19 shot. We dont have underlying conditions and our doctor says its not necessary. Dr. Collins, what do you think . I know there are a lot of people who are skeptical and distrustful about where we are right now. I would just ask all of those who have already made up their mind to say, right now we do have the evidence to say about safety and efficacy. Lets wait until we have some of that and then decide and dont let somebody else tell you what the answer should be and dont depend on those crazy conspiracy theorys you can find on social media. Lets look at the facts and each of us can decide does that make sense for me and my family. Wait and see. Im guessing that might change a lot of minds. Dr. Francis collins, great to have you on the show. We really appreciate your expertise and your honesty. Thanks, professor. Glad to be with you. Nice to see you both. Just ahead, more of your questions. And well meese a cousin of the South Carolina schoolteacher that died of covid complications, 28 years old. A South Carolina schoolteacher that died of covid complications, 28 years old. A South Carolina schoolteacher that died of covid complications, 28 years old. T a South Carolina schoolteacher that died of covid complications, 28 years old. I was sworn into the United States senate in a hospital. My wife and daughter had been killed in an automobile crash, and lying in the bed were my two little boys. I couldnt have imagined what it wouldve been like if i didnt have insurance to cover them immediately and fully. Forty years later, one of those little boys, my son beau, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, given months to live. I cant fathom what would have happened if the Insurance Companies had the power to say, the last few months, youre on your own. The fact of the matter is health care is personal to me. Obamacare is personal to me. When i see the president of the United States try to eliminate this health care in the middle of a Public Health crisis, thats personal to me too. Weve got to build on what we did because every american deserves Affordable Health care. Im joe biden and i approve this message. As we mentioned earlier, according to new reporting from cnn, at least schoolteachers in three states have passed away due to complications of covid19. Well tell you about one, 28yearold demetria bannister. She taught third grade in columbia, South Carolina. Virtually this year, she died monday, three days after the school was alerted to her diagnosis and just over a week after her last teacher workday at school. She was known as the school song bird for her work with the choir. The principal said she loved her students and they have missed an opportunity toed a sl ed a voad students. Were joined by her cousin, terrence. Were so sorry for your familys loss. How are you and demis parents do . I understand she was an only child and lived with her parents. Right now, were all trying to cope with it. I spoke with her father tonight. He just wanted her legacy to continue to go on. Demetria was a soldier. She always was free spirited and kept the family together. She just did a lot for us. We are going to miss her. The picture that we have seen of her with her smile outside of her classroom, it looks like the kind of teacher i wish i had. Did she love teaching . Demetria loved teaching. She practiced on us when she first got her teaching certificate. She practiced on you . Thats great. Thats right. You know, i have some young kids and we had those in the audience, as well. But she enjoyed her job. She enjoyed teaching and educating people. You could call her in the middle of the night, hey, so and so needs help with tutoring. She would do it. She just was an a1 person. Terrence, im curious, because it sounds like she was teaching virtually. That was the plan for the school year, but she had these teacher days, so she may have been in and out of the school. Did she have any idea, did the family have any idea how she may have contracted this . Was she nervous about being exposed to the virus . She was very well aware that, you know, just like all of us in the community that we could get it at any time. I wouldnt say she was nervous, but she was aware. She led the school choir, i heard that she was known as the song bird of windsor elementary. I want to play a short clip of her singing with another cousin. On cloudy days, theyll all go away i feel like i can make it, the storm is over now if i walk alone, on my own i feel like i can make it so beautiful. Was that a normal day for her, stop by a family members house and spend time singing together . Yeah. They enjoyed being together. And they would do things like that, just hang out, sing. They loved just hanging out together. Im so sorry, terrence, for your loss. I have to ask, with schools opening around the country, there are so many scared families out there, i think families about teachers and students. I know they allowed their daughters story to be told. But what is the message your family wants to get out there tonight . Stay safe. Live your life. Follow the protocols as we should. Wear your masks. Wash your hands. And just stay safe. Terrence, thank you so much for spending some time with us in your grief, sharing your family with us. And your memories. I really appreciate it. Thank you. No problem. I appreciate you having us on. And i just want to make sure Everybody Knows that demetria loved education. Thats you could see that in her face and certainly in her work. Thank you so much. And well be thinking of you and her parents and the whole family. Thank you so much, terrence. No problem. Dr. Lee wen, Emergency Room Physician and former Baltimore Health commissioner. Dr. Wen, havent seen you for a while. How is your new baby . Shes doing wonderfully. Shes five months old. How is wyatt doing . Doing good. Hes like four and two weeks. Its very strange the whole month thing versus weeks. It comes months and then years sometimes. Sanjay, a heartbreaking story out of South Carolina, demetria bannister, 28 years old. So many teachers across the country are worried. This is from hillary in connecticut. Caller im a high school teacher, and my question is, what should i tell my students who will all be Wearing Masks and suddenly have to sneeze . Should students carry extra masks with them so they can change out to a fresh one when this happens . Its such a good question. So first part, maybe this goes without saying, if youre having symptoms stay at home. If this is a spontaneous sneerz, it can be challenging. The best thing is carry extra masks, maybe a baggy to put the old mask in and change out masks. You could take the mask off if you had tissue paper to cover your mouth and nose and throw that away. But if youre truly sick, stay at home. Otherwise, bring extra masks. Just a shout out to my art teachers, going back to kindergarten all the way through. They were just such wonderful people. I just love our teachers. So sanjay, jonathan from baltimore has a question about how covid deaths are impacting different communities. He writes its interesting. We talked a lot about this. Theres definitely a disparity with regard to who is infected, who is hospitalized and who dies. We can show some of these numbers. We collected some of this data over time. The biggest change that we have seen over the past few months is really the age. People who are becoming infected are younger now than they were in the beginning, probably because of increased mobility. But take a look at this. This is hospitalization rates by ethnicity. Black americans, almost five times as likely to be hospitalized. Native americans, more than five times likely to be hospitalized. So that disparity still remains. And dr. Wen, we continue to see these disparities in the Health Care System. Thats right. And we see these disparities in children, as well. Its black, hispanic and native american children. Covid19 is not a virus that discriminates, its our system that discriminates. Covid19 has unmasked these underlying disparities. So we have to address shortterm issues. We have to make sure that testing reaches all communities, in particular those that are most affected. But we have to work on longterm systemic change as well, including recognizing that racism is in itself a Public Health issue. Dr. Wen, allen from new york sent in this video. Caller hi. Both of my parents are over 65 years old survived covid19, with no immedianeed of hospital. Does that mean i have more chance of survival . Dr. Wen . This is an interesting question. Im glad that your parents are doing well. You know, there are a lot of mysteries around covid19. One of them that we still dont know much about is why it is that certain people get very sick, certain people get mildly sick and others dont get sick at all. We do know that age and underlying medical conditions predisposes people to severe effects. And some studies show that some genes could be associated with severe illness from covid19. As to whether thats passed down from person to person, we dont know. And we should all use an abundance of caution and stay on guard and recognize we could all become ill from this disease thats still very dangerous. Highly contagious. So we should all use an abundance of caution. Its so important. This idea that young people, i think the story line seems to be were not worried about it, were not really going to get sick. Youre seeing that a lot on college campuses. It is less likely, but it does happen. Ive seen some of these patients in the hospital, and perfectly healthy. Rare, but it does happen. And we dont know why. Six, seven months into this, its still unclear. Maybe its genetic, maybe its something else. Sometimes its your own system that overreacts. But it can be devastating when it happens. Its also i mean, longterm, i think they call them long haulers that were seeing more and more evidence of sort of lingering effects. And sometimes very severe effects, whether its on the heart, the brain or other parts of the body. And i think thats the other part of this virus that we just, again, dont know exactly why, but that makes it so dangerous. Even though its a respiratory system, it doesnt just affect the lungs. Ive treated patients in their 30s and 40s that had strokes and are debilitated for life because of this virus. We had patients with kidney and heart damage because of this. So, again, we should all know that even though things are open and we can now go back to a lot of the things that we did before the pandemic, that doesnt mean we should or that its safe. You hear people, a gentlemen quoted earlier at one of the at the rally tonight in michigan that the president had, he was saying look, if i die, i die. The country needs to get back to business. If i die, i die. Its not just an either or proposition. Its not just that i die and thats it. The other option is, youre hobbled for the rest of your life with lingering, painful, debilitating conditioning. And are a burden on your family and the Health Care System for the rest of your entire life. Yeah. We saw some of this in the early days. We tend to put this in the binary thing where you either die or survive and recover. A lot of people fall in between absolutely. Again, even younger patients. It is rarer but the stories of people who were even athletes and now have difficulty running even a few blocks, i think, you know, that is something that really i think has caused a lot of concern in the medical community. If i get it, it happens, but what if you gave it to someone else in your community . There is a real concern. A question from california that i think a lot of us have. Take a look. When should i get my flu shot . I am 69 years old with no Health Issues i got my flu shot already. I went to cvs. They just did it. Is it ever too early or too late to get the flu shot . Right now is exactly the best time. You should get the shot at the beginning of the flu season in september or october. July, august, may be a little bit early especially for older individuals who may need more protection throughout the entire flu season and february, march, may be a bit late because the flu season has mainly already passed though you should still get it if you havent gotten it by then. The main takeaway for everyone is get a flu shot this season. It has never been more important. We are facing the potential twin demics of the flu and covid19 at the same time. We dont have a vaccine for covid19 but we do have for the flu and the flu ends up hospitalizing people every year and tens of thousands die. If we can protect ourselves against one of these things we should. You guys gotten your flu shot yet . I havent yet but now i am inspired by you. It couldnt be any easier. Im telling you. It was a revelation to me that the pharmacist can inject you with stuff. Okay. Yeah. Sure. Ill do it i feel like i had to talk you into flu shots in the past. For years i never got them. I was like, you know, what is the point . Im young. Who cares . Then the doctor was like of course you need a flu shot. Youre an idiot. I was like yeah im inidiot. Hannah has a question about face shields. Dr. Birx warned people to wear a face shield in addition to masks. Should it be worn only when there is an outbreak in certain areas or for all states . I dont know dr. Birx warned. I know dr. Fauci was talking to teachers and we asked him about this on the town hall and he said, look. This was like a sentence i said to some teachers like if you have a mask and a face shield wear it. He felt it was taken out of context. Should people wear a face shield and mask . I think it depends. If you are a very high risk individual and you live in an area with a lot of virus surge and for whatever reason you have to go to a crowded indoor setting and of course i advise people dont go to crowded indoor settings. Say youre older. You have to get to a medical appointment. Have you to take the bus or it is really crowded. You have to is Grocery Shopping and cant physical distance. You could consider wearing a face shield and a mask. Coronavirus could be transmitted through the eyes. A face shield can provide further protection. I dont think it is something Everyone Needs to do. Everyone needs to be sure were wearing our masks correctly. I see so many people Walking Around with their nose hanging out or the mask around their chin. So the consistent use of the mask is really the most important thing. Im told dr. Birx did in fact say that and also dr. Fauci at some point. Thank you so much. Great to have you on. Still to come more on how you can help others as well as yourselves and loved ones. Be right back. When the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations. Thats the clarity you get with fidelity wealth management. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Take the good, with the bad live the life you want to have send it off, with a bang whistling welcome back to our cnn town hall. We hope weve helped answer some of your questions about the pandemic i want to emphasize something i think we said from the beginning. We are going to get through this. Were going to get through this together. I do know there is a lot of corona fatigue out there. People dont want to hear about it. Not even this guy, anderson. We found this picture and this guy did not want to hear about it. No interest in that was this morning. He was first of all he was just mocking me for reading an actual newspaper. He was like, who is this old man im stuck with and why is he reading that . He of course just reads online. Right. These kids today. Youre doing the virtual education. He is cute. 4 1 2 months. You know, our impact your world team has also put together a bunch of resources at cnn. Com impact for how you can help during the coronavirus pandemic. Youll find ideas there for where you can donate or find help for yourself or a loved one. Sanjay, thanks very much as always. Our 21st town hall. A big thanks tonight to my guests and all of you who wrote in with questions or sent in videos. If you didnt get your question answered tonight the conversation continues at cnn. Com coronavirusanswers. A programming note saturday morning cnn and sesame street teaming together for a town hall for families. Love sesame street. The abcs of back to school. Saturday morning 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cnn. The news continues now with chris cuomo. Chris . All right. Thank you, anderson. I am chris cuomo. Welcome to primetime. Now we know the president lied to you about the worst medical crisis in our generation. We know he encouraged you to do things that were bad for your health ignoring masks. Going to crowded rallies. Defying governors who told you the truth about the need to socially distance and shut down for a while. The remaining question is why would he do this . Early on when it was mostly b