Transcripts For CNNW New Day With Alisyn Camerota And John Berman 20200807

Good morning. This morning, generally alarming new predictions that project just how devastating the coronavirus pandemic could become. Pan influential model from the university of washington now predicts deaths could hit nearly 300,000 by december. Thats nearly double where we are today. And its worth noting that this model projects that the number could be lower by 70,000 if everybody wore a mask. So where we are this morning, the nationwide death toll surpassed 160,000 overnight. 1,200 new deaths reported. Thats another day with more than 1,000 des. Think about that. And as pandemic surges, the economic pain is growing. Talks between the white house and democrats over the next round of stimulus relief are on the brink of collapse. A threehour meeting ending with both sides very far apart. At this point, its unclear if negotiations will even continue today. All of this as we will get an indication on just what the u. S. Economic recovery looks like, coming up in our 8 00 hour. Thats from the july jobs report is due out. President trump has said hell use executive action if an agreement cannot be reached. One thing hes already taking action on is tiktok. Mr. Trump signing an executive order overnight that would ban the popular app in the u. S. In 45 days, if it is not sold by its chinese parent company. Well have more on that in just a moment, but first well begin with omar jiminez, who is live in chicago. Thats one of many very big cities seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. Omar, good morning. Good morning, erica. Officials here in chicago tell me things remain broadly in control, but also that at the moment, the numbers are not trending in the right direction. And when you look countrywide, more than 160,000 americans have died as a new model is now projecting the number could be close to double by the time we get to december. Reporter before Ohio Governor mike divine could greet President Trump on the tarmac ahead of a factory tour, he became one of the latest americans to test positive for the krifcoronavirus. I had no symptoms. I had no indication no reason to think i had covid19. Obviously, its a rapid test. They got the results back right away. Reporter dewine later tweeted that a second test was negative. Well, theres always a tradeoff between speed and accuracy, but it is common that these rapid antigen tests have false results. Reporter meanwhile, nine u. S. Cities and californias Central Valley are drawing concern. Dr. Deborah birx warning places like kansas city are seeing higher test Positivity Rates. Were in really a triple threat. You could call it the perfect storm, that the cases are going up, our hospitalizations are going up, and our deaths are going up. And im afraid that the death projections are way under. Reporter chicago also making the list. And illinois had its highest singleday report since may 2 24th, adding nearly 2,000 new cases thursday. In texas, the department of Health Services reporting a 17 Positivity Rate, even with a decline in hospitalizations for the third draw in a row and a twoday drop in new cases. We are not at all anywhere close to being in a safe situation in covid19. Just because covid19 numbers improving in this region does not mean that covid19 has suddenly left. Reporter in tampa, florida, Hillsborough County Public Schools announced they will begin the school year virtually, despite Governor Ron Desantis pushing for students to be back in classroom and even participate in high school sports. Just understand that theres a risk out there. What i would not do is just if one person gets ill and theyre isolated and they test to shut down Everything Else. If Everything Else is fine, youve got to keep going. Reporter one updated model projects the u. S. Death toll could reach nearly 300,000 by december 1st, but indicates about 70,000 lives could be saved if more people consistently wear masks. Its an extraordinary opportunity. Its rare that you see something so simple, so inexpensive, so easy for everybody to participate in can have such an extraordinary impact in the u. S. , but also all over the world, actually. Reporter now, here in illinois, were seeing case numbers we havent seen since late may, but its also worth noting, testing is at the highest levels weve seen as well. Theres a new study out of south korea that shows why testing and Contact Tracing are so important at keeping this under control. Researchers there found that those without symptoms could carry just as much virus as those with symptoms and for just as long. Omar jiminez in chicago, thanks so much for being there. Dr. Fauci told us yesterday as the Positivity Rate goes up in these cities, thats a predictor, a warning sign that these cities like chicago have to be very careful. So please keep us posted. Breaking overnight, economic rescue talks on the brink of collapse. The white house and democrats are so far apart this morning, its not clear whether theyre even negotiating anymore. Lets bring in joe johns live at the white house. Joe, whats the latest . Still divided, still far apart. There was a threehour meeting last night with no breakthroughs. Now, the president has floated the idea of signing off on some type of executive action to extend a couple of the most critical benefits that have already expired. The white house chief of staff mark meadows and the speaker of the house nancy pelosi emerged from that meeting last night each blaming the other for the lack of progress. Listen. The president is right to be frustrated with congress. Hes coming to the realization that perhaps some of our democrats, both in the house and senate, are not serious about compromise and are not serious about trying to meet the needs of the american people. I couldnt help but thinking when we were at the table that what they were offering us was sophies choice in the hospital enough money for food, not enough for housing, in terms of rental. When they said a skinny proposal, it was anorexic. So what are they talking about here . The speaker of the house wants to go big. She says she wants a 3. 4 trillion package. The white house says, not so fast. They want to see it closer to 1 trillion on the price tag. Democrats want substantially more money for state and local governments. That is one of the big Sticking Points the president says he does not want bailouts, especially bailouts for cities which he claims have been mismanaged. Democrats also want to extend that 600 in a moment benefit for americans who are out of work. Republicans are trying to trim it down somewhat. The question, of course, is whether those two sides are even going to meet today. We dont know whether thats going to happen. The president for his part is not even here at the white house. Hes up at his golf course in bedminster, new jersey. Hes expected to attend a fundraiser in the hamptons over the weekend. Erica, back to you. Joe, thank you. President trump making good on his chance to own a pair of social media apps. Cnns Donie Osullivan joining us now with details. What more do we know about this plan, this executive order . Tit for tat over tiktok. This story is about so much more than just one or two chinese apps. This is really a story about the future of the internet and services all of us use, either directly or indirectly in our everyday lives. And trump last night signing really an unprecedented pair of executive orders that would ban in 45 days the chinese apps tiktok and wechat. Heres what one of those orders said. It says, tiktok allows the Chinese Communist party access to americans personal and proprietary information, potentially allowing china to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers for personal information. Now, its unclear if this president will follow true on this or if this is all a tactic to speed up the sale of tiktok. Trump has said he wants tiktok sold to an american companion. Microsoft is front of the running for that purchase and has spoken directly to the president about this. All of this, of course, as you can see from the executive order there, being cloaked in a National Security debate that these apps are danger to american interests and to american National Security. But, of course, these are extremely popular apps. Tiktok says it has 100 million users in the united states, and many of them, of course, are up in arms about this potential ban. Erica. Perhaps not surprisingly, donie, we are hearing from both china and titiktok, who are pushing back on the president. And dont get me wrong, china does not have the moral high ground here. A lot of American Social Media Companies and platforms are banned in china under beijings strict censorship laws. But overnight, of course, china responding, and here is what a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to say. They say, the u. S. Is using National Security as an excuse and using state power to oppress nonamerican businesses. We urge the u. S. To listen to the rationale voice, correct this mistake, stop politicizing issues, and provide an open, fair, and nondiscriminatory environment for business. Tiktok, which has denied all along that it is a piece of chinese spyware, as the American Government alleges, also hit back overnight, saying we will pursue all remedies available to us, in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and our company and our users are treated fairly, if not by the administration, then by the u. S. Courts. Tiktok also dangling a lot of jobs in the u. S. , 10,000 jobs they say theyll create here in the u. S. And creating a 1 billion fund for creators, for the users of tiktok. So this is going to be just an incredible, i guess, 45 days, which is the deadline or about a month from now that the Trump Administration has set for the possible sale of tiktok to an american company. A very important month for the future of the internet. Erica . Thats for sure. You know youll be watching it closely and keeping us up to date. Donie, thank you. A new study finds that people without coronavirus symptoms may be just as contagious as though who do show symptoms. So how could that impact the strategy to stop the spread . Thats next. When we started carvana, they told us that selling cars 100 online wouldnt work. But we went to work. Building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. Creating a coast to Coast Network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. Recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. And putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. Thats why weve become the nations Fastest Growing retailer. Because our customers love it. See for yourself, at carvana. Com. I had moderatetoseveres rheumatoid arthritis. Ive always been the ringleader had a zest for life. Flash forward, then ra kept me from the important things. And what my doctor said surprised me. She said my joint pain could mean permanent joint damage. 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Richard webb, an Infectious Disease doctor at st. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in memphis, tennessee. Dr. Webbs shot keeps going down there. Dr. Claussen, you first. 300,000 deaths by december is striking. It is alarming. It really hits you, when you wake up on a friday morning. What do you think of it . Its a good punch. Thats an absolutely breathtaking number. To think that were right now at about 160,000 deaths and well double that in just four months, to be a wakeup call to everybody. The good news is that this is just a prediction, its just a model, its not a guarantee and it doesnt have to come true. Theres good things we can do to help prevent that many fatalities in the united states. Were not in the same situation that we were in march. We have good evidence now, good practices that we know that can prevent the spread and the acquisition of covid19. Namely, to social distance, avoid crowds, and wear masks. Wearing of masks, we just put up that prediction. Each time we get this new projection, it comes with the caveat that if 95 of people in this country did wear a mask, the number would be dramatically different. While there has been a push for masks in your state, do you think the message is being followed widely enough to really bring that number down . Well, we, in kentucky, at least, have started to relax some of our social restrictions at the end of may and june, we started to see a steady peak in the number of cases we were having. Our governor around july 9th mandated that everybody in the state wear a mask. Now, with that aggressive intervention, as well as closing some of the bars, weve seen our numbers peak, come down some, and leveled out at still a pretty high number, but were not seeing the exponential growth that we see in some of the other states surrounding us and other parts of the country. We are seeing masks make a difference, but as you point out, the more people that wear masks, the harder it is to spread the infection. So we encourage everybody to wear a mask as a good, basic tenant of infection control. We have this shot up on the screen right there of people hospitalized in kentucky. That number rose substantially, leveled off, and its still very high. The reason that concerns me is if were at a very high level of hospitalizations. That is the most accurate predictor of deaths that will come. And it bothers me that were plateaued at this high rate of death over 1,000. I want to change subjects, dr. Klausing. Mike dewine, the governor of ohio, earlier in the day tested positive for coronavirus, with the antigen test, which is the speedy test. Later in the day, took another test, tested negative, which is what he assumes he is right now. People can say, oh, the testing is unreliable. I dont think thats what the message is. I dont think this is an example of things going wildly awry. It might be more of an example of these rapid tests may help us out, but they need to be checked. Well, as we think about testing, it can get very nuanced very quickly and thats been difficult to get a consistent message out to the public. The thing with the antigen test is those are generally fairly accurate tests if theyre positive. We dont see high rates of false positives on those tests. We do know that people, especially late in the course of infection, can intermittently, what we say, shed the virus. So that is, that they excrete parts of the virus, so its not uncommon for people to especially late in the course of their infection, to test positive on one day, negative on one day, and positive again the next day. So it can be a very tricky thing to try to deduce, especially with governor dewine saying that he doesnt have any symptoms. So for somebody in that situation, we dont know if he was infected two weeks ago, two days ago, or where he is in his course of infection. That makes it particularly challenging. So im not sure what the governor is going to do with regard s to quarantine or if he is at all, but these are one of the many challenges that we face on a routine basis in trying to control patients and isolate them. Asymptomatic spread has been a concern, you know, as weve learned more about it, dr. Web welcome the cdc estimating as many as 40 , right, are asymptomatic spreaders. Theres this new study out of south korea that also found that people who have the virus but arent showing symptoms still have basically the same viral load, just as much virus in them as people who are exhibiting symptoms. How does that change the equation of how we should be approaching things, dr. Webe . Its a great study and i think it shows what some of us have been fearing. These asymptomatic and symptomatic people have the same amount of virus. I think one thing weve got to keep it a little bit in mind with that study is they didnt actually show that both of these two groups of people were infectious for others. Weve got to be thinking, those people with symptoms, they might be coughing or sneezing perhaps a little bit more, and all of those actions gets a little bit more of that virus out from the nose into the environment. But having said that, this is something we know happens with Infectious Diseases. Its not a surprise at all. Happens with influenza every year. There is this good percentage of people who get the virus, get the bacteria, and have no symptoms, and its something we really dont have a good handle on why, but its something that happens. Dr. Webby, while we have your connection up here, let me ask you particularly about tennessee, so people can see the hospitalizations in tennessee, which also rose substantially and have leveled off a bit, albeit at a very high place. How do you see things in your state . Again, look at that look at the steep increase in hospitalizations, and it isnt rising anymore exponentially, but its still high, high enough that you have to be concerned about what will happen with deaths in the coming weeks. Thats exactly right. Tennessee is a little bit of a mixed bag right now. And i think a lot of that sort of leveling off is driven by some of the big metro areas, nashville and memphis, where we have seen, you know, if youre an optimist, and i think weve got to be, right . A little bit of leveling off of activities. I think the big unknown for me in the next couple of weeks is schools, some schools are starting to head back here, probably next week, so keeping an eye chon which way those tres go. Dr. Klausing and webby, thank you very much for being with us this morning and thank you very much for the work that both of you are doing in your states. Breaking overnight, the talks for new economic stimulus may be falling apart. Well give you the very latest on that. Plus, well take a special trip to the famed nation of thailand. Dont go far. For bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. Just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. For 45 days. Sir. Youre talking about a first [runnigeneration americanren] from the streets of the Imperial Valley who rose to beat the odds. She worked nights and weekends till she earned herself a masters degree. She was running in a marathon when a man behind her collapsed from cardiac arrest. 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The Sticking Point right now is aid to state and local governments and it seems like the administration is just waiting for democrats to collapse, but it really doesnt seem like the politics is on their side there. I think the American Public are impatient for a deal and nobody is going to come away from this looking good, if both sides go home without extending unemployment benefits, without extending ppp benefits, all of these things that are a lifeline to so Many Americans because of this pandemic. The idea that this could fall apart is stunning. It is stunning. And were going to see a jobs report two hours from now, get a sense of where the Economic Situation in the world is. There are millions of people suffering and they cant get it together. These talks may fall apart. Abby, a lot of news in the political world and the campaign world. A lot of things that have been said over the last 24 hours that raise eyebrows and raise questions. In ohio, the president lands there, and he accuses joe biden of something well, lets watch. Hes going to do things that nobody ever, would ever think even possible, because hes following the radical left agenda. Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the bible, hurt god. Hes against god. Hes going to hurt god. Hes against god. Now, its possible that that was the product of a limited vocabulary, but beyond that, its just a really, really stunning claim. I think over the last few weeks, youve seen the president and the Trump Campaign just in general, its like taking, you know, a 2 x 4 and hitting voters over the head with it. There is absolutely no subtlety left in the political message anymore. The president is speaking to his base. Hes trying everything he can to make sure he energizes and keep his base of conservatives, but particularly white evangelical christians with him. Thats what this is all about. But the reality is, and i dont have to tell you, john, or erica this, the president those who believe the president is a devout man, they are already with him. Those who believe that joe biden is not, theyre probably not voting for joe biden. So i think the idea that you can convince voters thatatheist, ev though hes well known to be a devout catholic, its hard to believe and i think its a little bit of an insult to voters on some level. A devout catholic that has leaned on his faith through some very difficult times and speaks more fluently on the subject of faith than the president does, be that as it may. The president also, abby, going after former Vice President biden on comments that he made the other day, about the Latino Community and also the Africanamerican Community here in the united states. And he had to do a little bit of cleanup after that. But the president really seizing on that moment. Im not sure that is landing the way he intended, either. Look, for starters, what joe biden said in that interview, which aired yesterday, was clearly wrong. I mean, it was just factually not correct. And thats why you saw him clean it up and in some ways, although it wasnt quite an apology, tried to explain what he meant. Joe biden is not the candidate who is the most fluent candidate on issues of race. That has always been true. That was true in the campaign. Even running against multiple black candidates, hispanic candidate, joe biden was not at the top of the peoples list for racial influenfluency, and yet the supporter of black voters. And for President Trump, its a hard argument to make. The president has spent much of the summer defending confederate statues, defending the confederate flag, calling black lives matter a symbol of hate, doing things that erode his own credibility on issues of race. So its hard for this to be one of those arguments where he might expect black voters to turn away from joe biden and him. That may not even be the objective. The Trump Campaign is trying to chip away at joe bidens support among black voters through apathy, primarily. And that might be the objective here, but the idea that somehow President Trump has more credibility on these issues, that is hard to believe. It is notable that the joe biden issued a personal statement for clarifying sort of apologizing for suggesting that the black community is not diverse. Abby, its in the same vein when you say the president is going after joe biden on issues of race when the president goes after joe biden on issues of mental acuity or cognitive ability. There is some example of irony in the last 24 hours on this. Yeah, look, the Trump Campaign is trying to find something to really work in their effort to bring joe biden down. One of the main things has been this idea that joe biden is losing it, mentally. But this is all happening in the context of the president , for example, just yesterday, reading the word thailand from the teleprompter as thyland. Its very difficult to make these arguments for the president who himself has a long history of these kind of gaffes. One of the troubles for Trump Campaign also is just like, perhaps, voters are used to President Trump and these kinds of public missteps, they might also be used to joe biden and these kind of public missteps. Joe biden has been known to be a gaffe machine for much of his political career. It has, in some ways, proceeded his advanced age and so, it is not something that i think would be new to voters, and thats why its been really difficult for them to get this one to stick, but they are still trying. Its i would say, john, a huge part of the Trump Campaign right now is the american peoples and the messaging around joe biden and his mental acuity. Its hard to make this matter in a pandemic, but lets play this moment before we go to break here. Lets play this geography lesson. And to avoid liability, shifting production to thyland and to vietnam. By the way, thyland, not far from lapland and the other city of quad city. We all know where thyland is. In this pandemic, were all much more familiar. When i can travel again, thats the first place im going. Abby, thank you very much. Coming up, exclusive cnn reporting on a stunning decision of u. S. Military leaders. What they withheld from the commander in chief. Thats next. Five, five dollar, five dollar footlong. Now, only in the subway® app or online, any footlong is a five dollar footlong when you buy 2. Even the new bbq rib. Subway®. Eat fresh. Even the new bbq rib. It only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. Tide pods childguard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. To close, twist until it clicks. 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Cnns Senior International correspondent, arwa damon is live in beirut for us with the latest. Arwa, good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. National assistance has begun to arrive. There are now french teams on the ground continuing to assist in that search for any survivor survivors. Could there be anyone left alive . Its a hope dozens of family members of the missing cling to, knowing that its unlikely, but not wanting to accept that their loved up with could be gone. Others are laid to rest. Lives utterly shattered in the trail of destruction by tuesdays explosion in lebanons capital city. Those who survived are trying to pick up the pieces. Glass and debris crunch underneath the feet of an army of volunteers, stepping in where the government is not, attempting to clear the rubbles of billions of dollars of damage. They urge each other on, but for others, its all just too much. The intensity of the emotional roller coaster that is being lebanese has left them hollow shells. What should we feel, asks one resident . You cant feel anything in lebanon. Theres nothing to be sad about anymore, he says. As the cleanup continues, a rage grows across the country at how a new disaster could happen, still, without any clear explanation or apology. As french president Emmanuel Macron toured the wreckage, the first foreign leader to set foot here, he was surrounded by hundreds of lebanese calling for revolution, urging him, begging him, do something. He vowed that france would stand with the lebanese people, but cautioned its leaders. Translator the requirement of a friend in times of need is to rush to the scene when times are hard, but not to hand out blank checks to a system not trusted by the people. Reporter from outside and inside the country, demands for answers grow louder, as calls emerge for an independent probe into the explosion. This is not just about accountability, or how the country is going to rebuild emotionally and physically. Its about how its going to find its soul. And, john, as they try to rebuild and refind their soul to a certain degree, citizens of this country are going to continue in their demands for an entire rehaul of the lebanese government, of the way that the government interacts with its population, because if there has been any large Lesson Learned from this horrific explosion, most lebanese will tell you its that their government truly does not care about them or their wellbeing, and they are going to be out there demanding that that change. And its really remarkable. Talk about a city that did not need this. Talk about a city that was already suffering and going through so much. Arwa damon, thank you so much for being there and keeping us honest on this. So new this morning, were learning now that President Trumps unpredictable behavior led advisers to hesitate to give him military options amid escalating tensions with north korea. Were learning this, because of a brandnew book out from cnn anchor in chief, jim sciutto, the author of the book. The book out next tuesday, the madman theory trump takes on the world. I am holding a wellworn copy in my hands right now. This reporting is fascinating, particularly as it pertains to north korea. What have you learned . This happened at night of tensions with north korea in late 2017, where the president s military advisers hesitated to give him military options, because they were concerned he might use them, and that would take the u. S. And north korea on the path to war. This is something that military advisers were reluctant to do and u. S. Diplomats involved in this. And remarkably, john, in the midst of that, you had u. S. Negotiators communicating to their north Korean Counterparts that they did not know what the president was going to do. That he was unpredictable, out of concern, again, about what path this would lead the country on. This was not isolated to north korea during the most tense moments with iran in 2019. A similar dynamic, reluctance to give military options, worry that the president would use them unjustifiably, to some degree, but also, again, communicating to the iranian side, the president s unpribl unpredictable, we dont know how hes going to act here, because they were worried about spiraling towards a conflict there. Its a remarkable instance of distrust in the president s Decision Making from his own advisers. Theres a lot in this book, jim, and everyone should go out and read it as soon as they can. One of the things that jumped out to me, and you spoke to a lot of the people involved here, is that they had to pare down what they would tell him every day, because they knew he wouldnt get that far. They basically knew he wouldnt get to number three on a list of information. This was early on in the Trump Administration. It became very clear that the president was not reading his briefing materials. His briefers would come in and they could tell, because when they began to discuss stuff, it was in his briefing materials, it was the first time eheard it. So under h. R. Mcmaster and his team, National Security dwurz, he devised a plan to boil down the briefings to three bullet points on note cards hoping that that level of information would get through. What they discovered over time was that the president was only reading the first two of those three bullet points, so they adjusted again and concentrated the most Important Information in the first two points and the third point became sort of a throwaway line, hoping he would at least get through those first two, then they began to discover he wasnt even reading the first two. Because they would brief him and as they brought up issues, it was clearly the first time he was hearing it. Why does this matter . Of course, we want our leaders make informed decisions here. And you have a president who often doesnt take in that information, but also, at times, ignores it, dismisses it, disagrees with it, says he knows better than his briefers or even intelligence agencies. Its a remarkable dynamic. Or sometimes he invents things, jim, which brings us to this week. Because i think one of the most undercovered stories of this remarkable week has been when the president went out there after the beirut explosion and at the white house, in the briefing room, said he was told that it was bombs. Or a bomb that caused this explosion. He even said that military advisers told him that. And we cant find any evidence that anyone told him that. What went on there . Its not clear where they came from, right . And it is, as you say, not the first time the president has claimed something that, well, either turned out not to be true or had no basis. And it matters, right . Because in the midst of that, tensions are very high in lebanon. They always are in that region, particularly now. There were suspicions, did israel carry out an attack . And when you have the u. S. President say, well, heck, it might have been an attack, that, of course, puts people on alert here. And that is a dynamic, john, we should note, that the president has contradicted, the intelligence, his military advisers, not just on the lebanon attack, but on intelligence about iranian compliance with the nuclear deal, on intelligence about north korea spanexpanding its nuclear program, and most notably on russian interference in the election. This is a feature, not a bug of the Trump Presidency and thats one reflation from this book. Jim sciutto, great to have you on. Congratulations on your work. The book is the madman theory trump takes on the world, out next week. Thank you. This morning, schools reopening and some are already seeing cases of krifcoronavirus. What are some of the nations Largest School districts doing to prepare, next. El to my patie. Pronamel will help push the minerals back into the enamel, to keep the enamel strong. I know it works. And i hear nothing but great things from my patients that have switched to it. I know it works. And i hear nothing but great things a lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. I tell them, it may be your detergent. Thats why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum. With the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. For sparklingclean dishes, the first time. Cascade platinum. As coronavirus cases surge across the country, some School Districts are being forced to rethink their plans. Lets bring in bianna golodryga. Bianna, good morning. I know youve been looking at whats been happening around the country, and if you look at the 101 Largest School districts, its really painting a different picture. There is so much confusion as were weeks away from millions of children starting school, there is so much confusion in parents and teachers minds than there is any kind of clarity. Lets take a look at the 101 Largest School districts in the country. Out of those, 63 are now saying that they are starting online. Thats some 7 million students. Now, 12 are starting with a hybrid model and 17 are starting with either all online or all in person, so that doesnt give you much clarity. And four have yet to start a plan. Lets take a look at the 25 Largest School districts in the country. All but five have announced theyll be starting remotely. The latest being chicago. Were still waiting on final plans out of new york city right now. They have proposed a hybrid model, but there is so much concern. Because remember what medical experts are saying to make sure that kids can be as safe as possible, and that is for Community Spread to be under 5 . For 32 states, thats just not the case. And look at some of the states where weve already seen a reopening and closing subsequently the next day. Were talking about mississippi, indiana, georgia, north carolina, hundreds of students have contracted the disease. And of course, it comes down to not just testing, but getting the results, and the results and the waiting time is so long. You need immediate results for this to be contained. And weve seen some schools close down, as you point out. There is this new polling from the Washington Post which i thought was very telling. Polling parents and what they are supportive of at this point. Well, guess what, erica, were nervous we want our kids back in school, but we want them to be healthy and for our family members to remain healthy, as well. Look at the numbers here. 56 of parents say that do not feel safe sending their kids back to school. Thats the majority of those polled. 44 say they prefer a mix of online and inperson, but that would take a huge toll on their professional careers, maintaining their own schedules while keeping their kids at home and then bringing them back to school on some days. 39 prefer to have it all online. And only 16 prefer inperson. Look at the disconnect between that poll number and where the president stands by saying that all schools must reopen. The American Public just isnt confident with that and we need it. Its a big blow to the economy, a big blow to students learning. 68 of parents believe their students will be at a disadvantage learning online. Theres no winner here. Anyone who says this is political, parents want to keep their kids at home, thats just not the case. We want to keep them safe. Absolutely. That is the number one priority, as we know. Bianna, great to see you this morning. John . Nearly 70 nfl players have opted out of the upcoming football season, almost all of them it seems play for the patriots. Andy scholes with this mornings bleacher report. Good morning, andy. Players had until yesterday afternoon to make that decision on whether or not they were going to play this season. And a spokesperson for the league telling cnn that of the more than 2,800 players, 66 have chosen to opt out of this season. And the majority of those players or a little more than half of them are lineman. 20 on offense, 11 of defense. The new England Patriots had the most players opt out with 8. Only three teams had no one opting out. The steelers, falcons, and chargers. Players who are considered to be high risk will get a 350,000 stipend and players without risk will get 100,000 as an advance against future salaries. Nfl has announced theyll schedule the kickoff thursday, september 10th. In the meantime, braves outfielder, nick markakis, he reversed his decision to opt out of the season, rejoining the team for last nights game, and what a way to return. A walk off home run. Look at how they i can hear the Compliance Officer from the dugout, yelling at the players, dont get too close, no high fives, dont jump on them. But thats how celebrations are going to look. Good for them, for the braves to have the common sense not to high five there. Andy, thanks very much. All right. An alarming prediction this morning. The u. S. Death toll could nearly double by december. Thats what a new model says. Well tell you much more about it, next. Tums versus mozzarella stick bell rings when heartburn hits fight back fast. With tums chewy bites. Beat heartburn fast tums chewy bites try new natures bounty stress comfort. Three unique gummies for your unique needs. Find peace. Boost mood. Sleep well. Stress comfort comes naturally, only from natures bounty dont just think about where youre headed this summer. Think about how youll get there. And now that you can lease or buy a new lincoln remotely or in person. Discovering that feeling has never been more effortless. The lincoln summer invitation sales event is here. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 8 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Now a key covid model is predicting covid will kill nearly 3,000,000 americans by december 1st, but consistent mask wearing beginning today could save 70,000 lives. Zw dont dont be a weak link in the chain. White house officials and Democratic Leaders are still far short of agreement on a stimulus plan. My frustration is that we could have passed a very skinny deal that dealt with some of the most pressing issues. Not enough money for food, nothing for housing. When they said a skinny proposal, it was anorexic. This is