Have not seen since may. Hospitalizations are also climbing, reaching near record levels over the last 24 hours after declining dramatically last month, as you see in the graph on the screen. Dr. Deborah birx of the White House Coronavirus task force saying today that the surge is, quote, very serious and very real, unquote, comparing major outbreaks in at least three states, texas, florida, and california to what happened in new york. Though birx pointed to some encouraging signs infections she said may be plateauing in those hot spots as well as arizona. This comes as the cdc is pushing for kids to go back to school in person. Critics contend that the countrys Top Public Health agency may be being politicized to please President Trump. Even officials acknowledged that it is still an open question how much young peopler spread the disease. As cnns nick watts explains for us now. Reporter the president backed by new cdc guidelines pushing hard for schools to reopen. Brick and mortar. Being at the school, being on the campus is very, very important. Reporter but is it safe . The cdc says scientific studies suggest that covid19 transmission among children in schools may be low. Emphasis on suggest and may. I think we still need to learn a lot about children, elementary schoolchildren getting infected and whether they either spread or not efficiently to adults. Reporter in hot spots, schools should figure out a plan with local Health Officials, says the cdc. Right now the virus is controlling us in many parts of the world. Much of the americas right now are really in the thick of it. But we do see signs of hope. Reporter across the country in more than half of states, average new case counts are right now steady or falling. Thats good. Case counts generally falling in arizona after a very difficult month and hardhit florida. Although i do think south florida is definitely stabilized and i think miami is showing some signs of improvement as well. Reporter new case rates in florida are leveling off. But leveling off very high, and average daily deaths in the state are at an alltime high. And in miamidade county, icus are now operating at 132 capacity. Were drowning. Were absolutely drowning here. Just an overwhelming number of cases, 527 individuals in the icus. Reporter starr county, texas, just ordered everyone to shelter at home according to the county, our doctors are going to have to decide who receives treatment and who is sent home to die by their loved ones. One major model projects around another 75,000 americans might die before november. So now we should hit the reset button, say 150 prominent medical experts and others who have signed an open letter to our leaders. Shut it down now and start over. I dont personally think thats necessary. I think that if we just do the common sense things, we can get this under control as other countries have gotten it under control. Reporter so, the absolute object sit of this tightpacked unmasked religious service in northern california. And california has just reported another record daily death toll, jake. Two more people dying than yesterday. And also today, more big retailers and food stores making people wear masks. Chipotle as of today you got to wear a mask when you walk in. Mcdonalds is going to do the same as of next weekend. And clearly they are anticipating a little bit of friction. They say if somebody arrives without a mask, an employee will, in a very friendly fashion offer them one. If they refuse the mask, theyll be asked to stand away from other people to keep staff and other customers safe. Jake . All right, nick, thank you so much. Joining us now, the director of the center for Infectious Disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. Thank you so much, michael, for coming back. What guidance would you offer when it comes to whether or not kids should go back to school based on todays data . Weve done a lot of work on this over the past several weeks. I just recorded two different podcasts that are on our centers website. And after interviewing many superintendents, parents, teachers looking at all the guidance, looking at the data, i think it comes down to one simple fact. Every School District should have to be able to choose for their own what do they do. Its so different from city to city, whether you have more cases in some than others what the composition of the student population happens to be in terms of access to internet, online learning, et cetera. We all want to get kids back to school, but this should be a local choice issue. The new cdc guidelines heavily push for kids to return to school inperson learning, citing the potential detriment to their development. Not long ago the cdc warned that schools could fuel the spread of coronavirus, and weve seen that chart out of israel where once they opened the schools the infection rates started really going up significantly. Are you worried at all about whether or not the information coming from the cdc can be trusted given how much president Trumps Administration has politicized so many agencies . I think the cdc recommendations today have to be viewed in light of the fact that they had previous recommendations that were in draft form that looked different than the ones that do today. I just have to come back to the fact that first of all we dont have good data in this country about kids in schools, particularly whether it be k through fifth or sixth grade or those all the way to senior and high school. And the reason is because we close schools down when the pandemic really first started hitting here. The data we have are actually from countries outside the United States. And if you look at those, most of the data that weve generated says that the risk is very low actually occurred in countries that got the pandemic under control relatively quickly, and then reopened in a very different setting than we see in the United States. On the other hand, where we have had Large Community case numbers, schools had a much more difficult time reopening. So we have to understand that we just cant say that kids wont get infected and transmit. We all want kids to go to school, all of us for all the other health reasons. But also we have to understand how do you do that if in fact you have teachers, a quarter of them right now have highrisk factors for serious disease if they get infected. We have to figure out what plans are available to local School Districts so they can help control that. Were all waiting for federal resources to get to the schools. Its still languishing in the u. S. Senate right now. Ive talked to a number of superintendents in the last two weeks who have said we have plans that we can help put in place that will reduce the risk of transmission, but we cant do them now. We dont have the resources. So i think what we have to understand is this is probably going to be our covid year for school. Accept the fact that it may not be a normal year for us. It may be a redo next year. And do whatever you can to protect your communities and if you can go to school, great. But if you cant, thats not a wrong answer. You say that a lot of this depends whether or not a school should open or School Districts should open on the infection rate in the area. What kind of scenario would you like to see before a school says, okay, were going to have inperson classes . I think youve got to first of all see well less than 5 of your positive tests or of your testing is positive. Youd like to see in fact fewer than five cases for 100,000 population. You want to have a decreasing number of cases for at least the last 14 days. And you want to have a quarter more of your hospital beds available. So if you have a surge you can deal with it. If you have all those conditions in place, then your schools have a better chance of not having the virus come in from the community itself and causing problems from day one. And so, again, we have to leave this up to the various communities. Each one is different. I have yet to meet a superintendent or a schoolteacher that dont want to get back in class. They all do. They want the kids back. But they have real challenges right now in terms of just what they can do based on the underresourced efforts to try to get more space, for example, so you can space students out, to get more para professionals to come in and help out so that if you have to split classrooms up into two, you actually have that. They dont have personal protective equipment right now. Many of the schools have virtually nothing to help protect their teachers. This is not a time to force this. This is a time. Maybe they can open in october, maybe in november. But again its a doover. Let this be your covid year doing everything we can to protect kids, doing everything we can to keep parents working and providing childcare. But at the same time i just have to say, jake, if anybody has the right answer here, its the wrong answer. The only answers we have is youve got to give it to local choice and youve got to get resources to these local School Districts or were asking them to do the impossible. Dr. Birx said that florida, texas, and california are essentially three new yorks where the death toll still remains the highest in the country, more than 32,000. New york did ultimately dramatically bend the states curves. And cases and hospitalizations and deaths in new york are dramatically down. But do you expect a second wave could hit new york . New york is at risk. I have to disclose that months ago Governor Cuomo asked me and someone else to serve as kind of the reviewer of the data every day in terms of whether or not they could reopen further or they had to basically close things down. What new york has done has been remarkable. They have not just only driven the numbers down, but they have monitored so closely that they more than any other place in the United States has a good feel of whats happening and when to tighten things up, when to loosen them up. They too realize they are sitting on what potentially could be increasing cases. But used much rather deal with a couple hundred cases in new york city than having to deal with 75,000 cases across the country every day. So they have shown us that you can reduce the occurrence of this virus in your communities if you lock it down, get it down to a low level, and then control it from there. What we did is we kind of got halfway there and people said were just close enough and open up again. And we saw what happened with that. We have to at least regionally lock back down and then we can control it after that in a much better way. And all we need to do is look at countries around the world that have done it. They should give us hope that we could do what theyve done. And we can, i believe. But were not going to do it if we keep saying well kind of shut down. All right, michael, thank you so much. As always, appreciate it. President trump now appears to be accepting the realities of the coronavirus pandemic, but it does seem hes forgotten some things in the process. Well tell you what. Then, new revelations about why President Trump barred new yorkers from signing up for a popular state department program. Stay with us. Not even our competitors best battery can match the power of energizer. Because energizer ultimate lithium is the longest lasting aa battery in the world. [confetti cannon popping] energizer. Backed by science. Matched by no one. burke at farmers, we know a thing or weve seen a thing or two. Like how nice it is to save on your auto policy. But its even nicer knowing that if this happens. Or this happens. Or this. Or this. Or even this. Weve seen and covered it. So, switch to farmers and you could save an average of three hundred ninetyfive dollars. Get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum curry. Cacciatori. Chimichurri. Fried turkey. Blueberry. Mcflurry. Cheese cake. Grilled steak. Clam bake. Milkshake. We are americas kitchen. Doordash. Every flavor welcome. In our politics lead today, this week President Trump is attempting to convince the nation that he is on top of this pandemic, hes doing this not by initiating a new strategy for tackling the virus, given that the current one is clearly failing. Hes doing it by finally embracing masks at least for now and holding briefings. And sources say much of that is driven by his sinking poll numbers and his fears that he will not win reelection in just over 100 days. The president s latest move on this front canceling parts of the Republican NationalConvention Set for florida and blaming it on the virus and the need to keep people safe, though as Cnns Kaitlan Collins reports, it appears at least some of the concern is over how many people will actually show up. Reporter President Trump made a series of headsnapping reversals on coronavirus this week as the virus is surging and his poll numbers are sinking. So i told my team its time to cancel the jacksonville, florida, component of the gop convention. Reporter canceling his convention in jacksonville, florida, was the latest uturn that came eight weeks after the president moved it from North Carolina because he thought the Health Precautions required there were too strict. The timing for this event is not right. Its just not right with whats happened recently, the flareup in florida. Reporter without mentioning the thousands of supporters he recently addressed in oklahoma and arizona without masks, trump now says he feels obligated not to host big crowds. I thought i had an obligation not to have large numbers, massive numbers of people crowded into a room. Reporter sources say there are staggering numbers behind the president s decision, but its not the case count in the u. S. A quinnipiac poll found that 62 of people thought it was a bad idea to lead the convention. The president canceled the consequence but forged ahead with his idea to open schools in the fall. Task force official dr. Deborah birx said its still being evaluated. What i cant tell you for sure is whether children under 10 in the United States dont spread the virus. Reporter the president did not brief reporters on friday, but he did tweet that a Top Republican told him congress would not force the pentagon to change the confederate names of some u. S. Military bases. But senator jim inhoff passed a bill this week. Despite including a pay raise for u. S. Troops, trump has threatened to veto the final bill if it ultimately renames those bases. The bases are not known for the generals they are named after. The bases are known for the heroes within it. Reporter cnn reported today that President Trump erupted last week after his defense secretary mark esper issued a militarywide directive effectively banning the Confederate Flag from military installations. Its freedom of speech. Reporter now, jake, i should note that a white house official did dispute our story on esper saying the president was not angry when it was brought up, though other sources said that he certainly was and we should say today the president didnt brief, but the press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany did. She was asked about the president s call with the russian president yesterday, a call, one of several that hes had over the last few months with vladimir putin. And she was asked if the president brought up that intelligence that was reported on about those purported russian bounties to the taliban for u. S. Soldiers. She said she would not comment on whether or not that was brought up during that call. She also wouldnt say if the president raised election interference with putin, which is notable given the fact that today the nations top Counter Intelligence official listed russia among countries that are trying to interfere with american democracy. Kaitlan collins, thank you for that excellent reporting. What to do if youre in one of the places where coronavirus is surging . Im going to talk to a republican governor who just instituted a mask mandate for his state. Thats next. Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about well the names have all changed since you hung around but those dreams have remained and theyve turned around whod have thought theyd lead ya back here where we need ya welcome back, america. It sure is good to see you. I have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. Because i can still make my own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it like its supposed to. Onceweekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. It starts acting from the first dose. And it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known Heart Disease or multiple risk factors. Trulicity isnt for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Dont take trulicity if youre allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain, and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. Were committed to helping ensure trulicity is available and affordable. Learn more at trulicity. Com. In the National Lead now, ohio has just recorded its highest level of hospitalizations since this pandemic began. And dr. Deborah birx, the head of the Coronavirus Task force at the white house, says that shes concerned about the explosion of new cases in the states two largest cities, columbus and cleveland. Joining us now to discuss is republican Governor Mike Dewine of ohio. Governor dewine, thanks for joining us. So you have a new statewide mask mandate now in place. It requires masks at indoor locations and outside if theres no social distancing as well as on public transportation. As you well know, cases have been rising in ohio for the last month. Why implement this now and not earlier . Well, we started about four weeks ago a process where we labeled counties by different levels. And if you were a red level, which was three, people had to wear a mask. So weve been kind of easing people into this. But the good news is that weve seen the mask wearing go up. When we look at some of these counties where theyve been Wearing Masks more, we think were seeing a slowdown, at least a slowdown in the increase. So, our numbers have gone up today or yesterday was the second highest that weve had for some time. So we dont like that at all. But weve been hovering somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 every day now for two weeks probably. 12 or 1,500 new cases . Is that what youre talking about . Yeah, new cases. Thats what were looking at. The Positivity Rate is about 6. 2. And its been fairly steady now for the last week or so. So, i recall you trying to implement a mask order for the state at the end of april. But you rescinded it the next day. You said this, if you recall. It became clear to me that that was just a bridge too far, that people were not going to accept the government telling them what to do. So, in retrospect, was it a mistake to listen to the people who were telling you they would never abide by it, and who were these people . Was it the protesters . They were wrong, whoever was telling you that they opposed this mask mandate, they were obviously wrong. Well, look. Part of governing is to be able to bring people along. And when we did our reopening, we have and still have today some of the most stringent protocols for companies. So, every employee and every company for a long time now has been under our mask order. And its working exceedingly well. When i made the decision not to require people who are going into retail to wear a mask, it was made because it was clear at that point in time people would simply not accept it, did not think people would really be doing it. So its not the protesters. Were not concerned about that. But theres an obligation that a governor has to try to bring people along. So weve been doing that, as i said, three and a half weeks ago we went to a system of color. If you were red, you have to wear a mask. And so for some time 60 of the people have had to wear masks. Weve seen good compliance, increasing compliance. Now what were asking is our counties that dont have as high, our yellow counties and our orange counties were telling the folks there if you wear a mask, this is a good way to not get to red and not to get to purple. And so i think were moving now in the right direction. The other thing that were finding, and this is maybe a little surprise. But its not just the bars where people are getting infected. Its not just other big groups like churches. Were certainly finding that. But the thing that really is driving a lot of this is just people getting together with friends, getting together in their backyard, getting together with their family members and friends. And i think what it is is people dont when theyre with friends, theyre with someone they know, they dont think they need to take any precautions. And our message this week has been very clear. You need to take precautions if youre in that type situation, because you never know with this virus who has it and who does not. I want to ask you about the case at least one person has died in ohio and 19 others caught the coronavirus after attending the piccoway county fair at the end of june in your state. The county says that food vendors set out shared condiment bottles when iallowed the virus to spread and also people that worked at this fair and vendors did not wear masks, did not follow mask guidelines. Youre still allowing fairs to operate. Are you worried at all that youre risking the health and safety of ohioans by doing that . Or are you taking more precautions than they showed at this state fair . Well, we have a lot of county fairs. We have 88 counties and we have independent fairs. The whole idea is to let kids bring in their livestock, what we call the junior fair. And so we provided money to these fairs to allow them to have the safety that they needed. Clearly piccoway county did not do what they shouldve done. I got every fair manager and fair members, the boards on the phone a couple days ago and said, look, if you cant run the fair, you know, youre going to have to shut your fair down. You need to listen to your local health department. If they tell you youve got too many people on the ground you need to shut the gate down. We had a conversation about that. Its clear that piccoway county did not control people, they did not control their crowd. They did not do what they were supposed to do. Look, were trying to provide opportunities for kids. We cant shut the whole state down again. This is not what people want, nor is it particularly healthy. Weve lost a lot because of the fact that the state, you know, was shut down. So you cant do that forever. But what my message is to the people of ohio is, look, weve got good guidelines. Weve got good orders. We need to follow them, whether its a county fair or whether its in your backyard. If people are willing to do that, were going to make a huge, huge difference in regard to this virus. Lets hope they abide by this. Republican Governor Mike Dewine of ohio, thank you so much. Coming up, its home to the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States. Then they seem to do everything right. But why is Washington State now seeing a resurgence of the virus . Stay with us. T my first rodeo and let me tell you something, i wouldnt be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. Its just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, its helped over a million americans. A reverse Mortgage Loan isnt some kind of trick to take your home. Its a loan, like any other. Big difference is how you pay it back. Find out how reverse mortgages really work with aags free, noobligation reverse mortgage guide. Eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more. 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Call now so you can. Retire better in our National Lead, brand new stricter rules announced in Washington State because of a surge in coronavirus cases there, Washington State, you may recall, was the first epicenter known when it came to the u. S. Outbreak. But after getting the situation relatively under control, its sheen a sharp uptick in recent weeks. Cnns dan simon looks at what went wrong with washingtons reopening strategy. They put her in an ambulance. Reporter 17yearold Robert Cordova called 911 when his moms coronavirus symptoms became severe. We didnt know if that was the last time we were going to see here. Reporter the single mother was hospitalized in yakima, washington. We didnt know what to do. Reporter now home, bertha believes she contracted covid19 while working at a fruit packaging plant. All three of her children and her mother were diagnosed with more mild cases. Theyre among the nearly 50,000 washingtonians to get covid19 since the states first outbreak in january. The first case of a deadly coronavirus has reached the u. S. Its in Washington State. Reporter washington was the countrys original epicenter. Governor jay inslees stayathome order seemed to bring things under control. And like other current hot spots, it began to reopen in may. Three months to the day after weve declared a state of emergency, were successfully moving forward. Reporter but despite its headstart, crowded working conditions, opposition to masks, and general quarantine fatigue have helped set the state back with confirmed cases rising since early june. All the virus needs is a little bit of help to kind of go crazy. Reporter randy is a Nurse Practitioner using this makeshift medical tent to serve a Food Distribution center in yakima county. Agricultural workers are considered essential. They were only separated like she said about this distance with a plastic screen with them, and masks and gloves. Reporter rural yakima county now has the second highest number of cases in washington. Yet, statemandated maskwearing has been slow to catch on. It would be different if everybody did everything they possibly could. But we havent seen that. Our suppression of this virus is not at the level it needs to be. Reporter the now is now reinstating restrictions on social gatherings, hitting already struggling businesses hard. You can only go through this so many times before people just throw up their hands and are like whats the use . Reporter special events promoter grand herrington says hes lost up to 400,000 in revenue this year. Theres a lack of morale. Theres a lack of motivation. I think that weve got to find ways to be proactive in safely opening businesses so we can have time to prepare, so we can do it safely. Reporter now, the mother you saw there in the piece, bertha, she had some Pretty Simple advice for anyone willing to listen. And that is to wear a mask. Now, jake, as we saw, washington is one of these states that thought it had things under control. Now Health Officials there worry that it could become the next california or florida. Thats why governor inslee issued those new social restrictions. Bottom line if you leave your home, you have to wear a mask. The question now is one of compliance. Jake . All right, dan simon, thank you so much. Tune into sunday mornings state of the union. Guests include admiral brett giroir. Well also have larry kudlow. The head of the congressional black congress, congresswoman karen bass and larry hogan and mayor lori lightfoot. Thats at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. Coming up any moment, moving trucks will pull away from the chinese consulate in houston, texas. China is now taking retaliatory action. What are they doing . Thats next. The situation room with wolf blitzer up next on cnn. The president and his Administration Lied to the public not infrequently what they do, do less often is publicly admit that they lie even. One exception we just learned from a court filing that the Trump Administration is finally admitting that its officials made false statements when they banned new yorkers from enrolling in federal programs including one that allowed passengers to speed through Airport Security lines. In february as you might remember, the department of Homeland Security claimed that their ban on new yorkers was because they allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers licenses without sharing their personal data with the federal government. But other states have similar laws but the Trump Administration only singled out new york. The department of Homeland Security is now admitting that prior statements they made were, quote, inaccurate or misleading and Effective Immediately the department is going to lift this ban. In just a few minutes we understand chinas u. S. Consulate in houston will officially close after the Trump Administration ordered it to do so with officials describing this as a hot bed of spy activity. Weve seen moving trucks parked outside. And in retaliation, china today announced that the u. S. Must close its consulate in chengdu after a week of escalating tensions. Cnns kylie atwood joins me to discuss this. Clearly things are getting even tenser between the u. S. And china. What sparked this move . Reporter lets just flick through what has happened just this week, jake. So on tuesday doj prosecutors charge alleged chinese hackers who they said were backed by the Chinese Government of trying to steal Vaccine Research here in the United States. On that same day, the state department told china that it had to vacate its consulate in houston, essentially kicking it out for what it says was alleged involvement in chinese efforts here to steal trade secrets and the like. And then fast forward to thursday. We had secretary pompeo sort of describing why they had done that, why had they kicked the chinese out of the houston consulate saying that it was a hub for spying and intellectual property theft. And then just this morning we are learning that a chinese scientist who prosecutors allege had committed visa fraud and had also lied to the fbi about her relations, connections to fashions of the chinese military. She is now in u. S. Custody. So there is a lot that has happened this week. Its important to note, however, that this is part of the Trump Administrations strategy. Its stated policy towards china being really tough on china everywhere it sees it needs to. And, kylie, whats been the reaction at the state department in the Trump Administration to china closing the u. S. Consulate in chengdu . Well, the reaction to closing the consulate hasnt been extensive right now. They knew that the chinese were going to do something. Obviously when they force them to close their consulate here, the chinese werent going to stand back and do nothing. We have seen this between the u. S. And china time and time again. But the u. S. Officials are doubling down on the need to have done this. They are saying that they really had to go after china for having its diplomats involved in espionage efforts here in the United States. Jake . All right, kylie atwood at the state department, thank you so much. Debates over masks, seeing families, sending kids back to school. A look at how to negotiate just some of the emotionally charged conversations that might be happening in your household and in households across america. Thats next. 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Common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. Dont touch container tip to your eye or any surface. After using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. Got any room in your eye . Talk to an eye doctor about twicedaily xiidra. I prefer you didnt xiidra. Not today, dry eye. [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. I was drowning in credit card debt. Sofi helped me pay off twentythree thousand dollars of credit card debt. They helped me consolidate all of that into one low monthly payment. They make you feel like its an honor for them to help you out. I went from sleepless nights to getting my money right. So thank you. In our health lead today, mask or no mask, open or virtual . All the divisiveness and politics related to the pandemic has left Many Americans confused and stressed about what to do for our emotional wellbeing. Lets bring in the leads clinical psychologist. Always great to have you. You said you noticed the stress related to the pandemic is getting worse compared to when it started when people were pretty much freaking out. Yeah. I do see that. I think right now people are feeling lost. Like maybe they already sacrificed so much, and the idea that it mightve been for nothing. And people are feeling confused because there is so much divisiveness. We have lost a little bit of a sense that were all in this together trying for a common purpose that we know will work. So i think that hopelessness is what im seeing more of. And quite frankly im seeing a lot more rage, especially among parents who said we did our part and now things arent happening the way that we had hoped. Our kids are still in jeopardy. What happened . Yeah. Its understandable frankly. Theres this big debate, as you know, about reopening schools. And that is super stressful. I mean, Remote Learning sucks. Its awful. Its especially bad for younger kids. What do you tell parents when they say i dont know what to tell my kids . They hated Remote Learning so much and we might have to do it again. Yeah. Its really frustrating. Empathizing the kids and then making a plan, looking at what worked and what didnt. Learning what we want on in the spring and trying to make it better. Having a specific strategy because we know we might be in this for the long haul because it gives kids a sense of control instead of next monday youre going to be home. Now were going to say heres how were going to arrange a part of our home to make it a little bit easier for you to focus. Heres what equipment were going to get from the school and how were going to set it up. Here is how youre going to have some specialized time maybe with some friends that we plan every week to check in about homework and to just talk to each other. So its about having a plan and trying to look at what made it miserable in the spring and how we can overcome that in the fall and try to tweak it just in little ways. I totally hear the arguments of people who say that its important to open schools. I get the arguments on the other side too that it depends on the situation when it comes to the pandemic. But talk a little bit about what the emotional effect of homeschooling is. Because i dont make light of it at all. People say that suicidal ide of course ation increases. People say that drug abuse and Substance Abuse increases for kids and for adults. Yeah. What youre speaking to, jake, i think is so important. Thats the social isolation piece. School is not just a place to learn academics. School is a place where we have peer groups, where children are able to kind of find people who respect them and value them and who make them laugh and where they feel part of a community. That sad, theres a big difference between Distance Learning and Distance Learning kind of slapped together. A lot of the deficits can be overcome if schools spend their energy saying heres how were going to do better than what happened in the spring. Heres how were going to overcome some of the crisislevel panic that really was offputting in the spring. But i think what we really need to think about is that Distance Learning can work. We just got to have a better plan. There needs to be oneonone checkins. There needs to be creative ways of having kids do assignments that involve kids doing them at home. The cdc estimates that coronavirus is going to be a top ten leading cause of death in the United States this year. Suicide also made the list from data last available in 2018. Youve said that more attention is needed on preventing suicide, especially as this pandemic continues. Explain how. Yeah. Im really concerned. Because we saw a rise in suicide rates before this pandemic started. We also know that having a firearm in the home is statistically for suicide. An additional concern is that theres been an increase in purchases of firearms at the beginning of the pandemic. And we combine that with economic trouble and social isolation and perhaps people being in abusive environments at home that they cant escape. Its very concerning. We dont have longterm numbers yet to think about how exactly this pandemic has affected suicide rates. But it is something we see Psychiatric Care being slashed. We see Community Mental health programs. The funding disappearing which is an additional concern. I think we all need to be talking about the Mental Health piece because suicide kills. Absolutely. Doctor, thank you so much. Well have you on again soon. Finally, we want to take the time to honor one of the more than 144,000 american lives lost to coronavirus. 69 years old, this woman lived in south florida. He told us his grandmother was a hard worker. She was very strong and independent. She immigrated to the u. S. From venezuela. She was diagnosed with coronavirus july 2nd. She died four days later. To the lawrence family, our condolences. May her memory of a blessing. Our coverage on cnn continues right now. See you sunday morning. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Were following breaking news. The u. S. Reporting more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths now for the third day in a row. Nearly 145,000 americans have now died in this pandemic. And the country has surpassed 4 million confirmed cases. California is just now reporting