Before the actual cdc, why thats alarming Public Health experts, were going to talk to one in a moment about that. All as the head of that agency has a stark new warning, the cdc director in a new interview telling americans the worst is yet to come. I do think the fall and the winter of 2020 and 2021 are going to be one of the most difficult times that we have experienced in american Public Health. Lets start in los angeles, where Nbcs Joe Fryer will be with me throughout the entire hour. Good to you back with us. The situation there getting worse in l. A. , l. A. County just broke its record for cases and hospitalizations. What is happening there on the ground, what is if there is any explanation at all, what is it . Reporter you know, this is an alarming number, more than 4200 new cases reported in a single day. That is not for the state, that is literally just for l. A. County, more than 2100 hospitalizations right now. Those are record numbers. And it really has people concerned here, including l. A. Mayor eric garcetti, who said that the city is this close to perhaps being shutdown again. That means that you would have to stay at home, you could only leave to go to work or for essential tasks, already in l. A. County, indoor dining, gyms, salons, those things have already been shut down. So things could get even tighter in l. A. , if things dont trend in the right direction. L. A. Has long been the main e epicenter when it comes to coronavirus in california. There is a smaller epicenter in the southeast corner of the state, Imperial County. That place has more cases per capita than anywhere else in the entire state. There are just two small hospitals that have been overrun with covid19 patients. We spoke with the ceo of one of the hospitals, el Central Regional medical center. Take a listen to what he told us. Run out of icu staff. It is not just the physical bed, i need the staff to take care of the patients. It reminds me of the war, the war z it is a war against covid. Do you think this can be turned around quickly or what is it going to take . It must be turned around. Because we cannot really continue to do what were doing. Reporter there are so many Covid Patients in Imperial County since the pandemic started, that county has had to transfer more than 500 patients flying them to other parts of the state for treatment, and the worry is that the worst is still yet to come. Ayman, coming up later in this hour, were going to talk with one of the hospitals here in l. A. That has been receiving a few of those patients, the ceo of Cedarssinai Medical Center. Well see how theyre dealing with this surge in hospitalization and what theyre seeing on the ground here in l. A. Ayman . Joe, well dig into that and more. Dont go anywhere. Youre sticking with me throughout the entire hour. We want to turn now to nbcs ellison barber in jacksonville, florida, Kelly Odonnell at the white house for us. Ellison, florida, again, setting a new record for coronavirus deaths, 132 in a single day, a grim picture playing out in florida. Reporter yeah, ayman. Over 9,000 new confirmed cases of covid19 in that same time frame. I spoke to a doctor at one of the hospitals in this area, and he told me while theyre not seeing quite the exact same numbers as you have in south florida, in places like broward county, miamidade, theyre seeing the similar level of surge, the similar rise in cases and they say that it is starting to stretch their capabilities at hospitals here. Where we are right now this is a federal testing site. It was set up about a week ago. It is free to anyone who wants to come here and get a test. You can see some of the people who were here driving in now, there is also an area where they can walk in and get tested if needed. Most of the people, though, theyre driving in, theyre staying in their cars to get these tests. The department of health and Human Services starting to conduct surge testing in three cities. Edinburgh, texas, battenburg, louisiana, and here in jacksonville, florida. All three of those starting about a week ago, around the seventh and eighth of july. The idea is to send thousands of tests to medium size cities with rising numbers, but not necessarily the worst of the worst in terms of cases and see if a rush of testing can kind of help local officials better control community spread. The goal is 5,000 tests per day, per city, over the course of a week to a week and a half. Remember, jacksonville is where they are set to hold the rnc, the Republican Convention next month. Some people said as theyre watching these rising numbers that perhaps it is not a good idea to hold it here, not a good idea to hold it in this city, or the state. Some people have questioned whether or not this testing site was put here in order to test people ahead of that convention. The administrations testing czar, hes denied that, saying he wasnt even aware that the convention was happening here. We have spoken to people who live in this area over the last day or so, a lot of people they say, hey, this is a good thing, we want the convention to still happen, we think it could be good for the economy. Others say that they are worried about it, that it is not a good idea, not only again, not only in this city, but they say it is not a good idea for it to happen in this state. Listen here. Im very excited. It is all good for business. I own a little bit, so it is good to bring people in to the city. I dont think it is a good idea to be congregating, like, in any kind of way at all right now. Florida is just hitting records left and right for covid cases unfortunately. Reporter one of the doctors i spoke to in this area, i asked him what does enough testing look like . And he said, as a physician and a hospital it is enough to test anyone who walks into their emergency department. They said right now they cannot do that, they have four different types of tests, one of those are the rapid nasal swabs where you get results in an hour or two. They say theyre not able to test everyone who comes in or some people that they are testing, they then have to send home, and wait for the results, they say thats not a good thing. And that needs to change. Ayman . Ellison, stay with us. Kelly, as we have seen, the numbers are telling a very important story. Lets talk a little bit about the Trump Administration and this new order for hospitals to bypass this cdc and send all covid19 patient information to washington. What is the intent here . What is the effect here . Reporter in many ways this is a new battle line over the information. And, of course, information in a pandemic is a tool for all of us to understand how we should adjust our actions and it is certainly information for the government. The cdc has until this point been the clearinghouse for this information, but there has been a lot of frustration on the part of the Coronavirus Task force that a requirement that hospitals around the country report their data so we know how many people are hospitalized, how many are in icus, levels of intubation and so forth, all the things that give the task force a picture of what the disease looks like around the country, that requirement report has been a sort of scatter shot approach. There have been long complaints that our Public Health infrastructure doesnt have the capacity to report and maintain the data as effectively as a crisis of this magnitude requires. The concern is, if the cdc is not the point person, if this information now is going to sort of government clearinghouse of which the cdc is a part, that could somehow be manipulated, politicized, not shared publicly, so it is a question about does this change mean less visibility, less transparency, or will it improve the situation and thats a situation we dont have an answer to yet, but there are real serious concerns about it. Against that backdrop, i wanted to ask you about this ongoing effort to discredit dr. Anthony fauci, President Trumps top trade adviser, Peter Navarro writing in an oped Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything i have interacted with him on. A lot of head scratching about this one. No doubt that over the past couple of days in at least seemed there was an attempt to discredit dr. Fauci. What is the white house saying about this particular oped this morning . Reporter it is puzzling because the white house did provide information undermining dr. Fauci. Other officials have talked about it. Now this oped and the white house is saying, oh, no, Peter Navarro didnt go through proper channels this was not changed sd by the white house. This is his opinion. Officials here saying the president is listening to medical experts, a lot of people have come to dr. Faucis defense and talked about his expertise over many decades, his service to the country, and six president s, and they see this as an unfair attack on dr. Fauci. His popularity is considerable compared ed td to the presiden handling this. There is an undercurrent of frustration with dr. Fauci and yet publicly theyre saying thats not happening at all. The evidence is certainly there for people to evaluate. Ayman . Kelly odonnell, ellison barber, thank you for joining thus hour. Lets bring in the director of the Harvard GlobalHealth Institute dr. Ashish jha. Great to have back wiyou back w. I believe for the most part you can trust respected medical authorities. You know, i believe im one of them. I think you can trust me. But i would stick respected medical authorities who have a track record of telling the truth. There jha, what does this tell you that four months into this pandemic, staggering numbers, our Top Health Expert has to still go out there in public and try to convince americans to trust him and other medical officials in this country. What implication does that have on our response and what does it say about our society that he is still having to do that . Good morning, ayman. Thank you for having me on. First of all, i think most Americans Trust dr. Fauci. And rightly so. Hes got a 40year track record of telling the truth, telling it as it is. And, you know what is interesting is that the things that the administration is attacking dr. Fauci for are things that the entire medical community agrees with. Dr. Fauci has been saying the things that the science and evidence tells us. And so to decide to sort of attack him and to attack the entire medical profession and think that somehow all the doctors, all the nurses, all the Public Health officials are wrong, and that the politicians are right on a medical issue is just not a story that i think most americans are going to buy. The other big news that dr. Jha out of the white house had to deal with the information flow with the administration ordering hospitals to bypass the cdc, send all covid19 information, patient information to a central database in washington. They say it will be a faster system. Does that make sense to you . What does that tell you if you dont have a central repository of patient information that can be shared widely . Yes, so we do need a central repository and thats what the cdc is supposed to be doing. Thats what the cdc is designed for. It always has been an information clearinghouse for these kinds of outbreaks. If the problem is that the administration feels like the cdc is not doing a good enough job, first of all, they had many, many months to work on this. If they still feel like it is not doing a good job, they should fix it. To create a new infrastructure, im going to be open minded about this. I want to see what the administration does. But i have to tell you, im a little skeptical because if your house is on fire, you want to go with the fire brigade you have, bring in somebody new, you got to explain why theyre going to do a better job and absolutely we need to make sure the best information is widely available to the American People, the American People are paying for it through their tax dollars, data should be available to the American People. Dr. Jha, this is joe fryer, the School District announced when classes resume next month, students will not attend in person. It will be remote learning. President trump responding to this for the first time. Lets listen to what the president had had to say. What do you tell parents and teachers who feel that it is unsafe to go back . I would tell parents and teachers that you should find yourself a new person whoever is in charge of that decision, it is a terrible decision. Because children and parents are dying from that trauma too. Based on what were seeing here in los angeles, with the rising number of cases, is there a safe way for students to go back in person or do you think the School District is making the right decision right now . So i am so frustrated by this decision and even more frustrated by where we are as a country. I believe strongly that kids need to go back to school this fall, but we have not created the conditions for them to go back. Just saying you got to go back isnt good enough. You got to make sure it is safe to go back. If i were running the los angeles School District, i would have a shutdown in that community, bring the virus levels under control, maybe delay opening into mid or late september, try to find a way to get kids back. I feel like were giving up on kids and the effects on kids, the parents, the economy is going to be devastating. But we dont want to force kids back in if it is not going to be safe to do so. Thats unfortunately the situation were in. Those are the choices were having to make. Dr. Jha, there is a sliver of promising news this morning, the Biotech Company moderna saying the vaccine worked on reducing antibody responses in all of its phase one participants. First of all, how encouraged are you by these results, what is the data say if it has been made at all public and where does this go from here . Yeah, look, i have been an optimist on vaccines the whole time. It is great to see that data. I believe that by the end of this year and more realistically early next year were going to have two or televhree vaccines are really working and moderna is one of them. By inducing antibodies is not enough, we need to see if it protects people. Im cautiously optimistic it will. And im hoping early 2021 we have vaccines that start becoming available for the American People. Dr. Ashish jha, thank you very much. Joe, stay with me, more to talk about. Stick around, much more ahead as the u. S. Sets another single day record for coronavirus cases. Were going to take you to one rural Latino Community in texas where the number of covid cases have doubled in the last two weeks and there is only one lone hospital to treat the sick. Were live on the ground where the mayor says theyre living in a nightmare. Plus, why the bottleneck for testing in one of the nations coronavirus hot spots can be traced back to a fax machine. You heard that correctly. An emergency room doctor on the front lines in phoenix on the alarming surge of patients overwhelming his hospital. We are at a grinding halt, literally. Cases keep piling up in the waiting room. And unfortunately there are no beds to put them in. Were waiting for people to get discharged, the hospital is over capacity, the er is well over capacity. E hospital is over capacity, the er is well over capacity now is the time to support the places you love. Spend 10 dollars or more at a participating Small Business and get 5 dollars back, up to 10 times with american express. Enroll now at shopsmall. Com. Youre having one more bite no one more bite kraft. For the win win. This morning, there are new worries about hospitals and front line healthcare workers being stretched to the limit. A surge in new coronavirus cases in states like alabama, texas, and others are filling up hospital beds and icus and ers. Theyre all being overwhelmed in some of those states. Lets go now to two of those hot spots, dasha burns is in montgomery, alabama, Priscilla Thompson in rio grande city, texas. Dasha, youve been speaking with doctors on the front lines of this crisis, what are you hearing . Reporter hey, ayman. The doctors ive been speaking to this morning tell me that the situation in the state of alabama is dire. They say they and their staffs are exhausted, theyre emotional, theyre stretched thin and right now they dont really see a light at the end of the tunnel. Alabama has been setting new records almost every day for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, another record day of hospitalizations, more than 1300 patients hospitalized. 40 covid related deaths yesterday and another record and across the state of alabama, icu beds are 87 full. There are only 211 beds available in the entire state right now. Drs. Tell me at this hospital behind me here, jackson hospital, there are no icu beds left. And the most likely way a bed becomes available is if a patient dies. A doctor told me that happened at this hospital recently and as soon as that happened, going to a call from a hospital 121 miles away asking to transport a patient there. Thats how rare the beds are in the state right now. I want you to hear from dr. Lisa williams, i met her here at this hospital on memorial day. And the situation was challenging then. Take a listen to her assessment of where they stand right now. We still are seeing coronavirus serious cases at the hospital. And in particular in the floor beds. The hospitals are were still full capacity, hospitals and both the icu and nonicu patients. It is still a real problem. On the positive note, i think the hospitals, the physicians, the healthcare providers, we all have gotten better at taking care of the patients. Reporter and, ayman, the head of the Alabama Hospitals Association tells me that he thinks this is a critical tenday period for the state to get things under control or else there might be another deadly wave come midaugust when the school year starts, which has a lot of doctors here extremely concerned, ayman. Dasha burns, thank you. To Priscilla Thompson, outside the only hospital within a 50 mile radius, priscilla, how are are they managing the crisis there with such limited medical facilitys . Reporter well, theyre doing the best they can here. But this is a hospital facility that has about 48 beds and a community of more than 65,000 people and so you can imagine the strain that this covid uptick here in texas has put on the community. And the message that im hearing from leaders here is that this did notav to happen. Im actually here with the mayor of rio grande city, to talk a little bit about that, and, mayor, at one point you all had less than ten cases, zero fatalities. Now youre at more than a thousand. What was happening then and what changed . Well, lets start with were living a nightmare. It is real. It is frightening. And it is absolutely affecting our community. We are currently at 1200 cases. 35 fatalities, as you mentioned, and our hospital is overwhelmed. What is so disheartening is that two months ago, prior to the reopening, the unilateral reopening of the state and subsequent superseding orders by Governor Abbott, which stripped away our local authority, and our emergency orders, in essence, they dissolved their emergency orders. Which, by the way, were extremely effective. At the time, we were at seven positive cases. Zero fatalities, zero hospitalizations. And there was a stretch where we had 24 consecutive days without a positive case. Now, fastforward to today, and the numbers are simply astounding. And there is no end in sight. And if we continue on the same trajectory, countless more lives will be lost. And you mentioned that reopening that Governor Abbott ordered, im curious, do you think he was thinking of communities like yours, when he ordered that reopening of the state. Well, to be fair to the governor, we are 95 over 95 Hispanic Community and we know that minority communities are being affected at a much higher rate than what white community. Here in rio grande, we have many factors, at risk factors including the high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, we have populations of uninsured, and not insured at all, and low socioeconomic status. When you look at a county that is one of the poorest counties in the nation, all these factors, and heres the point, even though we were dealing with all this these factors before, we were still doing quite well. We were doing quite well in the messages that we had it under control, we had a model that the rest of the nation could follow. But unfortunately it was dissolved with this unilateral reopening that did not take into consideration many of these communities that were going to be impacted much more and at a much higher rate than, again, going back to white communities. And the numbers are there. But, again, this is something to be fair to the governor, i do believe that our message should be that to fight this global pandemic, it must be a national effort. Not as democrats or republicans, not as browns, blacks or whites, but as americans. Because i do believe that america is, and will continue to be a great nation, so long as we stand together, united in this effort to fight this global pandemic. And it is something that we must do as a country, as a state. Sure. Thank you very much, mayor. And, ayman, there you have it, you heard it straight from the mayor there, that is something that were hearing from a number of local leaders across the state, sentiment of wanting that local authority to decide how best to handle this pandemic and their communities. Ayman . So many missed steps along the way. Thank you both for joining us this hour. I want to bring in oma omar shah, great to have you with us. Let me ask you about the Current Situation if i can in harris county. The Third Largest in the nation with nearly 5 million residents. The county is at its highest alert level possible. How are your hospitals managing the situation this morning . Ayman, thank you. Absolutely. Hospitals are stretched. And what im relating it to is a rubber band, right, you can keep stretching but there comes a point it breaks that the sustainability is not there. We are busy. The hospital healthcare system, our colleagues are very busy on the front line. Theyre admitting a lot of people into the beds clueing in the icus and the concern is a taxed workforce, the staff are really people were very worried about and we have to see in letting up of this, otherwise theyre not going to be able to continue to sustain it. Lets talk about the numbers, if i can, one statistic that we have been hearing more about lately is the Positivity Rate, the number of tests being performed, compared to the number of cases that are actually reported. Sevenday Positivity Rate in texas is near 17 . What does that tell you . Well, let me tell you this, in our community, harris county, it is one in four. It is somewhere between 20 and 25 . Were actually more so, so those urban communities, youre having a higher percentage of the Positivity Rate, but what that is showing overall is the fact that this transmission is now continuing. It is cooked. It is happening. And we have to get ahead of this because that one in four means that one in four tests are coming back positive, where as a few weeks ago, it was one in eight or one in ten. That means there is more transmission in the community, not just what is happening in the hospitals. Let me ask you about this quote and the flow of information that youre cited in the New York Times about, it might come as a shock that many labs and doctors offices, theyre using 1980s technology in faxing test results and medical records. Youre quoted as saying from an operational standpoint, it makes things incredibly difficult, the data is moving slower than the disease. Talk to us about the frustration that you are experiencing with the flow of and speed of data in this pandemic. Yeah. Ayman. That fax machine is probably the most popular picture image that of this pandemic of late, this fax machine, so it is now famous. I will tell you something that is really about the thank you for showing it again, the data systems really are slow. And this is a national phenomenon, and the whole point of this story was not about the fax machine, it is that were getting information from fax, from email, from line lists, all sorts of ways that people are reporting to us, doctors offices, laboratory, commercial, from the state, from the locals, and it is not a system, and let me tell you another thing, that is happening in our federal sites, for example, were very appreciative of our federal partners giving us additional time to continue to test in our community, but we the turn around time for those lab results is two weeks. So people who are at the sometimes cant get it a private doctor, that theyre relying on the governmental Public Health system to be able to test for them, theyre being essentially put to the bottom of the list, and it is shameful as a nation were taking two weeks to be able to give an individual their test result and then for the whole Public Health system, for us not to be able to respond because we dont know if somebody is positive or negative. This is an entire system problem. We have a super digital highway and we as a nation have supposedly invested in it. Unfortunately it is going markedly slow. The speed limit really means that there is something that has slowed all of those vehicles down and it is just not happening. So really quickly. You probably heard the news that the white house wants to bypass the cdc and have information flowing directly to the white house or to the administration, more specifically. Do you think that is a good idea given the challenges that youre seeing or do you think thats a bad idea that the information goes from the hospital straight to the white house and could be either controlled or manipulated or not relayed as fast as it is right now. Well, i think this is were learning more about it, i think dr. Jha said it earlier, look, the cdc is the trusted voice of Public Health, it has been throughout emergencies, throughout decades and now if it is not able to do something, then by gosh, lets invest in it. Lets fix it, lets improve it, lets do that rather than just bypassing it, the concern we have is how will that impact the data, the privacy as well as the ability to really learn what is happening from a Public Health standpoint. So absolutely that should concern all americans. Dr. Shah, thank you for joining us. Appreciate your insights as always. The nations largest retailer, walmart and its wholesale partner sams club will now mandate that all customers wear face masks while inside their stores. Currently about twothirds of the more than 5,000 Walmart Stores and sams clubs are in places where there is already some form of government mandated face coverings, but this new Company Policy will be for all Stores Across the spectrum. That goes into effect monday. Still ahead, joe fryer will be back live from california with the head of a Major Hospital in los angeles as Public Health officials report its single highest day of cases since this pandemic began. And parts of syria seeing their first cases of covid19. The countrys medical infrastructure already annihilated after years of a civil war. Why one doctor warns we could be looking at a catastrophe. Warnse looking at a catastrheop robinhood believes now is the time to do money. Without the commission fees. 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Try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee im joe fryer in los angeles, which continues to see record numbers of coronavirus cases. And hospitalizations. Here in l. A. County, more than 4200 new reported cases just in a single day, just in the county. Lets bring in dr. Jeff smith, chief operating officer for Cedarssinai Medical Center in l. A. , which treated more than 600 covid19 patients since the pandemic began. Dr. Smith, thank you for joining us. I want to start by asking you, what are you seeing in your hospital now and are there any worries about capacity with hospital beds here in the l. A. Area . Yes, while we have seen cases rising very quickly in our community, the rise of cases here at Cedarssinai Medical Center has been a bit more grad. Currently we are getting busier, but continue to have capacity and have plans to create additional capacity as needed. Is it what types of cases are you seeing . Are you seeing more of the younger patients like we have been seeing across the country or still some of the older patients . We have seen a shift early on in march and april, during our earlier peaks, we were seeing patients in their 80s and 90s who are very, very ill. Now the majority are between ages 40 and 50 and staying for air shorter time in the hospital. The concern is that these patients are people younger people who are in ore vulnerabl populations and transmit to the sick and elderly. We have been talking to how we havent seen a huge spike in deaths yet, even though the case numbers are up in hospitalizations. Why do you think that is . Is it because the patients are younger or the treatments are also Getting Better . I think both of those are true. Certainly the patients who are older or who have other preexisting medical conditions are at a higher risk of death. In addition to that, we have learned more about how to treat this disease effectively. That includes the use of specific medications, like antiviral medications or steroids, and other things to treat complications of the disease like blood thinners and more novel treatments like antibody treatments and stem cell therapies in certain experimental cases. Earlier in the hour we were talking about Imperial County, which is a smaller rural county in the southeast part of california. It has been hit really hard. They had to transfer hundreds of patients to other hospitals throughout the area, including here in l. A. Are you seeing some patients from some of these smaller communities and what are the challenges that come with that . Yes, earlier on several weeks ago we were able to assist Imperial County and take a number of the very sick patients. As the numbers have increased in our community, our ability to assist has been more limited. I think the challenges are those patients are needing to be transported a long distance, theyre often very sick, and are requiring the very highest levels of care. So this really needs to be a state wide effort to coordinate care for these patients. Dr. Jeff smith, ceo with Cedarssinai Medical Center in los angeles, thank you for joining us. Ayman, ill be back later in the hour to talk more about what were seeing here in los angeles, especially the impact on businesses having to shut down again. Yeah, very important question. Well get back to you in a moment. Turning now to the International Fight against covid19 overseas. Parts of syria are now seeing their first cases of coronavirus and amidst the rubble of that countrys civil war, millions are grappling with the most basic of questions, like, where is the safest place to sleep . Keir simmons brings us that story. Reporter he made the heart wrenching decision to return to their bombed out home in idlib. The house has been destroyed by 60 or 70 . This is the only left room standing in the house, he says. When his granddaughter first saw their home, scarred by fighting, she broke into tears. They had been sheltering in a nearby camp, after fleeing their home frightened for their lives. But now share the same fear of contracting the virus, like everyone else around the world. We have been staying in a tent with three families, he says. We were really worried that we might catch the virus, so we said lets come back here, with the kids, to be safe. Imagine facing coronavirus and not even having a home to hide in it, just being rubble. And now were hearing in idlib, which has been under siege from president assads forces, backed by iran and russia, that they are seeing their first infections. If it takes hold there, the coronavirus, it will ravage through the civilian population there. There are no defenses. And, keir, we know the humanitarian situation is spilling over into neighboring lebanon as well. I know thats a story you kept an eye on, a lot of syrians take refuge there. What is the situation inside that country amidst its own political and health turmoil . Yeah, i mean, they held off the infections there pretty much. But not the effect. This is a crushing blow for lebanon. They were seeing a revolution last year that brought down one government. Those protesters saying they find inspiration from the black lives matter movement, but now an economic crisis, the currency devalued by 85 there in lebanon. We talk about coronavirus making history, there are going to be changes in that region, and we just dont know what theyre going to be from the results of the coronavirus. Keir simmons live in london following that for us. Thank you, keir. The golden states decision to roll back its reopening is a punch in the gut to many california companies. Why some Business Owners say a second shutdown will close them forever. But, first, why china is vowing retaliation, this morning, against president truck. Were live in beijing with the fallout. Fallout. Overseas this morning, china is criticizing President Trump and vowing retaliation against the United States. Beijing not happy over the president s decision to suspend a longstanding special economic status for hong kong. China now threatening to slap sanctions on americans and american interests. This law gives my administration powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals and the entities involved in extinguishing hong kongs freedom. We all watched what happened. Not a good situation. Joining us now from beijing, janis Mackey Frayer. Good to talk to you again. Lets talk about why china is so upset about this move, by the president , and how serious do we think they are about hitting back against the United States . Well, they are serious, and they will find a way to hit back. They just arent saying at this point how they will do that. Even if the past week, we have seen sanctions against two republican senators, sanctions against Lockheed Martin for selling weapons to taiwan, and threats flying back and forth over hong kong. And to that extent, it wasnt totally unexpected. This decision by the u. S. To strip hong kong of that special economic status. Basically what it has done for the past 20 years is that it has spared exports from paying the same sort of tariffs as if they were coming from china. This is an important deal for the United States. They have a trade surplus with hong kong. So it is unclear what impact it will have on hong kong itself. In terms of u. S. China relations, they continue to go on a downward spiral. Were at a point where people are talking about a new cold war. And neither side appears willing to back down. Janis Mackey Frayer for us in beijing, this morning, thank you, janis. Why some california Business Owners say they wont survive another shutdown of the state. And in our next hour, were taking your questions about the coronavirus. Dont forget, you can forget, y at talk msnbc. Com or tweet us using msnbcanswers. Supplemental insurance. Medicare is great, but it doesnt cover everything only about 80 of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. Thats where Medicare Supplement insurance comes in to help pay for some of what medicare doesnt. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by United HealthcareInsurance Company might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. So what makes an aarp Medicare Supplement plan unique . Well, these are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp and thats because they meet aarps high standards of quality and service. 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Learn more about why you should choose an aarp Medicare Supplement plan. Call today for a free guide. With herbal ashwagandas help turn the stress life into your best life live like a stress baller with stressballs Business Owners in california have been forced to, once again, shutter their doors. It comes a month after businesses including dinein restaurants, retail stores, bars, places of worship and gyms were actually allowed to reopen. Governor newsom declaring this week the state needed to urgently respond to a rise in covid19 hospitalizations. It is a devastating blow for Business Owners already struggling to stay afloat after months of closures and economic uncertainty. Back with me once again from l. A. Is joe fryer. Obviously theres the Economic Impact on this pandemic. What are you hearing from Business Owners there . Can they survive the major setback four months into the pandemic. Reporter they were just started to get back on their feet and maybe open for a few weeks and doing it with limitations, perhaps capacity restrictions which means they havent been able to fully operate. It doesnt just affect the owners. It impacts the employers, waiters, waitresses, all those people who have to stay home and not return to work. We spoke with a manager of a gym in the l. A. Area. Take a listen to what he had to say. I dont see how most Small Businesses or brick and mortar businesses move past this. Its absolutely devastating. Simply just wearing this could have prevented this. Weve known about this for months. Weve known common sense dictates wearing your mask could have stopped this and slowed the spread. Instead we wanted to party and drink. This was so completely avoidable, it makes me sad. Reporter as bad as things might seem right now, l. A. s mayor has warned the restrictions here in los angeles could get even tighter if things dont improve. Ayman. Joe fryer, thanks for joining me this entire hour. Appreciate your insights as always. Thanks to all of you at home for watching this hour of msnbc live. Im ayman mohyeldin. After a quick break, a lot more news with my friend craig melvin. New adventures. You hope the more you give the less theyll miss. But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past. They may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. Lets help protect them together. Because missing menb vaccination could mean missing out on a whole lot more. Ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. With spray mopping to lock away debris and absorb wet messes, all in one disposable pad. Just vacuum, spray mop, and toss. The shark vacmop, a complete clean all in one pad. vo you start with americas verizmost awarded network, to build unlimited right. The one with unbeatable reliability 13 times in a row. 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Nnnnono its why, at xfinity, were committed to helping kids keep learning through the summer. And help College Students studying at home stay connected through our university program. Were providing affordable Internet Access to low income families through our internet essentials program. And this summer, xfinity is creating a Virtual Summer camp for kids at home all on xfinity x1. Were committed to helping all families stay connected. Learn more at xfinity. Com education. A good wednesday morning to you, craig melvin here. Lets start the hour by getting you caught up on the latest facts. So far, weve lost more than 137,000 americans to the coronavirus. Right now were closing in on 3. 5 million known cases in our country, and the pandemic is not slowing down. In fact, 22 states in two u. S. Territories have seen at least one record day of coronavirus cases since this month started. New, in just the last hour, both walmart and sams club announcing they will require shoppers to now wear face coverings. Some encouraging news this morning, though, in the race for a vaccine. The Company Moderna says people given their vaccine developed andy bodies key at fighting the virus at higher levels than patients who had actually been sick with the virus. Weve got our nbc News Reporters spread out all over the country in hot spots and states as the states fight the spread of coronavirus. Texas just set a new daily record for hospitalizations and coronavirus cases with those cases ator