A dramatic scene on a military ship in san diego. 17 sailors and 4 civilians injured. The cause still unknown. The very latest on the investigation this morning. Breaking overnight. John travolta reveals the death of his wife Kelly Preston at just 57 after a long battle with Breast Cancer. This morning the tributes to her pouring in. New name. The Washington Redskins reveal theyll drop their controversial nickname in an announcement about the teams future expected later today. And drive in and turn it up. Thousands of happy music fans get a treat over the weekend as some of the industrys biggest stars come together for concerts with a twist. This is how you do music in 2020, folks. 2020. Announcer from nbc news this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hi, everybody. Welcome to today. Its nice to have you with us on a monday morning. Hoda, were kind of reunited. Havent seen you in a couple of weeks. You had some time off, i had some time off. Here we are together again. Good to see you. It is so, so, so great to see your face. I love seeing you first thing in the morning. I know a lot of us, you included, we woke up this morning and all of a sudden we saw that news so stunning. It was about Kelly Preston. She passed away from Breast Cancer. I didnt even know she was suffering with Breast Cancer, but we just got the news. Her husband John Travolta did a moving instagram post. Were going to share tributes coming up in a just a bit. Yeah. A lot of people are really remembering her fondly. Its just shocking news. We will have more on that in a minute. We do want to get to the latest on the coronavirus. The World Health Organization announced the surge over the world over the weekend. And in florida, they shattered another daily record adding over 15,000 new cases yesterday. That is more than any state since the pandemic began. Weve got complete coverage. Lets start with nbcs Kerry Sanders in miami. Kerry, good morning. Reporter good morning, savannah. Folks began lining up here to get coronavirus tests at 1 00 a. M. They may end up waiting eight days or more to get results. One of the big problems is people go about their lives as theyre waiting for those test results potentially spreading coronavirus. How bad is the problem . Well, if florida were its own country, it would rank number four in the world. First, the entire united states. Then followed by brazil and india. This morning sunbelt hot spots are spiking. Florida hitting a National Record reporting more than 15,000 new cases of covid19 in a single day. At its worst, new york reported slightly more than 11,500 in a single day. I think something needs to be done and something needs to be done now. Reporter the unwanted surge comes after the state received 140,000 test results in just one day. On saturday floridas governor repeated his claim that people trying to escape the heat by going indoors may be to blame. When its hot, people would rather be, you know, inside and in enclosed air conditioned spaces. Reporter this morning some Florida Communities are rolling back reopening. Closing Indoor Dining at restaurants and in miamidade county, a renewed 10 00 p. M. Curfew. Despite the rise in positive tests, Walt Disney World welcoming tourists. Outside the park Governor Desantis is steadfast in his decision that he will not mandate masks. A stark contrast to texas where Governor Abbott ordered mask wearing statewide. I made this tough decision for one reason. It was our last best effort to slow the spread of covid19. If we do not slow the spread of covid19, the next step would have to be a lockdown. Reporter one person who did wear a mask for the first time in public, President Trump. He donned a mask with a president ial seal when he visited the Walter Reed Medical Center saturday to meet with Wounded Service members and health care workers. The president has been reluctant to wear masks even though the administrations Top Health Experts have been recommending them for months. When youre in a hospital, especially in that particular setting where youre talking to a lot of soldiers and people that in some cases just got off the operating tables, i think its a great thing to wear a mask. Reporter and in san antonio a 30yearold hospitalized after attending a socalled covid party where people intensely tried to get sick has died. Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said i think i made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but its not. Reporter florida breaking another record in the last seven days. 73 people a day dying from coronavirus. Three weeks ago, the number was 30. Hoda . All right. Kerry sanders for us in miami, florida. Kerry, thank you. Turning now to another record. This one in hospitalizations. Icu units nationwide overflowing with patients as doctors and nurses battle the pandemic on the front lines. Nbc National CorrespondentMiguel Almaguer has more on this part of the story. Good morning. Reporter hoda, good morning. As several states experience a new spike in cases, a growing number of hospitals across the country are reaching capacity in their covid wards. Theyre unsure they can last on the frontlines. This morning as coronavirus cases surge nationwide, many hospitals and hot spots are dealing with a pandemic showing no signs of slowing down. In hidalgo county, texas, which hit a record 1,274 new cases on thursday, hospitals are inundated with patients. You see these warehouses of people on life support machines, its dire. When youre counting how many ventilators you have left, you have two left, six left, thats dire. Reporter in South Carolina where new cases have now surpassed 56,000, nbc news was given an exclusive look inside a covid icu in west columbia. The floor quickly approaching capacity. What we decided if youre okay with it is to give you the best chance possible and to put that breathing tube in you. Okay . Reporter dr. Carol cho making the difficult choice to put another patient on a ventilator. Her third intubation in one day. Working in the covid unit has been very emotionally and mentally taxing. Reporter in hardhit arizona, many hospitals in phoenix are also grappling with an influx of new patients. Were at over 100 capacity, if thats possible. Every place thats a potential bed, we have a person. Reporter dr. Michelle isiak has been on the front lines of the pandemic for months. The state reaching an alarming Positivity Rate and more than 322,000 confirmed cases. Its intense. Its busy. There are sick people, were constantly on our go making quick decisions, acting trying to act in the best interest of our patients. And being safe. Reporter in florida the center of the countrys new surge in cases, Tallahassee Memorial Health care has been forced to reopen its covid units. Not only did i come to work and worry about the safety of my patients, but i also worry about taking covid home to my family. Reporter doctors and nurses in a life and death fight to save patients. A battle with no end in sight. Here in Southern California last week, some hospitals did reach capacity having to send patients seven hours away for treatment. Today there is room in icus, but if there is a spike, there could be serious trouble ahead. Miguel almaguer for us, thank you. Craig joins the table now. One things parents are all thinking about now is schools. Whats the status . It is top of mind for millions of folks watching this morning. So many parents wondering what they are going to do with their kids when fall comes around. But this morning theres some new backlash over comments made by u. S. Education secretary betsy devos over the weekend about the federal governments proposed plan. Geoff bennett is following this one for us. Reporter betsy devos is defending the Trump Administrations aggressive push to fully reopen schools in the fall. Shes calling for full inperson instruction. But this morning theres new criticism over what devos didnt say. She offered no plan and no assurances of student and teacher safety. As the debate over reopening schools heats up, education secretary betty devos hit the airwaves to push the president s message. Its not a matter of if. Its a matter of how we reopen schools and how kids get back to learning fulltime. Reporter devos says schools must open for inperson classes this fall and insists it can be done safely. Despite a surge in new coronavirus cases in many states. But she did not offer a plan for how to do it. The key is that kids have to get back to school. We know there are going to be hot spots and those have to be dealt with on a case by case basis. But the rule should be kids go back to school this fall. Reporter she also down played the potential health risks. Theres nothing that suggestn any way dangerous. Reporter but internal cdc documents obtained by the New York Times warned that fully reopening schools and universities would create the highest risk for the spread of the coronavirus. Public Health Experts worry children could serve as carriers who pass the virus to others. Adding to the uncertainty, during last weeks Coronavirus Task force briefing, dr. Deborah birx told me there isnt enough testing data to draw conclusions about the infection and transmission rates among children. If you look across all of the tests that weve done and when we have the age, the portion that is in the lowest tested portion is the under 10yearolds. Reporter on sunday devos also doubled down on the administrations threat to withhold federal funding from schools that refuse to open. If schools arent going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldnt get the funds. Reporter condemnation from House Speaker nancy pelosi. This is appalling. Theyre messing the president and his administration are messing with the health of our children. Reporter meantime the white house is taking aim at the top Infectious Disease expert dr. Anthony fauci. In a statement over the weekend, an official told nbc news that several white house officials are concerned about the number of times dr. Fauci has been wrong on things. This official also provided a lengthy length of examples. They failed to note that faucis views were considered accurate at the time but that the science had evolved. Of course this whole effort comes as fauci has been openly critical of shortcomings in the countrys Coronavirus Response as President Trump has publicly disagreed with him and with opinion polls showing the American Public trusts faucis advice over the president s. Savannah . All right. Geoff, back to schools for a moment. The Administration Planning on releasing its own set of guidelines for schools. What do you know about that . Reporter a Senior Administration official tells us the white house plans to issue its own guidelines for the reopening of schools which could be released as early as this week. Were told the white house recommendations will include some of those issued by the cdc and other ones from the American Academy of pediatrics. But it risks creating more confusion with state and local officials left to figure out which to follow. Savannah . Geoff, thank you very much. Dr. Ashish jha joins us now. Dr. Jha, good morning to you. You see whats happening in florida. How do you explain it . What do you make of this record daily surge of cases there . Good morning. Thank you for having me on. The situation in florida is pretty worrisome. There were more cases yesterday in florida than all of europe yesterday. And this is obviously a situation thats getting worse. I think we know how we got here, right . We florida along with other states opened up too early when they werent quite ready. They didnt meet the white houses own guidelines. And they opened up too aggressively. They had bars and restaurants and other things to open when they werent ready to do it. Then i think the biggest problem recently is theyve been too slow to react. Still dont have a statewide mandate for masks. There are other things we still should be doing. I dont think florida has been as aggressive as it needs to be. What about those who say, look. Its a function of more testing. There has been a surge in testing in florida as well. And the governor there points out that many, many of these cases are actually among young people. Does that mitigate it at all in your mind . Make it any less worrisome . Look, there has been a surge in testing. What weve seen in florida is a big increase in hospitalizations. That cant be explained by testing. And now were seeing a big increase in deaths. That cant be explained by testing. And then more recently weve started just in the last couple of days seeing data that at least in texas and other places, older people are starting to get infected again. Because old people and young people mingle. They live with each other. The idea it could stay with just young people is probably unrealistic. Weve seen obviously surges in arizona and texas, florida. Weve discussed at length. You also see it in california where the perception was that they reopened at a more measured pace. How do you explain that they, too california, too, is seeing this increase in cases . So california is a state that did lock down early, had aggressive policy. When they relaxed their regulations, they really left it up to local counties. I think a lot of states did that. And a lot of counties especially in Southern California, i think again made a lot of the same mistakes. Pulled back too early. And then i think the state was slow to react to it. So when i look at parts of Southern California, it looks the same as arizona and texas. In real trouble. Im hoping in the days and weeks ahead, were going to see an aggressive response from the governor of california. I do want to talk about the issue of schools which we just covered, the education secretary betsy devos said on a show yesterday, theres nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous. What do you think of that . Do you agree . I think thats a little more to be. Theres no question in my mind that kids are less likely to get sick. And theres pretty good evidence theyre less likely to spread disease in adults. But thats not the question. The question is in a hot spot like arizona or texas or florida or, you know, probably about a dozen states, if you open up and have large numbers of people, kids and adults in buildings, inside all day, can you do that safely . And i think most experts would say not really. Not if youre in a hot spot. So in places where things are really bad, i think its going to be very hard to open schools and keep them open. All right. Dr. Jha, always good to talk to you. Thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it. Thank you. 21 people were injured sunday after an explosion and fire on a navy ship in san diego. About 160 crew members were aboard the uss bonhomme rashard at that point in time. Its not clear how it started, but Officials Say the explosion may have been caused by overpressurizization. 17 sailors and 4 civilians had to be taken to the hospital. 17 minutes after the hour. Time for our first check of the weather. Look whos with us today. Nbc meteorologist bill karins in for al today. So great to be with you guys again. So we have this record in washington, d. C. , of 21 days in a row that weve had 90degree temperatures. And we could break it this week. Its been a sneaky hot summer in washington, d. C. So far 17 days in a row. And if you look at the forecast this week, we possibly on thursday will tie it and then could break that record on friday. So its a long standing record in our nations capital. Its not only there. It is very hot across much of the country. Apologies in dangerous heat areas. In areas like new orleans itll feel like 112. Its just going to be hot. If you want to carry the umbrella this afternoon, do so in eastern new england. From boston to providence, hartford northward. We should be dry in areas d. C. To new york. Forecasts across the country, record highs in texas. Heat warnings continue. If you have friends in the southwest, you know how hot its been lately. Yesterday 128 in death valley. Thats hot. Thats the big weather story of the day. Now your local forecast right after this. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. Lets take a live look outside as we check out whats happening in San Francisco. Misting, drizzling, low clouds, and its going to stay cool. Well see it clearing out around noon today. Our inland areas as a result will get a slight cooldown. Were looking at some highs in the low 90s extending over toward antioch and concord as well as santa rosa. San jose reaching mid80s, and we are going to have a bit of a cooldown to start out this week, but heating up a few more degrees by the midweek. Of the year and its not disappointing. Back to you guys. Yeah. No. Just as advertised, bill. Thank you. Coming up, John Travolta and his family pay tribute to Kelly Preston. She died at 57 after a long battle with Breast Cancer. Well look back at her life and career. And facing mounting pressure to change their name, washingtons nfl team set to announce its finally happening. Well have mo