Postmaster general, who was appointed by President Trump, president defended his could mean problems with mailin postmaster general, louis dejoy. Ballots. On saturday the president , without evidence, claimed louis is working very hard. Mailin voting to be, quote, reporter dejoy is under fire catastrophic. For an overhaul that led to mail all of it coming as we learn of a loss in the president s family. His brother, robert, passing delays, cut backs on worker away overnight. Overtime and removal of mail well have more in a live report just ahead. To discourage nt and mailboxes. Well also preview the Democratic National convention and talk about some interesting new poll numbers with chuck todd. Then our sunday focus. With more than 150 coronavirus mailin voting . Are you trying to discourage no, not at all. Vaccines being developed right the steps that hes taking are now, how soon, if ever, will we trying to stop the tremendous actually see one that can get losses that have taken place for many, many years. Our lives back to normal . Reporter the president said plus, in our sunday the Postal Service does need spotlight, 100 years after the more funding, and complained ratification of the 19th that is tied up by stalled covid amendment giving women the right to vote, a reality check. Relief negotiations. We want money to go to and later, willies brand people. Reporter on the eve of the new virtual sitdown with democratic convention, the president refused to make sure comedian amy schumer talking about learning how to cook that californiaborn kamala during a pandemic, her adorable harris is fully eligible to be Vice President. 15monthold son, gene, and the to me, it doesnt bother me difficult pregnancy she endured. At all. I dont k and how shes been dealing with failed to denounce a false and life at home after spending so racist conservative professo. Much time doing standup across the country. I was going to say especially for somebody who made her living on the road, it might be wild to but its not something that we will be that sedentary. It really is, but its not as put it differently. Hard as i thought it was going mr. President , you know. To be. I like staying home a lot. D what i know. I like, you know, also not seeing anyone at all. Reporter so the most the president would say is that this is not an issue he is going to that sunday sitdown with amy schumer, plus another life well pursue. There really is no issue at all. Lived a little later in the show. Kamala harris is fully eligible but lets start this morning with that Postal Service crisis to be a candidate for vice and a warning bell when it comes president. Of course this comes as to mailin ballots for the democrats will be gathering this upcoming election. Top House Democrats reportedly week virtually for their considering coming back from their summer break early to deal with it. Convention. All of it as the president the president plans to have some events to counter that. Mourns the loss of his brother we dont yet know, hallie, if his schedule will be altered by overnight. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is the death of his brother. Hallie. Kelly, thank you. Chuck todd is nbcs political weve got more of your director and moderator of meet sunday today mug shots. The press. Chuck, good morning to you. Thank you to stacy and her dog roman in baltimore, curtis and more importantly, good morning to you. Hailey in illinois, left eye the although im guessing you dont sleep much these days, hallie. Kitten in st. Louis, missouri, its good to have you back. Not these days, not with a savannah, a recent graduate from new baby in the house, chuck. Bellmont university in nashville. It is good to be back and just christopher and his miniature doggy ruby in buffalo, wyoming. In time for lots of acti nbc patty in rockport, texas. Happy 90th birthday, patty. News wall street journal poll this morning. Look at that one in the top i want to talk about it because right. Its really interesting. Thats the cutest baby in the its all about trump. World. The president srters from my house, my baby, thats overwhelmingly pa lly back him s baby roe, im a little biased. Poll shows more than half of shes the reason ive been off expected biden voters are voting the last few months. See you in a few minutes, against President Trump as opposed to for joe biden. Youve got the democratic monroe, i miss you already. Convention starting tomorrow. What does joe biden in your view remember, you can get your need to do to really make it sunday today mug at the nbc online store. Matter . Well, i would say in a normal its great for morning coffee. Political environment, id say, thank you for spending part of you know what, you dont want to its a little bit of a risk even when youre running against the incumbent to simply be the im not the incumbent candidate and you would normally say thats not a good place to be. I would argue one of the reasons donald trump won in 2016 is there were a lot of not hillary voters, if you will. There were people that werent trump fans but decided they didnt want to vote for hillary clinton. So joe bidens strength in this poll, as you can see, is that hes not donald trump. Its almost the single biggest attribute that he has that voters seem to side with. I do think this week thats o e against, but theyagainst. Should try to do some case for themselves. I think in some ways thats joe bidens job. Kamala harris i think will prosecute more of the case against donald trump during her speech, which is a lot of times the job of the running mate. Definitely a lot to look ahead to. The convention happens this week, all of it against the backdrop of this Postal Service crisis. We know that the usps can handle a lot of mail, right . We see it every year around the holidays. But these changes at the post office have a lot of people concerned about what this means for mailin ballots. What needs to happen to restore potentially Public Confidence to get things back on track here . Well, i think number one what needs to happen to establish Public Confidence is the president needs to back off on his rhetoric here. He has added to this concern that people have about the mail. But physically it seems as if, you know, its hard to ignore all these anecdotal reports all around the country, whether its slow mail in montana, removed mailboxes in oregon. Theres just a lot of odd stuff happening at an odd time. And ill say this, hallie. I think this is extraordinarily risky for the president on the political front because one of his bases of support is rural america. Well, the Postal Service is extraordinarily not only popular in rural america, its arguably as important of a lifeline as there is in this country. Slowing down the mail is going to hurt him with voters that are normally very, very supportive of him. He is i really think he is chuck, thank you much. Lots to talk about for sure. Well look for more this morning on meet the press when chuck good morning. It is sunday, august 16. Looks ahead to the Democratic National convention with vermont an unusual start to the morning. Many people are considering the senator bernie sanders. And a reminder, we will have last day of summer as many complete coverage of the convention monday through schools return or go to distance thursday nights at 10 00 eastern right here on nbc. Also this morning, as the learning tomorrow. Thunder, lightning, rain, strong number of coronavirus cases gets closer to 5. 4 million, georgia, winds, heat and humidity, as we look over downtown san jose. It looks like a beautiful which has been hardhit, is morning now but very different trying to do more to slow the from what we saw the last three, spread there. Nbcs blayne alexander is in atlanta with more on that. Four hooining us. Im kira klapper. Blayne, good morning. Reporter well, hallie, good morning to you. Vianey arana joins us for your georgia ranks fifth in the number of covid19 cases forecast. What a wacky morning, vianey, nationwide. Back in april the state was one of the first to reopen and for weeks now its been the center of this backandforth over whether or not to require masks. Today that debate enters a new phase. This morning in the face of face coverings, a reversal from georgia governor kemp. He signed an order to enforce citywide mask mandates, something he previously blocked, even taking atlantas mayor to court over it. I dont believe georgians need a mandate to do the right thing. Reporter the order stops short of a statewide mandate and comes with restrictions. Notably, local businesses cannot be forced to comply. I think the best thing that you can do for businesses generally across the state is to require everyone to wear a mask, get virus numbers down. Reporter ben johnson owns five restaurants across metro atlanta. He requires masks in all of them and says he was glad when the city did too. Why is a citywide mandate something that youd like to see . Because it establishes a norm that everyone is out and about with a mask. Reporter nationwide, more cities and schools are struggling to balance reopening with safety. In arizona, a district outside of phoenix is forced to cancel mondays first day of school after a teacher sickout. And for some college students, movein day is giving way to mounting fears. Im really nervous about classes being in person. I think thats a really big risk. I could hear parties happening last night from my apartment. Reporter nationwide, the number of covid deaths has passed a devastating milestone, now topping 170,000. But in new york, signs of progress. Once the nations epicenter now reporting its lowest hospitalizations since march, with testing at an alltime high. But across the country, more testing troubles. A new cnbc survey shows nearly 40 of americans have to wait more than three days for test results. Too long, experts say, to be effective in stopping the spread. Five innings in game one and this ball is drilled to left. Reporter after leaguewide testing, the st. Louis cardinals, sidelined by covid, are now back on the field, arriving socially distanced. The convoy coming in, 41 rental cars and a bus. Reporter now forced to play 53 games in 44 days. And, hallie, theres more news this morning on the testing front. The fda has given emergency authorization for a salivabased test. It was developed at yale and actually funded by the nba. In fact a number of players used it as they prepared to enter the bubble. The fda commissioner is calling these tests groundbreaking. Hallie. Blayne alexander in atlanta. Thank you very much. Outwe west temperatures are expected to get even hotter today making it harder for cruise fighting wildfires in california. One of the largest, the loyalton fire, is burning near the nevada border. Conditions are very dangerous. A rare fiery tornado was spotted on saturday. Several hundred people have been evacuated. It was a chaotic violent scene in georgia at a confederate memorial when rightwing demonstrators and peacefully but at some point people started fighting and attacking one another. Police in riot gear eventually got involved to break up the crowd. And the tribute in lights that memorializes the september 11th attacks in new york city will go on as planned this year. The National September 11th Memorial Museum previously said the tribute would be cancelled because of coronavirus concerns. But on saturday, new yorks governor said the state would provide Health Personnel and supervision so crews can get and we have thunderstorms activity that moved in overnight. Take a look at satellite radar. We are talking lightning, thunder, rain. Were getting reports of hail and gusty conditions in the bay area. This definitely kept folks up last night. Were continuing to see that threat. Right now the National Weather service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning that will be in effect through head here sunday today the highs and lows of the week, including the heartstopping moment a California Police officer risked her life to save someone stuck on the train tracks. And not quite the field of dreams. The epic struggle for an mlb grounds crew during a downpour. Plus in our sunday focus, how quickly will be really see a vaccine and will it really help . We will have a vaccine at some point. What they cant tell you is how many people it will work for, what types of people it will back off youre not welcome here get out of my face hpv can cause certain cancers when your child grows up. Get in its way. Hpv can affect males and females. And theres no way to predict who will or wont clear the virus. But you can help protect your child by taking a first step. The cdc recommends hpv vaccination at age 11 or 12 to help protect against certain cancers. Hey cancer not. My. Child. Dont wait. Talk to your childs doctor about hpv vaccination today. However you go back walmarts got your back. In making tea, is saying no. In our real brewed iced tea, we say no to artificial flavors and sweeteners. Which means, no settling. Unless it is into a comfy chair. Pure leaf. No is beautiful i felt like i was justs little constantly cleaning up his hair. Then, i got my paws on the swiffer sweeper. 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Still, even when there is a vaccine, how well will it work and will it really come as soon as we think . Molly hunter takes a look in our sunday focus. Reporter as russian president Vladimir Putin boasted to the world that his country had produced a vaccine first, announcing plans to vaccinate 30 million russians in october, scientists from around the world were doubtful. I hope that the russians have actually definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective. I seriously doubt that they have done that. Reporter the most likely scenario is not a vaccine this fall or even a guaranteed vaccine thats available everywhere and works for everyone. There is no Silver Bullet at the moment, and there might never be. Reporter theres never been a successful vaccine brought to market like the type moderna and oxford are testing right out of the gate, the two leading candidates. So what if we have to live with the virus, and what does that look like . I think most scientists would tell you that there is a really good chance that we will have a vaccine at some point. What they cant tell you is how many people it will work for, what types of people it will work for, how often theyll need the vaccine, and what elements of daily life will allow them to do. We live with viruses, even lethal viruses. We allow our lives to go on. We dont let it cripple us. So we can live with this is what youre saying . I think one way or the other we will live with this and we will minimize the losses in the process. Reporter now, a lot of the adjustments that weve all been making, including shops and restaurants allowing fewer people inside, spacing people outside, a lot of these adjustments may be here to stay even once we have vaccines. The vaccine dangled as a promise, a get out of jail free card, a savior. Were going to have a vaccine very soon. A vaccine is going to be a Companion Technology that will complement and help improve some of the existing approaches that were using for control. So we cant just stop social distancing when that first vaccine is announced or stop Wearing Masks or decide to just go back to normal . Thats right, especially the first vaccines that were hearing about. Reporter right now there are at least 167 vaccines in development. More than two dozen in human trials, and three in phase three trials. All approved vaccines must be safe and effective, but that doesnt mean they perform the same. The measles vaccine, for example, is 98 effective. But the flu vaccine most years just 40 to 60 effective. For coronavirus, the fda will require the vaccine to be at least 50 effective, and by that they mean prevent or reduce its severity in at least 50 of the people that get it. The bottom line is our first vaccines may not be our best vaccines. Our best vaccines will likely come later. Thats why i dont like using this term race because its extremely misleading. If it is any type of a race, its a several year marathon. Molly joins me now. Molly, so once there is a vaccine, hopefully in record time, right, thats not the end. How many people need to actually get it for it to be effective . Reporter thats right, hallie, a lot. So its not just the vaccine that can save us, its the vaccination. Experts say in order to achieve herd immunity and stop this thing in its tracks, we need to achieve 70 to 80 global coverage. Were talking huge numbers of people that need